Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.

Audrey got way more gifts than she could even need. That is OK. Everyone had fun spoiling her and she had fun too.

As you can see she got lots of loot. Including, a xylaphone, an animal train, a regular train, a ride on toy, a bus, a flashlight, dinosaur stackers, bath toys, books, and lots of clothes. She was not wanting for gifts.

We all had a wonderful Christmas with family. I hope you did too!

Snow Baby

Before we got ice, we got snow. It is no secret that I love snow. I am not so keen on ice, but snow I love.

There was enough snow to go sledding, make snowmen, go skiing, all of the wonderful snow activities. We were excited to share the fun of snow with Audrey. She experienced snow last year, but she was really little and not really able to play in the snow yet.

We got her all dressed up in her snow gear to see what she thought after the first big snow.

She was pretty unsure. She did know she for sure did not want to walk in the snow. She still doesn't try to walk in snow. She did eventually begin to play with the snow and she thought sledding down a a small hill in the front yard was pretty cool.

I think she will become a lover of snow.

Christmas is coming

For the last six years we have gone and cut down a Christmas tree at a local farm. For the last two Audrey has joined in the fun.

We go to Tannenbaum Farms. It is a fun place. You take a wagon ride out to the trees, they have a reindeer, a fire, hot cider and coco. The things memories are made of.

Last year Audrey was a little less than a month old. She came along bundled up in the sling. Based on the pictures I'm pretty sure it was realtively warm last year. I don't even have a winter coat on. Audrey had fun, she slept through the whole thing.

This year was a bit colder, by colder I mean it was about 25. Not exactly freezing, but not warm either. We bundled everybody up and headed out. Audrey had on two pairs of pants, a winter coat, hat, mittens, and I was wearing her so she had some heat from me. We thought this would be fine for a quick trip, we may have miscalculated. Live and learn.

We took the wagon ride out to the lot and chose pretty much the first tree we saw. We were not unaware of the fact that we had a baby with us. JT chopped that sucker down and we headed over to get it bundled, get some cider, and catch the wagon back.

 Everything was great until about halfway through the wagon ride.

Audrey started getting mad so I turned her around to my front so I could talk to her and warm her up. She was not interested. So I took her out of the carrier. Also not interested. We finished out the wagon ride with a fussy baby.

Honestly, we had not yet had an experience with not being able to calm her down when out in public. We really didn't know what else to do so she cried. I'm sure the other wagon riders just loved her.

I took her inside the warm shop to see Santa while JT paid. She was OK for a little bit but just as I tried to take a picture she lost it. I didn't want to make her sit there so we left.

And then baby girl absolutely lost her shit.

We sat in the car for at least 10 minutes trying to calm her down enough to leave. I tried nursing her, we turned the heat way up, we tried toys, books, everything. She was hysterical. And apparently cold. Elmo finally did the trick and we were on our way. Thank god for smart phones.

Next year snow pants and boots are mandatory. She has both of these things but we did not think to put them on her as there was no snow. Amateur hour, I know. Live and learn.

She seems to have warmed to the tree though. And really a family trip to cut down a tree would not be complete without tears, just ask any one of my siblings.

She got two ornaments this year. A penguin ball from us and a reindeer from grandma and grandpa.

You may also wonder if Audrey tries to play with the tree. The answer is no. How can this be? We bought a blue spruce. It is quite sharp. She will go over and touch it and look at us like "why is this so pokey."

Mean? Perhaps, but so far it has worked.

I can hardly wait to see what next year at the tree farm brings.

Born to be a dad?

Today while fighting to get Access to accept the data I was trying to import I got to thinking. Uh-oh, right?

We often hear people say that a woman was born to be a mom, or some variation on that theme. People have said it to me. I say thank you, feel good for a little bit and go about my business. It is a nice thing to say, I think.

What I rarely, or maybe even never, hear is people telling men they were born to be a dad. I may just be oblivious. People often tell men they are great dads. Which is nice and wonderful. But, can men not be "born to be dads?"

A text JT sent me got me started down this path. Yesterday he went to the gym and basketball after work so he got home after Audrey went to bed and he didn't see her all day. He texted me and said "How do people travel I already miss Doots so much." I said it is hard but you do what you have to do, I travel more than him I have the experience here.

