Sunday school

Audra has never been a big fan of the nursery at church and we never liked the idea of leaving her if she was hysterical.
Other friends have told us their kids did better once they were in the two year old class because it is more structured than the nursery.
Needless to say we were excited for her to get to experience that! And we were excited to get to do church together again! Believe it or not she has stayed the last two weeks and Andrew and I have been able to stay in the sanctuary the whole time! Yay!!!
Here is her first Sunday school activity she brought home. So cute!!

Funny new words

A couple of Audra's favorite new words that she likes to incorporate wherever she can are actually and probably.

Last night I asked Audra if she wanted to pick her pjs and she said "no, I'm probably ok without my jammies."

If I ask her a question she will usually answer by saying, "actually..."
For example if I ask her if she wants pretzels she will say, "actually, I need an apple."

Last night after I read her a pile of books she pretended to keep reading them herself and every time she would set one down she said, "that's a great story!"

I don't know where she gets these things!

Castles for his princess

Audra and her daddy. Her number one thing she asks him to draw is a castle. A castle for his princess! We have castles on white boards and chalk boards and outside with sidewalk chalk. :)

Snuggles and story time with daddy

Audra will be 2!

Our sweet first born girlie will be 2 on Saturday and I can't even believe it has been that long since she first came into our lives. Our lives haven't been the same since and we will forever be grateful for that! I know it's been a REALLY long time since I have blogged but I wanted to take this moment to write down a few fun things that she is doing and saying these days so I don't forget!

She loves playing with her Little People and I love watching her imagination make up all kinds of stories for them. Like the other night her princess was in a tower of a castle by herself and a sheep came up and the princess said "No, mine!" so the sheep went in another tower and then Audra told the princess "No, share!" so then the sheep got to go in the same tower as the princess. :) It's so fun to watch her mind work and to listen in on her imagination!
She LOVES playing outside and especially going on runs with her daddy which usually include play time at the beach or playground or running trails. This girl has so much energy that our most peaceful mornings are when she can just play and play and play at a playground.
I remember when I was pregnant and she was so relaxed in my tummy. Well her brother on the other hand kicks ALL THE TIME!! I just know once he becomes mobile my hands are going to be more than full.

She is almost completely potty trained!!! We only do diapers at naps and bedtime and she has woken up dry from both on occasion. She still has had some accidents here and there but is doing sooo well! Ever since I showed her how to do her pants by herself her new thing is to turn around and put her hand out and say "No mommy! No Daddy!" and run to go to the bathroom by herself. Of course we go in to help her finish up but I love that she loves going to the bathroom and wants to be so independent about it. She got so used to me putting paper down when we were in public that when we went to someone's house she reminded me we needed paper and of course I explained to her we don't need to use paper at friend's houses. :)
I love hearing the different things she wants to pray about at night. It always varies but she had so much fun playing in the water at Legoland last week that her prayer the last few nights has been to thank Jesus for Legoland, the water park and the funny girls. (Four of her little girl friends played with her in the water at Legoland.) Gummies are usually on her list too as those are her potty treats!

She used to say "I was crying" every time Andrew and I would come home and so finally I asked her if she was just trying to tell us she missed us because in most cases she really wasn't crying while one of was gone. So now she says "I miss Mommy or Daddy."

She loves calling her dad honey or babe or Andune (Andrew) which I think is sooo cute!

She has gotten so good at saying "Thank you mommy" or "Thank you daddy" and I have to say it melts my heart almost as much as when she says "I love you"

If I ask her where her baby brother is sometimes she points to my stomach and sometimes she points to her own. :)

I don't want her to be bothered by my being pregnant but I guess it is practice for sharing mommy. When I was really sick my first trimester she used to say "You sick too" Sometimes she calls herself "you" so she was referencing herself. I have felt really great since I have been in my second trimester but I am still pretty worn out by the end of some days and so the other night she asked me for more water and I told her Andrew would love help her but to make sure she said please. So she said "Please Daddy more water? Mommy's tired" I didn't tell her I was tired but apparently she could tell!

A few weeks ago she was waking up around 5am EVERYDAY!!! and mind you she stays up until 8pm and naps for about an hour a day. But she would wake up crying so I knew she was still tired in the morning. For a couple days I talked to her about how she needed to sleep until it was light outside and that I wasn't going to come and get her if she was crying because it meant she needed to lay back down and go back to sleep. So the next morning she woke up at 4:30 and I didn't go in there and she fell back asleep until 7! Woke up and said "Mommy mommy! Look! It's light outside!" So then we had a couple blissful weeks of her just sleeping until 7! Now she wakes up closer to 6am but I will take that over 5am any day! I started realizing too that the sleeping until it's light outside would start to work to my disadvantage as it gets lighter a little bit earlier everyday. Only 3.5 more weeks until daylight savings!

