Sugar and Spice

Audrey Does Gymnastics

2010-09-04T12:38:00.002-05:00

Today Audrey had her very first gymnastics class.

But at her age "gymnastics" is a word loosely defined as bouncing on trampolines and hanging on things.

The hanging on things was definitely her favorite part.

And she's pretty good at it too.

Grandparents

2010-08-15T11:38:00.007-05:00

Thanks for a great visit, Nana and Oms! We love you guys!

Stamps

2010-08-03T10:38:00.006-05:00

We're really into arts and crafts lately. She loves to draw with markers and crayons, glue anything to a piece of paper, and stamp.

Who knew stamping could be so much fun?!

Apparently it's even fun to stamp your nose when mom isn't looking...

So very glad I bought the washable kind.

Catgirl

2010-08-02T11:38:00.007-05:00

I bought her this mask to decorate and wear.

She refused to decorate it at first. She'd rather draw on paper.

Or herself.

I finally got her to put a couple of feathers and scribble on it a bit.

We've already lost a feather.

She really loves this mask. She even tried to put in on her baby.

And as a bonus... You can't see her black eye while she's wearing it!

Score!

She's a Baby on the Move

2010-07-25T12:55:00.005-05:00

She's not quite crawling yet, but she sure is close. And her lack of knee-arm coordination isn't stopping her from getting where she wants to go. My sweet little baby is on the go. And she's notlooking back!

These Boots are Made For Walkin'

2010-06-19T11:01:00.006-05:00

And running, and playing, and dancing, and spinning...

A couple of months ago I bought Audrey these really cute rain boots.

She loves them.

LOVES them!

She asks to wear them all the time. To the grocery store, to the library, to her music class, to church.

She even wears them around the house.

With nothing else on but her diaper.

I never imagined her getting attached to a pair of shoes.

She's such a girl :)

Hey You! Yeah You There!! Where's My Milk?!?!

2010-06-12T22:15:00.005-05:00

Eating out at restaurants with the two babies is not something Mark and I have done too much of by ourselves. Until recently we've waited until family was in town to either go out by ourselves or help us when we bring the kids.

But we've gotten braver the last month or so.

Audrey is a late talker but she understands everything. She now knows that this person coming over to our table is there to bring us drinks and food. She knows that the first thing we do when we see the server is ask for our drinks. And she knows what she wants to drink. Either milk "muh" or Juice "uice". And she'll start saying this to the server.

The server, however, has not been trained in Audrey-ese like I have. But that doesn't stop her from trying and trying (and trying!) to let this poor person know exactly what she wants.

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids out for dinner to Applebee's. We requested a booth and we were promptly seated in the bar section.

Where there are lots of waiter-type people walking around.

When our waitress came and took our drink orders Audrey was VERY enthusiastic about telling her exactly what she wanted to drink. This night it was "muh" (aka Milk). And she told her repeatedly that she wanted "muh". And she told the other waiter that happened to walk by the table.

And she yelled (seriously. she was yelling at the poor woman) it to the bartender.

And to the customers in the booth behind us.

And to the people sitting in the dining room to the right of us.

And to anyone else that walked.

It sounded something like this... "Muh! Muh! MUH! MMMUUUUUHHHH!!!!!"

It's seriously embarrassing. (And also really funny at the same time!)

Kayla, on the other hand, is a doll. Rarely even makes a peep and is happy just watching the people walk by. Oh how I hope and pray that this mellowness lasts into the toddler years! Mark won't have a chance at stopping at two kids if she's this good next year!

Gotta love the weather in Colorado...

2010-04-30T09:50:00.011-05:00

We've been visiting friends and family in Colorado for the past week and we've been having SO much fun! Audrey got to see snow on the ground for the first time (at least the first time that she remembers..) She was pretty nervous about this cold white stuff. It took quite a bit of encouragement to actually get her to walk in the snow, much less touch it.

And then she fell in face first. That didn't make her very happy. Not at all.

But look! She found a rock! So maybe it was worth getting a facefull of snow...

Yay!

2010-04-13T10:57:00.003-05:00

We have a fully-functioning computer again! Complete with our picture-storage hard drives and SSD card slots and everything! Yay!

Say What???

2010-04-10T09:03:00.003-05:00

Audrey still isn't very good at talking. She can say maybe 20 words or so, if you count "bah" for ball, and "ba" for bath, and "wa" for water, and "muh" for milk, and "aya" for Kayla... She's seriously struggling with this whole communication thing and it's the major source of meltdowns and temper tantrums in our house.

I let Audrey tell me what she wants to eat every morning for breakfast. She almost always wants a bagel ("guhl") and milk.

So this morning she gets her bagel like normal and instead of milk, asks for the juice ("uice" - hey that's almost a full word!!!) she sees in the back of the fridge.

I get her settled in her high chair, put on her favorite TV show (I have no idea how the whole I have to watch TV while I eat breakfast thing started, but here we are...) give her her bagel and juice and settle myself right here at the computer so I can have a wee bit of "me" time before Kayla starts crying (which she is right now) and Audrey starts demanding a lot of attention (also happening right now... But don't worry I asked Audrey to go entertain Kayla and so far it's working. At least she can understand me for the most part!)

All of a sudden Audrey is throwing her juice on the floor having a nice tantrum and begging for milk. Really kid? YOU are the one that asked for the juice. But I get her a cup of milk anyways because she really is a creature of habit and I was really surprised that she wanted juice in the first place...

I give her the cup of milk, put the juice on the counter by the sink and return to my computer for a couple more minutes.

And she starts screaming. Hysterically. Really.. And I think through the tears and the snot and the crying that she's asking for her juice again. So I pick up her milk and put it on the counter and give her the juice back.

Still not what she wanted. I'm seriously confused. I'm sorry baby, I just don't speak your language that well. Can you please try speaking mine a little bit more??? Please???

Yeah, she wanted milk AND juice.

Why didn't I think of that.

(And I would have put a picture of her right here but I went to upload one and discovered that my husband has disconnected our hard drive. So then I was going to get one off of my camera, but the little slot on the computer where my card goes is gone... So you can blame the lack of cuteness in the post on my husband. Because even if I knew where that little slot had disappeared to I would have NO idea how to put it back in...)

Sneaky Girl

2010-03-31T15:22:00.009-05:00

Usually when I go to the bathroom Audrey happily follows behind me. If I try to close the door screaming and crying and little fingers poking underneath the door and sad voices asking for "Mama???" are sure to follow. It's a rare occasion when I get to pee by myself!

Today, she did not follow me.

Today, she did this.

You can tell by her "Uh-oh! Mom just found me where I'm not supposed to be!" face and the very quick and frantic climbing back over the couch that she knows she shouldn't be back there.

It's a good thing she's cute...

