The Boatright Life: dancin' shoes.

for the last week, every day i wake up i brace myself for the possibility that Audrey will take her first steps. she is so close to walking!! i cannot believe that my almost-10-month-old is going to be walking before she turns a year old! for three weeks or so now, she has started standing up on her own without holding onto anything. every time she tries to take that monumental step forward, she does a hula hoop motion and plops down on the floor. but lately, she has learned to balance and i just know that any day now, it's going to be "THE DAY." she also got a couple pairs of "dancin' shoes" from her grandma Jen that squeak whenever she takes a step. she LOVES her squeaky dancin' shoes! i like that the squeaker is removeable ;)

standing up all by herself! ah! (this was after her 2nd photoshoot with
Amanda's Models & Talent from Valdosta)

look mom! no hands!

i feel like i haven't updated in forever so while the tiny bear is sleeping, i thought i would jump on here and share what's been going on with the Boatrights lately!

the case of the Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. UGH. yes, let's just check that one off the list of things to NEVER go through with a 9 1/2 month old!! Audrey has been sick twice in her life before this (a cold after Thanksgiving and a couple weeks after we moved down here) and none of them compare to HFM disease! after a day and a half of whining and not eating very much, i noticed some blisters on her hand, knees, and heel. i called up to her pediatrician's office and they asked to see her as soon as possible. an hour later we had our diagnosis and it turns out the reason Audrey hadn't been eating much was because she had ulcers in her mouth and throat :( poor baby! Daddy got her a new pair of camo (of course!) jammies and a bottle of pedialyte since she was refusing everything else we tried to give her.

all settled in on the couch -- watching little einsteins
in her new jammies!

too sick to hold her own sippy cup (bless her!)
very resourceful Audrey!

sippin' on some Pedialyte

i'm starting to make the transition to Audrey "eating what we eat." i was sitting on the couch one day eating a banana nut muffin with one hand and uploading new inventory pictures on my computer with the other hand. i looked away for one second and the next thing i know, Audrey is all up on my muffin trying to shove her whole mouth on the thing and slobbering all over my hand. i ended up splitting the muffin in half and letting her have the rest. it's this new diet of trying -- it's called half of my meal goes to the baby :) the good thing is that she LOVES finger foods and LOVES to feed herself. the sad thing is that the days of spooning homemade purees into her adorable mouth are behind us :( i did enjoy making her purees for five months though! so far, her favorite 'table foods' are cheesy scrambled eggs, banana nut muffins (with the large chunks of nuts picked out, don't worry!), avocado, and whole grain pasta with tomato sauce. she also is one lucky girl to have a grandpa that likes to pick her up fresh fruit at the market all the time! she has never "not liked" a food that we have given her and is such an enthusiastic eater!

she seriously LOVES avocado, just like me :)

love her!

we choose to go nakey at dinner time
for the above reason :) what a mess!

this new weird laying sideways in her highchair thing
she likes to do to let me know she's done eating haha

avocado beard!

first reaction to cheesy scrambled eggs: ummmm what is this mom???

loves it! carrying on my favorite childhood tradition: breakfast for dinner!

weird combo: banana nut muffin and green beans

fresh nectarines from the market!

baby spaghetti in a bowl that suctions to the high chair
(i learned my lesson quickly!)

her other new "thing" at meal time, finger up the nose! gross! :)


spaghetti was a hit! (and so were the disposable bibs i found!)

now that the weather has cooled down a little bit, (we went through a tropical depression last week and it rained and rained and rained. it was so gloomy at the time but the weather has been great ever since!) we love to take Audrey to one of the parks in our neighborhood (there are three total, yay!) we always have a great time and she loves to swing!

scaling the rock wall all by herself!
yes, yes i know - my 9 1/2 month old is very advanced, thank you!

work has been taking off for me in the online world! our online sales have been great and i'm working with a webpage designer who is helping me launch our new website! i've received a lot of great feedback about how much people love and appreciate our creative marketing, so that's always good to hear especially since this is my first real project since graduating! a few people have asked if they could contract me to do a few things for them as well! i was so flattered! i would definitely love to have my own little marketing and advertising consulting business in the near future (when Audrey goes to daycare or preschool).

now that Audrey is mobile, it's difficult to have her at the store with me. she does like to meet new baby friends though!

i was bringing her to the store in the stroller....until Cliff's new puppy, Jack Jack, decided to make it his newest chew toy! the silver lining, the jogging stroller i have been lusting after (in preparation for being able to work out again at my one year post-partum check) is on it's way to my house! sooo, i'm kinda excited. i am hoping and praying that the inflammation and tissue separation that has been causing me problems and pain will not require any surgery and i can get back to exercising and being more active. i would give anything to actually jog with my new jogging stroller. we have the greatest little trail in our neighborhood that i can't wait to check out. have i mentioned that i LOVE our little neighborhood? it's so great to be able to just walk out of the house and take a stroll around whenever the mood strikes :)

Audrey is growing and changing so much every day! My dad just saw her towards the end of June but i bet he is going to be amazed at how different she is when he arrives AT OUR HOUSE....TONIGHT! yes, my dad, and Audrey's Poppa, is coming to the swamp for a visit! i'm so thrilled! I'm so excited to show him around our little town and take him out on my new four-wheeler! Lately, i've been feeling down and overwhelmed at being away from home and having to make new friends and find new hobbies and a place to fit in. My husband sold his beloved boat and surprised me with a four-wheeler of my own. Let me tell you, it's such a great hobby and something fun that Will and i enjoy doing on our date nights :)

Will may be in the driver's seat for the picture, but this baby is all mine!

The other adjustment i've had to make is living life without a Target nearby! As silly as it sounds, having a Target within minutes of wherever i lived in North Carolina was something i took for granted! I had a few gift cards i didn't have a chance to use before we moved, so i popped on their website to do some online shopping and got Audrey this amazing activity cube! She seriously loves it and could sit and play with it for hours. As a mom, you KNOW a toy is amazing when you can get a 9 1/2 month old to sit still for a significant amount of time ;)

she has a weird thing that these little doors
MUST always be shut haha

another big change on our lives starts next week -- Will is going back to school! (more on that later since Audrey is up and calling my name!) but he is very excited and also a little sad since he will be taking night classes and will miss coming home from work to spend time with Audrey before she goes to bed.