My Little Amel DeMarcos

Last week my little princess turned two years old. I can't believe that this past year came and went so quick. We had her birthday party last Saturday (I'll be posting a blog about that soon), and let me tell you, that girl made out in the gift department!! She got 4 dvds, books, a potty cake (basically a diaper cake that's geared toward potty training), a pile of clothes, a swimsuit, a hat, a cover up, sunglasses, lots of toys, and 5 (yes 5) pairs of shoes. This girl is SOOO spoiled, er I mean blessed. Here's a pic of all of her shoes:

We got her the pink Converse (I've been eying them for quite awhile). And you can't tell in the picture, but the Disney Princess sandals light up when she walks, and the peep toed shoes with the pink bows are actually wedges (yes wedges for a two year old) and they are super cute!! I swear my daughter is the next Amel DeMarcos!! This child LOVES her some shoes. She is constantly putting on different pairs of shoes just to wear around the house, even when she's only wearing pajamas! At Christmas we were at my parents and everyone took off their shoes and put them inside the front door, what did Audrey do for half an hour? If you guessed put on, walked around in and then took off EVERY pair of shoes, then you hit the nail on the head. My current count of her shoes is at least 13 pair (and these are just the ones that fit her, not the oodles of pairs that she's already grown out of!). Lord help her Daddy as she ages and wants to pay more than $10 for a pair of shoes!!!

I Love The Smell...

...of a freshly bathed baby!!!

Cucumber and green tea bath soap combined with lavender and chamomile baby lotion is absolutely heavenly!!

I Love A Messy Child!!!

Okay, so my belief is that a child should be a child and being messy is part of that! Why are some moms SO overly concerned about their children getting a bit messy. Maybe it's because most of the time the moms have to do the cleaning up! I try to keep in mind that stains on clothes are okay as are marks from pens on the body. So what if I have to stick my child in the tub one more time that day. So what if I have to wash another load of clothes or, heaven forbid, throw a shirt away (which, by the way, I've NEVER had to do). Life is too short to be so concerned with this. I love the memories that are made when my daughter gets down right messed up! Of course she won't actually remember any of this, but that's what my memory and cameras are for! The pictures and the smiles on my daughter's face are SOOOO worth the extra 10 or 15 minutes of cleaning that I have to do. So I challenge you to bite the bullet and let your children get messy!

Here are a few instances where Audrey had fun getting messy:

This was chocolate pudding!!




This was Pop-Tarts!!




This was highlighter!!


Notice how if I think ahead of time I'll strip her down to just her diaper to save the clothes!!

Audrey's Growing Up....

I know I still have awhile, but the thought of Audrey not being in her crib any longer has started to creep into my mind. So I've started to ponder what kind of furniture she is going to have when she is ready for her "big girl" bed. I got an Ikea catalog in the mail awhile back and fell in love with the Mammut series of furniture. It's very whimsical and almost reminds of something out of a Dr. Seuss book! I could just imagine her having a Dr. Seuss room eventually....

Pumpkin Patch

I took Audrey to a Pumpkin Patch this afternoon. I wanted to do it last year, but I never got around to it, so this year I was bound and determined to go! I was very pretty outside today, in the high 80's, with a breeze and clear, sunny skies. So we went and walked around the patch for about 30 minutes. I took a LOT of pictures of her, but unfortunately I didn't have my husband there to get her to look at the camera, so most of the pics are of the side of her face! At one point I resorted to dangling my keys next to the camera to get her to look! There was one pumpkin that she took to big time. It was a small pumpkin, I think they called them 'We Be Littles', and she carried that thing around for most of our time there! We left with 2 'We Be Littles', and one 'Spooky' pumpkin. Here are some of the pictures:

This was my favorite picture!


Audrey with her lil' pumpkin...


The little one in her hand was her favorite!


Checking out some pumpkins...



There are just SO many to check out...

2007 so far....

Okay, so it's been a LOOOONG time since I've updated. And because of that I'm definitely going to forget some things, but bare with me. Audrey turned one in April. That makes her almost 16 months old now. I absolutely LOVE this stage, but it's sad to see my baby growing up so fast.

Let's see, what are some of the BIG things that have happened?
Audrey got sick for the first time Easter weekend (right before her first birthday). She had her first ever fever, which hit almost 103 degrees at one point. We've been so blessed that she has been such a healthy little one. Considering she was a preemie and everything. I remember having SOOOO much guilt when I decided to stop breastfeeding (when she was 6 weeks old), because you always hear, "breast is best!!", especially with her being a preemie and needing the extra immunities, etc. But, I just couldn't do it anymore, I was under SO much stress and wasn't producing properly. Thank God, we have one healthy little girl!!!

Right after her first birthday we moved her into her own room. I struggled with the decision, mainly because I didn't want to "let her go". She'd been sleeping in our room (in her own bed) up until this point. But she did wonderfully!! The second night in her room was the first time she'd EVER slept through the night! And she's done it ever since then!! So I've decided when the next one comes along, we're moving him or her into a different room a LOT sooner!

That same week, we weaned her off of her bottle and completely off of formula. She had these three MAJOR changes happening within days of each other and she just sailed right through them with no problems or hesitations at all. Needless to say, that was definitely a bittersweet week for me!!

She took her first steps on her own at 12 1/2 months, although it took her a few weeks to feel confident enough to take more than 3 or 4 steps! I love watching babies when they're first walking, it's so adorable!!


She is also talking up a storm. Her vocabulary is growing at such a fast rate!! Here are some of the words she says:
~Mommy
~Daddy
~puppy
~Gordy (one of our dogs)
~Rikki (our new puppy, although it comes out Kikki)
~Bite (this is what she says when she wants a bite of your food)
~juicy (for her juice)
~turkey
~hi
~bye bye
~nose (although it comes out without the 's' sound)
~no or no, no
~stop/stop it (she hears me tell the dogs this)
~bubble
~uh-oh
~gentle
~kisses
~baby
~ball
~pink ball (this is her favorite ball, which is pink)
~big ball (for her ball that is, well, big!)
~hello (she says this when "answering" her cell phone)
~doo da (she sings this along with one of her toys that plays 'Camptown Races')
~Audrey (although it comes out Aw-gee)
~ducky
~dancy (for dance)
~fishy (although it comes out pishy)
~peek-a-boo (sounds like pee boo)
~there she is! (when playing peek-a-boo under a blanket)
~bebe (this is her stuffed rabbit)
~thank you
~okie dokie
~night night (it comes out die die!!)

These are all of the words that I can think of at the moment that she says on a regular basis, although there are a LOT of other things that she has said when copying someone else.

In the last couple of weeks she has also learned where her nose is. About 40% of the time she hits her cheek or mouth though!!

Now that the school year is about to start back up I'm going to start "schooling" her a bit more. Of course I will just be working with her on VERY basic things. Body parts, colors, animals, sounds, letters, numbers, etc. Also, the whole potty training thing is starting to enter my mind, but I'm going to wait until she's at least 18 months to introduce the potty to her!

I'm very fortunate because Audrey is NOT a picky eater at all. She will eat pretty much everything, although she doesn't eat much. So I'm trying to work with her on eating more and gaining a bit of weight. At her last appointment (at 14 1/2 months) she was average for her height (31 inches, I believe), but she was only in the 10th percentile for her weight at 19lbs. 14oz. The pediatrician wasn't too concerned about it, but he just wanted to bring it to my attention. So now I'm trying to fatten her up!

Also, another thing that is great is that Audrey couldn't care less about the tv (except for pushing the buttons, of course!). I've put on a few different things for her in the past and she watches not even a minute of it and then she's off playing. Although, I have to admit that at times I wish she liked to sit and watch tv, just for a break!! ;)

One thing she LOVES so much is music. This girl is obsessed!! Bryan has an electronic drum kit and two guitars set up in our room, so if she's ever in there she walks up to the guitars and starts "strumming" them. Or if she hears Bryan on the drums it immediately draws her attention! One time Bryan was playing the drums with his headphones on, so Audrey and I went in and sat down on the bed to watch, Bryan gave me a set of headphones to put on Audrey and I tell you she sat there for a good 10 minutes or so and just listened and watched!! She LOVES music!! Which is so great because she has BIG time music lovers for parents!!

Anyways, this was a brief (yet long!) update on what's going on with Audrey. I'll try and update again soon!

Also, if you'd like to see pictures of Audrey go to: http://www.dropshots.com/jen_l_06
I try and update the pictures regularly!!

Love you all!!
xoxo,
Jen =)

9 months old!

.

