It's all fun and games until you get trapped on a patio

Audrey had the best weekend ever.

The weekend before last I was very busy with derby. Which means I did not get to spend much time with JT and Audrey. As a result, last weekend was family fun weekend.

We did all of the fun things. We went and had beers on the patio at Hop Cat. We subsequently got trapped on the patio when their systems crashed. Read, no one could pay or get their check.

At bedtime.

It was not ideal.

Eventually, for the good of the public, we threw some cash on the table and left. Baby girl needed to go to bed. Other than the computer snafu, it was great. How can you go wrong with 100 beers on tap!

On Saturday we went to the local water park. Audrey loved playing in the splash pad and sitting in the shallow water. However, she loved being zoomed through the water by us most. To keep with the theme of the weekend, she did not get to be zoomed in the water until it was almost time to go because someone puked in the pool right when we got there.

I am not kidding.

Apparently, it takes a half an hour or so to clean and sterilize a puked in pool. When we finally were able to get in the pool Audrey had a blast. She only unintentionally put her face in the water once. Water is tricky, so clear it looks like air to babies. JT went down the slides. Audrey is still just a hair too short for the slides.

I don't have any pictures of the water park. Sorry.

Finally, on Sunday we went to the regular park. Shasta even got to come. When we got there we were the only people there so Shasta got to have some off leash time. She thought it was pretty great. It was quite hot though, so she was spent by the time another family arrived and she had to get on the leash.

 Audrey also loved the park. Well she loved the swings. She was not quite as sure about the wood chips. She wanted to eat them, but did not like crawling or standing on them.

But she loved the swings. Like open mouthed, belly laughing loved the swings. She's going to be a daredevil that one. Loves to swing, loves to be zoomed through water, loves to be tossed, and loves it even more if you pretend to drop her. Sounds like she will make a good little athlete someday!

Family fun weekend was great. I can't wait to do it again next weekend.

In other news, Audrey is now crawling on her hands and knees, and is quite quick. She has also learned how to pull herself to standing. So, naturally that is all she wants to do.

Pull herself up on the granite fireplace, seems safe. Pull herself up in her crib, who needs sleep anyway. Pull herself up on the couch, sure why not.

I could go on and on. It seems like she is changing by the minute right now. Growing up is hard work, she should take a break.

Audrey: 9 months

Our little girl is turning into quite the big girl. This is abundantly clear in her 9 month onesie photos. I could not get her to sit still next to the mouse. All of the photos are out of focus or she is on the go. Baby girl has things to do and people to see. She can't sit still for pictures. Good thing we got some professional photos taken this month!

She is a lot bigger than the mouse now. You will have to take my word for it.

Audrey has been busy during the last month. She has been to Wisconsin twice and Minnesota once. One trip was a combo MN/WI weekend. So she has spent two of four weekends traveling around the big lake. She is great in the car but by the end of the last trip she was done. So were we.

She has slept all night long a couple times in the last month. It brings back memories of months 2.5 to 4. It sure is a nice treat when it happens. Here's hoping the all night sleep occurrences continue to increase in frequency. I do not expect this, but one can hope.

Moving has been a big passtime for the doots this month. She has been working on improving her crawling. She is way faster at army crawling than she was last month. She has figured out how to use her legs to help her along. She has also started to do some crawling on all fours. I expect she will take off when she perfects this.

She also has learned how to go from laying down to sitting up. This is a great skill to have. It allows one to sit up in their crib and rattle the bars when awake and bored at 2 am. Seriously though, it is super fun to watch her learn how to do things on her own.

We try really hard to mostly watch her in a hands off manner so she can learn to do things on her own. Of course we play with her, but we also try to let her learn to do things on her own. This has resulted in a few head bumps and some frustration, but it also has lead to her knowing how to hold her head up when she falls, among other things. Watching her slowly learn a new skill is amazing and fun in a way I just cannot explain. I think it must be evolution at work.

She has also started to try to pull herself up on things. She has only gotten as far as her knees at this point, but I imagine she will be standing up on her feet very soon. We already lowered her crib mattress. She fell off her changing table she doesn't need to fall out of her crib as well.

Audrey's other new love is food. She is really starting to love food. She is not crazy for plain vegetable baby food, but who can blame her? I try everything I feed her and the plain veggies are gross. She is happy to eat fruit and veggie mixes or actual vegetables. Tonight she enjoyed some potato and summer squash frittata.  So far, she will feed herself pretty much anything you put on her tray. I know this will almost certainly change, many picky eaters eat whatever you give them at this age. I certainly have not declared victory in the food battle at this early stage. But for now she is happy to eat what you give her. 

