Things I Wish I Had Pictures Of

Church Ladies: I am a member of a singing group at church called the "Church Ladies" (we toyed with the idea of calling ourselves the "Holy Cows" but thought this might offend some members of the group). Not only are we about music, we are also about wardrobe. Our wardrobe mistress, Gwynn, recently returned to the group after undergoing chemotherapy. Her hair is back, and her wardrobe aplomb was never gone. For this holiday performance last Sunday, she suggested that we wear Christmas-ball earrings. I said, sure, I'll wear those, thinking they would be actual earrings. But oh no, they were actual Christmas balls, of the kind that would be at home on a full-size tree. Red, silver, green, gold - each church lady took ornament hooks and threaded them through her ears and hung a pair of matching ornaments on them. If you moved your head too fast, you got a bit of whiplash. But we were festive. Yes we were. And the singing wasn't bad either.

Scenes from the Park: When it was nice weather - really, up until this week - I went for a daily walk with Audrey. Typically, we walked across the street to the park and looked at the ducks (a big hit), or smelled the roses (she didn't get it) or looked at the dogs in the dog park (very exciting). I don't take anything with me, just my keys, and Audrey in the carrier. So I've missed a few photo opportunities. Including

• Meeting another baby named Audrey - she was 8 months old and playing at the playground with her parents and older sister.


• Walking away from the dog park and seeing a woman coming toward it with her dog - I said to Audrey, "Look, a dog!" and as the women passed me, she said to the dog, "Look, a baby!" in the same tone of voice.


• Audrey on the baby swing - which is HUGE for her, but she leans up against the front and it must feel like the carrier (it hits her in about the same spot on the chest). I squat in front of the swing and hold her hands and push her back and pull her forward, and she just smiles real big!

White Elephant

No, not another trip to the zoo. I'm talking about Grad Group's annual White Elephant gift exchange, which was held yesterday at the Larson-Wolbrink's home. Although Audrey was in attendance, the clear stars of the show yesterday were Lily Larson-Wolbrink (17 months) and Allegro (2 years), our friend Liz's new guide dog. The two of them together were the epitome of cute, Lily with her boundless energy and bouncy curls, and Allegro, a big yellow lab puppy who was "off duty" for the evening so we could pet him and interact with him.

The fun thing about White Elephant, beyond watching Lily and Allegro explore new levels of cuteness, was seeing what people brought - Paul and I went home with a plastic U of A mug, a woman's hat and necklace, a 4-bottle wine rack, and a insel garland decorated with shiny paper ornaments. But we got rid of four items we have had two of for some time, including Norah Jones and Louis Prima CDs, the Shel Silverstein book Runny Babbit, and a "Touch and Feel Farm" book.

We also got rid of a musical Happy Birthday bag that has slowly become the bane of my existance. Let me explain - somewhere along the line, one of us got a birthday present in this bag, which plays Happy Birthday and lights up when a corner of it is pressed. Due to limited storage space, we keep our wrapping paper in a storage box under our bed, but it turns out that this bag is a mite sensitive. So as I have been getting up at 3:30 AM to go feed the baby, it was not uncommon to have musical accompinament to this event - a tinny "Happy Birthday" that went of as I got out of bed and continued to play as I crossed the hall to Audrey's room.

Since I hit upon the idea of getting rid of it at the White Elephant, the bag became even more insistent. As we loaded it into the car for the rise to the Larson-Wolbrink's, it went off three times, as if to say "No! Don't get rid of me! You will miss this tinny "Happy Birthday!" But we don't. Enjoy it, Stephanie, and don't be afraid to regift!

Playdate with Gavin

Yesterday Gavin (Audrey's "twin") and his mom Lauren drove up from Sahuarita to have a playdate. Because I'd had such a good time at the zoo a couple of Mondays ago, I suggested we go there. It was more crowded this Monday, but a lot of the animals were still pretty visible and we had a good time. Audrey rode in her front carrier again, and Gavin was in his stroller. When we went up to the lion enclosure, the lion was sitting in the middle of his space, looking away from us. I walked up to the glass with Audrey as I had before, and he started looking over at us. Within a few minutes, the lion got up and walked directly toward us, walking around the pool and coming right up to the glass like last time. This time, instead of just mushing his nose against the glass, he pawed the glass a couple of times and then opened his mouth two or three times to show us his menacing teeth (although because he is a very elderly lion, the teeth were somewhat broken off and dull, so not all that menacing). Lauren held Gavin up and I snapped the picture.



