Audrey is 1 Month Old!

I can't believe I'm doing my first Monthly Update on Audrey!  The time goes so, so quickly!  It is hard to believe she is one month old today and yet today was also her due date.  Here's what she is doing these days:

- She is sleeping, consistently, for 3.5-4 hours at a stretch each night.  This might not sound great but with Emily I was up every 2.5 hours on the dot for 5 months straight....so this is HUGE progress for a newborn! 

- She is drinking about 2.5oz every 3 hours during the day.

- She is focusing on objects close to her face and has better tracking ability now.  Also, the "crazy eyes" are becoming less frequent now.

- She can lift her head completely up and hold it there for 3-4 seconds.  She's so strong, it's really surprising, especially given how little she is!

- I haven't weighed her to be absolutely sure, but I would estimate that she weighs about 7lbs now.  She has outgrown all her preemie clothes (in length) and is now comfortably wearing Newborn size.  She's also in size N diapers.

- She has traveled to West Virginia and Virginia, after our trip last weekend!  She slept the whole way in the car...it is so nice to travel with a tiny baby!  (Although, in her defense, Emily rode in the car quietly too!)

- She likes to spend time sleeping on my chest (or anyone else who will hold her!)  She also likes to be near Emily and looks very intently at her when Emily holds her.

She is such a great baby and we are so thankful she is here and healthy.  New picture in her "Audrey Month 2" album...holy moly I can't believe she's already on her next album! :)

Dance-nastics and Lazy Saturday...

Hi friends!  Emily had her first Dance-nastics class this morning and she LOVED it!  I have to say that she looked completely precious in her leotard and tights and she could not have been any more excited.  We all piled in the car to go (no small feat considering we had to be there before 9am!) and she was yelling in the car, "You are excited for dance-nastics Mommy and Daddy? We have to drive FAST!"  She wanted us to get there so quickly- it was adorable! 

Once she was in the class she did really well.  She did ask for me several times and she did run away from the class once (in her defense, they begin with the gymnastics portion of the class and it's in the same area that we took our Parent/ Tot class last year so she was just ready to go use some other equipment!) but her teacher said she was great and that she "enjoyed having her".  Once they finished the gymnastics section it was Dance time- she carried her little tap shoes down into the studio area and we couldn't see.  We figured out if we climbed to the top of the bleachers area we could barely see her in the mirror, but what we could see looked great!  She was trying to do all the steps and it was just so adorable.  They do a big recital in the spring and I am already so excited for it!

She was super happy about the class and told me she had fun, but unfortunately she had a little "incident" in the Pit that kind of upset her- she had a small scab on her toe from wearing shoes with no socks (thank you, daycare...grr) and it got torn off on the foam blocks inside the Pit.  So then all she could do today was tell us about how she had a Boo Boo on her toe and it got ripped off in the Pit and it hurts and she needs a band-aid, etc.  Over and over again!  Next weekend we'll be in WV so hopefully it will be nice and healed up by the next weekend and we won't have any more issues.  Other than that, though, she was so excited and happy about the class.  I am thrilled!

Also- here's some pics of her sweet baby sister.  Audrey slept for 5 hours straight last night....that child is an angel!

Emily is 35 Months Old!

It is time for the monthly update AGAIN!  I can safely say that this month has gone by faster than any other month, I think, because this is the month that Emmy became a big sister!  Here's all about our girl this month:

- Of course, the biggest news is the transition to being a big sister.  Emily has adjusted so well to life with Audrey and just loves her so much.  It is so cute to listen to her talk to Audrey and to interact with her- she wants to hold her about every day and constantly talks to her in this sweet, quiet voice. It is so precious!  She invites Audrey to play baby dolls and take baths and gets so excited when they can do things "together" (like drinking their milk together).  It melts my heart!  I am so glad she has this opportunity to have a sibling...I can see them growing closer all the time.  It is truly so special.

- She continues to do big girl things, like going to Eva's birthday party (see post), baking with me, playing in the playground at Chick Fil A, taking Music class at school, etc.  It is so great to see her growing up but kind of bittersweet too- I want her to stay my little girl! Her newest thing is wanting to go to Granny and Grandaddy's house and spend the night...we are actually going to do this in November but she is trying to get me to let her sooner!

- She is saying some really funny stuff right now.  I need to do better with writing it down when she says it because it's hard to remember later, but she says the funniest things! They range from the completely obvious ("Mommy, you are awake?" when I am in the kitchen cooking dinner), to the confusing ("I want to be a T shirt for Halloween!") to the downright hilarious ("You are making milk? That is not ice cream?" when she walked in on me pumping the other day).  She also loves to point out things outside, like cars, trucks, motorcycles, semi trucks, school buses, etc.  She likes stopping at stop lights too, and telling me "Red means STOP.  Green means GO.  Yellow means BEEEEE CAREFUL!!!"  It is so cute!

- She can ride her tricycle all the way down our street and back without stopping now.

- At Eva's party I saw Emily climb a rope up to the top of an inflatable slide and then slide down the 10 foot drop into the pit.  I would have bet she would have been scared to try it, and that when she did try she wouldn't have been able to lift herself....and I would have been wrong on both counts!

