Aquarium...

We made a trip to the New England Aquarium this past Saturday, which was a lot of fun, especially for Audrey. Last time Audrey went was when my family came out to visit for her Christening last March, so it has been awhile. It was pretty packed as it was Saturday and rainy out so I guess everyone had the same idea we had.

Audrey was pretty into the displays, but definitely enjoyed the ones that were closer to the ground that she could actually see and the ones where with stuff that was moving. The best part of the aquarium is a 3 story tank that goes the core of the building that has all sort of cool things in it, sharks, turtles, fish, etc. and it really fun to watch. The jelly fish exhibit is pretty cool too. But I'll be honest, I've been to a lot of aquariums, and this one is not at the top of my list. (In case you were wondering the Monterey Bay Aquarium is my favorite of all times) There is not a lot of hands on stuff for the kids and it is very dated in looks and displays. They are doing some construction though so hopefully there will be some new fun exhibits next time we go... That being said, we did buy a yearly pass, so we can go as much as we like, and bring up to 4 guest for free... Now we just need people to come visit us..

We got way better pictures of the animals at the aquarium then we did of Audrey. She is proving to be next to impossible to photograph anymore. She looks at you for 2 seconds then turns, like "HA, you can't get me, even with your fast camera!" Charlie had a lot of fun playing with the camera and taking pictures of all the sea life, the jellies were my personal favorite.

Here are a few of Audrey...

Standing at the big tank, watching everything swim buy...

She loved these Jelly Fish lights for some reason...

Stuck inside on a Rainy Weekend...

Well it has rained here for the majority of the weekend so far (Kyle? Who knows anymore). Which hasn't been so bad, we got to watch a bunch of football yesterday (we finally get to watch Purdue and they lose, ugh) and have gotten to lounge more then we normally do. Audrey is not so good being in the house for long periods of time anymore, she gets bored to say the least. But she has been entertaining herself quite nicely this weekend, especially this morning while Charlie and I actually got to read the paper. She found she travel highchair, an umbrella, and Charlie's shirt from yesterday and had a ball with them as you can see. I feel like she is too young for dress up but maybe not? I will have to add that to my ever expanding Christmas List for her. It is already quite long and it's still Septmember, ugh...

Garage, done...

So Charlie's summer project is finally complete, which is a good thing because it's fall now right? To his credit he finished a couple of weekends ago, I just haven't uploaded any of the pictures... He took on painting the garage and the finished product looks pretty awesome. You may be thinking, "How hard is it to paint a garage?". If you are thinking this you don't know my husband at all. He painstakingly sanded, primed and painted (2 coats of course) the entire garage. To say it was a bit of a mess is an understatement, it had been neglected for who knows how long...

We used the garage as a test so we could pick the color we want to paint the house in the spring, which I must say I was a little nervous about (painting a room in one thing, painting an entire house is whole other story!). We wanted gray, but not a blue gray, which proved a little difficult to find. But the color we ended up with is perfect. Its Amherst Gray from Benjamin Moore's Historical Colors (my go-to color palate, just look at my house). Anyways, here are some before and after pictures that will help you appreciate all of the work Charlie has done.

Before...

After...

Here is finished Swing Set too...

4 years...

So today is Charlie and I's Anniversary, we are on 4 years if you can believe it. Like with everything in life right now, some days it feels like we got married yesterday, and others it feels like we have been married FOREVER (I mean we have been together for over 9 years, that is a long time right??). It has been interesting this past year to see how marriage morphs once you become parents. All of the sudden your entire world revolves around this little being and not around each other, and topics of conversation usually involve the word Audrey. I have to say that watching Charlie with his little girl is the best and really makes my heart melt. Her face lights up when he comes home and screams "Da Da" and she loves watching and helping him with his projects around the house (wonder where she got the curiosity gene from??)... Just confirms what I already know, how much I love my husband... My husband that just sent me these beautiful flowers at work, is he the best??

Here's to many many more anniversary's and years of marital bliss... Oh and starting to plan our 5 year anniversary trip, sans Audrey... Suggestions on locations will be gladly taken...

Baby Goodwin #2...

Our good friends Krissy & Rich Goodwin (you may remember them from our Cape Cod trip) welcomed their second child into the world today. In the year that I have dubbed "The Year of the Boy" (everyone I know has had a boy this year!), they had a son, Richard Michael the 3rd. They have an adorable 2 year old daughter Payton that I know is going to make the best big sister. I hate that they are out in Chicago and we won't be able to see the baby except thru pictures for who knows how long. I guess thank goodness for the Internet and digital pictures, what on earth did we do with out them??

A big congrats to the Goodwins!

15 Month Appointment...

We had Audrey's 15 month appointment yesterday, which I wish I could say was uneventful but I would be lying... She definitely is not a fan of the doctor's office, though she loves the waiting room so if we could have our entire appointment out there maybe there would be less crying. She has been pretty cranky the last couple of days and it turns out that she is cutting 2 teeth and has a cold and her ears are pink and swollen but not infected (yet, keep your fingers crossed!), so she actually had some valid reasons for her wonderful behavior. Getting shots didn't exactly help the matter, but the Tylenol she got after seemed to make her a little more comfortable.

