Charlotte's Birthday

On July 22, my baby girl turned two. Two! How is that possible? Wasn't it just yesterday that I found out I was pregnant for the first time? We just bought her a booster seat so now she sits at the table with us for dinner. I can't tell you how weird it is to see my little toddler sitting at the table with us. She's turning into such a little girl!

Here are a whole lot of photos from the day. It was fun celebrating our little girl's second birthday!

Special birthday breakfast- cinnamon rolls and yogurt covered raisins. Yummy!

Riding the train at the zoo. It was HOT that day so we spent a lot of time on the train. Charlotte wanted to ride the train over and over. I was totally ok with that since it was over 90 degrees outside that day!

Big girl lunch! She had a special treat of pink lemonade and then had a delicious lunch of chicken nuggets, grapes and broccoli. She chose the broccoli over fries. Is this girl not the weirdest? She doesn't like cake, either. She can't possibly be my child!

The chimps. This little guy "played" with Charlotte for awhile. She was fascinated. It was pretty cool to see him interact with her.

Fun times on the carousel

And Audrey slept.

The train again!

Watching the tigers from the train station.

Outside the Living World. Charlotte picked out her new kitty from the gift shop. She had something else picked out, but then turned around and saw this. She put the other one back, grabbed this tiger, and walked toward the checkout. Decision made!

Presents!

Playing with her new sidewalk chalk.

And Audrey slept.

Birthday Dinner at IHOP. The girl loves her eggs and pancakes.

And Audrey slept.

Playing in Daddy's car. A special treat!

Nighttime swim at the neighbors pool. Another fun treat!

And Audrey slept.

Puppies!

Blowing out her candle on her birthday ice cream.

Opening her present from Grandma and Papa Ridley the next day.

My parents hosted a little birthday party for her the Sunday after her birthday for our family. Charlotte had a great time! We didn't get many pictures taken, but here are a few.

"Big Sisters are the Best"

Charlotte walked up to Audrey in the swing to show her the shirt. It was too funny. She was trying to send a message, I think.

First ball glove! Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Drury!

This picture has danger written all over it. I fear for Audrey.

Singing and candles and cake. I made her a brownie cake since she likes brownies (sometimes), but she still turned down this cake! She is so weird. I guess it's a good thing that she prefers her vegetables, but I just can't believe MY daughter doesn't like sweets!

Audrey Isabel

Now, daughter #2! Meredith took Audrey's newborn pictures when we had Charlotte's pictures done. They are awesome! I wish I had done this with Charlotte. Too bad we didn't have Meredith start taking our family pictures until Charlotte was 4 months old! Since I gave you an update on Charlotte in the last post, I figure it's Audrey's turn.

Audrey, unlike her sister, is a bit of a Mama's girl. Charlotte was a Daddy's girl from almost day one, so I have to admit, I kind of like being the preferred one. I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with me, but rather the fact that I'm nursing Audrey and was unable to nurse Charlotte. Audrey and Matthew are starting to get to know each other a little better now that I'm weaning her. Matthew is a big fan of the weaning process! He's enjoying starting to connect with his baby girl.

Audrey sleeps fairly well. She'll usually sleep for 4-6 hours straight after her last night feeding, so that's nice for us. She's starting to regulate her sleep patterns, so she's becoming a little more predictable. I'm trying to schedule her a bit now so she's ready for daycare. I still can't believe at this point in Charlotte's life she was already in daycare for a couple of days. Sooooo glad I have twice as much leave this time!

Audrey was just over 10 pounds and 22 inches long at her one month appointment. She weighs a little less than Charlotte did, but is longer. She took her shot like a champ (much better than her sister, by the way, who milked it out for about three hours) and was done crying as soon as I picked her up.

Audrey's already been in the pool. I took her swimming with us in Florida. She was freaking adorable in her swimsuit, but I don't think I took a picture of it! Too bad. I'll have to get her in the neighbor's pool and remember my camera this time. She loved the water. The pool was so warm and she pretty much fell asleep as soon as she hit the water. I'm guessing it was like being in the womb.

We're quickly learning that two children are far more than twice the work! We're lucky to have super mellow children, but we still have a small house with a newborn and a two-year-old that has no problem reminding us that she is TWO. Sleep is certainly at a premium, but we're starting to figure out how to maximize our sleep and be better able to be patient. I'm convinced that God gives us children so that we can learn patience. I am getting an education.

