Sibling Snapshot - Audra 1 year, Xavier 5.5 years

AUDRA:
Audra had her 1 year check up yesterday and Dr. Jen was amazed by her mobility skills.  Dr. Jen was also surprised to get an "uh-oh" when Audra dropped her pacifier.  Xavier was with us and said he was going to throw up when Audra got her shots.  He's so empathetic :)  1 year shots knocked this girl out and have the cutest big girl SNORE!!



Audra's 1 year stats (a few weeks after her actual first birthday are):
Height: 31 inches, 93 percentile
Weight: 22 pounds, 74 percentile
Head Circumference: 18 inches (1/2 inch smaller than Xavier)

Comparing to Xavier at this same age, Audra is the same exact height but 4 pounds lighter.

Favorite Foods:  Pancakes, oranges, Cheerios, peas, meatballs, cheeseburgers, broccoli, grapes
Favorite Toys:  Stuffed animals, anything with big eyes, her dino ball popper (also Xavier's at this age).
Favorite Activities:  Crawling to Jasper and giving him her toys, giving me her food and putting it in my mouth, sitting on a blanket and playing with her toys in the front yard.
Least Favorite Activities:  Being held or having people give her a kiss or hug.  She will swat at you til you get off her.  Getting her face or nose wiped.  Generally, being touched.
Trademark:  When she smiles really big, she gets the cutest dimple on her right cheek!
Signature Moves:  When we get the Puff's container out (now filled with Cheerios) she gets so excited!  Jumps up and down, flaps her hands, gets the biggest smile!  Audra calls everything "doggy".  She loves to grab the sunglasses off our face and throw them on the ground.  If a large object is in her way, she will just move it and push it away (coffee table, the dog's cage)!  She also takes any object that looks like a cell phone and puts it up to her ear, but more behind her head and then babbles.  She likes taking toys and throwing them behind her head (completely unsure why!).  In the morning when she wakes up, playing in her crib with her bumpers and blankets for an hour or more before she tries to call us to let her out.


Audra's personality is very chill (even as Dr. Jen noticed).  She entertains herself and is always in the best mood.  She rarely cries and has had no signs of separation anxiety, so far.  She loves to laugh her big throaty laugh, especially at Xavier's goofy tricks and funny voices.  She loves meeting new people and gives them the biggest smile.  We love how excited she gets about things she loves and can't wait for what the next year brings as she learns (and hilariously messes up) new words!


XAVIER:
We've said it time and time again; Xavier is a natural born leader.  He immediately becomes center of attention for any sized group of people (kids or adults) he is around.  His pre-K teacher, Ms. Maya, tells us he always participates in class and always has stories to share.  He has developed this quirky voice when talking to adults and correcting their wrong pronunciation of his name.  He asks lots of questions, loves celebrating holidays, and likes having family picnics in the front yard.  Like me, he always makes Daddy write notes (immediately) so he won't forget things to get for him.  Last nights note was to "take the shamrock to work".  A few days ago when I kissed Xavier good bye for the morning, he said "while you're here, can you figure out my snack (for pick up from Karli's)?  I don't like fruit snacks."  X is a master at his math skills, is a huge fan of flat chicken nuggets and chocolate chip muffins, and his favorite gum is Extra's Watermelon flavor.  His favorite music is any dance tunes by Britney Spears and Young Blood (5 Seconds of Summer).




At the OSU planetarium.  I was so proud of all the questions Xavier asked at the end, in front of all the people that were there.


Last night, we played with the neighbors and the kids (all older than him) were figuring out what to play.  Xavier said "let's play hide and seek."  the other kids hesitated and said "Uhhhmm...".  Xavier said "You guys hide and I'll count, 1, 2, 3...."  Next thing the others knew, they were on their way to hiding like "what just happened, guess we are hiding now."  It was so awesome to watch.  I need someone like him on my team at work!

Audra's First Birthday

It's official!  Our sweet, baby girl has turned the BIG one!  We celebrated with my family at Chuck E. Cheese near my hometown.  It's the exact same one that I went to during my childhood, which brought back so many memories!  Xavier had a blast playing all the games and both kids really enjoyed watching Chuck E. Cheese come on stage and do his little song and dance show.

