On Day 365

December 23rd, the 365th day Audra has been with us.
In some respects, it's hard to believe it has already been a year, but I think back, and it's been a very full year. Lots of ups and downs, adjustments and just becoming good parents. Or trying to be good parents. Jamie and I have realized we make a great team. We also have a wonderful family. The dog has had to get used to this new member and after a year, she realizes Audra isn't going anywhere, so she will just deal with the hair pulling, the screeching into her ears, and the little mover following her around.
And to my little 5 pound monkey who was so small for so long, you have finally come into your own. I still look at 12 month clothing and think it will be too big for you and most times, I am horribly wrong and you are too big for it. You are a sweet child, but also a rebel. I think you were born that way, just to spite me and come early! You are so happy when you get up in the morning, it's like the 10-12 hours you have been asleep, you have missed so much. You are such a ball of energy, and so full of smiles. Never lose that. You had your night fussy periods and it wasn't always fun, but we got through it. You never wanted to breastfeed, but I was determined and pumped and you were exclusively fed breastmilk for the first 10 months of your life. A lot of love and perseverance went into that, but I wanted you to have only the best. We have dealt with your MCAD and learning, and genetics team visits and keeping in touch with the dietitian, but knock on wood, you have been healthy and happy. We toured Dundas and Waterdown in your strollers, although you aren't the biggest fan of sitting in it now. You would much prefer to be crawling around yourself. You have been a good little eater from the start. You love your vegetables, but like your momma you aren't a huge fruit fan. We have realized you will eat applesauce, and love any kind and love smoothies. You are all grown up and hold your bottles and sippy cups by yourself. You love In the Night Garden and it warms my heart to see how excited you are when it comes on. It is the only show you will watch for the entire 22 minute duration without squirming. And if anyone is in your way, you will look around them. You love playing with the toys, Iggle Piggle and Makka Pakka. A whole new language for mom and dad.
You love to see family and friends, and your face lights up when you see people. You are definitely not shy.
The list could go on and on and on. You light up my world. It's always to amazing to see what you have learnt, what you grasp, and just how much you really understand.
Here's to a million more days together! Happy birthday baby girl!

Birthday Girl

A cute little outfit, tie dyed shirt by mom and dad, with a little puffy paint one on it, a great tutu, that was a little big and your tie dyed tights and little black high tops, made you the cutest little girl ever!
You thoroughly enjoyed your cake. Your cute little outfit was cute no longer all covered in cake and icing. But that's what happens with birthday cake and one year olds!


And after a quick outfit change, you and dad opened presents, and boy did you get spoiled. Lucky girl. So many people love you and care for you, and it was so nice to have so people here, to chat and catch up with. I think there was enough food and sweets, and hopefully everyone had a good time.

Birthday Cake

The most beautiful first birthday cake deserves it's own post. The cake looked AMAZING! (sorry wish I had more pictures to show it off!)
We knew Nickey would do a great job, no question. But the cake that arrived was spectacular! And the little banana smash cake-perfect for Audra! She loved all that sugar was not impressed when we cleaned her up and took away the mess!
We are saving a monkey so Audra will always have a piece of that first cake!
We can't wait for Nickey to open Cake and Loaf, so she can have somewhere to show off all her wonderful creations! (and we can't wait to come and buy some yummy goodies!)

Really not too sure what to think. Everyone singing Happy Birthday and a lit candle on a cute cake, a little hesitant.

But after some hesitation, she picked up that banana and knew what to do with it! Stuff it into her mouth. Cake everywhere. I think I was still picking and cleaning cake out of her hair the next day!

Before the party

There was a banner with pictures of Audra, one from every month since last December. It was cute, and it's hard to believe she was ever so small! She loves looking up at it. She probably doesn't believe she was that small either!


These were the cookies I made and Jamie helped ice, to give out as thank yous. We so appreciated everyone coming and I wanted something to give out at the end when people were leaving. The A's were cute and I love those monkeys. They look a little funny with the red icing, but what can you do?
This was my happy birthday pennant banner that I made ages ago. I love the way it turned out and it is something that we can use for years to come. I want to make Audra's birthday special every year as she is so close to Christmas. So this will be a good tradition to have.

Of course there were goodie bags for the kids. They were just something really little, a small book and ball. The bags were homemade and I loved the material. I thought it was so cute. The green was for the boys, and the girls was cream with red writing and pictures. I thought there was something a little more personal making the bags.

