Toddler Time

Audrey turned 1 last Saturday despite my efforts to keep her a baby forever. Although the days of babyhood are in the past, I was still under the impression that the tantrums, stubbornness, and everything else that comes with living with a toddler were still far off. Apparently, Audrey got the memo that her days of baby living are gone because this week we have seen a whole new side to our little one.

Yesterday while we were getting ready to hit Audrey's new pool to beat the heat, I decided to preemptively hit the bathroom (lets be honest, pregnancy and trying to stay hydrated means lots of trips to the bathroom, sorry if T.M.I but total truth). I returned less than a minute later and found her with the bottle of sunscreen in hand. Not only had she managed to get it from the top of the table but had also figured out how to undo the cap and squeeze the bottle to get the sunscreen out.  She had a funny look on her face and her lips were covered in white lotion. Oh crap! Thus my first ever call to poison control was made...FYI poison control knows their stuff! Who knew sunscreen can act as a laxative when ingested?! Audrey showed no symptoms from ingesting the sunscreen but screamed bloody murder when I took it away from her.

Then today at the gym marked the 1st time I was paged overhead to the daycare center to come pick up my child. Apparently the lady at the daycare had tried to trace her hand to add it to a tree they were making of all the kids handprints and names (cute!) and Audrey was not having it. The nerve!

Still sweet as ever when she wants to be, Audrey is very liberal with her hugs, kisses and back rubs (yes, my 1 year old gives back rubs now!) but now she has whole new ways of letting you know she is not happy. Cue the crying with the flailing arms, throwing her dinner on the floor when she's done, hitting her sippy cup out of your hand if it's offered to her etc etc. I know this isn't a sign of anything more than her hitting a new developmental stage and these are just her new ways of communicating but good grief! The best one has been whenever we say "no" to something, she literally giggles at us and then continues to do whatever she was doing. There's some major testing going on right now and with this last one it is so difficult not to laugh right along with her because she is so dang cute.

Drinking from her hippo pool...

I think my mom said it best on Audrey's birthday when she told me and Zack, "Now it really begins, you guys!"

European Vacay

We made it! 17 days, 4 countries, and countless train rides later. I really could write for hours and hours about our trip and all our adventures but I will spare everyone and just hit some small highlights.

I was SO nervous about flying for the first time with an 11 month old, not to mention the fact that every flight we took was over 6 hours long. Audrey however, never ceases to amaze us...and apparently is a baby with a passion for travel?? What the heck?! She never cried during take off and landing (although I wish I would have taken a picture of her face when we took off for the first time...her eyes were as big as dinner plates!). Plus, every plane or train we were on was like a new stage for her. Audrey waved and smiled at EVERYONE we saw (seriously, everyone!) and loved every bit of attention she got in return. Good grief!

Out like a light! Ignore my exhausted travel face..

England was a blast seeing my family and having Audrey meet everyone. She was such a little ham and loved all the attention she got being the baby of the family. From England we went to Germany and stayed with a friend of the hubby for a couple days. Side note: speed limits in Germany are apparently non existent, scary! If you want to see where Disney princesses would live if they were real, go to Germany! It looks like a fairy tale land! Then it was off to Switzerland to visit one of Zack's groomsmen, Martin and his wife, Kate from Home Schwiiz Home. We loved Zurich and had a blast exploring the city and catching up with great friends. I fell in love with every building in the city. The architecture and style of buildings throughout Europe but especially in Switzerland and Italy is just so beautiful. Our final destination was Rome where we met up with Zack's cousin, Eric and his girlfriend, Sarah. Rome is amazing on so many levels and I know we only scratched the surface on the all things to see and do in the city.

Making calls in England!

Feeding goats in Germany

Hanging with Martin and Kate in Zurich!

Eating gelato in Rome. The shop owner kept giving her free samples!

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

Taking a rest in Rome

The Colosseum 

Yes this happened...our sweet girl got to meet and got kissed by the Pope himself.  Proud moment for mom and dad for sure!

Possibly my favorite picture ever. Audrey posing inside the Colosseum.