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-18T08:55:00.007-05:00

I had every intention of putting these pictures up yesterday, but the two little people I live with had other ideas for me. They wanted attention, they wanted food, they pooped but didn't want their diapers changed, they wanted me to play with them... They wanted me to act like their mother. Kids these days...

Yes, I know I have a very rough life!

I took about 50 pictures of them yesterday morning and these are the best ones. It's amazing how hard it is to get a good picture of two babies at the same time. Especially the older one. She's getting to be opinionated and stubborn and cranky when she doesn't get her way. Not AT ALL like her mother. Nope.

Kayla had her 2 month appointment last week. She already weighs 15 pounds and she's about 23.5 inches. (99th percentile for weight and 85th percentile for length!!!). She's freaking huge! That shirt she's wearing is a 6-9 month size and it's only a tiny bit big on her. She doesn't really fit into 0-3 month pants anymore because her stomach is too big. But she doesn't fit into 3-6 month either because her legs are so stumpy. You should see this child's legs. Seriously. She's got more rolls than the Michelin man. I always did love fat babies. I suppose that's a good thing since mine definitely aren't petite!

It's not easy...

2010-03-14T13:50:00.003-05:00

But they're worth it.

Still here!

2010-03-06T16:08:00.004-06:00

I had NO idea how busy I'd be with two kiddos. I feel like all I ever do is feed Audrey, nurse Kayla, change diapers, get somebody to sleep, play with Audrey, try to get Kayla to stop screaming...

I'm lucky if I get to shower for more than 3 minutes. I'm REALLY lucky if both kids nap at the same time.

I'm exhausted!

I'll try to start posting more again.

At least a picture or two here and there.

No promises though!

Busy, busy, busy

2010-02-09T18:11:00.009-06:00

Thanks Mom

2010-01-26T10:56:00.007-06:00

Thanks for everything! We love you!

Photo Failure

2010-01-21T11:36:00.005-06:00

Waaaay back in September I bought the girls these really cute matching outfits.

(I figure I have to buy stuff like this now before Audrey needs to wear 2T clothing and I can't find matching clothes in infant and toddler sizes...)

I put the girls in the outfits a couple of days ago with the hopes of getting some cute pictures of them together.

Well, I got some cute pictures of them individually.

Not so much together.

(Audrey thinks it's the best thing ever to wear this at the same time as Kayla. When she sees them coming through the laundry she MUST put it on right then. And then she finds Kayla's and tries to put it on her... SO cute!)

She's Here!!

2010-01-10T18:48:00.005-06:00

Introducing my brand new baby girl, Kayla Ann!

She was born Wednesday, January 6 at 1:45pm. She weighed in at 10lb even and is 20 inches long. She's absolutely perfect and we couldn't be happier!

Audrey is loving being a big sister!
We are so unbelievably blessed!

37 Weeks

2009-12-20T12:55:00.002-06:00

Is is possible for the baby to be moving UP this late in pregnancy? It sure feels like it. A week ago it felt like this baby was going to fall out if I sneezed. And now it seems she has taken a liking to being WAY up in my ribcage.

Why now, baby? I had a wonderful 8 months of almost zero rib kicking. (Such a nice change from your sister!) Of course my internal organs feel like they have become minced meat, but my ribs? They were doing good. I could breathe okay and I never had to try to dislodge whatever random body part was trying to break my ribs.

Until the doctor did that ultrasound last week and discovered that you are not the ginormous monster your sister was and he would not be inducing me at 38ish weeks. That did not mean you were not welcome to come out at that time! In fact, I would be THRILLED to have you come out before your due date. I'd love to know what it feels like to have "tiny" baby around 8 pounds.

And yet, it feels like your head has dislodged and your feet are clinging to my ribcage for dear life.

It's not that bad out here!

I promise you!

Yes, it will be cold and bright and I'm sure a little bit scary but I promise you that you'll like it out here! And I will be much more comfortable, hopefully in a lot less pain, and (at least after the first week or so) a generally sane person again.

So please baby, please, return to your nice, low position and start considering making your entrance.

Mommy would really appreciate it! (And so would your daddy and your sister and anybody else who puts up with me on a daily basis!)

Guitar Hero

2009-12-16T11:55:00.002-06:00

Like father, like daughter :-)

Snow in Texas!

2009-12-05T13:20:00.004-06:00

We didn't get a whole lot of snow here yesterday, but we got enough to bundle Audrey up and let her see it. Despite the wrestling it took to get her gloves on her, she had a blast! And it was snowing harder than it looks... The snow just doesn't show up well on this camera. And of course the flakes were bigger and fluffier right before we got out there and right after we came inside. Oh well :-)

This is a first!

2009-11-12T13:31:00.006-06:00

Audrey has never been an easygoing sleeper. She didn't sleep well as a newborn, an infant, and she still is very particular about her sleep.

She needs to be in her own space, with her sound machine on, with her blankie and stuffed animal. She wakes up when someone breathes next to her. It's ridiculous.

Right now she's working on her molars and hasn't been sleeping very well at night. She's been seriously fighting naps all week (she still takes 2 a day) and today was no exception. She wouldn't nap this morning and she's been awake since about 5:30. She was soooo tired!

So this is what happened at lunch:

Poor baby passed out in her highchair! She didn't even budge when I took the tray off.

Good news is she's been sleeping in her bed for over an hour now. Plus, I got some super cute pictures of her!

More Help With Bedding

2009-11-09T13:29:00.004-06:00

Okay, so we decided to go with Tropical Punch
Then Today I found this one. It's called Mod Daisy...
It's not quite as bright as I thought I would want to go but It's just so darn cute and pretty. Now which one is your favorite??

I think I need some serious help. It shouldn't be this difficult to buy bedding... Right?

We need your help!

2009-11-06T12:49:00.008-06:00

We seriously can't decide on baby bedding this time... I think we've got it narrowed down to 2 for now. But we need your help!

Should we go with Tropical Punch?

Or A La Mode?
Thoughts? Opinions? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Halloween Fun

2009-11-02T21:40:00.009-06:00

So I wanted to get this posted over the weekend or at least on Monday but my laptop doesn't want to work correctly anymore and Mark kinda temporarily broke the internet on our desktop... So here is my Halloween post. Better late than never, right??

Mark had to work Saturday morning so it was just Audrey and I for a while. It was kinda cold in the apartment and I couldn't find any of her socks so I put on her tights (only took about 5 minutes of screaming to get them on) and her cute little Halloween cats shirt. She spent most of the day like this. She looked pretty darn comfy to me.

We put her in her ladybug costume when Mark got home around lunch time (about ten minutes of screaming for this. She really hated putting that dress on. I don't get it...) and went outside to play for a while.

She's the cutest ladybug ever!

And she had a blast!

Then she took a nap.

Then we went "trick-or-treating" with her to our old apartment. We needed to clean out the fridge still so we went upstairs to show off her costume. Her treat was home-made cookies. Yum!

