9 months old

My cuddle bug is 9 months old!

Big girl.

Dumbest thing I've ever heard

Ok, I normally only blog about our family but I just read the dumbest thing ever on msn.com

Dear Prudence:
I did something recently that concerns me on many levels. I am under a large amount of stress because I'm in an unhappy marriage (which we're trying to work out) and because my company laid me off. I am under treatment for depression. A week ago, my doctor doubled the dosage of my antidepressant and, because I'm not sleeping well, he prescribed Ambien. On Saturday morning, I confused the vials and took two Ambien. I told my wife what happened and that I would probably sleep all day and went to bed. At around 10 p.m., my wife commented on how productive I had been: mowing the lawn, cleaning up, grocery shopping. I remembered none of this and said so. She said her only concern was that I left for "errands" and returned two hours later with nothing in hand. I talked to my doctor Monday, and he told me Ambien can cause amnesia and that some people have reported walking, driving, and cooking in their sleep. I know now what filled the missing two hours. This afternoon, I got a call from a woman who called me "lover" and asked when I wanted to come back. She called me her f--k buddy. This is a woman I had talked to only twice before in social situations. I do not even know where she lives; maybe I phoned her for directions. I do find her attractive, but I am stunned that I did something like this. My wife is vindictive, and if I say anything to her, it will end our marriage. I do not want to continue a relationship with the other woman. What should I do?

—Scared Sleepless

Dear Scared,
It's hard to believe that the pharmaceutical industry has already solved two of our most vexing problems: How to get men to do weekend chores, and how to induce attractive strangers to have sex with you while being able to swear that you haven't cheated. If this gets around, soon we'll be living in a world where people are gobbling Ambien out of Pez containers. Driving, eating, even trying to cast congressional votes while under the influence of Ambien are all well-documented. Scroll around the Internet and you will also find individual accounts of Ambien-fueled sex—which the nondrugged participants claim is more creative and uninhibited than when their partner is awake. However good you may have been in bed, you need to keep the other woman from contacting you and asking for further services. Call her and try to explain. Tell her that, as hard as it is to believe, you have recently been prescribed several medications, you accidentally mixed them up, and as a result you have no memory of the events of the weekend. Say you're very sorry if you behaved irresponsibly but that you can't be in touch with her. Don't ask for details—you want to preserve your amnesiac deniability. And since you don't know what you did, you're hardly in a position to confess anything to your wife. From now on, when you have trouble drifting off, forget the Ambien and brew yourself a nice cup of chamomile tea.

—Prudie

I could never be hired to give advise for Dear Prudie. Because I would tell the wife to give her husband some Ambien, take some herself and then throw him and all of his stuff out of a 2nd story window.

Happy 5th Birthday JP!

We went to the Nelson's house today for JP's 5th birthday party.
There were fajitas and a Sponge Bob cake. I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Audrey enjoyed playing with my friend Staci quite a bit.

Giving Staci the baby fever.

Colin and Sonny.

The birthday boy and Sonny.

JP opening his gifts.

Audrey and Daddy.

Neile cutting the Sponge Bob cake.

The boys being patient.

Quite the talented mother, lighting the candle and taking a pic at the same time.

And Audrey before she tried to drool all over their toys.

Belly

I took these pics of Audrey playing with Barker's tie when he got home from work today. I only posted them because I think it's funny how big her belly looks!

And no, I don't normally leave my kid naked. She got some pumpkin on her dress so she was just in her bloomers for a little while.

Crawling...or at least something a lot like it.

Audrey started doing this funny 'crawling thing' today. She will get from one side of the room to the other but she likes to leave one leg positioned so that she can easily sit down again, should she tucker out. Cause if she falls on her face she can only roll to her back. Or get mad. Most of the time she just gets mad cause she can't sit back up again.
So I sat her several feet from me and made some of her toys make noise. For about 2 minutes of this clip she just stares at me like "Seriously Mom? You're just going to play with my toys and not bring me any?" Then around the 3 minute mark she starts to make her way across, looking like a wounded monkey. But she's getting better by the hour and it's coming together. She's refining her craft.
She has wasted no time using this new trick to get into everything. I thought she'd give me a little more of a heads up and time to put things away. So I had to stick her in her high chair with her beloved Cheerios while I scampered to get things out of her reach, in the living room at least. We have all the baby proofing things, Barker just hasn't done it yet. So he's headed home to take care of it now. And in the mean time she is discovering all kinds of new things.

