Two Little Teeths

As I said previously, Audrey had two little nubbins push their way through her gums on the night of her half birthday. They've pushed up even more over the past week, and are now even visible to my camera! The hard part is getting her to open her mouth wide, then get the camera close enough to take a picture, all the while somehow preventing her from attempting to eat the camera. This was quite a task, and it took me a few tries but I was finally able to get a picture.

Hey, I said A picture, not a GOOD picture. If you click on the picture you can make it bigger and actually might see the stubs.

But there they are. Such a big girl!

YouTube

I was going through my photo albums on my computer yesterday and realized I have so, so many videos that I will never be able to post them all on this blog and share them with you. I decided instead to go ahead and enter the wonderful world of YouTube. I uploaded all of our videos dating back to November, but I still have more to go. Some are long, some are short, some are funny, some are boring, but they are all of Audrey. Knock yourself out.

www.youtube.com/user/Earnold14 is my channel. I think. Who knows if I am even using this thing correctly.

Half Birthday

What?!!!? Audrey turned six months old yesterday. How cliche to say that "I don't know where the time goes", but how true. I remember when she was a week old, thinking to myself that six months old seemed so far away. I couldn't picture in my head what that would look like. Well, this is what it looks like:

How beautiful she is. Sometimes in the morning if we aren't in a hurry to get out of bed, I stare into her eyes and we study each other's face. I study her features and wonder what she will look like when she is a year old, three years old, thirteen. I love those mornings.

We celebrated Audrey's half birthday by letting her taste her first food: A delicious sweet potato and momma's milk puree. I baked the sweet potato Tuesday night and then threw it in the processor that Cheryle got me, along with some milk.

After I got it to a runny liquid, I poured it into an ice cube tray and threw it in the freezer over night. I also made a batch a little thicker for later on when she doesn't need it to be so runny. Yesterday when we were sitting down for dinner, I pulled out a cube and popped it in the microwave for a minute, and that was it! Dinner is served...

She liked it! She only ate a few bites which is what I expected since it was her first time. She will have sweet potatoes again this evening for dinner as well. On Sunday I will give her some avocado and see how she likes that. I am so excited to make all of her food. I love that I'll know exactly what she is getting in her tummy, and it is all homemade by mama and papi! I hope that we can encourage her to love food, and one day that she can enjoy cooking as much as Joshua and I.

 She went to her six month checkup this morning and everything went great! She has lost weight since last week when she was there for a sick visit, but I expected that, and the doctor wasn't concerned. Her weight now is 18lbs 11oz, and she is 26 3/4 inches tall. That puts her in the 90th percentile for both weight and height, which is great. If you remember, at her four month check up, she was off the chart for weight and in the 75th percentile for height, so she has definitely slowed her weight gain and has evened out a bit. Thank Goodness! I thought I was going to have a toddler the size of a teenager...

She has two teeth that just broke through the surface of her lower gums, and ouch!, they are sharp! This literally happened overnight. On Tuesday, I was feeling around in her mouth and could feel a slight bump, but Josh said he couldn't feel anything. We felt around again last night and we both agreed that there was something there. Then this morning I was feeling around and she bit me! It didn't hurt, but it sure was a surprise! I think she has managed teething pretty well so far. She isn't fussy and hasn't been crying (she never really does) any more than usual. She has, however, been waking up very restless during the night, but that could be teething or her illness that she's been fighting. Whichever it is, it hasn't been to bad on us. She really is going easy on us!

She talks more and more every day. She's so social and loves to have conversations with anyone that will listen. 

These changes are all so exciting...but so sad at the same time. She isn't the little tiny baby she once was. I will miss that toothless smile and those long nursing sessions. I'm going to miss the infant stage. She is just too precious! Don't grow up, slow down baby girl!

 She sits up on her own very well, which is so wonderful. It opens up a whole new world of toys and it means we can leave her to entertain herself for a few minutes while we do other things. People keep telling me that is very close to crawling, but I'm not so sure. She does enjoy being on her tummy, though. If I lie her on her back, she'll roll onto her tummy within a minute or two. I place toys just out of her reach and she'll try to get them. The other night Josh and I hid out of her view while she was in her crib (supposed to be sleeping, not playing!), and we watched her pull her legs up underneath her body and kind of scoot towards a toy in the corner. Then she realized she could pull the blanket towards her and the toy would come too, since the toy was on the blanket. Too smart! She also does this "around the world" move, where she lies on her tummy and just goes around in circles playing with different toys. It is pretty cool to watch. She discovered her feet a while back and those now have become her favorite teethers. Babies are flexible and its so funny to see her grab her foot and pull it to her face. The way an infant develops is so amazing. It is so subtle, gradual, and then one day, BAM!, there it is - a new skill. Wow.

Wow, what a terrible blogger I am! I keep telling myself I am going to update more often, and I keep forgetting. We’re busy, we’re stressed. Whatever. 
 
