Goodbye, Summer

Tomorrow it's back to school for the teacher work week. I am really excited to get into my room and unpack, redecorate, and get ready for the new school year. I love this time of year. So much to look forward to! I truly believe that this is going to be a great year. I'm excited to meet my new students, that's the best part.

I had a wonderful summer. I got to spend every waking moment with my precious girl. How much she has changed since June! She started crawling, got 2 teeth, started pulling up on everything, and started sleeping all night in her own room. I am so proud of all her milestones and I'm thrilled that she's a happy, healthy, beautiful little lady. So much has changed for her this summer which makes it a little harder to go back to work (although I have successfully weaned and will not be bringing my pump back to work...hooray!). It will still be difficult to go from spending all day with her...to spending all day away from her. I'm going to miss having her voice on the monitor wake me up. Instead it will be the annoying sound of my alarm clock. I'm going to miss our leisurely mornings of hanging out with Chris while he gets ready for work, watching Mickey Mouse, eating breakfast and playing in the living room with absolutely no hurry. I'm going to miss putting her down for her naps, and then walking back into her room a couple hours later to see her smiling face. Yeah, there are about a million things I will miss about summer, but the good news is there's always NEXT summer :)

Besides getting to spend all my time with my favorite little person, I had plenty of time to read! I finished my Jack Daniels murder mystery series (by JA Konrath...that I started LAST summer). I started the Twilight series and will be starting the final book tomorrow. I know that once the kids start back to school I'll have zero time to read for enjoyment...probably not until Winter break (which btw is only 3 months, 3 weeks, and 1 day away.)

A look back at the best summer ever:


Mom's last day of school!


Pool time!


Spent most of the summer either sitting up, or on all fours....wanting to crawl SO BADLY!


There are teeth in there somewhere...


Learned to pull up on everything, thanks to all the new big girl toys!

Goodbye, summer! It's been fabulous!

Why do I even buy toys?

Audrey was hanging out with me while I worked on a photo project in the guest bedroom. All of a sudden I hear a "Booooiiiinnnngggggg", look over, and see her playing with the door spring...

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The white rubber tips have now been removed from all door springs :)

Big girl bath

"Towel, please!"

8 months!

Audrey turned 8 months yesterday and we celebrated by having her picture taken at JCP. I also updated her 7-8 month page.




You can really see her two bottom teeth in this one!






This one cracks me up!


Afterwards we went to Grandma's house where she got to play with the new toys that Grandpa bought! Her favorite is the FP Baby Grand piano. She was mesmerized by it! She is going to have so much fun there when I go back to work next week. How lucky we are!





Jason was here to visit over the past few days and he came bearing gifts! Audrey loves her new drum set (although she insists on turning it upside down most the time?!!?) and her First Words book. I love the dress Auntie Caroline picked out for her...so stylish!


She'll get the hang of them, eventually :)


So pretty in her pink dress!! And look at those pearly whites!!

Blog to Book

Why are the good ideas always taken? I came across this site as I was looking for a new blog background. Now, I don't have a baby book for Audrey. This is pretty much it. Luckily my MIL is creating 2 scrapbooks of Audrey (one for her monthly professional pics, the other for candids...yay!) This blog to book would be perfect in leu of the traditional baby book. Hint, hint ;)

UPDATE...I just created my book...it is so cool!! The site will let you see what it actually looks like with the cover, table of contents, pictures, and everything! It's like a digital preview. I'm not going to order it just yet. I'm thinking of waiting until Audrey is 9 months. Since I started the blog when I got pregnant it will be about her 9 months in the womb and her first 9 months out in the real world :) I am so excited!

Time to bust out the ice packs...

Dear Audrey,

With crawling comes great responsibility, Grasshopper. The bright white holes in the wall are NOT for babies to stick things in. I'm not sure why you are so fascinated with the outlets. You have given me yet another item to put on this week's shopping list.



Also, when you crawl on the tile floor, you need to be very careful. More careful than usual. Was it fun when you fell mouth first and bled all over yourself (and me) this morning? I know you got over it pretty quickly, but not so for your mama. Blood is NOT a good look on you, my dear.

And another thing: just because you're crawling now does not in ANY WAY mean you have to start climbing, too. Ever heard of baby steps? You've got a lovely bruise on your forehead from falling into your bookshelf. Although I am thrilled with your love of books, get used to reading with one hand...the other will be busy with an ice pack.




I know that these injuries hurt me more than they hurt you (thank goodness) but please try to tone it down a bit. Or I will be forced to make you wear this until you're old enough to have your own kids. Mkay? Thanks. Love you, Mama

Giddy Up!

Grandma and Grandpa bought Audrey her very first pony...and she LOVES it!!


Intrigued...


Look, Ma, no hands!

I'm so proud of her!

Audrey is 7 months, 2 weeks, 4 days old.

She crawls!!

Well, she's getting the hang of it anyway. For awhile now she's been getting on all fours, rocking, standing on her feet, and rotating herself to face different directions. She can definitely make her way around a room but she hasn't started crawling in the traditional sense. Until now! Just today she tried going for her red ring and it would slide away from her. I watched her actually crawl towards it!! By the time I got my camera she was pretty tired of the game. It's going to be funny when she's full-on speed crawling all over the house!!