Audrey is very much like her sister, but has some differences. They look a lot alike, but I think Audrey is beginning to look more like an individual rather than a clone of her sister. Her features seem a little smaller except her ears. I'm afraid she may have inherited her daddy's ears. Charlotte was never much of a pacifier baby, but Audrey seems to like hers. More often than not it will soothe her when she's fussy. She also seems to love our cradle swing, which Charlotte HATED, but is not a big fan of our portable fish swing, which Charlotte LOVED. Every baby is different!

Audrey is smiling! She has started to recognize my face and will give me the most precious smiles. She even gave my mom a smile the other night when my parents were here. I can't wait for the giggles to come!

Ok, no story here, but isn't this face the most precious face in the world? She looks so much like Charlotte here. There is certainly no question that they are sisters.

Matthew is such a great daddy. He has done most of the late night duty since we started to wean and I am so grateful for the extra sleep. I love watching him with our baby again. He's so good with our children and I am reminded every day why I married him.

Ah, this picture. It makes my heart just overflow with love for my girls. It is so tender and precious. I will treasure this picture always. It also reminds me of Meredith's talent, since she was able to get this picture in the 30 seconds between Charlotte coming up behind Audrey and Audrey waking up and crying because Charlotte was laying on top of Audrey and squishing her. We were still working on "gentle" at this point in the game. I was disappointed after the shoot because I didn't think I got a picture of the girls together. Charlotte was less than cooperative when it came to taking a picture with her sister. And then I saw the pictures. This was the very last one on the slide show and I immediately became choked up. I am so so so so glad I have this picture. I worried that I wouldn't have enough love for two children, but it's amazing how full one's heart can get. I love these girls!

She's Two!

Believe it or not, my little girl is now TWO! It seems like just yesterday I was bringing her home from the hospital. I just can't believe how fast she's grown up. During our last trip to KC, we had Meredith take Charlotte's two year pictures. I know I'm partial, but have you ever seen such a beautiful little girl? I just love those eyes and curls. She will never date. Her daddy will not allow it.

We joke about Charlotte being fearless. She is such an adventure girl! She loves to be outside and has spent a lot of time in the neighbor's pool. She will jump in all by herself. We have to keep an eye on her at all times because she will jump right in without us looking. Like I said, fearless. She also loves to ride in the Mustang and will scream when Matthew takes sharp turns, even when cruising in the Escort. It's pretty hilarious.

She is constantly stopped by strangers to tell her how cute or beautiful she is. I know, I know, most kids are cute, but it seems like whenever we go out, someone will stop us. It's those eyes! Have you ever seen eyes so blue? And then put those blond curls on top of it? She grows more beautiful every day and every day Matthew gets closer to purchasing a gun. We're already dreading the teenage years.

She plays really well by herself. Sometimes she just wants some quiet time with her books or her play-doh. It's so nice to see her imagination at work and just watch her play. I can't wait to see her play/boss around her little sister. Oh, the fun that will be had!

Charlotte is currently obsessed with Elmo. We brought along a portable DVD player to make the trip to Florida a little more bearable and brought Sesame Street DVDs. Now at least three million times a day we hear, "Elmo?" Her current favorite clip is "Elmo's Riding". The song is amazingly cute and we don't mind listening to it over and over (and over and over) again. She's even started to sing it. She sings it in tune, too, which is pretty adorable. She's got the chorus down pat.

We're working on potty training. She's doing a great job, but some days she wants NOTHING to do with the potty. She does, however, like to have her dolls and "puppies" (all things stuffed) go potty. We always give high fives after she uses the toilet, so we often have Charlotte come into the living with her dolls or puppies and tell us "High five" and make us give her doll a high five. Again, pretty darn adorable.

Her language skills grow every day. We're reminded on a daily basis how literal toddlers can be. For example, we're working on please and thank you. We're trying to get her to say it on her own, but usually she needs to be prompted. A couple of weeks ago, Matt was trying to get her to say please after she asked for more, so he said "More......?" and gestured as if he were waiting for something by moving his hand in a circular motion. Charlotte thought he wanted her to move her hands. Now when we hold the word out, waiting for the please, she smiles, holds the word out like us, and moves her hands, wheels-on-the-bus style. So cute.

