9

Happy 9 months to my precious Auria :)

What a blessing and certainly a bundle of joy! Each day my life is richer for having her in it!

7 months (unofficial)

AH! How is this possible? I don't know. But somehow, my sweet little baby girl is seven months old now! I can't believe it!

This isn't the "official" 7 month post though because I don't have enough time right now but I did want to quickly post a few pictures from today.

While we were being lazy early this morning, mommy walked away for just a few short seconds, and came back to find someone tearing up a magazine...





Later, we met up with our friends Brittany and Talon at the mall to do a little shopping. I think Talon & Auria we happy to see each other :)




After the mall, Auria and I came home to get daddy & we all went to (a very early) dinner. After that we made a couple of other stops and headed home, took a bath, and mommy took Auria's 7 month sticky belly photos (which will be posted in the "official" 7 month blog). While we were all relaxing in the living room I got a couple of sweet Auria/Daddy pictures...



I love those two!! :)

Happy 7 months, baby girl! Mommy loves you SO much!

Hi there.

Geez, didn't I say I was going to be more diligent about blogging? I guess I lied. Not on purpose, of course, but life has just been too busy for me to sit still long enough to collect my thoughts.

Since my last post (over a month ago - gasp!) so much has happended. At some point in the near future I will post "official" 6 (& soon 7) month Auria update but for now I'll note that she is now crawling and climbing like a pro! I'm pretty sure she would love to be running too but lucky for me she is still lacking the strength and coordination for that skill... for now. She's just so motivated to move and I'm amazed at everything she is able to do (and get into)! We have yet to baby-proof the house - partially because of being so busy, and if I'm honest it's probably also a little bit because I'm still in denial that my baby is big enough to need the house proofed of her ;) I'm planning on hitting up BRU this weekend to get gates and things so we can get to work though. It's exhausting chasing Auria around, pulling her off of things before she falls and/or brings something crashing down with her.

Last weekend Josh & I had a wedding to go to (which was absolutely beautiful, by the way) so Auria had her first sleep over at Oma's. It was difficult for me to be away from her for so long but all-in-all it was nice to have fun at the wedding with our friends we don't see much of anymore. I almost made it through the night without tears but I just couldn't handle going to sleep without my little cuddle bug curled up next to me. I know Josh thought I was being ridiculous but I think that's the difference between mommy's and daddy's. Anyhoo, we all survived that experience and I'm already preparing myself for July. I'm so excited for G's wedding but I'm really going to have to psych myself up to spend another night away from my sweetness.

Moving along...

You may or may not know that, pre-pregnancy, I was a vegetarian. I was also gluten-free (wheat-free aka G/F) and casein-free (essentially dairy-free aka C/F). Because I had such extreme nausea in my first trimester, I threw my special diet out the door and ate anything that sounded even slightly pleasant and/or would stay down. I've been lacking the motivation to get back to my previous diet but today, for no particular reason, I've decided that it's time to start easing back into it. I'm going to start with the easiest element - no meat. I've never been a big meat eater anyway so the veg thing is pretty simple for me. After a few weeks of that I will begin cutting out gluten, and eventually I'll cut out the casein. I'd love to eat completely organic too but at this point I'm just trying not to overwhelm myself with the thought of everything I'll be cutting out so I'll just leave that be for now.

I'd really love to start a small garden in our backyard but I have not the slightest clue about that stuff. Theoretically I would love to plant some cucumbers, bell peppers, zucchini, maybe lettuce, and some hot peppers. I'm going to have to do a little research to see what my options are and how to go about getting started. This will probably be a project for next year as I'm assuming I've probably missed the planting window so... stay tuned.

Oh yeah, one final note: I'm still waiting for the motivation fairy to wave her magic wand over me to get me to start to C25K program I've been saying I'm going to start. If you see her, tell her I'm looking for her! :p

Peas and Pounds

This past Friday, after work, Auria and I stopped by Babyology to get a weight check. I'm proud to say, my sweet baby girl continues to maintain her chunky status. She weighed in at 15lbs, 11oz!

Every time someone says she's chunky or comments about her thick little thighs it just makes me smile! For one thing, it has always been my opinion that chunky babies are the cutest (perhaps because I was one myself), but more than anything it's just a reminder to me of God's awesomeness! To think, we started out having trouble keeping Auria's weight up, but with the help of some amazing lactation consultants and support from my husband and my mom, here we are, five and a half months later, breast-feeding champs and obviously no more low weight issues.

Speaking of eating, A's been showing interest in the stuff on Mommy's plate for weeks now so yesterday, at 5.5 months, we finally did it! Auria had her first taste of food (that wasn't passed through mommy's milk)! YAY PEAS!


Don't ask me why we went with peas as her first food, I don't know why, it just felt right. Perhaps I was subliminaly inspired by one of my favorite blogs.

(By the way, it's really difficult to take pictures when you're trying not to get peas everywhere!)

