The Hoff Herald

Halloween 2010

2010-11-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween, Audrey dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I think she made the cutest Dorothy ever! Madeline had a lion costume, but donned it only for pictures at Harolds. On Saturday we took Audrey we our friends the Loban's who have a daughter the same age as Audrey to trick or treat on Main Street. It was a gorgeous 60 degrees and the girls had fun going from business to business. Audrey even remembered to say trick or treat when she went up to the worker and thank you after so got her treat. On Saturday, we took the girls to get their picture taken together at Harolds and then only Audrey went trick or treating to the neighborhood houses. Overall it was a good weekend and Audrey got plenty of candy to last a long time.

Madeline Grace

2010-10-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

Madeline Grace Hoff
Born 10/11/10 at 2:30 pm
9lbs 1oz
20.50 inches long

Children's Museum

2010-10-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

Brookings is the new home to the Children's Museum of South Dakota. The developers traveled to many of the Children's Museums throughout the U.S. in order to get inspiration for what to put in the museum. Supposedly it is one of the best ones in the nation. We took Audrey there the weekend before Madeline was born to check it out. It was amazing. They had such terrific things for the kids to do. There are separate rooms with activities for the kids to do and discover. There is a water room with all sorts of balls floating in the water and shooting in the air. They have an area where kids can pick foods from the garden/field and take them to the grocery store and go shopping and also checking out to pay for their goods. There's a post office, music area, and room with history of South Dakota items such as a mud house and tepee. There is also plenty of things to do outside as well that includes two dinosaurs that move and roar, tunnels, and fountains. This will be a fantastic place to go during the cold winter months. We were there a couple of hours and didn't see it all. Can't wait to go back!

The Water Room

The Music Area

One of the Dinosaurs

Audrey milking a cow

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

One of our friend's in-laws plan pumkins every year and this year we were invited to come out and pick some. So we went out to get some to put on our front step. Audrey enjoyed going from pumpkin to pumpkin to see how big they were and telling us which ones to pick. We all had a great time especially because the weather was great for an October day.

Last Pictures of Our Family of 3

2010-09-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Since our 2nd daughter will be arriving soon, I thought we should take a picture of the three of us as our last picture as a family of three. Also thought I'd take a photo of me at 37 weeks pregnant.

An Afternoon Out

2010-09-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Since Dave was gone for the weekend and it was so nice outside, Audrey and I decided to spend some time at McCrory Gardens checking out the flowers. We had a lot of fun checking out all the different varieties that were planted. Audrey enjoyed picking them...not sure if that was legal per se, but she did it anyway...and smelling them of course.

Summer Fun

2010-08-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot outside play time this summer. She loves to swing, go down her slide, play with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, and ride her tricycle. She got her tricycle for her birthday and it took her a couple of months to figure out how to pedal, but she is quite the pro now.

Swimming Lessons

2010-07-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

Audrey took her 2nd year of swimming lessons this July. She became quite a water bug through the course of them. This year it was more of the same from last year. The main goal is to get the kids to be comfortable in the water.

She liked to "swim" this year. Basically we would hold her up and she would do the motions of doggie paddeling and kicking her feet. She also learned to go under water which she enjoyed. I was totally not expecting her to like that, but she surprises me all the time. Her favorite part was jumping off the ledge to us. On her last day, she did that for a good 20 minutes. She is quite the dare devil.

4th of July

2010-07-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July we headed to Georgia to visit Dave's brother and his family. We hadn't seen them in quite some time and it was fun to catch up and let the kids play together. Tiana just turned 8 and Ty is 3 1/2.

The long weekend consisted of playing on the slip n' slide, visting the Georgia Acquarium, and fireworks of course. Audrey sort of got the hang of the slip n' slide, but mostly enjoyed crawling through the water ring and landing in the pool at the end. Her favorite part of the acquarium was watching the penguins. They had a penguin crawl where you could crawl through the habitat and pop your head up through glass holes and get really close up to the penguins. She loved it! We had to go through twice and buy a stuffed penguin at the gift shop on our way out. As for the fireworks, she enjoyed the snaps and sparklers, but not so much the noise of the bigger fireworks that Dave and Troy set off. Maybe next year!

We all had lots of fun and can't wait to do it again soon!

Czech Days 2010

2010-06-22T19:19:00.000-07:00

We took Audrey to her very first Czech Days this past weekend. We went to the Kiddie Parade, which is where kids of all ages create a Czech themed entry and walk through the parade route. We saw puppies, bunnies and even a ginuea pig. Kids decorated thir bikes and wagons and motorized scooters. It was pretty interesting to watch. I think Audrey had more fun playing with the rope that blocked off the parade route.

Audrey also go to ride on her very first carnival ride! It is a pretty small midway so there was only 3 rides that were for her age. She loved them and of course threw a fit when it was time to leave. She also kept wanting to go on the ferris wheel, but we thought better of that for this year. She is quite the little dare-devil with no fear. Dave is pretty excited to take her on roller coasters when she gets older.

The Merry Go Round

Having fun on the Purple Car

The race car driver

Our little model in training...what is with that pose!?

Elephant ride

Her cheezy smile...darn sun was in the wrong spot!

Audrey's First Haircut

2010-06-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

We finally decided that it was time for Audrey's first official haircut (we don't count the tiny one she got for her surgery). She lasted 2 years and 3 months! I have to say I was very nervous about how she would act sitting in the chair, but she behaved better than she has ever has!! She sat there sucking on her sucker and staring/making faces in the mirror. I was so proud of her and me for that matter...not one tear was shed! I thought that was pretty amazing given all the extra hormones being 6 months pregnant! We took some pictures and some locks of her hair for keepsakes.