All-in-all we had a very good day (despite the ruined ladybug costume from all the pulling and screaming and cutting out the tulle so she might kinda like it...).

And She Already Likes to Play Dress-Up

2009-10-08T10:19:00.006-05:00

I thought I had at least another year or so before she discovered the joy of putting on clothes. Apparently, I was wrong.

She loves to find clothes to put on. Shirts, pants, socks, shoes... She'll even wear a blanket on her head if there's nothing else around. She's not a fan of getting dressed in the morning, though. Must be something to do with the fact that she did not bring the clothes to me. Or I've been letting her roam around naked in here for far too long and now I've done permanent damage and she's destined to grow up to be a nudist...

Only problem is she tends to grab dirty laundry out of the laundry baskets in the hall in front of our laundry "room" (more like a closet, really). She'll grab anything out of there. Dirty socks, shirts, pants, and even undies. Yuck. And since she really has no concept of how these items go on, they all end up on her head. Even a pair of Mark's dirty boxers....

I wish she would just stick with her own dirty clothes. Her clothes just tend to end up with food all over them. Very messy, yet not so cringe-worthy.

And here she is sporting some of daddy's dirty socks. (Socks that she did not find in the hamper. Rather, they are socks that she found just lying on the carpet in the living room... Ahem...)
(See what I mean about letting her be naked too much??)

Looks like I'm going to be buying some Halloween costumes once they get really cheap. At least then she'll have something fun and clean to play dress up in.

Just Because

2009-09-19T18:24:00.006-05:00

I was looking through my pictures and found these.

She finally has enough hair to do pigtails!

Woohoo!

Meeting Up with Pop Pop

2009-09-19T10:50:00.007-05:00

Last weekend we drove about an hour and a half or so to meet up with my grandfather and some of his family in the town he grew up in. We brought Audrey and despite not napping that morning (or that afternoon, either!) We got a couple of really cute pics.
I don't think they like each other much :o)

And I Tried to Break My Foot...

2009-09-18T10:24:00.005-05:00

So we have this giant ball pit/bouncer thing that we got Audrey for her birthday. She LOVES it. Seriously. She loves to be in it. She loves putting her toys in it. She loves getting in then getting out then getting back in and so on...

Only problem is she can't get in on her own and can only get out by herself if she does some crazy backbend/flip sorta thing. Looks REALLY painful.

After about 15 minutes of this in/out/in/out/in again business, I'm exhausted. My back hurts from bending and lifting her so many times. (And bending is getting harder and harder to do! I'm 24 weeks pregnant with another monstrous baby girl so.... Yeah, that's really another story.)

Now keep in mind that we live in a two bedroom apartment and have no playroom and really very little space in her bedroom so this ball pit stays out in the living room/dining room/is this a Toys R Us??. It's too big to move through doorways so I can't easily put it out of her sight. So this is where it stays (at least until she figures out how to move the chairs):

On top of the table. That we never use. Except we did use it once when we dyed Easter eggs. And that one time Mark's parents came to visit us. Yep. That's it. I think. Twice in nearly 10 months... One of these days we'll have those nice family dinners around the table. I hope.

Anyways.

A couple of days ago Audrey pointed to the ball pit and signed "please" and pointed and signed "please" so I gave in and got the ball pit down for her.

Only I didn't lift it high enough off the chair before pulling back and the chair crashed to the floor. On top of my foot. I didn't even realize that it was falling. Didn't brace myself or move my foot one inch before that thing hit the top of my foot.

OUCH!

Only I really didn't want to say ouch. But I bit my tongue for a really long time because I try my very bestest to not swear. Especially in front of my so very impressionable and eager to learn new words 13 month old daughter.

BUT OH MY GOODNESS I WANTED SO VERY BAD TO DO JUST THAT!!!

But I didn't.

I held my tongue. And my breath. And then I felt kind of dizzy so I breathed again.

The good news is I'm 95% certain my foot is not broken. The chair hit me right on top of the arch of my foot. Right in that nice bony place where there is not fat or muscle or even much skin. Just bone.

I can move my toes and I can usually put weight on it. Unless I have a shoe on. That still hurts really bad. Or unless my husband kicks it in the middle of the night. Or Audrey starts falling and stomps on it. Or I forget that it's bruised and whack it on my other leg when getting out of bed in the morning. Or when I'm just being clumsy and walk into things.

I seriously considered taking a giant butcher knife and stabbing the life out of this thing so I wouldn't have to deal with her pointing and "pleasing" and inning and outing. But I won't. Because she seriously loves this thing.

And I love it when she's happy.

Because I am such a slacker...

2009-09-08T10:31:00.022-05:00

Here's lots (and I do mean lots!) of pictures of what we've been up to the last few weeks!

Audrey's First Birthday Party!

Fun in the New Tunnel Toy!

The Towel-Pull!

LOVE the new Ball Pit!

The Children's Museum!
The Beach!

At the Splash Pad!

What Happens When Mommy and Daddy are Exhausted and Not Paying Enough Attention to Audrey!

What Happens When You Don't Put On Sunscreen For 2+ Hours of Splash Pad Fun!

We're at the beach!

2009-09-06T09:26:00.004-05:00

We drove down to the beach yesterday afternoon to show Audrey the ocean. We're not entirely sure she liked it. What do you think?

Melissa

Birthday Fun

2009-08-20T09:48:00.007-05:00

To celebrate Audrey's birthday yesterday, we packed up the whole family and went to the aquarium.

Really, we loaded up a minivan and a suburban to make the hour-long trip.

Most of us hadn't been there and Audrey had an absolute blast looking at all the fishies.

She even skipped a nap yesterday afternoon and was still in a pretty good mood. Yay!

We even got some decent family pictures out of her...

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-19T11:05:00.005-05:00

Happy birthday Sweet Girl! I can't believe you are a whole year old!

We love you so very much!

Spaghetti!

2009-08-11T18:38:00.007-05:00

Yummy!

And she walks!

2009-08-08T17:50:00.005-05:00

At least a little bit on camera. Still a work in progress!

Kicking and Kicking and Kicking Some More

2009-08-04T14:03:00.006-05:00

I'm 17.5 weeks along now. It seems to be going so much more quickly this time. I think it's because Audrey is marching steadily towards her birthday. Time just keeps going faster and faster. I told her a few months ago that she wasn't allowed to get any bigger but she clearly did not listen to me then.

I suppose I should get used to that, huh?

Anyways the other night Mark and I were lying in bed watching TV when I felt a couple of kicks from the baby. (I've taken to calling the baby "he". I hate saying "it" and my gut tells me we're having a boy. Hopefully we'll find out for sure at my ultrasound in a little over a week. I'd be happy either way!) Mark put his hand on my stomach and I promptly told him there's no way he was going to feel the kicks. I was only 17 weeks. I'd only been feeling the baby for maybe a week. It just wasn't going to happen. Besides, I was more like 23-24 weeks the first time he felt Audrey kick.

