9 Month Check Up

Today Audrey had her 9 month check up with the pediatrician. She is 22lbs and 28.5 inches tall. My chunky monkey! She showed off her new skills to the doctor, including clapping, standing, crawling, babbling, and more. She is meeting all of her milestones and the doctor said that she will be walking soon. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

She has another ear infection. She finished a round of antibiotics last Monday for an ear infection. This is her fourth in four months (or five months? Can't remember the first one). The doctor seemed concerned that she has another one, and referred us to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. I'll be making that appointment soon, but in the meantime, we are trying a different antibiotic, making this her third different type. I told the doctor that it seems more like the ear infections never went away to begin with, not that they are coming back again and again. I was kind of surprised that she seemed so concerned, but she said that it is an inner ear infection caused by bacteria, not an outer that would be caused by water - bathing, swimming, etc. She just wants to make sure that the ear infections are not affecting Audrey's hearing. I don't think they are - she is extremely vocal and responds well when we speak to her - but I will feel good once we know for sure.

Here's our beautiful muffin:

oh, so pretty!

this is the new face she makes...?

another interesting face

Clapper!

I cannot explain how amazing it is to watch my child grow and learn new things every day. Only a parent knows.

Audrey learned to clap on Sunday. At least, that's the first time we saw her clapping. It is soooo cute. She won't do it on demand, OF COURSE, so getting a video of it is tricky. Here's the best I could do:

Its a fort!

At Audrey's daycare, they have a little fenced area outside that is just for the little babies, so they don't get tackled by any big kids. In this play area, there is a rubber tree house type thing, where the babies can climb in and hang out in the tree trunk, and then slide down the outside. Her teachers told us that while the other babies are sometimes scared in there, or they just go in and come right back out, that Audrey will go in and stay there the whole time, just peeking out every few minutes. How cute! I thought she must like the enclosed feeling so I planned to make a fort at home, but Grandma Maria bought her this awesome tent instead. We got up this morning and set it up first thing and sure enough, she loves it! Its a little too small for us to play in it with her, but she doesn't seem to mind too much. She enjoys sitting in there with her beloved Winnie the Pooh people .

Thank You Grandma!!!

OUCH!

Audrey turned 9 months old yesterday. Oh my! Too fast! She had three teeth pop through her gums last week, so here are some gnarly photos of the top two. Doesn't that look incredibly painful? She's been handling it very well and isn't fussy (thank goodness!!). It wasn't easy to get these pictures, so I'm sorry they aren't great images, but here ya go!

Doors

It seems that every week Audrey has a new hobby. First it was the books, and then last week it was an obsession with the washing machine. I never got around to blogging it so here are some recent pictures. Since we have a front loader she can see what's inside and I figured out how to make the interior light come on while its running, so this is a great source of entertainment for her whenever a load is working. How fun for her!

Well just this week she has discovered a new thing: Doors! She loves to open them and crawl through, then come back. In the living room, we have the couch sitting where it blocks off the doors to the kitchen so they can't be closed all the way. We put Audrey up there and she played with the door for quite a while! Of course the door squeaks so that was cool, but there is also a pillow on the floor between the couch and the door (hiding electrical cords, safe!) so she liked watching it move as she opened the door. I love how she keeps looking behind the door. Is something there that wasn't there before? I wonder what she's thinking.

Celebrating

Since I am a total goof and didn't think to take our engagement day off from work, Josh and I both took the day after off to celebrate. After dropping Audrey off at daycare, we came home and enjoyed a quiet morning alone, before we decided on a whim to head out to Reston Town Center. We've had a gift card for going on 2 YEARS to McCormick & Smick's, but we never got around to using it because the location isn't that convenient for us. I'm so glad we saved it! It gave us a reason to go a few miles out of our comfort zone and to eat at a restaurant that we would normally never treat ourselves to. The day was absolutely beautiful outside so we sat on the patio, the food was amazing, our server was so kind, and it was wonderful to be just the two of us for a few hours.