She thinks everything can be solved by going to the store. If she asks for a certain snack that I don't have she will just say "Go buy at store mama!" After I check the mail she asked for some so I gave her a piece of junk mail and she asked for more mail and I told her I didn't have more for her and so she asked me to go buy her more at the store!

She LOVES helping me with everything and she loves to say "I'm helping mommy!!" If I can keep her busy feeling like she really is helping me then I can get something done. Like with laundry she loves just pulling it all out of the basket but if I ask her to say find all of Daddy's clothes for me she will bring me Andrew's clothes individually and I hurry to fold them before she hands me the next piece.
I feel so privileged to be her mommy and to get to watch her grow and discover life! I love watching each new stage she goes through and it just amazes me everyday how she is just her own little person!

16 months!

Audra went to her first Luau last month and loved every moment of it! Here she is playing in a little Hawaiian outfit before we left.

The 30 seconds I got her to sit.

LOVING watching the hula dancers!

Just with a couple of friends and not staying still for a moment. Another major highlight of the luau was POI!! Audra had her first taste of real Poi, I mean the stuff that has the consistency of sweet potatoes not the liquid stuff, and she couldn't get enough! I snagged a bunch before we left and she ate it for days. Making an mmmmmm noise with every bite! I guess she really is a sliver of Hawaiian!

We also made a trip to Oregon last month which was super fun! I was so glad to relax when we got there as I had been making wipes cases like crazy before we left. I think I finished at 10pm the night before we flew out. crazy i tell you! thankful for all of the work but I feel so bad for my little store it has been so neglected lately as I have been so busy keeping up with other orders!

One really fun thing we did while there was visit the carousel in salem. she was mezmerized watching it and then seemed so serious and not really sure the first couple of times she went around so we thought oh well let's just go. As we got in the parking lot she pointed back and said, "I go! I do!" I guess she liked it after all! So we went back for one more ride!

Another fun thing we did was go to Andrew's parent's house on the river for a Palmer family reunion!

Audra loved "watering" the lettuce.

Just hanging out with Grandpa Palmer!

We also went to visit the flower fields in Salem and they had all these cute chairs everywhere. I love this one of her with my Papa.

Me and my girl! She is already planning her next move.

Smelling the flowers! So cute!

The next week after we got back we went to Legoland and what made it even more fun is Andrew got to come to! Twice a year they send out bring a friend passes so it was fun for him to come and see where we hang every week!

Getting ready to ride the train!

Just me and my silly girl!

So fun to have a Daddy at Legoland!

It was perfect too because right after that we hit the road for camping up in Santa Barbara! Glad to wear her out for the long car ride. These were from our first night! So amazingly beautiful! The sunset was gorgeous and it was just so relaxing being there!

Our friends and neighbors Glenn and Amber! Audra and Mia really are the cutest friends! They always have so much fun together!

It was super windy the first night! Which I was kind of nervous about but it ended up being perfect white noise for sleeping.

The campsite was my kind of camping! A pool, showers, a playground, and a little store we could get coffee at early in the morning!

Andrew and Glenn had a race at Westmont on Saturday morning so we were there to cheer them on. After the race we headed to the beach for some DELICIOUS banana pancakes!

Our last night! We all had so much fun and the girls did so great with sleep and everything which was such a blessing! We had to do some adapting and juggling to get that to work of course but it was so worth it! We will definitely be going back soon!

One thing that was cute while we were camping was Audra kept asking for Lucy! All weekend! Lucy? Lucy? I kept telling her Lucy was at home and we would see her soon.

Just my sweet girl loving on her baby. Her baby who actually used to be her Auntie Kelly's baby and we are trying to keep injury free for Auntie Kelly's babies someday!

An airplane went by and of course we always have to say goodbye!

I just love the lighting after dinner this time of the year!

So big!

So thankful for our sweet girl and love watching her grow! We are learning a lot this month about listening and obeying! I have been enjoying this book, an oldie but goodie. It's one my mom gave me and has chapters broken down by age. I have also read this book and enjoyed parts of it. I really want to read this book next!

She has learned how to sign please and sorry and is having to learn to use sorry more often. She loves to say please for everything though and it is so cute! I love that she is learning manners even at her age especially since I am so over the whole whining and pointing for things. Thank you Kaitlin for the inspiration!

She now calls me Mommy and says Daddy instead of Mama or Dada.

Umm she has all of her 1yr molars now and is working on her eye teeth. When does teething ever end!!

She is saying lots of new words, I'm not sure I can remember them all though. She says beach now and says socks instead of shoes when referring to socks.

