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!

Back to School 2018

My little guy is off to Pre-K and it's his last year of pre-school.  No more swimming 3 days a week and lounging around.  Xavier had no problem jumping right back into the routine of things.  He goes to pre-K (not preschool, as he would tell you) 3 half days a week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  We feel this will help him transition well into Kindgergarten, which is 5 mornings a week, next year.  We have loved his preschool so much and hope Audra will get to attend preschool as fun and socializing in a few years.  Though with our future plans for the kids, we know she will probably not go here when it's her turn.

Some milestones for Xavier include:
hopping on one foot
writing his name with an uppercase X and lower case "avier"
he knows his last name
does a somersault
draw a person with a body
peddle a bicycle

Xavier (and Mom and Dad) had a great first day of pre-K!

How old are you? Five

What is your favorite color? Violet

What is your favorite food? Muffins

What is your favorite movie? Monsters, Inc.

What do you want to be when you grow up?  (see photo above)

What is your favorite thing to play with? My tablet

What do you love the most? The bread (pumpkin chocolate chip bread we make)

Audra's Routine 0-3 months

This time around is much easier than the first.  With Xavier, I battled post partum anxiety and was on medication and went to a counselor to get through the days.  This time, has been much better and I feel more prepared.  Audra was on a 3 hour rotation, starting at the hospital.  The first month, she slept non-stop, waking up only to eat a 3 ounce bottle.  I also made sure to sleep when she slept during the day.  Around 2 months, our routine was still a 3 hour rotation, waking up for a diaper change, to eat a 3-4 ounce bottle, burp her, hold her up for 10 minutes to let her belly settle, but we noticed she was staying awake more during the day (sometimes only taking short cat naps until her next feeding or no naps at all).  She no longer passed our from a milk coma.  We've always kept her room bright during the day, and she only slept in her room at night time.

At 2 -3 months, Audra's days are mostly filled with her lying on her back taking in all the excitement around her.  She likes her swing the best and her babysitter puts her in that most of the day.  At home, we let her play on her gym, lay in her bouncer and her giraffe mat.  She also likes to play with rattles and hand toys that make noise.  We make sure she gets plenty of tummy time, either on my chest, propped up on her boppy pillow, or propped under her elbows on her gym.  She is getting so strong!  We've noticed she doesn't like to snuggle with us and tries to bust out of any snuggling hold with lots of arm swings and kicks!  She is however, super snuggly right after her 10pm bottle so I make sure to hold her extra long then :)

Audra started giving us smiles and coos/ahh's around 2 months (different from Xavier who started this at 4 months).  Her toothless grins are the sweetest thing!  In month 3, Audra found her hands and started to love blowing bubbles!  She loves attention from her big brother, and the sound of the vacuum (when on she's fine, when off she cries).  But hates the sound of the lawnmower (when on, she screams frantically).  She also hates that part in Fur Elise that gets really loud (on Baby Einstein videos).  I'm also having so much fun dressing her up in the cutest little outfits with matching headbands and bows.  We had friends donate a ton of clothes to us, so we are set!

Look at those thighs!

Audra's day time sleep varied a lot the first 3 months.  In month 1, she slept about 2 hours of every 3 hour cycle.  In month 2, she slept only 15-30 minutes in each 3 hour cycle, with up to 6 hour stretches at night.  In month 2, she slept 10-30 minutes during the day (not a napper, unlike her brother who took super long naps and plenty of them!) but was ready for lots of sleep by the time we brought her home from her sitter around 5.

Our pediatrician recommended waking her to feed her during the day if she ever slept longer than 3 hours, that way her long stretches would always be at night.  Her routine at 2 months was to start bedtime around 7pm (new diaper, jammies, sleep sack), sneak in another full bottle, 4-5 oz, at 10pm (usually she stayed asleep through this), then she'd wake up around 5am starving for a 6 oz bottle.  Starting at 2 months, we moved her from night time sleep in her swing to sleeping in her crib, because with her increased mobility, we were afraid she'd wiggle her way out of the swing.  She transitioned amazingly and we helped by getting her an infant pillow and a sleep positioner so she'd feel like she was still swaddled.  We also only used her white noise sound machine in her room at night (between 7pm and 7am).

