18 Months

She's not a baby anymore. We've got a full fledged toddler on our hands. Complete with temper tantrums, talking, and running away from me at the store.

 Awesome.

I have yet to take her to her 18 month appointment yet, so I'm not sure on her stats. But I'm sure they won't be good and I'll get in trouble for her weight. She's so tiny. I know she's only barely over 20 lbs, because we weighed her weekly on our scale until we knew we could switch her to the forward facing carseat. We did a dance when it finally hit 20. What do you do? Unfortunately, she is still drinking a lot of her calories by taking bottles. At least we're down to whole milk only, not plus formula, we finally were able to break that money draining need. I'm dreading weaning off the bottle, even though I know she should be old enough to just do the cup, the daycare gets kind of annoyed, she's the only one on a bottle still. But that's the only way she'll take milk, and the only way I know she's getting some calories. Ugh. She's getting better at eating, but not great.

Currently she eats lots and lots of goldfish crackers, string cheese, red bell peppers, greek yogurt, popcorn, cooked carrots, potatoes, any kind of pasta, small bites of chicken, and big bites of beef. She likes her red meat.

And chocolate chip cookies.

Along the lines of weaning... she still uses the bink to sleep. The orthodontic assistant in me cringes every night, but I haven't had the nerve to get rid of that either. It's like the immediately-fall-asleep push button.

She started nursery last week and was a champ. Didn't even look back, just like when she started her new daycare last month. She does so well. She loves being in new places, being with the big kids, and doing the activities. She's really started getting into drawing and has been found with a pen in hand drawing me a pretty picture on important papers. She loves books.... loves!!! She brings me a Boo-boo (book) about every two minutes to read, then turns around and backs her bum right into my lap.

She loves her doggies, says hello to them every morning. Lately, she's been enjoying Yo Gabba Gabba (cringe) while I get ready in the morning. Along with the standbys of Phineas and Ferb, Sesame Street, and My Little Pony on Netflix. The other day we were listening to music and Aristocats played which made  me immediately have the desire to watch it with her. Quick rental online at Amazon and stream to the XBOX (I love modern technology) and we had ourselves a movie afternoon. She sat through the whole thing, almost, but super close. She really only gets about one 'show' a day, but she won't just watch any old boring thing.

We've both enjoyed the new home and all that goes with it. She helps me put the clothes in the washer, unloads the dishes, helps me cook, and vacuum. Our routines for meals, cleaning, and playing are starting to get figured out and I love it. It feels so... normal. We're planning on getting her the Ikea play kitchen for Christmas. I've been saving links for felt food, to test out my sewing skills, we'll see if it happens. I'd like to try to put together a apron and mitts too, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Post shot of a busy day playing

Her speech skills are coming along, she's got the normal Ma-ma, Da-da, Dogs, Kitty, Turtle, Fish is more like -ish, Car, Cracker, Nose, Socks, and Shoes. I'm sure there's more, but that's good enough to prove she's smart. She knows most of her body parts, loves the belly button, as most kids do.

Basically she's just super amazing and the cutest dang kid you ever would have the privilege of meeting. You are welcome.

'Hi!'

Nine Months Come and Gone

Watching the Super Bowl.

Audrey is nine months old today. Everybody together now... CRA-UH-AZEY.
How common is it, that the first few months drug on forever.... but the last six have FLOWN? Just me?
She is so stinking cute. But I'm sure you knew that.
She's just recently gotten really talkative. Everytime she takes off crawling she lets out her war cry, "Ah, da-da-da, nah-nah, pbbttt!" She's a super fast crawler now, to the point I have to run after her if I turn my head for a second. She's started climbing as well; chairs, bookshelves, couches. She's been a great stander for forever, seriously since she was born she wanted to stand. But NOW she can do it all on her own. She can hold steady on her own feet for a second then she chickens out and plops down on her bum. For Christmas she got a walker-stroller, she can cruise with that thing. She also scoots along the side of the couch and ottoman. Even our double french doors to the backyard, she'll scoot from side to side watching the doggies outside.
So, it's probably only a matter of time before she starts walking on her own.
*SIGH* I'm hoping since she's such a chicken right now it will postpone the inevitable. It already weirds me out to find her reaching up on the chair, with only one hand holding on.  For a such a tiny baby, she looks like such a big girl.

