New Apartment

As many IRL readers already know, we have been living with my parents for the past year+. Well, just last week, we finally moved out and into our own apartment! It feels a little odd to be moving back into an apartment....Chris and I always rented houses in Phoenix, so this is actually our first apartment together! Feels kind of funny to say considering we've been living together for 6 years now.

We are really happy with our complex. It is a newer build, so it is all concrete construction, which makes for very quiet living. A must for me. I am super sensitive to sound, especially whilst sleeping.

The best part of our new apartment, though, is that Audia finally has her own room!! When we were still in AZ, she had her own room but was so young that she was still sleeping in ours. So this is her first real experience with having her own room, and man does she love it! She has an awesome view of the wooded area just outside, and across the street from, our side of the building. Check out photos below.

I think her favorite part of her room is the mirrored, sliding closet doors. She frequently opens the door, steps in, closes it and says "Going on the elegator!" (her word for elevator) She also loves dancing in front of, and talking to herself in, the mirror.

2 Years

TWO!

Two years ago, our beautiful little girl started amazing us on day one. Lifting her own head just hours after she was born was the beginning of what I am sure will be a lifetime of flabbergasting, mind-blowing, heart-melting achievements.

Here is our munchkin on her first day in the world.

And here she is today.

Her 2 year appointment went really well. Dr. S. was amazed at her speaking in full sentences. Audia greeted her by saying "Hi, Dr. S!" and promptly reciting her ABC's. At 26 lbs and 36.5 inches, she is in the 25-50th percentile for weight and off the charts for height! No big suprise there, but fun to hear, nontheless :-)

These days, these are the things our little sprite is doing:

• She can recite her entire ABC's and count to 15
  
• She loves (and is very good at) puzzles
  
• She is speaking in full sentences, and says the funniest things! Just the other day she said "Audia's havin' a rough time today." Seriously?? What 2 year old do you know that says things like that??
  
• She is figuring out the difference between first and third tense, though she still uses them interchangebly
  
• She loves Yo Gabba Gabba and Elmo
  
• She takes such good care of her baby dolls, regularly giving them hugs and kisses and telling them that she loves them
  
• She asks for a kitty cat every 3 or 4 days. I am still trying to decide if we should give in and get one.
  
• She cleans everything. She loves taking tissues, napkins, or wet wipes and wiping off every surface in sight. (I really hope this trait sticks...as long as it doesn't become compulsive, of course!)

There are, of course, many other things she's doing but these are the things that stand out to me.

Audia Suzanne, your mommy and daddy couldn't be more proud, more happy, more in love, more thankful. All because of you. You are the sweetest, funniest, smartest, most adventurous, curious, and beautiful girl ever to exist. Little girls do not come in more perfect packages than you! Happy Birthday!

August

August came and went without a single blog entry?! Where the heck have I been?? LOL. With an almost 2-year old (next week, to be exact!), time really manages to get away from me.

Let's see if I can do a semi-quick recap of the end of summer (which it really feels like, as today it is quite cool, cloudy, and extremely windy! No slow transition into fall. Just BAM! Here it is!):

We had a couple of playdates with our BFFs, N and A.

My first friend from college, Janice (aka Mommy On The Move) was out here visiting family for a little while at the beginning of the month, so we had the benefit of seeing her and her family. Audia absolutely loved playing with so many kids around her age, and weeks later still says "Mommy, see Abby see Jake!" One time, when I told her that we cant, she cocked her head to the side with a disappointed look on her face and said "Yeah, Texas." (where Abby and Jake live) She cracks me up!

We spent a lot of time outdoors, though less time than we'd have liked. It got super hot mid-August (90's with 70% humidity), and the mosquitos are especially bad this year. Poor Munchkin got her mommy's mosquito magnetism...they flock to us and pretty much leave Chris totally alone.

We went to the cottage for a three day weekend to see Nana, Grandpa Mustache, Uncle Brent, and Cooper. Audia loves it up there so much. She asks to go to the cottage at least once a week, and always throws in "see Bana, Grampa Nash, and Cooper!" when she asks about it. I feel so lucky that she (we) has such a special place to go and spend time with family in the warmer months. And that she will grow up knowing the same excitement, exploration, and relaxation that her daddy grew up knowing :-)

Last, but certainly not least, we of course went to the Minnesota State Fair! We went twice this year; once with my parents, and once with D, N, and A. We couldn't have asked for better weather, and Audia loved it so much that both times when we left, she got upset and said that she wanted to "stay at fair!" All the people watching, great food, and animals.....who could blame her?? Nothing beats the Great Minnesota Get Together!