Anyway, at first she just seemed really confused by the whole thing, but after a few more attempts to get some of the mushy stuff to stay in her mouth, we were successful! In fact, she started to enjoy it and was trying to guide my hand to shovel more of the green goodness into her mouth!


:) :) :)


Our friends Brittany & Talon came to visit Friday afternoon so us mommies had time to chat and the kiddos played together. They love each other and it's adorable.

Auria showed off her almost-crawling skills and I tried to get Talon to teach Auria how to say "Ma-Ma"... it didn't work :p

Other than that there wasn't really much excitement for us this weekend. Daddy did some decorating in our upstairs living room to make it look less drab. It's still in progress but it's already looking much better! A's aunt Chelsea had everyone over and cooked out so we had some yummy food and family time. I've been having trouble with my allergies and I was a little pukey (yuck!) on Saturday so we spent a lot of time just hanging out...

She loves watching Yo Gabba Gabba in the mornings. She gets all excited and squeals when it comes on and she sees her friends!





Overall we had a relaxing weekend and I'm looking forward to feeling better and having a good week - despite this gloomy, rainy weather.

5 months!

I'm slacking on my bloggery, I know. I just haven't had the attention span to sit down and focus my thoughts - darn A.D.D.!

Anyhoo, yesterday marked FIVE MONTHS since my sweet little girl arrived and forever changed my life! :) Obviously I'm still enjoying every second of being Auria's mommy & I'm still constantly amazed at how she's growing and learning so quickly!



She's a very happy girl and she brings so my joy to my life!

Recently she's really discovering how much fun her own feet can be... and how yummy, too! ;)

She almost never sits still... diaper changes are a challenge sometimes because she just can't stop quirming around - which is usually cute... unless there's a messy #2 involved, haha!

We haven't had her weighed recently but my guess is that she's around 15-16lbs.

She's in 6-9 month clothes and busting out of size 2 diapers.

She loves to observe her surroundings and, depending on her mood, she's getting more selective about who she shares her smiles with... of course I always get her biggest, best smiles! :D
Also, it should be noted that she had the best laugh in the world!

She almost never stays on her back for more than a minute... she loves to flip herself over and she's been getting herself up on her knees and she can spin herself around and wiggle her way just about anywhere. She's going to be crawling ANY time now!

We still haven't given her anything besides breastmilk yet, I'm waiting until 6 months for that since our family has a history of food allergies.
Auria definitely shows interest in whatever is on my plate though and I'm sure she's going to enjoy it when she does get her first tastes of other foods!



There's so much more that I could list about how amazing she is but my A.D.D. is creeping in so I'm wrapping this up for now.

In summary, I'm thankful every day for this sweet blessing and I love her more than I ever could have imagined loving anything in this world!

New things!

Last night was a long night. Auria is officially teething and I've been sick! She's been really drooly for a while now but she's been soaking multiple bibs each day recently. Yesterday she started screaming out of nowhere and that's when we could see those little white buds just below the surface of her gums. We had a hard time getting her to sleep last night and she woke up lots, crying and tugging on her ears - my poor little baby :/ She's been better so far this morning and she got a good nap in but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before those teeth start giving her problems again. Whoa, and it sounds like she's making quite a present for me in her diaper at this very moment!

Speaking of diapers, this morning I had her on our "changing table" aka the ottoman and as I was reaching for a diaper, all of the sudden she started rolling over from her back to her belly! She's done this a couple of times before in our bed but I didn't really count those times since there is so much give in the bed to help her get over. This time she was definitely rolling over all on her own so I quickly grabbed my video camera to capture the moment! She was over, just having a hard time getting her arm out from underneath her, and when she figured it out we were both very excited! Then she decided to keep going and flipped from her belly to her back! YAY! I'm so proud of my big girl and at the same time I'm a little nervous. This is the first step to her independence! Soon she'll be crawling, and before I know it she'll be running circles around us! My baby girl is growing up so fast!

I'd better go take care of this stinky diaper she just made... check out the video I posted on Facebook to see her rolling action! ;)

3 months... already!?!

I almost can't remember a time when I wasn't Auria's mommy, yet at the same time I can't believe my sweet baby is already THREE months old! Thinking back to when we first brought her home I can see how much she's grown and learned and I'm so amazed! She's got great control of her noggin & she loves sitting up in her chair... it won't be long before she's sitting up all on her own! She holds her head up and looks all around the room during tummy time, although she still doesn't like to stay on her tummy for too long. We can't leave her alone if she's not on the floor because she wiggles her way down now! She can move pretty far, pretty quickly - I know I'm going to have to start baby proofing the house soon! She's working on rolling over from her back to her tummy! She's done it a few times in our bed and on the couch but I don't count those officially because those surfaces have a little give so I think it's easier for her to roll over there than it would be on the floor. I know she will get it down soon though! One of my favorite things is now she smiles and "talks" like crazy and when she's in a really good mood she'll laugh out loud, which mommy thinks is the most precious sounds in the world! I've tried to record her giggles on my phone but it's like she knows the camera is on and she stops until right when I give up, haha! She gets extra chatty every night right before we settle down for bed - Josh and I find this to be quite a treat!

Speaking of Josh, despite the early hours and long weeks he's had at work, he's still been making an effort to spend time when Auria and me and we love it! He came home early on Saturday with a box of chocolate covered strawberries (my fav!) to surprise me! And yesterday he made dinner! I love my hubby and I love him even more when I watch him being daddy with our sweet girl!

So besides yesterday being Auria's 3 month bday, we also had a play date with Brittany & Talon! Talon is about 5 1/2 months old and he is an adorable, happy baby! I enjoyed hanging out with his momma and when they weren't napping/eating I think the babies really enjoyed each other. I know as they get older they'll just have more and more fun playing together! Talon is at the age now where he's really into trying to chew on his feet, so when we were holding him and Auria in front of each other he kept reaching for her feet and tried to stick them in his mouth, haha! And when we had them on the floor together they kept grabbing each others hands... so cute! I love hanging out with mommy friends and seeing our babies grow and interact! Being a mommy is seriously the most awesome thing in the world!

Auria woke up with her daddy at 4am and she's napping now so I think I'm gonna try to get a little more rest while I can!

It's been a while...

We've been running around to extended family Christmas get-togethers, plus Josh has been working every single day (yes, including the weekend), so we've been super busy lately. During this time, I'm sad to say, we've been using disposable diapers for two main reasons: 1) You can fit 2-3 times more diapers in the diaper bag & that's very important for times that we're away from the house all day and 2) My CD supply wasn't enough to cover 2 days worth of changes. Luckily, a good friend told me about a CD site on National Free Shipping day so my dad bought Auria 7 more CD's for Christmas! I ordered a couple of Happy Heiny's, which I've heard great things about & I also ordered some more BumGenius. I recieved the shipment yesterday morning so they're in the wash right now so we can get back on track with CD's!
*On a CD side note, I ordered the wrong kind of BumGenius... they're the One Size like I meant to order but they aren't the all-in-one's - oopsie! I'm not really worried about it because the pocket diapers of the other brands are great and it's really only one more little step. One a positive note, everything will dry faster since it's not all sewn into one piece! Once we get to try them out I'll post about the new diapers.

Okay so my baby girl is now 8 weeks old and I cannot believe it! She is growing so fast - yesterday Josh and I were both saying how she seemed bigger than just the day before, it's amazing! I love watching her grow before my eyes but it's also kind of heart breaking how quickly she's growing up! I love love love being a mommy and I can't imagine a more sweet & perfect little girl. I know that we are so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing daughter and I'm so thankful for her! There are tons of reasons I can think of logically for waiting a few years before we try to have another baby, but I can't help but hope that we have another one sooner than later. Before Auria was actually here, Josh and I always said we'd like to wait until Auria is about 2 years old before we start trying for another little one but if we're being real, I'm pretty sure there is no way I'm going to be able to wait that long. I used to think people were CRAZY for have kids 18 months (or less) apart but since I've been enjoying her so much, now I kind of think it might be nice. On the other hand I wouldn't be able to focus on enjoying A as much if there were another baby in the picture, I suppose. Oh well, it's up to the Lord to make that decision ;) I must be delusional from lack of sleep, right? LOL

Alright well this wasn't a very good catch up blog but the little one is napping at them moment and I have lots to get done around the house so off I go....

6 Weeks Old!

I can't believe it, my little baby girl is six weeks old today! It's so amazing how much she has grown already.. she's pretty much out of newborn sizes now and I noticed today that her 0-3 month clothes with feet may not fit her for very long because her giant feet are already almost out of room!
Here are a few pictures I took this morning:




Josh was actually off today so the 3 of us got to spend the whole day together. We didn't go to church this morning because I wasn't sure what the roads would be like. My car is kind of a piece of poo so I didn't want to risk mixing that with poor road conditions. Since Josh was home I took advantage of the extra pair of hands and I got some things done that I didn't get to through the week... I finally finished wrapping all of the Christmas gifts we've purchased so far, I got the Christmas cards addressed and stamped, bills are ready to be mailed, did some laundry, and, of course, continued in my milk producing regiment. We went out for dinner and we met up with one of our good friends that we haven't seen in way too long. Afterwards we made a quick stop at Kroger to pick up some basics.

All in all in was a pretty productive day and I think I needed that. Sometimes I get so frustrated when I feel like I'm not getting things accomplished. I understand that things are on Auria's terms now but still, I have a hard time cutting myself some slack sometimes.

I'm really hoping Auria sleeps well tonight so maybe we can have another productive day tomorrow! My main goal is for both of us to get a bath/shower since that didn't happen for either one of us like I'd hoped for today. I suppose I could still make either or both of those happen today as it is only 8:30 but I'm having a hard time keeping her awake so I think instead I'm going to join her in sleep!

Nighty night!