Trip To SA

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!!