Audrey has been SICK SICK SICK. It started last weekend with pinkeye. I woke up and could see in the dark that there was something on her eye. I leaned over to kiss her and felt the hardness that had formed around her eyelid, and when I turned on the light I could see how bad it was. Her eye was stuck shut until we took a wet washcloth to it and washed everything off. The doctor saw us first thing in the morning and gave us some eye drops. She also mentioned that Audrey was congested and had what looked like the beginning of an ear infection. She wrote us a prescription for Amoxicillan and said to fill it if she got any worse. Well, Saturday morning, she was worse. The eye infection had spread to her other eye, and her congestion was much worse. She was fussy & moaning all day. It was so hard to see our normally happy girl feeling so sick and miserable. I filled the prescription and Sunday morning she seemed to have improved. Unfortunately, that was the last time she’s been well. She got progressively worse all week. Fussier, more crying (she hardly cries normally), wimpering, snot dripping everywhere, and then there was the cough. It started Monday and was a dry cough, but by Friday it was a very wet, heavy cough. I took her into the doctor’s office Friday afternoon and they said she sounded great (umm, what?) and that her ear infection was gone, if it had ever fully come on in the first place. I thought, Ok, we’ll just finish the amoxicillan and everything will be better. Saturday morning I woke up at 4 am to her projectile vomiting all over the bed. Scary. I cleaned her up and we went back to bed, hoping it would be better in the morning. Then she vomited again at 7 am when we got up, and I also noticed that she had pinkeye again. Again. In addition to the vomiting, she was also running a low fever at this point. We decided to monitor her fever and behavior throughout the day and hope for improvement. We went to Cheryle’s for a bit, and on the way home, Audrey vomited again in the car. We got home and tried to rest, but she seemed to be really going downhill. I called the nurse’s line at my doctor’s office and they had an hour long wait for call backs. At this point, Audrey was looking vacant, not engaged with us at all, falling asleep while we were playing with her, wasn’t eating well, and just not herself. You know your child, and this was not Audrey. So we decided to go the ER. We got there just as my nurse was returning my call - the doctor wanted us to give her Tylenol and head to the ER. Perfect! We were about to get out of the car and walk in when Audrey started spewing vomit again. We were all covered in it, and her clothes were soaked through. Of course mother of the year right here didn’t have a change of clothes in the diaper bag, so she spent the whole ER visit in a diaper. At least I had diapers...

 
They tested her for flu, RSV, bronchitis, and all came back negative. Her fever had gotten up to 102.3 and started to go down while we were at the hospital. She was acting better, more alert and even smiling and talking to the nurses. Ultimately, the doctor told us that she did in fact have an ear infection, a severe one at that. She gave us a new prescription for antibiotics to get for Audrey and we started them Sunday morning. I don’t yet see any improvement. She can’t sleep. She is eating better, and hasn’t thrown up since Sunday morning. Last night she just coughed up stuff all night long, and none of us slept well. Josh or I were jumping up every time she coughed to make sure she was breathing...the coughing fits are really tough on her. Gasping for breath and it seems like she’s choking on mucous at times. We have one  more day taking the antibiotics and I really hope to have this done with by the weekend. I want my happy healthy girl back!

Baby. Sitter.

Big Update! Little Miss Audrey has learned to sit up all by herself! She started this a little over two weeks ago when I decided to put her in the sitting position on the floor and let go....and she stayed sitting! I was so excited that I spent the whole weekend snapping pictures on my phone and texting them out. I was waiting for this for so long because Audrey is such a curious girl and gets bored easily. Now that she can sit up, she really seems to be able to entertain herself for a little longer and enjoy the different views. I have taken sooo many videos, but not as many pictures. Here is a video of Audrey enjoying a "sitting" toy at our friends' house:

Antonio, Gianna, and Audrey

We went to Paul and Angela's house for the Superbowl. They have two older boys (3 and 5) and one baby girl that is 10 months old. It was fun to watch the babies play together, which really only means they were staring at each other. Audrey enjoyed playing with Gianna's toys, and it was great for me to see what kinds of things she is into that we don't have yet. Here are some more pics...



Lorenzo and Audrey

 

Audrey and Gianna



Playing with a book



Going for a walk

We are just about all moved in to the new house. Cheryle and Dad came over yesterday to help us unpack and move some final things over from the old place, and that really helped us get motivated. Today we are working on unpacking some more and getting homes for all of the stuff we have! Audrey and I went to Smalltalkers today for some fun open play, and it was great to have some new toys to test out. Audrey liked being able to sit up and play, and I enjoyed talking with some other parents.

In other news, Audrey is teething like crazy! She gnaws on anything - her fingers, toys, my hands, shoulders, blankets, anything! I don't see any teeth pushing through yet, but I guess they are on their way out.

