2011

2011 was quite easily one of the hardest and best of my life.

The first seven and a half months were brutal, waiting and hoping that the Lord would grant our hearts' desire with a baby and receiving no after no after no. To those who walked this path with us every step of the way, I cannot even tell you how grateful I am for your prayers. The Lord sustained us and granted us faith and hope where we could not have mustered it on our own. He is faithful and He answered our prayers with a YES on July 18, the day after Nick's birthday. Then just 10 crazy days later, Audrey was born and we literally threw half our house into the back of our new minivan and went to become parents. About half a month in there is all a blur in my mind, but since I have about a trillion pictures to show for it, I know it was real.

The last 5 months of 2011 have been pure delight; delight in our Father's gift of sweet Audrey. I don't think I'll ever get over being thankful for her and being humbled that we were given this gift.

So, yeah, 2011 didn't start out the greatest, but it could not have closed with a happier ending.

The Great Nap Experiment Day 2

So far so good.

Yesterday:

Napped 8:30-9:15
Napped 1-3
Napped 4:45-5:30

So she got one longish nap in there. She was pretty grumpy after she woke up at 3, not having had enough sleep that morning.

But TODAY????

Napped 8:30-10:45
Napped 1:15-4:00

YAHOO!!!

I'd say she's well on her way to morning and afternoon naps!

The Great Nap Experiment

Audrey and I are on an adventure to change the structure of her naps. I really appreciate my good sleeper, but her naps can be less than ideal. I would characterize them as "catnaps" - usually 45 minutes-1 hour, 4 times per day. Occasionally one of these naps will be as long as 2.5 hours, and then she'll only take three naps that day, but that is the exception and not the norm. I would like a two nap day so that I can get things done in the (hopefully) 2 hours she'll be sleeping for each one. She might take a catnap between her last nap and bed (so she can see Daddy after he gets home from work), but in general, I would like to have our day structured as follows:

Up at 7
Nap from 9-11
Nap from 1:30-3:30
Nap from 5-6 (maybe)
Bed at 7

Her feedings will change to 7am, 11am, 1:30pm, 4pm, 7pm.

All you non-schedulers will laugh uproariously at my carefully structured times, and I truly don't expect her to fit with those times exactly (she never has, why start now?), but I would like for the day to be patterned in this way, so I'm working on that for the next few days.

My plan is to stretch her wake times by just a bit so that she goes to bed 2 hours after being awake (as opposed to 1.5). She currently wakes at 7 and is back in the bed between 8-8:30 and I'll keep her up an extra half hour in the hopes that she'll sleep a bit longer.

It's going to take a few days - she's used to the 45 minute/1 hour naps. But I'll give it a good three-five days. If it's not working and we're both miserable, we'll just revert back to what is working right now and try again later. I'm really ok with the way things are, I just think she would get better naps if they are longer, and I would have an easier time trying to figure out how to do chores/errands with only 2 naps to work around.

So far, today has NOT gone well (but I didn't expect it to). She woke up early at 6:30 (not cool), so I kept her up until 8:30 and then put her down for a nap. She did well during the wake time and was not fussy at all, and went down very easily. But she woke up at 9:15. She's still in the bed (it's 9:45), because I'm determined to help her think that this is Nap Time right now, and she's talking to herself and rolling around in there (I can see her on the monitor) but decidedly NOT sleeping. This next wake time (I am going to attempt to keep her up until 1) is going to be very difficult as we get towards 1pm. I think I'm going to run a bunch of errands and possibly take a walk to keep her occupied.

Wish me luck!!

Cousins

Sadie is Audrey's second cousin, I believe (my first cousin's child). They are 13 months apart and are going to be such good friends. I can't wait to see them together at the beach this July. Unfortunately, Sadie better watch out - Audrey is going to be the leader of the pack, I'm afraid!

I am five months old today!!!

Today we drove 6 hours in the car, so it's amazing that she looks as happy as she does in this picture. But she was an angel in the car, so really it's a pretty good indication of my sweet girl these days. Here is what Audrey is up to at 5 months old:

• Predictably sleeps through the night. We had a rough patch a couple of weeks ago when Nick was out of town and Audrey and I were both sick. Sleeping wasn't the best, but as soon as Nick got home she was back to her regularly scheduled sleep program. So Nick is never allowed to leave again.
• She sleeps 7pm-7am with a 10:30 feeding that we wake her for.
  
