Where did a year go?

Autumn turned one on January 7th. The year flew by. She has changed so much in a year.

She is cruising along furniture and getting more comfortable standing on her own. She has not started walking yet but we aren't in a hurry:)

She celebrated her first Thanksgiving in November in Sioux Falls, SD. We stayed at a hotel and got lots of time to spend with the Jim & Nicole & Colby & Korra & Brea & Ella, Ron & Dorothy, and John & Amanda & Willow. She had a wonderful Thanksgiving and got a chance to swim in the hotel pool. Autumn loves the water:)

Autumn celebrated her first Christmas morning at home with us. We then left for WI to spend time with Sara's family. Autumn spent the week playing with her cousin Tanner, sadly he got the flu and so did his mom and dad. Luckily the Richards side of the family avoided the flu but sadly it hit everone else in the house. We are sad that we don't get to see the Joyce Family (Abby, Erik, & Tanner) very often. Hopefully sometime in 2010!

Autumn had 2 one year birthday parties. She had one in WI surrounded by her Aunt Tricia, Aunt Abby, Uncle Erik, Cousin Tanner, her Grandma Walker-Randall, her Grandpa Randall, a couple of her mom's friends (and a little baby friend too - she had fun playing with Connor who just turned one too), her Cousins Maggie, Mike, Gavin and Connor, and her Aunt Patty. She had a fun time and liked her cake! She is a neat eater and only got some frosting in her hair because her mom put her crown on and she took it off with her frosting covered hands.

Autumn got to celebrate again in MN. The Saturday after her birthday she got to spend time with more people. She was blessed to be surrounded by her Grandma and Grandpa Richards, her Grandma Walker-Randall, her Grandpa Randall, her Aunt Nicole, her uncle Jim, her cousins Colby & Korra & Brea & Ella & Willow, her young friends Anna & Sophia Benson, Julia & Kendra Kampmeier, Alyssa Rolfes, Connor Rolfes, Janis Jackels, Alex Wilson, and Brady Jeppesen (with their parents of course). She ate her cake very nicely, such a neat eater! She spent a half hour working on her cake, she loved it! She had so much fun with all the kids and was tired from all the fun.

Autumn loves her daycare. We are so happy that she is comfortable with them. When she is dropped off she sometimes waves bye but most of the time she is so excited to play with the other kids or to be held by Monica that she does not notice that Sara is leaving. When she is picked up in the afternoon Josh has to interrupt her playing to bring her home and she sometimes cries. We have mixed emotions, so happy she is comfortable ther but sad that she isn't happy to see us!

At the end of January Gandma Walker-Randall is coming to stay at the our house for Sara and Josh to go on a vacation. She will get a week to spend with Grandma. Hopefully she will have lots of fun.

Fall/Winter in MN

Halloween is a week away, we hope the weather is ok for Autumn to be dressed up and to go around the block in her costume! She is 9 months old and definitely a mover. She crawls, crawls, crawls! She pulls herself up a lot, so ready to be up where everyone is.

We have seen snow twice this month so far so we have no idea if it is winter already. We hope there is more time left of fall, Autumn loved watching the leaves on the trees.

Autumn's two front teeth are almost all the way through her gums, they are taking awhile to come all the way through.

We all have a cold right now, it is the season for runny noses! We all had the flu in September but luckily we were all better quickly.

Autumn's grandparents are coming to visit tonight. She will wake up and have her grandparents here, what a lucky baby!

Autumn is on the move

It is an army crawl but it is a crawl none the less. She is on the move, no more keeping still. Autumn is 8 months old.

In July Autumn went to South Dakota to meet family on the Richards' side. She got to see the Badlands and to spend time in the Black Hills. We had a fun time hanging out with the family at the reunion.

At the end of August Autumn took her first plane ride with her mom. Sara and Autumn went to Florida for Tanner's first birthday party. Autumn did really good on the plane. On the flight there she only cried while she had her diaper changed in that tiny bathroom on the plane. On the return flight she got a little fussy because I think she was a little bored. Autumn had a good time in Florida. She swam at her grandparents house, and had a lot of fun! This little girl loves the water.

Autumn has been in daycare since June. She seems to really have a good time. She smiles so much when she is dropped off and when she is picked up. She laughs and talks her little baby talk with the other babies. She is the only girl, so she is surrounded by boys.

Autumn is cutting her top middle teeth, she has the two middle bottom ones already. When the first 2 came in it wasn't a big deal, she never cried. Well now I think they are really hurting her. Poor baby.

We are excited for fall to start and Autumn to see her first Halloween. (Or for us to see her dressed up for Halloween).

It's almost summer!

Crazy how time has flown by. I wanted to write in the blog every week. Well I haven't written at all. Naughty me. Well it is never to late to start. Autumn is almost 5 months old. Time has flown by. Sara has been back at work since the beginning of May. Autumn starts day care on Monday, June 1st. She was a lucky girl to have her Grammy Walker-Randall come take care of her for most of May.

Autumn sleeps through the night, most of the time. She has been doing that for a couple months. She is a very happy baby. Smiling smiling smiling! It is so fun to see her laugh and discover new things. We are waiting for her to roll over, she's almost there but we don't think she wants to do it.

Autumn started eating cereal on the 9th of May. It has been rather messy at times but she has gotten the hang of it now and it is LESS messy. She gets so distracted by anything going on, so cute to smile and laugh but not with a mouth full of rice cereal!

Autumn has been making lots of new sounds, not quite words but sounds like them. She loves making dadadada noises. Sad momma wanted her first work to be momma but dadda will work just fine.

We are excited to get out and try new things this summer. We are heading to Rapid City, South Dakota in July got Josh's family reunion. It will be fun to take Autumn to the Badlands for the first time. We are hoping to take her camping:)

Check out pics on the family website.

Baby Richards has arrived!

Autumn Elizabeth Richards joined the world at 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 7th. She weighed in at a healthy 9 lbs, 9 ounces and was 20 inches long. Mama and baby are doing well and getting some much deserved rest. Check out pictures at http://joshandsararichards.shutterfly.com/baby/91

2009 Baby

Well due date has come and gone. Baby will be a 2009 baby:) We are scheduled to be induced Tuesday, January 6th in the afternoon/evening. Hopefully baby will decide to show before that but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Hopefully inducing will work and baby will be born on Wednesday, January 7th. It has been a joke in my family that baby will be born on my birthday, since we share the same due date. But I don't find that joke so funny... so luckily my doctor wants to induce right away on the 41st week. We will be happy to meet baby Richards. We will post blogs whenever we can. Stay tuned for pics!