So today is Audrey's 9 month "birthday". I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I'm already starting to think about her first birthday party. Man, what happened to that little 3 1/2 pound baby that I once held in my arms? The tiny, preemie that seemed so fragile and just wanted to eat and sleep all the time! Well, she's now so big that she no longer resembles a preemie at all!

Our big news today is that Audrey is FINALLY no longer toothless! I actually just realized that a few minutes ago. I was feeding her lunch (guava & sweet potatoes) and I saw some white on her gums so I put my finger in her mouth and then made her smile and sure enough, her two front, bottom teeth are now appearing! After months and months of teething we're finally here. And the funny thing is, it hasn't seemed like she's been teething recently!

Audrey's first Christmas was a wonderful one! We were in San Antonio on the 23rd and 24th of December. She got to see a lot of family that we hardly ever get to see. It's funny, going back to how big she is, my cousin, Malena, is like 11 days or so older than Audrey, and she was a full term baby, and a big baby at that! Now Audrey is at least the same size as her, and possibly a bit bigger!! Anyways, on Christmas Eve my mom and I took Audrey to get her ears pierced. Yes, I put my baby through that! She actually did very well. After they did the first ear she let out a big cry, so the lady hurried and did the second one and then we stuck a bottle in her and she was a-okay! She's barely even noticed them. And since she got them, I no longer have anyone telling me what a cute little boy I have!
We came back to Austin the night of the 24th and had our own little Christmas morning at home and then went to my in-laws for presents and lunch. All in all it was probably the best Christmas we've had since Bryan and I got married!

Let's see, what else is Audrey doing. She now takes steps while holding onto things. Like, she'll walk around the inside of her playpen and her crib (holding on, of course). She's become a pro at pulling herself up! It's funny, she's now learned a way to sit down from the standing position in her playpen. She bends over forward and plants the top of her head (and sometimes her face) into the netting on the side of the playpen, lets her hands go and just slides down with her head until she plops down on her behind. It's actually quite funny to watch!

She eats lots of stuff now. She's not very picky about the baby food I feed her and will eat pretty much anything. So to keep her that way I want to stay away from feeding sweets and stuff. I want her to keep on liking veggies and fruits. I wanted to make her food, but I just never got into it, so she eats jarred food, so I'm trying to make sure the only ingredients in her food are simple ones, just the fruits, veggies, meats, grains, etc. Hopefully if I keep this stuff up it will pay off in the long run. One thing that she absolutely loves are the Gerber Wagon Wheels. She will take a whole one and stick it all the way in her mouth and then wait for it to dissolve and try to swallow it down!

She's finally on a pretty good schedule. I haven't really tried to hard in the past to get her on one, but since she is now it's WONDERFUL!! I will definitely be starting that early with the next one! Her schedule goes loosely as follows:
6:30 - 7ish: wake up
7:45: breakfast (one jar fruit & water)
8:45: bottle and nap
12noon: lunch (one jar veggies & water)
2:00: bottle and nap
4:00: snack (wagon wheels, veggie puffs, juice)
6ish: dinner (one jar baby meal & water)
8:45: bottle and bed
She's still waking up in the middle of the night, but slowly we're getting that gone!

Well, that's it for right now...
XOXO

Almost 8 months old...

Wow! In less than a week lil' miss Audrey will be 8 months old! I can't believe it. Time is just flying by so fast. A lot has gone on since my last post!

Audrey is now eating LOTS of solids. She's eating three "solid" meals a day, plus a snack of a teething biscuit and juice. All of this on top of her formula! I'm trying to get her to drink out of a sippy cup, but she would rather drink out of a regular glass, so we're working on it. I really want her to be off the bottle at a year old. Her favorite foods are apples, squash, pears, and sweet potatoes. She doesn't really care for peas or bananas. And she is completely enthralled with our food and drinks. Every time we eat or drink she's reaching her little hand out to get some. Over Thanksgiving she had her first taste of mashed potatoes, and boy did she love them!

She's still a little small for age, weighing in at about 16.5 lbs at almost 8 months. But she is sure thriving! She started crawling on her hands and knees right after Halloween and she gets where she wants to go FAST! And within the last two weeks she has started to sit up unassisted and is now pulling herself into both kneeling and standing positions. The easiest place for her to pull herself onto her feet is in her crib, a lot of other places just don't have the same good grip, but she still tries!

Audrey's also now learning to clap. It's so cute when she does it! The other day she actually made a little noise that sounded like she was saying, "Yea!" (which is what I say when falls and bumps her head). She is also a babbling fool! She's saying a bunch of different consonants and every once in awhile (probably on a fluke) she says simple words, like dada, mama, yeah, yes, okay, etc.

