Saturday with the Grandfolks

Earlier in the morning at a play date with Noah, Jacob and Payton.


Grandpa shows Audrey how to whistle.



This close to crawling.

New kicks from Grandma (and Grandpa).

It was a fun afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa Kruse. Audrey got to show off her new waving skill and display her absolute love of her Mickey Mouse ball.

Proof of waving. This blows me away. Audrey is turning into a little person.

Audrey is 8 Months Old!

What's going on with Audrey at 8 months:
--continues to expand her sounds and is now starting to run different consonants together (babbling)
--can pick up small things (Cheerio-size) with her thumb and forefinger
--just started waving yesterday
--now has two bottom teeth
--really working on getting around, but no crawling yet
--going through a phase of separation anxiety where she will cry if I, Mike or her babysitter leaves the room
--eating, eating, eating (hungry girl)

Hard to believe we are closer to her 1st birthday than her actual birth day. As Mike has been telling her lately, Audrey is such a little person now.


Audrey "waving" to the camera (she is confused as to which way to turn her hands).

So this past weekend we were able to drive through Charleston Illinois, home of my alma mater, Eastern Illinois University. It was so cool to show Shannon the campus(and felt a little weird pushing a baby stroller throughcampus). The town had changed a lot, but it still felt really close to home. I was even able to eat $24 worth of food at one of my favorite sandwich shops on campus, Joeys. Audrey, as always, had a blast. Also, having had both now, a baby on a college campus is a way bigger chick magnet than having a puppy.



HERE WE GO PANTHERS!!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!!

This is right in the heart of campus. Right behind Old Main

Riding the world famous panther in front of one of my favorote haunts "Marty's" Right across from my old dorm(which is the little building in the background)

Old Main right in the background.

Our Good Little Traveler

Eating out like a champ. The most difficult part was getting her to pay attention to her food--there were too many people around to smile at!



Smiles and giggles in the car on the way home.



Took longer naps in her pack-n-play than she normally does at home. Slept fine with us in the hotel room at night, too.

Playing with Daddy the Jungle Gym in the hotel room.

Morning play time at the hotel.

Audrey Enjoys Her Friend's Toy

One of Avery's toys was particularly appealing to Audrey.

Visiting Friends

This weekend our family took a trip to central Illinois to visit one of Mike's friends from college. He and his wife have an adorable little girl Avery (Mike's god-daughter!) who tolerated Audrey and charmed Mike and I. It was a great excursion, something we hope to make an annual event.



Smiles for the camera. Audrey was more interested in Avery's sparkly shoes.



Audrey is asking Avery to quit texting and pay attention to her!

Looking pretty in headbands.

New Toy

Audrey's babysitter Carla got her this Mickey Mouse ball, and it has been a hit. And it has been hit, as you'll see in the video below.

Elgin Symphony Orchestra Part Two

Audrey, her Grandma Wetzel and I topped off the weekend by taking in a performance by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra (ESO) Sunday afternoon. ESO runs a family series of orchestra performances throughout the season. We went to see them perform Peter and the Wolf a month or so ago, and today we saw the orchestra's percussionists perform Around the World With Percussion. Both performances have been very good and worth the admission price! We are considering going again in March.

Audrey definitely seemed to enjoy the great beats and sounds of the drums, xylophones, gongs, bells, tambourines, whistles, etc. etc. etc. My favorite was the song representing Japan. Afterwards we were complimented about how good Audrey was during the performance, which made me pretty proud. Not a single fuss. The nap and bottle before the show helped!

Jumping on the Bed

Audrey has discovered the fun of "jumping" on the bed.

God-Mom Melissa

This was a bonus weekend. I got to see my best friends, and Audrey got to see her god-mom.

Audrey playing with God-Mom Melissa

Annie, Melissa, Kristy and me on our way to dinner!

First Day of a Big Weekend

My friend and Audrey's god-mother (Melissa) is in town for the weekend--yay! So I'm having a girls weekend with her and my two other best friends, who live in the area. First on the schedule--a trip to Annie's to visit and play with her two boys--Nathan who is 2 and Eli, who is 3 months younger than Audrey.

Audrey has really been enjoying spending time with all these new people. Eli and Nathan especially had her interest. Of course, capturing that in photo was a little hard. Here were our attempts: