my warm welcome home

i left friday for a little trip sans husband and daughter to san diego for my mom's 60th birthday dinner. it was a wonderful trip and it was fun to honor my mom and celebrate her life. i have never been apart from audrey for more than six hours and it was really hard to be away from her and from dave...plus, she was sick when i left and when i got home, they were both sick. it was so good to see them and they had these gorgeous pink and red roses and cards waiting on the kitchen table for me when i got home and a clean house. it was the perfect way to come home. i will have to blog more about my trip later because audrey is less than enthused that i am on the computer instead of playing with her, haha.

dreaming in red, yellow and white

in-n-out is coming to draper

fast food splendor right here in my town

may be here by my birthday

pinched myself several times to make sure i wasn't just dreaming

i am a happy girl

sitting pretty

we bought audrey some new clothes last night because she has outgrown her 3-6 month clothing. we tried kid to kid since she is growing so fast but didn't have any luck. we did find her some darling little new outfits after kid to kid though, haha. i put her in this little dress with brown leggings and she looked so cute i had to pull out the camera and do a photo shoot. there were a lot of good shots, but this one was my favorite by far.

she looks so grown up.

goodbye toothless smile

audrey has a tooth! dave and i have been checking pretty regularly since she has been a little more fussy than usual the last couple of weeks but we haven't felt anything and then today i felt it and i peeked into her mouth and sure enough she has a little tooth. i was so excited i had to call dave and let him know. i can't believe my little pumpkin is growing up so fast.

six months old

my dear little audrey jane,
you are six months old today. where does the time go? i just adore you, my little princess. you are such a sweetheart. you love looking in the mirror and always smile big when you see your reflection. you love music and you love to dance. you open your mouth and smile big whenever music starts playing. you love to sit in your bumbo and watch mommy cook in the kitchen. you are very interested whenever we eat and each day you are getting better at eating with a spoon...so far sweet potatoes are your favorite. you love to grab and hold onto your toes...whether you are sitting and reach down for them or laying on your back (when you throw your legs up and reach up and grab them) you love to hold your toes. you love to laugh and you love to watch tv, often while you are watching you will give out a big hearty laugh that makes us laugh so hard because we can not believe such a little person can laugh so loud and so abruptly. your favorite toy is your glo-worm and you always reach out for it and try to eat the face. when you are in your jumparoo, you will grab onto both sides of the toy bar and just study the toys. you love to make people laugh. you often will look at us to see our reaction to you and then smile big and laugh. you also love books and your eyes get big each time the page is turned when we read to you. you love other babies and kids. when we were at a restaurant last week, the family sitting next to us had a little girl and each time she looked at you, you would smile and laugh. your cousin jj loves you and can't hug and kiss you enough when we go visit, you often talk to each other and you often raise the volume of your voice to match his. you are so beautiful. i could swear that your eyelashes get longer every time i look at you. your eyes have this sparkle in them that i hope they never lose. all of our family and friends were so excited for you to be born that we received oodles of new, darling clothing for you and you are always dressed to the nines. you like observing people, just taking it all in. you are at a stage where you want me or daddy all the time. when you are about to (or deciding whether to) cry, you get this exaggerated frown on your face that, while it is sad, is just adorable. it upsets you if i walk away from you (even if you can see me) to make your bottle so i have mastered doing all things with you in my arms (preparing bottles, making lunch, eating, etc) and it is incredible to look in your eyes and see the love you have for me. i love you too my little sweetheart.

yesterday

i know i have not been blogging that much lately. i have not been feeling well this week at all. i have had a constant headache and have not gotten much sleep. i just feel off. anyway, yesterday was my dad's birthday. he would have been sixty-one years old. dave called my sister melissa to find out what kind of food my dad liked and she told him that he was a steak and potatoes kind of guy so dave brought home steak and potatoes for dinner. it was so nice to not have to cook or clean and be able to celebrate my dad's life. it is interesting...in the past i have always thought more about my dad on the day he died than on his birthday, but i have tried the last couple of years to reflect more on his life and celebrate his birthday instead of reflecting on his death and the loss of him in my life on the day he died. i was so young and i never remember celebrating my dad's birthday growing up, not once...but the day he died is a day i will never forget.

i know that my dad would want us to have joy and smile when we think of him and tell our children stories of who he was and remember that he loved us very much.

superior customer service

i am just waiting until the princess wakes up so i can go over and squeeze my new little nephew and cuddle him but i thought i would write about an experience i had yesterday. i was on my way home from my sister's house when i stopped to get some windex and paper towels. i am going off sugar in january so i thought i would pick up some diet soda for those times i wanted a treat so i don't stray.

first, let me just say that i LOVE cranberry splash sierra mist free. it is so yummy. you can't even tell that it is diet. my husband has been looking for it to get for me for a couple of weeks to no avail. it is only seasonal and we thought it was gone. it didn't stop me from looking though. nothin. so i picked up some diet cola and headed for the checkout. i suddenly decided that i should be drinking water, not cola, even if it is diet, so i put the cola back on an endcap of soda nearby...and there they were, kind of backlit, like a miracle, two cases of the cranberry splash. i picked them up and checked out and went to the car. i was so excited i called my sister on the way home and told her i had a pack for me and a pack for her and she was excited too (we love this stuff, it is like christmas crack, haha). i unload my baby and albertsons bag only to find no cranberry splash.

i had left it in the bottom of the basket. i was so mad. i called the store and the manager offered to go out to the parking lot and look for it (since i couldn't just go buy it somewhere) and he put me on hold...about ten minutes later he came back and told me that he combed the parking lot and asked the bag boys and found nothing. he said if i didn't mind waiting he would check the back stockroom to see if they had anything. i said i didn't mind and he found two cases. this grocery manager was so kind. i told him (and he heard) that i had a fussy baby on my hands and i asked if my husband could pick them up on the way home from work. i told him my husband would be happy to pay for them because it wouldn't be very convenient for him to come home first. this store is not our regular store, but closer to my sister's house. the manager told me (i didn't know he was the manager at this point) he was happy to just give them to my husband, he didn't need to pay for them again or go home to get the receipt. how nice is that? it isn't very often that you get that kind of customer service.

i just called his manager and told him how impressed i was with my shopping experience and with this particular employee because it seems like people often times only relay negative experiences.

here i am, sipping my sugar free cranberry splash...mmm, kindness tastes good.