Audrey's 2nd Year in Pictures

A few of my favorite pictures of Audrey throughout the last year. I start off and end with a very similar picture. :) Happy 2nd Birthday, Munchkin!

Too Too Excited about Audrey Turning Two!

Saturday, Audrey was well enough to have her 2nd birthday party! (We had all been sick this past week. Michael took Friday off and we took Audrey to the doctor. Michael went to the doctor Saturday, after the party. We skipped our class Christmas party and church on Sunday morning to rest up and become 100% before the rush of the holidays hit.) We invited all of her cousins that were in town (only one is a boy) and had a tutu party! These are the pictures my dad sent me. They are in no particular order.

Cousin Molly. Molly's sisters, Ashley and Kaley, and brother, Andrew, were also there.

Cousins Maddie and Macie on their way to the party.

Shaun showing his artistic skills.

Blake and Nana

I had to blow out the candle. Audrey doesn't like everyone looking at her!

She's one year until Wednesday.

The girls made wands.

Ma helping Audrey with her wand.

LOFT Giveaway!!!

Are you excited about this, because I am! I love this store and would love to go shopping there after I have Julia and lose the baby weight! Check out the contest here.

C-U-T-E Christmas Shirt Giveaway!!!

My friend, Shannon, has done it again! She's giving away these Christmas shirts, but you need to be quick! Click the Jelby's button on the right to see her blog!

Julia Kate

If anyone is following this blog, I better let you know what we're having. A GIRL!!! Julia Kate should make her appearance around late March!

Last Month or So

Okay, okay, I know I've been a horrible blogger. I link it to Audrey taking only one nap and it is still a short nap, so my "me" time is quite short. Right now she's occupied and I'm procrastinating from some things I really need to do.

About a month ago, we took a trip to Abilene. Michael was recruiting for his company at ACU and I was able to convince him to prolong the trip into the weekend so that we could attend Homecoming. This would be Audrey's longest stay away from home (Wednesday through Saturday), so I was a bit worried. We stayed in a hotel Wednesday night and she did fabulous! We were able to stay at my uncle's house for the rest of our stay. She had only one night that wasn't stellar. We also found out that she's allergic to peanuts after her doll fell on the ground at Texas Roadhouse. I'm so sad for her! Here's Audrey goofing around at the hotel.

Anyways, we had a blast! I was able to see my cousin, my sister-in-law's family, and many friends while there. I can't believe how many friends of mine are in Abilene! Love that two of my roomies, Lori and Meredith, are there. It was so great to catch up and see their adorable kids!

The next week, we went to San Antonio to be with my family while my nephew, Brady, was born. Brady had to spend a week in the NICU because of a hole and his lungs, but he's a trooper and is doing a great job now. Poor Michael never got to see him because Audrey was restricted from many places in the hospital due to the risk of the swine flu. Audrey spied in on him in the nursery before Brady was placed in the NICU and Michael stayed back to watch Jenny's luggage while the family saw Brady for the first time. We loved hanging out with older brothers Zachary and Ethan! Can't wait to see them again!

Then on to Halloween. Audrey was Minnie Mouse. Have you ever seen a cuter mouse?

Last week, I turned 30. Yippee. Sweet Michael took me to the Original Pancake House Saturday morning for a yummy breakfast. Audrey sang the Happy Birthday song to me, and I can not even begin to describe how cute that was! Then, Michael threw a surprise birthday party for me at his parents' house. It was so nice to be surprised and to see these friends! It was quite a mix of friends and I hope no one felt too awkward.

We find out Friday if we are having a boy or a girl. Let me know what you think it is! I'm pretty sure it's a boy. Please be praying that we find the baby to be in perfect health.

Baby Jayden

Baby Jayden is having surgery at 9:00 Friday morning. Please pray.

Here are some details written by Gina:

Jayden had a rough night last night and the night before. He has a rapid heart rate, which they call Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT). They have him on meds now for that. His oxygen level is also low, so they will be watching him closely. The surgery was scheduled for Thursday, but I just got a call from the Cardiologist and they said he was bumped to Friday. Please please pray that it will happen this week and it will not get bumped again. Bryan and I are tired of playing the waiting game, but most importantly, we want what is best for sweet Jayden. He has to work extra hard to breathe so he is just worn out. Feeding also takes it out of him. We are just ready for him to feel better. Please continue praying for our precious boy, but please pray for all the others there, many of whom are far worse than Jayden. Our eyes have been opened to a new experience. It is very humbling. Thank you and love you all!!

Prayers for a Friend

I would appreciate prayers on the behalf of a friend of mine, Gina. We went to high school and college together. She is delivering a baby today who has a heart defect. The baby will go immediately into surgery and will have another one later in the week. (I believe those details are correct. I could be off a bit.) From what I understand, the baby will have many doctor appointments as he grows older. Please say a prayer today for Gina and Baby Jayden.

Enter and Win!

Do you want to have your little girl, granddaughter, or niece to be fashionable this Fall? Then head on over to my friend's store, Jelby's! Shannon started to get crafty and makes the cutest baby things, including a dress that she is giving away! I want the dress, but I'll let you enter the contest too. She also makes pillowcase dresses and cute burp towels! Check her out here!

Maybe One Day...

Perhaps when all of my kids are in college, and if I'm not working, I will be able to learn how to do this. I dream of knowing how to play the guitar. In college, I learned how to strum my favorite intro to a song. Seeing that I haven't picked up a guitar since then, there is no way I could do that now.

Have You Heard?

Baby due April 7th!

Update from the last month

I'm getting really bad at updating my blog, huh? I've been pushed by friends the last few times to update and here I am again. It has been a busy month!

Michael took 3 weeks vacation! We had grand plans and I even envisioned making a trip to the beach. It didn't turn out that exciting.

Michael spent the first 2 weeks at the library studying for the last portion of the CPA exam. And I'm happy to announce that he passed and once the paper work processes, he'll be a CPA! I'm very proud of how dedicated he was to do well at this and also balance everything else going on in his life. He is something else!

During this vacation time, he persuaded me to become a member at our rec center. We were going to trade out mornings of watching Audrey and working out. I've worked out once. :(

On his last week of vacation, we transformed our sunroom (actually, we just stored stuff in there) into a playroom for Audrey. This was quite a job! We had previously fixed the leaky roof and replaced the water-damaged ceiling. During this week, we put down carpet, replaced the lighting, changed up some electrical stuff, primed the brick, painted, changed paint colors and painted again, and painted furniture. We also bought curtains, but I will need a lot of spare time to shorten and hang those. Here is a before and after picture, but the after is not complete. Who knows when it will be.

During that last week of vacation, Michael also treated me to Texas de Brazil for part of my Mothers Day gift. YUM! Michael's sister watched Audrey while we were out. Unfortunately, we did not know that Audrey had a very contagious illness at that point. She had hand/foot/mouth disease and passed it on to her baby cousin Molly. Molly then passed it on to her sisters, Ashley and Kaley. I felt horrible about it! Thankfully, she did not pass it on to her other cousins, Maddie and Macie, and our friends Anna Lee and JD (just weeks old then) when we saw them that week. Audrey broke out with blisters on her hands, feet, and bottom, but not so much her mouth. We had to stay away from civilization for 10 days or so. She still may be contagious through her stools. We're always careful in that situation, so I'm not too concerned with that. Below is a fuzzy picture of Audrey's foot with the blisters.

Michael also got sick at the end of that week and took a couple of days off when work started back up. I had my hands full nursing my sick loved ones. I think I may have had migraines during this time. We were not fun to be around - for sure!

Recently, I've been making my baby gifts. My mother-in-law showed me how to sew hooded towels. I've made a few now. My first attempt was a little embarrassing. I'm sorry you were my first, JD! I save money by making these and I feel like it means more since I made it myself. Here are some pictures of a couple.

Update on Audrey. She has just been so fun lately! She has grown out of her whiny mood lately. She sings and laughs often. She plays so sweetly with her dolls and loves on us all the time. I'm loving this stage in her life!

I got my hair colored. I wanted to match my roots. I had been using my own box of color to cover up highlights. I wasn't matching my natural hair color well, so I went to a professional. Oops. I have black hair now. I should have known when my stylist told me while cutting my hair that he may be color blind because he can't tell the dark colors apart. Michael loves the black hair. I'm okay with it, but I'm trying to fade it out a bit by washing my hair with Dawn.

My brother and his wife (Brett and Jenny) are going to have a boy! Jenny's going to be outnumbered 4-1 in her house! Zachary and Ethan are great kids and so we're excited to have another little Perkins boy in the family!

That's all I can think of right now about the past month. I hope to update better this month, but no promises.