Christmas 2010

We get a real Christmas tree each year and this year was no different. Early in December, we went and picked out this cute tree. It wasn't too big, but it was the perfect shape. I love picking out a Christmas tree each year and I think it will be a fun tradition for Audrey as she grows up.
We spent this Christmas here in Utah with Adam's family. On Christmas Eve, we went to the movies and saw Tangled. After that we spent the evening at Adam's parent's house eating, hanging out, and watching The Kid. Audrey was a very good girl this year, so Santa brought her a bouncer. She is still a bit young for it, but I'm hoping in a month or two she will like playing in it. Adam got steel to build a roll cage on the Samurai as well as come clothes and a new xbox controller. I got a bunch of cute clothes from both Adam and my mother-in-law. Christmas afternoon we went over to Adam's grandma's and spent time visiting with aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was fun letting everyone see Audrey, but she wasn't in the best mood. That night when we came back home it was like Christmas all over again because we were able to open presents from my family.

Audrey's Blessing

We blessed Audrey in church this past Sunday. It was a great day that we were able to spend with family and friends. My parents flew up for the weekend to be here for it and Adam's parents and his brothers were all there.

Audrey looked so precious in her white dress and new white head band. She did great during the blessing and didn't make one peep. Adam gave her a beautiful blessing and of course tears were running down my face the entire time.

After the blessing, we had our family and friends over for some food at our house and took a few pictures with Audrey. This little girl definitely does not have a lack of pictures, but she is changing so much that it's fun to get them at every stage. Audrey smiles all the time now and will talk with us (making baby noises). We just love spending time with her and it was really a graet day.

Thanksgiving

We spent this Thanksgiving in California with my family. Audrey and I headed down early and were able to spend an entire week in Livermore. It was great for her to get to spend some time with grandma and grandpa and meet lots of friends and family.
While we were in California we did some Christmas shopping and had Audrey's picture taken with Santa. On Thanksgiving day we saw the movie Tangled and Audrey slept through the entire movie! After that we had Thanksgiving dinner at my grandma's and played a few game.
It was really great to get away and have a few relaxing days before we headed back to Utah and I went started work.

1 Month Old

Audrey is now one month old. She no longer looks like a newborn and grows bigger each day. She is just starting to grow out of her newborn diapers and into the size 1 diapers. She still wears a lot of her newborn clothes, but they are definitely getting smaller. She doesn't quite fit into the 0-3 month clothes yet, but hopefully soon so she has some more options. She is getting into more of a rhythm with her night time routine. She usually goes to bed around 10pm, wakes up between 3 and 4 am, and then again around 8am. Since she sleeps so well during the night, she is a wake much more often during the day. I love spending time with her during the day, but it is getting harder to get things done.

She smiles a lot now and loves to look at new things. I try to show her something new each day to keep her interest. We had a vase of flowers in the house and she would just sit and stare at them for hours. We've also been trying to read books, sing, and dance.

One of the funniest things about Audrey is that loves to grunt. She will just lay there perfectly happy and grunt and groan. It's pretty funny when we take her out to the store or a restaurant and all of these loud grunts are coming from her car seat.

Ellie is still adjusting to this new little thing in our house and doesn't like that she is no longer the center of attention. She is gentle with Audrey, but when I am sitting on the floor with Audrey, Ellie will try to get right in between us to get my attention. I know that she will come around once Audrey is old enough that they can play together.

New mommy experiences have included days when we go through four sets of clothes due to messy diapers, changing a diaper at 3am when she decides to poop and shoot it across the room, onto the floor and all over the changing table, many many loads of laundry, getting sweet kisses from my little girl (that makes all the messy diapers worth it), and waking up to this cute face.

24th Birthday

Just 10 days after Audrey was born, I had my 24th birthday. As my birthday approached, it got me thinking about all that has happened this past year. Just since my last birthday we got a dog, I finished my internship and became a registered dietitian, I got my first real job, Adam went back to school, I got pregnant with Audrey, and finally to top off the year, our little Audrey was born.

I can't believe how much can change in just one year. To say the least, it has been an exciting year.
Even though I was still recovering from having Audrey, everyone made this a fun birthday for me. While my family was here, we went out for a birthday dinner to PF Changs Saturday night and then Sunday my mom made my favorite homemade mac and cheese and we had ice cream birthday cake (something I had been looking forward to for the past few months).
The next weekend (on my actual birthday), we celebrated with Adam's family. We went over to Adam's partent's house and had pizza from the Pie and delicious chocolate cake. Adam's grandma flew in that day and was able to celebrate with us and see Audrey.
Between our two families and Adam, I was spoiled. I got some new clothes, I gift card to get some new clothes, new shoes, a gym membership, a soccer ball, and a DVD. While I love all of my new gifts, I do have to say that the best gift was getting to spend my birthday with our new baby girl.

Baby's First Bath

Audrey Brynn Connell

After much anticipation, our little Audrey made her debut on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 2:50pm.

On Tuesday morning, I went in for my 39 week appointment. At the appointment, my doctor said I was dilated to a 2 and that I could have the baby any time I wanted. After talking it over with Adam, I decided to be induced the next day.


Neither of us slept much that night, knowing that the next day we were having a baby. We got a call the next morning from the hospital, telling us to come in at 7:30 am. After getting checked in and hooked up, they started the pitocin and after about 2 hours of the pitocin, I got an epidural.

The epidural was wonderful. I was able to just relax and hang out with Adam, my mom, and my mother in-law. Around 2 pm the nurse said it was time to push. I pushed for about 5 contractions and then the doctor came in and puller her out.


Audrey was born at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 19.5 inches. However, she had a hard time keeping her weight on while we were at the hospital, which was quite scary to her mom. When we left the hospital two days later, she only weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz.


As you can see, Audrey was born with a full head of hair, which is a color somewhere between mine and Adams (dirty blond-ish). It's pretty cute.

We had great nurses and doctors looking out for us at the hospital, but we were happy to come home on Friday morning. Since we've been home, Audrey is eating great and has put back on some weight. Besides being the cutest thing ever, she is really a great baby. She lets us sleep for about 5 hour straight at night and only wakes up once in the middle of the night. She hardly ever cries, unless she's hungry or needs her diaper changed and once we take care of that, she's happy.

My mom stayed with us for a week after Audrey was born, which was a huge help while I got back on my feet. Now it is just the three of us, but Adam has been able to be around and helping a lot since he only has school two days a week. He does such a great job with her and is always helping me out with dirty diapers.

While I was pregnant, it felt like this day would never come. But now that she is here, I can't believe how fast it all went. We just feel like the luckiest parents in the world and love her more than we could ever imagine. We are looking forward to watching her grow and are so grateful that we were blessed to have this little miracle come into our lives.