Audrey's birthday celebration: Part 1

I took off of work on Tuesday for Audrey's birthday and Paul got out early. We headed downtown and took the kids to the Discovery Gateway. Colin had been there before but Audrey hadn't yet been there since she was old enough to actually enjoy it. I was surprised how much fun she actually had. She loved it.

Giving Colin her signature evil eye



















Colin had a lot of fun too






Walking the Gateway


We went out to eat at Z Tejas. We hadn't ever been there but it was right in the Gateway so we thought we'd try it.


After dinner, Paul and my mom convinced me to take Audrey on a horse drawn carriage ride for her birthday.








That night we took Audrey's 12 month pictures and Colin wanted to get in the chair with her.


Colin gave Audrey the present he got her....a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal that matches his Mickey and Goofy.


A couple of nights later she opened her next presents. A kitchen from Mimi and some food and pots/pans from us.

Audrey is 1 YEAR old!

This was way past bedtime and after a busy day so she was very tired.


Colin singing "happy birthday"



Walking on her birthday


I can't believe my baby girl is 1 already. Time definitely goes so much faster the 2nd time around. I have been in, or close to, tears many times in the last few days as this day approached. I'm not ready for her to be growing up.

Audrey has had a busy month again. This month she became a walker! About 3 weeks ago she let go of the couch to take one step to the other couch. She had never let go before, she would ALWAYS get down on her knees to crawl. So I decided we should start working with her on it. Paul and I started having her take a few steps between us over that weekend. By the end of the weekend she had taken up to 7 steps. Most of her attempts were pretty wobbly and ended up with falls but every now and then she'd walk up to 7 steps. Over the next two weeks she kept walking further and further, but only between Paul and I. If she wanted to get from one place to another she still crawled. This past week she has really started being a walker. She sometimes gets down and crawls but a lot of the time that she wants to get somewhere she will walk to do it. She loves to take off walking and will walk from me to the couch and back a dozen times and laugh and get all excited as she does it. She is so much more steady but obviously still falls a lot. Luckily she's a good faller.

She's starting to imitate us a lot. She tries to put on her own shoes or tries to "sing" with us. She'll go "egh egh egh" every time someone coughs. She holds up phones to her ear and laughs and laughs when you say "hello". She comes over to me and cuddles with a big hug and says "awe awe awe".

She had a big fall this month. Somehow she managed to squeeze between the rails and fell down the stairs. Luckily she was fine but I was pretty shook up by it. Now the rail is all boarded up and looks so pretty.

She's a really good eater. She takes 3 bottles during the day and one before bed. We just started using some milk in those bottles and she seems to be adjusting to it pretty well. She eats just about everything we put in front of her. She is on table food for most everything but I'm still trying to use up some baby food. I also like to giver her some rice cereal because it's high in iron and her iron was low at her last dr's appointment.

She's doing okay with sleeping. This month I decided that I was no longer going to let her have a bottle during the night. I came to the realization that she was almost 1 and couldn't keep getting up. It took a few nights for her to get used to it but she quickly did. She sleeps through the night a lot of the time but still has nights where she wakes up and whines/wimpers and sometimes does it for up to an hr(like when we were in Moab and all sharing a room). She's only gotten up one night in the last 10 days though so we're getting there.

She's still in size 3 diapers and in mostly 12 month clothes.

She has 6 teeth now, 4 on top and 2 on the bottom.

I thought that I would do a "year in monthly chair pictures" but I didn't do any "0 month" pictures. So....here are a couple newborn pictures from the hospital and her newborn photo shoot.

Newborn





1 month


2 months


3 months


4 months


5 months


6 months


7 months


8 months


9 months



10 months


11 months


1 year old


I think it is crazy to look at all these pictures and see her grow. I also realize she sure has some cute clothes!

I'll post more about her actual birthday later, this was more just her monthly post.

Slickrock and Music

Last weekend we went to Moab. Tara had mentioned that they were going to do go do some mountain biking. The weather was going to be beautiful on Saturday and I have been dying to get out biking so I really wanted to go. It took some convincing to get Paul to agree to the idea though. I got out of work early and we drove down on Friday afternoon during the kids' naps. It worked out great. They both slept almost the whole way. We stopped at a rest stop quick for Colin to go potty at the end of the drive. He is still pretty terrified of public restrooms. He wouldn't even go on his potty in the restroom. So....we set his potty up outside and then just took it in to dump it. We definitely have to figure out how to get him past this fear.

We got in and Matt made us dinner. The kids went to bed easily. Matt and Jen had their second daughter a few months ago so now they just have 1 guest room. We all(both kids, us and the dogs) slept in the same room. It went alright. It's better than a hotel because we'd be doing the same thing there but all have to go to bed at the same time. We didn't sleep the greatest the first night but all passed out tired the 2nd night.

On Saturday Jen asked someone to come help her and they watched the kids so we could all go biking. I decided to rent a bike since mine isn't very good. I loved the bike I rented and now I know how much I need a new one. It was a beautiful day, 80 and overcast. We went and did the Slickrock trail. I had done the practice loop a few times but had never done the full loop. It is 10.5 miles and very difficult. It's one of the most popular mountain biking trails in the world.

It was hard, really hard. I probably had no right to be there. But...it was a lot of fun. I had to get off my bike quite a bit but the time spent on my bike was so fun. Ben, Tara, and Theresa went a little faster than us but we finished in 3 1/2 hrs.











Some videos of our biking




After biking we made a spaghetti dinner and then took the kids into town for some ice cream. There was a band playing outside and Colin heard the music and wanted to go find it. He had so much fun watching the band and listening to the music. He was the center of attention.



Sunday morning we were planning on going hiking with the kids and dogs but the weather was horrible. We ended up just heading home early. The kids did really well on the drive home and we got back in time to unpack and get ready for the week.

Mean Faces and Walking

Audrey is the queen of mean faces. She's so good at it. But, it's so cute and I can't get enough of it.







However, she does smile too!


Audrey has really been working on her walking lately. Last weekend she let go of the couch and took her first step. We decided to work with her a little on it and by the end of the weekend she could take up to 8 steps. Now, she's taken 12 at the most. She can stand really well and balance for awhile. She's not perfect(as you'll see in the video) but she's learning. She still doesn't walk on her own, we need to initiate it.

Promise 5k

On Saturday we ran a 5k fundraiser for the Sub for Santa at work. We met at Sugar House park on Saturday morning at 10am. The race was 2 laps around. We had hot cocoa and bagels afterwards. It was a lot of fun. Pushing the stroller, with both kids, was pretty tough. It wasn't bad when it was flat but about killed me on the hills. Paul pushed on one lap and I pushed it on the other.



Colin drinking his hot chocolate after the race


Audrey fell asleep in the stroller while we were running. Colin ALWAYS fell asleep when he was in this stroller when he was little. This was the first time he DIDN'T fall asleep.


Paul eating a bagel


Colin had a lot of fun playing at the playground. It started to get really crowded which he isn't used to. He pushed a little girl(18 monthsish) to the ground. I had to go tell him to say sorry and I also apologized to her father. Luckily he understood and dind't make too big of a deal about it.







Audrey finally woke up and wanted her bottle. I love these little bear paw gloves we found her. We bought them when I was pregnant. Someone asked me today where I got them and I really don't remember anymore.


Colin loved feeding the ducks(geese, seagulls, and doves). When I asked him later he said this was his "favorite" part of the day.