The Latest

Audrey's 7 month birthday was two weeks ago and I've been meaning to write this post since then. As usual, the date made me pause and think about how far we've come since she was born. I'm long overdue for giving an update about what our busy girl is into these days!

She had her six month check-up on Dec. 29th, so we waited a few days to make sure she didn't have any reactions to her immunizations and then tried her first solid food (other than rice cereal or oatmeal) on New Year's Day. We began with sweet potatoes, which she was slow to like. Now they are one of her favorites, along with bananas, apples, pears, and prunes - she loves prunes! She tolerates squash and carrots, but is not at all a fan of peas or green beans. We have to trick her into eating them by putting them on the spoon and then dipping the tip of it into a fruit. I told David I'm afraid that I'm just going to make her hate fruit, too, but whatever gets those veggies in her! She makes lots of noises when she eats and likes to bite the spoon. She hates having her face washed off when she is finished, but we suspect this may be because it signals the end of the meal for her! :)

She cut her first bottom tooth on Friday, January 8th and her second bottom tooth on Sunday the 10th (it was a rough couple of nights with her waking up a few times from the pain.) Since then, things have been relatively calm in that department and she seems to be less fussy.

She hasn't really displayed a lot of stranger or separation anxiety yet. However, she is very slow to warm up to or smile at unfamiliar people, and usually gives them quite the serious "I'm not too sure about you" face. Once she decides you're okay, though, she'll break into a grin that will melt your heart. Seeing her sweet dimple makes me want to eat her up, which I usually do. She tolerates my constant kisses and snuggling like a champ, just like her Daddy. She isn't much of a cuddle bug, and doesn't really like to be rocked unless it's when she first wakes up. She does love to be held if you're up and walking, so she can have a better view of what's going on. She is such an observant girl!

She has mastered sitting on her own and likes to stand if we're holding on to her. She'll grab our hands and pull to stand, but she isn't pulling up on her own just yet. She also isn't making much effort to crawl (though she does manage to get all over her crib at night - how do they do that?!) I honestly don't mind. In fact, I may take her out at the knees if she starts. The longer she stays immobile, the easier it is to keep up with her! After accomplishing rolling from stomach to back at four months, she is finally getting the hang of rolling from back to stomach, though she still gets stuck sometimes.

As for playtime, she loves her Leap Frog Table and her jumpster. She is still getting to know all of her Christmas toys and does a great job playing by herself for up to 20 minutes if I'm nearby. She's a great squealer, which has made dining out a little more difficult these days. Her "talking" is getting more advanced by the day with lots of syllable combinations. She says "Da-da" and "Ma", but has no idea yet who it refers to. My favorite is when she does "Bs" and "Ps" because of the soft little puffs of air that come out. Sometimes she'll practice right in my face with her hands yanking either side of my hair. Every once in a while, she'll clamp her mouth down on my chin. That is the most precious. Never did I think being spit or chewed on could be so adorable.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been trying out a new schedule. I wanted to drop her from 3-4 short naps to 2-3 longer ones. I've been getting her up at 8am and nursing her then feeding her oatmeal. I usually work out while she plays and then we play together until nap time. She naps from 10am - 11:30am. She eats around 11:45 or 12 (usually one small jar each of a fruit and a veggie then nurses) then it's errands or a play date until she goes down for another nap from 2pm - 3:30pm. She wakes up and eats again (nurses) and plays. She goes down for a short catnap from 6pm - 6:30pm, wakes up and nurses, then eats "dinner" (oatmeal and fruit) around 7pm. We do bath time, story time, and prayers before I nurse her again around 8:15 and put her down around 8:30. Though she stopped waking up to eat at night around 5 1/2 months, we usually have to go move her once about every other night because she crams herself against the top of the crib, can't back up, and gets frustrated. We're pretty good at doing that in our sleep now and since my bladder still hasn't recovered from pregnancy (will it ever?!), it works out for me anyway.

Let's see...what else? She loves my painted toenails and grabbing for cell phones and thinks a good game of peek-a-boo is the funniest thing on earth. She sucks her thumb when she is sleepy, is very happy about her feet, and has the hearing of a hawk. (We tried hard to condition her to sleep with noise around, but that stopped working months ago and she's awakened much more easily now. I don't particularly like loud noises when I'm sleeping either, so I don't blame her. We just crank up her sound machine and try to keep it somewhat quiet during nap time.)

One of the cutest things she started doing lately can really only be described as peering. I think she's learned "object permanence", so she'll stick her little neck up and out to look around for something. She has the cutest expression when she does it and David and I just love it. I can already tell what a genius she is and paired with her gorgeous baby blue eyes, she is going to have the guys lining up. But it won't matter, because we are NEVER going to let her date. Ever. In fact, I need to wrap up this post so I can go look through those brochures I ordered on all-girl boarding schools.

