10 months old!

Time for another monthly birthday! 10 months does seem really old, and Audrey is starting to seem a lot more like a little girl these days and a little bit less like a baby. It is making me very sad how fast she is growing up. Get ready for a long post, because I'm feeling sentimental and want to remember everything she is doing now before she grows up even more!

She does not like to sit still anymore (as evidenced by the pictures below). She is still army crawling and doesn't seem to be too interested in crawling on all fours. She LOVES to stand up (with support) and also loves to walk (with support). This morning she was pushing and walking with her toy walker all around the basement (though she was a bit wobbly, and sometimes she would push but forget to walk).

She is just starting to cruise around her new music table. She is also just starting to pull up on a few things that are at her height. She hasn't been able to pull up on the coffee table or couch yet on her own (which is fine with me!).

Audrey is Little Miss Independent these days. She does not like being fed anymore and prefers to feed herself. This makes baby food (or any other food with a spoon) a messy and difficult job. So we've moved away from most baby food, and she has been eating mostly finger/table foods at each meal. Her favorites are Cheerios and bananas, but she also enjoys bread, pasta, most fruits, and surprisingly green beans. She hated baby food green beans, but lately has been eagerly shoving in the real green bean pieces. She loved baby food sweet potatoes, but when I gave her pieces of actual sweet potato, she didn't want anything to do with it. She hated baby food peas, and for now seems to hate real peas as well. Silly girl! We'll keep trying everything though!

Audrey knows what she wants, and she is starting to find ways to tell us what she wants. This is most obvious when we take away something she is not supposed to have...we see her little temper come out (which is kind of cute now because it's new, but I have a feeling the cuteness will quickly wear out!).

And she still doesn't have any teeth. Plenty of drool, but no teeth yet.

Overall, this has been one of our favorite ages so far. Audrey is so active and so much fun to play with. She laughs a lot and is starting to play little games with us and her toys. Part of me wants to freeze her at this age forever, but I know there are more fun times to come.

Now for this month's pictures...whew, it was a challenge. Audrey just did not want to sit still next to Raggedy Ann on the couch. It took this super cool, absolute best, only saved for extra special occasions treat (aka my old cell phone) to keep her still long enough for these two, which are the best I got today.

Before the cell phone, I tried giving her this plastic cup. Which is also a super cool toy for Audrey that often keeps her entertained when we are out in public. And these pictures are kind of cute, but the cup was so big that it covered up most of her face!

And the rest of these, we'll call the outtakes! I did take a ton of pictures today, but most of them looked like this:

And this:

And this:

I caught a rare moment tonight...Audrey and Maggie sitting next to each other. Maggie is smart and normally moves away as soon as Audrey is anywhere near. Why? Well, I think this picture, with Audrey's evil, "I'm going to get you" face and clenched fists in Maggie's hair, answers that question!

This is where Audrey prefers to be!

First Bow

So Audrey is well known (at church at least) for her headbands with big bows and flowers. But today for church, I tried putting a bow in her hair without a headband...and it stayed in her hair! It stayed in all day really, except for when I took it out for her nap. I'm very excited that she finally has enough hair to hold a bow.
Today we went out to our church camp for their 70th anniversary celebration. Audrey was being so funny while she was eating in her stroller. She would sit up and grab a bite.

Then she would lean back and put her legs up and recline to eat it. Then she would sit up and get another bite. Then lean back and put her legs up and eat it. It may have been something that you needed to be there for, but it was really funny! (Also, her feet look HUGE in this picture. I don't think they are really as big as they look in this picture, because in the picture they look bigger than her head...and she has a big head!)

An early birthday present

Audrey is ready for some toys that she can stand up and play with (besides the coffee table!), so Daniel and I decided to get this LeapFrog table for her for her birthday. We didn't want to wait 2 1/2 months until her birthday to give it to her, because she's ready to play with it now! So, she got it today...not like she knows the difference anyway.

Doesn't she look like such a big girl?? I haven't taken many pictures of her standing up. She's been standing up and holding onto things for a while now, but just in the last day or two have I been comfortable leaving her standing alone and taking pictures. For a while, she was just randomly letting go and tumbling down all the time. She just figured out that she needs to hold onto something while she is standing! So she does much better standing alone with that new discovery.

A Day in Pictures

I haven't taken too many pictures of Audrey for the past week or so, but I decided to make today "picture day" and took a bunch of random pictures of things Audrey did throughout the day.

She practiced the piano.
She did some push ups.

She played with one of her favorite new toys: this laptop that Mimi and Papaw gave her.

She played with another favorite toy: her blocks.

She also played with this stool.

She also practiced spelling her name!

She worked on her "evil" look.

And she looked cute all day long!!

Waving!

Audrey finally started to wave at us over the past few days. I'm vey excited because I have been trying to get her to wave and clap for the past 3 months. (Still unsure about the clapping. She kind of has her own version of clapping, and I think she thinks that she is actually clapping, though she is really just clasping her hands together and waving her arms).

Anyway, she first started waving in her high chair and then would only wave at us from her high chair. So I was starting to think that she thought waving meant "give me more food". But today she started waving at other times...when Daniel left for the Muni tonight, she waved good-bye to him, then after our walk she waved at me from the stroller, while I had the camera in my hands!

Um, this one reminds me of a Nazi salute. After watching The Producers, I did have the song Springtime for Hitler stuck in my head for a while. Maybe I sang it to her one too many times?? Whenever she waves, we get so excited. Then she gets excited and starts flapping both arms up and down...it is super cute!

New outfit from Grandma

My mom sent us a package with this cute new outfit for Audrey. Here she is modeling it for you all!

9 month check up

Today Audrey had her 9 month doctor's appointment. She weighed in at 18 lbs, 8 oz (46%) and 27 3/4 inches long (66%). Her head was 17 3/4 inches, which I looked up, and that is in the 80th percentile. So I guess she has a big head!

The doctor said she was doing great and didn't have any concerns. She passed the little development test they gave us; she's doing everything she's supposed to be doing. The Dr. didn't see any signs of teeth still, but she said not to worry about that. It was a pretty uneventful visit, and the best part was that Audrey didn't have to get any shots this time.

Here are a few pictures from this afternoon.

So I normally (as most people do) take pictures of Audrey's face and front side. But for some reason today, I ended up with several pictures of her from the back. So, here is her back side!!!

She likes to play with her jumper much more when she is standing outside of it rather than being trapped inside it.

Audrey is loving this book right now. We actually have 2 copies because I found one for 50 cents at a garage sale. So Audrey has one she can play with and feel and tear up, and one that will be for looking at only! The pages in this book are perfect for Audrey to turn. She really likes to turn pages, but with board books or paper books she can't do it by herself. This one she can look at by herself and will keep her entertained for a while. There is another one like this about the alphabet; I think I'm going to have to get that one for her because she loves this one so much! And I love that she is now old enough to really pay attention to and enjoy books, just like her mommy!!