In a similar vein, I've been having her ask for things "nicely". Around the same time, Charlotte would pick things up and bring them to me and say "Nice!" I thought she was just telling me she liked her toys. I didn't figure out what she really meant until I told her to ask nicely for the "fishes" (Finding Nemo") and she said, very deliberately, "Nice!"

She's starting to be very sweet and gentle with her sister. The other night she was laying down next to her and they were "talking" to each other. She's also very concerned when baby cries and will give her the pacifier. She was stroking her hair this morning while Audrey was looking at her. So tender. And again, adorable.

Charlotte is such a blessing in our lives. I love her a little more each day. It's amazing to watch her develop into this toddler. Happy Birthday, Bean! Mommy loves you more than you will ever know!

Charlotte

As my first baby approaches two years old (Two? When did that happen?), I've been thinking a lot about how much she has changed. It's amazing the transformation she's gone through and all the new things she's learned in just the past few weeks. So I thought I'd share a few of those things that make Charlotte the amazingly cute little girl she is.

1. Her vocabulary has recently exploded. She surprises me every day with some new word or phrase. It's so nice to be able to communicate with her. I nearly hit the floor when she came up to me the other day and said, clear as a bell, "Where'd Daddy go?" Three words sentences? Weren't you just learning to say "Mama" yesterday? She still has plenty of words that need translation for those who don't spend every day with her and other words that still sound like complete gibberish, but it is amazing how quickly the language stuff has progressed. It seems she went from pointing and grunting to logical and complete short sentences in a matter of days. I love watching the learning process. It's so cool.

2. She loves her sister. She calls her "Baby", which is bad, because I don't think Audrey will ever learn her name. Matt and I have taken to calling her baby as well. It will be just like Dirty Dancing- a teenager with the nickname Baby. A couple of nights ago we were in a hotel and both the girls were awake on one of the beds as we unloaded what we needed from the car and got settled. Charlotte laid on her said and smiled at Audrey. She kept talking to her and holding her hand, occasionally leaning over to give her kisses on the head. She was so sweet and gentle. We've started to use that love of her sister as a guilt/discipline method when she hits Audrey and pulls her hair. She does it to get back at us, so we recently tried showing her Audrey after she grabbed her face and explained that she made baby cry when she hurt her. We got the most remorseful "Sawhry" out of her and we haven't had a major episode since. Breakthrough? I sure hope so.

3. She LOVES to dance. Any time the girl hears music with a beat, she starts bending her knees and shaking her booty. It's freaking adorable. Last night in a parking lot, a car drove by blaring some rap music and Charlotte started to dance. The car stopped at a stop sign then started to pull away. As the music got quieter, Charlotte waved and told the car "bye-bye". Cuteness, I tell you. This girl has rhythm.

4. She also loves to sing. I have no idea what songs she's singing half the time, but they are the cutest songs in the world. I suspect she's making most of them up herself. Occasionally I'll hear a tune I recognize, like ABCs, Wheels on the Bus, or the Bumblebee song, but usually, it's just a lot of random words and sounds. She's taken to performing for groups. She'll stand in the middle of a room, spread out her arms to emphasize certain parts of her song, and then fall down, clap and say "yay!" when she's done. Again, freaking adorable. How much cute can one girl hold?

5. She's made a lot of headway with potty training. She's getting really good at telling us when she needs to go and is having more and more success with it. We're hoping big girl pants in six months or less. Fingers crossed. I change a lot of diapers these days.

6. She's becoming more, how should I put this?, willful, every day. This little toddler personality has developed and while cute and adorable most of the time, it's down right frustrating other times. She spends her fair share of moments in timeout, usually for not listening. Sometimes it's impossible not to laugh at her defiance. For example, yesterday Matthew could do nothing right in Charlotte's eyes. She was really tough on him. Part of it may have been the 10 hour car ride, but for whatever reason, she was kind of mouthy and moody with him. We stopped at a Dairy Queen so I could feed Audrey and get Charlotte a treat. She and Matthew shared an ice cream cone, but Charlotte started to get a little crabby and wanted to sit next to me. Matt put the ice cream cone in front of her (it had the flat bottom cone) and asked her if she wanted more. She put on the poutiest face, said no, and then proceeded to clench her fist and punch the ice cream cone. There was no chance for discipline because we both started to practically die with laughter. It was hilarious! My daughter, in a fit of poutiness, PUNCHED an ice cream cone. Priceless. Oh, how I love her.

