SIX Months Old!!

I seriously can't believe my girl is already half a year old! Time is flying!! But I am just loving all the changes, and I am so excited for the next six months. So, without further ado...here she is.

goodness gracious, how I love her

Length: 25 3/4 inches (45%)
Weight: 15 pounds, 7 ounces (40%) (This is slightly inflated due to the fact that she has decided to hold in her poo the last couple days. Usually she's pretty regular. TMI? sorry)
Head: 16 3/4 inches (60%)

Likes:
-Mommy and Daddy. Only. We love the smiles and laughs we get from her, but she's pretty hesitant of most other people right now. This morning she cried as soon as the doctor touched her.
-Still chewing on anything she can manage to bring near her mouth. It's definitely not mindless gnawing; She's investigating! Way to use your five senses, girl :)
-Practicing her vowels. She hasn't figured out any real consonants yet, but she is sure working on those vowels.
-Butternut squash and sweet potatoes! We haven't introduced her to too many foods yet, but she's clearly a fan of these two. And, man, does she like to talk while she eats!
-Riding on Daddy's shoulders. And just hanging out with him in general. They're pals.
-Doing finger plays with Mommy. We're currently loving The Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Deep and Wide, and a few BSF ones I learned this year. I'm looking forward to teaching her The Hokey Pokey!
-Phone, computer, and TV screens. Very captivating.
-Playing with her toys, especially while sitting in her Bumbo seat. She really loves a wobbly little elephant with crinkly ears. It's an especially good challenge to figure out how to chew on him because he likes to wobble away.

Dislikes:
-Wanting to chew on something and not being able to. She gets all frustrated; it's funny.
-Playing by herself. She wants attention!
-Her jumperoo. I think this is mainly related to the above point. She can be interested in it until I try to walk away. But she's not a great bouncer or user of her legs in general. I think that's the problem with her rolling (still not doing much). Hopefully she figures out her legs before too long because crawling should be coming soon and it doesn't seem like she's on a fast track for that.
-Being patient. She wants what she wants when she wants it.

Accomplishments:
-Sits well with minimal support (and can do a few floppy seconds on her own.)
-Enjoys her solid food.
-Passes an object from one hand to the other. She's just getting so capable with her hands! I love it.
-Falls asleep easily on her own (usually), but most of the month was still doing just 3-4 hour stretches.

Memories:
-Surviving her first big trip to Cali! I was so proud of her during the flights :)
-Spending time with both families. I especially loved watching Carina dote on her.
-Listening to her baby babble.
-Watching our first family movie together (she made it through about 40 minutes and was quite enraptured by all the colors and sounds on the screen.)
-Making her laugh hysterically on her changing table. In the beginning she would wail every diaper change, so this is huge progress :) Her laugh is the sweetest sound I know.
-Smiling at each other when I put her to bed. Sometimes she just lays there and gazes up at me with big, adoring grins and I lean over the side of her crib and smile back, whispering how much I love her.

Seriously, how could you not love this face:

I had a hard time choosing a favorite!
Don't you just want to say "taadaa" with the top one :)

Yes, I had fun with this photo shoot.
A mama is aloud to post a lot of pictures for a 6 month birthday.

And, just for kicks, look how she's grown :)

California Trip (Part 2)

AKA Dad To The Rescue!

I should have known my dad would pull through with getting some pictures I missed. So here are a few more from our weekend in Cali.

 My dad and I went on a walk with Audrey on Saturday morning. 

She did a good job in her big girl stroller :)

Cute close up.

Meeting my grandparents:

"Where's his hair?" :)

Another cute shot with Aunt Marie

 Celebrating 65 years! They are still so in love :)

The whole fam! (minus 9)

Another cute shot with Aunt Sarah.

Audrey's First Big Trip

Well, at the end of the last post I said that I would probably have a ton of pictures to sort through from Audrey's first trip to California, but sadly I have the opposite problem. I wish I did a better job of capturing some of her 'firsts' out there, but for some reason I kept forgetting to pick up my camera. I also had a baby in my arms at least 90% of the time. She's going through a bit of a clingy phase...I've got to cut her some slack though, because in this case she was also adjusting to new surroundings and a new time zone, so she was all thrown off. My family tried to not take it personally when she would cry every time they picked her up (or if she even thought they were going to attempt it), but it was a little bit of a bummer. My mom says it's payback. Apparently I was the clingiest of her four kids. I would wail if she ever left my sight. I was hoping to show off all Audrey's cute smiles and giggles, but she wasn't in her happiest of moods most of the time. 

However, apart from those little disappointments, I have to give her props for being an excellent traveler! I was a little concerned making this first cross country trip without Ryan, but it went really well. Audrey charmed the hearts of our seat mates, and she didn't seem to have a problem with her ears during the elevation change. She napped well (thank you white noise!) and was playful and smiley the whole time. There were two minor setback though. The first was a huge diaper explosion on the way out (good thing I had an extra outfit for her!), and the second was getting delayed in Atlanta on the way back. The five hour layover put us home after 1:00am so we were both a little beat (and my back was crazy sore from carrying my 15 pound bundle since 9:00 that morning.) But she seriously never once let out a whimper in protest, which, if you know Audrey, you know how impressive that is. 

Waiting at the gate with my travel buddy

Happy or asleep, that's how she passed the time

***
One of the things I was most looking forward to was introducing Audrey to Uncle Lee and Aunt Jaimie. They came over the evening we arrived and it didn't take long for me to plop her in Lee's lap. He's a bit tentative around babies (afraid he's going to break them) and swore he was only going to touch her if he was sitting down. I'm pretty sure he kept that promise. So here's the happy introduction:

Of course she was crying in less than a minute, but I have no doubt Uncle Lee is going to be a favorite before too long :)

 My sisters were quite happy to be reunited with their niece, and after a while she warmed up to them again. 

Trying to get a giggle

Sorry guys, I'll give you more laughs
next time. I'm just too tired :(

***

Saturday was my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary. How impressive is that! We celebrated down in Newport with a good number of the extended family, all of whom had not yet met Audrey. It was fun to make all the introductions. My grandma was quite taken by her and was super sweet with all of her adoring comments. My grandpa, however, couldn't quite figure out who she was. Before this he had only met his first great-grandchild (there are now three!) Henry who just turned one. He calls Henry "Buster" because he can't remember his name (he does however know his initials--"HRH, His Royal Highness" he says often). He kept asking if Audrey was a "buster" or a "bustress." He referred to her as "he" most of the time and kept asking where his hair was and why he was in a dress. It was pretty funny. He's 92, so what can you expect :) But they were both very sweet saying how cute he/she was. My grandma even held her for a bit, but of course I forgot to take a picture. We'll be with them again in Bermuda in a couple weeks, so I'm going to make sure I get a four generations picture.

At the anniversary dinner

They like to take pictures :)
On the other side of the table my grandpa
 was trying to give my grandma a kiss.

***

And the uncle-of-the-year award goes to Lee. Audrey's headband came off and I asked him to put it back on her. It was a little out of his comfort zone, but being a good uncle he nervously took the headband and began to size up this task. As he slowly moves towards her head he asks, "Under her chin, right?"

Nooo! That's not right!

Okay, I'll humor you.
Don't worry Uncle Lee,
I'll train you soon enough.

***
Sunday night my parents had some friends over to their house for a little hang out and to get to meet Audrey. One of the couples was Oran and Laura Pentz who, two and a half years ago, let me and Ryan use their awesome '71 (I think) Chevelle for our get away car after our wedding. Ryan loves this car and was bummed to not be there to get to see it again and catch up with the Pentzs. 

2.5 years later we have a new passenger

Two of the nicest people ever, seriously :)

On Monday I met up with a few teacher friends for a late breakfast. It was so good to see them and hear how their year was. It's hard to believe it's been three years since I taught with them.

Jennifer (she had a magic touch with Audrey!), Erin and Cindy
Love them :)

***
That evening we had a party at Marie's house for her 28th birthday!! A bunch of friends came over to celebrate, and it was great to catch up with them. Audrey got to meet some fellow babies too :)

Jennie, also a teacher friend. 

Natalie and Kennedy
(Aunt Sarah won the award for holding Audrey the longest!)

Woohoo! Happy baby, happy aunt :)

Natalie and Blair

***
After the party we hung out at Marie's house for a while and watched The Bachelorette. I miss girl time like that. Then Tuesday morning we said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. It was a super quick trip, but it was good to see everybody. The whole thing must have just wiped Audrey out because she seriously slept the entire next two days when we got back. I think she was only awake for about 5 hours on Wednesday and 6 on Thursday. Mama didn't mind; I took some good naps too. We were also both glad to be home with Ryan again. Audrey missed her daddy!  I put him on speaker phone when we talked while I was away, and when Audrey heard his voice she immediately turned to the phone and smiled. It was so sweet.
In other news, Audrey's been enjoying some new solid food this past week! We've also been enjoying some hot and humid weather with some pretty cool storms. Ryan has still been working like crazy and is pretty exhausted. Poor guy. But in two weeks we'll be in Bermuda! So that'll be a fun and much needed break for him, even if it is only a few days. And lastly, Audrey turns six months old in less than a week! I can hardly believe it. Half a year already! It really has flown by, but at the same time remembering life without her seems so long ago. We just love our little family of three :)

Cousins!

 Alright, my solution to having so many pictures from this past week is to go crazy with collages! Hopefully it makes it a bit more manageable. Plus, I think they're fun :) So here we go, snapshots of our week together with family:

Grandma Denise came a few days before everyone else, so she and Audrey had some good quality time together. I also got to enjoy some adult conversation while Ryan was at work :) She got to be here for Audrey's 5 month birthday and gave her the cute outfits she's sporting in the past two posts. While she was here we also gave Audrey her second taste of rice cereal; it went much better this time around.

a smile instead of tears!

love

*****

Then came Candyce, Carina, and Zach. They met Audrey when she was only 9 days old as they drove through Pennsylvania on their move to New Hampshire. She wasn't exactly responsive at that point, so it was fun to watch them interact this time. 

together again

This kid is hilarious!

cousin love

*****

Grandpa arrived the next day. 

Audrey took to him immediately :) He thinks he has a magic touch, and I'm not going to argue that one.

He spent a good amount of time walking around the house and outside (she loves going outside) like this. Whenever Audrey got fussy this did the trick!

*****

We made a couple trips to a big outdoor mall where Candyce, Carina, and I/Audrey's feet painted pottery,

 Zach played with legos,

 and Carina got a girly makeover.

She also picked out some matching clothes for herself and Audrey. 

Naturally that required a photo shoot.

 And then of course we had to stick an enormous flower on Audrey's head. (Thanks Sonya!)

the shot of them looking at each other is just precious

Just when you think it can't get any cuter, 

enter crazy naked boy!

silly Zachy

how cute is my girl's face here :)

top it off with a piggy back ride and she's a happy little lady

*****

But that wasn't actually the first photo shoot of the week. Denise bought the girls matching outfits too, so we had to try them out!

Grandpa snapped some sweet pics of me and my babe too. I just love her little round face!

she melts my heart

chatting with Grandma

*****

Audrey also got to try her first grown up food. A peach! She went crazy for it! 

yummy!

*****

One of the week's highlights was going to the Crayola Factory.

It's a creative dream come true for kids. Everywhere you turn there is something to try--design a puzzle, paint, color, make wax art, get your picture in a coloring book page, play with clay etc. We also got to see how crayons and markers are made. Very cool.

These two spent pretty much the whole time together :)

*****

Another big experience was Audrey's first time "swimming." She was a little unsure what to make of the whole thing, but she sure was cute!

I survived!

*****

In addition to all that, we did a good amount of eating yummy food,

hanging out in our pajamas,

and relaxing on the couch.

*****

Then it was time to say goodbye :(

But not before we got a few more pictures!

Another outfit picked out by Carina :)

I learned that it isn't easy to get a good picture with three kids that either can't hold still, make silly faces or cry. 

We got close:

but most looked more like this:

Phew...we made it. I hope you survived all the pictures. Did you notice there was an important person missing? My poor hubby had to work like crazy most of the time his family was here. And it's only getting worse this month--80 hour weeks in the ICU :(  Pray for his endurance. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel--we're headed to Bermuda with my family at the beginning of August! I'm super excited to introduce Audrey to the beach. She and I are also making a quick trip to Cali this weekend. Pray that she is a good little traveler (first time on a plane!) and that she doesn't miss her daddy too much while we're gone. And vice versa.

Okay, now I can focus on packing. My guess is we'll have a fair amount of pictures to share after this weekend as well :)