Time to buy a toothbrush!!

I can't believe it!! Audrey's first tooth has broken through. I just knew it was going to happen soon. She's been chewing on everything, sleeping extra long, and fussy/clingy right before her naps. Teething tablets have been our best friend. We've been feeling and looking everyday for the past couple weeks. I *thought* her gums looked red and swollen on Sunday. I just put her down for her nap and she was fussing so I gave her some tablets. I went to massage her bottom gums while they dissolved and totally felt a bud!! I grabbed her out of the crib, turned on the lights and pried open her mouth. I don't know why I'm so excited....I guess I've really been looking forward to this moment!!

My sweet, sweet baby is getting so big. We were at our friend's house on Sunday and they have a gorgeous little girl who is about 20 months. Audrey got to play with some of her big girl toys. Among them was a stand up play table, an indoor riding toy, an outdoor pull car, and a bouncing/rocking horse. She loved ALL of them. Wow. Audrey needs big girl toys now. So I bought her the Laugh 'n Learn play table and a 3-in-1 riding toy. That should keep her satisfied for now, and hopefully for a couple more months!




Oh, and she loves these stacking rings. She takes one off at a time until they're all gone. Or when she gets down to the last two she'll just dump the whole thing over.


She is just so amazing. I am so grateful for every moment I get to spend with her!

Happy Birthday, Scott!

My little brother turns 14 today and I can hardly believe it! He's the greatest kid I've ever known. He's been a shining star in my life since the day he was born. I was 14 and completely in love with my little baby brother. I wanted to hold him all the time, feed him, play with him. I really appreciated having him around. I loved watching him grow up. He was the baby in the family by 10 years and so there was never a dull moment with him around. Scott is so kind, thoughtful of others and very generous. I don't think there's a selfish bone in his body! And he has the best sense of humor. He makes me laugh all the time. Now that I have a baby of my own, it's makes me so proud to watch him as an uncle. He's so great with Audrey and he loves her so much. No doubt he'll be one of her favorites...because he's definitely mine!


I thought he was the cutest baby I'd ever seen!




In Maine, our favorite vacation spot...so many fantastic memories





Happy 14th birthday!!

Memories

I'm not sure why, but I've been thinking about my childhood a lot lately. I really don't have a great recollection of it, my memory is awful! I guess that's one reason I write this blog. When Audrey is older and wants to know about when she was a baby, I can just tell her to go read the blog :)

My most cherished memory is of my Nana and Pop. I absolutely loved it when they came to visit. It was like everything was so much better. I wish I had a better word to describe it. The anticipation would start when we would clean the whole house (who doesn't love a super clean, ready-for-company house??) My mom would set out a little snack (Entenmann's coffee cake...YUM) and make coffee and have it setting on the table for when they arrived. Their arrival was thrilling in itself. If we were in school that day, I'd be overcome with anticipation as our bus pulled to our stop. I remember being so anxious to see if their car was there. And of course, if it was, we'd run so fast to get home. Even when I was in high school and I could drive, that feeling never went away. I clearly remember what that felt like. My Pop was very quiet and gentle. My Nana was kind and generous and boisterous...I can still hear her wonderful laugh, it was contagious. And she always smelled so good and looked beautiful, even after the 6 hour car ride from Staten Island.

What's interesting is that we didn't really do anything out of the ordinary during their visit. They came and watched our soccer games and dance recitals. We'd sit around the big dining room table and eat a huge spaghetti dinner (my Nana made the best sauce!) We'd all cram into the living room and watch prime time TV. We did normal, everyday things and yet they were so much more fun just because Nana and Pop were there. They completely lightened the mood of our house. You couldn't help but be happy around them. And when they left, my Nana always gave us money. $5 a piece. It was awesome.

And going to visit them was just as great. I loved their house. It was way tiny, there was only 1 bathroom, and we had to share a bedroom (I'm pretty sure my closet is bigger than my dad's old bedroom!) But it was so clean and cozy. My Nana knew how to make a house a home. We loved playing in their large basement and we'd spend hours down there dancing or playing random games. I used to love curling up on their couch and reading. It was there I discovered my love of mystery/thriller novels. My Nana had a copy of The Silence of the Lambs. I had been thumbing through it (I was in middle school) and came across a particularly gruesome part. I read it over and over, thinking to myself, "How could someone write about something so horrible??" I was hooked. And then I just had to read it from the beginning. I became obsessed with the book and would read it every chance I got. To this day it's one of my favorite books, and probably the reason I'm so obsessed with reading about and watching anything that has to do with crime solving. I've digressed.

Basically, the best part of my childhood were my grandparents. They passed away a few years ago and it was so, so hard on my family. I miss them all the time. I wish I could have danced with my Nana at my wedding. I wish they could have held Audrey. Chris is lucky enough to have most of his grandparents, even some of his great grandparents. And now I'm lucky to have them too. As I reminisce about those warm fuzzy feelings I wonder what memories Audrey will cherish, what memories will be really important to her. I hope she has plenty of them and I hope, I pray, that some of them include me.

