Audrey's first year, as seen through the eye of my computer. You'll notice the photos are a little light towards the end - she's hard to keep in one place now!
She had her 12 month check up and here are her latest stats: 29-3/4" long and 22 lbs 3oz.
Here's where we are:
She hasn't really walked too much, but I think it's because our place is so small she can easily get around holding onto something. She has her own agenda – she'll refuse any help from us, but will try to walk when she feels like it. Tonight she took 2-1/2 steps on her own right in the middle of the hallway!
She is babbling a lot. And very assertive when she does. Very cute. She claps, shakes her head, sings/hums and dances/bounces constantly. Loves music. Starting to wave hello and goodbye. Will give little pieces of things she finds on the floor to us, loves to take her toys out of boxes and is starting to put them away, too. She's all about climbing – on everything. She can get up onto the couch super easy now. She sits in her chair and "reads" her books. She learns things very quickly - we can mention an object a few times and then she knows it. She is also a good eater – gobbles up just about anything I give her. She also understands "no" and for right now, obeys it pretty well.
Overall, she's an amazing little girl (no longer a baby) and we love every inch of her. The year has gone by so fast but has taught us again to savor every moment we have with her.
Holy cow, I can not believe our little bean is ONE year old today! Wow, time flies. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful little girl in our lives. I will try and post a better update later, but wanted to get something up on her birthday! Happy birthday, Audrey. We love you so much!
Audrey had her very first professional haircut today. So cute. She actually was amazingly calm (although I think the video of sesame street playing helped) and even sat all by herself. I am happy with the general style (I was afraid they would bowl cut it with super short bangs!), BUT there's a little problem with the back. I know she's a baby and moves, but there's a big ole' chunk cut out of one side! It does look better than the multi-layered tiers of long hair we started with, though. oh well, it will grow back in time.
It started with emptying the top drawer. Then the bottom drawer. Then the laundry basket. She was in heaven! I also forgot to mention another "milestone" in the previous post. The past week or two Audrey has been awesome in her crib. She will play and talk herself to sleep and does the same when she wakes. She'll stand up and grab her stuffed animal from the corner of the crib and then sit back down pushing it on and off, humming to the music it plays. It's so cute to watch and hear her in the monitor.
Audrey is really loving music these days. I haven't been able to get a video of her "singing" and "dancing" together (which is what she usually does), so you we'll have to settle for one of each!
I can't believe our little girl is almost 1 year old already! It is just amazing to see how much she has changed from the tiny little being she was 11 months ago.
A quick update: she's officially off baby food and onto all table food for roughly 3 weeks now. Some favorite foods are cottage cheese, avocado, yogurt, beans and puffs. However, she's recently had her hand in (literally) Indian and her new favorite is saag paneer (spinach and cheese) - she gobbles it up and will seriously pick every half-dried piece off her plate. She still isn't really walking yet. I think the holidays got her a bit spoiled with all the love and attention and no need to walk, but just tonight she took a couple of steps again! Good because maybe once she starts walking she'll stop hanging on my legs; and BAD because that means I'm really going to be chasing her all over our tiny apartment!
Finally a little bit of free time to get some holiday photos up! Enjoy! (Please note, photo heavy).
I wish I realized sooner I could have used this photo for our Christmas cards. I LOVE this shot.
Christmas Eve at my mom's and first exposure to "presents" (and her fancy dress)!
Audrey's first Christmas morning.
A little too much excitement for everyone by the end of the day (lol). Audrey was actually completely fine – laughing and smiling 10 seconds before this photo was taken. But she started crying for no reason and looks so sad here it cracks us up. Eiko and Suki, on the other hand, were SO over it all.
We went out to lunch today and by the end Audrey had an entire pancake in hand. First time we've given her such a large chunk of food, but she still managed to "eat" pieces of it.
* I'm working on getting the holiday photos up too, but still need to do some major editing. Hopefully I will get them up in the next day or two.
Audrey took her first step today! Only one, but she did it all by herself. In fact, she really hates receiving any help – if you try to, she will go limp and refuses to even stand. I happen to catch it out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw she was thinking about taking a step - she had a huge smile on her face and was SO proud of her success after she did it. Yay Audrey! I hope to get some video of it soon, but right now our Flip is on the fritz.
Other quick milestones: She's singing (making noises) and dancing (bouncing) to music. Since she isn't walking, she's figured out how to tote her toys around with her as she crawls, and isn't too bad at "throwing" a ball. She has also decided she's done with baby food and is eating almost all table food. And she has developed quite the personality - which is a pretty stubborn (lol)!
the pic on the left is the night the storm started; and the photo on the right is our backyard the next morning. unfortunately the only pic I could get of Audrey and snow was of her in the pack with my iphone.
it was in the 20's today.... brrrrr. that means bundling up tight and then staying warm inside at the Y's open gym (Audrey's new favorite thing is to climb all over the place!).
I still need to post a few pics from Audrey's first Thanksgiving, but just had to share this one right away. The past day or two she's been starting to say a few consonants, but today she burst out with bababa-babble!
I had to post all of these photos of Audrey because she was having such a good time and the series really shows it (also, it's hard to capture her smile on camera!). Besides, she's so adorable I'm sure you won't mind!
Believe it or not, Audrey survived her second trip with flying colors! We took her on a 4-day whirlwind tour to visit her Canadian relatives. She was the star at each home we visited, on both flights and a trooper on numerous hour(s)-long car trips. Not one breakdown! Quite a difference from the Vancouver trip and numerous other car rides. This time we did a much better job of planning around nap times, had a new, larger car seat (no more infant seat for my 9 month old that is the size of an eighteen month old) and were always equipped with snacks. Traveling with bottles also proved to be easier than nursing since she could drink while on the go.
This past week she has changed so much again. She is so curious and LOVES exploring. She is also noticing that she can stand on her own now. The other day she taught herself to clap and she will break into spontaneous clapping – followed by a huge smile and laugh. She is also enjoying a new view of the world and shakes her head back and forth until she makes herself dizzy. And the last bit of new stuff is her adorable squint-smile. So very cute.
Audrey has discovered two things: 1) making farty-mouth with WATER is much more fun than the dry version and 2) the more she does it the more she makes mom and dad laugh.
We thought she was a bear, but everyone else thought she looked like a little lamb. very cute either way. We took her to the pet parade to see a bunch of dogs – although she was more interested in the pigeons – and then later watched the regular Halloween parade. No trick-or-treating this year, but I'm sure next year will be a entirely different story.
We also had her NINE month checkup today. I can not believe she's 9 months already! Time goes insanely fast. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but she's roughly 28" tall and just over 20lbs. A quick snapshot of her development: She is crawling everywhere, pulls to standing on everything and is just about standing on her own (she can do it, but I'm not sure she realizes it yet!) and cruises along the furniture and walls. She can also identify many of her stuffed animals when we name them. Loves finger food. LOVES it. She also successfully survived sleep training, and is now sleeping 10-11h at night and finally sleeping two 1-hour naps (knock wood. I pray I didn't just jinx it!).
another video of audrey screaming and cracking herself up. she's just waving her elephant around like crazy, having a good old time. what a happy girl!
Her reach is getting good! I left the table for a second and when I turned back this is what I found! Audrey grabbed her bowl of oatmeal and was so very proud of herself. She was screaming with joy making a HUGE mess. Her squeals can be so high pitched they actually hurt our ears! (Note: around the 59 second mark, she hits us with a nice burb, too!).