I was wrong.

This baby kicked right where his hand was. A big, hard kick. As if "he?" was trying to prove me wrong.

I haven't stopped feeling the kicks (day and night) since.

I think this one is definitely going to be a soccer player.

Or maybe the next Jet Li.

Who knows?

(And here's a video of Audrey refusing to walk on camera. Stubborn? Not MY child!)

I think I'm slowly becoming a vegetarian...

2009-07-26T11:57:00.005-05:00

Without the vegetables. And it's not by choice.

It seems that most forms of meat these days, and a lot of veggies, either look, sound, smell or taste completely repulsive. With two sure-fire exceptions. Ground beef (preferably in the form of a really greasy fast food hamburger) and fried chicken from Popeye's. And yes the chicken has to be fried, spicy, and from Popeye's or I just can't eat it.

I have eaten very little the last few days. And what I do eat is usually some form of carbohydrate or maybe a piece of fruit. Crackers, rice, pasta, an apple.... You get the idea.

This is something that I was not expecting. By this time in my pregnancy with Audrey (and even just a couple of weeks ago when my "morning" sickness started to lessen) I could not eat enough to make me full. It's baffling really.

Friday night I made enchiladas with Italian sausage; I only picked at the cheese and sour cream covered tortilla. Last night I made this apricot chicken dish in the crockpot, and I could only stomach the rice that I made to go with it.

It's getting a little ridiculous. I don't think my doctor would be happy to hear that all I'm eating is carbs. And not even the good kind. I'm eating white rice, and pasta with butter and Parmesan and occasionally a sandwich with peanut butter and nutella (yummy!!).

I can't even remember the last time I ate a vegetable.

Wait, I think I made some asparagus sometime a couple of weeks ago?? Maybe I should make some more of that...

Don't worry though, I still make veggies like peas and carrots and such for Audrey. So at least she's eating fairly healthy. That makes this a little better, right?

Lucky for me I have Mark who is all too willing to run out to Popeyes for me at 8:30 at night because that is the only thing that sounds even remotely good and I cannot live on rice alone for dinner.

I hope this passes soon.

Where's my baby?!?! (Edited so you can read my captions!)

2009-07-19T20:53:00.014-05:00

She's 11 months old.

In one month she'll be a toddler.

A toddler!

How on earth did she grow up so fast??

I tried to get some good pictures of her last "monthday" but this was all she would give me.

She's getting to be incredibly opinionated in her old age...

Okay, Mom, I'll sit here for just a couple of pictures...

I told you I was only going to sit for a couple. Oh and I'm only smiling because Daddy's making funny faces at me, mmmkay?

This is all the smiles you get. And only because Daddy picked me up...

I DO NOT WANT TO STAND UP RIGHT NOW!!

Finally they let me do something that I wanna do.

I am not a dog. I do not do tricks on command... Oh but I love the teddy bear one! Okay, just this one time... "Walk around the park..."

Mmmmm Starbucks!

2009-07-18T19:13:00.006-05:00

A couple of months ago, when Audrey first started pulling up and cruising around the furniture I was talking with my Dad on the phone. The conversation went something like this...

Me: So Audrey is cruising around the coffee table like a mad woman. (Oh coffee table, how I miss you!)

Dad: It won't be long till she's walking now!

Me: Well, she's still very wobbly. It's not going to be real soon.

Dad: You'll see. She'll be walking soon!

Me: I bet we still have a couple more months. My guess is she'll start walking sometime between 11-12 months. But I'm just her mom. What do I know?

Dad: I bet you a Starbucks gift card it'll be before that!

Well, tomorrow my baby girl will be 11 months old. And while she's starting to take steps and attempt walking, she definitely is not walking yet. And she's in bed for the night so chances are slim that she'll perfect the skill between now and midnight. Since I'm not the type to say "I told you so," I guess my point is.... Pay up, Dad!!! I'll be checking the mail for my gift card!

Lunch

2009-07-15T15:03:00.008-05:00

Usually for lunch I feed Audrey leftovers from the night before.

Last night we ate out and didn't have any leftovers.

Our refrigerator is mostly empty.

So today for lunch, this is what I fed my daughter
A dill pickle, blueberries and cheese.
And she loved every bite of it!

And this is what happens when I'm layed out on the couch all day with a headache...

2009-07-13T09:33:00.004-05:00

Some pics from the last couple of weeks

2009-07-10T10:16:00.013-05:00

Hair-flinging fun!

2009-06-27T12:27:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago we bought Audrey this super cool ball popper toy. She loves it. The balls come flying up and if by some miracle land in the catcher at the top, they make their way back down and come flying up again.

Only problem is after a few minutes of all this fun, the balls end up all over the living room. Underneath the couch, the chair, in her toy basket, and even on the other side of her sweet baby jail.

You'd think at this point this toy would lose it's coolness. It does not. At least to the ten month old.

Her favorite thing to do with this toy is to tilt it toward her so the air that vacuums the balls in and then shoots them out hits her right on the face. While the air blows on her she does this hilarious head bob thing likes she's trying to swing her non-existent hair around in the air.

Kinda like this.

You know, if she had hair.

Cracks me up!

Father's Day

2009-06-21T19:24:00.010-05:00

Happy first Father's Day, Mark! Audrey is so very lucky to have you as her Daddy! (And baby #2 will be too!)

And to my Dad, thanks so much for everything you've done for me! I couldn't have asked for a better Dad. And thanks for being such a great grandfather to Audrey!
Love you both!

My baby is in double digits!

2009-06-19T17:48:00.009-05:00

She's ten months old. How did this happen? Just yesterday she was my "teeny tiny" newborn. At least it feels like just yesterday. So much has happened since she was born. It's just all gone by too fast. I always said that when she slept through the night I would freeze her at that age. Well she still isn't sleeping through the night on a regular basis but I've decided that I'll freeze her now anyways.

Got that kiddo? You're not gonna get any older, okay?

She's so much fun now. She'll laugh when I tell her "jokes". She raises her arms in the air when you ask her how big she is. She can mostly feed herself. She'll give raspberries to anyone on any skin she can find. She's starting to learn to stand up without holding on. She loves going to the pool but hates being in those floating things. She likes to play with Bow, even when Bow doesn't really want to play with her. She'll usually smile for the camera but sometimes she just frowns at it (must get that from me...). She's just such a joy to be around right now. Part of me wants her to stay like this forever.

But I know she's going to be a smart, beautiful, funny little girl and I look forward to watching her grow.

Good news!

2009-06-14T16:46:00.004-05:00

Mark got our scanner to work so now I can show you a picture of my tiny (but oh-so-cute!) little blob!

And there is baby #2! Isn't he?/she? cute???

I think so.

But I'm probably slightly biased.

10 weeks

2009-06-12T11:18:00.005-05:00

Today I am 10 weeks pregnant. It's so good to actually know how far along I am now! I feel like it's flying by and creeping so slowly at the same time. I've only known that I was pregnant for 5 weeks now but hey, it's still going fast (at least when I'm not feeling too sick...)! And I'm 25% done being pregnant. Yay!

I had an ultrasound earlier this week and it was just amazing to see that little baby in there wiggling away. I'd forgotten how wonderful those ultrasounds were. Somehow, it seems more real to me now after seeing the little babe.

I wish I could post the picture of my little blob on here but our scanner doesn't want to cooperate. Stupid technology.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

So much love for one little person

2009-06-08T12:21:00.013-05:00

We've been out visiting friends and family the last couple of weeks. Everyone just loves holding and playing with Audrey. It's amazing to see. She really is blessed to have so many people who love her so much.

Goodbye, coffee table! We'll miss you!

2009-06-03T10:45:00.006-05:00

Audrey is now a cruising pro. She can stand up and hold on to anything and make her way around a room. Unfortunately, she's also starting to let go and try to stand on her own. Well this would be okay, I guess, but she falls.

A lot.

Yesterday morning she fell and hit her mouth on the table right where her top two teeth are growing in. Poor baby bled and cried and screamed (until the bleeding stopped and I could distract her with cheerios or puffs or something). I felt sooo bad for her.

So now the coffee table is going into storage.

At least until she can walk pretty steadily and I don't have to worry about taking her in for stitches...

I guess we will have to find a new place to put our drinks, junk, and clutter.

Must have been a man

2009-05-31T19:59:00.003-05:00

Seriously, a man must have decided to name the crappy way I feel when pregnant "morning sickness."

Really. I have never only been sick in the morning. In fact, I'm either sick all day long or only at night. (Usually though, it's all day long...)

I had forgotten how much I hate this early part of pregnancy. I have no energy, I feel like I could vomit at any given time, the littlest things seem to make me irrationally angry, I can cry at the drop of a hat, and I can't for the life of me find anything good to eat!

I'm not even sick this time like I was with Audrey (at least not yet!) and I've already lost 5 pounds. How am I supposed to grow a baby if I can't even stand the thought of food? Seriously?

Although, I lost 18 pounds in the first half of my pregnancy with Audrey and she still grew to an enormous size. (10lb 6oz and 22.5 inches for anybody who didn't know or happened to forget...) I'm seriously hoping for a 8-9 pounder this time.

Bet you've never heard a pregnant woman say that, huh?

At least Audrey seems excited to have a sibling!

More pictures

2009-05-27T22:05:00.009-05:00

I'm visiting Colorado right now and don't have much time for posting but here's more pictures!

Just some pictures

2009-05-26T21:30:00.009-05:00

9 Month Stats

2009-05-20T20:22:00.003-05:00

Audrey had her 9 month appointment today. She weighs just under 21 pounds and she's 29.5 inches long. She's grown 2 inches since her last appointment and only gained 1 pound. She's really starting to slim down! She's about 95th percentile for length and 80th percentile for weight (they didn't tell me this today, this is the best I can figure out from google...).

She only had one shot today, which she did not handle well at all. Heck, she cried when they weighed and measured her. She's got some major stranger anxiety going on!

Unfortunately, she also needed to get blood drawn to make sure she's not anemic. Apparently this is standard procedure now. The doctor told us that it would be a heel or finger prick and that it wouldn't be too bad.

Well, we made our way over to the lab and they informed me that it was not a finger stick but an actual IV blood draw.

It was awful! The lady dug around in her arm trying to find the vein for what seemed like forever!

I told Mark that I was about *this* close to throat-punching her. (Yes, I did use the term throat-punch... You can ask him).

Anyways, she screamed the whole time and I felt so bad for her. And now she has a nice bruise on her arm.

But, she's been back to her normal happy self since we got home so I guess no permanent damage was done.

I'm just glad we don't have to go back until after her first birthday!

9 Months Old

2009-05-19T18:20:00.010-05:00

My baby is 9 months old today. 9 whole months. Almost into the double digits. That's 75% of a year. Where has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was waddling around praying that I would go in to labor (which I never did... At least not without some help). How on earth did she grow up so fast?

She's crawling, standing, holding on to things and walking, shaking her head no, babbling like a maniac and getting into everything.

She absolutely will not sit still for any longer than 5 seconds.

She's more interested in eating things with her fingers than anything on a spoon. She knows how to drink from a sippy cup and just recently started taking bottles with formula.

She's slept through the night once and is typically only waking up once.

She's dangerously close to not being a baby anymore.

Before I know it she's going to be a walking, talking, telling me "no", potty trained toddler. It's scary and exciting all at the same time.

I love this age and I'm looking forward to all the milestones yet to come!

Such a stinker!

2009-05-18T11:05:00.004-05:00

So Audrey lately has become a serious babbler. But all she says is BABABABABA. She'll be nine months old tomorrow and I'm anxious to here her say mama. So I say it to her. A lot.

The other day I was sitting on the floor playing with her when she climbed up on me and started her BABABAing.

I saw the perfect opportunity to practice MAMA with her and was "showing" her how to say MAMA.

She got really close to my face.

Put her lips together like she was going to say it.

I got all excited. She was going to do it!

Then she burped.

In my face.

And laughed.

And left me sitting there. MAMAless.

She still hasn't said it yet.

In case anybody was wondering...

2009-05-15T17:26:00.004-05:00

Audrey did not sleep through the night last night. She woke up at 2:40 and didn't go back to sleep until 3:30 or so.... Luckily she wasn't crying, she was more talking/fussing to herself, so I could doze through it.

I'm still tired though.

I was really hoping she would sleep again.
Here's hoping for tonight!

Please, please, please

2009-05-14T20:35:00.003-05:00

Well, she's down for the night.

Any bets on how many times she'll wake up?

How about bets on the time she wakes up first?

Anybody?

My guess is she'll wake up 3 times at 11:30, 2, and 4:30. Just a guess. I could be wrong. (I really hope I'm wrong!)

I got a taste of sleep last night and I don't want to let it go!

At least she's cute, right?

Oh how wonderful it is!

2009-05-14T11:20:00.006-05:00

I'm in shock.

I'm speechless.

I can't believe it.

I never thought this day would come.

Ever.

Last night, for the first time ever, my daughter slept through the night. (Yep, the same child that just a few days ago refused to sleep at all.) She went down at 8 pm and didn't wake up again until 6 am. 10 whole hours!! And then, to make it even better, after nursing she went back to sleep till 8. I'm almost in tears, I'm so happy!

