Audrey is Turning One!

It is so hard to believe that it was a year ago that I was wondering whether we were ever going to meet our little girl, what she would be like, and when she would get here.  Now, she is almost running around the house, loves her books and dancing, and is keeping mommy and daddy on the run.  I know that every year will have many changes as Audrey grows, and we all get a little older, but it is hard to imagine that any future 12 month span of time could bring more amazing growth and change into our lives that the year that is coming to a close.  I thought it would be fun to do a comparison of April 2009 to April 2010...fun for me at least! 

• Audrey was born at 8:53 pm on Friday, April 3 weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces.  I am estimating that she now weighs about 22 pounds. 
• She was 22.5 inches long when she was born.  Now, she is more than 30 inches long. 
• Audrey was born with very little hair.  She now has more, but it's still not a lot.  We call her look a baby mullet. 
• When we first brought Audrey home, her favorite activities were sleeping and eating.  Well, they were really her only activities.  Now, she loves looking at books, playing with blocks and stuffed animals, dancing, and exploring anything she can get her hands on. 
• Audrey could not move a whole lot when she was first born.  She could turn her head, but couldn't support it.  She could move her arms and legs too, but that was about it.  Now, she is walking and starting to climb.  She discovered a child-sized rocking chair at her Great-Grandma Amanda's house this weekend, and spent at least 30 minutes climbing up into it and then sliding forwad out of it. She also started throwing the ball for the dogs this week.  Granted, it only goes about 2 feet before falling to the ground, but it is a start.  Before long, she will be Jack's best friend.
• As a tiny infant, Audrey was Audrey, but that was really hard to define.  In case you haven't been around infants much, they don't really have much of a personality (see previous comment regarding her favorite activities).  Now, Audrey has quite the personality.  She is generally happy, inquisitive, mischievous, loving, and fun.   
• Last April, Daddy was taking 2 classes last spring during the first semester of his graduate work for a Masters Degree in mechanical engineering.  He now has a graduate certificate in composite structures.  He is also taking only 1 course per semester now, a decision his wife greatly appreciates.  At the current rate, he will graduate in the fall of 2011. 
• A year ago, mommy was always tired, worried about being a good mom, and trying to improve her relationship with God.  Wait...none of that has changed! 
• When we first brought Audrey home, we often felt like we didn't know what we were supposed to be doing as parents, and it was sometimes scary.  Now, we still feel like that at times, but it isn't as scary.  We are more comfortable with our parental roles now, and that makes it easier to focus on our spousal roles as well.  
• At the hospital right after Audrey was born, we had a continuous parade of visitors.  Our family and friends were so excited for us, and we couldn't wait for them to meet her.  I am glad to say that one year later, you are still important parts of our lives.  We will see many of you this weekend as we celebrate Audrey's first birthday.  For those of you we won't see, we hope we'll get to see you sometime soon!

As I look at my little comparison project, I realize that not much has really changed with the exception of Audrey herself.  I am astounded by how much children develop during their first year of life.  Children really are God's little miracles.  I am so thankful that we've gotten to experience this one in our lives.

Mommy...who?

After being gone on business travel for four days, I returned home yesterday afternoon.  Billy picked me up from the airport, and I couldn't wait until we got back downtown to pick Audrey up from daycare.  When we got there, we walked into the room, and Audrey just stared at me.  She waved, and then walked around me to go to her dad.  I was mortified.  She didn't even seem to care that I was home.  So, I swept her up into my arms to give her a hug and walk her out to the care.  By the time we got to the car, she had remembered who I was.  She was smiling at me, and even layed her head on my shoulder.  When I put her in her carseat, she proceeded to scream as if to say, "NO!  Don't leave me again." 

Since I have been home, Billy has mentioned that she is much more of a troublemaker than she was when I was gone.  She also fussed a little during swimming lessons today when I was in the water with her, but she had never done that with her dad.  As I think about it, it has become increasingly clear that she wants daddy to play with her and mommy to comfort her.  This morning when I took a shower, daddy worked at his computer and Audrey played quietly.  As soon as she saw me, she walked over to the toilet to play with it, tried to eat dog food, and grabbed a candle to chew on.  Ugh!  Evidentally I have somehow reinforced in Audrey, more than her dad, that bad behavior will garner attention from me.  This is definitely something we will have to work on! 

Bookworm

It always amazes me when I watch Audrey and see just how much she has grown.  This week, I have realized that she was not crawling much at all anymore.  Even if she is still a little wobbly, she is clearly starting to prefer walking to crawling.  This weekend, we visited Rolla for the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration.  Before we went, I was concerned that Audrey would be hard to handle because she would be wanting to crawl around.  This was not a problem, however, because all she wanted to do was walk. 

Audrey has also taken a keen interest in books.  One night last week, she walked into the bedroom, got a book off of the nightstand, brought it into the living room, and handed it to her dad.  She happily sat in his lap as he read a story from the book to her.  At daycare, they said that she will get a book and sit down with it in the floor and start "reading" to the class.  If no one is paying attention, she will talk louder and louder until someone begins to pay attention.  I hope she maintains this interest as she gets older.   We will read her books as long as she'll let us! 

Boots, Blocks, and Dirty Socks

Audrey is starting to refine her motor skills and is now able to use her hands for activities that require some precision.  She uses these newfound skills when playing with her "blocks."  They are actually plastic 3D shapes that are hollow and have an opening on one side.  She has 2 sets, one of which is slightly smaller than the other.  So, she has discovered that she can put the smaller square inside of the bigger one, and so on.  In general, she just loves putting items inside of other things.  Here are a few stories about Audrey's newest fascination: 

One morning last week, I was getting ready for work, and looked over to see Audrey put the square blocks together, and then drop them inside of my rain boot. She then decided she wanted them back, so she tried to fetch them, but realized that would require her to stand and stretch to get her hand down to the bottom of the boot.  After much effort, she managed to pull the small of the two blocks out of the boot, but it was no longer inside of the bigger one. She stuck her face into the opening of the boot to try to see it, but of course had no light to see where the other block might be. She stuck her hand down there and fished around, but still couldn't find it. Then, she tried dropping the smaller block in and pulling it back out. I am not sure if she was expecting the other block to reappear at some point, but after about 5 times, she got tired of it. I finally fished out the big block, which had gone into the toe of the boot. That is probably why she couldn't find it.

Saturday was laundry day.  I had a ton of laundry to do, so I sorted it in piles on the floor. Throughout the day, I would fold the load in the dryer, move another load to the dryer, and put a new one in the washer, etc. Audrey was fascinated by the whole process, and really liked to pull socks (both hers and ours) out of the piles on the floor and drag them into other parts of the house.  She would also sit and stare at the washer during the spin cycle, because it is a front loader with a clear plastic door.  After moving some clothes out of the washer and into the dryer, I was hanging up some shirts and left the washer door open.  Audrey walked over to the pile of dirty clothes I had sitting by the washer, picked up a pair of her pants, walked over to the washer, and put her pants in it.  After watching me all day, she had figured out the system.  I couldn't believe how quickly she caught on.  It makes me really aware of just how much she is learning from my every action.   

Yesterday, she got the remote from the TV in the bedroom off of the nightstand.  With the remote in hand, she walked into the kitchen, where the dogs' bowls sit.  Next thing we knew, she dropped the remote in the water bowl.  It is now sitting in a cup full of rice on the kitchen counter drying out.