We picked a unicorn theme for her party.  Audra loves her unicorn stuffed animals so it was the perfect choice.  We had a bakery in town make her unicorn smash cake.  It was a two-tiered, vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.  It looked and tasted amazing!!





We used this cake as her smash cake and handed out cupcakes to the guests.  She very carefully got into her smash cake, putting just one finger in the frosting and licking it.  Steve also helped her by putting some on his finger and letting her taste.  She didn't really like it and wanted to spit it out.  Her favorite part was putting her whole hand in the hair that was on the front.  We also did a smash cake birthday photo session for her at J.C. Penney and she reacted pretty much the same way with that cake.  Although we got some amazing cake pictures from that session, she doesn't seem to be a fan of cake!

For the decorations, I put together a collage of her monthly photos we took of her next to her very first stuffed animal that Steve got for her, a pink penguin.  Steve bought it because my favorite animal is penguins.  It's fun to see how much she grew month to month.



I had a design artist make Audra's sign telling everyone a little about what she's been up to.  I thought it would help family members to get a sense of where she's at now since she's been changing so fast.  Things to note - she loves screaming contests with Xavier!  They sit in the back seat and go back and forth, screaming at each other, laughing hard!  She also calls most things "doggy".  She loves the ABC song and always laughs and claps her hands when she hears it.  And when she sees books with pictures of other babies (I am a Baby), she points to the babies and says "doggy". haha!  She's the best!


For the food, we had pizza and pop provided by the restaurant and everyone went nuts over how good their pizza was.  It was stuffed crust and so delicious.  I can't wait to celebrate my birthday there! (wink, wink)  For the favors, Lori had a bakery she knew of make unicorn decorated, almond flavored cookies and gooey, chocolate cake pops.  Both were delicious and everyone went wild for them.  I had some extra cookies to take to work and got so many compliments.













And last but not least, we put on display Audra's time capsule that she will open when she turns 10.  Inside were some examples of today's product packaging, a kids entertainment magazine, menu from a restaurant, and some receipts showing today's prices.

And just this morning, she waved to me.  She's growing up way too fast!!  Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet Audra.  You've brought so much joy into our lives.  We can't wait to see what the future holds for you and love you so much!

Halloween 2018

Another Halloween has come and gone and we are not sad about it, cuz we are ready for the most wonderful time of the year!

This year's Halloween night was a little tough because Trick or Treat was right in the middle of Audra's bedtime.  So, for the first year ever, we split up.  Steve took Xavier to Trick or Treat in a part of town that had a fun block party/festival for the kids.  I stayed home with Audra and passed out candy.  It was fun interacting with the kids who stopped by.  They have no filters and say anything they want!  My favorites were the kids who would yell at each other because one would take too much candy and Mom said to only take 1!

Xavier as Captain America!

Audra as Raggedy Ann!

Audra the Cat!

Xavier ran into the police officer who he had a picture with last year (when his costume was a police officer)!!  The officer said he saw the picture of the 2 of them on UA's website for this year and was said he got relocated and didn't think he'd get to see Xavier again.  Luckily, we relocated Xavier for Trick or Treat night too!

Some other things we did to celebrate the holiday were to go to the Market District's Trick or Treat event, read Halloween stories from the library (Xavier's favorite this year was How to Make Friends with a Ghost), and decorate with the giant spider outside and spiderwebs and Halloween lights throughout the house.

Xavier's favorite part is at the end and he says "Awwwww"!  He also knows almost every word to this book!

We love getting Halloween cards from Aunt Cindy.  Xavier asked to spend his money at Target (just like his Momma!)

Audra's first piece of mail!

And now, we start decorating for Christmas!

Festive Fall Fun

We are in my favorite season as a parent with kids.  There are so many things to do with kids this time of year, it's by far my favorite time.  Year after year, nothing gets us more in the mood than first - the drop in temperatures, and also watching OSU football, burning fall scented candles, jumping in leaf piles, and making s'nores (as Xavier calls it) over an outdoor fire.  