She is really into buckles right now. she will stand and play with the buckle on her high chair and she loves talking to me about her buckle on her car seat while we drive places.

That's all for now! Really looking forward to this month as we celebrate Andrew's birthday and get to spend some good time with my family before my parent's fly to HAWAII!!

15 months!

Well, just to make things more manageable I am going to make a strong attempt to at least do a little monthly update! I should be able to pull that off right?? :)

It is all a little out of order but here is a clip of the last month.

Here is our little fam on a torry pines hike. We love that place!

Audra loves to help me with the laundry! I'll ask her if she wants to help me and she will walk to the laundry closet and stand and wait. As soon as I open the dryer she will hold her hand out waiting for me to hand her clothes and then she puts them in! Such a fun little helper game!

When she wakes up for the day or from a nap usually the first thing she does is walk over to the iHome and point for me to turn the music on. If it's not her favorite song she will point again for me to change it to a different song. One thing is for sure, this little one knows what she likes!

Doing a little art project with stickers and markers.

She did a good job getting a couple of them on the paper and then colored over them.

This is her favorite beach game. Daddy builds and Audra smashes!

I painted her nails one night after her bath. She loved them! I left the nail polish bottle on the dinning room table and the next night after her bath she handed it to me thinking it was a new nightly ritual! So cute!

We got this cute table and chair set at the thrift store! She seems like such a big girl having snacks out of her high chair.

Had to post this cute one! She is wearing a sweater that my great grandma made for me.

She thought it was hilarious to wear my vest one night!

Just enough hair for some little pig tails now! :)

She loves eating with a fork!

Another new tradition is going on a run with daddy after work which mommy loves! Such a treat to get a moment of peace before dinner.

She spent the whole weekend with her daddy last weekend and they had such a sweet time together and I think really bonded on a different level. I loved seeing how extra snugly she was with him when I got home from my doula conference. The conference was amazing as a side note and that may be a whole blog in of itself.

She is 15 months now! Some other cute things she started doing this month:

• At bed time she now walks into her room, points to her ladybug that puts stars on her ceiling and then points at her crib to get in. So cute! She is so independent! I wish I could take credit for it but she started doing it all on her own.
• She also started sitting while she is waiting for something. I think because I tell Lucy to sit while she waits so one day Audra started doing it and I couldn't believe it!
• She LOVES shoes! She loves wearing them, she loves other people's shoes and she loves saying shoes.
• She got another molar this month bringing her up to three.
  
• I didn't take her paci away yet. I just couldn't do it! Bedtime is so peaceful and I'm not sure I'm ready for a change even if it is just for a few days. Plus we are going to oregon next week so my new plan is to do it when we get back. :)
  
• Generally she is a pretty obedient girl and I am so thankful for that! Maybe we haven't gotten to the real testing your boundaries age. Today she got upset because I took her shoes off when she got home and I told her in my serious mommy voice, "No no Audra we do not throw fits do we?" she looked at me seriously and shook her head no. AHH it is so hard not to smile sometimes when I am disciplining her she is just too cute!
  
• Just this week at Legoland she started enjoying the splash park! Every other time she has been nervous of the unpredictable sprinklers but this week she was loving it! Even the part where a bucket dumps on her head.
• Hmm what else... she likes to say "I do" a lot.
• She tries to say another and gets pretty close. Especially when we are in the car and she wants a different song. Sometimes I change it and sometimes I tell her no we are going to finish the song we are listening to. Audra's friend Finley's mama had a baby about a month ago so we took Finley to her dance class a couple of times. When we were in the car Finley would ask for another song so I think that's where Audra got it. So impressionable these little ones!
• She LOVES playing outside and the older she gets the more I am thankful that she can pretty much everyday.
• She has started using her potty chair again on occasion but only if I can get her to sit long enough.
• She likes to put things where they go or how they go. I had put some ducks in a play shopping cart and she pulled them out, put them on the floor, and they fell on their side. Before she could walk forward with the cart she said, "Uh Oh!" and had to set them upright. If Daine leaves his shoes by the front door she brings them to him and puts them in his lap for him to put them away. Also, one day he left his glasses case on the couch and she picked it up and put it on his bed. She now says Uncle Daine too. It comes out sounding like Un Daie. :)

That is all I can remember right now! We have her check up on Monday so I may update with her stats then. We are continually amazed at how she is growing and changing and what a sweet girl she is. So thankful that she is our sweet girl!

UPDATE: She is now 70th % for height at 31 inches! I thought she had gotten a bit taller since our last appointment. Just one more inch and she can ride more rides at LegoLand! Also she is 15th % for weight. Coming in just barely over 20lbs. Good thing we made that cut off since I already turned her car seat around. :)