Thursday, March 26, 2009

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Helmet No. 3

We are on to Audrey's 3rd and final helmet. Once she outgrows this one (approximately 5-6 months), she no longer has to wear one. The time has actually gone by pretty quickly, but I am ready to be done with it and I'm sure she is too. Once again, Clarisse did a marvelous job decorating. It took a while to get used to the purple color since her last two have been pink, but I really love it.


Happy Birthday Audrey!!!

Now we all know that turning 1 is a huge milestone so we thought we'd celebrate with 2 birthday parties!

Audrey's first party took place while we were in San Antonio one week before her real birthday. The theme was ladybugs. We had cupcakes decorated like ladybugs, and red balloons with a black one thrown in here and there for the spots, and Audrey wore a dress that had ladybugs all over it. I even had a banner made that said 'Happy Birthday Audrey' with a ladybug on it. Unfortunately the ladybug gift bags didn't arrive in time, so the kiddos got those later in the week. Audrey of course got her own cake to eat and for the most part kept her table manners in tact. She also tried her first Cheetos and loved it! Overall the party was a success. Lots of our friends and family were able to make it and we had a great time.



Audrey's second party took place on her actual birthday, March 22nd. This one was back in South Dakota at Grandpa and Grandma Wynia's. Baby's First Birthday was the theme of this soiree. We had birthday balloons and a banner that said 'Happy 1st Birthday.' The house looked very festive. This was her family birthday party and we were happy that lots of family could make it. Audrey got to take another stab at her birthday cake and became a little less dainty with this one. By the time she was done she had frosting all over her hands, elbows and nose.



Thank you to everyone who could join Audrey on her special day(s) and all the wonderful presents!!

Trip to San Antonio

This past week we headed down to San Antonio as Audrey was scheduled to get a new helmet and see her surgeon. We were excited to get away from the cold, snowy weather and see our friends and family. We had lots of things planned including a birthday party for Audrey (see separate post); however nothing goes as planned does it.

Problem number one...flight delayed for 2 hours in Chicago. I know, big surprise having a flight delayed out of Chicago. Then when we finally got to Texas, it was warmer in South Dakota!!! (Luckily only for the first day.) The birthday party was fantastic, but then one disaster after another started.

On Monday we went to the hospital to get Audrey's head measured for her new helmet. Her surgeon started using a new place for helmets for convenience as it is located in the hospital, but it is definitely not practical. Imagine trying to get a one year old to lay perfectly still in a big scary black box while someone is holding down her arms and legs so that they can get a scan of her head. Pretty sure that's not gonna work. After an hour of Audrey screaming, I finally was able to convince the technician that it wasn't going to happen. So we left only to come back a few hours later and try it again. Of course it didn't work and he was finally convinced to do it the old way with a hand scanner. Ta da!!! If only he'd had listened to me in the first place we wouldn't have spent all of Monday in the hospital!

There were no plans for Tuesday except to get Audrey's one year pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. I love this place because they can always get her to smile so good and we end up getting a ton of great pictures. Unfortunately Audrey was just not going to cooperate this time though. So I didn't end up with the type of pictures I was hoping for, but good enough.

Wednesday, was the day Audrey got her new helmet. Her appointment was at 9 in the morning; guess what time we finally walked away with it? 12:15!!! Now again I question this convenience thing, because it certainly wasn't convenient for me to sit in a hospital all morning. But wait, we weren't able to leave yet because her appointment with her surgeon is at 1:00. And you know how it is when you go see a doctor, you sit and wait and wait and wait. At 3:00 we left his office only to head back up to the helmet place because the helmet didn't fit right. Let's just say that we didn't leave the hospital until 5:30. Audrey hadn't taken a nap all day and we were all exhausted.

Thursday was picture day again with Photography by Jena. These are the more expensive pictures that we started before Audrey was born and are absolutely precious. Thankfully, these pictures went better than the Tuesday pictures. Maybe our luck was turning!?

Friday we were headed home and boy were we ready!! So much for a vacation! Finally things were looking up. The return flight went off without a hitch and the disasterous trip was over. We feel really bad that we had to cancel plans to hang out with our friends when we were down, but what can you do. Next time hopefully everything will go better. See y'all in 6 months!