Family

The shirt says "Too cute for words". I love that shirt.

We don't have too many pictures of Audrey with people (strangely enough) and we realized that we didn't have any with Rod and Audrey. I took a few surreptitiously while they spent a little time together.

Checking out the very interesting things on the ceiling. The ceiling is endlessly amusing.

Grandpa Kleiss and Audrey getting some quality time on the floor.

Hanging out in the bassinet. You can see bits of the toys that are hung above it.

A close up of Audrey sleeping in her overalls.

Audrey staring at her hand.

Best shot I have of Audrey really getting a steamy gawk at her hand. She really concentrates about this and it's fun watching her discover things like this.

Audrey sometimes really, REALLY concentrates on one of her hands. Today, it's the right hand. Five minutes of this and then it was in the mouth. Good times!

Just hanging out at home, watching Audrey watch her hand. I think that's my knee in the lower right corner.

Hand in mouth. Not so strange to see really.

Here's a picture of Audrey sleeping on the floor. She has these cute overalls that she wears really well.

Another picture of Audrey sleeping in her overalls.

Hand to mouth…a common sight around our household.

A little sun bathing for Audrey while she contemplates her hand.

Audrey hanging out with her elephant toy.

Cute baby wearing a shirt that says "Too cute for words". Truth in advertising.

Picture of Brooke eating a mini-muffin when we visited the cousins and Grandma Boerger one weekend. I don't think you can tell in this picture, but Brooke has a little blue sugar mustache.

Audrey in her sun dress.

Audrey in a sun dress I bought for her. This is the first actual piece of clothing we purchased for her. I really couldn't help myself as I thought it was about as cute as could be.

Another picture of Audrey in her sun dress. You'll notice it has a daisy on it and I bought the matching hat as well.

Audrey in her sun dress.

I know this is a dark picture, but this is also one of the funniest pictures I have of her. We were in a restaurant eating away when Audrey woke up in her carrier with this expression on her face. The absolute straight line of her mouth was strangely funny to Melanie and I and she looked this way for about five minutes.

Here's another fun look. It's as if she's extremely concerned on what we're doing.

Here's a second shot of her strange restaurant look. I wished we could've gotten a better snapshot of it.

Stretching out on the floor. She does love to have those limbs free.

Audrey having fun with her elephant toy.

Audrey resting on a blanket.

Here's a picture I snapped when laundry needed to be done and Audrey needed to come with. She took a short ride in the laundry basket which she didn't mind too much.

Laundry baby! With Melanie!

Strange picture…Audrey looks like a little baby weightlifter. This is a onesie which is also a turtleneck. But it also makes it looks like she has no neck. For a baby, she's very strong…but I don't think we're heading in the direction of weightlifter. I could be wrong though.

Audrey is sunbathing…but not really. It was pretty cloudy that day. I did manage to find a hat that would fit her head.

This is the second picture of Audrey getting in a little outside time. She generally really enjoys being outside. If she's being really fussy, I can take her outside for a minute or two and it calms her down.

A quick shot Melanie got of Audrey from her camera cell phone. For a little phone, the picture isn't too bad. Incidentally, this photo also replaced a picture of me that Melanie had on her background. I'm okay with that.

A quick shot of Audrey. Still looks at me that way. However, there are more smiles now too, so it balances out.

This star blanket was one of the first gifts we got for Audrey from our awesome friends, the Lynsens. The blanket pretty much sums up how we feel about our daughter.

Audrey gazing into space from the comfort of her bassinet. Also, this was one of the last times we put her in the swaddlers. She likes to have her arms free.

Very adorable, especially in this particular outfit. One little sad thing I'm beginning to see is that these little outfits that I find unbelievably cute on her are only going to fit maybe another week or so. The duck outfit I like so well from only a couple weeks ago is beginning to get a touch tight and this adorable onesie will maybe fit once or twice more. All we'll have then are these photos and memories. I should stress the point that this is definitely not a solicitation for more clothes. We have garbage bags full of them, but I'm just a touch sad that these little things to which I've become accustomed will soon pass on.

