She's awake!

Audrey was having "tummy time" tonight with Daddy, holding her head up and trying to crawl around on him. It was too cute, so I had to post pictures! This one of her holding her head up and staring at him makes me giggle incessantly:


But the cuteness doesn't stop there. This is for those of you who haven't seen her eyes open!

A few more of her being wide awake, showing off those beautiful blue eyes:

Sleepy Time

Sleeping babies are absolutely adorable. The peace and contentment that sleep brings to their little faces is beautiful. It is so amusing to watch Audrey sleep because the funniest expressions flicker across her little face, replacing the peace that otherwise pervades. I'm not sure if all infants sleep like Audrey does, but she sure does like to get comfortable! I think she takes after me, thrashing around when she sleeps, most comfortable with her arms and legs outstretched in funny positions. I've taken a few "sleepy pictures" in the past few days, and thought I'd share.





Sasha wanted me to make it clear that she is still very much part of the family, and that her sleep habits are no less entertaining.


Gabby and Sasha aren't spoiled at all ~ don't all family members sleep on the bed, and use a pillow for that matter?!


I hope to post more than pictures soon... maybe a list or two and some detail on how wonderful life is with our daughter in the center! :) I will keep posting pictures though. They are the most fun for me and I know all of you like to see them! Who doesn't like pictures and the fun stories they tell?!

The Cutest

Our little Squeekers is proving to be the cutest little girl in the whole world. I can't help but beam when I look at her. I dressed her up in her first "real" outfit today ~ the first that wasn't a onesie or a sleeper!


She looks a little worried in that second picture. I'm not sure I want to know why. Here are a few pictures that I took of her in the swing the other day. I'm a picture happy mommy. If she could talk, she'd be yelling at me for constantly flashing her in the eyeballs and making her see blue boxes all day long.

Audrey is 1 month old!

Audrey is officially one month old, and I am officially the biggest slacker-blogger that ever walked the earth. I have no less than a hundred million things to say about the last month; how our adorable little girl has grown and changed in just that short time, about the daunting yet amazingly wonderful thing that motherhood is, and how life has changed for us since bringing Audrey home. However if I tried to elaborate on those things at this early hour, this post would result in a jumbled mess of disconnected thoughts and musings. With that, I'll post some pictures that are sure to be much more exciting!

Daddy is skillfully adept at feeding Audrey, among many other things! Eric is a life saver and an immense help. He and I are quite a team!

Yum, a burp cloth!

Tummy-time with Daddy. She LOVES tummy time, and lifts her head up often, looking around intently at things around her. I'll have to get a better picture of that.

My Mom was here last week ~ we had a WONDERFUL time.
I wish she didn't have to leave!

Grandma Porowski bonding time!

Sleepy Baby

Audrey LOVES having her hair washed

But she's not so happy about having her body washed.

Ahhh, much better.

She LOVES the swing.

Thank you Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Jamie for the swing ~ it puts her right to sleep!

That's all for now! I'll post again soon... sooner than I did before. Promise! :)

Audrey is here!

I promised more pictures of Audrey and the birth experience. Here they are ~ Enjoy! Click for big versions.

Here I am moments before getting hooked up to the IV and going into surgery. I think I look bigger than 37 weeks... would you agree? :p

Getting cleaned up. C Section babies sometimes stop breathing shortly after birth, because their lungs/heart etc. haven't been stimulated by being pushed through the birth canal. Such was the case with Audrey... they had to drain her lungs and stimulate them as she stopped breathing for about 15 seconds. Scary!! Thank the Lord I had no clue that was happening as I watched, immobilized on the operating table.

Get that bright light out of my face, people!

Note the amount on the scale. That's my big girl! :D

A very very happy Daddy!

One big happy family. I'm pretty drugged out in this picture. :p

Dave, Katie, and many of our friends came to visit us while in the hospital. Dave wanted to hold Audrey all day, and she loved it!

A happy and tired momma.

Audrey in her going home outfit on our last day at the hospital. She's just so cute I could scream!!

At one point, she reached out, grabbed Eric's nose, and held on for about 5 minutes. I could hardly take the picture because I was laughing so hard! I thought I would lose my stitches...

Folks, we've got a whistler.


We introduced Gabby & Sasha to Audrey the night we returned home. They were absolutely fascinated with her, and still are!

Audrey's first sponge bath. She LOVED it as you can see! :p

Ahh... now this I can deal with.

I'm ready... feed meh!

Eric has become quite the multi tasker... watching TV and feeding Audrey at the same time.

Audrey stretched her legs out and set them on Sasha's nose. It was possibly the cutest thing ever.

Her first walk outside... she slept through the whole thing, bumps and all!


We're picture-happy-parents, so expect a lot more pictures soon! :)

Miss Audrey has arrived!

After much anticipation, our beautiful little girl is here. Audrey Ann Rice was born at 10:03am on Friday, April 4th. She weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz., and was 20 inches long. The C-Section was smooth, quick, and a great experience overall. I am recovering quite well, but I still have some pain and am taking things slowly. We've have had a fun and tiring week... taking care of a newborn is something else! We are completely in love with her and couldn't possibly be happier. More rested, sure... but not happier! :D

I have started a long post filled with pictures and details of the whole birth experience. I will pack as many pictures of our beautiful little girl into one post as I can! However, I'm too exhausted to do this tonight. I'll add a few pictures now to hold you over, since I know some of you may be checking my blog for news of the most beautiful baby in the world!





More to come. I hope to have an extensively detailed post for you tomorrow.

Only in Ohio

A few days ago, I picked Eric up from work and we were on the freeway driving home. Eric hadn't had a particularly encouraging day at work, so we were talking about it and feeling a little glum in general. I was focusing on the road as any decent driver tends to do, when suddenly Eric erupted in laughter, shrieking about something or other I couldn't quite catch. He insisted that I slow down in order to get a look at a truck that we had recently passed, because it had a COW in the backseat. You read it right, I said COW. If the cow was in the BED of the truck I wouldn't have bothered, but he said he thought for sure he saw a cow in the extra cab of an old F150. When we passed it the first time, he thought the truck had some fancy leather seat covers. As he looked closer, he realized the leather seat cover had a tail. And a bell around it's neck. And a tag in it's ear. By no means were we in the middle of a rural country town, but smack dab in the middle of a major metropolitan city! What did I say? Only in Ohio.

Eric snapped a picture with his cell phone as we drove by.


Take a closer look:


It seems that Bessie has moved up in the world. Only in Ohio. :) That brightened Eric's day considerably, and we both had a good laugh!