In month 3, she basically stopped napping except for a 20-30 minute cat nap up to twice a day (sometimes no nap at all), but was super sleepy by 5pm and pretty much napped until her bedtime of 7-8pm.  We started a bedtime routine at 3 months with a bath every night (needed to address her cradle cap), jammies, and sometimes a bottle. We'd rock her to sleep and she'd usually straight through til 10pm.  I'd gently wake her for a warm 5 oz bottle, and she'd fall right back to sleep on me, all snuggly :)  She woke up once a night for a 6 oz. bottle, immediately went back to sleep, and was up for the morning between 7 and 8 am.

For baths, Audra loves them!!  She smiles so much loves to watch the water.  I love giving her the bath because she loves it so much :)  We only gave her a bath if she was stinky from formula, usually only 1 or 2 a week.  We always washed her hair with a gentle newborn shampoo.  We noticed she was shedding a layer of body skin around 3 weeks (especially her hands and feet), so during bathtime, I'd try to exfoliate it with a soft washcloth.  I also cleaned the outer part of her ears with a damp Q-tip after each bath, never going inside her ear though.  In month 3, we started giving her a bath every night (only used soap 3 times a week) because she was so dirty form moving around a lot and we needed to address her cradle cap.  We used soap very sparingly.

Audra's first bath!  Nothing much cuter than being able to cover up with a washcloth!

She's all snuggly in the shark towel handed down from big brother.

Audra Two Month Update

Audra had her 2 month doctor's appointment this week (1 week late), including 3 shots.  Dr. Jen was amazed by how much Audra was socializing with her.  Lots of coos and ahhs.  Audra's measurements have come down slightly in the percentile range and are now height (24 inches) and weight (13 lb 2 oz) around the 93rd percentile.  We have seen such a transformation in her personality over the past few weeks, she is becoming a very happy, laid back baby, and she still loves being held and laughing at the silly faces her big brother gives her.  Xavier always knows how to tame her crying, by telling me she needs a bottle or a diaper change.  :)

Right before she got her 2 month shots.  Notice the bottle is full and ready!

Sleep is going well.  She moved into her crib this week and started sleeping just like always starting with the first night.  As for her schedule, daytime sleep is all over the place, catnaps all day long, between 20 minute to 1.5 hour naps, but night time sleep is very consistent.  She starts getting tired around 7pm, we put her down, either in her crib or swing, then at 10 or so, we sneak in a full bottle and tuck her in her sleep sack, and she usually sleeps until 4 or 5am.  She eats again, then goes right back down until 3 hours later, when she wakes up for the day.  She usually naps on the way to the babysitter and stays asleep until her next bottle.  Then she's up pretty much all day.

Audra loves being outside, loves stroller rides, and likes to sit in her bouncer on the back deck while we play with Xavier and listen to music.  She likes being held, or just left alone in one of her seats to chill.  As long as we don't put her in her own room while she's awake, she's content.  She hates being away from the attention and likes to keep an eye on things.  Audra is becoming a pro at tummy time, either on me, on her gym mat or boppy pillow, or on my chest.  She also likes looking up at the mirror on her swing and listening to Baby Einstein music or Disney princess lullabies.  

She isn't the biggest fan of her pacifier, unlike Xavier who was absolutely addicted to it.  She's up most of the day observing her world around her, and Xavier constantly slept at this age.  She's very active, and during tummy time I swear she's about to start crawling but Xavier HATED tummy time and refused to try crawling until much later on.  She fusses quite a bit in the evenings for no reason at all and Xavier only cried if he was tired, hungry, or needed a new diaper.  It's fun to watch the differences between the two kids emerge and we can't wait to watch her grow into her own little self!

Her little smile lights up a room, and she loves to give us smiles, coos, and kicks when we greet her.  Her most difficult/fussy time is between 5pm and 8pm, which we have dubbed her "witching hour".  It's rough to get through!  

Xavier is growing up so fast, attending sleepovers at his grandparents or friend's houses every time we turn around.  He's going through an independent phase right now and the other night he and I talked about his behavior.  I told him when he doesn't listen to me, it drives me nuts.  He responded, "but Jesus and God still love me."  He's got me there!