Lots of videos!!!

Sorry to keep it short but I have to get some unpacking done before the Queen wakes up. Love you!!!

xoxo

Four Months

Our little darling turned four months old on Sunday. I was so excited to take her to her check up on Monday, I was hoping to hear how great and healthy she looked, and that I am doing a good job. Instead, the doctor told me she is concerned about Audrey's weight. WTF? She is 17lb 5oz and 25 inches long (95% for weight, 75% for height), which is exactly where she's been all along. The doctor feels that if this continues then she'll end up being 5'10" and 200lbs. Doc wants me to introduce solids now and start replacing some of my time spent nursing with solids, because my milk is "too high in calories". This has nothing to do with my diet she says, but just that some mothers have fattier milk than others. I thought that was a good thing? I politely declined, saying that I intend to nurse Audrey exclusively until she is 6 months old, or until she appears ready to start solids (as this is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, World Health Organization, ACOG, and every other major health organization). At this point, Audrey shows no interest in food and still has the tongue thrust reflex. Besides, I'll admit it - I love breastfeeding. I love the bond I have with her, I love that I'm the only one that can do it, I love the convenience, I love that her poop doesn't stink, I love it all. So no, I won't introduce solids now, and no, I won't cut out her nighttime feedings THANKYOUVERYMUCH. She also is concerned that Audrey isn't sleeping through the night and that she isn't able to self-soothe herself back to sleep when she wakes at night. She suggested I let Audrey cry, even if she gets herself into a full on screaming session. When I asked how long I should let this go on, seeing as Audrey is a very intense and persistent baby and will not just give up and go to sleep, the doctor said that some babies will cry for an hour or more, but I should just let her cry because she needs to learn to sleep on her own. Again, I politely said "ok", but I have no intention of starting any form of sleep training now - especially one that involves my baby crying hysterically for me. Don't get me wrong - I can let Audrey fuss for a while and even cry because I know her cries. But I cannot and will not let her carry on a full blown meltdown while I sit downstairs and ignore her. Many people would disagree with me, but I don't care. They aren't her mom. I am. And I can do whatever I please with my child. :) During most of the appointment with the doctor I felt like saying, "You realize she's only four months old, right?". It seemed like the doctor was getting ahead of herself in some regards.

She did say that Audrey is completely 100% extroverted. She was hamming it up - smiling, cooing, kicking and talking throughout the whole appointment. She would get really loud while the doc and I spoke until one of us looked at her and spoke to her, then she's smile and wiggle. Doctor says Audrey will be one of those energetic kids that talks to everyone in the grocery store and for the second time in a week, I was told that I'm gonna have my hands full with this one. Bring it, little girl. Bring it.

We are finally all getting over being sick. We were mostly better last week, but then A came down with another cold and passed it along to the rest of us so we've been absolutely miserable up until today. Daycare was closed but schools weren't, so I stayed home with her today. We had fun! I miss this a lot. Even though I'm with her on weekends, I have so many things to do that we often don't get to just be around the house playing together. AND for the first time in a long time (ever??) she napped really well! She took a nap earlier that lasted an hour and a half, which for her is a really long time. She woke up once about halfway through but I listened on the monitor rather than running to her and she went back to sleep. Now she has been sleeping for an hour and 40 mins and hasn't woken up at all. This is truly progress for her. She has never been a good napper. I've actually been able to get stuff done today! I cleaned the bathroom, kitchen, filed some bills, FINALLY got around to making Audrey's notebook for important documents, updated my blog (!), and organized her clothes. Yay!

Speaking of clothes...she is on the verge of outgrowing her 6 month clothes! I don't know what to do!!! All of her 6-9 month stuff looks like it will fit her now, but most of it is Springtime/warm weather clothes. It sucks because now she won't get to wear all of the adorable jumpers and spring dresses I have for her, AND I have to go out and buy more clothes! Ack! But hey, I love shopping so I'm sure it'll all be ok.

That's all for now...have a great weekend!!!

xoxo

The House

 As promised...


Foyer



Kitchen




Living Room




Dining room




Master Bedroom




Master Bedroom again

  

Bathroom





Second Bedroom

Josh spent the weekend painting. He is very meticulous, so he couldn't just paint the walls - he had to paint the ceilings, baseboards, window frames, and doors, too. He hasn't actually started painting the walls yet, but now that the other things are out of the way, I think he should have the bedrooms completely done by next weekend. In the kitchen, you can see on the right that we have the washer/dryer combo unit. It is really small so we are having a laundry room built where the upstairs linen closet is. I'm so excited! That means we can take our red LG washer and dryer that we bought a couple of years ago. We are also having new windows installed, which will save us money on heating and cooling the house.

It is coming along slowly, but surely. I really hope the bedrooms are done this weekend so we can start moving stuff down there. I want to be settled and not have this move lingering for the next few weeks...