Poor Audrey!

Last night, Audrey took a tumble in the shower and cut her chin open.  She was leaning out the shower door, and her feet slipped out from under her.  She landed with her chin on the frame of the door and sliced it open.  It wasn't a huge cut, but we decided to take her to the doctor just to make sure.  She and I made a quick trip to an Urgent Care office, and it was determined it could be glued.  Audrey was such a good patient and quietly held my hand while the doctor put on the three layers of glue.  The doctor had called a nurse to help hold her down, but Audrey didn't even flinch!

Since it was a traumatic evening, we stopped at the Culver's next door, so that she could get ice cream with M & Ms on it.  All seemed to be fine after that!

The pictures are terrible quality, but here are some of our brave girl's injury.

FYI: The orange marks are from the M & Ms and are not injury-related.

Kate: Eight Months

Oh, sweet Kate!  It's hard to believe you are eight months (and one week) already!  We are blaming the late post on the start of school and our busy schedule.

Kate is growing and changing so rapidly.  This month's biggest achievement was her much improved eating habits!  She is now a much more consistent eater and opens her mouth eagerly.  She's even tried table food here and there and is getting better about picking up the smaller pieces.  It's hard to pinpoint her favorite food, as she really does eat everything now.  She does seem to especially be a fan of her whole milk yogurt!  Even though she is growing in her love for food, her love of a bottle is definitely still there.  She will wave her arms and squeal when she sees that bottle coming toward her!

Kate also became extremely mobile this month.  In the past week, her crawling skills have definitely improved.  She is not fluid but is easily able to get across a room.  Now that she can move, she is also able to occupy herself more.  She gets to toys, tries to pull herself up, and is on the verge of causing trouble at times.

She continues to be a great sleeper and has been worn out this first week back at daycare full-time.  I've had to wake her up most mornings, and she doesn't always greet me with a smile!

Kate's hair has thickened up a little this month, but it is definitely a lighter shade than Audrey's was at this age.  No evidence of any curls yet, but Audrey's was still very straight at this point.

Her final achievement is her vocabulary.  Kate can often be heard talking about her "Dada."  Audrey and I are a little jealous, so we are working on getting her to say "Mama" and "Audi."  So far we have not made any progress, and Kate's been experiencing speech therapy from us for a couple weeks now.

We love her smiles and giggles!  She is growing up too quickly, so we are trying to soak up this baby-hood as much as we can before it is gone.  Happy Eight Months, Kate!

Look at me go!

Can you tell it's Audrey at eight months?? :)

Bike Rides

In the past week, Audrey has begun to request a bike ride after supper and baths.  Since Jeremy was still on vacation, we had more flexibility in our evening schedule.  We tried out Kate in the bike cart, and she had a mediocre reaction to it.  We think she needs to get a little taller for the straps to be more comfortable.

My favorite bike ride memory so far has been riding to the convenience store in town for ice cream last Saturday night.  We sat outside, eating our delicious ice cream, and watching the cars drive by on Main Street.  Kate was waving at everyone, even if there was no response, while Audrey gave us a play-by-play of all that was happening.  "What they buy in there?"  "Why doesn't that car have a top?"  "That man looks like a turtle when he walks."  What a goof!

Maybe Dad should plan to ride a day of RAGBRAI next year, pulling this heavy load!

Our two little beauties!

Benefit Day

Each August, our small town hosts "Benefit Day", from which all the proceeds go to a child in the community who is struggling.  Typically, the struggle relates to a health issue.  Since we have lived here, we have attended the parade, and this year, Audrey really understood that she was going to get candy from this parade!  Plus, Dad was going to be driving a fire truck, too.  How cool!

Audrey watched the parade with her friend, Jackson, from daycare. 

Audrey got a huge bag of candy, and this has led to many arguments over the past few days.  She woke up this morning and said first thing, "Can I have some candy?"  Many, many pieces have gone in the garbage!

Kate enjoyed the parade, too, and didn't even flinch at the loud fire truck noises.

Later that evening, we went back downtown to watch Dad get honored as a volunteer firefighter for the community!  We felt so proud of him!  

Dad posing with Sparky the fire dog.  Audrey was NOT a fan of Sparky, even though she knew who was inside the costume.  I am sensing a theme with her about costumed people!

Dad getting his award.

Yeah, Dad!

These are some of Jeremy's fellow volunteer firefighters.

Kate's Teeth

After months of drooling and chewing on everything, Kate's first tooth finally popped through about two weeks ago.  It was a bottom front tooth, and shortly after that tooth was visible, we could see the other bottom front tooth was close, too.  Then, last week I could hear Kate grinding her teeth while I was holding her, and sure enough, a top front tooth is coming through, too!  I guess Kate just wants to get as much teething done at a time as she can.  Now she doesn't look as much like a baby anymore.  :(

Last Vacation Post

On our last full day of vacation, we decided to explore a neat attraction I had read about online.  On the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan, is something called "Bookworm Gardens."  It was absolutely gorgeous and one of our favorite parts of vacation.  We walked through beautifully manicured gardens that highlighted some favorite children's books.  As we walked through, we were able to grab the books out of baskets or pillars and then read when we got to the certain displays.  If we go back to visit next year, we will know to read the books ahead of time to prepare and make more sense for Audrey and Kate.  This post has a lot of pictures, but there were too many good ones!

Audrey washing Harry the dirty dog.

Taking a peek at Stuart Little's house!

We were sitting on one of Horton's eggs.  Below is Horton in a tree!

This is one of the three little pigs' houses.  They had all three!

This was a story I hadn't heard of before.  It was about Twitch, a mouse that lives in a tree.  Audrey wrote Twitch a note and put it in his tiny mailbox.  She kept asking if the mouse had gotten her mail yet!

Hurry up, Dad!

Do you notice a theme with our sweet little Kate?

Little House on the Prairie

On the last night of vacation, Audrey also had her first s'more.  She didn't seem that impressed with the combination but loved all the individual pieces.  Her favorite question to ask was, "You want dark chocolate or milk chocolate?"  

Obviously she liked both kinds of chocolate!