First Fair

We took Audrey to our county fair. We walked around and showed her the animals, played a couple games, and of course ate a funnel cake :) Audrey even took her first carousel ride! I think I enjoyed it way more than she did.


She got on and knew to hold on immediately. Too cute.






This is how she relaxes in her stroller.

Happy 7 months!!

Audrey is 7 months today. I can't believe it! I'm loving this age and I know I'm very fortunate to spend so much time with her. She is so close to crawling! She can make her way around the room, but uses a variety of methods to do so. She loves to stand up while holding onto things and she has the cutest little fake laugh. Ugh, I could just squeeze her!!! Her favorite foods are yogurt (with cereal and fruit mixed in), all fruits and veggie combinations, turkey & chicken. A very well-rounded diet this girl has. Not much into snacks yet which is ok by me. She's really getting the hang of her sippy cup but I'm not too great at remembering to give it to her. Still loves Mickey, but tolerates pretty much any cartoon (I'm loving Phineas and Ferb right now.) She sleeps in her crib all night but hasn't given up that one early morning feeding (sometimes it's at 3:00, sometimes it's 5:30...you can never be sure!) She is such a great kid!! Chris says it should be illegal to have a baby this cute. No arguments here!




Look at that face! She's clearly givng attitude.

Oh geez...

I'll never be able to say no to this face. Ever.

Awesome weekend!

I love summer. So sad it's half over :( But I'm not going to dwell on that, I'm going to enjoy what time I have left! This weekend we went to visit with MomMaw. We got to see cousin Teddy at his swim lesson, then we all went out to breakfast. Teddy just loves "Baby Audrey"...




She's going for his nose, and he let her squeeze it!


Fair is fair though, and he got her back pretty good!

Later that night Chris and I had our first date night since Audrey has been born. We went to dinner and saw The Hangover, which was totally hilarious. It was so nice to be out by ourselves. We missed Audrey, of course, but she was having a good old time with Grandma and Grandpa. I'll have pictures of their night together later. It was a great weekend. Audrey is just too fun to be around. How did we get to be so lucky?!

When life hands you lemons...

suck on them!!

Audrey loves lemons. Just like her momma :) At first we gave her one to see the famous "WTH is this?!" face. But then she wanted it. Like REALLY wanted it. It's pretty funny to watch her go at it :)

Finally!

I really, really love our Stokke. Best baby purchase by far. The only thing missing was a good cupholder (you'd think for the price tag it would have come with one, but whatever.) At the time they didn't make them, so I bought a chap velcro one that barely holds a tall mocha. I pretty much use it to hold my keys and cell phone. Anyways, a few months ago I get an email about a contest. Submit a short video about why you love your Stokke, the first 100 entries get a free cup holder. Well, there's no way I'm taking the time to make a video, I'll just buy a cup holder! Come to find out that they weren't available in the US yet. Huh?! Every Google search sent me to online stores all over Europe. Not much help to me. I even tried Ebay to no avail. I thought you could get pretty much anything on Ebay!

I decided to do a Google search again the other day and managed to find a very cute website, Nini & Loli. In America, baby. Cup holder is arriving next week :)

Growth Spurts Suck

Audrey's sleep has been shot to hell recently. At first she was just waking up a little earlier than normal...4:00 am one day, then 3:00 the next, then 2:00, then 1:00. She'd take a bottle and go right back to sleep until her regular wake up time (7:00 ish). Last night was by far the worst though. She went to bed around 8:00. And then woke up at 10:30...WTH??! Chris fed her since he was still up, you know because it was only 10:30. I forget what times she woke up, but it was about every 2 hours the rest of the night. Most of the time she wasn't really interested in eating, although she did manage to suck down a couple ounces each time. It was like she was a newborn again, a time I do not miss (well, as far as night feedings/wakings goes.) This HAS to be a growth spurt. My sweet little baby needs her beauty sleep!

In my search to find a teething cracker/cookie/biscuit, I finally found a snack she likes! I've tried giving her yogurt melts and puffs. She picks them up but doesn't put them in her mouth. Mum Mums are a different story, though. She loves to chew on them. It's so cute to watch her self-feed.


As you can tell, she takes snacking pretty seriously.

Anyways, please recommend your favorite teething snacks and where I can find them. Thanks!

Such a personality!

One of the best things about being a parent is watching your child's personality take shape. Audrey can be serious, bashful, playful, silly, cranky, snuggly. I love that she does things unique and special to her...like when she's on my shoulder she likes to blow raspberries. Or how she sings herself to sleep. Or how she babbles on and on and then as clear as day says, "Dada!"

She loves the dogs. They make her laugh by doing absolutely nothing. Wish that worked for me!


This video is pretty boring, but it's the first time we caught her saying "Dada" on film. Lucky for you it's at about 12 seconds :)


She sings herself to sleep if she's being held , in the stroller, or in the car. It's adorable.