It was truly the trip of a lifetime! A HUGE thank you to all our wonderful hosts! The people we got to see along the way made our travels more than just an ordinary vacation. An added bonus...pretty sure the hubs has been bitten by the travel bug! Yay! His next travel idea (which of course will have to wait for now) is for us to travel around Tuscany and spend some more time in different parts of Italy, just the two of us. Can we fast forward time now please?!

Stay tuned for my personal highlights of our trip, tips and tricks on how to travel with a little one, plus our little sweet pea turned 1 year old last Saturday (*tear*) so I'll share how we celebrated this milestone which I am still in denial about!

What's On My Mind Now...

With everything on our calendar coming up in lightening speed, my mind has been in serious OVERDRIVE! I thought I would share some of the things I've been stressing thinking about as well as a few tid bits that make me ridiculously happy.

1. 10 days...we leave on our European vacation in just 10 days! For some reason I thought I had an extra 2 weeks to plan/pack everything so now I am running around making lists like a mad woman. No joke, I made 4 lists last night alone. I have to keep reminding myself that if we forget something it is not the end of the world. We are not traveling to some deserted island in the Caribbean (although that sounds pretty nice right now, doesn't it?) but we will be able to buy anything we need along the way. "Just breathe, Sarah. Remember to breathe."

My biggest debate right now is whether or not to bring a stroller, whether it be our standard Graco or to buy a very portable umbrella stroller. Our original plan was to just bring our Ergo Carrier but the more I think about it, the more I imagine my husband will get tired of carrying her everywhere and Audrey will get tired of being strapped to him as well. It would also be super nice to be able to sit her in a stroller and give her a snack to entertain her if all else fails. Hmmm....thoughts anyone (please!!)??

2. In my haste to get everything ready for our trip...I made 1 of 985 upcoming trips to Target yesterday. I'll be honest...my main motivation was to check out if they had anything new in their dollar section (true life: I'm obsessed) but then I remembered I needed to go there for actual reasons. While I did get things that were on my list, I scored with a few items for our guest bathroom which desperately needs something to spruce it up besides the plethora of bath toys!

What bathroom couldn't benefit from a lemon meringue candle and a cute soap dispenser?! And my huge score was this basket that I've seriously spent months looking for. As I was about to settle on some "not-so-perfect" substitute, I stumbled upon this little guy. Added bonus: cheaper than all the others too...Score!! I am now truly certain that my husband has confirmed that I am nuts after he saw how excited I was to put a toilet paper basket in our bathroom. Ah well...he's stuck with me!

3. Seattle weather has been AH-MAZING! I read all these blogs of women who live in the south (seriously I think I would thrive down there!) and they've been talking about their warm, Spring weather for weeks now while I sit staring out my window at grey, drizzling skies. But the past week temps have been in the mid 70's to 80's (OMG!). Last summer I really didn't get to enjoy the weather much since Audrey was so new and this summer I will likely be too huge and uncomfortable for it to be much better so this "heat wave" was extra special for me. Plus our summers seriously don't start until after July 4th so everyone has been in heaven. Audrey has loved it! We have a lake and park about a block from our house so we've been taking full advantage. Audrey loved being in the water so much she cried when we had to leave.

Does this remind anyone else of Dora the Explorer? 

3. Pregnancy cravings = ridiculous and annoying. As of this past week my cravings are here in full force and are the exact same as I had with Audrey...strawberries, watermelon, dry cereal (all the time and in large quantities!), and oreos dipped in peanut butter. I finally caved and sent the hubby to the store for the oreos. To combat all of this I've been trying to go to the gym 2-3 times per week. However, trying to run even 2 miles is getting ridiculously hard. I have to keep reminding myself that the torture will be worth it!

4. Our little girl is 10 months old now and oh my gosh she is not a baby anymore! Like seriously, between 9 and 10 months her personality is suddenly on display all the time, she is mobile and super fast, and she has an opinion on everything! This morning I had to capture her newest thing...

This is what she does if you call her to come see you...hands flown way high in the air and a look like she's the first to cross the finish line of a marathon...head flung back and all. I apologize for the quality of the pic but my iPhone just isn't quick enough for her!