Asleep in her bassinet. Not much else to say here.

Now you may look at this photo and say "that baby looks like it's either crying/yawning, or about to", but we like to think that this is just one step to her singing beautifully. Her breath control is remarkable for her age.

Jessica was the first aunt to see Audrey. It was a good weekend and excellently timed as Jessie was home at that time for the Birkebeiner cross-country ski race. We were thrilled to have Jessie home so close to Audrey's birth. This photo was taken just a week after Audrey's birth.

Another photo of Jessie and Audrey. I'm amazed at how tiny Audrey looks in this photo. Only a few weeks later and she's bigger, more responsive and more active. Still…

Vanessa was the next Kleiss aunt to visit over a weekend while she had something of a break between her crew competitions and practices.

Another photo of Audrey and Vanessa. For those wondering, the shirt Audrey is saying is a University of Wisconsin t-shirt with Bucky the Badger on it. Vanessa took some t-shirt paint and added "Future Rower" to give it an extra something special.

I'll admit, this isn't a great photo of Audrey and I know that. It was taken from my iPhone and you can really tell that it's a bit out of focus, but Vanessa's expression here is great and I had to include this photo.

On Audrey's one month birthday, we had quite a few visitors from Milbank. My folks, my sister and nephew had the time to come up to Grantsburg to see Audrey and we had a great weekend. This was the same weekend that Vanessa was home as well. Full house, but very fun. Here, she is snuggled up to Grandma Georgianne.

Of course, the Grandmas were quite generous with their time and were always willing to hold Audrey.

Note the arm positions here, both of Georgianne and Audrey. Folks, you just can't plan stuff like this. Well, maybe you can but it's not as fun to think of it that way.

This is one of the last photos taken that weekend, but it's a good one of the crew which was there. Rod was away on business that weekend unfortunately.

I really like this photo. Between the light and the contrasts and the look on Audrey's face, it looks…it's hard to say. It has a certain je ne c'est quois.

Lots of time with the grandmas.

Did I mention about Audrey and her grandmothers? I kid. The pictures make it seem like no one else got to hold Audrey, but it just turned out that we had more photos of the grandmothers than with anyone else.

Here's Wyatt holding his new cousin. What a champ. He's like an old pro at this.

Audrey and Grandma Kleiss resting comfortably.

This is one of those photos that just worked for me. You can't see Audrey's face at all, but I have to think this is one of the best photos I have of my parents.

This is another good one. Grandma and Kim's expression is pretty priceless. Makes you wonder what Audrey was doing at the time.

Unfortunately, not everyone could make it up on one weekend. We did have the good fortune to see Gretchen, Quinn and Brooke a few days later. This was pretty touching for us as we're not in the metro area and for most people, it's right on the edge between "long commute" and "no way am I driving that far". Considering Gretchen and Wayne live on the other side of the metro area, it was wonderful to see Gretchen and the kids make the trip. The photo, of course, is Gretchen holding Audrey.

Ah, a fun photo with the three cousins. This is the only photo we got which not only showed all of their faces, but one where they all looked very happy. Not saying they weren't happy, but trying to get a photo like this isn't always easy.

Quinn wanted to hold Audrey so we had to give him a brief lesson on how to hold a baby. He did pretty well for the first time.

There's a reason I included this photo even though I didn't capture a single face. This was at a time where Quinn thought it would be a good idea to show his love for the baby and gave Audrey a kiss on the cheek. After one or two of these, Brooke wanted to get in on the action as well and give Audrey an appreciative kiss. Out of all the photos that we tried to take of it, this was the best I could do. Most of it happened so fast that I'm lucky I got any at all.

Recently, we got something called the Sleep-n-Play for Audrey to rest in that keeps her upright. It's good for her as well as it can help with colicky nights. Extra bonus: the toy she's with came with the Sleep-n-Play. Get something useful and a fun friend as well.

