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.

My Sprightly Sprout

Audia is asserting her independence and revealing her character more and more each day. And while of course there are days where I feel like pulling my hair out, passing her off to the next able-bodied adult, and locking myself in a sound proof room for an hour (as there will inevitably be with any almost-two-year-old, especially one as willful as my own), I am also having so much fun watching her explore and engage and grow!

Her new favorite thing is stickers!

If there is one thing that Audia isn't, it's shy. Sometimes she will take a little while to warm up to a person or a situation, but it usually isn't long before she is giving anyone and everyone her toys and books, engaging them in conversation, and even telling them that she loves them. This past weekend we went to my cousin's graduation open house, and it was the perfect venue to really discover the depth of her inner socialite. Within minutes, she was wandering around the back yard party, into groups of complete strangers, chatting up a storm. As her mom, 80% of me is totally thrilled that she shows no signs of having the paralyzing shyness that I had as a child. But 20% of me can't help but worry that she may never grasp the concept of "stranger danger." Though she's ridiculously smart, so I am probably selling her short in saying that.

As her vocabulary continues to explode, so does her desire to assert her independence. She will do things I told her 3 seconds prior not to do, looking me in the eye with a "so what are you going to do about it?" look. Time outs have become a necessity, but the good news is it usually only takes one to get her to listen pretty well to everything else the rest of the day.

Audia yelling at me about something

Another trait that continues to unveil itself is her absolute sweetness. She loves to snuggle, regularly gives us and her grandparents hugs and kisses, and says "love you *insert name here*" about a bazillion times a day. She also has really gotten into taking her baby dolls everywhere, feeding them, giving them kisses, and taking care of them. I only hope that her interest in babies will carry over to when we decide to add to our little family :-)

I have signed us up for 'mommy and me' swim lessons, which start next week, and am really looking forward to meeting some other mommies and kiddos around her age. With her being as people-oriented as she is, we definitely need to find her some more kids to engage with!

Our Sprightly Sprout

AZ June 2010

I haven't written in what feels like ages. A few weeks can fly by when you're as busy as I've felt I've been. With Chris' new job, I'm back to being a full time stay at home solo mom. Add to that Audia's shenanigans and I've been one busy busy mommy! Between her language explosion, mastering use (and abuse) of my iPod touch, wanting to be outdoors 24/7, and really beginning to (i think) hit those terrible two's, she's been more than a full time job. I, of course, wouldn't have it any other way!


My birthday was towards the end May, though pretty uneventful. And my BFF, N, had her baby boy, M on May 24th. He is such a perfect little dude; he seriously could be a model already!! We were lucky enough to meet him over Memorial Day weekend. I couldn't be happier for N and her family. It certainly has given me the baby bug!!

Then there was the trip this past weekend out to Arizona for my sister-in-law's wedding. We were only able to go out there Thursday til Sunday because Chris didn't want to ask for any more time than necessary off of work, so we had a LOT to fit into a very short period of time. Add the two hour time difference in on top of that, and Audia was sure tested to her limits....and boy did she pass with flying colors!!! On Thursday, we really tested her. She was fantastic on the plane, waited patiently while we got our rental car, and didn't fuss much during the 2+ hours we spent in the car. She went from 7 am until midnight without a nap and didn't have any meltdowns or tantrums at the rehearsal dinner, which I was sure she would. We stayed with Chris' parents all weekend, which was really nice. They are such great people, and Audia really enjoys spending time with them. They certainly went above and beyond to make our stay with them enjoyable :-) Friday was the wedding, which was very nice despite being outside in the 105 degree heat! I was the photographer, so Chris got to manage the munchkin throughout the majority of the evening. Another late night, but at least Audia got a nap that day :-) Saturday we had lunch with friends, which was SO fun (I miss you guys!!!!!), and in the afternoon/evening was the reception. We were so burnt out from the previous days that we called it a night early, only to get up at the crack of dawn to make our flight back to MN. It was definitely a nice weekend, but certainly more activity than I would choose to pack into such few days. I am definitely more of a 'vacation' person than a 'trip' taker :-)

Phew! Ok well I think that covers the past few weeks....though goodness knows I'll think of something else tomorrow. ;-)