10 Months Old!

In just three days my chunka will be 10 months old! I say it every time, but I cannot believe it. This past month/age has been one of my favorites for sure. She is into so much and learning new things almost daily. Here's a quick overview of the exciting things that have been going on.

Chunka LOVES to read. 

This is her favorite book entitled "Baby's Best Friend." She has been known to let you read to her for a solid hour. 

Chunka loves to play with her blocks/name puzzle.

She can't quite figure out how to place the letters yet, but she knows what she's supposed to be doing. 

Chunka loves her ball pit. 

A gift from a friend; this has quickly become one of her favorite attractions. She dives in and crawls out with ease and speed! 

Chunka can almost walk! 

She flies around with the help of this walker, but it won't be long until she's walking tall on her own. 

Chunka can say "night night."

Chunka can say "duck."

Speaking of "duck," Chunka LOVES her duck.

He is her best buddy and is always close by her side. 

My angel baby is the light of my life!!!!!!!!! I never knew I could love on this level. And it gets deeper and deeper with every day that passes. I love you, Audrey Emeline!!

8 Months Old

My chunky monkey turned 8 months old yesterday. What a difference a month can make! She is crawling EVERYWHERE and standing up on EVERYTHING! Mommy can hardly keep up! Here are some snapshots and footage of the past month. Enjoy!

Audrey is really starting to enjoy "real" food now. This is hummus. Clearly a favorite. 

Audrey had her first Valentines Day date; John Carter. Apparently roses are yummy. 

She was not a happy valentine that morning, however. But certainly a cute one!

I love this new "smile" she has going on. She has 6 teeth now; 4 on top and 2 on bottom. 

Here she is! Crawling like crazy! 

Hush Little Baby??? Not so much....

So today was my "initiation" day into the sorority of motherhood. Up until this point I've been pretty lucky in that the most difficult thing I've had to deal with was being pooped and peed on. But today I encountered (and am still encountering) the dreaded fighting of sleep. At least that's what I think it is. Whatever "it" is, it is the most frustrating, tiring thing EVER. Seriously. 

It all started yesterday evening. After two great nights of sleeping (in two 4 hour increments) and two good days, I felt fairly certain that we were developing a routine. Audrey seemed to sleep and eat around the same times for those two days and that was wonderful. However, upon arriving home last night that dream was shattered. She stayed awake the majority of the night and refused to sleep even when it was blatantly clear that she was exhausted. After such a night, I assumed today would be a "sleep" day for her. Wrongo. From about 11:30am until 5:00pm, Audrey slept maybe a total of an hour. That would have been no biggie, except the hours in between were filled with nothing but eating, dirty diapers and tears (tears from both mommy and baby).  This girl fights sleep like none other. And when I finally do get her to sleep, she sleeps for 20 minutes and then wakes up again and the entire process starts all over. I've tried everything; bouncing, singing, rocking, walking, and even vibrating. Nothing works. 

I know this too shall pass, but for tonight, I am one tired mommy that can now officially say, I'm earning the title. 

Good night, dear ones. I hope yours is better than mine! 

Tired mommy and baby....

A Day of Firsts.

Yesterday was a day of firsts for my Audrey girl.

The 1st first was her first appointment with the pediatrician. Originally we were scheduled for an 8:15am appointment, however, we are so not on a sleeping and eating schedule yet so mommy totally overslept. Luckily they had another opening at 10:45 and we took that one. We snapped a photo while in the waiting room. I love how she's smiling!! Hehe!!

Audrey girl is doing just great! She's grown half an inch and put on .6 oz since her discharge from the hospital. The doctor said she is taller than 82% of babies in her age range. And he guesstimates based on my height and her dad's height that she will be 5'9 (which is how tall I am). 

During the appointment my angel doll was just PERFECT! They had it beyond freezing in the office and of course she had to be undressed. She let out a tiny whimper when I took off her onesie, but I quickly covered her up in a blankie her Aunt Dayle bought her and she became quiet as a church mouse. 

Then at the end of the appointment they had to prick her foot and squeeze out blood drops onto a paper for screening. My sweetie let out exactly two cries and then did this,.....

Yep. Curled up on her mommy and fell asleep while they squeezed her poor little foot for about 10 minutes. PERFECT BABY!!

The 2nd first was so very precious. Audrey laughed out loud for the first time today. She had her little eyes closed and let out the cutest little giggle you've ever heard! I've read that when babies smile at a young age it's really gas and I assumed when they laughed it was the same thing. I've had a couple of people say that it's not gas and that she really is laughing. Not sure if there is science or not to back up either theory but I will take it as being a real laugh! So cute! 

The 3rd and final first was Audrey's first sink bath. While Nonni was changing her diaper we had a bit of an accident (several accidents, actually) and it seemed like the perfect time to break out the baby bather. Nonni was happy to be the first at giving the bath while mommy snapped some pictures. 

It was a very big day for my girl and a big day for mommy too! I am so excited about the many others to come!!! I love her so much it's insane!!!