A weekend in Big Bear

The past few weeks have been a blur...

Audrey came down with a terrible cough before we went to Big Bear for my birthday weekend.  She recovered but we did discover that she takes after her mother and got car sick on the ride up the mountain.

 

We had a great weekend. We stayed at a cabin that belongs to our good friends Amy's family.  She was also there to help us celebrate.  Audrey immeditely fell in love with the snow. We went sledding, build a snowman and made snow angels.  It was perfect!!!  Joe gated off the balcony and built Audrey a snow fort to play in and she was entertained the entire weekend.

 

Amy brought me flowers for my birthday and Audrey HAD to have one in her hands at all times.  Here she is on her sled being pulled along by her daddy.

 

Olivia also had a snow suit but she did not like it as much as Audrey loved hers.  Olivia had problems sitting up in her suit and she did not like the feel of the snow on her skin.  I hope that she enjoys the snow much more next year!

 

This is how Olivia liked to spend her time outdoors!

 

But when we were inside the cabin with a roaring fire Olivia got very cozy with her new favorite dog Ollie!

 

She also decided to try on her sisters helmet. 

Here is a picture of Audrey playing in her snow fort.

 

And another picture of Audrey, but now eating snow.  She loved the cold wet "treat"!

 

Again hiding in her snow fort.

 

This picture is my favorite.  

We has such a wonderful time in Big Bear.  But we did have to leave...

Oliva came down with a terrible cold on Sunday morning and was sick for the next 5 days!

It was terrible poor girl had a nasty cold and was getting 4 new teeth at the same time.

  

But we did manage to have a few good moments in the next week.  Olivia rode her rocking "chick" for the first time and LOVED it!

 

Daddy and Audrey played indoors too while Olivia was on her rocker.  After Olivia recovered from her cold Audrey came down with the stomach flu 2 days later.  3 days later I got sick as well and felt awful until I could finally get out of bed today.  Olivia also got the stomach flu with me.  I am crossing my fingers right now that the Ward family has made a turn for the better and can now begin enjoying February 2010!

Audrey turns two and a half

"Thank you for helping me with the door mommy"
"Help me daddy, get me out of here"

These are a few of the funny sentences that Audrey has been saying.  Today marks her 2 1/2 birthday.  WOW does time fly! Today after I picked her up from school we all went outside to play.  Audrey has so much fun playing with Olivia.  She kept on bring out new toys for both of them to play with.  most recently Audrey has begun trying to pick up Olivia and move her around. This gets to be a bit scary as Audrey is not very graceful of the moment.  Okay so I wrote this a few weeks ago and forgot to hit publish.  The past week has been crazy!

Her favorite foods include quesadillas, french toast with agave syrup, and cucumber.  Recently she has also taken a liking to chicken nuggets, beef and broccoli.  Last week at school they tried to serve her chef boyardee and she spit ot out and said "yuck".  Her table manner are notso good.  We miss the days when she was with Carline her old daycare provider. Audrey used to push the chair in behind her when she left the table. I guess Celebration Kids does not focus on table manners as much...bummer!

We went to hear 2 1/2 year check up this past week and she is perfectly in the 90th percentile.  Dr. Henry said that if she stayed on her growth path she would grow to be between 5'6 and 5'8.  That sounds great to me!

Olivia turns nine months old

I have been bad about taking photos lately.  My most images are now captured with my phone.  I need to find out how I can post pictures from my phone directly to this blog.

But we still have has an exciting week.  Olivia hit her nine month milestone yesterday.  WOW!  She is such a big girl now. We went to her well visit on Tuesday this week.  She weighted in at 17lbs 4oz, 27.5" long, much smaller than her older sister at the 25% percentile.  She is amazing!  Olivia is now crawling around on her hands an knees. She makes loud thumping noises on the hardwood when she is determined to get somewhere.  She is having so much fun with Audrey, trying to pull her hair at every opportunity. She is still blabbing mama all of the time.  I am trying to convince her to say dada but she is not intrested.  Her favorite toys are her older sisters kitchen toys, she will entertain herself for up to half an hour playing with them.  She also loves her baby doll, the maracas and Audrey's drum.
We celebrated her birthday by attending a music class together.  I enrolled both girls in a class called "Rock Toddler"  that meets weekly on Thursday mornings.  Yesterday we had our first class, both girls really enjoyed themselves. Olivia was so excited she kept on squealing and screeching with glee, bouncing up and down. I was so happy to share this experience with her. Audrey also had a grand time. She loved helping Olivia with the different instruments and also playing on her own now that she is a big girl.