Weight wise, she's still tiny. She's just barely over 16 lbs. I just barely switched out her clothes to the 6-9 month size this week. And only because she had gotten too tall for the smaller size, not too fat by any means. Her shoes are still 0-3 months.
She's still not a great eater. Which probably contributes to the weight. She takes her bottle like a champ, but only if she wants it. She'll drink about 4-6 ounces at a time every few hours to equal about 30 ounces . She refuses baby food. She loves the puffs, pirate booty, goldfish, and animal crackers. She'll eat bread and french fries, sort of. She only sort of mashes it in her mouth, tasting it, and then spits it out. Which is what she also does with any other food I try to feed her; fruits, veggies, meats, pastas, etc. My mother-in-law did get her to drink a smoothie from her sippy cup, which she liked. Normally she won't drink any water or juice. Weird kid.
Her first tooth popped through yesterday. YAY!!!
She is in a pretty consistent nap and sleep schedule now. I lay her down typically at 10 AM, she'll sleep 1-2 hours, then again at 3PM and she'll sleep 2-3 hours. I guess that's not really all that consistent, but it's great for her. She goes to bed 7-8PM. She'll then wake up occasionally during the night, but typically I don't go get her. She'll cry a little bit, or just talk to herself and eventually goes back to sleep. She wakes up ready for the day 7-8AM. It's a great day if I can hold her off until 8:30AM.
I usually only work Monday and Tuesday. Which right now is tricky trying to find some consistent childcare. But then I have the rest of the week to hang out with baby girl. We do chores, she loves the vacuum. Go to lunch with friends, her bestie is probably Kyler. She loves big kids though. If we go anywhere where there are older kids running around, she'll chase them everywhere giggling. She desperately wants to be able to play with them. She doesn't even mind when they knock her over rough-housing. That might have something to do with her being used to two golden retriever siblings.
She'll sit and watch Sesame Street and Phineas and Ferb... for like two minutes. But anytime the P&F theme song comes on, or the Big Bang Theory theme, she'll drop everything she's doing and come crawling over to dance to the song. She loves music. Her idea of dancing is bouncing up and down on her bum and flapping her arms. She's got talent.
She loves the bath. Her daddy. She'll give big open mouth, fishy kisses. Peek-a-boo is her favorite game. Or peeking under the baby-gate at daddy. She'll tilt her head sideways and lean down just to giggle at him. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of saying 'hi' on the phone, she's more interested in eating it. Just like any new item or bit of dirt she finds. Straight to the mouth. She loves running errands. She'll only tolerate her car seat for so long, but loves riding in the cart like a big girl. She's never been very cuddly but has gotten to where after she finishes her bottle she'll just lay there with her round, full belly poking out and relax for a second. And then it's arch the back to get down and take off again.
I know everyone says this about their children, but I can't believe how big she's getting. Sometimes I really do miss my tiny little newborn. But she is developing such an amazing, curious, joyous personality... I can't help but love her. I miss her terribly when I'm away from her.
Kind of a turnaround from only six months ago. Which I suppose is a really good thing.
She's an amazing little girl. What's not to love?
Happy nine months baby girl!!! Don't worry, I'm already planning your birthday party.