Part of me wonders if I just slept through her crying out.... If that is the case, she woke up extremely happy. (Okay, I'm 99% sure that I did not sleep through her cries. I have become the world's lightest sleeper since having her. Unlike my husband who has become an even deeper sleeper since her birth. Not that I'm bitter or anything).

And yes, I'm sure that by posting this all over the internet has surely jinxed me for a very long time and she will never again sleep through the night, and will, in fact, sleep even worse than she did before (holy run-on sentence!). But that is okay. At least I can say that she did it once and that I was able to sleep for 7 straight hours for the first time in 9 months.

Oh, how sweet it is! (Or should I say was??)

Let me help with the dishes!

2009-05-12T19:48:00.011-05:00

What's that? You're doing the dishes???I wanna hhhhheeeelllllllllllpppppp!

See? I'm a good helper!
You stay away, Bow! I'm daddy's helper!
Okay, I'm done. Time to go play some more!

I'm Exhausted

2009-05-11T19:19:00.004-05:00

At least Audrey seems to be in a decent mood despite her lack of sleep the last few days. I, on the other hand, am cranky and feel like a walking zombie...

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:27:00.007-05:00

Today was my very first Mother's Day (not to be confused with my Mother-to-be Day last year...) and I had a blast. I spent the whole day with Mark and Audrey and they both made sure I was going to remember today. They let me sleep in. They made me breakfast. Audrey took 1 nap without a fight today (the other... not so much). I received many cards and gifts (even though the cards were plenty!). They took me to an early dinner and to the mall to do some shopping (more like window shopping since we really only bought 1 pair of pants for Audrey and a cute little outfit for my new nephew Chase). It was a wonderful day and I'm so glad to be a real Mommy this year!

I have many women in my life to look to for examples of how to be a great mom. My mother, who has done more for me than I can even begin to write about. My mother-in-law, who raised the wonderful man I married. My two grandmothers who have shown me countless examples of love and faith. To all of you, thank you. I'm so blessed to have you in my life and I know that each of you have helped make me into the woman and mother I am today.

And, because I promised my grandmother that I would do my best to put up at least one picture on here every day...

PICTURES!

Today may be a very long day

2009-05-09T13:14:00.006-05:00

The day started with Audrey waking at 640 this morning. She usually sleeps until 730 or so. I think I knew even at that point that today was going to be a challenge. (And yes I consider myself grateful that she usually sleeps in pretty late. If she didn't and she still continued to wake up 3,4,5 times each night I think I might literally die...)

Skip forward about two hours. Mark let me sleep in (an early Mother's Day present?) while he and Audrey had breakfast and watched episodes of The Office on the computer . It was a wonderful hour and a half or so of extra sleep.

And then it was nap time.

Mark put Audrey down. Audrey screamed. A lot. And the monitor was still in the bedroom. There went my sleep...

She cried for 10 minutes or so when I finally took pity on her and got her up. She didn't seem that tired to me so I thought that maybe she just wasn't tired enough to nap yet. Took her out to the living room and she was as happy as could be. For a little while...

I took her to her room. I nursed her. She passed out. I laid her down. She screamed. Even louder this time.

I knew she needed to nap and was going to be even crankier later on if she didn't so I went to take a shower.

10 minutes or so later she's still screaming. Mark says she never stopped. I go in to calm her down. She falls asleep in my arms. I lay her down she wakes up, pulls herself up and proceeds to scream yet again. (Have I mentioned that I'm over the thrill of her pulling herself up on things?? At least when she's laying down and crying she eventually falls asleep!)

It was about 11:30 by this point so we decided to feed her lunch and let her play with the dog for a little while.

After lunch I took her into her room. Nursed and rocked her. She fell asleep in my arms really quickly but I was scared to lay her down in her crib. So this is where she is sleeping
I had Mark put a blanket on the floor so I could lay down next to her so she would stay asleep. It was surprisingly easy for me to sneak out of the room with her like that. I hate that I gave in so many times and that she never fell asleep in her crib but I'm exhausted today. I just didn't have the energy to listen to her cry like that for so long. So for today I'm letting her nap on the floor. I hope she goes to bed easier tonight!

Do I have peas on my face?

2009-05-06T13:09:00.003-05:00

Yes, sweetie, you definitely do. At least all that green goop covers up the many bruises she's gotten the last couple of days. I swear I'm about to stop taking her out in public...

Fun Weekend

2009-05-04T16:32:00.014-05:00

My very good friend Jen, and her beautiful baby girl Miley came to visit us this weekend. I had such a great time with them. And, I don't feel quite as homesick at the moment. Audrey was very interested in Miley and wanted to touch and play with her. Miley wasn't too sure of Audrey (who is bigger despite being 2.5 months younger...) but handled Audrey's curiosity like a champ (unless Audrey tried to "talk" to her... then she cried. But Audrey is a very loud "talker"). All in all the weekend went great and Audrey and I had so much fun. I hope Jen and Miley did too! (Despite my almost making them late for their flight. So sorry Jen!!)

And now for the pictures:

Miss Miley asleep in a very uncomfortable looking position

Audrey showing off how she can sit herself upThe girls outside at a fair type thing watching boat races
The four of us at Jen's early birthday dinner. Sushi. Yum!
My sweet baby girl pulling herself up. She does this on everything now...

Oh thank goodness!

2009-04-29T08:44:00.005-05:00

There are many, many things I miss about Colorado.

Wonderful family
Great friends
The view of the mountains
Snow and snowboarding
Non-humid weather
Knowing my way around the city
Our wonderful little Church
My first dog, Gizmo, who is 18 (I think) years old now
Thunderstorms in the afternoons instead of evening when Audrey is trying to sleep
Sunsets over the mountains
Going to Avalanche games
Going to Panera with the girls
Having built-in babysitters

And Chipotle/Q Doba. Oh how I miss them. Giant burritos. Thousands of calories. Mmmmm. There are none of either of these within 50 miles from us. Mark and I have gone through some serious Chipotle withdrawals since moving here.

Yesterday I discovered that we do have a restaurant called N Fuego. Same concept as Chipotle and similar in taste!

Instead of the healthy dinner I had planned for last night, we had N Fuego.

And it was SO good!

Such a sweet baby!

2009-04-24T10:15:00.006-05:00

Well that wasn't very much fun and Um, What??

2009-04-22T14:01:00.008-05:00

I decided to be adventurous today and took Audrey out to my favorite restaurant, Jason's Deli. Love, love, love their salad bar. Like, seriously. I could eat there everyday. Mmmm.

Anyways, due to the technicalities of going to lunch by myself with an infant that cannot walk, I decided to order something off the menu. They used to have a system where they'd give you a number and they'd bring your order to your table. Well, they don't do this anymore. And I didn't find out until they gave me a little buzzer after I paid. Great. I then proceed to try to find a highchair and a table big enough that I didn't have to worry too much about Audrey getting her chubby little fingers into my hot cup of soup. Well, it was 12:15 or so and there were very few tables. The only one I could find was at the opposite end from where you grab your food.