The before picure (I need to take an after yet)

Making silly faces in the mirror

Audrey Loves Ice Cream

2010-06-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

We have finally found Audrey's favorite food...ice cream! It is only appropriate since I am also an ice cream fanatic. She likes it so much that she asks for it for breakfast. We of course don't give into this, but it is pretty cute when she asks. Normally she shares my ice cream in a bowl or shake, but last weekend we decided that it was time for her very own first ice cream cone, so we headed off to Zesto's. We didn't realize until after we already got her her cone that they had a kids size cone, but needless to say she pretty much topped it off.

Baby Girl

2010-05-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's official, we are going to be a 3 woman household. Hopefully Dave is ready for it. We had our ultrasound on Friday and found out that Audrey will be having a baby sister. We took Audrey with us thinking that maybe it would help her realize what is going on and I think it worked. When you ask her now where her baby sister is, she says "in mommy's belly". It is absoutely the cutest thing. Now if she likes her when she arrives, that is the next question. Here are a few ultrasound pictures. They took some 3-D ones and I have to admit that they freak me out a little. Not quite the picture I have in my head.

Side view of the head

Front view of her face

3-D picture of her face

Easter 2010

2010-04-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

This year we spent Easter with my family at my parents house. My grandma, aunt and uncle, and cousins were there as well. It was actually a very nice day out so the Easter Egg Hunt was quite a success. My cousin's daughter, Alexis, and Audrey had fun hunting for eggs. They didn't like the bunny ears quite as much though.

Next Generation Ball Player

2010-04-17T12:01:00.001-07:00

It looks like we will have quite the ball player to carry on the family tradition. Dave of course has already made sure to show Audrey how to properly hold the bat. It was driving him crazy when she was holding it wrong. But I guess whatever he told her worked, because now whenever she picks up the bat she pays special attention to how her hands are placed.

Audrey Turns 2!

2010-04-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Audrey is 2 already! I know it is such a cliche, but it seems just like yesterday she was born and we were bouncing up and down on the exercise ball to get her to stop crying!

As Audrey is in love with Mickey Mouse, we threw a Mickey themed birthday party. Lots of family and friends were able to come and we had a great time. We kept asking her how old she was and she kept putting up her pointer finger and saying "one"! I guess we needed to work on that more with her.

Since we are an ice cream loving family, we decided to not go with the traditional cake and opted for an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen instead. For those who are more traditional, we did have cupcakes to go with it.

Audrey definitely has figured out how to open presents. She just tore into one and went on to the next. She also got her first bike this year. Hopefully she'll learn how to pedal on her own so Dave and I don't have to push her on it all summer.

Audrey to be a Big Sister!

2010-04-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

That's right, Audrey will become a big sister in October! We are very excited for our new addition to our family. The official due date is October 13th.

This pregnancy is definitely a complete 180 from my first one. I have not been feeling well since week 5. I have been extremely tired and am on prescription nausea medication. Fortunately I have begun to feel better and only take the medication on an as needed basis instead of regularly every day. Now that I am officially in my second trimester, hopefully I will continue to feel better and better.

We of course will find out the gender, but we are betting on it being a boy since it is so different from my first pregnancy. We will find out at the end of May, so stay posted.

This is also the reason for the lack of posts to the blog lately. I hope to get caught up with recent events this weekend.

Long Long Hair

2010-03-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

So when Audrey started wearing her helmet at 5 months old, all her hair started falling out really fast and of course I started to freak out right away that her hair wouldn't grow because of it. Well was I wrong! According to the doctors, the helmet actually stimulated the hair follicles which causes the hair to grow faster. She has been out of her helmet for about 6 months now and boy does she have some long hair! I took a few photos to remember this with. She will be 2 in three weeks!

Snow Fun!

2010-03-02T16:09:00.001-08:00

Our first snow fall this year occurred in October and it hasn't stopped since. There is unofficially 4 feet of snow covering our back yard!! When the temperatures finally warmed up, we were able to take Audrey out to enjoy some play time in the snow. It's amazing how kids never seem to mind the cold as much as we do. We've decided that Audrey looks like a pink penguin in her snow pants and coat as she waddles when she walks.

Looking across the backyard at all the snow

Going for a sled ride with Dad

She never seems look happy in her sled, but nonetheless likes to go in in.

Decided to pull the sled herself

What do you think she's up to?

Decided to take a little rest

Checking out all the butt imprints her and Dad made

Trying to master the mountain of snow in the front yard

King (Queen) of the hill!

Helmets Picture

2010-02-05T19:58:00.000-08:00

After Audrey's year of being in a helmet, we had pictures taken of her with all her helmets. We sent one with a thank you note to her Doctor and Case Nurse in San Antonio for the wonderful treatment they provided us. After they received it, they asked us permission to have Audrey as a testimonial on their website. We were called today by Wai, the Case Nurse, to let us know that Audrey's testimonial was online. We hope that it will help all parents who are faced with the same prognosis know that everything will be fine and that Dr. Jimenez and Wai will treat their child like one of their own.

Artistic Images by Jael

The link to the testimonial:
http://www.universityhealthsystem.com/index.php/craniosynostosis-testimonials/thank-you-note-testimonials/

Christmas 2009

2009-12-30T20:28:00.000-08:00

We had great plans for Christmas this year, but due to the nice blizzard accross the state they changed dramatically. We were going to spend Christmas Eve at home with my parents and grandma and then head to Dave's parent's house on Christmas Day. Well thanks to the impending blizzard warnings, we changed plans and heading to my parent's house on Tuesday (22nd) and then got snowed in until Saturday (26th) when we headed to Dave's parent's house for the night. Fortunately we were able to venture out to my aunt and uncle's house for a short Christmas Eve gathering, but left just in time before the road home was snowed in. Regardless of the change in plans, we had a wonderful Christmas. Audrey had fun playing with the grandparents and Dave and I had a wonderful "vacation" as Audrey wanted nothing to do with us when Grandma and Papa were around.