All the homemade stuff, I think turned out really well. I loved being able to do all of it. Makes everything a little more personal. I know Audra is too young to appreciate it now, but hopefully these traditions can continue into years that she will remember.

Another Black Apple

As I wrote before, I am loving the Black Apple Dolls, and have made a few now. I forgot to take a picture of a recent one I made, she had yellow felt hair with little pigtails. So sweet. I am now trying to make them look fairly similar to the recipient.
I made another for one of Audra's friends and our neighbour, Sequoia. She, like Audra, really doesn't have much hair yet, so no pigtails for her. The dress, is made from a shirt that she used to have but doesn't fit. So yay for upcycling! I have also made a little capelet for her, but the elastic broke so I have to fix it. And lastly, made a blankie using leftover material for the doll to have.
With each doll, I think they get sewn a little bit better and look a little cuter. Very happy with this one and can't wait to see the little girls' face when she opens it.

Christmas Bags

I have been making quite a few things for Christmas, and have especially enjoyed making bags for presents. They can get reused for next year, and we can save a tree or two with less paper. All my Christmas fabric I got relatively cheap, looking for sales and the remenants bin are always good starts.

First Sleigh Ride

As the year of firsts continues, first snow and sleigh ride were on my list of to-do's. Audra got the sled before she was even born last year from her grandparents. We definitely didn't have a need for it last year, which wasn't a bad thing! lol.
She sat and enjoy the walk around the court.
Wasn't too sure what to think of it, but at least she didn't try to jump out!

Homemade ornaments

My salt dough ornaments are finished. (well, maybe one more coat of sparkle mod podge!)
Pretty happy with how they turned out. I think Jamie will like his glittery Audra foot. Or at least I hope he does. I just green sharpied them, then painted a few coats of mod podge on them. I think a few of them may be added to presents. We'll have to see.
Another christmas craft done. I think I really need to get moving on some birthday crafts, as the big day is fast approaching. (I think I am stalling on those crafts b/c if I don't make them I don't have to think that my little monkey is going to be one! It just makes me sad. Hard to believe that this year has just flown by!!!)

Finished Tree

Our tree is offically done now. In looking at it, thought, hey, why not make a garland for it? It looks a little bare. Three sewing sessions later, done! (what was I thinking?!)
I took 3 circles as templates, and cut them all out of felt. I varied the colours and didn't just stick to traditional red and green. I thought all the different colours would match all our ornaments. I think it completes the tree now. It was super easy to make, just sewed through the middle of the circles. Hopefully it will last a few christmases. We just won't let Jamie take it down! lol.
(is it wrong that I am already planning the next garland to make?)

Black Apple Dolls

Love, love, love these dolls.
Emily Martin and her Black Apple Dolls are fantastic. I love her free tutorial, and her website is great. She is a great artist and doll maker.
I wanted to try out the tutorial and I think the first turned out ok. I like the second one better. And now have so many ideas for new ones. It'a a great jumping off point for rag and cloth dolls.

a smile...

I read this quote and had to smile. What if you know what's logically right, but let your imagination do the work?

"Logic will get you from A-Z, imagination will get you everywhere"
Einstein

Salt Dough Ornaments

A few years back I made some salt dough ornamnets, and I think I remember them looking ok and turning out well.
I was wanting to do something special for Jamie, and thought an ornament with Audra's handprint would make a perfect gift.

The dough is so easy to make:
1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup of water
Make dough, roll out and cut with cutters, and bake for 2 hours in the oven at 250.
Easy right?
In looking it up, someone had suggested cinnamon in the dough to make them smell nice, and let me tell you, what a great tip. My house smells like christmas!


And a handprint ornament, with an 11 month old? Not going to happen!!!! Everytime I put her hand into the dough, she curled her hand into it, grabbing away. Why was I thinking that a handprint would be a good idea? lol. So we released a foot from the onesie, and stamped her foot. I managed to get it in and out before she totally curled up her toes, and now we have a great print to remember her toes at that size and I think Jamie will love it. We will paint it and mod podge it and voila! A great surprise for dad from daughter!
I will post a pic when it's all done!

Stockings were hung...

I would love to say "stockings hung by the chimney with care...", but we unfortunately do not have a chimney. Or a fireplace. Or really anywhere to hang our stockings. It's sad, but doesn't stop us from having great stockings.

I wanted to make some for the family this year, but time is really starting to be my enemy, and I just won't have hours to put into them. Amidst my christmas decorations and totes, I came across a few stockings that I must have purchased last year. If memory serves, I think they were .99 at Old Navy after christmas. Score, who doesn't love a good deal?
Now the stockings my mom made for myself and later Jamie, and now Audra, can stay at the Miller's, and our family will have their own set here.