I made my way to the table and got Audrey settled into her highchair just in time for my buzzer to go off. Well I sure wasn't going to hold the baby and my tray of food (including hot soup) at the same time so I decided to push her highchair over to the food. Luckily, the highchair has wheels. Unfortunately, the wheels must have been from the stone age with squared edges or something because that chair didn't steer worth crap!

FINALLY made my way back to the counter where my food was quickly getting cold and the lady working there decided that I looked desperate enough that she offered to carry the tray back to my table for me. I could have kissed her. But I didn't.

After pushing Audrey's high chair back to the table (only running into 3 people sitting in chairs and running over one man's toes...) I finally got to enjoy my somewhat soggy sandwich and lukewarm soup. Yum. I think I'll wait a few years before I attempt to go there alone with her again...

After lunch we ran over to Hobby Lobby to find some wooden letters to redo her name in her room. Well after the disaster we had getting her previous letters off of the wall when we moved in December, I wanted to try some smaller ones that I could hang with ribbon or something. NO MORE STICKY GOOP ON THE WALLS!! Unfortunately, I could only find the same ones and they're huge and while very cute, would be incredibly difficult to hang. Bummer. I did find some other things that I just had to have. I mean, who can go into Hobby Lobby and not buy anything?? Definitely not me.

While I was waiting in line to check out there was an older lady standing in the other line smiling at Audrey. This lady then turns to me and our conversation went something like this:

Lady (to Audrey): Well aren't you a cute little boy.
(to Me): That is a boy isn't it.
Me: Um, no she is a girl.
Lady: Oh....
Me: (What the heck lady?? Can't you read? She's wearing a yellow and pink onesie that says Mommy's Girl and pink shorts and white/pink shoes. I should have said. Yep. This is my son. Don't you love his cute shirt??)
Lady: Well we just had our first great grandson in 25 years. All the rest are girls. I'm very conscious of little boys.
Me: (Okay... Don't even know where to go with that) That's exciting. I bet you're happy.
Lady (to Audrey again): I'm sorry sweetie. You just look like a boy.
Me: (Are you freaking kidding me??)
Lady to Audrey (complete after thought): You are adorable though.

Are you kidding? Who says that? I'm used to people asking me if she's a boy because, lets face it, she doesn't have very much hair and what she does have is very blond so it looks like even less. But still. Who would say something like that. I swear, having a baby just might be worse than being pregnant when it comes to the weird things people say...

(I tried to get a picture of her. She looked so cute in her baby shorts! But, it was past nap time and this is the best she would give me...)

We need a bigger place to live...

2009-04-21T14:49:00.003-05:00

(I swear the rest of the apartment does not look like this!!)

I have a confession...

2009-04-19T20:03:00.006-05:00

I didn't do my 30 day shred today.

Ah, it feels so good to get that off my chest!

I did 3 days straight, though. And I promise to start again tomorrow.

It's hard to do on the weekends. I don't want to do it front of Mark, I'd be too embarrassed. And the weekends are full of running errands and doing family things.

I did shred yesterday, however. While Audrey was taking her first nap, I sent Mark out to Best Buy (whenever I want to be alone I suggest he go there. It always works.) so I could do the shred without an audience. And this is what he came back with...

A humongous new monitor for our computer.

I suppose that's the price I pay for wanting some peace and quiet?

(That picture on the screen is Audrey's first time out in the rain. She absolutely loved it! Just more proof that she is, in fact, my daughter!)

Toys galore

2009-04-17T14:41:00.009-05:00

This is what my living room corner would look like if an 8 month old didn't live here....

This is what it does look like...

And this is what the eight month old chooses to play with. A doorstop.

At least Bow is playing with Audrey's toys...

Time for a change

2009-04-16T09:49:00.011-05:00

I've been doing the 30 day shred sporadically for a couple of weeks now. Today, I'm starting it for real. I'm going to do this every day for the next 30 days. (Shoot me now please!!!)

I've only done level 1 so far (and the easy part of level 1 at that...) I'm sure that most days I'm going to want to quit (and probably die!)but it's time to get serious. Audrey is almost 8 months old and I'm still 6 pounds up from my pre-pregnancy weight (and probably 20 up from my wedding weight on top of that).

Yep, I gained 20 pounds in the first 4 months of my marriage.

I take no blame for this.

Okay it's entirely my fault but I had a lot going on! I stopped dieting shortly before my wedding, adopted Mark's eating habits, started my last year of nursing school and worked part-time. (Big difference from that to my stay-at-home days now!)

Long story short, I need to lose at least 25 pounds...

It's not going to be easy. And it's definitely not going to be fun. But I'm going to do it! (I hope!)

(And look what my baby can do now! She hasn't even figured out crawling yet but she can pull herself up!)

Sleep Problems and Tax Returns

2009-04-14T13:37:00.006-05:00

Due to our serious failure of getting Audrey to sleep through the night last weekend, I spent a good amount of time online yesterday looking at other sleep books. I bought 3...

The Sleepeasy Solution, Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child, and The No-Cry Sleep Solution.

Once the books arrive on Friday, I will be the proud owner of 4 baby sleep books.

You'd think I'd be an expert on the subject and my kid would sleep through the night like a pro.

You'd probably be wrong.

I think that we may have just started sleep training at a bad time. She seems to be really teething again and I'm starting to wonder if she has an ear infection. Or maybe she just likes to tug on her ears. I'm not really sure. I wish parenting came with a manual. It would make my life so much easier!

On a happier note, we got our tax return yesterday! Woohoo! We decided that all 3 of us are going to get something special. I think we're going to get Betty Butterfly for Audrey. Isn't it cute?? (Lulu Ladybug was a close second...)

I'm not sure what I'm going to get yet. I really like this picture frame, and we have the perfect place to put it. But I'm not sure if that's really what I want to spend my "special" money on.

I think Mark is looking at getting a bigger computer screen or something for his car stereo. I'm just shocked!

Operation: Sleep Through the Night - Night 3

2009-04-12T13:26:00.006-05:00

4 words: complete and total failure.

Yep. This was by far the worst night. She went down easy around 7:15. Woke up at midnight. Mark went in after 5 minutes or so to check on her but when he left she screamed like I've never heard her scream before.

I don't mind letting her cry when she's mad.

I can't let her cry when she's scared. It was a horrible sounding cry. So we picked her up, calmed her down and nursed her till she was very sleepy and could be put down.

Oh well. Maybe this method isn't for us. Her sleep isn't so bad that this kind of screaming is necessary.

I've heard of a book called The No-Cry Sleep Solution. Maybe it'll be more our style.

Apparently I'm more of a softy than I thought!