(ignore the date stamp on the pictures)

Sitting on Grandma's lap

Coloring with Papa

Carrying around Grandma's big jug of water

Sitting in my rocking chair from when I was little

Reading in an empty cabinet, her favorite spot and Grandma and Papa's

Audrey loves the Count from Sesame Street so she really loved the count doll we were able to find for her.

Santa Claus 2009

2009-12-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

Audrey has been completely enamored by Santa this year. She can spot him from a mile away out the window as we are driving around town and his reindeer of course, which she just calls them his deer. So we thought this year would be extra special for her to go see Santa and tell him what she wants for Christmas. We decided to avoid the mall this year and went to see the Santa in town here that sits outside in what is best described as a shed by Nick's Hamburger Shop (very great place if you don't mind your hamburgers being cooked in an inch of grease). Well, we were wrong to say the least. I placed her on his knee and she just froze! She wouldn't even turn around to look at him. Poor Santa tried so hard, but she just sat there with this blank look on her face. Oh well, maybe next year.

Horsing Around with Daddy

2009-12-19T18:36:00.001-08:00

One of Audrey's favorite things to do, besides reading, is horsing around with Dave. I was able to catch them a couple of times.

Hanging out in "the box"

Our Little Girl

2009-12-19T18:22:00.001-08:00

I was taking some pictures after church one day and when I saw them couldn't believe how our baby now looks like a little girl. It's like she woke up one morning and aged a couple of years! It's amazing how fast they grow.

Audrey loves running all over. Just this week she started saying "set, go" (she forgets the ready part) and then proceeds to run from one side of the room to the other. She does this over and over. I wish I had half the energy she does! Here she is caught in the act.

Sommersaults!

2009-11-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Audrey has mastered the sommersault and I just happened to get one on video.

Little Miss Ladybug

2009-11-03T19:02:00.000-08:00

Taking a break to eat some Halloween Candy

Bug on a window...

As you can tell from the title to this entry, Audrey was a ladybug this year for Halloween. I thought she looked super cute. We went and took pictures like we did last year and then took her to a few houses in the neighborhood for her first trick or treating experience. By the last house she finally said Trick or Treat and also thank you to the homeowner. Next year I'm sure it will be a blast for her. We then went back to the house to hand out candy to the rest of the kiddos. Audrey stayed in her costume all night and helped me answer the door. We had a lot of fun and can't wait till next year!

18 Month Pictures

2009-10-28T19:24:00.001-07:00

A Day at the Apple Orchard

2009-09-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Audrey and I went to an Apple Festival with my friend Kirby and her daughter Dillyn. We didn't exactly know what to expect, but thought it would be something different to do. There were pony rides, farm animals, inflatables, hay rides and of course apple picking. The girls weren't too interested in the pony rides, but enjoyed looking at the ducks, chickens, donkeys and bunnies. Everyone agreed that the best part was the apples drizzled with caramel...yum!

Audrey chillin' with her apple.

Dillyn smilling for the camera.

Audrey and Dillyn

Go Bobcats!!

2009-09-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was Brookings Homecoming and to celebrate, our daycare had a wear red and black day. I decided to get a little creative and paint Audrey a onesie and I think it turned out pretty good! I also added ribbons to the daily ponytail to mix it up a bit. It's amazing how that little creative mommy gene comes out once in a while. At daycare she also got a bobcat paw tatoo and red and black painted toenails.

Go Bobcats Go!! All she needs is a pom!

Outside Fun

2009-09-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

It is absolutely gorgeous weather here this week, so we are taking full advantage because the snow will be flying soon I'm sure. Who'd have thought it would still be in the 80s in September!! Audrey had tons of fun playing outside tonight and I got some great pictures.

Trip To SA

2009-09-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

This past week we were back "home" in San Antonio. Audrey had her one year surgery doctors appointment so we decided to make it a vacation of sorts. Since the last trip did not go very well, we decided to make this one as easy and appointment free as possible. It worked!! We were able to relax and enjoy our time catching up with family and friends. As we only had one doctors appointment and zero picture appointments this time as opposed to 3 doctor and 2 picture appointments like last time, we were able to spend most of the trip hanging out and "enjoying" the heat.

We took Audrey to the zoo while we were in town. Believe it or not, Dave and I never went there the whole 5 years we lived in San Antonio! We had a good time, minus the extreme heat and humidity in the air. We also enjoyed Don and Lori's pool. After the rain, the water was nice and refreshing. I do think Audrey's favorite part of the trip was playing with Dalon & Kristin's cats and chasing them around their house.

As for the doctors appointment, everything turned out great. Her surgeon said her head looks terrific! We'll be back when Audrey is 3 for another checkup. A great excuse to get down and see everyone again. Thankfully, next time will be during the winter up here!!

Helmet No More!

2009-08-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

After one year, we are finally a helmetless family! When they first told us Audrey would have to wear a helmet for a year, it seemed like an extremely long time. But looking back on it, it actually went really fast. At 60 days to go, I made a countdown (more for me than Audrey). I also made one for her daycare so they could have fun with it as well. Every morning as we were getting ready for the day, we would pull one day down and Audrey would take the number and throw it in the garbage. Before we knew it, there was only 7 days left...one week! It was almost hard to believe that it was finally coming to an end.