Another quick thing of note this month...Audrey LOVES to read. My husband texted me last weekend while I was at work saying, "She keeps bringing me books to read. What a nerd!" I love it! She's even figured out that pages are turned right to left (I had to really think about that one, ha!).

Ok, I'm off to writing more lists! Hope you all are having a wonderful Friday!

...Surprise!

Well hello again! It's been a while...3 months to be exact! How terrible is that?! I start my blog and then a couple months later take a few months off. I would be the worst new-hire ever if I was employed by this blog. I promise I have a good excuse...

Baby #2, expected arrival: October 1, 2013

Yes! We are pregnant with our second baby! Told you I had a good excuse. Ok, not really. There are too many super moms out there who can disprove my theory that pregnancy should mean you get a 9 month vacation in the Bahamas.

I'll be 100% honest. Pregnancy is not my favorite thing. When I was pregnant with Audrey, I missed feeling energetic and longed for the day when I could jump out of bed in half a second or move around at work without having to worry about knocking an IV pole with my baby bump! I get very clumsy. So these last few months, it's not hard to guess that I have been in hibernation mode. I slept when Audrey slept and it still wasn't enough. Thank the sweet Lord for the 2nd trimester!

Another thing that has been completely overwhelming is thinking about how we're going to attempt to handle having two kids under age two. God help us! And just the logistics: do we need two strollers? double stroller? two high chairs? do we get another crib or put Audrey in a toddler bed? how will two car seats fit in my car? how will I ever go to the grocery store, bathroom, take a shower? blah, blah, blah! I'm so over it! I stressed myself out way more than was necessary. Now that I'm well into my 2nd trimester, I'm as cool as a cucumber (check back in a few weeks if this still holds true). My husband and I are so incredibly blessed with Audrey and God has given us another miracle...how can I choose stress over excitement?

And guess what.............we're 90% sure we're having another girl!!! At least that's what our ultra sound tech told us at 13 weeks (it's amazing what can be seen!). While my poor husband will be totally overwhelmed with all the estrogen in our house, I can't be more excited about Audrey having a little sister. It's a relationship I never had, cursed blessed with two little brothers :-) Plus being 15 months apart, I can only hope they will be best friends, how fun! The hubs and I want a pretty big family (by today's standards at least) so this will not be our last chance for a boy (can't wait for the day when I can buy little baby bow ties and argyle sweaters <-- hope my husband won't read this one!)

That was a lot of words for a 1st post back after my blog vacation hormonal, nausea-filled hibernation! Snaps to you if you're still reading my rambings! I will have to post pics and updates on what else our family has been up to. Here's a preview: "How you need eyes in the back of your head when your baby starts walking." And my saint of a husband could write a post called "How get my pregnant wife and teething daughter to stop crying." (I kid...sorta!)

6 Months

Wow! Recovering from the holiday season and getting back into the swing of things is no joke and has been keeping us busy over here! Therefore, this little blog has been neglected and I am almost exactly a month behind with posting this 6 month update! Even though Audrey will be 7 months in 4 DAYS (Oh, good grief!) I can't ignore this month which has been stuffed full of development for our girl.

At 5 months, Audrey was pretty much crawling around but at 6 months she became a professional crawler. She is so stinkin' fast and we can't take our eyes off her for one second without her finding something she shouldn't (despite my best efforts to baby-proof our house!). With that being said, it's worth noting that Audrey would rather play with anything but her toys (who needs toys when you have electrical outlets, right?). Luckily my husband baby-proofed our electrical outlets but she always manages to get to a lamp cord or something of that sort. Another favorite past time of Audrey's is hanging out by our fire place. I think she knows it's mom's worst nightmare, having her bump her chin on that brick and cutting her lip with her teeth! I'm constantly having to reign in my anxiety when she's hoisting herself up on the brick hearth and calmly move her away.

Speaking of "hoisting," 6 months marks the time when Audrey has decided she has two legs for a reason. As soon as she master her "speed crawl," she was on to bigger and better things. This girl pulls herself up on EVERYTHING! She almost pulled my pj pants down in the kitchen one morning as she was trying to stand up using my leg! She loves holding our hands as her little feet flail around beneath her, trying to get coordinated. Still no kisses and waiting on her first "da-da."