Hard boiled egg and blueberries? Sure. 

Fittata and teething biscuit? Yum.

Blueberries and cheddar cheese? Delicious.

Yum, frittata.

I think Shasta enjoys Audrey feeding herself in her high chair more than Audrey does. She is great at cleaning up all the food that does not make it to Audrey's mouth. It is the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Do you need help with that teething biscuit?

Audrey came and watched my bout in Wisconsin. She wore this beautiful boutfit! She loves the Vixens.

9 months is old. It is very close to a year. I bought a bunch of 12 month fall clothes today. I can't believe my baby is almost a year old, good grief.

We love watching her grow and change, though. So, without further ado here are the love hate lists.

Things Audrey LOVES right now

• The boo game
• The cats, oh my goodness she loves the cats
• Baby food pouches
• Crawling
• Crawling over to the door to try to chew on shoes
• Monster
• Being tossed in the air
• Penguins
• Bath time
• Her stuffed trout
• Laughing maniacally (I really need to get a video of this)

Things Audrey HATES right now

• Going to Wisconsin twice a month
• Saying up too late
• Being confined
• Putting on her jammies
• Laying on her changing table
• Being tired
• Falling on her face
• Having food (especially apples or peaches) taken away

On the whole she is a very happy little lady. She mostly only gets upset if she is overtired or you take something from her she really, really wants. We love our happy little girl so much. I still can't believe how excited I get to see her every single day. She is the best baby and we love her to the moon and back.

Lover of Penguins

Audrey is just like her daddy. She loves penguins. We went to the Detroit Zoo this weekend and of all of the animals she loved the penguins the most.

She probably would have loved watching the polar bears swim too, but the line to get to the underwater viewing areas was ridiculous and Audrey was tired and mom and dad were hungry. So we skipped swimming polar bears. Sorry doots. We'll see them at the Como zoo when we visit grandma and grandpa, you don't have to wait in an amusement park style line at that zoo.

We had a great time at the zoo. Audrey had lots of fun looking at all the people, flowers, and animals. But the only animals she got visibly excited about were the penguins. When they swam by she would squeal and jump and just get so excited.

It was adorable.

Learning about penguins.

Watching the penguins swim by with dad.

Please forgive the poor quality photos. It was dark in the penguin house and a flash would have ruined the atmosphere.

It was extra adorable because penguins are JT's favorite as well. He even has a master plan to get a pet penguin one day. He plans to create some sort of freezer habitat for his penguins. I think we will stick to cats and dogs for now, but I love that Audrey shares his love for little black and white birds.

She loves watching things swim. This was true in North Carolina as well. We need to take that girl to an aquarium sometime soon, or perhaps she will get a fish tank for her birthday.

Tired after a day at the zoo.

Baby's first wedding

Audrey has been a very busy baby. This may be a contributing factor in the awful sleep we have been experiencing of late. She also is growing, working on crawling, and maybe getting more teeth. We are adjusting to less sleep. Who needs sleep anyway. She was better last night, so here's hoping she keeps it up. That is all I am going to say about sleep.

The point was how busy Audrey has been. Last weekend we went to Winona, home of Winona State University, for Uncle Eric and Aunt Erikas' elopement party. Eric and Erika met at WSU, hence the location of the party. JT and I also met at Winona State, apparently it is a good place to meet a spouse.

They eloped to the Virgin Islands. They are smart people, they did not have to plan a wedding but they are happily married, best of both worlds. I can't believe my baby brother got married. He married an amazing woman. I could not be happier for them!

Eric and Erikas' party was great. We had a very nice dinner. Audrey even got her own plate. She ate a little bit of everything and dad ate the rest. She is really starting to love food! She is also getting better at feeding herself. At the wedding dinner she had salad, pears, carrots, chicken, potatoes, and squash. Good stuff.

After dinner we went to a local bar to party the night away. Audrey was a trooper and stayed up until about 9ish to party with everyone. She also enjoyed getting to meet a whole bunch of grandma Mary and grandpa Merlins' friends. She was happy to be passed from person to person. Seeing all of her grandparents and most of her aunts, uncles, and cousins was not so bad either. A wonderful time was had by all.

I failed as a mom blogger and did not take one single picture the whole weekend. I did steal this photo from Erika's facebook page. It is from breakfast on Sunday before we left. Baby girl was tired after a fun Saturday night. So was I, I stayed out until bar time, JT went back with Audrey. My parents also stayed out until bar time. Uncle Anders may even have video of grandma Mary headbanging.

Good job on a great party Eric and Erika. We wish you only the best in your life together!