10 months

Audrey turned 10 months on the 22nd!

This year is just flying by. It's so crazy that just 10 months ago she could barely hold her head up and now she's almost walking! She is growing so fast, right before our eyes.

We bought Audrey a "walk n' ride" toy to help her with her first steps. After just a few minutes of trying she got the hang of it!

 "Bye Mom & Dad"

 

Audrey has been doing other fun things lately. She gives high fives and will put her hands over her head when you ask her, "how big is Audrey?" She will point to things and laughs when she sees a photo of herself. She has also been pretty verbal when it comes to things she doesn't want/like. She has such a great personality that is really starting to show. I love this girl and love watching her curious mind explore the world everyday.

"look ma, no hands!"

Today has been a good day!

We went to church this morning and had invited my new friend Brianna & her husband Jeff to join us. I just met Brianna for the first time about a month ago but it feels like we have been friends for a long time. As silly as it sounds we met through Instagram! (a social networking app on the iphone). We found out through chatting on Instagram that we both live in Phoenix so we decided to meet for coffee. The hour and a half we spent talking felt like old friends having girl talk. She is a sweet lady and I'm so happy to have her as a friend! Our husbands seemed to have a lot in common and hit it off pretty good as well. After church we took them out to lunch at one of our new favorite local restaurants Liberty Market. The owner of this restaurant has two other restaurants in town that we just adore, Joe's Farm Grill & Joe's Real BBQ. We ate delicious food and talked and laughed with one another, it was the perfect afternoon!

Later on in the evening my dad stopped by for visit because he was in the neighborhood. He was telling me about how he is having all of our home videos of my sister & me as children transferred from VHS to DVD. I remember watching them as a teenager and thinking how lucky I am that my parents had a video camera and was able to capture those moments that my memory couldn't allow. This got me thinking about the home videos I have taken of Audrey and that someday I will show her them so she can see herself as a baby. For some reason I have always thought I had to have a good reason to record video of something but I have seen so many home videos that my grandparents took of their children just running around, playing, eating, etc. That inspired me to just record Audrey doing whatever she does and make a home video for her.

Turns out today was a great day to do that! She just so happened to decide to practice standing on her own!!  The actual video was about 5 minutes long so I asked Matt to edit and cut it down a bit and add some tunes. The best part is that every time she let's go of the table to stand on her own she puts her hands straight up in the air and I can just picture her thinking "look ma, no hands!"

I hope Audrey will enjoy this video someday and I hope you enjoy it too!

9 months

Audrey is 9 months old today!

 

 {Audrey's stats}

weight:  20.6lbs (76%)

height: 27.5" (57%)

head circumference: 44cm (50%)

Audrey has been developing immensely right in front of our eyes! 

Aside from crawling ALL over the place, she pulls herself up holding on to the table, couch, wall, pretty much anything and "cruises" (walking alongside). This is such a huge step from crawling and her pediatrician informed me that it is early for her to be doing this. To me it is not a big surprise, Audrey is a STRONG girl and has been showing so for quite some time now. I expect she will be walking before she turns one years old but we will just have to wait and see!

Since Audrey has hit 20 lbs it is time for a new car seat! She will still be rear-facing until her first birthday but the new "convertible" car seat will just be turned to face forward and she will use it until about 70 lbs. I can't wait until she can face forward and be able to sit up right and see me better. It will also make it easier for me to figure out what she needs in the car. I think she will just enjoy it much better. 

Audrey has also been expanding her appetite! We have been feeding her more of the softer foods that we eat and that has been a fun experience for both her and us. She likes pancakes, bananas, mango, blueberries, steamed veggies, and cake..... yes, we gave our baby sugar. She also really likes popsicles which has been a fun treat to keep us cool in this crazy crazy heat! 

There really isn't much that this girl doesn't like and she is in a good mood most of the time. She has been such an easy baby and we are very blessed for that! I look at her and get so excited to watch her grow into a beautiful young girl. 

8 months

I feel like I just did a 7 month post not that long ago and here I am doing one for 8 months!! This girl is just growing up so fast.