Yes, this is my 6 month old, holding herself up while wearing mommy's uggs. There was no parental assistance with this (minus putting her little feet in the boots)!

I may not win "Mom Of the Year" with this photo but how stinkin' cute is this? Baby plumber butt with her baby jeans!

In other news, the Midles Family is officially going to Europe in May! We may be crazy taking an 11 month old across the world on a marathon flight but it's too late now, tickets have been booked! We'll be visiting England to introduce Audrey to my mom's side of the family, as well as visiting friends in Germany, Switzerland, and Rome. Can't wait!!

Also of note, after the holiday season, I really started ramping up my workout routine to get rid of these last 10 $%*&^ stubborn lbs. After many friend's recommendations and reading about it on LittleBabyGarvin, I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, as well as running a couple times a week. Holy cow, this woman is NOT messing around. It's just 20 minutes a day and it's a "butt kicker," especially when you get past level one. I already notice a huge difference and I'm only half way through. Then yesterday after getting off the treadmill, my knee was killing me. This morning, I am hobbling around like a 90 year old without a cane...lets hope this is only for today!

Have a happy day, everyone!

A Belated "Merry Christmas"

It is January 7th (11:32 P.M. at that!) and I'm just recapping our Christmas. Good grief. Although I'm not surprised. I drive my husband nuts sometimes all the time with my amazing procrastination skills. What can I say...I work better under pressure...?

Our tree before we brought all the gifts to their Christmas gatherings.

For Audrey's 1st Christmas I was really confident that I would be easy going and didn't set expectations too high for certain things. I mean, come on, a 6 month old isn't going to be able to open all her gifts by herself, stay awake for every holiday meal, or keep her dress on for more than a few hours. Turns out I got a heavy dose of reality for Christmas.

Audrey barely slept all day on Christmas Eve. I guess all the anticipation that Santa was coming really got to her. About 15 minutes before my whole family arrived at my parent's house for Christmas Eve dinner, she finally fell asleep (go figure!). When she woke up from her super short 30 minute nap, she was in no mood to eat and refused her Christmas feast avocado and oatmeal cereal combo, screaming in protest. I finally gave in and took my husband's advice and just gave her a bottle.

I was so excited to get her into her sparkly dress and headband I had custom made to match, but Audrey had different plans. I managed to get her in it for about an hour before she got the sparkles from her dress in her eyes after rubbing those tired baby blues. She did enjoy opening a some presents  eating some wrapping paper with the family. We went to Midnight Mass with my parents and instead of her fancy outfit, I sadly admitted defeat and put her in her Christmas PJs. We ended up leaving Mass early so we wouldn't have a tiny version of the Grinch in the morning. She still slept through her 1st round of gifts on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve, before we ditched the dress

Please note that her adorable headband switched sides a few times, no idea what happened here.

Ok, so I feel like I'm complaining now....let me explain myself a little better. It's no lie when I say that our daughter is seriously one of the easiest babies alive and yes, I know every parent says this, but I really mean it! She is always super happy and easy going (albeit, energetic and curious as ever!), but all the Christmas cheer proved to be a bit overwhelming for our tired girl, that's all. And apparently, although I felt like I had really low expectations going in, turns out Mommy was a little too aggressive with all the "Christmas-ness" for rookie-Audrey.

On Christmas Day we drove south to be with Zack's family. My husband and I have always loved the movie, Elf so for the first part of the day we chose to wear our Buddy the Elf and Jovie costumes (yes, we are that cool!) while Audrey wore a "Raised by Elves" onesie. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of us dressed like this on Christmas but this pic is from Halloween...you get the idea.

Audrey was still tired and slept through gifts from Santa a second time but later had a blast playing in the boxes with her 1 year old cousin, Abby. Grandpa Midles entertained the girls for quite some time pushing them around the living room in their boxes. It's totally true that kids care about the boxes more than what's in them! The girls were moving too fast in their race cars boxes to get a good picture from my phone but here is one of Audrey trying to swipe Abby's toy. Seriously so excited for all the years of fun with these two growing up together!

Adorable "cat-hat" was a gift.

This girl just LOVES to be in boxes!

