Sharing...

We all have personality traits that we know we need to work on right? Well Charlie's happens to be sharing, which he openly admits he is not so good at. I've dealt with it for however many years (as he has with my "good" traits), but now that Audrey has come along I keep telling him he really needs to get better at it. He has been trying and decided the other night to "share" his ice cream sandwich with her, which was so nice. The only problem is she started screaming when it was all gone (i.e. why didn't you give me the entire thing Dad??) so he had to get another one. This worked out perfectly because he didn't really have to share in the end, he got an entire ice cream sandwich and so did Audrey... Perfect!


I took a picture of it because it was really funny watching her. She sat there like a bird with her mouth open until Charlie put the ice cream sandwich in front of her mouth... We have no issues eating in the Dennison household in case any of you were wondering...

Braintree 4th of July...

Our town has their 4th of July celebration the Saturday before the actual 4th, which was today this year. We had no idea when we moved into our neighborhood 3 years ago, but it is the center of all of the festivities which is pretty cool. You can see the fireworks from our deck and pretty much anywhere else in the neighborhood.

We had heard there was a parade that Charlie and I thought was yearly (we just had never been) but come to find out this was the 1st Annual Braintree 4th of July Parade. Kind of cool... We figured Audrey would get a kick out of it, so we put her in the backpack one our neighbors loaned us and walked to the end of the street. All of our neighbors were out which was fun to see them.

It was a pretty cool parade and Audrey actually was very content in the backpack for the entire thing (it was over an hour!). Ask Charlie how his back is doing after carrying our little girl is another story... I wasn't sure how all the loud noises from the fire trucks and cars would go over but she seemed very mezmorized by the whole thing. There were a bunch of marching bands, bagpipes, police cars, and even Cookie Monster and Elmo.

The fireworks are at 10 pm tonight, so I'm not sure if Audrey will make it up for them. If so it will be interesting to see her reaction, love or hate them... She actually was awake for them last year and they didn't phase her, though she was 3 weeks old...

45 Province...

I had a request from someone to post more pictures of Charlie. I laughed when I read the e-mail, but realized this blog obviously is full of Audrey's life and not so much Charlie and I's.

So here is a post on the project Charlie just finished, 45 Province Street in downtown Boston (right near the Omni Parker & the Common). He started working on this project when Audrey was born, so he has been there over a year which is a long time. It is a 32-story luxury condo building that is all cast in place concrete, which is where Charlie (and his company) come in. I hear about the job daily but hadn't seen it since last summer when he first started there. So this weekend when we were downtown I got to see it now and it looks awesome. This picture is from the view of the building from the Boston Common when we were walking back from our photo shoot yesterday. The views from the top of the building are amazing according to Charlie, he claims you can almost to our house along with the entire city, the Harbor, the Charles, and more. Sounds like a perfect place to live, now we just need to come up with the $750k for a studio and we can move right on in...

Pictures with the Tirado's...

Audrey had her 1 year old portraits taken today, finally! I booked this session I think last October and have been looking forward to it every since! The session was with Rene & Melissa Tirado of Tirado Photography. As many of you know, they were the photographers for our wedding almost 4 years ago and we absolutely loved them! They are the sweetest couple and take the most amazing pictures. They just won Best of Boston 2007 and totally deserve it. I have told them how I feel we were so ahead of the curve booking them 4 years ago... Anyways, when Audrey was born I knew I wanted for them to do a portrait session with her. It ended up working out for it to be her 1 year portraits. I decided I really wanted the pictures outside and not in their studio for a more casual feeling. We decided to meet up in the Public Gardens downtown which I thought would be perfect. Well, last Sunday was our appointment and of course it poured rain ALL day! I was so bummed and nervous we wouldn't be able to re-schedule. But the Tirado's were awesome and said they could meet today. Of course the weather forecast all week said rain for today and again got nervous. But it worked out perfectly! It rained briefly right when we were walking to meet up but it was fine the rest of the time (and the day for that matter!). Anyways, Audrey did great. I was nervous with the timing around her nap and all that jazz but she was fine and seemed to enjoy being the center of attention (shocker right?). She made it a full 45 minutes and we went to several different parts of the park for different pictures. I decided this week that it would be really cool to get pictures of her with the Make Way for Ducklings statues (they are bronze statues from the book by that name). The Tirado's were really into it and Audrey loved standing there with the duckling. Charlie took a couple of pictures of her while she was standing there so you get a sneak peak at the pictures.

