Audrey Diane

In the hospital after Audrey was born, we originally named her something else. A day later, Clay and I agreed that the name didn't suit her for some reason, and we decided on Audrey - changing her middle name to Diane because it sounded better with Audrey.

Audrey is VERY protective of her name. If anyone tries to call her something else, she will fiercely declare, "I Audrey!" Luke tries to call her Aud-Bod, which is an unfortunate nickname that just came about naturally from her name, and she hates it. If I try to tell her what a big girl she is for going on the potty, she puts her hands on her hips to remind me, "I not big girl. I Audrey!" The only time I haven't heard her defend her name was one night at dinner. We were discussing how Dad and Luke are boys, and Mom and Audrey are girls. She was getting a little bit upset that we were calling her a girl instead of Audrey, when Luke piped in, "Audrey's not a girl. She's a monster." We all looked at her for the usual reply, when she responded with a loud "Rrraaawwwrrrr!"



Diane is my mom's name, and it seems to have been a perfect middle name for our little fire-ball. Not only does she love my mom to pieces and look like her mini-clone, Audrey seems to have inherited quite a bit of my mom's personality. She is spunky and fun-loving. She is out-spoken in situations which upset her. She can be crazy and hyper or sweet and loving. She is fiercely loyal to the people she loves, and if someone is hurt, she will be right by their side, crooning, stroking hair, and bringing them drinks. She is very talented in music and loves shoes. (I've taken a lot of funny pictures of Audrey in various shoes, but I think the one above is my favorite.) She is generous with her things and is always ready to give hugs and kisses to us. There are many instances in the week when Clayton will smile and say, "Audrey is exactly like your mom!" He means it in a positive way, of course, because he loves my mom almost as much as I do. Sometimes we don't know how to handle Audrey, because her personality seems so different from ours lots of the time, but then she does something that makes my heart almost break with love for her. She is definitely our sweet and crazy Audrey Diane with a good dose of Hall thrown in there for good measure.

Here are a couple of renditions of Skip to my Lou done by our little performer. Did I mention she loves getting dressed up in a "dancing skirt" or "dancing shoes" for special numbers?