Stuck in Reverse

I have some videos for you.

Audrey is working hard trying to crawl. Unfortunately for her, she can only go backwards. Even more unfortunate, she is trying to go forward.

As you can imagine this results in much frustration for the little lady. She tries super hard to move forward and she just keeps going backwards. It is both sad and funny to watch.

I'm sure she'll get it figured out soon.

You have to listen to me be super annoying during this one. I mean really annoying mom voice and all, it is a cute video if you can handle me.

 

And finally just for fun, this one. Blowing raspberries is pretty much Audrey's favorite thing to do right now. She does it all the time and is very pleased with herself every time.

I understand if you do not find these videos as entertaining as we do. I think this is part of being a parent. You are way too amused by your children, evolution might have something to do with it.

Audrey: 7 Months

Let's start with real talk. It is getting a lot harder to take Audrey's monthly pictures. Baby girl can move. It makes things a bit harder. Though, I think some of these 7 month pictures are pretty much the cutest. Also, the lighting in these pictures is terrible, it started storming right when I started taking the pictures. The artificial light in our house leaves something to be desired.

She always tries to grab the camera these days.

You don't mind if I chew on this lens cap, do you mom?

She played with the mouse.

Baby girl is not serious all the time. In fact, she is smiley quite a bit.

Give me that camera, mom.

Look at how well that baby is sitting up!

435 photos later we got a shot that shows how big she is compared to that mouse.

It has been another busy month for little miss Audrey. She went to Wisconsin twice this month. She is a great little traveler. Sleeps and plays in her car seat like a champ.

Last weekend Audrey got to hang out with two of her cousins, two aunts, an uncle, and all four grandparents. Let's just say she was not starved for attention. She certainly enjoyed all of the people to play with and JT and I enjoyed a dinner out with my sister and brother-in-law!

She did great in the car on both trips, which is good because we have a nice long drive to North Carolina coming up in a few weeks. That little lady will have been to nine states by the time we are done with that trip. Quite the jet setter.

This month Audrey has been working hard on becoming a big girl.

She is sitting up on her own, of course she still tips over but she is pretty good.

She loves to babble.

She knows how to roll places, and therefore get into things. She can do a wicked baby push-up so I'm sure she'll be crawling in no time.

Oh. Did you not want me to chew on this photo book?

 She loves to stand and jump.

She loves it even more if you swing her up with her jump and make rocket noises so it sounds, and feels, like she took off.

She loves it even more if you will hold her up a above you and toss her up and catch her. She giggles and squeals. It is pretty darn fun. And as a bonus, it is a pretty good shoulder work out.

She has also started communicating her desires a bit more. She will point and reach for things she wants, like the camera. Or food. She loves food. She will also squeal while pointing at something just to make sure you really understand what she is trying to say. Such a big girl.

 One of our favorite milestones this month is being able to take her in the jogging stroller. She loves to sit in the stroller and watch everything go by while we all go for a run together. JT and I sure enjoy being able to run together again as well.

Audrey has a lot of loves right now and not so many hates. I hope it stays this way. Loving is so much more fun than hating.

Right now Audrey LOVES
Music
Her "iPod"
Chewing on everything
Feeding herself
Sweet potatoes
Bananas
Avocado
Bouncing
Being tossed by mom and dad
Hamming it up for everyone
Bath time and bath toys
The pets
Her exersaucer
Reading bedtime stories

Hates
Getting jammies on
Cuddling
Getting buckled in, though not as much as she did before
Bright sunshine is still not her favorite. She doesn't mind if she has her sunglasses on.

Happy Father's Day

Warning: this post is super sappy. I have amazing dads in my life, sorry.

I am so fortunate to have an amazing dad.

My dad rocks. I don't really need to say any more than that. He is supportive, kind, helpful, loving, etc., etc. I am SO lucky. I love you dad. Thank you for being you.

He is also a great grandpa, Audrey is blessed with two incredible grandfathers. They are both putty in her hands. I'm sure she will take advantage someday. For now they dote on her and she smiles and giggles for them. Everyone is happy.

The dad I really want to thank today, though, is my wonderful husband.

JT is an awesome dad. He loves being a dad and it shows.

Not only does he love spending time with Audrey, he takes his role as a parent seriously. We both work, so we try to parent and keep house as equals. We have all seen the articles that say even though most families with two working parents try to live this way, the woman ends up doing way more housework and parenting.

That is not the case in our house. If anything I do less housework, seriously.

JT washes the bottles everyday. He usually washes the diapers and almost always does our laundry. He puts Audrey to bed twice a week so I can go to roller derby, he cleans the house, and cooks if needed. There is so much more, but the point is he is an amazing father and, if possible, an even better partner. I am so very lucky to have him in my life.

Most importantly, Audrey loves him so much. He can almost always get a smile and a giggle from her, even if she is super cranky. She is already a daddy's girl. I love watching them. It melts my heart everyday.

 I hope you had a great first father's day, JT. You are an incredible father and partner. Thank you.

** Clarification - I did not mean to imply that staying home to raise your kids is not work. I should have said we both work outside the home. I also did not mean to imply that if you do stay at home all of the chores should be your responsibility, of course that is not true. I probably should have just left our work status out of it. Sorry if I offended anyone, I respect the work stay at home moms do a great deal. Keep doing the good work!

The Most Serious Baby in the World

Audrey is the most serious baby in the world, for real. She has serious down to an art. This has been mentioned many times. Memes have been made.

To honor her commitment to seriousness, I have pulled together my favorite serious pictures. This post is pretty long, but I think you will enjoy. Don't worry there aren't very many words.

 

Serious sitting up outside.

 

Serious in my hat and shades.

 Serious looking down at mom.

 

Serious eating sweet potatoes. 

 

Serious at six months.

 

Serious with my owl.

 

Serious at five months.

 

Serious in my shades, again.

 

Serious on Easter.

 Serious with my cousin.

 

Serious in my swing.

 

Serious at four months.

 

Serious in my overalls.

 

Serious in my car seat.

 

Serious with grandma.

 Seriously sleeping on dad.

 

Serious on my play mat.

 

Serious in bed.

 

Serious at two months.

 

Super serious at one month.

 

Serious on Christmas.

 

Serious on day one.

Pretty spot on, other than my name. It's Mya to the derby folks, as in Mya T. Mouse (mighty mouse).

Look Mom I can Sit!

It took all of my effort to get the last post up on time, which means I am way late in getting another post up. You win some, you lose some.

In the last week or so Audrey has done so many things! She took her first long car ride to Wisconsin to see my good friends and soccer teammates from college, she is rolling all over the place, sleeping on her stomach, eating food, and sitting up!

Whew, that's a lot of stuff little lady.

Audrey was awesome in the car to and from Wisconsin. She has now been to 5 states in her short life. That is almost one a month. We are driving to North Carolina in July so she will get to log a few more states.

She did great in the car, she slept a lot, played with her toys, and we went back to feed and entertain her here and there. Sleeping at night while traveling is another story, but no one is perfect.

I had so much fun on our trip as well. It was so wonderful to catch up with the ladies. Audrey also really enjoyed playing with Beckett who is one day younger than her, but a whole lot bigger!

We did all sorts of fun things in Wisconsin including checking out the Burlington chocolate festival. It was not quite what we were expecting, but fun nonetheless. It turned out the people watching was the most entertaining part.

We enjoyed using Jason and Katies' video monitor when we were there. So much so that we ran out and bought one. We had been wanting one for a long time and seeing how nice it was in real life sealed the deal. I will say I thought they were unnecessary before having the baby, but it really is quite nice, and fun, to be able to see what is going on. Because we have a video monitor now we know that 1) Audrey rolls all over creation in her sleep and 2) she does not always scream when on her stomach. Sometimes she turns her head and goes back to sleep. Such a big girl.

Audrey has also started trying some solid food. She has had banana, avocado, and sweet potato so far. She seemed to really like the avocado and sweet potato. She wasn't crazy about banana, but it was also the first food she tried so we'll give it another go soon.

As you can see in the pictures, she really likes feeding herself, which is fine by me. I don't want to be stuck feeding her forever, I'm lazy. So, we just take her clothes off, load up the spoon and let her go. She gets a surprisingly large amount in her mouth.

And as of yesterday Audrey can sit up! She is much better at it on the grass or another soft surface. She stayed upright long enough for me to take pictures of her (she only tipped over once), so I'd say that is sitting up for real.

Baby girl still tries hard to go from laying to sitting by doing a situp. She loves to work those abs. We have tried to tell her that is not the easiest way but she hasn't figured it out yet. I'm sure she will work it out.

Audrey: 6 Months

Mark it in the books. This post is on time!

I refuse to accept that Audrey has been with us for half a year. This cannot possibly be true. It seems she was just born a few weeks ago. It can not be her half birthday already.

Seriously though, every milestone is such a happy and sad experience. I really didn't think I would be an "oh my gosh you are growing up way too fast, STOP" sort of person. But it is hard not to be. The time soars by.

Audrey is doing so many new things these days. She continues to be an absolute joy in our lives. I honestly have very few complaints. I wish she cuddled a bit more. More sleep would always be good, but she usually only gets up once to eat. Every day when we pick her up from daycare we get "she was so good." All in all such a good little lady.

She celebrated her 6 month birthday with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Merlin. They came to see Audrey and to watch my derby bout. They figured they better get out here to see me play while I am still able. Grandma, grandpa, and Audrey all had fun at the bout. Though by the end Audrey was very tired and not at all in the mood to pose for a picture with mom. We won the bout, by the way. We were total underdogs and we won by a hundred points. Way to go Corruption.

Watching mom.

Sad baby is ready for bed.

We love how much more interactive Audrey gets each day. It is so fun to hear her belly laugh and see her look around a room to find mom or dad. It is also so fun to see her develop favorite toys and seek things out rather than just grab whatever is closest.

She loves her new exersaucer.

She continues to change every day. She is getting really close to sitting up on her own. She can do it for about 10 seconds before she tips one way or another, but she is getting better at leaning forward and using her hands to stabilize, so I'm sure she'll get it soon. She knows how to roll towards an object she wants and she likes to sleep on her side with her monster. She also has found her feet with her hands, which of course is very fun. Basically, she is turning into a big girl before our eyes.

She also has very strong opinions and she is not afraid to voice them.

Right now she LOVES

• Her monster
• Her exersaucer (And the damn singing chameleon, I swear auntie Jess chose the exersaucer with the most lights and sounds in the world. She loves it though.)
• Her little electric piano
• Daddy trying to play songs on the electric piano
• Her wooden duck teether
• Milksicles
• The pets
• Outside
• Being naked
• Waving her arms and legs all over the place
• Chewing on all of the things (we think she may actually be working on some teeth, time will tell)
• Bath time, she has been indifferent until now. Now she loves to splash and play with toys.

Right now she HATES

• Getting strapped in to anything, once she is in she is fine.
• Still hates getting her face and nose wiped
• Bright sunshine in her eyes
• Cuddling, especially with anyone who is not mom.
• Being on her tummy in her crib
• Sore teeth
• Mosquitos