We did some window shopping afterwards and as we were walking to the car we ran into one of Josh's oldest friends, Maryam, sitting outside at the bar of another restaurant! We haven't seen Maryam and her boyfriend in over a year, so we sat down and joined them for the remainder of the afternoon and caught up on life.

It was such a perfect day with my fiance. Now, on to the planning!

Father's Day

Today we celebrated Joshua's first Father's Day. I was procrastinating and didn't get his gift together until yesterday, but it still turned out nice. I took some photos of Audrey holding letters to spell out, "Papi". I printed the photos and put them in a frame for his desk at work. Here's a picture of the completed project:

As you can see, Audrey was not very interested in looking at the camera. This happens every time we go outside and I try to take pictures - she is way more interested in the sights and sounds of the outdoors than in making adorable faces for the camera! Some of the outtakes were cute:

I also got him a nail gun compressor tool set thing. Or something like that. I got the wrong one, so our Father's Day adventure was to Home Depot to get the right one. After spending an hour there, we discovered they do not actually have it. Ugh! I was able to order it on Amazon when we got home, so no worries. Here's Daddy and Baby together on their first Father's Day.

Audrey's first Home Depot trip. She had fun, especially considering she was overdue for a nap! 

Of course I didn't get any pictures of the three of us on Father's Day. I always have my camera, except when I actually need it. Hmm.

Engagement

If you haven't heard...we're engaged! That's right, 8 years ago today Joshua asked me on our first date, and today he asked me to be his wife. How perfect! We've always considered June to be our anniversary month, but never actually went and looked up the actual day of the first time we hung out. A couple hours after he proposed (I'll get to that in a minute!) I went and looked up a calendar from way back in 2003 to see what day it was that our first date was, and sure enough, it was on Tuesday, June 17! That makes the 16th the date he asked me. I think it worked out pretty well considering he didn't even plan it that way. Maybe for the story's sake we'll agree that he did in fact plan that.

This morning was like any other morning. I got up and showered and dressed and then woke up the Muffin. It was uneventful and we were playing and talking in the bedroom. After about 10 minutes or so, Josh came upstairs and said good morning to Audrey and I thought nothing of it. He always does that! Apparently he had set the ring on the rim of her diaper where I'd see it, but I didn't see it and it had been flung off to the side without me ever noticing. I went in the other room to sew up some elastic in Audrey's shorts and when I came back I noticed something in her mouth. I said, "What the hell is she eating?" and when Josh didn't reach and take it from her I huffed and came over and pulled it out of her mouth and there it was! A Ring! THE RING! The one we picked out together months ago! I was shocked and I just stared at it and I think I said some OH MY GOD's and probably some WHAT's and I also remember some WOW's. I cannot remember at all what Josh said to me when he actually asked, I don't think I was listening! I was caught so off guard! I spent the rest of the morning basically walking around the house in circles trying to finish getting ready for work. It never crossed my mind to call in a vacation day at work and stay home and celebrate with my honey until I was actually AT work. Doh! How silly! We are both taking a day off tomorrow and will be sending Muffin to daycare while we enjoy a quiet day to ourselves. It took a few hours for it to really sink in. I feel so silly that I was just going about my day, but I was still so surprised!

The Ring: We went and picked this out a few weeks ago, so I kind of knew to expect a proposal at some point, but I didn't know when. He's been sitting on this thing for a month now! It is beautiful, delicate, perfect. I love it. I love him. My fiancé.

He proposed to me at 6:30am. My hair was still wet from the shower, I wasn't wearing any makeup, I had a dirty diaper next to me, and I hadn't brushed my teeth. That's true LOVE, people. 

