12/21/2012

Audrey Joy - One Month

Audrey turned one month old on the 18th of December. Whoa that month seemed to fly by! 

After a terrible first two weeks of breast feeding, we got on the same page and have had no problems at all. By the rate she's growing, I know she's getting plenty of food and she seems happy. Just this week, I noticed that she's starting to outgrow her newborn clothes so I'm excited to start having her wear all of her new 0-3 month clothes. They've been staring at me in the closet this whole time. 

She definitely doesn't look like a newborn anymore! It's crazy how much they change right away. I have the fabric I used with Josie for her monthly pictures, so I will try each month to get as close to a similar picture as I can just to see the differences between them. 

Audrey, One Month

 We're finally getting more wake time with Audrey. We've settled into a good routine that vaguely looks like this each day:

Wake up around 8:30, bath, wait for mom to get Josie breakfast, eat, hang out til nap time.
Nap time usually from 10:00-1:00 (sometimes a little later), eat, stay wide awake until around 3:30 or 4:00, sleep hard, nap time.
Nap time usually from 4:00-7:00, eat, stay wide awake again until 10:00, eat/dream feed, bed time.
Her nights are great! She either wake up once at 2:30 and again at 5:30 (she often skips the 2:30 one though) and is only awake for about 10-15 minutes total. We had a few hiccups in the beginning with falling back asleep restfully, but she's got that down now. No more "false alarms" where she acts asleep but then cries out once we are in bed ready to sleep ourselves. Glad that's done.

She does awesome with tummy time. I can't believe how tolerant she is when it comes to being left face down on a rug or blanket with hardly any neck control. She's gotten pretty good though. I will have to start watching for her to roll over (no more just trusting she won't move!).

We've only had a couple incidents with Josie being too aggressive around her sister. It's never intentional; she's just stronger than she thinks and throws things too often. Usually it's a book she's bringing to me with too much excitement. Only once has she actually made Audrey cry. It was no big deal but I'm hoping that seeing Audrey cry out helped Josie see how hard she was throwing down the book! Nothing I say makes a difference. Girl likes to read I guess.

It took a solid three weeks for her to figure out how to really cry. She was so quiet right away and just made little peeps here and there. Now she lets me know much louder what she thinks, but she's pretty easy to calm down and we hardly ever have to resort to the "shushing" sound that we had to do with Josie. (Shushing as loud as we can in her ear to act as white noise to calm her down. Worked awesome for her). I've done it with Audrey a few times and it does help, but most of the time it's not needed.

She loves to be held. Baby wearing happens a lot more this time around and I'm so thankful for my Moby wrap. (I have a cloth that is the right length but not actually a Moby wrap, and just recently got an actual Moby wrap. They both work great.) She falls asleep best laying on my chest (not daddy's, just mine) and loves to be swaddled up nice and tight. Since I have the time, I am fine with holding her for part of her naps. I mix it up enough that she doesn't rely on it, but we both really enjoy a good cuddle.

Here are some outtakes to our photo shoot. I really wanted a picture that was similar to Josie's, so even though some of these were good, they didn't make the final cut. Let's not talk about how poor quality they are or how the lighting is completely different than Jo's pictures.





And lastly, here is a side by side shot of the girls at one month old. What do you think? We hear that they look identical and that they look nothing the same, so weigh in with your opinion!



Pretty good first month if I do say so myself!





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12/18/2012

Professional Pictures



Want to see the pictures my friend Penny took for our family? They are AWESOME. She posted them on her photography blog, so click here and check them out! Here's a sneak peak:


Can you handle that cuteness?!! Check out the link above to see the rest. It's worth your time, promise.



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Santa Time

We did the Santa thing. Granted, neither of the girls are old enough to understand let alone remember it, but we wanted the picture. So glad we did this so that we could remember them in this electronic age *note the sarcasm*. We had to pay $11 for wallet size pictures and when I tried to scan it to put it on this nice little blog, the quality was less than stellar. Not impressed. Of course, we couldn't take our own pictures either so I apologize for the quality of everything today.

My sister was working and was able to take her break so she could join us, which will have to be a tradition I think. It just made it more fun.

Also, I had my camera set to "program mode" and apparently nobody knows how to use that but me so my poor sister's pictures that she took are terrible. Not her fault.

All of that aside, it was fun! We got in line and didn't have to wait too long. Also, please note that we got to use our double stroller for the first time! I fiddled with it for a while earlier in the day to figure out how to put the car seat in it, and it was easier than I had thought it would be so I was pumped to actually see it in action. Hubby, on the other hand, is not so impressed with it. He said it is too big and awkward but he really has no idea how big and awkward double strollers can be so he doesn't know what he is talking about. Ours is pretty comfortable and easy to maneuver.

Enjoying her spot wayyyyy up front.

You can see the monstrosity of the stroller behind us. It's really not that bad. Also? Best family photo we have lately even with a blurry hubby.

Sure, the picture with my sister and my family is better than with me and my family. :) Oh well!

When it got to be time for us to have our turn, Josie was unsure. I had been pointing out what was happening with the people ahead of us and she had watched very closely with a lot of curiosity. She didn't cry (that's my girl!) but she did not want to sit on his lap. We did get her to sit on the arm rest, but we couldn't get a smile. It was a fun experience! Audrey slept through all of it and was oh so comfy in Santa's arms. (Who thinks it's normal to just give your infant to a stranger? Apparently everyone.)

Scanned in all of it's perfection.





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12/15/2012

Canvas photo

Not too long ago, I won a giveaway on Callie's blog for a canvas print from Printcopia. I was pretty excited about this since I just had Audrey's newborn pictures taken (post to come with more about these soon) and we had some great shots to choose from.

I've never had a canvas print before, so it was even more exciting to push "Order" when I was done. The very best part though? How much I saved! Check it out.



Gotta love giveaways! Thanks Callie!



I'll hopefully report back with a picture of tthis canvas in it's new home once I receive it and get it hung up. Oh the possibilities for where it should be hung...




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