It is totally true that Christmas is a million times more fun with kids...even if they aren't seasoned veterans yet. Zack and I agreed to make a contribution to Audrey's college-fund instead of getting her Christmas gifts this year. We figured she was going to be spoiled by grandparents and aunts and uncles and she wouldn't remember this year anyways. But after making this deal, I figured she needed her stocking filled at our house in addition to her other stockings from both sets of grandparents. She also just couldn't go without some new clothes for her closet (because it's just sooooo empty). Finally, this 6 month old is obsessed with our cell phones so I found her a toy phone that was designed to look like our iPhones. I never thought I would be that mom, but oh well. What's done is done :-)

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that this New Year is full of blessings, health, and happiness! Can't wait to do it all again next year...351 days to go!

A Peek at 2012's Christmas Festivities

Well, the wait for next year's Christmas season has begun all over again. So sad. I had big expectations to post updates of our Christmas happenings, but of course that didn't happen (who was I kidding?!). Now to play catch-up and show you all what Life in {the} Midle(s)' family was like this past month. Our Christmas Day will be another post soon. Warning: many photos ahead!

I put a ridiculous amount of lights on our Christmas trees...like seriously, sometimes I think I'm trying to one-up the Rockefeller Center tree (don't anyone worry, I'll get there someday)!

Beautiful flowers my hubby surprised me with: romantic AND festive...this is why I married him!

This fireplace drives me absolutely insane. I think fireplaces are the one of the greatest places in a house to decorate but how the heck are you supposed to decorate a 1980's wood stove with a giant pipe that covers the center of the mantle?! I'm still working on it but I did whitewash the brick a couple months ago which has toned it down a bit (possibly more on this later if anyone is interested). And just ignore the plethora of "baby gear" hanging around!

Stockings: Pottery Barn

Trying to display some of the adorable Christmas cards we received this year (well done, everyone!). I originally only had one string up but the hubby wanted more cards displayed, so I made another one. In an effort to not take over all our walls with cards, I put the rest in a basket. Please ignore the poor lighting of the photos!

I'm totally in love with this little hutch (no idea what it officially is called) from Target (where else?!).

Oh What Fun printable is from jandpaper

We drove around one night to look at all the lights in our neighborhood. Zack humored me as I crisscrossed all over the place and we listened to Christmas music (I'm obsessed!). And look what we found!! Clark Griswold would have been so proud!!!

Audrey and I tried to make cinnamon handprint ornaments. After experimenting with two different recipes and trying to get an overtired 5 month old to put her handprint on about a dozen ornaments, we gave up. The finished product isn't even worth showing...maybe next year. Side note: my mother-in-law was over at our house watching Audrey and preheated the oven, unaware that I had left some of the ornaments inside. Before she knew it, the house was filled with the overwhelming scent of cinnamon from a mystery source. I got a confused text while I was at work. I'm still cracking up about this.

Halfway through cookie making. I got waaay too excited and made 5 different kinds of cookies. After giving them to family and friends and a huge plate to my husband's coworkers, we still have a ton left over. Anyone want to help me get rid of them?

Audrey's 1st snow just a couple weeks before Christmas! I'm loving this adorable snowsuit but she was pretty immobile in it and totally reminded me of little Randy from A Christmas Story ("Ralphie! I can't get up!"). She was absolutely perplexed by the snow.

Opening an early Christmas gift from her Aunt Kenzie (it was an adorable outfit which I'm sure you will see in later posts!). Audrey seemed to think wrapping paper was always some sort of super delicious snack.

Can't forget that at the very beginning of the Christmas season, Audrey turned 5 months old (let's all please ignore the fact that she will be 6 months in two days and I'm super late on posting this photo!).

SANTA!! I know him!!! Actually, Audrey acted like she did know him and didn't even do a double take when we put her on the lap of a stranger in a giant red suit. This girl seriously loves the camera, such a ham! I found it funny that I was super excited and felt the same anticipation I had as a kid when I was about to visit Santa. I guess the Big Guy never loses his magic.

Dress: Target, Headband: Custom order from Jameson Monroe

And after bombarding you with pictures of our lives the past few weeks...I'll leave you with this festive little baby butt under the tree...

Merry Christmas!