Encouragement

I got this little push walker for Audrey a while back. It folds down for her to ride on, and then flips up to push. She wasn't interested in it other than for the toys on it until recently. I have been showing her how to use it, but I think she was still too unsteady on her feet to push it anywhere. Over the weekend, she got up the strength and confidence and pulled up on her walker and started walking! When we saw this, Josh and I both started clapping and yelling and encouraging her to keep moving. She loved that! When she realized how much we were rooting for her, she got this huge smile on her face and just went for it. She fell down a few steps later, but the look on her face when she knew we were right there with her was awesome. Moments like this make me so happy to be her mama.

The video isn't the very first time she did it, but cute still. :)

A Little Sewing Project

Audrey is sick today so I stayed home with her. I made a quick trip out to the fabric store after her doctor's appointment and then went home and worked on this sewing project while she was sleeping.

I found the pattern and tutorial here, and the bib was pretty easy to make. Of course, I made lots of mistakes (lots, and lots), but the aren't blatantly obvious so I'm not too concerned. Plus, its a bib. It will get dirty and no one will care. I am very proud of it, though, because it is the first thing I've actually completed since I got my new sewing machine! Woo-hoo! Now if only I can find another hour to make another one without the mistakes, I'd be really happy! Maybe tonight after she goes to sleep. :)

Edit: I made another one tonight. Just wanted to share because I love the fabric!

Finger Painting

I found a recipe online for homemade finger paint the other day. The appeal is that it is non-toxic and completely edible - an important thing considering Audrey still puts her hands as well as everything else into her mouth.

I picked up some little jars and an old tablecloth from the thrift shop to store the paint and to catch the mess. The paint was pretty easy to make and only took about 15 minutes. Mine turned out a little runnier than I had hoped, I wanted more of a paste.

Once it was all set, we went out front and got the camera ready for the exciting moment that I was sooo looking forward to! And guess what? Audrey was NOT INTERESTED. At all. Of course. Because any time I want something, she decides to be stubborn and do what she wants! Breech, remember? Stubborn.

I pouted and packed everything up and stomped back inside where I continued to feel disappointed that I didn't get to do my art project with my baby. Instead of giving up, I set up the paints in the kitchen and we tried for Round 2. Unsuccessful once again. She was mostly interested in watching Josie eat, watching TV, looking out the window, knocking over the paint bowls, or a number of other things not involving painting a pretty picture with her hands.

I did get a few cute pictures of her, but overall, it was a bust. I have to remind myself to be patient, she's only 8 months old and we have many years to enjoy art activities together. Patience...patience.

Little Swimmer

Audrey started swimming lessons at the Rec Center a few weeks ago. I finally remembered to take some photos and video today when she swam with Josh, so here you go!

She really, really enjoys the water. She is so bold and fearless. She loves to splash and doesn't mind at all if her face gets wet. Today Josh even dunked her for the first time, and she didn't care one bit! We still have two more classes to go, and I'm looking forward to them both. 

After her first dunk

Outside of swim class, we've been taking her to the pool in our neighborhood after work. We're exhausted by the time we get home, but I think its worth it to take her out for a few minutes and enjoy a little fun time in the water. Plus, it wears her out and she sleeps so soundly!

So much splashing!

Dad bought a little pool last weekend for the kids, so we spent some time over there this weekend, too. The water was cold, but we had fun anyways and enjoyed being together and playing and laughing. Audrey loves being outdoors, that's for sure!

Matthew and Cristina in the pool

Audrey and Cristina playing

Audrey and Aunt Laurie

Happy Summer!

Visiting with Family

Josh's dad and stepmom, David and Debbie, came to visit us from San Antonio for the weekend 2 weeks ago. It was their first time here and their first time to meet Audrey. It was a great visit and Audrey loved them! Unfortunately she was sick with a runny nose, slight fever, and was a little fussy, but we still had fun. We visited the winery for a picnic because the weather was too nice to be inside.

On Sunday, Josh and David went to their first baseball game together to see the Nationals play the Orioles in Baltimore. They sat in the first row behind the Nat's dugout, and Josh had a great time! No luck getting a ball, unfortunately. Debbie and I did some shopping, of course. :)

Overall it was a great visit and we are looking forward to them coming back soon!