So, that is the latest and greatest. She continues to amaze us beyond belief and we continue to thank God for blessing us with such a precious gift.

"Typical" Day

I don't think I realized how truly precious time is until I became a mother. Like most other
things, you don't learn to appreciate it until you don't have it anymore. Of course there are still 24 hours in my day like there were before. Nowadays, though, I feel like I'm living those 24 hours in short segments. Below is a rundown I promised I'd do of a "typical" day (any mom understands why I used quotes there)!

8:00/8:30 - Audrey wakes up or I wake her up. It took me forever to realize that if you don't start their day at the same time, you’ll never get them on a schedule. I felt really stupid when I read that advice. Duh.

8:30–9:15 - She eats. I talk or read to her. Sometimes I’m simultaneously scarfing down breakfast.

9:15–9:45 – I change and dress her, get myself dressed, eat a quick breakfast if I haven’t already, and drive to the local park. (If we’re meeting someone for lunch that day or skipping our walk, this becomes activity time until she goes down for a nap around 10, and then I get myself showered and dressed.)

9:45–10:30 – I walk and give her fascinating commentary on the surrounding sights and scenes. She typically falls asleep around 10, which I try not to take personally. At that point, I crank up my iPod and try to look as cool as I did when I had six-pack abs and was running those laps, as opposed to nowadays when I’m sweating like a pig, pushing a humongous stroller, and praying I don’t pass out because I can’t remember if I’ve brushed my teeth and I’d hate for someone to have to give me CPR.

10:30–10:40 – We drive home, while I bargain with God for Him to let her stay asleep long enough for me to shower. And shave both legs.

10:40–11:00 – I shower while she sleeps in her carrier in the bathroom. If she wakes up at some point during this process, I start talking and singing quite loudly in an effort to try to keep her calm until I’m finished. I think my record is the “ABC” song nine times in a row, with much effort taken to enunciate L, M, N, O, & P so as not to send her to preschool thinking LMNOP is one long letter. Yes, I really do think about such things.

11:00–11:30 – This time period is a total gamble. If she stays asleep, I can fix my hair, put on make-up, and finish getting ready. If she decides it’s time to eat, that gets put on hold and I feed her.

11:30–12:00 – She eats. I talk, put on make-up, read to her, or channel surf - only stopping on the really educational stuff, of course. :)

12:00–1:00 – “Activity time." This can include many things. Play mat time, reading, singing, dancing, bath time, diaper changes, clothing changes, flashcard drills (at this point, that means me holding up the flashcards while she drools on them.) One of my favorites is folding laundry and making funny faces with her while reviewing colors or trying to explain the concept of pairs. I can’t quite figure out how to clarify that some things that are pairs have two parts (i.e. socks) and some things that are referred to as pairs only have one part (i.e. a pair of pants, a pair of underwear, etc.) Anyway…

1:00-2:30 - She naps. I finish getting myself together if I haven’t already and eat lunch. Then I do some combination of washing/sterilizing bottles, straightening up, checking emails, blogging, doing my ab work-out, washing clothes, paying bills, organizing something, putting photos in albums, etc. etc. etc.

2:30-3:15 – She wakes up and eats.

3:15–4:30 – More “activity time” or we go run errands.

4:30–5:30 – She naps. I do more of the previously mentioned tasks and/or start dinner.

5:30–6:00 – She eats. David usually gets home during this window and we catch each other up about our days. More often than not, he usually has to finish fixing the mess of a dinner I started. I try really hard not to give him a play-by-play of the number and color of diapers I changed. Usually, if nothing else, I can fill him in on Facebook gossip.

6:00–6:30 – David gets in his Audrey fix, which usually involves the play mat or working on her standing.

6:30–7:15 – If we’re lucky, she sleeps while we chow down.

7:15–8:00 - She wakes up and eats.

8:00–8:30 – We do our nightly ritual of bedtime stories and prayers. I love this family time together. It's so sweet!

8:30–9:15 – She catnaps on one of our shoulders while the other of us picks up or does laundry. Or we both just sit in front of the TV like bums. We’ve tried to lay her down during this time, but she’ll have none of it. I suspect that eventually she’ll start going to bed around 8:30, but she doesn’t seem to want to give up that 9:15ish feeding quite yet.

9:15–9:45 - I feed her and then put her to bed.

9:45–10:15 – I try to avoid doing anything else productive and just enjoy a few moments alone with David. Then we go to bed and usually have very little trouble falling asleep.

Sometime between 3am and 6am - She awakes to eat. I feed her, put her back down, and go back to sleep. Some nights this is easier than others!

I might as well have put "ish" after each time frame. It's 5:00pm now and she is in there stirring - clearly she doesn't have a watch. I just wanted to record what a day in our life looks like for now so I can fondly reminisce down the road...in between all the naps I'll be taking once she starts school.