We're still here...

Audrey was climbing so hard, her dress got hiked up, exposing her tights and diaper underneath - but she kept going. That's dedication.

Excited to get in the bath

Audrey has outgrown her baby pink robe and towels. We really need to get the girl a bigger pink one - it hurts me a little bit to see her in a boy's blue towel (even if it was Gabe's).

Cute legs. (Sorry to Audrey 20 years from now for sharing this photo!)

Audrey's first taste (literally) of grass. She didn't know what to do with it. Except try to eat it.

Audrey's reaction to her customized "stair gate". Notice how she is still trying to plow on through.

At happier times in the doctor's office (i.e., before her finger prick)

Ummm...you have a little something on your face, right there...

Getting cleaned up...I did deserve applause for tackling that little mess, if I do say so myself

Audery likes her SEEfood

Audrey going upstairs, and yes, she made it all the way up. Being sick is no fun!

Runny noses are really no fun.

Don't we all wish we could sleep this soundly?

Left hand up by head? Check. Right hand down? Check. Butt in the air? Check.

Sorry in advance for what is going to be a group of posts bigger than the federal bailouts. I'll be performing here all week, ha, ha! I have not posted to the blog in almost a month (whoops!), so I've got lots of catching up to do. Plus, I have not yet figured out how to get the right pictures uploaded in the right order, so they'll be in no order whatsoever. This first post is all about Audrey, while my next one will be for Gabe.

Audrey is now 9-months-old. She has quite a few accomplishments under her diaper: walking along furniture, standing on her own, climbing up stairs, waving, clapping, doing peek-a-boo, repeating words, and getting sprouting 4 more teeth. Audrey has started working on "real" food too, and on Thanksgiving, she devoured her turkey and roll, although she was not so fond of the mashed potatoes. She loves to take baths in the "big girl" bathtub, read, and play with brother's toys. (Again, gotta get the girl some stuff of her own.) When asked, "How big is Audrey?", she raises her arms really high and smiles. She also blows kisses, waves, growls on cue (yes you read that correctly) and gives lots of hugs. She is almost ready for calculus.

At 9 months, the top words I would use to describe her personality are: happy, loving, tempermental, and stubborn. Hmm...stubborn...don't know where she gets that from, and luckily, she's the only one in our family that is stubborn. The easiest way to make her mad, and I mean really mad, is to keep her from doing something she wants to do. Gabe has figured this out very quickly and uses it to his advantage. Overall, she is a sweet little (girly) bulldog.

She had her 9-month checkup a couple of weeks ago. She had to get her finger pricked to check her iron levels, and when they decided they were a bit low and had to do another blood check, they had to peel the bandaid off and squeeze more blood out. Boy was she TICKED OFF! The nurse even commented that her heart must have really been pumping, because blood was going everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It looked like a major surgical procedure had gone horribly wrong. Gabe told me in the car after we left, "Sis was so upset because she thought that nurse was going to kill her." (Gabe said he thought the nurse was merely going to "fight her".)

Luckily, she has finally started sleeping all night. Yay!! Gabe didn't do this until he was about 13 months old, so I had no expectations for her in terms of sleep. She goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and sleeps until 7:00 to 7:30. It is almost jarring to have so much sleep all of a sudden. Every morning, I feel like I could go running -- almost...

Since my lunch break is now over, so too is this post. I'll continue on with Gabe and other issues of huge importance in our house (like the family pets, Christmas, etc.) as soon as I get a chance.

By the way, I just noticed that the date on this post came up as 11/25/08. I wondered how that could be correct, given it's now 12/9. Then I realized that was the date I initially started this post, but I saved it, and have been adding pictures since then, and just now posted it. What a slacker!