An Update Finally, Jerseylicious, and Almost 16 Months

Thank you very much to our family and friends who have patiently waited for an update to the blog even after months of clicking on the link only to find the dreaded "Snotsucker" post month and month. Well, here we are again! This is where I insert my explanation/excuses for why I have waited months to tell you more about the fabulous Ms. Audrey but I will not bore you with that so here you go. :)

Audrey turns 16 months old in 3 days and she is as busy and lively as ever. She is into everything and loves to empty cabinets, drawers, purses, you name it so we spend a lot of time directing her towards things that we are okay with her practicing her organizational skills on. She understands so much of what we say whether it's in English or Spanish. She is super affectionate (when she wants to be) and is definitely one assertive little girl! We are having a blast with her and are so proud to see how everyday it seems like she has something new to show or do for us. I will eventually fill in the gap in time since we missed her hospital stay, Easter, 1st Birthday, and many more events in the months that I have neglected you sweet blog. Enjoy the update!

Enjoying making a mess of some avocado at Grandma & Grandpa Reza's House

Showing off her Jerseylicious hairstyle before she's ready for the party!

Rocking out with her cousin Ethan at his housewarming party. Future stars??

Not sure why Blogger will not let me rotate this picture and although it pains me to post it in the wrong direction I thought it was so cute that you wouldn't care what angle you were looking at it from! :)

The snotsucker!

Here's a great Mommy Tip....actually Marcos was the one who came home with it but I'm sharing it with everyone. It's called the snotsucker and it works great! Audrey hates the nasal bulb aspirator from the hospital but her doctor recommended this when we went to have her seen because of her nasty cold. Mommy's & Daddy's you need to get your hands on one of these for your babies and throw those bulbs away! http://www.nosefrida.com/index.html

Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Birthday Marcos

Happy Birthday Marcos/Daddy...We love you very much!!

Enjoying playing with Lita after lunch for Daddy's birthday!

10 months old!!

Audrey turned 10 months old last Sunday. She is doing great and really starting to exercise her independence. She is still crawling and sometimes it is so fast it seems like she has figured out how to run-crawl. She pulls herself up with ease on everything, even the walls. She can stand with one arm helping her balance on the couch, chair, etc. and she can move herself from one thing to another (e.g. the couch to the Ottoman) while standing and guiding herself around.

She loves trying the different foods that we eat and wants nothing to do with baby food besides the fruits and veggies. She wants the real thing! So we do a lot of cutting things up into bite size pieces and she feeds herself with ease, it's a mess but she makes it look easy. One cute thing she'll do is if you feed her first and the food is in her mouth she'll pick up another piece and if you open your mouth she'll feed you. She's having a great time with all of it!

I just read something about your babies first visit to the dentist and I think I have to look into that since Audrey already has 8 teeth with another 4 ready to make their appearance very soon. She's talking all the time and every once in awhile there is such clarity in the things she says: Dadda, Daddy, gato, Momma. She mimics sounds and gestures too, waving and clapping are some of her favs. Next on the to do list is planning her 1st Birthday party! Yay! :)

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Morning

Can you say long tongue! I think she likes her present!

Christmas Night at Gramma & Grandpa's house. Making sure she gets to wear all of her fancy dresses that she received before she was even born! :)

Mommy, Audrey & Gramma

Big girl using her sippy cup.

She loves her jumper!

All that hair, we had to do pigtails!

Big girl holding her bottle by herself!

1st Visit with Santa

We took Audrey to see Santa this morning. It worked out perfectly, no one was there and we just walked right up. Audrey did just fine, she didn't cry at all but rather starred at Santa like, "Who are you?" She was more impressed with the book she got at the end when she was back in her stroller. Here are some pictures:

So, this is an interesting outfit you have on here Sir.

Mommy is taking pictures, Daddy has the video camera out...what are they expecting me to do? :)


Ahh, that's what I'm talking about...this book is great!

Merry Christmas from The Rezas

Merry Christmas! We hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday with their loved ones!

It's about time...

...for an update!!! If you'll notice the tracker Audrey is almost 8 1/2 months old and she is keeping us with our hands filled and we are loving every moment of it! It is so great to be celebrating the holidays with her and watching her react to all of the new and exciting things.

In the 2+ months since the last update Audrey has been up to so much. She is now crawling at record speed and getting into everything that she hadn't seen before including Gracie's (the cat) food. She giggles and screams as she moves around making herself so excited at all of the things she can now do. Changing her clothes and diapers is a regular wrestling match all day long as she would rather be moving instead of laying there nice and still! She seems to have the upper body strength of a competitive weightlifter and can nearly lift herself all the way up on top of the couch or anything else. She is starting to "surf" the couches by holding onto the top and moving her feet down below.