So what do you do to celebrate getting rid of a helmet? Throw a Hair Accessory Party of course!! Many friends came over to celebrate with us and brought plenty of cute bows and ponies for Audrey to wear. She even got a case to put them all in!

So I'm sure you're wondering what we got Audrey for all her troubles this past year. Since we figured she'd get plenty of hair things from our friends, we decided to get her what every 17 month old needs...a new car!!! She loves to sit in it with all her stuffed animals and "drive" around.

House Pictures

2009-08-09T18:26:00.001-07:00

We are finally settled in our new house and I had a chance to take some pictures for all of you who kept hounding me. An earlier blog entry has pictures of the outside, so these are just some of the rooms on the inside. We have not gotten the basement family room fully put together or Audrey's play room, so once those are complete I'll get those pics up.

The front door into the living room.

The living room looking into the dining room and the stairs up to the bedrooms.

Another look at the living room.

Dining room

Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Audrey's room. You may recognize it as we decorated it the same way it was in San Antonio. I figured we only got to enjoy it for 6 months in San Antonio and I really loved how it turned out. We even had a friend come help us install a chair rail!

Simming Lessons

2009-07-15T18:11:00.000-07:00

This summer I enrolled Audrey in swimming lessons. Her class was called Wee Waders and it was for 6-18 month olds. It was more or less getting the kiddos familiar with the water. Dave and I took turns each class getting in the water with her. We sang songs and learned to float on our back and tummys. The class was 30 minutes long and about 20 minutes through each class Audrey was ready to go. The third and last week she finally made it through the whole 30 minutes so I call it a success! I'm sure next summer she'll like it even more!

Pudding Fun

2009-06-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

Normally when Audrey gets to have pudding, I feed it to her. One evening though I was feeling really generous and decided to let her have the spoon. I have to say this was after a few adamant squeals from her that she wanted it. Well as the pictures show, the spoon was quickly tossed aside and it was all hands in. What mom can resist taking pictures of this!

Our New House

2009-06-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

After looking for many months, we finally found a house! We realize that it probably won't be a long term house as we'll probably outgrow it, but it is perfect for what we need now. Plus the price was awesome!! It is in a great neighborhood and is close to everything. We are scheduled to close on June 30th and are very excited. I've attached some pictures of the outside, but will save the pics of the inside until we move in.

(ladder not included)

Audrey's new playhouse... and play system

Helmet No. 4

2009-06-06T19:13:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right, we are on to helmet number 4. After we got back from doctor's visits in San Antonio for Audrey's third and supposedly last helmet, we learned through three weeks of crabby Audrey that the 3rd helmet did not fit. It was squeezing the back of her neck which was making her miserable as you can imagine. So we put her old helmet back on (luckily it fit) and talked back and forth with the helmet guy in San Antonio as to what our options were. We didn't want to have to go back to San Antonio again if possible. Finally after about a month going back and forth with him, it turned out that the guy who helped develop the helmet for our doctor years ago now lives in Sioux Falls, SD, only 45 minutes away from us!!! We couldn't believe it. God has defininately had us in the right spot through this whole thing. We were able to meet with him right away and a new helmet was ordered. The group in Sioux Falls (Davin, Mark & Annette) were fantastic and so helpful. I was worried that since we were approximately 2 months behind now on her helmet that she would have to wear it longer, but they said her head looked fantastic and she would not have to wear it any longer than originally prescribed. We all can't wait for August 14th to come because that helmet is coming off for good!!!

Now since we are in South Dakota and Clarisse is in San Antonio, we had to enlist someone new to decorate her 4th and last helmet. That someone, Jess Schelske, was Dave's friend from high school who also works at Daktronics. As you can tell from the pictures, she did a fabulous job. Thanks so much Jess for helping us out. The helmet looks terrific!!

Trip to the Zoo

2009-05-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Audrey has been really obsessed with her Sesame At the Zoo book lately so we decided we should take her to the real zoo so she can see the animals up close and personal. So off we headed to Sioux Falls to the Great Plains Zoo Sunday afternoon. Now neither Dave nor I had been to this zoo since we were in elementary school, so we really couldn't remember what it was like. Keep in mind the last zoo we were at was the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, so that was what was going through my mind as we were driving. I don't know what I was thinking...something similar to the San Diego Zoo. We are in South Dakota for goodness sakes!!

Once I got back to reality, I realized it actually wasn't that bad and is perfect for little kids. We got through the entire zoo in 2 hours. There was a petting zoo of farm animals for the kids and Audrey had a good time in there. Both the horse and the goat tried to eat her graham crackers and drink out of her sippy cup, so that was pretty funny. She thought the bears were really neat as well as the birds. Unfortunately the zebra (or bra which is what Audrey calls it) and the giraffe's weren't very close so she didn't get to see them real well. All in all, it was a fun trip and I'm sure we'll be doing it again soon.

We Have Steps!!

2009-05-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

That's right! We have officially seen a couple steps out of Miss Audrey. She lets go of the furniture and gets this really excited look on her face as she takes a couple baby steps and then falls down on her butt. Then she gets back up and tries it again a few times until she gets tired of it. It is terribly cute and very exciting! Crawling is still her preferred method of getting around, but I'm sure we'll be chasing her around very soon!

Day at the Park

2009-05-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

It was finally a nice weekend so we decided to take Audrey to the park not too far from our house so she could go swing or 'wee wee' like she calls it. We had lots of fun swinging and going down the slide. She was also pretty happy just crawling around and tasting the wood chips too.