As far as Bryan and I go, everything is going pretty great! Bryan started a new job a little over month ago and he absolutely LOVES it! He's working at a company called National Instruments, doing customer service stuff. NI has been ranked on Forbes top 100 companies to work for 7 years running. They are really employee friendly there. Right now he's in a temp position, but it's a temp to hire! So in less than 60 days they'll be evaluating him and hiring him in full time. We also just moved into our first house and we're loving that! I'm still unpacking and putting stuff away, you just really don't realize how much stuff you have until you move!

Anyways, I will be taking Audrey's Christmas pictures this week, so I'll put those up soon!

I love my life!

Well, life has definitely gotten more and more interestingsince having Audrey! First of all I'm getting very little sleep, Audrey has put herself on a very strict 2.5- 3 hour feeding schedule, and when she's ready to eat she's ready!It's gotten a tad easier at night since I've put a tv tray next to the bed stocked with diapers, wipes, formula, and bottles. So we have our wake up routines down to 20 minutes or under each time (most of the time)! One night last week she actually went 5 hours between feedings, I felt sooo rested after that!

Audrey is growing like a weed right now. We had her weighed on Tuesday at 7 weeks, 1 day and she weighed 7lbs 14.5oz! That's double her birth weight folks!! She's also about 21 inches long (as of last week), that's up 4 inches from birth. So she's definitely had no problems in the growth area...

She's still on the apnea monitor, but not all of the time, and hopefully for only another 3 weeks. They mainly want her on the monitor when she's sleeping and we aren't right there watching her OR roughly 17-19 hours a day. The last alarm that she had was the day after Mother's Day, so we're closing in on 3 weeks with no alarms! YEA!!

Speaking of Mother's Day, this was my first one and it was great. Bryan, Audrey, and I went out to lunch on that Saturday and then on Sunday we had his family over for a brisket dinner. My gift for Mother's Day was a shopping spree at Pier 1. So I got new dishes and glasses and some candles and stuff, that was way exciting for me!!

Hopefully we'll get some new pics put up soon. We had our video camera break down and lost our digital camera charger at the same time, what luck is that?! But we just got our video camera back from being repaired and Bryan's going to hunt down a new charger this week. Thank goodness great-grandma has been taking pictures of Audrey the last two weeks!

Well, I know that this post is long so I'll put up another post later on today, seeing as I have more to talk about!!

Audrey's Home!!

So as you can tell from the title of this post, my little angel is now home! She came home on Wednesday after spending 16 days in the NICU. We are so elated (and tired)! I absolutely love having at home with us. She was sent home on an apnea monitor which is basically a portable monitor with two wires that are hooked up to electrodes on Audrey's chest, this monitor records every heartbeat and breath that she takes. It will alarm if her heartrate drops or gets too high or if she has a period of apnea (not breathing for at least 20 seconds). So far we've had two alarms, both while she was eating, one for a low heartrate and one for an apnea period, but she recovered from both on her own within a few seconds. She really is doing absolutely wonderful. Having the monitor here helps keep my paranoia at bay though. I'm not constantly checking on her to make sure she is breathing, like I know so many new mothers do! Hopefully she'll only be on the monitor for a couple of months.

I really can't believe that Bryan and I are actually parents! These last three weeks have been extremely surreal feeling. It's like I'm in a dream. Even though we are now solely responsible for Audrey it still feels surreal. I look at her all the time and think to myself, "She's mine, and she's going to be here for at least the next 18 years, WOW!". I love her sooo much! I can't believe how much you can all of a sudden love someone. But I would definitely give my life for her, even when I was in the hospital and they were talking about delivering her, I wasn't worried about myself at all, I was just worried that she would be okay. Being a mother is a truly amazing thing! Well, the little princess is stirring now, so I guess I'll go feed her!

She's here...

Okay, so Audrey is actually here! She was born Monday afternoon at 2:40. She was delivered via c-section and she is beautiful! Although she is tiny, 7 weeks early, 3lbs 15oz, 17 inches long, she is a fighter! She is now eating out of a bottle and breathing on her own. The reason that she was born early was because I developed severe pre-eclampsia, which includes high blood pressure, swelling, and protein in the urine. I'm not going to go on for too long because I'm pretty tired, but just know that she is a little angel!!