Audrey

She made me a mom. Even though she's my big girl, she will always be my baby. I remember every detail of my labor and delivery with her. My other 2 are a little fuzzy.


Just like most new moms, my baby was the smartest, cutest thing EVER!!



Gorgeous photo courtesy of my multi-talented friend Nikki.

This girl has been to more states than most adults I know. She has always been, from the beginning, a great traveler. Whether it be by car, boat, horse or airplane, this kid can handle it. Especially the horses. She has loved horses since she first noticed them. She used to drive us crazy at my mom and dad's house. She walked around all day and the only thing she would say is "haw-see"! Over and over... She's still the same way when we visit them. From the moment she wakes up, she is bugging my parents to go feed. Literally from the minute she wakes up. Then, at any point during the day, if we can't find her we go outside and she's always out there, just looking at the horses.



As a direct result of this obsession, we have approximately 4 million stuffed, plastic, or otherwise horse-related toys littering our house. They range in size from small enough to jab you between the toes when you step on them in the middle of the night to large enough to scare the bejeesus out of you when you stumble into them in the middle of the night.



This is Audrey at the beach in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. She was almost 2. Love the chubbiness!



So proud of her little fish on the Buffalo River. Age 3.



Age 6

Audrey is the kind of kid that knows exactly what to say at the optimum moment to produce the most Mommy-guilt possible. Just the other night I was admonishing her for not reading her books for school and giving me attitude about it. The entire time she was writing something on her dry-erase board that I couldn't see and I was about to start in on how she wasn't listening when she flipped over the board and I saw what she wrote. "My mom is the best mom in the whole world." Gulp. Instant Mommy-guilt. The thing is, I knew she meant it. She wasn't just saying it to get out of trouble, she knew I needed to hear it at that moment. She's always been like that. Extremely perceptive, totally aware that her parents are suckers and that she is, most of the time, smarter than I am. She is adventurous, outgoing, funny, and can be sensitive too. She is the ultimate big sister. She mommies her siblings to DEATH. She's stubborn (like her daddy!), but sweet. Her teachers love her. She is a really good student and loves to learn. It amazes me how she can be so aggressive and so passive depending on the situation. And I'm pretty sure we will be knocking the boys off with a stick. Or a shotgun if her daddy's home. She is also a world-class pouter. See below:



Oh, yes. I have seen it many times.



This is my "baby" today. Doing what she loves second-most. Playing a computer game. Most-most is being with horses. But since we are sadly horse-less at this time, she settles for playing horse games online. The things this girl sacrifices, I tell ya!

I love you, Audrey. My spoiled rotten, lovely baby.