Audrey is such a joy to have in my life and makes me such a better person everyday! For one my floors are cleaner and my carpet is always vacuumed now that she is crawling all over the place. That's always a plus.

I wake up with a smile every morning as I walk into her room to find her sitting quietly in her crib waiting for me to pick her up. She is so interested in her surroundings that she now spends part of her nap time standing or sitting and looking around, "talking" and "singing" to herself.

She's very curious these days and I love watching her explore. I often see her studying things intently as she holds them in her tiny hands and turns it to see every angle. She is very good at picking tiny things up with her thumb and forefinger and feeding herself cereal puffs. She also really likes looking at her board books and is getting better at turning the pages.

She seems to be a mellow, laid back girl with an adventurous side ready to discover her expanding world around her.

father's day

Happy 1st Father's Day to the best Dad in town!

Matt was the first one to feed Audrey because I was in too much pain to start nursing.

Today. Matt's 1st Father's Day!

To Matt,

We are so lucky to have you. You are such an amazing dad and role model for Audrey and I see the love she has for you when she smiles at you. You have a special place in her heart and in mine. We love you & appreciate you more than we could ever begin to tell you.

Love,
Cydney & Audrey

baby humor

My 7 month old has a sense of humor!

I did our weekly grocery shopping today at Whole Foods and as I am standing in the baby aisle I hear a giggle coming from my cart. I look at Audrey and she is laughing hysterically, like actual belly laughing. I couldn't figure out what she was laughing at until I looked over on the shelf and saw this....

I took the box off the shelf and handed it to Audrey and she held it, looked at it and started laughing again! It was so funny to see her react to this which is clearly a silly photo. I couldn't help but be amazed at the fact that she has a sense of humor! That just naturally she thought this was funny enough to laugh at.

Is humor something you just know or have or is it something you are taught?

raw chocolate coconut balls

I was in the mood to make something sweet yesterday (even though there is still red velvet wedding cake in our freezer)!

I wanted to make something healthy as well. I looked in my pantry and I realized I had ALL the ingredients needed to make these raw chocolate coconut balls that I had made about a year ago. I try to eat as much raw food as possible. At one point I was eating almost 100% raw! It was a little difficult at first but after a few weeks it became easier and easier and it in fact was a bit life changing for me. I had more energy than I had ever had before, I actually felt healthy, I lost 15lbs and was at a weight that I felt best. The downfall of it was that it was quite expensive for all the unique ingredients and because I mostly ate produce I was going to the grocery store 3-4 times a week! I would definitely love to eat 100% raw again someday when my finances can provide it but until then my goal is to eat at least 2 raw meals/snacks a day. So with that said, when I was eating raw many people thought it was a little crazy and thought it was weird that I ate a lot of nuts and seeds. At work my co-workers would say, "here comes Cydney with her bird food." I just laughed because call it what you want, it was yummy! The more they talked about it and asked questions the more I wanted to prove to them that it actually was tasty! I would bring in raw crackers, raw cashew cheeze, raw "tacos", etc and to their surprise (not mine) they LOVED it and asked for more! The one raw treat that got the very best response was my raw chocolate coconut balls. Even my dad liked them and he's kind of a creature of habit, not that interested in trying new foods. I was so excited to share this awesome dessert!!

And now I'd like to share the recipe with YOU! There are many recipes out there for this type of dessert and I've tried a few but I call this one my own because I've changed and added so many things to my taste. I hope you enjoy!

Raw Chocolate Coconut Balls

•  1 1/2 cups Medjool dates (pitted)
• 1/3 cup raw cacao powder
• 1/3 cup whole chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbs. raw honey
• coconut flakes for coating, optional

1.   Place dates in bowl of food processor; puree  until thick paste forms. Add cacao powder, chia seeds, and vanilla extract. Pulse until all the ingredients are combined. Add raw honey and pulse until smooth.
2. Spread a large sheet of parchment paper on work surface, and dust with coconut flakes.
3. Using a spoon, scoop a small amount of date mix and roll into balls. Roll them in coconut flakes and coat. 
4. Chill to solidify and store in refrigerator until serving.

What is your favorite healthy sweet snack?