So she got her 1st flue shot (thimerosal free - they have them in stock this year thank goodness), which who the heck knew it was flu shot time already? Note to self for next year I guess. She got another shot too that I don't remember what it is. We are holding off on the MMR shot til 18 month as my doctor has said that one is one of the controversial shots regarding autism. She told me there is no harm in holding off til 18 month if I wanted to, and yes I want to hold off, why risk it if we don't have to? I love my doctor, I love that she tells me those things and lets me make the decision. I was also informed that there is such a thing as drinking too much milk (I had no idea, I figured its good for her so why not drink a ton?). So we need to work on that, which will not be so easy as the girl LOVES her milk. We also need to work on our veggie intake as it is pretty much zero right now. I am thinking of purchasing the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook "Deliciously Deceptive" as I have heard it is a great way to sneak in veggies.

So for her stats, Audrey is staying strong on the 95th percentile curve. She weighed in at 27 lbs 2 1/2 oz and measured 32 1/2 inches. I thought she had slowed down her growing but apparently I was wrong.

Jackie's Day...

So last Saturday was dubbed "Jackie's Day". My good friend Jackie is getting married (1 month from yesterday, the countdown is on!) and we had her Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party all in one day. The phrase of the day was "You can do whatever you want, it is YOUR day". And what a day it was.

We started the day with her shower at a cute little coffee shop in Bucktown called the Ark Cafe. It was the perfect location and all of the staff there were extremely helpful. The food was wonderful, Holly picked out an awesome menu, and we were able to bring our own champagne to make mimosas for everyone which was awesome and a perfect touch(I love that you can BYOB in Chicago, stupid blue laws here). Jackie is doing her wedding in a green and brown theme with lots of polka dots and stripes, I love it! We tried to tie that in, and got cute mint favors from weddingpaperdivas with green polka dots and brown writing. We also found perfect napkins that were green with brown polka dots to use as a table runner. I think the shower was a success. There were certainly plenty of everyone's favorite black & white boxes and gifts for her to bring home...

After the shower, Holly, Jackie, Jackie's friend Jeannie and I went and got mani / pedi's which was awesome. It turned out to be one of the best pedicures I've gotten in awhile. I even veered from my normal boring color and got one of the new Essie fall collection pinks, I kind of like it...

I will keep the bachelorette description PG seeing as this is a family website, but I will state that we are all getting old and bachelorette parties aren't what they once were. That being said we had a great time. We started out the evening at Holly's condo for some cheese & crackers and Sangria. From there we headed to DelaCosta, a restaurant downtown, where we had our own private room reserved for "Holly's Party" and a 4 course meal. It was a great place, and awesome food, we were all stuffed when we left. We did a roast of sorts for Jackie, where we all told stories, which was pretty hilarious. The best part is all the stories were about Jackie, as it was "her day" so the rest of us just got to laugh... From there we headed to a couple of bars and then home by 1:30 (which was plenty late enough for me)... All in all I think "Jackie's Day" turned out to be an awesome day, hopefully she agreed!

All the ladies at dinner, we were in a Wine Room, it was pretty cool...

I'm officially "Momma"...

Well it took 15 months, but I FINALLY am being called Momma by Audrey... I guess the key was to leave her for a couple of days, I will have to remember that next time I really want her to do something... I'm sure for all you experienced moms out there that hear this all the time (maybe more then you would like) this is no big deal. But I have to tell you, having her look at me and say "Momma" is making my heart melt! Even better she is looking at Charlie and calling him Momma too, ha! Serves him right for getting to be called Da-Da this entire time... It's the little things in life, and this right now is the best thing ever in my book... Until she does something else cool, right?

Girls Weekend, Chi-Town Style...

I just returned from a girls weekend in Chicago and let me tell you it was much needed and a wonderful time! My good friend Jackie is getting married in October and we had her shower & bachelorette festivities (which I will post separately about when I get some pictures from it, somehow I forgot my camera at home!) this past weekend in Chicago where she (and all the other girls for that matter) live. I actually got to see a ton of friends which was awesome, since as many of you know the majority of my friends live in Chicago and I don't get to see any of them often enough.

Friday night I got to catch up with friends from high school, Lina and my BFF Jaime, over dinner and wine. Saturday I spent a ton of time with sorority sisters that I haven't seen in ages, which was awesome. Sunday I met up for brunch with another friend Amy who used to live out in Boston with us and who I haven't seen in forever.

Jackie and Holly were with me the entire weekend and it was so good hanging out with them! It had been a long time since I had spent that much time with either of them and I really had a blast. We were all roommates in college for multiple years and have plenty of stories to tell (but we focused on the Jackie ones this weekend, it was "her" weekend after all). Holly was a trooper and let me stay with her all weekend. A big thank you to her for putting up with me and letting me use all of her stuff!

It has been awhile since I have been away from Audrey for that long, but I think I did pretty well with it. I checked in a couple of times, but that's normal right? I won't lie, I was definitely ready to see her when I got home last night. Charlie kept her up until I got home as it was a little past her bedtime. She greeted me with a "mama" which she NEVER says (why do they say dada 1st? don't they know that we are the ones that carried them around for 40 weeks????) and made my heart melt. Maybe she missed me too...

Dancing Queens...

Charlie just downloaded the videos from Karen's wedding and I had to share. As I have said, Audrey had a great time on the dance floor with her cousins Carly and Avery. This video shows pretty accurately how funny they were...

I can't figure out how to upload the actual video onto here, so you have to click on this link in order to have the viewing pleasure: Dancing Queens