A couple of things I forgot...

I realized there were a couple of updates I accidentally left out of the last post!

Audrey has experienced her first sickness now. We have been so fortunate that she has not been sick in all of her 9 months, other than congestion due to teething. However, I noticed she started coughing recently, and it just wasn't going away. So, we took her to the pediatrician, and it turned out that she had an ear infection and needed breathing treatments and an antibiotic. Luckily, our wonderful neighbors had a nebulizer, so that saved us some money (LOVE having generous neighbors/friends!). It has not been fun to watch Audrey get the breathing treatments, but she's done pretty well overall. Most of the time, she doesn't cry through it as long as we keep her occupied with something else to look at or think about. They have also really helped, as she is barely coughing at all now, and the rattling in her chest has completely stopped. We're thankful that she's stayed healthy for so long, and even more thankful that our first experience with sickness was pretty quick and painless!

I also wanted to post a couple of videos of Audrey having fun. As I mentioned in the previous post, she claps now, which was a fun new accomplishment. I also mentioned how much she loves her baths, so these videos show those things!





We're so blessed to have such a happy little girl!

8 months, 9 months, and more

I am finally updating now that I feel like I have a few more minutes to sit down and think about what all to post. Since it's Christmas break (YAY!), I told myself I had to finally update this blog (you know, because I've gotten so much "fan mail" demanding updates - haha!). So, fair warning: this will probably be a long post!!! I'll separate it into topics...


Months 8 and 9
Audrey is now 9 months old!!! I seriously cannot even begin to grasp the fact that we will have a 1 year old in a mere 3 months. She's growing and turning into such a neat little person, and the time is flying by way too quickly for my taste. I just told Jerry yesterday, "I just get sad when I think about her growing up because I can't even picture it. I just always want her to be like this!" Jerry and I have loved sitting back and watching Audrey's personality develop. She's definitely quite the entertainer. Now that Audrey's 9 months old, she...

• Wears mostly size 12 month clothing (she went from the 6-9 to mostly 12 like THAT...she's crazy huge!)
• Weighed a whopping 23 pounds at the doctor's office the other day (told ya - HUGE!)
• Eats formula 4 times/day
• Has baby food cereal/fruit for breakfast and veggies and fruit for lunch and dinner. She especially loves pears, bananas, and sweet potatoes.
• Has tried some table food but doesn't seem too interested.
• Wears size 3 diapers.
• Is in size 3 shoes.
• Has 2 teeth
• Still LOVES bath time, but it's gotten much harder for Mommy because Audrey tries to slip, slide, and go everywhere!
• Sleeps anywhere from 10-12 hours each night.
• Takes a couple of naps each day, but naps better at Mrs. Karen's house during the week while Mommy and Daddy are at work than on the busy weekends!
• Talks like crazy in her own language. We hear a lot of "ba, ba, ba, ba" and "wwwwwaaaaaa!" She loves hearing herself!
• Growls back and forth with us
• Laughs at practically everything! Sometimes all I have to do is look at her, and she's cracking up!
• Is so close to crawling, but doesn't seem too interested! She gets up on all fours then falls to her stomach and rolls all across the room. She gets some pretty good distance though!
• Loves to bang on things with her hands, clap, and pull anything near her (including Mommy's hair or Daddy's glasses).

Our 9 month girl old can rock some shades!

Holidays
Halloween - We had a great Halloween just staying at home handing out candy. Jerry wore his Superman costume (he loves it!), and Audrey wore a Supergirl sweatsuit that Aunt Jill bought her. They made an adorable duo! Audrey loved sitting outside with us, and she would giggle every time a group of kids walked up in their costumes! She went to bed early, and Jerry and I finished "candy duty" together. 

Superman and his Supergirl

Thanksgiving - This year was a first for me: I cooked Thanksgiving dinner! The 3 of us enjoyed a quiet Turkey day at home, and I must admit, our meal was delicious! We had a turkey breast, because we knew we didn't need an entire turkey! Then, I also made mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, broccoli, and crock pot mac 'n cheese (a new recipe I hadn't tried --ended up being our favorite part of the meal!). After our meal, we relaxed, watched football, and talked about how glad we were that we were NOT going out at midnight to do Black Friday shopping! This Thanksgiving, we knew we had even more to be thankful for, since it was our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3!

Our turkey on Turkey Day!

Current Happenings
We have been lucky enough to see our friends, James and Brandi, twice recently! They live in Lancaster, and they came down to see us earlier in November, and we went to see them last weekend. While we wish we all lived closer, we always enjoy what precious time we do get to spend with them, and Audrey had fun with "Uncle James" and "Aunt Brandi" too!

Playing with Aunt Brandi in the mirror!

Snuggling up with Uncle James (this is right before she napped on him; so sweet!)

Now, we're preparing for the next holiday, Christmas. Thanksgiving weekend, we decorated the house. I love when our house is decorated for Christmas! Jerry and I have similar tastes in that we like the classic, white lights, and we don't like to "overdo" it. We're not going for "tackiest house" award or anything like that. Simple and cute is more our goal. We wanted to get the decorations up right after Thanksgiving so we could enjoy them awhile, since we'll be gone for Christmas.

Our decorated fireplace with an additional stocking for Audrey this year!

Our decorated house! I love our snowman pathway lights!

Later this week, we leave for Illinois. We're looking forward to spending time with family, and getting away from work for awhile! My parents, sister, and grandparents are of course very excited to see us (but more so Audrey, I'm thinking!), and we are excited to share Christmas with her for the first time! As we celebrate, we can't help but think about how we've been so blessed this year! We hope that you all remember the reason we celebrate, our Savior's birth. The gift He gave us is so much greater than any gift we can all give one another! We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Rengerings!