If you're happy and you know it...

Smile!! Particularly in the most adorable way ever!


Eric was making her talk and smile while I snapped pictures. Typical mom!




That's all for now. One post can only handle so much cuteness!

Decorating for VBS!

Our small group has been helping with the decorations for VBS at church during the past few nights. It's called Sonworld this year, and has an amusement park theme. The girls have been painting a mural:

While the boys made and painted other props:

Audrey supervised from Daddy's arms
and remained mostly the center of attention:

And then took a break when the project was underway.
A girl's gotta rest, ya know.

The blogger is back!

Take a seat and grab a refreshing beverage... this may be a long one! It's been quite awhile since I've posted a List of Current Favorites ~ LoCF (tm). I am starting to feel a little like myself again and more like blogging than I have in the past weeks, so it's time for a new list. Not that I ever ceased being myself, I've just had an intense 3 months of adjusting to life with Audrey. Months filled with beautiful moments, unspeakable joy, exhausting learning experiences, moments of stress, and lots and lots of baby poop. Often those moments of stress were also moments involving massive amounts of baby poop. That said, if the past 3 months is any indication, life with children will always be an adjustment. However I finally feel like our lives are taking some sort of shape that once again makes sense. It seems that I am a creature of routine, eh? Audrey is sleeping through the night on a regular basis, which of course means Eric and I get more sleep as well. We're not as brand new to the baby scene, so we feel more comfortable judging what she needs when she cries. We're out and about often, bringing Audrey along to spend time with friends, help with church functions, run errands, etc. She is very popular with everyone, and loves to be held and talked to. She's the cutest little thing in the whole world, after all!

Without further adieu, here is a list of things that I LOVE right now.

1. God, Eric, and Audrey... the 3 things that will always and forever top my list (in that order).
2. Sleep. Ah, glorious sleep. This includes naps, night time sleep, and dozing off while watching tv, feeding Audrey, or doing anything else at all.
3. Cornbread. I don't know why. I made this cornbread with whole wheat flour the other day, and it was sooo good.
4. Luke 12:22-34. The Lord has been convicting me about worry. He has brought us through a lot in the past few months... emotionally, spiritually, financially. He has proven Himself over and over again as the Lord of our lives that is in control of every detail. The entire passage strikes my heart. This part gets me everytime: "And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?" (verses 25-26). The wonderful thing is that when I bring my worry to the feet of Jesus and let it go, there is perfect, unshakable peace. Every time.
5. Wendy's Frosty Shakes. No, they aren't terribly good for you. They're just so yummy!
6. Walking with Audrey in the stroller. I couldn't wait to do this while I was pregnant, and it's proven to be my favorite activity of the day.
7. Home Improvement (the tv show). Ah, daytime television! Seriously though, they don't make tv like this anymore. There are at least some morals, values, and a fairly decent portrayal of the nuclear family. Other shows I sometimes watch during the day are Just Shoot Me with David Spade, which has no morals or values at all, but is highly entertaining! Yes Dear is a funny one too, and King of Queens which I love.
8. The lovely little town we live in, Westerville. I adore the way it feels like a small town, yet it is nestled in the midst of a vast metropolitan area. My Mom calls it "hometown America", and I think that is a great way to describe it. People are generally friendly, clean, and take care of their homes and property. Crime is low, and the schools are excellent. I LOVE to walk around town because it feels so cozy, comfortable, and beautiful. I snapped some quick pictures during one of my walks the other day, just to give you non-Ohioans a glimpse of where I live. This is the main "drag", formally known as Uptown Westerville. It is a beautiful street lined with original brick buildings. Click for big versions.

This is part of city hall.

This is one of Eric and my very favorite places to eat.
"Old Bag" is such a neat little place, and the food is fantastic.

This flower shop is next to Old Bag. I love this little place to pieces,
and I think it would be so romantic to work there.
They always have beautiful plants outside.

This old theater was converted into an amish furniture store. There are gorgeous pieces of furniture that they put out on the walkway, taunting passers by. Eric and I want to buy a few of the adirondack chairs for our patio someday.

The post office

I adore the flowers that line the streets
during the spring and summer!

The library, where I have spent a lot of time already. I can't wait to go there with Audrey when she is big enough to be interested in books!

There are other things around town that I want to take pictures of, so I will do so and post them soon. Hence why these are only a quick glimpse. More to come! :)

A word to the wise... from the stupid.

I realize I am throwing myself under the bus here, but I thought I'd post about what happens when you do things in an utterly exhausted mental and physical state. In a sad way, this is really funny.

A little background: I boil a variety of Audrey's bottle parts and pacifiers once daily ~ if you really need to know why, feel free to ask :). Tonight, I left them boiling for awhile as usual, but got distracted and forgot about them. Needless to say, I came back to a ruined pot and a pile of gooey plastic!! I cried (literally) out of pure exasperation, because of wasted money and simply the fact that I could have done such a thing. Here's what the gooey pile of plastic looked like (this is only some of it... another piece broke off):


Things like this deserve sad puppy dog faces such as this:


Sigh. I'm going to get some sleep now.

Personali-tay!

Audrey's personality is really starting to bloom. It is a blast to watch her develop into her own little person, even at this very young age. She is a calm, mellow little thing who is often smiling and gurgling. She and I have conversations back and forth, and she is already mimicking many of the sounds I make. We are discovering that she is bold in her own way. For instance, she feels comfortable telling daddy how to play his computer games...


And being feisty with mommy after her bath... (Doesn't it look like she's putting up her dukes? Haha)

But mostly she is just cute.

And bubbly. :)


I'm going to try to snap some better pictures of Audrey smiling. I'll post them when I do!

Smiles :)

Once again, I'm posting a lot later than I wanted to. Even though I'm not working, life with a 2 month old baby seems to be more time consuming than I imagined! Audrey is growing so fast. She is smiling regularly now, which is the cutest and most heart melting thing I've ever seen. I actually managed to catch a picture of one earlier today, although it is blurry because 1) my camera sucks and 2) I was probably moving, trying to act fast to get the picture. :p But you get the point. Pure cuteness.


She is so curious about things around her, and often studies them in fascination. She gurgles and coos, almost "talking" back to us. She is holding her head up and absolutely loves "tummy time".

(Don't worry, her baby acne is almost gone now.)
I'm not sure why Eric's ear is so red, but anyway...

She is now fitting into a few of her very cute "real" outfits... items of clothing other than onesies. :) I think she managed to wear this one for about an hour before it had spit up and poop on it.


At this point, Audrey gives us anywhere between 4 and 8 hours of sleep at night, which is wonderful. We are happy!!

I know, I know!

It's time for another Audrey update, I know! It's been on my mind to post about her. Sorry to disappoint, but I need to get some sleep right now. I want to write about how life is with a beautiful, sweet 2 month old, and I just don't have the time I want to spend on it at the moment. I'll do it soon, I promise. I'll leave you with a picture I took with my cell phone today. It melts my heart, and I want everyone to see it! She kept smiling in her sleep, and it was too adorable for me to not take a picture. I was playing with the color settings at the time, so this one is in Sepia. Enjoy! Expect another post in the next day or two.