Easter

2009-04-12T12:59:00.007-05:00

Today is Easter.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

I have a wonderful God who sacrificed His son so that I could live. I have a Savior who was willing to die for my sins and who was resurrected on the third day.

Hallelujah! He is Risen!

I have an amazing, loving husband.
I have a beautiful, healthy baby girl.
I have great family and friends that I can always call on.

I am very blessed.

Today is a good day!

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!"
Luke 24:5-6

Our Saturday in Pictures

2009-04-11T18:11:00.034-05:00

We took Audrey to see the Easter Bunny at the mall.
She even smiled for us!
I was expecting her to scream.
And the best part: There was no line!
On the Saturday before Easter.
Who'd have thought?

We went to a local church where they had an Easter egg hunt and petting zoo.

Audrey enjoyed trying to pull on fur and tails.

This cow tried to eat my hand.
It didn't hurt but felt pretty funny.

We got to see a zebra up close.

Then we died Easter eggs.

She believes in the Easter bunny!
(But she did get to see him this morning...)

Mark was excited to play with the food dye.
Audrey was bored.

We both made an egg for Audrey.
Can you tell who made which one?

She "drew" on one herself but nothing showed up.
The finished products!

Bow and Audrey played tug-of-war.

We went outside to play before dinner.

We found this scary guy in our garage.
Eeeeeek!!
Don't worry.
Mark killed it.

We had a very good day!

Operation: Sleep Through the Night - Night 2

2009-04-11T18:06:00.003-05:00

Well, night 2 consisted of less crying but she still didn't sleep through the night.

I think she was so exhausted from being up since 5:40 that being put down didn't phase her one bit. She didn't even make a sound. It was awesome!

She also slept from about 7:15 till 2:40 without waking. My goal last night was 2:15 for her first feeding so we passed that and didn't need to let her cry. Also awesome!

Now the not-so-awesome part. She woke up again at 5 am. That sucked. I was so exhausted, and couldn't even stand to think about being up for the day, that I nursed her a put her back down. Oops...

She stayed down until 7:15 when Mark was so kind as to get up with her and let me sleep for another hour. Have I mentioned that I love him??

Overall, night 2 went pretty well.

Tonight we won't be feeding until 3 am.

I'm sure she'll wake up at midnight.

Operation: Sleep Through the Night - Night 1

2009-04-10T07:42:00.002-05:00

Now that we're back home we've decided that it's time for the baby to start sleeping through the night. Really though, it's time that I get more sleep. I haven't slept well since I was in the 2nd trimester. I can't take much more.

Mark has 3 days off this weekend so it was a good time to start working on her. We decided that once she was in bed, we weren't going to get her out and that we (I) would only feed her once overnight (after 1 am) no matter how many times she woke up.

Putting her down last night was the hardest. She usually goes down pretty easily, but not last night. It's like she knew what we were trying to do.

According to Dr. Ferber's book, we were supposed to go in briefly after 3, 5, and 10 minutes while she cried. It was difficult to hear her cry for that long but she only made it half way through the ten minute period so she only cried for 17 minutes or so. 17 minutes of Hell for Mark and I. It's so hard to hear her cry but we know it needs to be done. She needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I don't plan on nursing forever.

After she finally fell asleep the rest of the night went great. She didn't wake up until almost 2 so I fed her and she went right back down. Unfortunately she woke up at 5:40 this morning. Instead of trying to put her back down (like I normally would have) we all got up for the day. It's now almost 8 and she's already taking her first nap. I guess we'll work on that later...

Tonight will be a little harder, I imagine. The intervals get a little longer, but still doable. We'll also not be feeding her until 2:15 (I know she can go until 2 without starving).

Hopefully by this time next week she'll be sleeping through the night!

I can dream, right???

Traveling

2009-04-08T10:18:00.002-05:00

We're flying back home to Texas today. Wish us luck! It can be very challenging to fly alone with a 7 month old. She handled it fairly well last week. I'm hoping she'll do well today.

Here's a video that was taken last night. If it gets rough today, I'll just have to keep reminding myself that at least she's really cute!

Coming Home

2009-04-07T21:31:00.003-05:00

Audrey and I have been having a blast in Colorado visiting family but it's time to go home.

Audrey isn't sleeping well at all. I'm tired. She's tired. She's cranky. I'm cranky.

I miss Mark and I know she misses her daddy. It's really cute actually. Everytime she hears his voice on the phone her whole face lights up; and she cries when we have to hang up with him. I know she doesn't understand why we went away but she'll be so happy to see him tomorrow night.

And I have a hunch that he'll be happy to see her too.

I'll miss my family. I always do. But I'm glad to be coming home.

I just don't get it!

2009-04-05T22:23:00.003-05:00

Let me start by saying that the baby has never been a good sleeper. Not once in her 7.5 months of life has she slept through the night (NOT ONCE!).

At the beginning she would wake up every 2.5 hours on the dot to eat and then would go right back to sleep. Around 4 months she would sleep for 4-5 hours for the first stretch, wake up to eat, then wake up every 2.5 hours again until 6 am when she would wake up for the day. At 6 months she started waking only twice a night, nurse and then go back to sleep. At nearly 7 months she was only waking up once around 2am to nurse and would go right back to sleep (sweet!).

Well now, at 7.5 months, she is waking up at least 3 times a night. What gives?? Mommy needs some sleep!

We are traveling at the moment and the baby and I are unfortunately sharing a bedroom. This means that neither of us are sleeping well. This is how last night went down:

I put the baby to bed at 7:30. She woke up at 10. I let her fuss for a while but 10 minutes later she was full on screaming. I mean the kind of crying where she can't breathe, is choking on her spit, and is just plain mad that I still haven't come to her rescue. I nursed her and she fell right back to sleep.

She woke up again at 12:00. I nursed her. She fell back asleep. I fell back asleep. All was good again. Until...

3am. Yes, that's right. 3... fricken... a.m. And she's wide awake. I bring her to my bed. I try to nurse her but she wants nothing to do with it. She wants to play. Did I mention that it's 3 am?? I'm sorry hunny but Mommy doesn't play at 3am. But the baby apparently didn't get that memo.

20 minutes later the baby is still wide awake. I am exhausted and getting crankier by the second. The baby thinks it's funny that I'm getting cranky...

I put her back in her bed, took my pillow, left the room and went to sleep on the couch. She babbled herself to sleep 40 minutes later (yes, that means she was awake for a full hour), only to wake up for the day at 6.

I'm exhausted.

Everybody else is doing it...

2009-04-04T22:44:00.002-05:00

I never thought I'd say this but, I finally caved and created my own blog.

I feel almost giddy... And kind of nervous...

I don't really have anything special to say but I was anxious to start. I figure the first blog is probably the hardest so I wanted to get it over with.

So, in lieu of writing something profound on my first night, I leave you with a picture of the baby.

She is, after all, the best thing I've ever done!