• She eats at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, and 10:30pm, usually still 4-6 oz like last month.
• Her weight is roughly 14.5 pounds - we'll go to the doctor at the end of January to find out how much she's grown.
• She still takes 3-4 naps per day, but next week I'll be working on getting that to 2-3 (morning, afternoon, and late afternoon catnap). We'll see how it goes. Her naps are only an hour each (with one long one), so I think she'd get better sleep with two longish and a quick nap in the late afternoon.
• Her favorite toys are her Jumperoo and anything that moves or makes noises.
• She got many wonderful and fun new toys for Christmas, including a Sophie the giraffe teether which she seems to love, a snail that moves and makes noises and she is fascinated with, and a suction cup spinner toy to put on her high chair.
• She laughs when she sneezes as if she's just made a joke.
• She's ticklish, especially on her cute chubby thighs.
• She is sitting up when placed in a sitting position and can maintain her balance for a little while. She's not totally reliable, so I put pillows around her, but it won't be long and she seems to really like being upright.
• The car seat is no big deal these days. After 12 hours in the car in the last three days, I would say we are now car seat experts. She was happy 90% of the time, fussing only during her normal fussy time of the day, before she went to sleep at 7.
• She still can wear 0-3 month pants because she's so short, but she is getting chubby enough to probably start wearing 6-9 month onesies pretty soon. Her clothes are going to be a mishmash for awhile, probably! I'm still rolling up sleeves and pant legs.
• She is still growling and does it to mimic others now as well.
  
• She is nearly always happy and busy. She loves to be with people and talk to people and know what is going on. We think she is delightful and amazing and she continues to be a joy in our lives!
  

Audrey's first Christmas

December Photo Project, Day 25

Christmas as a MOMMY!!!!! (I obviously didn't take this one, but I don't care - this is the best picture I can imagine.)

Merry Christmas!!

From Nick, Molly, and our precious little gift, Audrey

December Photo Project, Day 24

Christmas spirit(s)? ;)

December Photo Project, Day 23

Two sweet girls

December Photo Project, Day 22

(Not so patiently) waiting for Santa.

December Photo Project, Day 21

Audrey discovering herself in the mirror.

December Photo Project, Day 19

She fell asleep mid-escape.

December Photo Project, Day 17

A little late, oops. Audrey loves her Aunt Renae!

December Photo Project, Day 16

First Christmas gift from her Aunt Renae. I think it was a hit.

December Photo Project, Day 15

Sunset out my front door (lest you think the trees are on fire!).

December Photo Project, Day 14

Look who's sitting up!!! She was enjoying herself with this toy this afternoon and wanted to be upright. She sat for 30 seconds to a minute, with the longest at over 2 minutes before she would topple over. I'm not ready to let her sit without pillows (and me) nearby, but she's very sturdy and was able to balance herself well.

Sweet baby Sierra

I got to go see a squishy newborn last night! Emily's baby Sierra was born Monday night and I waited (impatiently) all day Tuesday for Nick to get home so I could leave and head to the hospital. It was so strange to see such a small baby - my own small baby seems gigantic by comparison. How quickly the time flies!! But she is just a little bundle of joy (though technically she was rather mad at me because I was taking her away from her food source). I stole one of Emily's pictures since the one I took of just her was not as flattering!

Sweet precious baby:

December Photo Project, Day 13

Poor sick baby.

December Photo Project, Day 12

Today this is as good as it gets. I've got a very fussy sick baby on my hands today.

Our tree. It's fake, but I still love it all lit up.

Busy last few days

On Thursday afternoon our friends Chad and Amanda came over to visit and to take pics of Audrey. Amanda is a professional photographer who did our photos for our adoption profile and I wheedled her into coming to get ones of us for Christmas cards and gifts. They live in PA now so we had to catch them on a rare visit down south. It was great to hang out with them and I'm so excited about the pictures. No peeking, though, until after Christmas. So you'll just have to wait to see those.

Friday morning I hosted a shower for Emily and baby #4 who should be arriving very shortly. Of course I forgot my camera so you'll just have to hop on over to Emily's blog to see the ones she posted. Friday night Nick and I had movie night and we watched The Help (GREAT movie), even though it was interrupted multiple times by a certain little someone who must've known it was movie night. Trouble, that one, I tell ya.