I'll call this list good for now. It's amazing how much I'll type in these posts when I'm feeding Audrey at 5:30 in the morning and have nothing else to do while everyone else sleeps. I apologize for the Mommy brag, but I just love watching Charlotte turn into this little girl. It breaks my heart a little, but she is just so much fun as a toddler. I love watching her grow. Audrey, however, will have to stay a baby forever. I don't think I can handle watching two of my babies turn into their own persons. Sorry, Baby.

Audrey's Birth

Some people have been asking for Audrey's "birth story", so even though it's fairly simple, I suppose I can oblige. Her due date passed. A c-section was scheduled. Baby here. The end.

For the more detail oriented, I guess I can provide a little more. I was really hoping to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). I've always felt a little cheated that I didn't get the "oh my gosh, I'm in labor" experience and was hoping that Audrey would be less stubborn than her sister and come out on her own. I contracted for days, but never really progressed. I only dilated about 1 cm. When I had a doctor's appointment a week after he told me I was dilated and there was zero change despite some pretty strong and regular contractions, I decided it was time to schedule a c-section. I knew I didn't want to be induced after the nightmare experience with Charlotte's birth, so we scheduled Audrey's birthday for two days after her due date.

We dropped Charlotte off at my parent's house the night before and then stayed up waaaaay too late trying to get the house quasi-ready for a new baby. We arrived at the hospital about an hour and half before the surgery. It was very strange driving to the hospital knowing that at approximately 9:15 that morning, I would have another daughter. In some ways it was nice taking the surprise element out, but in other ways it just made me a little sad. I got checked in fairly quickly but was then delayed because for some reason, they had my maiden name and married name in their computer system with the same social security number, so they had to "merge" the files. Curious. After that was taken care of, we moved on to the epidural. Which they had to insert THREE SEPARATE TIMES. Not fun. Something about new kits not working right. All I know was that it was not exactly pleasant and it really delayed the surgery. I was supposed to be going around 9:15, but I don't think I was wheeled down to the OR until almost 9:30. As uncomfortable as the epidural was, it was nothing to the agonizing pain of the IV. I really hate IVs. I hope I never have to have one again.

After I was delightfully numb, they wheeled me down to have a baby. It was so calm. With Charlotte, I had been laboring for almost 20 hours, the doctor checked me out, said I was only at 8 cm, I could continue if I wanted but it didn't look like baby was coming, and said he thought a c-section was in my future. I gave him the go ahead, he said, "Let's go get you a baby" and then it was a flurry of activity to get me to the OR, me crying the entire time. This time, I knew what to expect (though I felt far less this time around. Not nearly as much pulling and tugging since I didn't have a baby's head thoroughly wedged in my pelvis) and we all knew what was going to happen and when. They prepped me, put up the screen so I couldn't see them cut into me and pull out a baby and let Matt in the room. Five minutes later, at 9:40, I heard the sweetest, tiniest little cry as Audrey made her appearance. She was so quiet! Once they had her on the warming table, she just looked around, hardly making a noise. Matt cut the umbilical cord and then brought her over so I could see her. All I could say was "she's finally here". She looked so much like Charlotte! I felt like I had stepped back two years ago and was meeting my first child. There is nothing like the feeling of seeing your child for the first time and the second time around was no different.

She was perfect. She weighed 9 pounds even and was 20.5 inches long. No jaundice, no health problems. Just a perfectly beautiful little girl. My doctor came over to see her after he stitched me up (a remarkable surgeon, by the way. Every doctor and nurse that looked at the incision commented on his skill. One resident even said "wow" when he saw it. Nice to know!). He asked what her name was and said, "Welcome to planet earth, kiddo". I love his one liners. I have the best doctor.

So that's her story. Essentially uneventful. I was in the hospital four days, healing nicely, and enjoying quite a bit of quiet. We didn't have more than one or two visitors a day in the hospital, so we had plenty of down time. Turns out fewer people visit for second babies. Not a problem, though. It was nice to quietly get to know our newest daughter. Lord knows it was not as quiet when we got home!

We're in KC right now and I have quite a few new picture to post, so the next post won't be so gosh darn wordy. I know you come for the pictures.