She needs extra sustenance for all of this movement and has been eating plenty of fruits and vegetables with ease. Next on the menu will be some of the "meal" kind of baby food like chicken, etc. I even saw a baby food version of lasagna and meat sauce at Walmart the other day. Really?? Is that necessary? I can't even imagine what will be next! Whatever it is, I am sure Audrey will eat all of it.

Now that she is standing up and moving all over the place we had to drop her crib to the lowest level and take out the bumper so she doesn't use it to hurl herself over the edge in an attempt to escape. She's always watching Gracie's gymnastic moves so I wouldn't put it past her to try something crazy like that! The crib looks so sad and plain now but we have all adjusted. The first night was a little rough for the first 30 minutes or so when she was trying to get herself familiar with the lower level and emptiness of her crib. I sat in the corner in the dark until she laid herself down because she kept pulling herself up on the sides and then didn't know how to get down without bumping some part of her body on the rails on the way down. It was a bit traumatizing for both of us but she is much more graceful and tougher now so it's all good. Marcos and I just keep saying to each other how wild it is that 8 months ago she laid there and didn't do anything except eat, sleep and cry and now she can do everything! Amazing! :)

Some more firsts have taken place in the past couple months: Audrey was Baptized October 17th (Godfather - Justin Dillon, Godmother - Melissa Reza), trip to the pumpkin patch, trick-or-treating (1 baby and 8 adults - quite the scene), Los Osos HS football game on the sidelines, Thanksgiving with the family, and exploring the Christmas Lights in Rancho Cucamonga. Enjoy the pics below:

Happy Baby + Cute Outfit = Photo Op for Mommy


I want to be in the picture too....this is us rushing out the door in the AM!

Audrey's Baptism

St. Anthony's ~ October 17, 2009

Godparents Melissa Reza & Justin Dillon

Getting kisses from Chai with Grandpa.

Travel seat is perfect for eating food at Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Pumpkin Patch on Halloween

The Grandmas had to join us for Audrey's first visit to the pumpkin patch.

BOO!

Cutest Ladybug ever!

Go Grizzlies!!

First picture with a mascot for Audrey & Mommy!

Happy Girl waking up from a nap on Turkey Day!

Fun with Daddy!

Fence + Auto Timer on the camera = Great pic of the fam on Thanksgiving

This is where Mommy & Daddy are always chasing Gracie out from under the Christmas tree right?

This tree is pretty cool!

Go Lakers!

Cutest baby face! You would never know that 15 minutes before this picture poor Audrey was throwing up all over the place. The flu bug hit her while we were walking around Rancho checking out the Christmas lights. She fell asleep moments later on Daddy's shoulder as we were headed back to the car. (Can you believe how long that hair is! She looks like a 5 year old!)

Anna, Javier, Melissa & Monique exploring the lights in Rancho. Merry Christmas!!

6 Months Old

Audrey turned 6 months old on October 7th and there are so many "firsts" and details to report. In the beginning of September her first tooth appeared and her second tooth on the bottom was not far behind. She has managed the teething pretty well with only one night where she needed a little extra TLC when her Auntie Monique and Uncle Jason were babysitting. Other than that she seems to have a high tolerance for pain like her Daddy!

We took Audrey to a tepan restaurant for the first time to celebrate her Auntie Julia's birthday. She was so in awe of the chef cooking in front of us that it was hard to even coax a smile out of her. She is so aware of everything around her now and constantly studying everything that is new to her. At her first Dodger game she did great around all of those load, rowdy fans (certainly not like Angel fans ;)) and she seemed to really enjoy herself. She even got to see a winning game and get a free Dodger dog...that Daddy ate! :)

Yesterday we introduced Audrey to rice cereal for the first time and she seemed to like it and had the whole spoon feeding thing down. She got to use her new high chair and seemed to be excited about that too!

Audrey has had a few sleepovers with her grandparents and was a good girl for them. It makes it so nice for Marcos and I to go out knowing that she is not too much of a handful for her grandparents that LOVE taking care of her. She is now sleeping 11+ hours each night and is much more alert and playful during the day. Here are some pics from the past month and a half. Enjoy!

Auntie Julia was dressed up by the waitress at the tepan restaurant to pose for a pic with Audrey. (5 months old)

Enjoying the Dodger game!

More Dodger fun!

Ready for lunch with Mommy and the girls.

Celebrating Laura's licensure!! Congratulations MFT!!!

Gracie checking out Audrey in her new high chair. Audrey loves Gracie and the cats and Ozzie and her grandparents house. She can't wait to be mobile enough to chase after them all day long.

Passed out when Grandma was feeding her...it was a long day. We had her try on these black Mary Janes that were actually mine when I was a baby. We only got one shoe on and had to snap this picture before she woke up!

Happy Baby playing in her walker at her Auntie Mel & Mon's house!