On Saturday Nick cleaned out the garage all day Saturday (YAY) and Audrey helped him get the van seats back in after he took a load to the dump (don't worry - this is a total joke - we did not go anywhere!).


Then Grandma and Grandpa (no picture of him, oops!) came over to babysit while Nick and I went out to dinner and then to a party for a friend's birthday. We had a great time out on our own, but I think they probably had more fun than we did!!


Then this afternoon Grammy and Papa came over to take pictures of Audrey in an outfit her Uncle Will wore 18 years ago for HIS first Christmas. And I'm so old I remember Will as a baby in this outfit. They got pics of Cousin Owen in it as well, who barely fits. Audrey squeezed into it nicely.
All in all, it has been a crazy few days, so I'm looking forward to a calmer week.

December Photo Project, Day 11

December Photo Project, Day 10

Even early Saturday mornings are sweet and fun these days.

December Photo Project, Days 8-9

I'm too tired. I'll get back on track tomorrow.

Yawn.

December Photo Project, Day 7

Ready to go party! Audrey got to go to her first birthday party for one of her friends today. She slept through about half the party, but she enjoyed watching the other kids play.

Shackled

My loves

December Photo Project, Day 6

Playing with the camera

Rough day

Today was rough. Yesterday Audrey decided that all the cool babies are sleeping on their tummies and she was going to join them. So she fought for over an hour during her afternoon nap to get there and stay there. Her arm kept getting stuck underneath her and she got so upset. She would roll back on her back and then just cry and cry. Nick and I watched her on the video monitor and this is a pic from the monitor that we took mid-turn. Lest you think I'm a horrible mom who just let her do this, I went in there MULTIPLE times, putting her on her back, on her tummy, giving her the paci, rocking her. Nothing worked and it just made her more upset - she really wanted to do it on her own. When she finally got there and got comfortable she napped. Phew. Well, today at naptime, same deal; this time it took a little less time. And for bed tonight we put her down and she just fussed and sounded agitated, which is so unlike her. She normally goes to bed with little to no fussing at all, both for naps and bed. We went in to check and she was on her belly but propped up on her arms just crying away because she was trying to remember how to fall asleep that way. Poor thing. She is now asleep on her tummy. Breathe in, breathe out. I know she can do this. But the way the doctors and hospitals train you with the "back to sleep" campaign, it's hard to let her do it, even though I know she's fine and can easily roll herself back and forth and lift her head just fine.

Other than that new trick, it was a rough day because we got news that we have yet another new stack of paperwork to fill out as we work towards finalization. This was completely unexpected and has me back doing some of the most dreaded chores of the home study. I feel like we're at square one again, but this time I can SEE the baby we're doing this for, she's not just a dream. So it makes it worthwhile and much easier this time around (however, definitely NOT easier in the sense that I now have a baby to drag around with me while getting physicals, fingerprinted, etc etc etc).

December Photo Project, Day 5

Just chillin' out.

Church Christmas party

Our church's annual Christmas party was last night. This year I was on the committee to plan and host it. Thankfully, since over 60 people attended, it was NOT at my house! But I was in charge of making one of the main dishes. I made a beef brisket, over 20 pounds of it to be exact. It was a bit harrowing and I prayed all day Friday that it would turn out ok. But it seems to have been a hit, and I'm relieved it is over! It was a nice evening, and of course I forgot to take pictures, but Carol Ann did!!!

Slicing the brisket with Jerry:


Sweet girl LOVED the party and couldn't get enough of people watching until Daddy took her home early to get her in bed:

December Photo Project, Day 4

Just found out that Alabama is going to the National Championship game in January! ROLL TIDE!!

December Photo Project, Day 3

I am having way too much fun being this child's mommy.

December Photo Project, Day 2

At a Christmas dinner my mother-in-law invited me to. The theme of the decorations was candy canes and Candy Land. So cute!

December Photo Project, Day 1

Oh, come on. You knew picture #1 was going to be of Audrey.

December Photo Project

I'm participating in the December Photo Project again this year. Since I take pictures all day long anyway, it just makes sense!


And now we are three

I put up the Christmas decorations today, and while I just love the house looking so festive in its twinkly red and green, this has to be my favorite sight of all: