Fall Family Photos

This year, we had our traditional fall family photos taken at a park in Dublin.  The scene was rustic, with a white barn as the main center piece.  These pictures turned out great!  I love how the photographer captured Audra's sweet little smiles and Xavier's fun personality.  They both look so grown up in these pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.

One of my all time favorites of these two!

Buddy looks so grown up here!  He's so photogenic!

And then, a few Xavier and I took in the backyard.  Xavier picked out his outfit and asked me "Is this nice?"  Ooh love him to pieces!

She loves watching her brother.

Oops!

6 months of Audra Eve

Our little Audra isn't so little anymore.  She just turned 6 months and is growing like a weed!

Age: 6 months

Stats:  Height 27.5 in. (94th percentile), Weight 18 lb. 12 oz. (90th percentile)

Nicknames:  Mama's Baby, Au-da-wee (Xavier's name for her), Mamma

Milestones:  Laughs lots, rolls over, puts hands and feet in mouth, and sleeps with no sleep supporting pillows.

She sits up in the high chair, and does this on her own on the floor too (while leaning forward slightly).  She has attempted the army crawl and is scooting.  Eek!

Favorite Things:  Loves to be in her doorway jumper or stationary jumper and is now standing herself up almost completely on her own.  She loves to be sang to and it's pretty much the only way to get her to be held, loves looking out the window, watching Jasper, and being entertained by her big brother.  Loves to chew on teethers (Sophie is her favorite with the squeaks!).  She loves when people enter the room and smile at her.  She always smiles back and flaps her arms and legs.  She's also started playing with different sounds in her mouth and has her own version of baby language.

Least Favorite Things:  Sleeping consistently.  Audra is so different from Xavier.  She's inconsistent and I still don't have a solid routine for her.  I imagine it's due to the different environments each had.  Xavier was in a quiet infant room all day where the babies got to run the schedule, whereas Audra is in a small apartment with 3 or 4 older kids.  Nonetheless, she doesn't nap well at her babysitter's so she comes home exhausted and ready for bed at 5:30.  We put her down and she usually will sleep through til 4 or 5am (but we sneak a bottle in around 10/11pm).  We feed her another bottle at 4/5am, and she will usually sleep til 8 or 9am.  On weekends, she will take a 2 hour nap around 10am and another 1 hour nap around 3/4pm, then she sleeps from 8pm til 4/5am, bottle, back down til 8/9am.  We will tough it out because I never want to watch my baby go through the sicknesses Xavier picked up his first year at the day care.  It was non-stop fever, runny nose, viruses, and Steve and me calling off work.  We just make it priority for her to have opportunity for sleep the minute we get her home during the week and to sleep as much on weekends as she wants.  Xavier has been a trooper and has been so good at being quiet.

Signature Moves:  Growling.  This is the funniest thing and we all imitate it!  Also, pulling my hair, or Xavier's hair, or whatever she can get her hands on!

Audra's 6 Month Photo Shoot

For both kids, I had professional newborn and 6 month photos taken.  We loved Audra's newborn photographer so much, I used her again.  Audra is wearing my baby rings on each hand.  She also was just learning how to sit up on her own!