TGIF!

Today Audrey and I met up with some girlfriends and their little ones for a playdate at the mall. We met at Woodland Mall to play in their breakfast food play area. Who knew waffles & a giant banana would make such great playthings. Audrey had an absolute blast crawling, toddling and playing with all of her friends! She played for two hours straight. She walked around the waffle and climbed up onto all of the banana slices and chased some little friends around the breakfast sausage. When it was time to go Audrey threw a little tempter tantrum. Someone didn't want to stop playing and go home for lunch or a nap. It was a great way to spend our Friday morning!

Remembering Audrey's Birth Day

Today seems like a good day to re-live what happened just one year ago today, the birth of our daughter, Audrey. The year has gone by so fast and now that her first birthday is here it all feels a bit bittersweet. How exciting that my little girl is growing up, but she's growing up too fast and the memories are just flying by. After Audrey's birth I immediately wrote up her birth story, so that I could re-read and sort of re-live that amazing experience any time I wanted. I'm so glad to have this memoir. Enjoy the slideshow too!

"It was amazing from start to finish!! We checked into the hospital on Monday, March 26th at 7:30pm for my induction. We got a room, settled in and they started the Cytotech to get my cervix ripened. I got another Cytotech a little after midnight and after that my contractions were strong enough to go on their own. From then on I was pretty much up from 3am on Tuesday morning, b/c my contractions had started to get worse and my back hurt.

By 6:30am Jeff was there and I was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart and I was 2 centimeters. They even got closer (1-3 minutes), but they weren't really on regular intervals for they gave me pitocin around 9am. Well, that made my contractions timelier and really got them strong. I labored for the next two hours without any drugs and mainly just used the birthing ball and was a breathing freak!

Well my doctor stopped by around 11am to see how I was progressing and told me she could break my water or I could get the epidural. I decided on the epidural. My doctor left the room and called the office to inform them that she needed her afternoon office cleared, b/c I was going to have a baby around 2pm. I didn’t hear this conversation, but my nurse told me! It still seemed so far away though. I was at 5 -6 centimeters and 70% effaced and at this point the contractions were really strong and breathing through them was getting tougher. I still can’t decide which was worse though… the contractions or the epidural!

Getting the epidural was traumatic for me, b/c they couldn't get the huge needle in between the bones in my spinal column, so they had to redo it five times and he was digging around in there w/ the needle hitting bone. Not fun!! So for the 30 minutes they tried to get the epidural started I was having major contractions and started to get the labor shakes. It took two nurses to hold me still. They finally got it started though and my anesthesiologist felt so bad for me, but he was very sweet... he kept saying the reason he couldn't get it in was b/c my spinal column was so small b/c I was skinny. I was like, "I love you!! You said I'm skinny!!" Afterwards, my doctor checked me and I was 7cm and 90% effaced and then she broke my water!

So the epidural finally brought relief and I could feel my contractions, but it was nothing like before. It was mainly just lots of pressure really low. I was so sleepy and everyone kept telling me to nap, but not more than 30 minutes later I was really feeling the urge to push. It was unmistakable! The nurse & doctor checked me and I was almost a 10, so they had me do a practice push and sure enough I was a 10 within seconds. So they got me into position and during each contraction I would do three strong pushes with Jeff counting and my Mom reassuring me. After just 4-5 contractions and lots of pushing I could feel her head and after one more contraction and a hard push she was out--I pushed for about 20 minutes. Audrey Burke was born at 2:08pm! It was so amazing when they laid her up on my chest! I just kept staring down at her thinking, “Wow, she’s here! We did it!” I couldn’t believe I had done it—it was a magical moment for Jeff and me.

I had a 2^nd degree tear, but was quickly stitched up while watching my baby get all her measurements done. She has the sweetest little cry and barely made a peep during her first bath. Before long she was back in my arms again and we were bonding and just staring at each other. I felt really pretty good after my delivery and was asking to get up and out of bed just a half hour afterwards. My legs barely felt numb at all. All in all it was the most amazing experience of my life. Everyone always tells you how amazing this is, but seriously... I had no idea it would be THIS amazing!! It was the ultimate high!!"

So, here are the details...
Audrey Burke
March 27, 2007 at 2:08PM
7 pounds 6 ounces
18.5 inches long
possible curly red hair sprouting

InfantSEE, BumGenius & Daddy!