Chatterbox

2009-04-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

Audrey has become quite the chatterbox lately. When she is reading books, she is talking so it appears that she is reading them to herself. It is sooo cute!! She also will look you straight in they eye and say something. I'm usually so amazed I find myself not saying anything back becuase I am just in shock at how determined she was when to say it. Of course I have no idea what she is saying because it is all gibberish, but she certainly has something to say. All I can think of at this point is that, like her mom, we are going to get a note home from kindergarten from the teacher saying that she is talking too much in class. Something to look forward to I guess.

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-24T18:50:00.000-07:00

Audrey took part in her very first Easter Egg Hunt this year. Every year the Scotland Good Samaritan Center puts on a hunt for kids of all ages. It was nice because they split the kids into age groups so that it would be fair for all involved. For Audrey's age group, they basically had all the eggs scattered on the lawn and the kids could run around and put them in their baskets. Since Audrey isn't walking yet, this meant I got to carry her around to round up the eggs. We got three of them! Audrey wasn't quite sure what was going on, but by the end of it she wouldn't let one of the eggs go. It was pretty fun. We even made the front page of the Scotland Journal (the weekly newspaper in Dave's hometown)!!

1 year Pictures

2009-03-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

Helmet No. 3

2009-03-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-03-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T16:44:00.000-07:00

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!

Audrey Update

2009-02-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

Since I’m really behind on my blogging, I thought I would throw all of Audrey’s new things into one post, so I apologize if this one is a bit long. I’ll try and time table it out and make it as brief as possible.

Crawling – Audrey started the army crawl the second week of January. It’s been way fun to watch her wiggle around on the floor like a little worm. She’s pretty darn fast too! This past week she finally started to crawl regularly 100% of the time. Now she's even faster!!

Real food – yup she is starting to eat some “real people” food. So far she's had bananas, cheerios, grapes, carrots, green beans, and peas. It's getting a little more complicatated feeding her now because now she doesn't really want baby food anymore.

First word – Momma! As well it should be with all that I’ve endured. I think Dave was a little sad that it wasn’t Dadda, but he hasn’t had a baby attached to him 24/7 for the last 10 months either! It is very cute when she says it because she says it with a little growl. She is now also saying book...of course since that's her favorite thing to do.

Pulling up - she can now pull herself up onto furniture. She started doing this on my weekend off of course when Dave took her to the grandparents house for the weekend. I hate missing those things. She'll be off walking soon I'm sure.

Teeth - she has 5 1/2 teeth now. She almost has 4 on top and then her 2 bottom ones.

Patty Cake - it's amazing how she knows that that's the song that she is supposed to clap with. Everytime it plays or we sing it to her she starts clapping. Very adorable!

She's definitely keeping us busy, but we are getting a little more freedom as she plays by herself a bit better now. She also stopped wanting us to rock her to sleep. Now as soon as she starts rubbing her eyes and sucking her thumb, it's bedtime and off she goes to her crib where she doesn't even put up a fuss. We just turn her mobile on and off to dreamland she goes. A part of me misses the snuggling, but I also enjoy the extra time at night that this gives me. I suppose I'll just have to get used to things changing as she gets older as I don't think I can stop it!

So I guess that about sums up the new things that Audrey's been doing. I'll try to do better at posting more frequently in the future.

Helmet Update

2009-02-22T08:08:00.000-08:00

August 2008 November 2008

January 2009

Audrey has had her helmet for 6 months now and I thought I would post a little update as to how she is doing. She is on her 2nd helmet and is scheduled to get her 3rd and last one the week of March 15th. I have to say that the time has gone by a lot faster than I had expected. She is still doing really well with it and for the most part doesn’t know it is there. I have noticed that since she’s getting older, she has a tendency to pick at the Velcro straps a bit, but only occasionally.

We are on a reference list for Dr. Jimenez who performed Audrey’s surgery and we randomly receive calls from families whose child has been diagnosed with craniosynostosis and are exploring their options. In a recent conversation with a lady I told her that I would email her some pictures of Audrey so she could see exactly what the helmet looked like. As I was going through all our pictures I decided to send her a before the surgery picture and a current one along with a couple of Audrey in her helmet. Now I’m not sure why I had not done this previously, but it was shocking to see the before and current pictures! I guess when you see her every day, you don’t recall how it used to be. Granted I never thought Audrey’s head shape was real bad, but the pictures tell a different story. The transformation is amazing and she still has 6 more months to make her head even more perfect!!!

Contract!!!

2009-02-10T21:16:00.001-08:00

I realize I haven't posted in an extremely long time and I promise I'll make them up soon, but I had to spread the good news!!! After 4 long months, we finally have an offer on our house in San Antonio!!!! The option period starts tomorrow so everyone cross your fingers that everything goes well. If it does, we'll be closing March 13th. Somewhat ironic that we will be in San Antonio on the 14th, but very exciting nonetheless!

Mommies Night Out

2009-02-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

I know can you believe it!! Four of us mommies decided to hit the big city of Brookings Friday night for a Mommies Night Out. The evening started with dinner at Bravos, a great little local place for steaks and wine. Some of us really lived it up with a filet while others kept to their roots with chopped steak…yes Dawn, I know you can’t help how much you just love it! Where’s the ketchup?? We could tell it was going to be a good night based on how well the wine for us more sophisticated mommies and Michelob for the one wearing a jean jacket was going down. After Bravos we decided to relive our college days and have a mini bar crawl on Main Street. We started off low key just sitting around chatting and having an all around good time when that little dancing bug started whispering in our ear. All of a sudden we were off to join the ‘Shadow Dancer!!! I have to say we were the best dancers out there….could be because we were the only dancers out there….but who’s to judge. Us mommies still have some moves!!! We ended the night with a little “Rollin’ on the River” and some good ole karaoke. The night was a success and well deserved!!