Melissa said the pictures should be online in a couple of weeks so I will let you all know when they are if you want to look at them. I can't wait to see them! And can't wait til our next session with Rene and Melissa... Hopefully this can become a yearly tradition...

Fenway Park...

We had an awesome day yesterday. Charlie's good friend from college Ben and his wife Kourtney were in town for quick trip and we got to spend an awesome day with them. Kourtney was in Boston all week for a work conference and Ben decided to come out to visit and get in a a pre-requisite trip to Fenway Park. Ben has some very nice connections in the MLB organization and got the 4 of us tickets for yesterdays game. against the Cardinals.

I had intended to get a sitter for Audrey so us grown-ups could go to the game alone, but for various reasons I didn't get anyone and we made a game time decision to bring her with us. It ended up being a ton of fun! We rode the subway part of the way to the game which was her first subway ride. And she made her 1st trip to Fenway Park, quite a milestone living here. We had great seats in the section behind home plate (thanks Mrs. Sproat!) and happened to be right behind 3 other kids that were all very close to Audrey's age. She did really good under the circumstances, it was pretty hot and cramped for the 1st couple innings. She sat and ate gram crackers (and got them all over me and herself but that is another story) for a good part of the game. The Sox didn't win, but that's alright. It was fun regardless.

We had an awesome visit with Ben & Kourtney. It was a gorgeous day and we grilled out before the game and then came home and hung out on the deck (and grilled again!) and stayed up til way past my bedtime. Thanks for visiting us you guys! We hope to see you soon...

Father's Day...

I'll start with a Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there (though I'm not sure there are many of you that actually read this). I'll continue with the fact that we didn't have the best Father's Day, or weekend really, around the Dennison household. Charlie came down with some kind of flu/virus/we don't know what it is on Friday and was down for the count all weekend. He didn't leave the couch or our bed all weekend which stinks. He did get to spend some time with Audrey this morning and I snapped a couple of pictures, of course. Audrey went out and bought this cute t-shirt (ok, I had to have it, it's brown, how could I resist?) that basically says "My Daddy is: Strong, Funny, Handsome, Brave, All of the Above". Of course Audrey check "All of the Above". She also got him "Daddy Kisses" a cute board book that I couldn't pass up.

We were also supposed to have Audrey's 1 year picture's today, which if you have talked to me in the last week or so you know I was REALLY looking forward to this! We were supposed to meet the photographers that did our wedding, Melissa & Rene Tirado, downtown in the Public Gardens this morning. Unfortunately it was not meant to be today, it rained most of the day and with Charlie sick we decided to reschedule (hopefully for next Sunday). Stay tuned for that, I know we will have some wonderful pictures when we actually meet with them!

On a totally separate note, we did have one big thing happen today: Audrey took her 1st steps! Pretty exciting! She has been standing up in the middle of the room all this week and we have been waiting to see where she goes with it. This morning she stood up in front of me and I held my arms out and she took a step towards me, then proceeded to squat and crawl the rest of the way. No matter, she's on her way I think. She also started furniture walking this weekend, which to be honest I thought she was already doing, but now that she is actually doing it I realized I was wrong.

Wish Audrey and I luck to not get what Charlie has and for Charlie to feel better ASAP!

1 Year Appointment...

We had Audrey's 1 year doctor's appointment today and I have to say it was absolutely miserable! She had to get shots again (which she has previously been ok with) and she was NOT happy about it! Dr. Kelly left the room to get the shots and Audrey started screaming uncontrollably and I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then Dr. Kelly came in and I looked at her and said "Does she know?" and she said "Yes, let's do this quick". Needless to say Audrey spent most of the afternoon very irritable and just went to bed. It doesn't help she is getting 2 more molars on the bottom (she just got the top 2 last week!)....

