Audrey's First Birthday

I am lost for words. I cannot believe my sweet baby Audrey is officially one year old today. The past year flew like no other. WAY faster than Ava's first year. I feel like it was yesterday. Jim and I had a 6am breakfast at IHOP before arriving at CMC Main by 7:30 for my induction. It was the easiest labor ever, and at 3:25pm our sweet angel entered the world.

The past year has truly been the most wonderful of my life. It's so much easier to enjoy when you're veteran parents. We didn't freak out about things like we did the first time. We just let nature take its course, and in the end we have a very happy, very fun-loving, beautiful brunette we thank God for every day (and her amazing big sister.) Their personalities are very different, and you never think with your first child that you could love anyone as much, but then you have your second and happily prove yourself wrong.

So following our family tradition, we took Audrey's birthday picture at the exact time she was born. Sadly, I didn't think this through ahead of time and scheduled her 12-month appointment for her birthday... for 3:20pm. Well, knowing it would take weeks to reschedule, I sucked it up and took our clock with me. My purse must have weighed 40 pounds. The nurses must have thought I was crazy, but I don't care. I got my picture :)

Tomorrow's her big party. A winter snow blast is rolling through tonight and I hope it doesn't shy people away from coming. The snow started at 5pm and hasn't stopped. It's BEAUTIFUL outside. None the less, I've spent weeks planning an amazing cupcake-themed party (with much help from my super crafty friend Kristin). I can't wait to share pictures with you!

Happy birthday sweet girl...


Happy as always...

Even though her party's tomorrow, we're sneaking in a cupcake tonight!

Slacking in the New Year

... so I've been slacking on the blogging, and for that I apologize. I think only like three people read this, so feel special that I'm trying to keep it up to date! (Kristin, get back to work!)

We had a wonderful Christmas break. Jim and I both worked a little, but we kept the girls home for the better part of two weeks. My sister and brother-in-law came from Tennessee to spend Christmas with us which was special. Ava loves her Auntie so much! I think Uncle Matthew loved playing with Audrey the whole time too. They make a good pair.

We spent Christmas Day with Mary's family since we're all "local". We had a yummy dinner courtesy of Honeybaked Ham (me cook on Christmas? I think not.) This was the first year that Ava really understood the whole Santa thing. The first thing she said upon waking up Christmas morning was "Daddy, I didn't hear the raindeer's footsteps on the roof." She was sorely disappointed, but the frown fell off her face as soon as she saw what Santa brought: a huge Cinderella castle complete with all of the characters and furniture. She loved opening her gifts (and Audrey's) and we are truly thankful for all of the people who took the time and love to pick out such wonderful things for our girls.

The rest of our break we just chilled. Ava went to the movies for the first time (Princess and the Frog) and also experienced ice skating for the first time. Jim nearly broke his back holding her up for a half hour straight, but she enjoyed it and that was the main goal!

We rang in the new year with a Jeff Dunham comedy show courtesy of the Accenture box at the arena. Silence... I kill you! Oh we laughed... it was fun. Happy new year, all!

Catching Up

Halloween: fun times! except it rained horrendously and Ava only made it to about five houses. She was completely happy to come home and hand out candy to all the bigger kids who just decided to get soaked anyway. We were also lucky to have Ava and Audrey's godparents, Steve and Jenny, in town from Durham. She loved that! (so did we). As well, Audrey was dedicated on November 1st at church, so that was an exciting event for all of us.

The girls on Halloween. Every Vaca is a cow the first time...

With godparents Steve and Jenny at Audrey's dedication

Thanksgiving: Jim's entire family came to Carolina from Chicago and Cleveland. All six grandkids had such a great time playing together. We adults also enjoyed one another's company. We took all the kids to the parade downtown on Thanksgiving Day, then had a huge dinner at our house (16 mouths to feed) before sneeking into bed so we could rise early for Black Friday :)

December: The month started off on a sour note, as our hardwoods buckled thanks to water damage we didn't know was occuring. We've been in a war zone for the last week and will remain so for at least another week. The worst is over, as the super loud fans were on 24/7 for six days and they are gone now! Wish us luck on the completion of this job. Thank you, State Farm.

Audrey finally learned how to really crawl this past weekend. She's not fast (yet) but she can get from one end of the room to the other within a minute or two. She's also very curious (no shocker there) and is already pulling herself up to peek into things she can't reach.

The whole fam went up to Blowing Rock yesterday to get our Christmas Tree. We like going to the cut-your-own farms. We learned the hard way that we'll take the 4x4 next year, as minivans don't do so well on muddy farm hills. LOL. We had a great time though. There was even snow on the ground which Ava loved. Now we just have to decorate the darn thing...

Pics are forthcoming of these last two. Jim and I are running a 1/2 marathon Saturday. Wish us luck!

Little Giggles

I was hiccupping and Audrey found it hilarious. By the time I thought to record it I was done, so I had to fake it for her. Totally fooled her!