At any rate, I was thinking about how sweet that text was and how much JT loves being a dad. And I thought you know what, he was born to be a dad. He gets more joy from that child than most anything else in life. Hence, the deep thoughts with Kristin post.

My point is, can't men be innately disposed towards parenthood just as women can be? I think so. OK, here is where I may lose some of you...so why is being born to be a mom enough for women but not enough for men? Or maybe that isn't why people don't tell men they were born to be a dad. I'm not sure. But it seems to me that a man's desire to be a parent above all else is just as valid as the same desire in a woman.

So maybe we should start recognizing those men who seem "born to be dads" a bit more. I don't think JT would be offended if someone said, "you are such a wonderful father, you were just born to be a dad."

We could debate if that statement, said to a man or a woman, is offensive. But for now I would prefer to just take it at face value as a compliment towards one who gets joy from parenting.

Here is to all those dads who are innately good at being parents, who get joy and fulfillment from their children. I have several in my life and am certain there are more out there than many realize!

Audrey: 12 Months

I'm going to write this update letter style. It is a bigger milestone than an monthly update, so it should be different.

Dear Audrey,

You, my baby girl, just turned one. I cannot believe you have been with us for a whole year. I asked your dad a couple weeks ago if he remembered what life was like before we had you and he simply said "no." He did not mean it is a bad way, he meant I can no longer imagine my life without Doots. I can't either.

You are such an amazing little girl. You are walking everywhere these days. You are sleeping all night long. You love to play and chatter. You love, love the pets. You love food, all kinds. You will eat almost anything right now. Last night you had shrimp, cabbage, and bell pepper stir fry. You wolfed it down and asked for more. Please continue to be a good eater as time goes by, your dad and I really like to eat a wide variety of food. Basically, you love life. At least I think you do.

You also love your dad and me a lot more than you used to. Well, I'm guessing you have always loved us a lot, but you never have really seemed to care if we are around. That has changed a bit, you seek us out a lot more and are slow to leave our side when out. You still are very independent, but it sure is nice to have you acknowledge that we are important to you. Because you sure are important to us.

Your communication skills have really started to blossom in the past week or so. You seem to be adding words. But more importantly, you appear to acknowledge an answer select questions. You also signed milk for the first time yesterday. That was pretty cool! I know I will regret saying this when you are asking me a million questions, but I am so excited for you to be able to communicate with us. Won't it be nice when you can tell us what you want.

Of course the other side of the communication equation is communicating your frustration. You definitely have started to throw fits when you don't get what you want. I know you would like to play with the remote all day and night, but it just isn't going to happen. Currently, you are pretty quick to get over your disappointment. I know that won't last either.

Your first year has been wonderful. Your birth was great! We struggled to breastfeed, but we persevered and you are still going strong. You came with us to cut down your first Christmas Tree. You saw snow. You rolled, you crawled, you walked. You took an airplane ride to see grandma and grandpa, we take another one tomorrow. At 6 am., Here's hoping it goes as well as the first. You watched mom play roller derby. You watched dad run races. You went to the zoo. You went on a road trip to the beach in North Carolina. You swung. You dressed up as a giraffe. You became a little girl. A toddler.

Some things have stayed pretty consistent. You like your sleep. You love your monster. You love the pets, all animals really. You love music. More recently you love to dance. You love daddy. You love going for runs and walks in the woods. You love to be tossed, dropped, swung, etc. You love life, I would say. Though you do still hate getting your nose wiped and most of the time your diaper changed.

You are my sweet, independent, bubbly, happy, smart, energetic girl. I love you so much, Audrey. I could not ask for a better baby girl.

Happy birthday. I hope you enjoy your cake this weekend more than you enjoyed your cupcake on your birthday.

Love,
Mama

Audrey: A year in reivew. Without words because I am lazy.

I will do a word filled one year post later this week, when I have the time and brain capacity. For now, here is a post filled with our most favorite year one pictures of Audrey. It was hard but we got it down to our top 40 or so.

A compilation of all of her monthly pictures is at the very bottom. Yes, I put it at the end so you have to look through all of the other pictures first. There aren't that many. They are roughly in order. Enjoy!