The Real Turner Tots...

A friend at work bravely hosted a play date for a couple girls and their kids this past Saturday and it was a lot of fun! There are not a ton of women at our company, let alone moms, so we try and stick together. It has been great because most of us have been pregnant at the same time (or very close) and have kids the same age. There has been a trend of having a girl 1st and a boy 2nd. There were 3 girls there with this combo and I am obviously well on my way. We have always talked about getting everyone together and Amy finally made it happen! There ended up being 8 kids there, ranging in age from 6 months - 4 years old. By some act of God I got a picture of them all sitting on the couch looking at the camera....


On a side note, I took 15 pictures of the kids on the couch, and looking thru them made me laugh. Audrey was sitting next to a boy that is a year younger then her, and apparently she was "taking" care of him while I was snapping pictures. Really funny and I guess good practice? Where does she get this stuff from anyways....


Btw, young people in my company have been termed "Turner Tots" for as long as I have worked here. And this is not by co-workers, but by the subs out in the field which is really funny. I'd like to think I am past that stage in my career, but probably not to a guy that has been in the business for 20 years... It seems appropriate to call our children real "Turner Tots"...

Audrey's Bed...

Well I finally finished Audrey's headboard today, which means her bed is complete and I can post pictures of it!

Making the actual upholstered headboard was actually really easy. I got directions from this posting on be jane, bought all of the material for it at Jo Ann's (except the wood, Charlie got that) and once everything was cut it took me less then an hour to do. That was the upholstering part. The tufting that I "had to have" was an entirely different story. That took every ounce of patience that I have (and as I keep saying, that isn't a lot these days). Between Charlie and I we couldn't figure out a good way to do (I mean we are 2 engineers, shouldn't be that difficult right?). I finally came up with a method today during Audrey's nap, and have my fingers crossed that it will stay put. As you can see from the pictures, it is not as tufted as I would have liked, but it is better then just glueing the buttons on which was where I was quickly going with the project.

Anyways, I am happy with the outcome. I ended up just doing a plain white headboard and using patterned fabric on the buttons. I got the fabric covered button kit from Jo Ann's too, and used left over fabric from her curtains and bedding. The best part is Audrey loves her bed as you can see. She has already started pulling at the buttons so who knows how long they will stay on there... I tried at least...

Tumbling...

I signed up Audrey for a session of tumbling at the local Y this winter that she and I have really enjoyed. Her last class was yesterday, so Charlie and I both went. Aunt Jaime even got to come, she was in town for a couple of days before she headed up to Vermont for a wedding. It like we just started going, but it has been 12 weeks. It was a great distraction this winter to get us out of the house and burn some energy (mine and hers unfortunately) with the snow on the ground and it freezing cold out. I decided not to continue with another session for a couple of reasons, she started to not enjoy it as much and it seems to be getting nicer out so we can at least get outside for a little bit for her to run around. Oh and it exhausts me, did I mention that? We will probably do it again next winter, I think she will enjoy that.

She actually really enjoyed her last class as you can see. The teachers did a Valentine's Day theme and had red and pink balloons everywhere that were a huge hit with the toddler crowd. Audrey's favorite activities seem to be parachute time and jumping from the "vault" (its just a big mat that you jump off), though this changes weekly. She went on the bars for the 1st time this class which was kind of cool.

So I took the opportunity since I had people with me to bring the camera, which I had yet to do. It is hard enough running after her, let alone snapping photos while doing it. They didn't come out that great, a lot are out of focus and the only thing we can think is she was just moving the entire time. Anyways, I got a few I thought I would share.

Valentine's Day...

Happy Belated Valentine's Day to everyone! We had a very low key day in the Dennison household for many reasons, but we did manage to show our love to each other just the same.

Charlie got me these beautiful flowers...

Audrey made this card for her dad...

Audrey & I made heart cookies for Dad... She enjoyed them as much as he did...
She also enjoyed all of her Valentine's Day gifts sent by all the family, though you can't tell from this face... She sure loves her chocolate...

Hope everyone had a great day!

Welcome Baby Vaca #2...

My good friend Mary and her husband Jim welcomed their 2nd child yesterday, a healthy baby girl named Audrey Reagan (beautiful name, eh?)! This is their 2nd girl, their daughter Ava is a almost exactly a year older then my Audrey. They live in Charlotte, which is hard because they are so far away. But the good news is that Audrey and I are headed down to visit in 3 weeks so we get to meet the new baby Audrey in person! Plus I get to spend some time with Mary that is long over due, hopefully in 70 degree weather (I have my fingers crossed!).

This continues the trend of most of my friends being pregnant at the same time as me. This is the 3rd friend to have a baby recently, and there are 4 more that are due before I am! We have the only boy that I know of, so I feel comfortable calling '09 the year of the girl at this point...