October

What a month! It's my favorite, and not just because it's my birthday. I just love the smell, the pumpkins, college football... you name it. We've had a very fun month. We kicked it off by heading up to Purdue for homecoming which was a blast despite our team's dismal performance against Northwestern. We're definitely going to keep up this annual event, but next year we'll start bringing the girls. Ava would have loved it this year!


The following weekend we trekked to 7 Springs for our annual fall weekend with Jim's family. It rained a lot, but we were still able to enjoy Autumnfest. All of the kids had a great time together painting pumpkins and whatnot. As always, it flew by way too fast! Audrey hit a milestone on this trip by cutting her first tooth. We didn't even see it until the drive home, so I'm happy to report there was no drama. We look forward to having everyone down for Thanksgiving next month.


This past weekend was our first at home. We enjoyed a great day of college football on Saturday, then capped it off with a trip to a local pumpkin patch (a real one) on Sunday. We all got an authentic hayride from the parking lot to the pumpkin patch and corn maze which was fun. In addition to picking pumpkins, Ava got to ride horses and pet farm animals which she really liked.

Pumpkin Patch! (Never been in a real one before)

Ava riding the horse she upgraded to after riding a pony.

My girls :)

Daddy and Audrey

Autumnfest at 7 Springs. The funnel cake is a requirement.


Our family enjoying the beautiful mountains in the fall.

Ava concentrating hard on her pumpkin painting at the condo.

The cutest girl in the world beaming about her face paintings.

Tailgating with the Byers crew before the game.

Harry's on a Friday afternoon. Ahh, the memories.

Sick September

I can't believe October's a week away! I'm very thankful for this, however, as our entire September has been sickness in the Vaca household. The moment we walked back in the door from our Jamaican trip Audrey was running a nice high fever. By the time I got her to the doctor two days later, she was all better. The next week I came down with strep throat. I've never had it before, and I never want it again. I seriously thought the pain might kill me it was so bad! My sweet husband took over, cancelled all his trips (he even had a fun one to Purdue), and took care of the fam while I quarantined myself in our bedroom and recuperated.

Fast forward to this week. Shortly after these cute photos were taken at an awesome park down in Waxhaw, Ava passed up a pizza lunch so she could take her afternoon nap instead (NOT a normal reaction for a three year old.) The throwing up and fevers started shortly after. The first two days of this week Ava spent at home with me recovering from what we think is seasonal flu. The girl watched more TV than she's watched in her entire three years of life! Thank goodness for Redbox. Who knew Dora had so many movies out there?

As we roll into the last week, we're eagerly awaiting October. Fall is my personal favorite, and we have a lot of fun things planned like a trip to Purdue for homecoming, and our annual get together with Jim's family in the PA mountains. Can't wait! Stay healthy everyone... and get your flu shots!

By the way, Audrey is the sweetest, happiest baby in the world. She is now saying "da da da da" all the time and enjoys clapping her hands. Too cute!

Ya Mon!

So we are back from our anniversary trip to Jamaica. We enjoyed four glorious days of basking in the sun, reading books, and simply enjoying one another's company. Our resort was small, but had everything we needed. The best part of the trip were the beaches. This was the first time we'd finally succeeded at locating crystal clear water (even 40 feet deep) and perfectly white sand. It was simply divine!

Our resort had free watersports and activities, so we took advantage of them. Twice we went on the snorkel dive, and once we took the catamaran sunset cruise (where we stopped to swim in caves along the rocky shore.) As for watersports, we learned how to windsurf (I made it out to sea but couldn't seem to come back in, so Jim rode a waterbike out to rescue me). We also ocean kayaked and rode the aforementioned water bikes (which remind me of the one Barbie had when I was a kid growing up.)

We got to see jellyfish and stingray pretty close up as well which was cool and scary all at once. One day, I even got stung by a jellyfish! That was a first for me, and I'm happy to report that while it does hurt like a SOB, it's not as bad as you think it's going to be and the pain disappears within minutes. I never saw the little sucker before or after, and I was only in 3' of water!

One of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurants was in Negril, just a 5 minute walk from our resort. We strolled along the beach to check it out, being offered the opportunity to buy massages, souvenirs, and weed along the way :) Anyway, we enjoyed a few Landsharks and some college football before heading back to our resort to continue wasting our days away... until next year! We think we might go back to Mexico for some nostalgia.

Disclaimer: the hardest part of vacationing without the kids is, well, not having the kids. We missed them like crazy, but know that a once-a-year getaway is a must for all healthy marriages to remain that way. We weren't worried, they were in very good hands with Grandmom and PopPop Vaca, but we couldn't way to squeeze them upon getting home!

Six Months!

Our sweet Audrey is already six and a half months old! Where is the time going? We love having her around, and she is 100% sweet. She's very affectionate, loves to stroke your skin gently back and forth, and is smiles all the time. She's moving up from the Infant 1 room at daycare next week and all of her current teachers are so sad. They say she is the absolute best and happiest baby in the room! We believe them... she's wonderful!

