7 Months Old Today!

So, it's hard to believe that we are now closer to Audrey's 1 year birthday than we are to the actual day that I had her. I can't believe that!
Audrey must have known that she was turning 7 months old today because she pulled both her knees in today and got into the crawling stance. She didn't actually take off and start crawling but she was in position! This past weekend we noticed her try to pull her knees in for a second and today she actually did it and she did it a few times! She also pushed up on her toes! I got a picture of that and I will try to post it soon.

Uncle Alex and some more pics

I wanted to share some good news about Evan's brother, Alex. He is home from Iraq!!! He came home about a couple of months ago and he is back in the states now. He was able to come over to our house last week and meet Audrey for the first time! We took some great pics of him holding her but I won't post those till I get his permission.
I do want to post some more pics of Miss A while we were in Orlando and some pics of Audrey's carseat in my Celica so you can get an idea of what a pain it was to put her carseat in and out of a 2-door! I will take some pics of the new car soon and post those too!


Audrey sitting in Daddy's lap by the pool...with a little drool falling from her mouth-

Audrey sitting next to Mama in her "nest" at one of the restaurants at the resort-
Audrey in her carseat in the Celica-
This is what I had to put in my car each time we went anywhere and let me tell you that Audrey's weight plus the weight of the carseat was getting quite heavy!
Miss A getting settled in before we were off to an outing-

We got a new refrigerator...

We got a new fridge yesterday that is much bigger than our old one. We are so excited about our new appliance and just thankful that the Lord has provided so much for our family. Here are two pics of Evan in front of the old fridge and then in front of the new fridge:


Out with the old....


In with the new...

Ba-ba and Ma-ma

Yesterday, I heard Audrey say "baba" and later "maba" and I was pretty excited! Today, when she was fussing before she took her nap, I heard her say "mama"!!!!!!!!! I have read enough to know that she isn't actually calling out to me and that the sounds-mama, baba, and dada-are all universal sounds for babies when they first begin to babble. But it still made my heart flutter when I heard her say it!!!

A Few "Firsts"

About a week and a half ago, I realized that gliding was no longer enough to get Audrey to sleep. I noticed that I was also having to jiggle, rock, swing, tap my leg, or do some other motion along with gliding to get her to sleep. Even when I did those things, Audrey still cried in my arms until she just gave in to sleep. I told Evan that I felt like I spent most of my day trying to put Audrey down for a nap. Also, Audrey had not let Evan put her to sleep in a couple of months nor would she let him comfort her when she woke up, so it was all on me! Well, I decided one night after Audrey woke up after a 40 minute sleep cycle that instead of getting her out of her crib and rocking her back to sleep, I was going to stay there with her but keep her in her crib. I stood by her crib and patted and kissed her and picked her up a few times. But basically she stayed in her crib till she fell back asleep. Evan came in after I had been in her room for about 10 minutes. He was good moral support. It took almost an hour but it worked! She finally fell asleep! Let me be clear-I did not let her "cry it out" because I stayed in there the whole time, kept my hand on her, talked to her, and picked her up when she was really upset. (If you have ever read The Baby Whisperer, I did a hybrid of her "Pick Up/Put Down" method.) After that night, I tried it again the next day during her afternoon nap. Again it took almost an hour but she didn't cry as much this time and once again, I stayed in the room with her the whole time and stood right by her and patted, kissed, and talked to her to keep her calm. It only took those two times and since then she has mostly let us put her down in her crib and goes to sleep on her own. She even lets Evan put her down for the night and she lets him comfort her back to sleep if she wakes up too soon!! Sometimes we have to go in there a couple of times if her paci falls out or she rolls over on her belly and she gets pressed up against the rails. She doesn't like that too much! :-) But mainly when I put her down, I usually swaddle her legs, give her the pacifier, give her a kiss, and tell her I love her and then leave the room! I listen to her on the monitor and if she gets too fussy I will go back in and kiss her again or put my hand on her chest to comfort her. We are so proud of her and so happy for that she can go to sleep on her own now!
Another first-I had tried rice cereal with Audrey back in July and then stopped because she wasn't interested. So, I tried again two weeks ago and she still didn't show that much interest but I introduced bananas to her also. I gave her the Gerber organic ones and she gave me some funny looks with that and didn't really eat much of it. She seemed to get a diaper rash after that too so I stopped giving it to her. I got a kit to help me make her baby food so I made some organic zucchini for her and she also didn't like that much either. Then I noticed that all the rice cereal and the bananas had really messed up her system and I was concerned. ( I don't know what I was thinking giving her rice cereal AND bananas in one week! Those are two of the foods in the B.R.A.T. diet!) I called the pediatrician last weekend and she suggested prunes and some other things for Audrey. I tried prunes last weekend and that was hilarious! She certainly did not enjoy those. I also bought some Happy Bellies organic oatmeal cereal with probiotics that my friend, Lindsley, had said worked for her son, Zaden. I finally tried that and that was what she needed! Tuesday night Audrey was back to normal again and I was relieved! The rest of the week I decided just to give her the rice cereal in the morning after I nursed her. She was still kind of pushing it out of her mouth and not swallowing most of it....until yesterday! Yesterday morning I could actually hear Audrey swallowing and I noticed that there was less on the spoon when I pulled it out of her mouth! I also noticed that she wasn't pushing the food back out anymore! It looks like she is starting to lose the tongue-thrust reflex. Today, was the first time that she ate all her cereal! She probably ate about half a tablespoon. (I have been making less of it because I noticed I was wasting a lot when she didn't finish it.)
So, next week I may go back to the zucchini again. I still have several cubes of it frozen in the freezer or I may try something else. I hear babies love carrots and sweet potatoes so those might be next!

Lots of stuff....

There has been a lot happening lately so I feel a little behind on posting. Therefore, this post may be long. We went to Orlando two weeks ago. Evan attended the National Urban League conference to represent VW so Audrey and I tagged along! On the flight there, Audrey's ears bothered her so badly that she screamed the last 10 minutes of the flight. The poor guy sitting across the row from us got his ears full as he was sitting between a screaming baby on his right and a loudly snoring man on his left! How that man snored and slept through Audrey screaming is beyond me! Anyway, I understood how Audrey felt because my ears hurt too. In Orlando we stayed at the Marriot Resort and it three pools and one of them was huge and really neat. That was the perfect place to introduce Audrey to a swimming pool! But when we put her in, she merely tolerated the water while we held her. She wasn't too thrilled to be in there. During the conference, both John McCain and Barack Obama spoke. We were able to get in to hear McCain on Friday but were not able to hear Obama on Saturday. We even took Audrey in with us so we all three got to listen to a presidential candidate for the first time! Here is a photo of McCain while he was speaking:

We were sitting in the very, very back so the picture isn't that clear! Anyway, as soon as I sat down in the auditorium, I realized Audrey needed to be fed! So, I had to walk back out through security and go to the restroom and feed her standing up. Not so easy to do but I did it and went back through security again and got in just as he was beginning to speak. We didn't get to stay for the whole speech because Evan had to be in the exhibit hall and Audrey was starting to get a little bored.
The flight back from Orlando was much better-Audrey had no pain in her ears. I made sure to tell the pilot that it was a great flight and thanked him for it!
Evan and I are amazed at all the places Audrey has been in her 6 1/2 months on this earth and how many flights she has already taken. She has been to Louisiana, Florida, Maryland, and New Jersey. But she also had a stop in Michigan on one of the flights so if you count that, she has been to 5 states not counting Virginia-where she lives. She has also been through Delaware on our way to Cape May! She is quite the little traveler and we plan on taking her back to Cape May for Labor Day weekend.
Here are some recent pics of Audrey:

Audrey putting her feet in her mouth

Audrey on her 6 month birthday

Audrey sitting in the glider in her room after church. That Sunday was the first Sunday I left her in the nursery. Granted, I had to go back there twice-once to feed her and once they called me back there but I was still proud of myself and Audrey! :-) The dress she is wearing was a gift from my college roommate, Christy. She sent it to me when she found out I was having a girl.

One day I went in to get Audrey after she woke up from her nap and I found her doing this-gumming on the crib rails!

This was taken in our hotel room at the resort in Orlando. Audrey was quite fascinated with the other baby in the mirror!

Audrey trying to make an escape out of the high chair at Chevy's in Orlando
Audrey and me at one of the restaurants at the resort. The waiter graciously came up with the idea to set up some tablecloths to make a "nest" for Audrey to sit in next to me.

Audrey and Evan on the bed in our hotel room

Audrey trying prunes for the first time...looks like chocolate!
This is the last picture of me and Audrey with my old car. This was taken at Grammy Karen's house. One major update I forgot to mention-I got a new car on Saturday!!! I am no longer a driver of a 2-door Celica. I now drive a 4-door Passat!! The car will be parked at Grammy's house until it is transported up to NJ to it's new owner-Evan's cousin!
Audrey trying out her sippy cup for the first time on Monday. She doesn't have the hang of drinking from it yet but she enjoyed it anyway! It sure kept her busy while we were at the grocery store!

I now have another grocery store story. Yesterday I was waiting in line to check out and realized that Audrey was missing her green froggy that her Aunt Arien had given her when we visited Louisiana! I was just ready to put my things on the conveyor belt and had been waiting for a while when I realized this! So, I had to get out of line and retrace my steps. I gave up halfway through the store and checked out. Then I went up to the service desk and told the guy about the frog. He checked the Lost and Found and there was no sign of it so we had to go home. Evan, being the great daddy that he is volunteered to meet us there and look for it but I told him he could do that later if he wanted. So, later when we were home, he went back to the store searched the whole store. (He also wanted a good excuse to drive my new car!) He came home only with a bottle of shampoo but no froggy. However, I called the store today and the frog had been turned in! Evan went back to the store this evening because he wanted another reason to drive the car and brought the froggy home! Evan wins the Best Dad award for his hard work! :-)

Do I look Russian?

So, today I was grocery shopping and I got in line to check out. There was this couple in front of me...probably late 50's. The man kept looking at me...I wasn't sure why. Anyway, when I got closer he said something to me in some totally different language...not English or Spanish or Italian or French...nothing that I might recognize. So, after he said something I just said "yeah" because I thought maybe he just had a really thick accent and then he said something else and I realized I had no idea what he was saying. So, I gave him this sheepish look and said "I'm sorry. I don't understand." I was thinking "Is this guy playing a joke?" I totally thought he was going to say "Just kiddin'" but no! He then said in a thick accent in English "I thought you were Russian." Haha!!! I said "No, Sorry!" He then said "what kind of wine are you getting?" So I showed him...it was this new kind I had never tried so I told him "It's new" and then he asked where I got it so I kind of pointed and said "in that area". I didn't want to try to give too many details in case he didn't know a lot of English. Anyway, I guess he must have looked at me for so long because he thought I was Russian! So...do I have Russian-looking features? I don't know but he must have thought so.

Just thankful...

I just want to thank the Lord for my baby girl, Audrey Amalie. I am so grateful that I got that positive pregnancy test in May of 2007. I am so thankful that I got to carry her to term with no complications. I am so thankful for my natural childbirth with no medication. I am so very thankful for a healthy baby who came out crying. I am so thankful for every day I have spent holding her, nursing her, changing her, rocking her, putting her down for a nap, kissing her, bathing her, reading to her, massaging her little legs and arms, making her laugh, and just being her mommy. I am so incredibly blessed. Thank you, God.