Joe took this photo of us while we were getting the girls  ready for bed.  Olivia looks a bit distressed but since I get few pictures of the me with them I decided to post it.

It has been really nice watching Audrey grow up since Olivia was born. She loves to announce to her teachers and friends that "this is my baby sister"  I am very proud of her.  She tries to help out as much as possible. 

Olivia has decided that she no longer like to eat pureed foods. I she tried blueberries the other morning and loved them.  I on the other hand did not love the clean up.  She went directly into the bath!

Looking like her Daddy

When Audrey was born everyone had their own opinion of who she looked like.  Many people who we did not really know commented that she looked like me...well duh...brown hair and eyes. But our friends who knew Joe and myself very well knew that she looked like her Daddy.  Now as she is  growing up she does resemble me more than Joe.  This is good since our second daughter, Olivia is a spitting image of her father.  I took this photo the other day and I cannot get over how much she looks like Joe.  She is a "mini me" of her daddy.

Three years later

Audrey will be two in a half at the end of the month. She is growing up so quickly, she really looks like a little girl now; all of her babiness has gone.  Yesterday after walking around the Rosebowl I had to stop at the store to pick up a few items for dinner.  I decided to go to Vons since every time we stop at Super-A lately she wants to ride the carousel outside of the market.  

I stopped at Vons instead and put Olivia in the ergo carrier.  And wouldn't you know it, Audrey had a plan... the next think I knew I was walking in Vons pushing a shopping cart with the toy car attached; wearing no make-up and sweats!  Who have I become?? If you had told me three years ago that this would be my life I would have thought that you were smoking crack!  I am the mom!  I love my life but... my children are now dressed better than I am.

All About Olivia

In the past week Olivia has begun saying ma ma ma ma ma ...  She is so cute when she does this. It melts my heart!

Olivia will be nine months in a few weeks.  I cannot believe how fast she is developing and growing up. She is pulling herself up on anything that will hold her weight!  It can be very dangerous with big sister Audrey around.  We also started giving Olivia some chunkier foods.  I bought some yogurt melts and apple puffs to begin giving her as a snack. She loves them so much that she now refuses the smooth food purees and spits them out.  Tonight I gave her spaghetti dinner for the first time.  I chopped it up real fine and she practiced her hand mouth coordination as she tried to eat up every bite.

 

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2010!  I am looking forward to all of the new experiences that 2010 will bring.  My baby will be baptized and turn 1!  Audrey will be officially potty trained and my little brother will be married!

Here are some of my favorite shots from the past year.

Fun in the car last January

Just playing around with dad

Audrey's first balloon from Trader Joes

Missing daddy

Brian's & Angela's engagement brunch

very pregnant Jen

Mom & Dad

Audrey & Lilly on the beach in Ventura

Loving the texture of the wet sand

Fun with friends at an Easter egg hunt!

Swing!

I love to accessorize!

Audrey's love for her mermaid doll.

Descanso Gardens with daddy

Our last family photo with the 3 of us!

Olivia was born 3 days later

Audrey and Olivia meet for the first time

Sleepy!

At home getting to know each other

Gifts from big sister

Bath time with Audrey helping was stressful!

 Wiped out!

First pony ride

Elmo live with Lilly and Amelie

This was the first time that Audrey looked like a little girl to me.

"Hold baby, take picture" was one of Audrey's favorite sayings in May

Love it!

Daddy and his girls

Olivia meets her great grandmother

Aunt Jen, Dad and Grandma Kathie with the girls in San Diego

Happy little girl.  We used this photo for her announcement

Tummy time

Father's Day at the Huntington Library

Kidspace Museum in July

Underwood Farms in July. Afterwards we picked strawberries

 

Audrey having fun with Jake

Halloween

Bath time in November with both girls. It is so much fun!

 

Olivia is growing up so fast!

The day after Christmas.  Every one was up early to play with presents!

Audrey is growing up!  On the monkey bars at Brookside Park.