Two Months Old

Weight: 10 lbs 6 oz
Length: 22 1/4 inches
(These are mama estimates since we haven't been in for her 2 month appointment yet. We'll see how accurate my measuring is.)

Likes:
-White noise (I already mentioned the glories of the bathroom fan; now I have an iPhone app to use in her crib too)
-Her bouncy seat (loves to sit and look at the world)
-Her activity mat (She has fun staring at the hanging toys, but once she tugged one too hard and it came crashing on her face. It was soft, so she was fine, but man did it surprise her! I hadn't heard her scared cry before :(
-Car rides (puts her to sleep in seconds)
-Stretching (just about the cutest thing ever!)
-Staring at windows (they fascinate her!)
-Checking out the flower headbands on the wall by her changing pad (keeps her mind off the fact that her bum is cold!)

Dislikes:
-Having spit-up remnants in her mouth (I'm always surprised how calmly she actually spits-up, though. It doesn't even phase her, even when it's a lot. But if she can't get it all out--here comes the icky face! It's actually kinda cute.)
-Being cold after a nice warm bath (not sure when bathtime will be able to be a part of our calming bed time routine...)
-Not being held when falling asleep (putting her down when she is still slightly awake just doesn't work for her)
-She's getting better about diaper changes and probably only cries through 1/3 of them
(I'm surprised that having a dirty diaper isn't on the list. It really doesn't seem to bother her. Our nose sure tells us when she needs to be changed, but she could probably sit in a dirty diaper for days and not care.)

Accomplishments:
-Gives beautiful smiles!
-First shopping trip (slept the whole time)
-First local outing (was an angel in her baby bjorn!)
-First church life group (cried for half of it...)
-First church service (awake and happy!)
-First playdate (ok, so she was just held by all the mommies while the other kids played)
-She's getting a really strong neck and likes to show off how long she can hold her head up :)
-She studied herself in the mirror on her playmat for a while the other day. It was so cute.
-Her hair is coming in, but it's so pale she'll probably look bald for a while. She better keep liking headbands!
-Her eyelashes are also getting nice and long (yes, this is an accomplishment in my book)
-I wish I could put a nice night time sleep length on this list, but it's just not happening. She seemed to regress at the beginning of the month and was down to just 3.5 hour stretches. Then she surprised us with some 5 hour sleeps and then a 6.5 hour night! But now she's just to about 4.5 hour average for one stretch at night and 2.5 to 3 hours on either end. Daytime naps are still tricky. She really only sleeps well during the day when she is cuddled with mama on the couch. Usually that's fine with me, but it would be nice to have some time during the day to get stuff done.

Memories:
-Her smile!! It warms my heart like none other!
-Her "all done" face after eating. Somehow it makes her cheeks look twice their usual size.
-Her tiny coughs and sneezes. Seriously so cute.
-Her old man hair--bald on top and long in the back (unfortunately not long enough to do the awesome combover my grandpa rocked for years)
-We got a good laugh at the beginning of the month over a "passionate versus placid" question test in one of my books. She scored 5 out of 6 on the passionate side! What can I say, she's got personality :) Being passionate also goes with being sensitive, so says the book. Hmmm, I think I see her parents in that combo... Doctors and nurses have called her feisty on more than one occasion. Even if all this means she's a little more high maintenance for us, I suppose we can handle it. Watching this little personality continue to develop will be fun!
-While we were at a baby shower for a friend here Audrey had her first public diaper explosion that necessitated a new outfit. I was so glad I threw one in my diaper bag at the last minute (although it was not exactly shower worthy). Unfortunately I did not think about a back up outfit for myself! At least I was wearing dark pants. Live and learn.

More cute expressions during her birthday photo shoot.
Unfortunately she wasn't  understanding my
request for a smile.

ok, Mom, enough primping already...

Audrey Lately

Here are some recent favorite pictures of little miss Audrey. She's happens to be asleep in most of them, but she really has so much alert time now! We are loving it. She's practicing her smile more, and this morning it even sounded like she giggled! By far her favorite thing right now is staring at the windows. They just mesmerize her... She had a wonderful time hanging out with my mom this week. They got a lot of one on one time, and I would say they both were ok with that :) Audrey also went to church for the first time yesterday, and she did great! She was alert and happy and loved the sermon. It was fun to get to show her off to the friends we have made there.

Anyhow, here she is...

snoozing with Dad

relaxing with GiGi

thanks for coming to see me again!

 nap time

she loves stretching...even in her sleep

I can't get enough of her sleepy face

A growing head= more hats that fit!

The Magical Bathroom

So, I've been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately. Why? you might ask. Simple...it has a beautiful, loud, mesmerizing, soothing, back-in-my-cozy-uterus fan. Or, at least that's what Audrey thinks. The rest of us would just call it magical. You see, I have a passionate daughter, and sometimes she gets herself so worked up she has a hard time calming down. A couple weeks ago (after shushing in her ear so loud and long it was making me light headed) I decided I needed a white noise substitute. We had seen the calming powers of the vacuum, but I didn't want to deal with hauling it out all the time and risk burning out its motor. In a moment of inspiration/desperation I ducked into the bathroom during one of her inconsolable crying attacks and flipped on the fan. It was amazing. The screams died down, the red face turned pink, and the flailing limbs stilled...all in a matter of seconds. As I swayed and cooed to her I realized I had just stumbled upon something that could save our sanity, not to mention Audrey's lungs. It hasn't lost its power yet. In fact, it has multiplied--we have two other bathrooms with magical fans. The upstairs guest bathroom gets to be the star at night, and the master bathroom works its magic in the mornings while Audrey is in her swing (doesn't everyone keep a swing in their bathroom...) and mama is getting ready. (She's not usually fussy in the morning, it just keeps her content. She has this idea that if she's awake she should be held, and that's a tricky thing to manage at the same time as hair and make up.) But since our powder bathroom is the original and the most used, I thought I would show some pictures of this place where Audrey and I hang out. It has had a good transformation from the way it was when we moved in, but it's still in phase one of our plans for it.

Here are two lovely before shots:

gotta love the purple paint

In progress:

this took a while...

And here is the current look:

The stenciled wall was a bigger undertaking than I expected. If I ever stencil a wall again it will be a much simpler design. I had to go over it for a lot of touch up work, and the perfectionist in me still sees many flaws. But I like the overall effect, so I'm glad I did it.

Phase two is to finish the bottom half--wood floors like Ryan installed in the rest of the main level, picture frame moulding on the wall, darker cabinets (I bought a kit that is supposed to make it easier to transform cabinets without the typical sanding and staining; we'll see how it goes) and a new vanity top and faucet.

But here's the best part:

Seconds before, she was quite unhappy. Now, she just has Spock eyebrows, but she's happy :)

yes, she's even taken a nap with her fan

Usually it just takes a couple of minutes of cuddling and cooing and listening to the fan and then all her troubles have melted away and she's ready to come out. It's tough being a baby...

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Ryan's parents were able to come meet little miss Audrey and I think it's tough to say who enjoyed the visit more. Audrey was definitely quite happy in the arms of her grandparents, and I'm pretty sure they felt the same. It's hard to beat the contentment seen in this picture:

Audrey and Grandma became instant fans of each other. Grandma got to go with her to her one month doctors appointment and on her first shopping trip. They also got lots of good snuggle time on the couch.

Audrey was a happy model for a couple different Grandma photo shoots.

It started well.

And then this happened:

Poor girl.

I thought this was a cute idea...

...but Audrey didn't agree.

Here are a few more cute swing shots Denise got:

We also all got to go on a tour of the Martin guitar factory which is only 15 minutes from us. It was very impressive to see the entire process of making these guitars. 

We saw them start like this:

Get a body:

And a neck:

Get polished, buffed, and hung to dry:

And then you can play them!

The ones they are playing are several thousand dollars. They were quite impressed.

Audrey was quite interested, as you can see:

(Our tour guide thought she was a boy. Who puts headbands on a boy? 

I tried not to be offended, but I could tell Audrey was. She can't help it that she's bald.)

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a fun visit!

Audrey misses you already :)