The first cool weekend we had, we all went to Jacquemin Farms to pick pumpkins and ghords for decorating the house.

She's standing!! Big girl!

Always watching her brother.  Xavier is wearing his PJ Masks pajamas that are too small, but he refuses to let us throw them out!

Painting rocks we found in spooky ghosts and monsters to give to his friends.

Making bird feeders!  We got the idea from the book Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf that his teacher read in pre-K class.

Ready for the game!

Daddy and Xavier did a great job!

Sibling Snapshot - Audra 7.5 months, Xavier 5 yrs

We are in the middle of Halloween season and looking forward to carving our pumpkins this weekend.  This week, Xavier's pre-K class took a fieldtrip to Leed's Farm and I joined.  I love going on field trips with my guy!  He got to take home a pumpkin pie pumpkin and asked that we make a pie out of it.  It's the first time (and will also be the last) that we made a pie from a real pumpkin.  It tasted great, but it took almost 3 hours from start to finish!  The seeds were amazing, as always!

Feeding the donkeys!  He does this every year we bring him!

The bees were the kids favorite.  They stayed here, watching them for 10 minutes!

He's loved this slide since he was 3!

I have pics of him in this same pose at age 4 and age 3!!  His favorite slide!

hayride! Xavier is on the end.

Xavier (5 years) - A natural born leader, always suggesting games we should play and never a dull moment.  His Pre-K teacher (Ms. Maya) says he's always got a story to tell and is very entertaining.  The kids swarm to him on the playground the one day I dropped him off later than usual because of a doctor's appointment.  He loves to participate in school, always offers answers to his teacher's questions.  He loves to play super heroes, enjoys the outdoors, asks me to play Halloween music (my favorite too!), and sets a good example for his sister.  He recently has been helping unload the dishwasher by putting the silverware in the drawer.  We love to paint rocks together with Halloween themes, his favorite book at the moment is "How to Make Friends with a Ghost", and he's always negotiating with us how he can stay up for "1 more minute".  He loves being festive with me and has asked for even more Halloween decorations to be put up in the house.  At afternoon pick up, he still asks me every day if I brought him a snack.  He is a planner and had me write him a note with all the upcoming holidays so he could track them.  He's obssessed with the Halloween movie theme song, which he calls Michael Myers, and when he hears it, he acts like the character.  His heart is gold and his imagination is wild!

Audra (7.5 months) - The easiest baby!  Her little personality is starting to show and she is a curious baby, always scooting towards any new toy or item she notices in the house.  She is drawn to power cords (boo!!) and enjoys all of Xavier's toys.  She's eating all kinds of pureed food and has yet to majorly dislike anything.  Tho she's not a fan of meats that don't have fruit added to them.  Her favorites are chicken and apples, anything with mango, apple and pumpkin, apricots, and all other sorts fruits (blueberries, bananas, apples especially).  Her mood is almost always content, and she is most entertained when I put her in the pack and play and let her watch Xavier play.  When someone greets her, she gets the biggest smile and kicks her legs with excitement.  She's started getting up on all 4's and is so close to crawling.  She's mastered scooting, pulling herself up from laying on belly to a sitting position, and is very stable at sitting.  She zooms across the room in her walker chair.  We tried giving her a tiny bite of watermelon (not in her fresh food feeder) and she gave a yucky face.  It's the first time we'd seen that face when offering her food!  She sleeps from 7pm til 9am, usually with no middle of night crying or feeding.  She takes one afternoon nap, around 1pm.  She is the happiest baby and is so easy at this point!!

She looks so little in her big room!

Playing with the blocks her brother played with at this age.

With her favorite stuffed unicorn and penguin. 

Comparison of the kids - We've noticed Audra is more active and mobile than Xavier was at this age.  She sees something new and has to scoot towards it and explore it.  Xavier used to sit and be happy just watching new things.  Audra also doesn't really nap during the day.  We are lucky if she sleeps a good, 2 hour afternoon nap.  Xavier needed 2 solid naps and couldn't function without getting good sleep.  But the are both the exact same in terms of mood and personality, so far.  They both are/were the happiest babies, love interacting with people, and only cry when hungry or tired.  We are very lucky parents!!