October 11

Happy birthday to me!! I took this picture at lunch today (with the new flash I got for my birthday!!). Audrey and Daddy were cracking each other up!

Our day began with Audrey throwing up. This is the second time she has thrown up this weekend, so we're thinking she might have some kind of stomach virus. Or maybe she just had too much junk food this weekend and chugged down too much milk on an empty stomach this morning? Who knows?? All I know is that I was queasy all morning after watching her throw up...I don't do vomit. We did have to cancel our babysitter and my birthday plans tonight, because I didn't want to risk her spreading germs to anyone else. For the most part, she is acting pretty normal. She hasn't had much of an appetite, but she did eat more today than yesterday.

At one point, I had a whole post in my head that I was going to write today about turning 30. But right now, I'm not much in the mood to dwell on the fact that I am 30. So we'll save that for another day!

October 10

I didn't take any pictures today. Instead, I'm going to share my favorite pictures from the pumpkin patch trip yesterday (at least they are my favorites so far...I'm still working on editing them all). It's my blog, so I can change the rules sometimes if I feel like it, right?

Audrey loves our friends Adam, Lindsey, Simon and Elliot. She talks about them all the time, and she is hardly ever grumpy when they are around. Audrey and Adam play a game that they call "Woo, woo, woo", where Adam holds Audrey up high in the air and she cracks up laughing. Audrey was kind of a grump in the pumpkin patch yesterday, but after they played their game, she was all smiles!!

October 9

Today was our big Martha Stewart Fall Fun Day! Here's a quick summary of all that we did!

8:00 am--leave home
9:45 am--arrive at Curtis Orchard: see goats, see horses, watch Audrey go on her first horse ride, eat apple doughnuts with apple cider, watch kids play, see goats again
12:00pm--outlet mall shopping!
1:30 pm--lunch hosted by Lindsey at her parents' house
3:30 pm--arrive at The Great Pumpkin Patch: look at pumpkins and decor, go with kids through four different mazes, eat pumpkin ice cream, deal with a grumpy Audrey who only had a 10 minute nap, look at the chickens, goats and llamas, go to the actual pumpkin patch to see more pumpkins, take pictures in all of our favorite spots
6:00 pm--leave The Great Pumpkin Patch
6:45 pm--stop for an incredibly healthy dinner at McDonalds on the way home
8:00 pm--arrive home

Whew!! After all of that excitement, I am way too tired to get all of my pictures edited and uploaded tonight. Here is just one picture of Audrey riding her very first horse! She really liked it. I thought she was going to be scared, but she was perfectly happy on the horse. Later on the ride, she even got brave enough to let go of Daddy's arm.

October 8

Tonight we went over to Jon and Heather's house for what I thought was going to be a game night. It turns out it was a surprise 30th birthday party for me (my birthday is on Monday). Despite the fact that I really don't like surprise parties, it was a really great party. Heather put everything together so nicely (her decorations were way cute!), and it was fun to hang out with friends and eat good food and play games. And I was totally surprised; I didn't have a clue that they were planning all this for me.

I'm not too sure what to think about turning 30. I'll have more thoughts on that on Monday.

For now, I need to go to bed. Martha Stewart day begins tomorrow at 8 am!!

October 7

Today at Sprouts, Audrey discovered that she is now big enough to bounce on this ball all by herself. Last spring she couldn't quite manage it alone, but today she was a bouncing fool. I couldn't get a decent picture as she was constantly bouncing. I do like this one. It's not in very good focus, but you can tell that she is bouncing and you can see that she is smiling.

Audrey actually had fun the whole time at Sprouts today. You wouldn't think that would be surprising, considering that she is in a big play space with lots and lots of cool toys, but she is normally not very happy at Sprouts. She is whiny and clingy and won't go anywhere or play with any toys unless I am in touching distance. And then when another kid comes near here (keep in mind we are sharing this space with 50 other kids!), she screams no and starts to cry. It is usually very stressful for me, especially when I have to help with clean up and snack time.

But something was different today, and Audrey was so happy. She ran off to play with everything, she took turns with the other kids and shared the toys, and she checked in with me every so often by running up and giving me a hug and a kiss and a big smile. It was such a nice morning...exactly what Sprouts is designed to be! I'm hoping she is turning over a new leaf and this happy behavior will continue in the coming weeks/ months!

October 6

Here's a sneak peek at Audrey's 2nd birthday party invite. We're going with a goldfish theme this year. Audrey loves to eat goldfish crackers, and she loves real fish too. Everytime we go to Wal-mart or Meijer we have to be sure to stop in the pet section and see the fish.

My chore for tonight is to finish the invites. Last year, I had her invitations finished months before her party. I'm a bit of a slacker this year. And we're having two parties this year, so I have even more invitations to make! I suppose I should stop typing this and start working!

October 5

Tonight I had a photo shoot with the Provart family. They have two energetic boys--ages 4 and 5. As you can see from this photo, it was difficult to get a picture of the two of them together. One would smile, and the other would make a funny face. Then one would be looking the wrong way. Then the other would be looking the wrong way. And on and on it went. I got some good individual shots and some decent family shots, but I had a hard time getting the two boys together. I may have to test my Photoshop skills and see if I can merge two pictures together in order to get one of the two of them looking at the camera and smiling.

With all that said, I kind of love pictures like this. They are more candid and real and show the kids' personalities. I know these boys' parents probably don't want to blow this up and hang it above their mantel, but I think it's a fun photo!

Pacifier update #2: Normally when Audrey wakes up in the morning the first thing she does is go on a search for her pacifier (or "night-night" as she calls it) and her blanket. The blanket is usually still in the bed with her, the pacifier is usually on the floor under the bed. On morning #2 without the pacifier, instead of looking for her night-night when I came to get her up, she said, "Night-night trash. Blanket here." She understands that her night-night is gone, but that she still gets to keep her blanket. And she seems totally okay with it. Who knew it would be so easy?