After the zoo, we came back to the house and Audrey and Gavin ate and then played on the floor. Of course, they were most interested in the other one's toys, so we had a "plate of spaghetti" moment with the toy I call chewie ball - it's one of Audrey's favorites but Gavin had a serious interest in it too.



I was trying to get some "look how they've grown" pictures to compare to the earlier set of photos I took of Audrey and Gavin at breastfeeding support group, but the two of them didn't really seem to be playing on the same page this time - the best I could get was both babies on their backs but facing in different directions!

Monday at the Zoo

No, this does not refer to the crazy conditions in our house today. In fact, quite the opposite - Audrey has a bit of a cold so she's been napping a lot more than usual. But during her wake period this afternoon, we went over to our local zoo, which is located just across the street from our neighborhood. It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the low 80's and a bit of a breeze. As a result, lots of animals were out. I think many are also fed about 2 pm, when we were there, so that helped too. Of course I did not bring my camera today (the otter picture is from an earlier zoo trip), but we saw:

• An elephant drinking (she tried the pool water, where ducks were swimming, spit it out and then went to where the water was flowing into the pool and drank from that spigot) and then giving herself a dust bath


• An ostrich complaining about something and a zebra coming over to find out what was going on


• Giraffes eating up close to the fence


• Tortoises eating and walking around


• The three gibbons right up at the front of their cage, interacting with visitors


• Two otters performing just for Audrey and I


• And finally, the lion, grooming himself around three feet from the glass, who, on seeing Audrey and I, walked around a small pool, came right up to the glass and squished his nose against it, approximately 3 inches from us!

All in all it was a great trip to the zoo, although I must admit to being a little panicked when the lion approached us. Even though I knew he couldn't get us, it seemed he was eyeing Audrey as a snack...or maybe he's just never seen a baby in a front carrier before.

Four Generations

During Audrey's first trip back East, we attended my cousin Erin's wedding. The big event for us, though (not to downplay Erin and Jamie's wedding, it was beautiful) was that Audrey got to meet her great-grandmother, Marguerite Pyles, for the first time. I was hoping Audrey would see her great-grandma and giver her one of her 1000-watt smiles, but of course, my grandma is a stranger to Audrey and she takes a while to warm up to people she doesn't know, despite being a very friendly and gregarious baby. She did get to spend a little time with her at the wedding reception, though, and was privy to some smiles, although I'm sure Audrey would have been happier in a slightly less noisy and chaotic situation. The wedding photographer took a couple of pictures of grandma holding Audrey and also one of the "four generations" (great-grandma Marguerite, grandma Mary, mom Kay and baby Audrey) with the newlyweds. We also took a few candid pictures of the four of us outside the reception location, so the best one of those is here. I'm sure Audrey won't remember her first meeting with great-grandma, but I'm sure great-grandma will remember it!

Mother (and Father) and Child Reunion

Yesterday we had our reunion for our Bradley (childbirth) classes. Having spent 10 weeks together between April and June, and watched each other grow ever-more pregnant, the reunion gave us the opportunity to meet up again and see how everyone turned out. At 4 months, Audrey was one of the oldest babies - since the classes went until early June, the first babies were born mid-June and the last ones were born in early September. Not everyone came, of course, but we had a good time eating potluck food and taking many pictures of the babies. Here is one of the best ones - that's Charlie, Audrey and Abigail!

Political Baby

So she's not political in the "election was Nov 4" sense, although I must admit I'm happy that President Obama is the first president she might remember, rather than President McCain. I did watch his concession speech, however, and came away thinking what a class act he is. Audrey's politics, however, have more to do with her decorated onesies. Before she was born, our friend Gretchen made her a onesie that says, on the front, "Eat Local Food" and on the back, "It Works for Me." I had to snap a picture because one day she was lying on her playmat, next to Sleepy Bunny (who, though he is a stuffed animal, has played many roles, from infant head support to nursing pillow in his brief tenure with us). She reached out and grabbed Sleepy Bunny's foot and was poised to take a bit out of it. Not quite the "local food" the onesie-maker intended, but funny.