So her stats are exactly as I thought (she has been very consist ant at each appointment with her percentiles):

Weight - 25 lbs (95th percentile)
Height - 31 inches (97th percentile)

My little chunker, god I love her!

It's Beach Time...

So we made our first trip to the beach for Summer '08 this past Sunday and let me tell you how excited I am that it is beach time again! It has been HOT here, though I know most of you have had the same weather if not worse. My car read 100 degrees yesterday which I don't ever remember it ever being here. I digress as always... Audrey made several trips to the beach last summer, but this was her first trip where she didn't sleep in her car seat the entire time... I have purchased several bathing suits for her as we are taking a couple of vacations and a girl needs to have options right? My favorite thus far is this adorable diaper cover from Lands End. I got the UV t-shirt to go with it and made me feel better in the hot sun having her a little covered.

I was a little nervous as to how she would react to the sand and being confined to a small area under the umbrella but she did really well. She got into the toys (most of which were awesome birthday gifts!) and really enjoyed eating the sand (no surprise really right?). She got a little fidgety towards the end and decided to climb and then lounge on my chair. Does she look like she is made for the beach or what???

We are on the countdown to our summer vacation on the Cape, 1 month from tomorrow, and can't wait!!!

Maybe She's Mine??

I've gotten quite a complex over the last year due to my daughter. Well it is not really her fault, but everyone thinks she looks like Charlie. Now this is great that he knows she is not the milk mans, but is upsetting because doesn't every mom want their daughter to look like them?? I've actually kind of gotten over it because it has been going on for so long that I just smile and say "Yes, she does look like Charlie". Well, I decided to look at my 1st Birthday pictures just for the heck of it and thought I would share what I found.

Look for yourself, but I think she is definitely my daughter...

I do need to post a small disclaimer... I don't have Charlie's 1 year pictures to look at so this is a tad biased... I'm aloud I think as the mom though right??

1st Birthday Documented...

Alright, this is the LAST birthday post I swear! For this year anyways...

I of course had to document the day, come on, it's a big deal to turn one, right??? You can all check out her website later in the week and see how many pictures I actually took from the day in her web albums...

Audrey really was great all day. There was a lot going on and she was quite a trooper thru it all. She made sure to get all her meals in (really, we don't miss meals in the Dennison household) and her naps, so that made life a whole lot more enjoyable for all.

She got a ton of stuff and she really enjoyed opening her gifts. I should have spaced things out a little more then I did, because everything she opened she would just stop and play with it. Which is good I guess, that means she like the toy right?

Thank you to everyone that got her a gift, we really appreciate it and love them all!

Her 1 year appointment is this Friday, so I will let you all know her "stats" from that... We are working this week on the big formula in a bottle to milk in a sippy cup transition, we will see how that goes as well..

Eating her breakfast, big ol' smile

On her new walker/car that Aunt Karen & Uncle Vinnie sent her

Hanging out in her sea of gifts...

Opening takes a lot of concentration you know....

Birthday Bash Part 2 - The Rest of the Party!

Well I have to say the joint 1st Birthday Bash was a success! It really was a ton of fun and I'm so glad we had it with the LaBossiere's! The weather cooperated, almost too much. It was a beautiful day, but summer has arrived and it was 90 degrees. No matter, people went from hanging on the deck to cooling off in the a.c. inside. They guys took one for the team and manned the grill and did a fabulous job. We tried to stick with the polka dot theme the best we could, but Nicole and I quickly found out that polka dots are not to be found in any stores in pink and navy right now. We were creative and made it work though. Nicole got tons of pink and navy paper goods. I made the monogram banner above, which stayed up long enough for me to take that picture and that was about it. Nice thought, but didn't work so well... We got balloons, which were Nicole's idea that I would have not thought of, and they were a huge hit with the kids! Audrey and Maddie got their own "1" balloons and the rest of the kids got the pink and blue (supposed to be navy, but not so much) ones.

There ended up being about 10 kids there which was a lot of fun. They all played well together and kept each other entertained. Other then not having enough juice boxes for them, I think they all had fun. Besides Audrey and Maddie, another friend from work has a son that is turning 1 in July that was there. It was pretty cute seeing them "play" with each other.