The stockings are felt, and I loved the little mama bird on mine and the deer for Jamie.

I then took some scrap felt and embroidery thread, and stitched names onto them. Jamie of course thought it would be fitting to have them labelled mom and dad. I think they turned out really well. I just wish we had somewhere to hang them. Hmm.. I did see a post on how to make a faux-fireplace, mantel out of skids. hmmmm.... (I think I would be shot if I brought more projects into the house. That will be a next year kinda thing when the garage is up and running)

Ornament Swap

Lots of swaps lately. There are so many and I wish I could sign up for all of them. But when I found Laura's ornament swap on the luckiestinlove.blogspot.com, I thought it would be perfect. One ornamnet, one person, no problem.

I was paired up with Laura of sayingidoinnewyork.blogspot.com. I had the perfect ornament in mind for the swap.

I have been wanting to try and make a yo-yo christmas tree. It's lots of fabric rounds all sewn together. My first attempt resulted in a smallish tree. I guess my templates should have been a lot big (a lot!). So instead of scrapping the whole thing, I thought, that would be perfect for an ornament. There was some green tulle mixed in with all the christmas fabric and I added the loop and some bells, and perfect. I was very happy with it. I am definitely going to be needing to make a few more. My tree would I'm sure love one.

And the little Reindeer is from Starbucks. I couldn't resist a year or two ago, and bought all the leftover ones after christmas. He is so cute and I love being able to share him with people. I make a little fabric bag ot put them in, and off they got mailed. I hope Laura likes them and they make a great addition to her tree. If she has a Martha Stewart theme going on, probably won't work out so well, so here's hoping she doesn't have a specific theme happening. lol.
Either way it was fun, and can't wait for our ornament to arrive!

EggNog

I heart, heart, heart eggnog. Love it!!!! Could drink gallons of it. I am definitely missing all my eggnog lattes at Starbucks while being off. I know I could go and get some, but it hurts the wallet to have to pay for all the ones I would really want. So in the meantime, I have been enjoying the store bought eggnog. (and for the record, I do know how to make homemade eggnog, but it kinda grosses me out a little bit. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.) And in drinking my fair share of it, I have realized that the lower fat version is actually creamier. Yum!

Everytime I sit down to drink some, all curious eyes turn towards my drink. It's generally in a clear cup, so Audra notices the yellow colour. The whole time I drink and enjoy, I feel eyes boring into my drink, so I decided to give little miss a bit, watered down with some milk. And she LOVED it. Was quite impressed. So with her condition, can't drink tons of it, but some watered down I'm sure will be fine.


There was no putting that cup down! Even when it was finished! What a little monkey!

Book Swap

We signed up for a book swap awhile back, or I guess more specifically, I did. (Audra is smart but doesn't know how to use a computer yet!).
Zoe over at playingbythebook.net, set up a great picture book swap for those interested, and of course I couldn't resist. I was paired up with Dana, whose family lives in the states. I had an Anne of Green Gables picture book in mind, but couldn't find it, so I sent her a regular copy and Mama Loves You, which is a fantastic picture book with great watercolour drawings.
And the book we received in the mail was:

It looks great and will be a perfect addition to our collection. It was a fun thing to do and can't wait for the next swap.

No Charlie Brown tree here....

We went and cut down our christmas tree this weekend. There is a little old man and he has some property just outside Cambridge, that he lets trees grow wild on. He has all different kinds and you go and cut the one you like.
So after some searching and weaving through trees, we found the perfect one.

Jay hacked it down and back to the car we went with it.
Fit on top of the vibe no problem. And surprisingly we were the only car driving home that had a tree on top of their car. Usually when we go to get our tree, we see lots of travelling trees. Not this time though. Maybe people weren't out picking their perfect trees.

All set up and looking good. Now time to decorate it and the house. So many decorations, not enough room for everything. lol. I think we are going to do a little purge on some unused christmas items.

First Santa Parade

Another milestone down, Audra's first Santa Parade. We met Uncle Matt and Aunt Charlotte and walked over to downtown Waterdown for their annual parade. It was a little chilly but we keep warm with drinks and dancing around.


Matt enjoying a warm drink. Yum, nothing better then warm hot chocolate on a cold night.

We were at the beginning of the parade route, and we were a little disappointed with Santa. His float zoomed past before we could even get a picture of him. But we did see him and wave!