Motivation to put the laundry away

I don't mind doing laundry but it takes me forever to put it back into our drawers. So Audrey, being Mommy's little helper, decided to give me some motivation. Either I put it up where it belongs or she will put all of Daddy's socks on the living room floor with her toys.

Ducks love Cheerios

Our friends Rebekah and Henry met us at the park to share some of Audrey's Cheerios with the ducks. (Although I think the kids ended up eating more Cheerios than the ducks.)
I forgot my camera but Rebekah was nice enough to snap a few. I'm always quite impressed with her skills.

Audrey likes to man handle poor Henry. But always the perfect gentleman, he just takes the abuse. I hope they get married one day so we can use this picture to illustrate who wears the pants in this relationship.

My sweet girl.

Brides Brides Everywhere

We went to Shreveport again for a wedding shower in honor of Jeff Everson and Andrea Master and the dinner celebration for newlywed couple Emily Goodin and David Castille.
We had a nice time at both and it was great to see all of our friends and celebrate the two marriages.

Bride to be Andrea, myself, Brittney Anderson and newlywed Emily.

Stuck

I came home the other night and Barker said Audrey had been crawling backwards only all night. So he snapped a few pics for me. She would start out on her blanket with her toys and end up under the coffee table.

Loving this spring weather

We went to a park again today to enjoy this beautiful spring weather and take a few pictures.

Busy Bee

We had a busy day yesterday. We went to the park with Rebekah and Henry in the morning, had a play date with the mom's group in the afternoon and then went to watch the Rangers blow it in the 10th that evening. Audrey doing a monkey impersonation at her play date.

And smiling even though the Rangers need a pitcher.
(Don't blame me for her being dressed like Jimmy Buffet, Dad bought it)

My honey bunny's 1st Easter

We spent Audrey's 1st Easter with Ray, Lulu and the boys like we always do.
Audrey flying with Daddy.

Audrey's allergies bother her when we go down there so she wasn't really feeling like being in front of the camera, even though she napped for about 6 hours.

My loves.

By the time Audrey woke up from her nap the boys were already far too sugared up to even notice we had arrived. And I think at 9 1/2 Hunter is getting too old to hug me. Sniffle, tear =(
Hunter.
Kannon Riley.
Connor had his 1st big walking accident. There is an orange band-aid under all that hair.

Audrey being far more interested in what all the other kids were doing.
Audrey and Fisher...3 weeks apart. Neither one enjoying their allergy filled Easter.
Audrey's 1st Easter basket. I made it to match the Easter dress her daddy bought her. It's filled with jelly bean shaped eggs for her to drool on, some shoes, pajamas and several dresses. She has enough clothes from this point until 12 months to never wear the same thing twice. I guess we got a little out of hand at some point.

Happy 1st Birthday Henry!

Lots of little monkeys showed up for Henry's 1st birthday party on Saturday afternoon.Three generations of Louis men.The Birthday boy scored some great gifts.
Then it was time for the super cute and yummy monkey themed birthday cake.
Mom and Dad getting Henry ready for some birthday cake.Yummy yummy cake.Audrey and Henry playing with some of his new toys.
Audrey really enjoyed being outside on such a nice day.
She played with his jack in the box. She really loves hers.
Riding on the horse with Daddy.
Playing with her friend Thomas Blancher.
Audrey and Daddy.All and all it was a beautiful day and a great party. We were glad we were able to help Henry celebrate turning 1!

A Visit From The Blanchers

The Blanchers came to town for a quick visit and I think Audrey enjoyed sharing all of her toys with Thomas almost as much as she enjoyed drooling all over his toys two weeks ago.

Here we go....

Audrey's kitchen plays a song about baking cookies and today I thought that cookies sounded like a good idea. So I went into the kitchen to preheat the oven and this is what I found when I walked back into the living room.
We're starting a new chapter. An exciting yet scary chapter filled with bumps on the head.

Yummy Yogurt!

Audrey is 8 months old now so she can start eating meat, cheese and yogurt. She likes chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches (with out all the butter of course) and loves yogurt. I buy YoBaby Organic yogurt. They also make smoothies for babies. She highly recommends it.

A morning at the park

We went to the park at the lake this morning for some fresh air and to watch the ducks. Audrey isn't big enough to play on the play ground like the other kids in the group but she loves to people watch.

She was really into the ducks. She got so excited, I thought she was going to crawl out of the stroller.

And an update... disregard the last post. She has figured out how to get out of the new shoes. She took one off at the park and cried when our friend Mieke tried to put it back on. So the search continues........