Audrey had a big day today. This morning Audrey had her InfantSEE appointment at the eye doctor's office. InfantSee is a no-cost health program that provides eye care for infants between 6-12 months. Just in the nick of time! Audrey did great at her eye appointment and Dr. Jackson kept her entertained throughout. She came home and took a 2.5 hour nap! For more information on InfantSEE visit www.infantsee.org.

When Audrey awoke she found another birthday gift had arrived for her. This special gift package was from my girlfriend Holly and her little boy, Bosley. I'm not sure if the gift was for Audrey or me (thanks Hols!), but we are totally digging our new PINK BumGenius 3.0!! The chocolate brown wet bag is adorable too. Holly is my cloth diaper expert and has taught me so much about the new world of cloth diapering!
After a nice afternoon walk, playing with all of her new toys, and a big dinner Audrey was ready to settle down with Daddy to read "Green Eggs and Ham." Jeff insisted that Audrey get some Dr. Seuss books for her birthday, so here they are enjoying storytime!

It's my party!

Today we celebrated Audrey's upcoming 1st birthday with a party fit for a princess. I think Audrey truly enjoyed a party that was all about celebrating her. She was having fun entertaining everyone during lunch, she loved ripping into each gift package, reading cards as you'll see, and I think we have a cake lover. I love cake--it's my weakness, so no doubt she got the cake gene from me. Enjoy Audrey's birthday party pics!

The birthday party invite and the tablecloth I found that was a near perfect match!

Decorations for around the house. Yes, I went a bit crazy with the pink & green, but it seemed so perfect for a little girls spring birthday party!
Audrey liked her birthday lunch! We dined on yummy burgers from Heffron Farms and Audrey even had her own mini burger. She'll try anything that comes on a fork and she loved it. She also had some peas and pears.

Audrey got so many wonderful gifts. I think she's going to have a blast playing with her new toys and books for many weeks to come! Audrey loves her new pink Tigers baseball and bat!

She got her first purse, which was a huge hit. She cried until Carter got the box open for her.

Audrey reading one of her birthday cards.
Audrey also got a new babydoll and a stroller, a big girl kitchen, the Little People Palace, a band in a box and lots of books!

After gifts it was time to let Audrey indulge in a little birthday cake. I decorated a bunch of little bug cakes that turned out so cute. Audrey approved too!

BIG BITE!!!!

Thank you to all who attended Audrey 1st birthday party and celebrated with us! She definitely had a day fit for a princess and after all of today's activities I'm hoping she sleeps in tomorrow!

The first gift has arrived!

Yesterday "A," as she affectionately called byAuntie Louise, received a birthday package in the mail! It's like she knew the package was for her. Perhaps it was the card she received in the mail prior that "oinked" at her. The card is actually a huge hit. Audrey sits on the kitchen floor opening and closing it and laughing and it scares the dogs. Perfect.

"A" digging into the box.
Audrey loves pointing lately. She points at everything. Here's a good example.
Thanks Auntie Louise! I love my new flower pot!

And in other news, Audrey loved her breakfast this morning. I assumed that Audrey must be bored of her usual old-fashioned oats, applesauce & cinnamon, so this morning I made her buckwheat pancakes with bits of banana added to the batter.
What a hit! MMMMMMMM!

It's never too late!

So, I'm sitting here just prior to Audrey's first birthday creating a blog to catch all the details of her life. I'm wondering why I didn't do this a year ago? So much has happened in the last year and it's all gone by so fast and I can hardly believe my little girl is growing up. In an effort to capture all future memories I started this blog, because it's never too late, right?!

Audrey's birthday party is scheduled for Saturday afternoon and we are getting ready all around the house. In preparation for the party we painted the laundry room blue, which of course had Jeff rather grumpy on Sunday. It looks awesome though, so I'll be giving people tours of the laundry room. There's something about having a party that makes you want to pretty up the house!

I think Audrey will really enjoy her party and the undivided attention of everyone. She's such a show-off these days and loves entertaining a crowd. Audrey may be officially walking by her first birthday (March 27th) as she's getting better and better each day. This morning she was walking from chair to coffee table to tv cabinet and then to me without falling! She walks with determination. My Dad describes this photo as "a linebacker blitzing the quarterback." Perhaps a future football star?!