Thomas Finnley

2009-01-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

On November 8, Thomas Finnley made his debut. Unfortunately we had already moved back to South Dakota and couldn’t be there to celebrate with Julie and Ben. So when Audrey and I visited San Antonio over New Years, we dropped by to meet this little guy. Such a well behaved baby!! I don’t ever remember Audrey peacefully sleeping like that during the middle of the day! I also don’t remember her being that tiny or weighing that little. It’s amazing how quickly you forget things like that. He is very adorable…good thing Audrey lives so far away…they could get in lots of trouble together! Congratulations Julie and Ben!!!

Audrey's 9 Month Pictures

2009-01-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

Audrey’s 1st Christmas

2008-12-28T08:01:00.000-08:00

One wonderful thing about moving back to South Dakota is having the opportunity to be able to spend Christmas at home with family. This was especially relevant this year as it was Audrey’s very first Christmas.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Dave’s family. It was the first time since before we moved to Texas that we were able to spend Christmas with Dave’s brother’s family. They happened to be back in South Dakota for Teresa’s sister’s wedding. It was fun spending the day with our niece Tiana (6) and nephew Tyler (2) and watching them and Audrey all play together. Christmas is always way better when your whole family is there. We were anxious to see how Audrey would take to tearing into her presents. I don’t think she quite understood the whole unwrapping part, but definitely enjoyed the toys underneath. She got busy playing with them right away.

For Christmas day we were off to my parent’s house. It’s nice that our parents’ houses are close together that we can hit both sides of the family easily. After some traditional Wahoo playing and a nap for Audrey, it was present time again. Would Audrey know what to do now? Well not so much, but she took a special liking to the bows. I don’t suspect they really taste good, but she must have thought so. And I couldn’t resist putting a bow on the best present we’ve received this year.

Santa

2008-12-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

Today we took the 50 mile drive to Sioux Falls to go see Santa Claus. Now I realize that Audrey doesn't know anything about Santa, but we had to go for the experience and of course the photo opportunity. As we were standing in the never ending line, Audrey had fun watching all the kids play in the play area. The whole thing, including her anticipation of seeing Santa, must have been too exciting because when we were finally second in line, she puts her head down on my shoulder, thumb in her mouth, and wanted to go to sleep. I was like great, all this standing in line for her to sleep right before it's our turn. Luckily it all worked out and she was still awake when our wait ended. Of course the first thing she did when she sat on his lap was pull his beard. It would have been really funny if only it wasn't a real beard!!! She yanked poors Santa's white whiskers so hard, I swear tears were going to come out of his eyes! We'll have to leave him some extra cookies this year.

Surgery #2

2008-12-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

That's right...surgery number 2 for our little Audrey. Luckily this one is way less sever than the first. Ever since she was born, Audrey's left eye has always been watery, goopy, and somewhat crusty which is the result of a blocked tear duct. So before the year is up and we start over on insurance deductibles, we thought we'd clear this up as well. On December 23rd, she will have a minor surgery to open up the membrane blocking the tear duct so that her eye will drain properly. Thankfully only a light anesthesia is used and the surgery only takes 10 minutes. The doctor said she should be good to go by the afternoon, so it still should be a Merry Christmas for our family. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers for a successful surgery and fast recovery on the 23rd.

All Bundled Up

2008-12-02T18:33:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned, we moved to South Dakota at exactly the wrong time...right at the start of winter. At first the weather was playing a little bit of a game with us. It was freezing the day we moved into our rental house, but then warmed up nicely to the 70s the next week. However, it snowed the second week we were here and really hasn't stopped since. It's snowing right now even!! I don't think Audrey has quite figured out what all the fuss is about in the morning when we get her all bundled up to head out the door. She now gets to wear shoes to help keep her feet warm, which I think she actually thinks are pretty cool...at least she always plays with them once they are on her feet. And then there's the winter coat, but no stocking hat since she already has a built in one. However, I'm not quite sure how to get her ears covered up. We even had to buy her a new car seat because the straps were too tight when her coat was on. She's getting so big!!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

2008-12-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

Audrey has started to become obsessed with books right now. We have a basket in the living room that has all her toys and books and she likes to sit next to it so she can grab whatever she wants. She used to just take everything out of the basket one right after another and then look at us like “it’s empty, now what am I supposed to do?” However lately she goes straight for the books in there and one in particular, ‘Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See.’ No matter what other books are easier to get to, she always goes directly for that one. I don’t know how she can pick it out amongst all the other books in there, but somehow she does. As we read her that book, which I’ve memorized I’ve read it so much, she bounces up and down each time we turn the page. It is quite hilarious. However, when she is playing with them by herself, she gets frustrated when she can’t open all the pages and starts to whine a little. Dave and I get a chuckle out of it. It’s like she has a love hate relationship with them.

Professional Halloween Picture

2008-11-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

So I just had to include the professional Halloween picture that I discussed because it turned out so darn cute!! Audrey even made the photographers blog talking about the event. I think we have a star in the making!!

Audrey's First Halloween

2008-11-04T18:48:00.001-08:00

Audrey was a pink kitty for her first Halloween. It was actually a beautiful day outside (70 degrees), which is not the norm for South Dakota Halloweens. When I was little, I remember my mom sewing my costumes a size larger so that my winter coat would fit underneath! We didn't venture out trick or treating as I didn't think the households would appreciate giving out candy to a baby that couldn't even eat any of it. We did go get some pictures taken at a local photographer who was doing them for free as long as you donated 2 boxed food items that would be taken to the local women's shelter. I haven't seen them yet, but am exicted to see how they turned out. I of course had to take some myself just in case. Next year, we'll be trick or treating up a storm though...I can't wait!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

In honor of Audrey's first Halloween, we took her to a local San Antonio Pumpkin Patch. Granted she couldn't do any of the fun kiddo stuff, I basically thought it would be cute to get some pictures of her with the pumkins. I have to admit they turned out extremely cute and I'm very glad we did it.