Congrats Vaca Family, I am so happy for you guys!

Audrey Reagan Vaca

7 lbs 3 oz - 19 3/4 in

20 Months...

So Audrey turned 20 months old this weekend which to me means my baby is rapidly approaching the 2 year mark which is a little scary. Her independence and personality are in full swing, for better or for worse. Here is what she is doing right now:

Talking: In the last 2 weeks Audrey has really started talking. She has been saying words for awhile now, but she is now pointing and saying words without us asking her to. She chattered so much this weekend that I thought that maybe I should take back wanting her to talk, like she didn’t stop. I have no idea where she gets that from. Her favorites are: chair, car, choo-choo, and oh-no. She also enjoys pointing at the snow and saying snow, but doesn’t like the snow, go figure. She recently starting saying “mine” this weekend which I am not thrilled with. I blame it on her being at day care and having to stake her territory.

Eating: Or lack there of I guess I should say. Her diet lately is not overly stellar. She loves yogurt, apple sauce and pasta (elbows with butter, I’m not sure why I started that). Other then that it is a crap shoot what she will eat at any given time. She is feeding herself really well and will tell you which utensil she wants to use. She also has to have everything in a bowl, everything, and will go get it for you to put something in. She has gotten into the habit of grazing and not sitting and eating a meal which is driving me nuts. She very rarely will sit in her high chair anymore and prefers sitting in a chair at the dining room table (no booster, she won’t have that). We did successfully get her off of her extensive milk drinking per doctor’s instructions. We switched her from whole to 2% and have been trying to give her more white grape juice/water which she seems fine with. We decided we were the ones giving her milk all the time, she didn’t actually need/want it. I also started her on vitamins a couple of weeks ago because I got nervous about her lack of veggie intake. My doctor recommended the liquid stuff, so I have been putting it in her juice and she doesn’t seem to know the difference. Plus it makes me feel better.

Other Stuff: She has started playing more by herself which has been nice (we used to always have to sit there and play with her). We moved her toys into our sun room and she has really been enjoying playing in there. She keeps finding things that she hasn’t touched in months which is great. She started enjoying coloring recently which I am really excited about (I can’t wait to do crafts with her, shocking I know). Except for the part when she draws on the floor, the wall, her table, anything other then paper. Thank goodness for Magic Erasers. She loves Blues Clues (and Noggin in general) and watches probably more of it then she should. She rarely sits and watches the whole thing though, she kind of uses it as a back drop while she is playing, and it give me a chance to get dressed, make dinner, etc. She makes me laugh daily at her expressions and the stuff she does. Like having to take off her clothes if she gets any food on them (which happens a lot since she doesn’t like to wear a bib), hearing the word bath and running full speed to the stairs to take one and saying "oh-no" when she drops something, then running to the kitchen to get a towel to "wipe" up the spill (but doesn't pick up the say Cheerios that were dropped). The crib to bed tranisition went smoothly and she loves her new bed. The only kink is she is getting up a lot earlier and I can't figure out why. It's good during the week but this weekend was not so good getting up at 6:30 when we are used to her sleeping until 7:30...

Bye Bye Crib...

Audrey spent her 1st night in a bed last night and I have to say it couldn't have gone smoother. While we were at tumbling yesterday morning, Charlie took her crib out of her room (had to take the thing apart since it wouldn't fit thru the door, not part of the plan but oh well) and replaced it with her new bed. We figured it would be easier to try and have her nap in it while we were awake and could monitor how she was doing then to spring the new bed on her at bedtime. She reacted really well when we went upstairs and saw the bed for the 1st time. She ran over and got right on it and said "bed". We ended up doing a toddler size bed and I was actually shocked at how small the bed looks. The crib took up way more room, which I wasn't expecting (same mattress, should be same size right?).

Nap time wasn't so easy, Charlie had to go in there 3 or 4 times to tell her it was nite nite and not play time (we could hear her little feet running around doing who knows what in there for awhile, kind of funny). She finally got it and had a decent nap. Last night, I put her in and she fell right asleep. I was worried all night that she was going to fall out (we didn't end up putting any kind of rail up, but the bed is only 16" off the floor), which Charlie thought was silly and I guess he proved to be right. She didn't wake up until 7am this morning.

She is working on a 2 hour nap right now, so I feel pretty good that this has been a smooth transition. Charlie commented this morning how good she is with transitions and when I thought about it he is right. She gave up her pacifier on her own, and she had no issues giving up her bottle or going from nursing to formula to milk. We will see how she does with the biggest transition of all, arriving in May... I have my fingers crossed it will be just as smooth...