Under Pressure

Well... hello there. Long time no see. Of course, ultimately for very good reasons. Buuuu.... uhhhuuuttt... I'm feeling this extreme amount of pressure to blog again. If only to record the beautiful things happening these days, or even the not so beautiful. In my defense I have started like a bajillion posts, including my delivery story and a day by day playback of the first two weeks of the lil' ones life. Because recording how many times she pooed is very important for posterity. You know it is.
Then yesterday she had her six month well child check with Dr. Grandpa. And I was in a panic that I haven't been recording every little thing possible. That all the little changes haven't been shared enough.
There are multiple reasons, one, being the computer I save all my pictures on has been ridiculous about connecting to the internet. And everybody knows you can't write a post after six months without including a picture bomb of the adorable daughter. Duh!
Two through five hundred include: having a baby, recovering from having a baby, feeding baby, getting mastitis twice, changing baby (times one million), not sleeping, cleaning baby puke, going back to work, find someone to watch baby, doing laundry, finding a spare moment to shower, etc.
To summarize: the first three months were HARD. Yes, all caps were appropriate in that sentence. She was colicky, had horrible reflux, breastfeeding was a nightmare, she would not sleep, and cried constantly. I only survived because I had so much help. Avery was wonderful. My mother a life saver, especially when I got mastitis the first time... which happened to be the second weekend home with her, and Avery and my dad were in Moab. Ugh. And Avery's mom, Lora, taking her so many Saturdays just so I could sleep.
I went back to work after six weeks... note to self: way too soon. Luckily, it was teaching only a day or two a week, but still with everything, it was too much for me.
Now don't get me wrong, she was beautiful and tiny and perfect. But I probably have PTSD from the 'newborn' stage.
Then magically she transformed. She decided to wean on her own, absolutely refused, so we switched to formula. Found the perfect one for sensitive tummies, added rice cereal to weigh it down, and poof.... colic and reflux cured. She stopped puking, stopped crying as much, started sleeping. *****HALLELUJAH***** Angels singing, light of heaven shining down. I suddenly had a happy and beautiful and tiny and perfect baby.
She started rolling, then never stopped, started laughing, started smiling, started playing on her own, started pushing herself up, started standing, started crawling, started pulling herself up. All in a matter of three months. Best three months of my life. I love how much fun she has become. We laugh and play and dance. She can still be super annoying, she is very high maintenance, way too independent for a six month old, and way too smart for my sanity. But now I can honestly say I enjoy being a mother.
It might have been a good thing I didn't write a post in those first few months. There would have been way too many murmurings about my mental health. The other day I finally had the thought about having another baby without dropping into the fetal position and sucking my thumb. Don't worry it still won't be for a while. A long, long while. It's interesting how badly I wanted to have a baby, how long I waited for her, how hard we tried, and then how difficult I've found every step. It's not necessarily sad, just interesting. Life is funny.
Things are lovely. I love her so much. She loves daddy more, but you can't always win. I changed jobs, which has turned out wonderfully. I love my job. I love my time with her. Teaching her things, or just watching her figure them out on her own. Which is what usually happens. I know every parent thinks this, but she's a freaking genius. It's insane. Her little serious face when she concentrates super hard cracks me up. How hard she laughs at the silly things Uncle Austin does, is my favorite. How she growls at daddy every time she sees him, because he taught her that, drives me nuts, but it's still adorable. She is my life. And I am totally okay with that.
There are still a few bad, but not nearly as much. Avery is almost done with school, but still has to work a lot on his Master's thesis and project. My work is great, though lately it's been hard to find childcare and I worry about leaving her. Our health has been good, but I'm still not 100% after the pregnancy. I swear my organs are still jacked up. Plus, the amount of Dr. Pepper I drink is unhealthy, and not helping the weight loss. Avery and I are great, doing well adjusting to being parents and partners. He is a great daddy. He comes home kissing Audrey all over, telling her how much he missed her, and how beautiful she is. And then I say "Uh, hello? I'm here too."  :)
I can't wait until we can move out and have a place of our own. But will always be extremely grateful to my parents. I worry about my loved ones' health. There's been some concerns lately. Makes you realize how lucky you are sometimes. And makes you realize how fragile we all really are. I have full blown nightmares about Audrey; being hurt, in danger, or killed. Is that normal? I don't necessarily worry as much during the day, but when my thoughts wander at night....
Luckily, my monitor has a video function that I can switch on and look in on her without waking her. And if I turn up the sound enough, I can hear her snore. Unfortunately, she inherited that from me. Like right now, if you could see her, she's all curled up with her bum and in the air and talking in her sleep. Makes me teary, while smiling.
Oh, and PS she weighs a whopping 14 lbs which puts her in the 12% (good for her) and is 25 inches long (44%) and her head circumference in the 50%. We call her 'bobble head baby': big head, skinny body. But we also call her AdeyBug, Bugga, BabyGirl, and DriDri.
You can call her Audrey. My daughter.