8 Months Old

Audrey is 8 months old today and busy, busy, busier than ever.

She's army crawling at RECORD speed.

She pulls herself up to a stand on anything that's relatively still and stable...
(the sofa, the open dishwasher door, my leg as I cook dinner)

When she's really excited, she flaps her arms as if she's trying to take flight.

She actually squeals with delight when she sees Natalie.

She doesn't like the awning on her car seat to block her view of anything (mostly Natalie) so she tackles it with one arm so it collapses at her feet and then grins a great big grin as we all gasp a startled gasp.

She puts those four little teeth to work chewing on anything she can get her hands on.

I'm at a total loss as to what to do with her hair. It is long and straight as a board on top and up front but fine and frizzy in the back.

She's still convinced sleep is a total waste of her time.

And she's still just the happiest little chub you ever did meet.

I think you can see all 4 teeth (and 1 boogery nose) in this shot!

She loves swinging at the park but keeps her eye on Natalie the entire time.

She likes to help me unload the dishwasher and quickly finds her utensils before I do.

And the Tupperware drawer is probably her favorite place to be these days. She just digs in!

She's a delight, plain and simple.

The Zoo

We try to take advantage of the zoo here fairly often. There are some fairly exotic animals and impressive exhibits and it's a great place to take a long walk and a picnic lunch. However, I've come to the realization that Natalie and her friends aren't incredibly interested in seeing sleepy koalas and creepy komodo dragons. They are more interested in the play structures, splash pad, carousel, various ponds and streams that get their shoes nice and muddy and....this giant shell.


Natalie and her friend, Libby, could have been happy playing in this shell for our entire visit recently. It's nice to know we pay for a yearly membership so Natalie can play in a giant shell.


Audrey and her friend, Willa, just enjoy watching each other and their crazy older siblings. So sweet.

She stands!

Yes, she stands. At 7 and a half months. Why, Audrey...why? What's the hurry to grow up?

Natalie was sitting on the sofa the other day and it was driving Audrey nuts that she couldn't see her big sister way up there. So, she grabbed hold of the front edge of the sofa cushion and pulled herself up to a stand in order to take a peek. I wasn't ready with the camera because, honestly, who would be ready with a camera to catch a 7 month old pull herself up to a stand?

Audrey still doesn't actually crawl, she just pulls herself around the house with her arms, adding a toe push or two occasionally if she's in a real hurry. Her belly has yet to leave the floor. Consequently, the child has some serious upper body strength so pulling herself to a stand came very easily for her.

So, now she just shows off whenever she can.

Snow Day!

Yes, even we had a snow day this January. But on our snow day, Natalie couldn't wait to GO to school. Her preschool brought in snow so the kids could get an ice cold hands-on winter experience. We got her dressed in her Reno woolies and raced to school to see the parking lot transformed into a winter wonderland.

Well, it was the tiniest, most pathetic mound of man-made snow I've ever seen, melting rapidly in the sun and creating a puddle more impressive than the baby bunny hill could hope to be. But Natalie and her class absolutely loved it. I guess the snow day masterminds know their audience!

Fast Forward

Time is flying. Kids are growing. And where is January going??

Natalie is loving her Aurora costume from Santa and princesses herself up regularly these days. One minute she's adjusting her crown and the next she's digging in the garden, so we still consider her our very well-rounded girl.




Speaking of well rounded...our roly poly little Audrey has two and a half teeth, scoots around so fast that she follows us from room to room in record time, has slept through the night only ONCE (just to tease me), chews on everything in sight (most notably, cat food and Natalie's Mary Jane in the same day) and is perfectly content and happy as long as Natalie is playing with her.

Pull up a (high) chair...

Audrey has just started joining us at the table. Mealtimes have definitely been more peaceful since she pulled up a chair. Before she joined us, she was just NEVER happy once we sat down to eat. It didn't matter if she was in the exer-saucer with all the toys in the world to chew on and rattle and had been happily exer-saucering, chewing and rattling for many minutes prior...once we started eating, she started wailing. So, now she eats while we eat. I'm not sure why this didn't occur to us sooner...but we're sort of late dinner eaters and I always thought she should eat earlier. Well, she's a late eater, too, now and everyone is happier.

Natalie not only feels like the biggest girl on the block because she's graduated from her booster seat to a regular chair, but she's decided she'd like to have a baby to feed at the table, too. Her doll joined us tonight in her highchair and Natalie tended to her during dinner.


This is a doll that Natalie has had for a while but has a renewed interest in recently. She asked if this doll could be just her very own and never be shared with Audrey. I told her that would be fine. Well today Audrey got a hold of the doll while Natalie napped and, of course, because Natalie has that big sister sixth sense where she just KNOWS when a little sister has touched her things, she asked when she woke up if Audrey had touched her doll. I had to tell the truth. The doll was face down under a table, for crying out loud. There was no point in lying. Natalie scowled and said, "Mommy, that is NOT ACCEPTABOH." And so it begins.