One thing I didn't mention is that when Gretchen and the kids came to visit, Wayne was not able to come himself as it was a middle of the week visit and Wayne had to work. We repaid the visit shortly with a quick trip down last Sunday to visit Wayne, Gretchen, Quinn and Brooke. I know there were other photos including ones of Wayne, but this is the best of what I had on my iPhone. I know we'll have a much better one up in the near future as Melanie took other photos which we haven't pulled of the camera yet.

As a side note that's not related to Audrey, Melanie decided that it was time for a change on the hair front. She had been growing her hair for about as long as we've been together save for a few times to get it trimmed. This time, her haircut is a bit more dramatic but in a good way; these locks will be donated to Locks of Love which provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children who suffer a long-term medical hair loss condition, many of whom have alopecia areata.

"Back at ya!" Ha ha! Not sure how I caught this photo, but it's a keeper.

Audrey is just beginning to smile for something other than gas. It usually happens when she's drifting off into sleep, but more and more, she's smiling while she's awake. Tough to catch a photo so far of it, but it happens.

"…what?" One of her more awake moments. This is how my daughter looks at me 90% of the time.

Just before changing. Incidentally, this one of my favorite outfits of hers because it's cute and also easy for me to change the diaper. Yellow is more or less becoming her color and I think it looks good on her.

I did manage to snap this photo of her when she was happy all secure in her snuggler and resting in the bassinet. This photo made my day.

Most of the photos I get of Audrey are ones I quick snap off of my iPhone. I know Melanie has some higher quality photos of her, but there's a bit more process to get them done. Usually have to transfer to the Mac, play with them a bit and make sure they're in a good format that is appropriately sized. The iPhone may not take super-high quality photos, but it can get the job done. Also, a lot of these photos are of Audrey in my lap. Not sure why that is.

Active baby is active. I can tell that in the future, she's going to be fun and a handful. Part of me can't wait until those days but part of me would like to have some of these moments just freeze in time. Not trying to sound too sentimental, but I just feel that way some days.

This is Audrey at the hospital, just before they took a couple of pictures. One was for the OB department of the three of us and the other was for some web company. That photo didn't turn out so hot. My daughter must know when her dad is taking a photo because this one turned out pretty good.

We were given a "special dinner" at the hospital where we get better food for one night. There was also an option to have a birthday party cake instead, but we opted for the good food. Mind you, hospital food has come a long way since I last remembered. Nice touches with the tablecloth and the fabric flowers to add a special ambiance. I had Chicken Kiev and Melanie had Steak Tips.

Another shot here. Melanie ate her food in style!

Little Thinker–Took this quick photo today while she was sitting in my lap. She spends a remarkable amount of time awake for just being ten days old.

Starla in quite the classic pose. Although this has been a change for us all, the one whose life has changed the most and yet no one knows about it is our dog, Starla. She has been a trooper though and pretty good. She's getting used to the idea more and more that we have another pack member. I don't think it will sink completely in for awhile until Audrey can interact with her a little more. That will take months I feel.

I'm including this photo as this is how Audrey spends a good chunk of her time. Plus, I really think this is my favorite outfit of hers. Look at the cute little duck faces on the feet!

…I'm going to be such a pushover.

I caught Melanie and Audrey in a moment where they were both pretty tired. Very much reminiscent of one of my favorite times of the day which I call "Audrey's Tummy Time with Daddy". Hard for me to take a photo of that though.

Thinking of how good her hand must taste.

Just getting a bit of rest.

Lots of sleeping from Audrey.

Audrey resting.

Audrey resting. The hat was a gift from the hospital. They have a group of women who make knitted hats to go home with all of the newborns.

Audrey getting some sun. She did come down with jaundice which we needed to be readmitted to treat it, but before then, we were hoping a little sun would help.

Close up of Audrey. One day old.

Audrey while we're still in the hospital.

A close up of Audrey just after birth. She is still less than an hour old.

Mother and daughter together for the first time.

I think this may be the first photo of Audrey…at least it's up there. This is within a couple minutes of her being born.