Six months plus

She's crawling and scooting and our living room is an ever-changing landscape because of it. Last night I watched as she ventured off the carpet onto uncharted territory: the hardwood floors. At first, she had trouble making any headway on the slippery surface. She figured out some way to propel herself over to the toy boxes against the wall, and then the floor vent. A tiny explorer, she is always vigilant for new places to go and things to grab out of our hands when we aren't looking. She's curious and puts almost everything she touches into her mouth for investigation. Yesterday, she took Oscar's bone away from him. She's not a shy one, this girl.



Food is new and so far, there aren't any kinds she refuses. She squishes up her face at the first bite of anything new, but then proceeds with gusto. She has taken to doing most of her talking while she's eating, which results in a lovely spattering of food to clean up afterward. I imagine she's letting us know that this stuff is really freaking good compared to that milk she's been drinking for so long. She loves being tossed into the air and swung upside down. It's an almost guaranteed giggle. She seems so big today, already 7 months. A crazy, hilarious and magical 7 months.

Head's Up

We're coming up on six months of being a family, and it has been amazing, watching Audrey turn from a cute, little, emotionless bean into a tiny person who enjoys struggling with new physical challenges as her boundaries expand.

drooling and chatting

Audrey is doing a lot more talking, and although we still can't quite make out what she's saying, it sounds like it could be important. Not sure if the raspberries and the drool are a part of the story, or if the raspberries are a result of the drool or the other way around, or what.

monkey see, monkey do

Oscar appears to be enjoying his chew toy much more than Audrey is enjoying hers. Perhaps that second pair of teeth is just around the corner? Or, maybe she'd enjoy a bone instead of that cute ducky rattle. Don't worry, we don't let her anywhere near Oscar's slobbery toys.

Eight Ounces

Holy smokes, Audrey just drank her first 8 oz bottle. Four months ago it was a big deal if she would finish a single ounce. In the meantime, we've become very proficient at measuring water from the tap in exactly two ounce increments.



Audrey's cousin Sebastian was just here visiting with his parents, Helena and Daniel. I think they had a good time together. Here they are examining one of the totally crazy toys that our friend Lorie gave us.

5 months old

What? How did that happen?

Moving up

Yesterday we started seeing this unusual behavior.



She's not sitting up yet, but it looks like we may have to start baby-proofing the low-lying areas of the living room soon.

Happy Birthday, Rick!

Tonight, Audrey and I will help you eat lots of cake.

We love you!

she's so cute ...

last night, Rick and I took turns making Audrey laugh. As she was laying in her crib, we kissed her cheeks, kissed her nose, tickled her feet, waved her arms back and forth, and talked at the tops of our voices -- all tactics to make her laugh incessantly.



As of about a week ago, she's learned to grasp and pull things toward her like a pro, chomping on them with her new teeth and soaking them in slobber.



The latter was learned by Oscar when we weren't looking, I'm sure. They are good buddies and he thinks of her as his baby too:



So, when it was my turn to kiss her pink cheeks to make her laugh, she stretched out both of her arms and placed her tiny hands on my cheeks. She looked right at me in a way that made me feel like I might die from an overdose of happiness. A moment I won't soon forget.

I thought to myself something that Rick had said a few days after she was born, "she's so cute, let her do whatever she wants." In other words, we're bigger saps than we realized and are in BIG trouble when she starts asking for things.

four month checkup

Doctor's appointment! The doctor measured and weighed Audrey, and it turns out that she's long and skinny. No surprise, but interesting to hear that she's in the 89th percentile for length, and to find out that she was longer than her mother was at four months. She is a tall baby.

teething already?

Today was a big day to say the least. It was back to work for me and Audrey's first day at daycare. After forcing myself not to call the daycare every 10 minutes, I decided to check in mid-day. They said that everything was fine and going well, which was what I had hoped to hear. What I did not expect to hear was that they thought Audrey had a tooth coming in and was a little irritated about it. When we picked her up, we had to see it for ourselves to believe it. Sure enough, a sharp and tiny tooth was poking through her lower gum. Now, I am a newbie at this but, I imagined this happening at around 6 months or so. I guess I also imagined that she wouldn't be born 2.5 weeks early and that she'd wait to rollover until 5 or 6 months. It is clear that this girl has set her own pace.

Perhaps I could have guessed she was teething from the constant hand chewing and drool-sopped shirt. This is what she looked like most of the weekend:



She also enjoyed her first Fourth of July, just maybe not the fireworks that were being set off in our neighborhood at bedtime.

polka dot princess

This girl cannot be stopped from rolling over and rotating in a circle. We found her with her head facing the opposite direction in her crib this morning!

Giggles

Audrey, we've started to find ways to make you laugh! You like it when we move your arms or legs around and make silly noises.

The other big news with you right now is that you're rolling over onto your stomach! Yikes! This morning I fed you your milk, then put you down so you could play with your toys and digest it... and you rolled over. I was amazed, but also worried that you'd spit up your milk, so I put you back. Within twenty minutes you'd done it again. You're keeping us on our toes! We'll have to stop setting you on the edges of high tables, shelves, and car hoods now that you can roll off of them.

Hello

Dear Audrey,

You have grown from a puffy little doll with bunch of blond hair into a smiling little person who says "Waowaowaowaowao" and giggles, and does a little dance when we make you stand up. Still with a bunch of blond hair. You're twice as big as you were when you were born, and it's only been a little over three months!



We are so glad to have you in our family.