Moving Day

2008-10-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

What else would we expect on moving day in South Dakota besides 30 degree weather and wind gusts between 30-60 mph! Yup, that's what we dealt with. Luckily we had some help from a guy Dave works with at Daktronics and my friend from college and her husband. With 8 people unloading, we got it done in 2 1/2 hours. Not too bad if you ask me. The house was a disaster though with everything from the truck everywhere in the house.

My mom is staying the week to help me get the house in order as Dave had to go back to work and head back to San Antonio two days after the move. I can't believe he found a way out of unpacking!! Lucky him! I'll find a way to return the favor though.

Getting Ready for the Move

2008-10-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

My goodness it all happened so fast. We put our house on the market, but have only gotten one bite so far. All good comments, but unfortunately they just put their house on the market and would like it to sell before they commit to buy a new one. I have to say I was getting really tired of making sure the house was in showing condition every time I left. That is really hard to do with a 6 month old and all her toys!!!

My last day at KPMG was October 17th. It was a very sad day for me as I just wasn't ready to leave. I loved working there and all the people I worked with. I held back the tears for as long as I could, but by the end just couldn't hold on any longer. I'll definitely miss it.

We really couldn't start packing until right before we were going to load the truck in case we got a showing on the house, so the packing started at 1:00 on Monday October 20th. The plan was to have the truck loaded by Thursday night so it could take off first thing Friday morning. My parents were going to move us back to SD with their semi truck. They arrived in SA on Monday evening to help me pack and get the truck loaded. Believe it or not, we got the whole house packed and loaded by Thursday at 5:00. We were exhausted, but glad it was over. It is somewhat amazing what you accumulate in 4 1/2 years. When we moved down to San Antonio we filled the largest rental truck you can get and when we moved back to South Dakota we filled an entire semi truck!!!

It was hard driving away from the house that night knowing that we would never live there again. We both really loved that house and were really sad to say goodbye.

Audrey's New Helmet

2008-10-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

On October 13th, Audrey received her 2nd of 3 helmets. We were lucky enough to get it before we moved back to SD. Her first one lasted 7 weeks, which is how long the first one usually lasts. The 2nd helmet should fit for approximately 5 months depending on how fast her head grows. It's amazing how quickly the helmet goes to fitting fine until it's really hard to get on! Clarisse decorated this one as well and did a wonderful job. I can't wait to see what she does with the last helmet!

Audrey's 6 Month Pictures

2008-10-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

We're Moving!!!

2008-10-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Dave and I have decided to move back to South Dakota. I know you are probably all shocked, as are we. Everything happened really fast and most of the time I can't believe we are actually doing it. Let me give you the run down of how this happened.

Weekend of August 30th - Dave and I were talking and I told him that if the Daktronics Corporate headquarters (located in Brookings, SD) called him and wanted him to come back to SD to work, that I wouldn't be opposed to moving back. This was the biggest step of this whole process for us. As probably most of you know, I always said that I would never move back to SD, but it's amazing what having a child will do to you. What made me ultimately tell Dave this was that I was really tired of the long commute from home to work and vice versa. I would spend an hour in the morning before work and an hour and a half after work on the road with dropping off and picking up Audrey at daycare. Many times I would sit in the car and be thinking that I could be spending this time with her instead of sitting in my car. By the time we got home, Dave and I would only have an hour and a half with her before she would be in bed. Time is too precious at her age to waste!

Wednesday September 3 - Dave sends me a text that says "Internal Audit Director position at Daktronics." I texted him back asking him what he was trying to tell me. You see, he had been wanting to move back to SD for quite a while, but just never said anything because he knew that I didn't want to. He took me telling him I would be OK with moving back as a green light to go see what was available. Well this position was absolutely perfect for me and he knew he would have no problems transferring to corporate.

Friday September 5 - I talked to Shelia Anderson on the phone. She was the contact person on the open position. She explained to me that this was a new position for them and the person who gets the job would basically be creating the Internal Audit department. I was very excited about this opportunity. After our very informal phone conversation, she invited me up to SD for an interview.

Thursday September 18 - I headed up to SD for my Friday interview at Daktronics. I met with the CFO and 2 Controllers. All interviews went great as they offered me the position before I left.

Tuesday September 30 - I officially accepted the position as Internal Audit Director at Daktronics.

Talk about quick!! As you can see, this all happened in ONE MONTH!!! Call us crazy because I'm beginning to think we're nuts!

Audrey's Helmet

2008-09-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

Six days after her surgery, Audrey got her first helmet. She will probably have 3 helmets in total as she will out grow them. We gradually let her get used to wearing it through four hour intervals. The first day she wore it one hour and had it off for 3 hours. Each day we added an hour wearing it. By Saturday she was wearing it for the required 23 hours a day. She gets an hour break each night for a bath and a little play time. Her head sweats pretty good in the helmet and it gets a little smelly. So while she gets a bath, her helmet gets a good washing.

As the helmet is clear plastic, a couple of my friends decided to decorate it up for her. Julie and Clarisse came over one night and painted it pink and added some stickers and rhinestones. Every little girl needs a little bling! They did a terrific job and I get lots of comments on how cute the helmet is. Thanks Julie and Clarisse!!!