- She is doing simple addition now- she will see several items and QUICKLY adds them in her head ("Daddy has 5 toes on this foot. I have 5 toes on my foot!" or "Baby Eleanor [baby doll] has one bottle.  She has another bottle.  Baby Eleanor has 2 bottles!") It is so fun to watch her grow and progress.

- She can string beads on a string now.

- She is starting to be concerned with other peoples' emotions and feelings.  For example, when we get upset and she has to have a Time Out she'll say, "Mommy, you are happy?" Also...if you tell her you're disappointed in her she is CRUSHED.  This girl is sensitive!

- She is also beginning to understand saying 'sorry'.  If she gets in trouble she tells us she's sorry now.  Now, if only she would stop getting in trouble, right?!

- She sings all kinds of songs that she picks up at school.  I know her Days of the Week song, Months of the Year, Show and Tell song, cleaning up song, and many, many more.  It's so cute! She also does "school" with her dolls and it is so precious to sit and watch her interact.

- She can now unlock the cabinets and will move the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs and walk up ALONE.  Gulp.  Our stairs are wooden and unforgiving...this makes me so nervous!

- She has started to show major preferences for things like clothing, hairstyles, etc.  Sometimes she's quite hard to appease!



That's all I can think of right now.  Be sure to check out all of this month's pictures on the Picasa link on the right of the page!!

Big Girl Birthday Party!

Emily got invited to her friend Eva's birthday party and has been counting down the days until we could go!  She had SUCH a great time and really loved getting to play with Eva and Abbie outside of school.  The party was held at a local cheerleading gym and the girls had so much fun running around, bouncing, and going into the pit.  It just further cemented my plan to get Emily back into gymnastics this fall- I think she's going to go back next month since she had such a great time today (no sense in enrolling her this late in the month, so we'll start next month).  She looked so grown up hanging out with her friends and it melted my heart!  She even ate her pizza and cake and ice cream right next to Eva (Eva's request!) in a big girl chair and used an open cup.  She didn't spill a drop of anything and I could just see it in her eyes how proud she was to be going to a big girl party.  My sweet girl is growing up!

Ready to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audrey- newborn photo shoot with Mommy!

So I attempted to get some good newborn shots Wednesday with sweet Audrey girl.  Here's the best of what we got!

Also- yesterday she visited the pedi for a 2 week checkup-- she is now 6lbs!  I was so proud- she gained 11oz in 6 days...pretty great work, I think! :) 

Audrey and Emily Update

It dawned on me this morning that I haven't posted anything on here in a few days.  Things are going well! I hate to jinx it but Audrey is a really easy baby- eats every 3 hours, then stays awake for a while, then naps.  At night she sleeps QUIETLY in  the cradle next to me and goes about 4 hours in between feedings....so nice!  She has yet to cry for more than about 1-2 minutes at a time...doesn't seem to have the reflux issues Emmy had, etc.  She is doing great!

Emily is doing well with all of this- she is acting out a little bit but we expected that so it's not a huge deal.  I am going to make her a sticker chart today to help with the attitude issues a little-- she has gotten very bossy and doesn't use a nice tone with us sometimes and it lights me on fire to hear her like that....so hopefully the sticker chart will help! Also, she has had a couple weird moments- she took her shirt off constantly at school the other day and also lifted up her shirt and crawled across our cul- de- sac on her hands and knees to our neighbors the other night...hahaha!  Paul and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing...what can you do?!

Overall though, it's going well.  Emmy is SO sweet with Audrey- invites her to take baths with her, play baby dolls, etc.  I am excited for when Audrey can do tummy time and becomes a little more interactive so Em can enjoy her more.  It definitely has been an adjustment but it's not going badly at all. 

Audrey is getting bottles of expressed milk only- I am making close to 30 oz per day so the ratio of foremilk to hindmilk is all wrong for her- we tried the other night for me to nurse her and she only got foremilk and then was UP and awake and grumpy from 2-5a....so we're fine with bottles!  It's nice that someone else can feed her and that we can amass this big supply of frozen milk for when I go back to work.   We bought a deep freeze that is being delivered today...funny the things that excite you as you grow older!! :)

I'll leave you with some pictures...can you tell who's who?!

 

And finally...for your viewing pleasure...I like to call this one, "Look- My Granny walks ME on the leash instead of my dog, Katie!"

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Today was my birthday and what a great day we had!  It was so nice to be at home with my sweet family- all 4 of us together!

Emily and I made my birthday cake this morning- a white cake that she then insisted we color purple AND put sprinkles in the batter!  I wish I had gotten a picture of the sprinkles- on the cake she made they were all in a huge clump in the middle of the batter...so funny!

The rest of the day was just a nice lazy Saturday.  Paul took Emmy out to the mall and they had a little date while I showered and got ready.  It was so nice to get ready in a nice quiet house!  When they got back Emily took a great nap and then we ate a yummy dinner prepared by my mother in law.

After dinner came the cake!  Emily helped me to blow out my candles and then we ate the cake and opened presents.  I got some very nice things...thanks to everyone who remembered my special day!

After Emily went to bed we all watched Date Night...I had heard only so-so reviews of it but I thought it was really funny!  Then we headed to bed, where Audrey slept the better part of the night.  It was a great birthday all around, especially because we were able to spend it at home and not at the NICU...I was so, so thankful for that!