Here is Maddie "hugging" Audrey, and Audrey saying "Hey, can't you see I'm playing here"...

Here are the 3 Turner 1 years olds, concentrating VERY hard...

Thanks to everyone that came! We had an awesome time and we hope you all did too! We are planning on doing a repeat next year, so mark you calendars...

Birthday Bash Part 1 - The Cake

So as many of you know I had this "vision" for the girls birthday cake. I was really nervous about making this vision a reality as I am not the best cake maker. I haven't made a ton of cakes and have never used fondant... I had to have a polka dot cake, and made 1 large cake for the guests and a small cake for each of the girls. All in all I am happy with the results! I had envisioned navy polka dots to match the invitations but that just wasn't in the cards (note to self, regular food coloring makes bright blue, NOT navy) but am happy with the white. I made the polka dots with fondant. They actually sell the stuff at Michael's pre-made and you just roll it out and cut it with cookie cutters or whatever. It was actually pretty easy to do. Now draping a cake like they do for weddings is a different story. Maybe for her 2nd birthday... We ended up with zero left over so I guess it was ok?

The girls loved the cake too. We put their high chairs out on the deck and everyone sang Happy Birthday. Audrey being the ham she is sat there and soaked in the attention. Maddie on the other hand was a little overwhelmed and put her head down and cried. No matter, she got over it and went full speed into the cake. She did an awesome job at getting icing ALL over her, which is exactly what you are supposed to do. Audrey was rather methodical with her cake. She started off just poking at it and licking her finger. She then would take a small piece off the cake and eat it. 20 minutes or so in she decided it was pretty good and ended up eating most of the cake. Shocker I know...

Here they are, in all their frosting covered glory:

And here is what remained of the cakes after they were done...

Not a bad job girls... Audrey's is the one on the left if you were wondering...

1st Birthday...

My baby turned 1 years old today.

I am still having a hard time believing it. On one hand it seems like just yesterday that I gave birth to her and on the other hand I don't remember life without her. We had a great day and a wonderful birthday party that I will post pictures of later.

Happy Birthday Audrey Elizabeth!

Here's to many many birthdays to come...

What Audrey's Doing Now...

I guess this should really be "What is Audrey NOT Doing Now" as the girl non-stop and into EVERYTHING right now... She exhausts me just watching her!

Speed Crawling - She continues to be a super fast crawler and can get around very efficiently. She can and will pull herself up on anything. She enjoys standing behind things like boxes and the laundry basket and pushing them around. She is gaining balance daily, and I have caught her recently letting go of things and standing on her own for a few seconds.

Talking - Ok, she isn't saying real words, but the girl wants to talk SO bad it is not even funny! She makes more noise from that little mouth. Is she totally my daughter or what? She is definitely making specific noises like when she wants more food or is all done eating or wants to be picked up, etc. Someday she is going to just say "Hi Momma" and my jaw will just drop...

"Toys" - She is into anything that is a bag/box/container that she can takes things out of and put things back in. She used to just take stuff out, but she is starting to get the put stuff back in concept. It is really cute to watch how hard she concentrates when doing this! She is also finally into soft things, like stuffed animals. She has a bunny that is a blanket and stuffed animal in one and loves to snuggle with it when she goes to bed. She also has a baby (Sweet Pea as we call her) that Grandma Lutz got her that is cloth and is perfect size for her to carry around. Who knew you could crawl and carry things at the same time...

Down Stairs - Charlie taught Audrey how to go down stairs last weekend, specifically the deck stairs, and she had really caught on by the end of the weekend! She will go to the top of the stairs and knows she needs to turn around to go down.

Blueberries & Pasta - Her favorite foods right now and she can't get enough of either. I am convinced she would eat an entire pint of blueberries at one sitting if you let her. She has also realized that she loves pasta (I'm into the wagon wheels right now) and stuffs as many as she can in her mouth at one time.

She just recently got her 8th and 9th teeth. They are molars in the back that I didn't realize she would get already.