Surgery

2008-09-10T19:05:00.001-07:00

August 14th came really fast and before we knew it, we were sitting in the pre-op area of University Hospital at 6:00am. Audrey was asleep in her car seat and had no clue what was going to happen. Then the nurses, anesthesiologists, and doctors started coming in to see how we were doing, going over the procedure, and asking us if we had any questions. Audrey woke up and was started "talking" away. I guess she thought she'd charm the doctors first. It made us laugh, which was great considering the situation.

I have to say that the anesthesiologists and doctors made me feel so good about everything. I am the first to admit that I am a very emotional person and I didn't cry at all while she was in surgery. Dave said that's what they are supposed to do. I told him that they are very good at what they do then.

The surgery only lasted 42 minutes!! After the surgery she was taken to the PICU where she was going to spend the night and where we got to see her for the first time, which was about 2 hours after they took her to surgery. I have to say that it's a really scary thing to see your beautiful baby laying in a big hospital crib attached to monitors. The doctors said the surgery went perfectly and she was doing great.

The day of surgery was a really long one. There was about 3 hours where Audrey was crying pretty constantly before the morphine kicked in. But once it did, she started doing great and we were able to leave by noon the next day.

She looked pretty rough a for a couple days following surgery. We thought she looked like she was in a boxing match. As the days progressed, she started looking more like herself and was back to her old self. You would never have guessed she had surgery days before.

Craniosynostosis

2008-09-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

On July 9th, Audrey was diagnosed with a condition known as Sagittal Craniosynostosis. When babies are born, the skull is divided into 5 different areas. The spaces in between the areas are called sutures. The divisions allow the head to grow as the brain grows. Audrey's sagittal suture, the one on the top of her head, had prematurely closed. What this was doing was causing her head to grow thin and long instead of round and thus putting pressure on her brain.

We were referred to a neurosurgeon here in San Antonio named Dr. David Jiminez. We were completely stunned when we were told she needed to have surgery. The thought never crossed our mind that surgery was even a possibility. We thought the worst would be that she'd have to wear a helmet for a while and that's it. We walked out of his office in a complete daze and I was crying all night long.

Once the shock wore off a bit, we finally sat down and discussed our options. It turned out that Dr. Jiminez pioneered a new way of doing this surgery that is less invasive with a very short recovery period. There would only be two small incisions on her head and they would use endoscopes and basically a specialized pair of scissors to re-open the suture. She would then be required to wear a helmet for a year. The other option would be to make an incision from ear to ear, pull back the scalp and re-build the skull. After thinking about these two options, the decision was obvious. Surgery was scheduled for August 14th with Dr. Jiminez.

Audrey's First Swim

2008-09-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

Audrey had her first dip in the pool at 3 months old. First we had to sunbathe on the deck and once we got in, I think she quite enjoyed it. She was smiling and kicking the water. We had such a great time, it complely wiped her out.

Hollywood Audrey

2008-09-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

After we left the hospital, Audrey got a touch of jaundice. The pediatrician said that we had to sit with her in indirect sunlight. So we found a window that the sun was shining in and let her bathe in the sun. She loved it! I guess the warmth of the sun felt great. I couldn't help putting on her shades while she sunbathed. Our little Hollywood baby.

First Airplane Trip

2008-08-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Audrey took her first airplane ride at 5 weeks old. I believe my first airplane ride occured when I was 16...oh how things have changed. The trip was up to South Dakota to meet more of her family. The flight attendent even gave her a certificate for her first flight; however it was made out to Andrey Hoff instead of Audrey Hoff and said she flew from Sant Antonio instead of San Antonio. Oh well, it was very thoughtful. They even gave her a shout out over the speaker system!

I was a quite worried how she would take act on the plane...everyone dislikes those crying babies aboard planes. She was a perfect angel on the way there and slept the whole time. Dave and I were able to pass her back and forth when our arms got tired, so that was nice. That was not the case on the return flight. Dave had to go back before I did to return to work, so it was all me on the return. Let me just preface this by saying she still had not kicked the nightime "crying fits" prior to this return flight. I think she cried pretty much the whole time through all 3 legs of the flight. It was miserable and I was exhausted by the time we got back to San Antonio. I don't think I have ever been so happy to get home.

Crying Fits

2008-08-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

You always hear about those babies that cry all night long and you never ever think that yours will do that. Until of course yours does that. I'm not sure what it is about 9:00, but that's when Audrey decided that she was not happy and started screaming for approximately 2 hours straight. We were taking car rides to get her sleeping, which would work, but as soon as we got her in the house, she started screaming again. We didn't know what to do until we got a suggestion from our friend Mindy. She told us to buy one of those big exercise balls and while holding Audrey, bounce up and down. Let me tell you, it was like the magic ball!!! As soon as we started bouncing, the crying would stop. It was absolutely the best thing ever. Who would have thought an exercise ball was good for anything besides sitting in a corner collecting dust! Thanks Mindy!!!

The Beginning

2008-08-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well I finally decided to join the "in crowd" and start a blog as I figured it would be a good way to document all the things that go on in our family. So I guess I'll start at the beginning...of our family that is.

On March 22nd, 2008 our lives changed forever. I know that sounds cheesy and everybody says it, but it is soooo true. That is when we welcomed our beautiful baby girl Audrey Marie into this world. She came an unexpected 2 weeks early, but it was a wonderful surprise and those who know me, know that I don't usually welcome surprises. Arriving at 5:41am, she let us know from the start how little sleep we would get those first couple of months. I swear we got a total of 10 hours the first 3 days combined!! It's amazing how you learn to function off of so little sleep so fast! Audrey weighed in at 7lbs 11 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long...perfect if you ask me.