Monday was her six month appointment at the pediatricians. She passed all of the developmental tests no problem. She weighed in at 17 lb 5 oz (80%) and was 26.5 inches long (75%). Her head circumference fell in the 70%. So all in all, she's very proportional! We love our chunky baby!

As for milestones, she can roll from her back to her front, can sit up unassisted for several minutes before slowly toppling over, and is grabbing EVERYTHING she can get her hands on and promptly putting it in her mouth (yuck!) Girl will be crawling before we know it. We might actually have to babyproof our house for the first time ever!

Summer Over? What?

Ok, so I've been totally delinquent on posting, I know. We went on vacation, which is probably half the reason I haven't posted in so long. It's taken me twice as long to jump back into life upon returning! It was well worth it though. We road-tripped up to Indiana to see my parents which was great. Michelle tagged along, and Jim joined us after wrapping up work in Detroit that week. We had such a great time with the fam, and we even got to see Jim's sister's family for a day which was nice. Ava loves visiting with her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The weather cooperated nicely as well. It was nice and cool the whole time! While I know this isn't normal for Indiana in August, it still made me really homesick. Jim and I talk all the time about living the easy life back in West Lafayette, but I'm sure it will be many years before we pull the trigger on that!

Audrey has her six month appointment next week. I can't wait to see her stats. She's growing rapidly. She's recently started rolling over and lifting her head up whenever she's strapped down. The girl has pretty much outgrown her infant carseat, so I'm curious to hear what her pediatrician says about that. She's eating two jars of food a day and 24-30 ounces of milk. She looks IDENTICAL to Ava, but her hair is a little darker. She might be a brunette. Only time will tell!

Jim and I are really excited that fall is around the corner. We're kicking it off in two weeks with our anniversary trip. This year we're hitting an all inclusive in Negril, Jamaica (stay away hurricanes!) After that we have a homecoming trip planned at Purdue as well as a Vaca family trip to Seven Springs. I think that will wrap up our 2009 travels, but you just never know. We're tempted to take the girls for a weekend in Chicago in November or December. We also hope to do Disney World again soon, but more than likely will wait until Spring Break for that. We'll see!

This is Princess Ava. Grandpa bought her a crown that she ended up wearing all week, along with Auntie's shoes that she loved!

Ava and Audrey at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

Outside the museum (aka the Hood)

Ava and Audrey with Grandma and Grandpa!

Vaca and Kelley kids (cousins)

How sweet is this face?

Ava and Ian running on campus. Ava liked "mommy's school" a lot!

Ava and Daddy by the dining hall

Ian pushing Audrey

Ava scrambling along outside Battery

Summertime!

"Water on, Summertime!" That's what Ava says every single time we pull into our neighborhood. She sees the turtle fountain and says that. I think she got it because she used to ask me every day "Mommy, is the water on today?" I got sick of repeating myself day after day, so I said "Ava, in the summertime the water's on every day."

We've had a lot of fun this month. Here are all the random fun things we've done: Ava completed swimming lessons and can now swim unassisted with her lifejacket on which is a huge step! She has also morphed into a 24/7 princess and likes to wear her "crown" at all times when at home. She's suddenly into skirts and dresses and wants to wear them every day. Such a girly girl, I tell ya. What else... every Friday is "Mommy and Ava Day". We usually start if off with our weekly grocery shopping where Ava gets to ride "the bull" (it's actually a wart hog from Ice Age) afterwards. Jim says she's practicing for the Cactus. Last Friday was extra special because we went to MJ Donuts beforehand.

Audrey is wonderful. She's eating two jars of food a day now (in addition to her four bottles.) We're hoping its a growth spurt :) She goes to bed about 7pm and gets up at 6am to eat, then goes back down until about 8am. She's very happy and giggly, and loves having Ava talk to her. She's recently started holding her own bottle (yay!) and we think she'll be able to sit up unassisted here in another month or so. The girl is very sturdy.

Jim's parents finally moved here from Miami as of last weekend, so we're super excited for that! Auntie and Uncle Matthew also came for the weekend to visit which was cool. We had fun catching up with them and are glad they're not too far away.

Let's see, what else... oh, we dressed up like cows a few Fridays ago so we could get free combo meals at Chick Fil A. Jim refused to participate, so we had to pay for his food, but Ava and I had no problem living up to our last name. It was fun. Jim's comment was "I take a job with a XX% raise, and you feel the need to dress up like a cow to save $6." I said "Yes, I do, thank you ver much." I could be a millionaire and I still would do it. It's just who I am.

Ava enjoying her powdered donut at MJs

Riding the bull!

She won't go under water, but likes the goggles because they keep water out of her eyes.

Living up to our name!

Ava and Auntie on the carousel at Concord Mills

A very happy Audrey (probably because she had a major blow out minute before)

Auntie and Audrey

Our princess 24/7

Pink girls