Summer 2010 Audiaisms

Audia pretty much keeps me laughing 24/7. The things that come out of her mouth range from hysterical to amazing to horrifying. Here are a few examples from the past couple of months:

• While I was getting packed for the cottage, Audia came up to me and said "Look, mommy! Boobies!" I look down and she has two crumpled up reciepts stuffed into her tank top.....in the proper location, no less!
• When I told her one day that we were going with Grandma to the Galleria, she said "Buy Audia new toy!" (maybe a sign that her grandma buys her too many toys?!?!)
• One morning while I was getting dressed, Audia was looking through a book that had a picture of a cat in it and she said "Audia kitty cat please!" I said to her, "You'll need to ask daddy for a kitty. Maybe he'll get you one," to which she replied, "Audia talk daddy want kitty cat please."
• One day while I was doing some stuff on the computer, she was playing on the floor near my feet. I guess I was subconsciously wiggling my toes, because she came over, put her hand on my foot, and said, "Toes down, please!" When I stopped wiggling them, she said "Love you, toes!"
• I walked into the room while she was playing and she said "Go away please. Audia leave alone." (so independent already!)
• When walking with our friends M and O, M said to Audia "You are so silly!" to which Audia replied, "No! Audia happy!"
• One morning when Audia woke up, I asked her if I should turn the light on and she said "No! Audia sleep more!"

Where, oh where did July go?!

We've certainly been keeping busy this summer! Let's see, what've we done since I last wrote??

Well, we had a bocce ball party a couple of weekends ago. Audia really loved all the company (and attention!), and kept things interesting by moving people's bocce balls around.

The following weekend, we went up to the cottage for a long weekend. Chris took Friday off of work, and when we got there, decided to call in and take Monday off too :-) It was the perfect weekend to do it; the weather was absolutely gorgeous during the days and stormy at night.

Our friends N, D, and A came up on Saturday and stayed over Saturday night. It was so much fun! The girls seemed to have a blast together, and of course we adults enjoyed ourselves as well :-)

N, D, and A left midday Sunday, and Chris' mom came up with Cooper on Sunday afternoon. Audia loved seeing them both! Nana helped to teach Audia some of Coopy's hand signals, and I think she did a pretty good job of telling him what to do!

The skies that night were absolutely gorgeous! We were all sad to leave Monday afternoon. Hopefully we'll get up there again a few times before it starts to get chilly!

Last week, Audia was introduced to her new favorite toy. Out with stickers (last month's obsession) and in with

Play Doh!

She literally asks to play with it Every. Single. Day. She loves the stuff! And, as a bonus, she hasn't put it in her mouth once! (I was a notorious eater of play doh)

This week has been busy as well! We had a play date with N, A, and baby M on Monday morning, and yesterday we joined the three of them at the zoo! It was a blast.

The girls were so cute! Audia walked up to Autumn at one point and said "Hold Autumn's hand?" and they walked around for a while holding hands.

Baby M is such a little champ! He is only 2 months old, and he slept pretty much the entire time we were at the zoo! He only woke up for a little while when we were riding the tram. Get a load of this handsome dude!

I sure hope my second child is as easy as he seems to be (at least in comparison to other babies I've known...ahem....AUDIA!)

Today was shopping with Grandma, and tomorrow will be an afternoon outing with our friend Kit....we are keeping busy, that's for sure!

Summertime fun

We sure have been busy here at the CB house. Last weekend we had the pleasure of spending the weekend up at the cottage with Chris' parents and Cooper, who once was our dog and is now theirs (though I still refer to myself as his mommy because, after all, I did raise him!). The weather was gorgeous, and we had a lot of fun outside. We went for a nature walk and went swimming and played on the beach. Audia loves her Nana (who she still calls "Bana", which is also her word for Banana...) and Grandpa Mustache (who she calls "Grandpa Nash") so much, and adores Coopy almost as much. He is much more kid-friendly than my parents dog, Buddy, who pretty much avoids Audia when he can.

This past week Audia and I started swimming lessons, which really is more just like swimming time. No formal teachings whatsoever, just getting used to the water and playing with toys and mingling with other babies. She is the oldest in the class by 3 months, and the youngest is 6 months. And, she is by far the most willful (no big suprise) and vocal. She really enjoys swimming, but has no interest in floating on her back or her tummy. I'm hoping she'll be more comfortable with time.

Fourth of July weekend has been nice. We've been doing a lot of lounging and playing. On Saturday we went with N, D, and A to a nearby lake to go swimming and have a picnic. The girls seemed to have a blast, and of course we parents did too. The time always goes by too fast when we hang out with them, though! The day flew by in a flash. We didn't partake in any July 4th festivities. We ran some errands, did some lounging, and after Audia was in bed, we met N and D for some pie (I guess that's kind of American, yes?) and managed to catch some fireworks from the street outside of where we got our pie.