New hairstyle

Audrey went to the world famous Nick Arrojo stylist from Shannon's favorite show "What Not to Wear" and this is the real winner that he came up with.

Bringing in the New Year

Notice to Grandparents: Skip to bottom for just Audrey updates. 2006 finally arrived. This is the year that I've looked forward to for a long time because I will finally graduate from optometry school. When you've strived for something since 8th grade, it feels really good to come close to reaching your goal. Well anyway, we had a small get together for New Years. Wes, Danny, Travis, Jennifer, Jason, Kendra, and Skitarie came over to hang out. It was fun to see everyone and we really enjoyed ourselves. Life is really funny because while I don't think I've ever been happier, I got kind of sad missing all of the times that we used to just hang out with no responsibility and the fun that we used to have.
Audrey brought in the new year with us and stayed up until two in the morning. She's so much fun and seemed to be the center of attention for a lot of the party.

More Christmas

One of the things about being married and now having a baby is that you get to have multiple Christmas celebrations. Here's some pictures of our third Christmas gathering at the Edgars. Shannon won the money jar, a tradition of guessing the amount of loose change in a jar, so we can now go the Laundromat many times. Grandma Edgar gave some very meaningful pots and pans of Granny Williford's to Luke and Stephanie and also gave Grandpa a very nice shadowbox of his army memorabilia.

Christmas Day

Here's a picture of Audrey and Shannon right after opening her stocking on Christmas day. We had a very relaxed Christmas day and opened presents later at night. Shannon and I only bought her two presents but the grandmas were there to spoil her rotten.

A different use for the walker

Audrey is starting to master walking with her walker. It gets frustrating because our house is so tiny that we constantly have to redirect her. She even started getting bored with walking and decided to use it as a ladder.

A Festivus Miracle!!

Audrey took her first steps (a whole 1.5 steps) during Christmas at the Bales house. One of Audrey's many presents was a walker which she practiced with and then she took some steps from her walker to the coffee table. She loved being with the Shannon family and I'm not sure there was a moment that she wasn't held by someone. Thanks to everyone for all the presents for her. She loves them.

For those who don't know, Festivus is an alternate Christmas celebrated by the Costanza family on Seinfeld. It is my favorite episode.

Going to Grandma's

Katherine the babysitter

Katherine got to come over and take care of Audrey this afternoon. They had a lot of fun at the park.

The weather outside is frightening.

It's really cold here in Houston. I feel really bad for Audrey because our hardwood floors that she crawls around on all day are really cold. Her hands are like ice when we pick her up. Here is a pic of her bundled up to go outside.

Christmas Tradition

We get Audrey an ornament for each different place that she visits during the year, and so it is now a tradition for her to hang all of the ornaments that she gets on the tree. This year she has a New Orleans, Stone Mountain GA, and North Carolina ornament. Hopefully sometime soon she'll get to add more. Beth had to help her hang them.

Hospital Trip

Audrey got really sick and had to be admitted to the hospital because she was dehydrated. One of the few benefits to living in Houston is the great medical care which Audrey received at Texas Children's Hospital. (I say all of this before I've seen the bill for all of this fine care) Shannon and Beth had to take her on Monday afternoon while I was in the middle of taking my national board exams. So after I got finished with testing on Monday, I went to the hospital and stayed for a while. I feel like a really bad father, because I had more testing the next day so I went home to spend the night. Shannon, being the super mother and wife, stayed beside Audrey's side the whole time! Audrey looked adorable in her hospital gown and when waving bye-bye to people with her IV hand which was in a splint. Well she stayed overnight and got really hydrated as you can tell by this picture. She wasn't too happy about the whole ordeal though.

First Christmas Party!

Audrey enjoyed her first Christmas party at our church. She made an ornamenet(my favorite on the tree), made some cookie mix, rode a pony, and most importantly heard the story of the birth of Jesus. Here's a pic from the party.

Thanksgiving

As you can see by the size of Audrey's belly, she really liked her first Thanksgiving meal.

Friends are Friends Forever

I believe the great Michael W. Smith(or maybe it was Zach Morris with the Zach Attack, I can't really remember)once said "Friends are Friends forever as long as the Lord is the Lord of them." Well anyway, it's been 10 months now and Audrey and Ellie's friendship is still going great. Here's some pictures of the cuties in their nice dresses.

Eye Exam

Audrey came to the University Eye Institute for her first eye exam yesterday. She was seen by a superb 4th year student who really cared about her and her eyes. This doctor even changed Audrey during the exam and fed her while she dilated! Now that's some good service. Her eyes looked great which the doctor was extremely happy about.

Doing Dishes

We didn't give Audrey a bath for two days. So, she took things into her own hands and decided to climb in the dishwasher for a possible cleaning.

The Rich and Famous

After only nine months, Audrey took her first limo ride. It only took Shannon and I twenty-five years to accomplish this feat. This was compliments of David Richardson as we celebrated him finally asking Ashley Otwell to marry him. After David popped the question, we took the Hummer limo up to Dallas where we ate at Ashley's favorite spot, Pappadeaux's. Here's a picture of the sweet ride. Supposedly, it gets a whopping 4mpg.

Halloween

For her first Halloween, Audrey was the most beautiful flower that I have ever seen. Aunt Sissy was nice enough to buy her this costume. The weather was really bad here in Houston, so we didn't get to go to our church carnival but I still think she enjoyed hanging out in her costume.

Aunt Sarah

We finally got to see Aunt Sarah after a long hiatus. I think Aunt Sarah is pretty fond of Audrey as she started crying the first time she saw her(it's okay Sarah, I did the same thing). One of the many great things about having Sarah around is that you'll never have to change a diaper when she is near. I'm not sure why she likes it so much, but I'm sure not complaining. Here's a great pic of them together.

Baylor Homecoming

Audrey attended the first of many future Baylor Homecomings this weekend. We were able to meet up with Jason, Kendra and Gavin for dinner before heading to the bonfire. We also finally got to see Brigid in her element as a Baylor Bear. The parade was at 8 a.m. so we weren't able to go, but we did head to the game. Audrey got to see her second football game in two weeks. Last week, we watched the Texans play. Baylor looks a lot better than when Shannon and I went to school. Heading into the 4th quarter we were only down 6-0 to Tech. In the past, that score has been 63-0 going to the last quarter.
Sadly, the pastor at University Baptist Church in Waco(where we went a couple of times during college) passed away this weekend. Please pray for his family, friends and congregation.