Traveling Baby!

Audrey took her first plane ride at 6 weeks old, and I am happy to report that she did great!!! We flew to Dallas to surprise Lexi for her baby shower. I carried Audrey in her wrap so that I wouldn't have to worry about carrying her in my arms. It worked out great - she fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport, woke up when I put her in the wrap but then fell back asleep and slept until about 10 minutes before we landed in Dallas. I nursed her at takeoff and landing so that her ears could pop. The flight home was almost as easy, except that she woke up a half hour before we landed, so I had to entertain her for that time which was pretty easy, but I was so afraid she would just start wailing or something. The lady next to me had made a few comments early in the flight about having to sit next to a little baby, and she even made a comment to her friend about me nursing on the plane (I had a window seat and I was fully covered, give me a break), so I really wanted Audrey to make her eat her words. And she did- when we landed the lady all of a sudden wanted to talk to me about how cute Audrey was and how "well behaved" she was. I wanted to tell her that babies aren't "well behaved" or "poorly behaved", they're just babies and are completely unpredictable. Whatever.

Lexi's baby shower was great!! She had lots of family and friends show up and they showered Tiernan with many gifts! Aside from the weight lifting competition going on in the room next door at the hotel, the shower was perfect. Here are some pics:


Wish you were here Lauren!!! Although the trip was short, it was really great to see the family and for Audrey to meet everyone. But, it was exhausting!!! I realized how much Audrey really needs consitency every day. She was so tired and didn't sleep well while we were there, not naps nor at night. That carried over into the week following the trip. It seems like we've just recovered from it actually, and now we're getting ready to go back in a few days!

I've been getting letters from Lauren and it is so nice to know that she is doing well. She will hopefully be home for Christmas, which would be perfect!!! It has been much harder without her than I expected it to be. I realized the other day that this has been the longest we've gone without seeing each other since 2002. And we still have 5 more weeks.

Audrey is 8 weeks old today. It feels like it is flying by, but at the same time I feel like she is older than only 8 weeks. Maybe it is because she's so big, I'm not sure. I am loving every minute of being home with her and am sad that I only have 4 weeks left. It is going to be really hard to be away from her and not know what she's doing all day. Maybe one day I will be able to stay home with her, but now is not the time. She has started smiling for me. It is the most wonderful thing. It is usually in the morning, right after she wakes up. I love rolling over and seeing her face light up when she sees me. There's really nothing like that. Here she is enjoying playtime

Last Friday we went to see the orthopedic doc and we got great news! Audrey's hips are looking great and she is FREE from the harness forever! We are going back in 2 months for a follow up, but the doctor said for right now, she is right where she needs to be. Thank goodness that is over, it was not fun! And now she can kick her legs and work on rolling over!!

She is sleeping with Daddy right now so I need to take advantage of that and get some things done around here. Love you all and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Keeping Busy

Since Josh has gone back to work I've been trying to keep busy. I have a hard time just staying around the house, so I've been planning my errands spread out over a few days each week so that we have a reason to go out. Last week we had doctor's appointments. Again, Audrey's orthopedic doctor said she has to be in the harness for another two weeks (one more as of today!). I was so disappointed when we left that appointment, party because I know I wasn't being as strict as I should have been with the harness. I would take it off a few times a day and maybe that's why she still wasn't fully developed. So since last Friday she has worn it all day except for maybe an hour each day when we do playtime.

Speaking of play time, Audrey is having more and more awake time each day. It happened so suddenly...one day she was just awake for an hour and I didn't really know what to do with her. I just sat on the couch staring at her and bouncing her. I decided to look up a playgroup in the area as a reason to get out of the house and also so I could meet other moms and see what they do with their little ones. I found a place here in Centreville called Smalltalkers. It is run by a woman that is a pediatric speech therapist, and basically she offers hour long classes to help parents engage with their babies and learn about the development, etc. Tuesday we went to our first group, it was a new moms group for babies 0-6 months. Audrey was the youngest but it was really neat to hear the other moms talk about what they are going through at each stage. The group instructor showed me some age appropriate toys and told me ways to get Audrey used to doing tummy time and enjoying it. Yesterday we went back and did another class and it was very fun. I learned some songs to sing to her and some little activities we can do together around the house. I am looking forward to going to the next class.

I have so much more to write, but I know I don't have much time while Audrey is asleep so I better use the time I do have to do something productive. Here are some of the amazing pictures we had taken...I hope you all enjoy!