Happy Easter

“‎He is risen! And O the overflow of that single event. It was the cosmic Yes! from God the Father that the death had done all it was meant to do.”

— John Piper
Desiring God

We had a great Easter. Things have been really busy since returning from MN so it was very nice to have a low key celebration with just the six of us.

Brock has a new job (which is why we were in MN earlier this month) and with that new job is a new shop/retail store. He has been busy getting it up and running. I like being there to help him and the kids love playing outside and exploring everything. We decided to do their easter egg hunt there and it was a huge success. They LOVED it. We gave them their baskets with a couple things in it - one of which was a webkinz. They were so shocked and thrilled and it was so fun to capture it with my camera.

The hunt begins! The kids had painted eggs with grandma the day before so we had lots of eggs to hide and a beautiful sunny day to enjoy while searching.

It was so fun to watch Hannah because she was so excited when she would find one. This was her first egg hunt and she enjoyed it thoroughly.

The shop has a lot of tall grass, a little man made pond, private road for bike riding and horses next door - what more could a kid ask for :-)

7 Months

We have been BUSY BUSY BUSY this month so this post is very late!! She was 7 months on April 9th and has changed so much. She is all over the place now and cannot be trusted to stay put!! She eats anything she comes in contact with (from microscopic to huge) although has no interest in eating actual food. While she hasn't been eating real food she has been nursing a lot better. The last couple weeks I have been slowly adding dairy back into my diet and she is doing well with it. Such a relief as it was really hard to be completely dairy free on our recent trip to MN.

She has gained over a pound this month (YEAH!!) and now weighs 14 lb 10.5 oz. As you can

see she is also pretty excited about her increased size.

She has started to crawl this month although reverts to army crawling most of the time. It is definitely the faster of the two for her.

She has participated in her first big road trip - 14 hour trip to MN - and did wonderful. She is a trooper getting in and out of the car seat time after time. She was especially pushed to her limit on the return trip when the second leg of our journey took 13 hours (instead of 7!!) We were in MN for nearly 2 weeks visiting friends and family and she encountered multiple strangers. She again passed with flying colors. She did awesome happily being held by many new people daily.

She is LOUD! I cannot sit in church (or anywhere that requires quietness) because she jabbers (loudly) the whole time. She growls, squeals, laughs, hums and anything else that makes a lot of noise. She is definitely our loudest baby. I hope this doesn't mean she will be an extra loud kid - we already have a couple of those :-)

She stands next to anything and everything. She has even started pushing things around (baskets, stools, toys) and walking along with it. It is really cute. Her new love of standing has caused many bumps and scares but she continues on. She has a death grip when she falls and hangs on for dear life as she waits for help to arrive.

6 Months Old

Another month has flown by and once again I am amazed at how much she has grown. She was sick again this month so she hasn't gained much in weight but continues to add new skills :-)

She still army crawls all over the place and even gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. She is a very determined girl and will find a way (very quickly too) to get where she wants

She also recently started sitting! She is so proud of herself and sits so tall. However, she is still a bit uncomfortable up there so doesn't do too much moving around. If she moves a little her hands fly out to the side - I can just here her saying "whoa - what just happened" She doesn't go from laying to sitting on her own - we have to sit her up and make sure to stay nearby.

Hannah wanted to get her picture with Audrey too. I thought this was so adorable.

It is amazing how much Audrey looks like Brock. I wish I had one of his baby pictures handy right now to show you all :-) She looks more and more like him as she gets older.

She is such a silly girl - making all sorts of funny faces. She got tired of taking pictures and started crying. Her big leftover tear is too cute!

The lounging little lady. She was sick a couple weeks ago (fever and congestion) so has been a bit fussy. She is still coughing and has a runny nose. She has definitely been sick more than any other baby of ours. That is a disappointment. She still manages to wake up many times a night. I feel like she eats all night long but she isn't a great eater in the day so I don't mind. She still has dairy issues which I am hoping she will grow out of soon.

She is 13 lb 5.5 oz. - unfortunately only a couple ounces bigger than last month. If she stays healthy this month I am sure she will make up for it. I have stopped going to Awana with her to try to keep her away from groups of kids. Hopefully this will help.

She still loves her jumparoo and goes CRAZY in it. I have a video of her that I will have to put on. It is pretty funny to see her going wild, jumping all over the place.

5 Months

Audrey is now 5 months and growing right before our eyes! It really is amazing how much babies change in such a short time. The kids and I were gone for 2 weeks visiting my family and when we came home Brock saw a big difference in her.

She continues to be intrigued with her tongue. She rubs it along her gums or around her mouth and sticks it out constantly.

She no longer likes her pacifier. That is a huge disappointment to me because it was SO helpful in getting her calmed down or to sleep. None of my other kids have stuck with the pacifier either so this is nothing new. I suppose in the long run it is good because I won't have to break the habit :-) I think her teething and also her busy hands have been the cause - she either spits it out or accidentally pulls it out :-)

She has gained more than a pound this month! Yeah! She weighs 13 lb 3.5 oz. She is eating a little better although still struggles with dairy issues (if I eat it accidentally).

She is a girl on the move now! She pulls herself all over the floor - army crawls and rocks around on her hands and knees. She also jumps like crazy in her jumparoo. She loves playing with toys and sucks on them, chews on them or grabs and pulls them. She is getting quite coordinated with her fingers and hands. It is cute to see her exploring with them.

Growing Fast

I am at my parents right now visiting and wanted to show Brock how Audrey is scooting all over the place. I have been here for a week and a half and will be heading home in a few days. We are all having fun but missing Brock/daddy :-)

I haven't put any videos on in ages so I decided to share a few favorites

December 28th - Audrey laughing

January 26th - Happy little girl

February 7: scooting to get a toy

4 Months Old

Little Audrey is getting so big!! She is now feeling quite a bit better, although still stuffed up and coughing. We are so thankful that she has improved so much from last week. We are, however, in shock that she is already 4 months!!! Where or where did our TINY baby go!?!

She is chewing on anything she can get in her mouth. As you can see she doesn't always get things she desires in her mouth - but she sure tries hard!

Still trying to get that tricky rattle in her mouth! Her expression says it all - "what is the problem here - why can't I get this in my mouth!"

We can hardly keep her still - she wiggles, squirms and rolls continually. If she isn't swaddled tightly she "fights" with her blanket until she is FREE!

"Hmmm . . . another thing to suck on! Yes, she sucks on her blankets all the time. I no longer keep busy washing them because of spit up but because of slobber :-)

Her coordination has come a long way this month - she now holds her hands together and grabs onto anything in her vicinity. She loves investigating faces - feeling and touching the face of anyone holding her. It is so cute to see her exploring her world.

She is still a mellow, happy baby (not counting her week of being sick). She takes good naps and sleeps pretty good at night (although she eats many times throughout). She seems to finally be eating good again after eliminating dairy from my diet. Thankfully, she now consistently eats for more than 5 minutes without crying, squirming, stiffening and refusing to eat more. Yeah!! But I do miss cheese . . . and ice cream . . . and yogurt and cottage cheese and butter . . . . Oops sorry, I will come out of dairyland and get back to the task at hand :-)

Look at her chubby little hands and arm - even a dimple in her elbow!

And a nice double chin to go with her dimpled elbow and rolly thighs! We love our chubby little girl!

I weighed her a week before she got sick and she was 12 1/2 lbs but now is only 12 lbs. She is making up for being sick and I am sure will gain that weight right back (and then some).

Her coordination isn't always perfect and she misses her hands every once in a while. It is pretty funny. She never gives up though :-) She has also started rolling this month. A couple days after Christmas she was playing on the floor and pretty soon was fussing. I went over to get her and she was on her belly. It took several days before I actually watched her roll. I kept trying to see it and tried to capture it on video but she would never do it for me. The minute I wasn't looking she would be on her belly. If I didn't know better I would have thought she was keeping me in the dark on purpose :-) Now she does it continually and even rolls back to her back again.

The little lounging beauty. Although she doesn't eat yet she does like to sit in her highchair and watch the happenings or play with her toys.

This blue - eyed beauty is one LOVED little girl. Loved by us and loved even more by God. What a lucky little girl she is!

Poor Baby

Our sweet little lady has been sick for the past couple days. She feels so miserable and sleeps, cries or moans all day and night. She hasn't smiled or laughed since coming down with this (3am Tuesday morning) so these pics from the other day are a welcome sight for me right now. Look at those cute little chubby legs!

She is congested and has a fever and I am guessing is achy (considering she moans or cries whenever I move her). Thankfully, she is still eating okay (not much but quite often). Sticking her tongue out has gotten to be a pretty common look for her lately as she tries to suck and chew on everything!

I have been sitting/laying in my room with her all day and night. All I have done is comfort her, hold her, feed her, read, do internet stuff and sleep when I can. I don't know how much sleep I have gotten in the past two days but not much :-) Yesterday, I was able to do some school with the kids (on the bed in our room) but otherwise they had a free day. Fun for them and now we have a huge fort in our living room. Madison was such a big help doing whatever I needed and even surprised me by bringing dinner up to me (that she had made!) and she also fed the kids. What a nice surprise it was! Today, Donna/Grandma took the kids which is very helpful. Leaving me with nothing to do but take care of Audrey. A job I am happy to do no matter how exhausting it is :-) Isn't she so cute sitting in her bumbo. She things she is pretty cool in there - getting to be such a big girl!

Praying for a better day tomorrow for our sweet little doll!