One year ago, the three of us were at the hospital getting ready for our first night together as a family. One year ago! Everyone always says that you need to savor every moment because it goes so fast. They were right. Luckily, we have.
Each day brings brand new milestones. So many it’s hard to keep up (and we’ve been a little negligent on this blog lately). As of one year, here are a few facts:
She’s not walking yet, but she’s mastered the art of cruising and crawling, and has begun to push things around as she walks behind it
No first words yet, but she’s starting to mimic (dada, mama, cat)
She knows all the hand gestures to The Wheels on the Bus except for the honking of the horn (and her “round and round” gesture is a little suspect)
She goes to sleep around 7:30/8 and does a pretty good job sleeping until 6, although there is the occasional nightmare induced wake-up
She loves the cat’s ears, and the cat doesn’t seem to mind her all that much
She LOVES the cat’s food bowl, but we’ve done a pretty good job protecting it for Nimbus
She enjoys waving, clapping, and signing that she’s all done with things
She still loves baths
The excitement that overcomes her when I walk in from a long day at work fills me with my own excitement
She bebops to music — any kind, including theme songs on NPR
We have so many videos to share and in the coming year, we’ll try to do a better job keeping this place current. But for now, I’ll leave you with a pretty good one. Enjoy!
Happy New Year! Two-thousand twelve is off to quite a start here.
The Saturday before last, Audrey had a fever that skyrocketed to 104.9. (We had been monitoring her fever, and felt pretty confident in how to manage her temperature given our previous episode, but that was a terrifying number to see.) Minutes after taking her temp, we had her loaded in the car and were headed to the closest ER. Thankfully Audrey did not have a seizure, either at home or once we reached the hospital–though she did break out in horrible hives (we think in reaction to the red-dyed Tylenol they gave her at the hospital).
Despite our poor baby’s sad state, and our tiredness given the fact we were in the hospital 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., we couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Audrey dressed in her mini hospital gown.
The ER doctor diagnosed Audrey with her first ear infection and gave her (or, rather, instructed us to give her) an initial dose of an antibiotic. By the next day, Audrey’s fever came down to a more manageable 102…only to be followed a few days later by a measles-like rash all over her body, in reaction to the Amoxicillin. After waiting eight hours (!) for a call back from our pediatrician, Audrey was put on a different antibiotic…only to be followed a few days later by another measles-like rash all over her body.
The good news is, because she’d already taken antibiotics for a week at that point, she was taken off medicine altogether.
After a week and a half of having her poor bum prodded with the thermometer repeatedly and mouth pried open with medicine droppers (while being forcibly held down on the changing table), I am very happy to report that Audrey is enjoying life as normal again, healthy except for a runny nose and a residual rash. She has even gotten over her suspicion of the changing table and returned to her normal diaper changing antics (translated: squirming without crying).
Now let’s all hope she stays healthy straight through until spring!
Audrey seemed to enjoy opening presents, even if she didn’t quite understand what was going on. In particular, she was excited about Fuzzy Bear, whose snout fits perfectly in her mouth.
Although it’s made for a hectic time, it was nice to be here in our new house for the holiday. (We even have a mantle to hang stockings from!)
Audrey attracted lots of attention in church, ate a huge dinner of turkey, ham, and all the fixings, and played with her cousins and grandparents. (We’re off to see the others tomorrow!)
Yesterday, Audrey had her first encounter with the jolly St. Nick. In true Audrey fashion, she spent the initial phase of the meeting studying him and trying to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately, the meeting came after a day of little sleep and in the end, Audrey decided that Santa Claus could not be trusted. At least this year.
Merry Christmas, Audrey!
(I’ll get these up on flickr once I renew our Pro account there)
It’s almost been a week since our move out to the ‘burbs. Everything went smoothly and (relatively) quickly last Friday. We ended up hiring movers, which was expensive but so worthwhile. We were up at 7 a.m. that day and back to last-minute prep (plus breakfast in front of the tower of boxes) before the guys showed up promptly at 9 a.m. Audrey and I visited with my friend upstairs and her son to stay out of the way. Kenji loaded up our car while the movers packed the truck, then we were off to the house by 11:30 a.m. and they had everything inside within the hour.
Of course, unpacking and settling in has taken much, much longer…and is still ongoing. But we’re getting there. We even cleared a space next to the fireplace for the Christmas tree.
It’s been an exhausting few weeks between last-minute fixes and negotiations, the actual move, cleaning the condo, and settlement (which went successfully yesterday and actually felt kind of anticlimactic), not to mention the usual Christmas shopping, but we’ve made it through it all and can now breathe easier and fluff our new nest.
Lots of exciting Audrey news to post too. Stay tuned.
It’s been an eventful month. We received an offer on the condo…countered…received another counter…rejected the offer. Then, the buyer came back right before Thanksgiving (which was lovely) with a higher offer and we accepted! We survived the home inspection and the appraisal so now we’re moving full steam ahead to the settlement on the 21st.
Luckily, a house came up for rent in our desirable neighborhood right around the time we accepted the offer. It’s a three-bedroom rambler in Falls Church, Virginia, only a few blocks from great friends and right next to a nice park with a playground and weekly farmer’s market.
Boxes are towering all around us, but Audrey is having fun drumming on them and navigating the open floor space.
We’re excited about the change, but it is sad to leave our wonderful friends here in the building and in the neighborhood. Not to mention Kenji’s walking commute, the grocery store only a block away, my amazing yoga studio, the neighborhood playground…wait, why are we leaving again? Oh, yeah. For the great school district, more space between neighbors, more space in our home, a yard, a quiet street…for our family.
Somehow we’ll have to make sure Audrey still gets plenty of visits with her BFFs, Jad and Helen. (And me with their moms.)
And we’ll look forward to bringing Audrey to Dupont Circle and annoying her by saying, “This is where we lived when you were born!”
Today and every day I’m thankful for Kenji’s love and support, our families, great friends, and our wonderful baby girl.
We celebrated the holiday today with Kenji’s family, at his sister’s house. Audrey had fun with her cousins Claire and Henry, and she seemed to enjoy her first Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.
She looked so cute in the dress made by auntie Jess and her (too big) tights.
I hope everyone had a great day with family and friends!
We’ve had nice, crisp fall weather recently so Audrey’s been on lots of fun outings. (It doesn’t hurt that busy mornings/early afternoons typically make for good naps since she gets tired out!)
The Friday of Veterans’ Day weekend we went to the zoo with Audrey’s friends Helen and Jad (and their moms). This photo was taken minutes before all three kids fell asleep in their strollers.
The following day, Kenji, Audrey, and I headed to Burke Lake Park. The weather was absolutely beautiful, as were the leaves, and we had a successful first experience using the Kelty backpack carrier. Bonus: the park was free for the holiday weekend!
Audrey had fun playing in the leaves.
She had to taste them, of course.
Audrey was much more interested in crawling and trying to grab the camera than posing for photos, but we managed to get a few shots of her with mommy.
We headed back outside on Sunday, this time to meet our friend Gabe and a few other people for a walk along the Billy Goat Trail at Great Falls.
The first stretch of the trail took us through a quiet path in the woods. On the return trip, we split from our group and opted to follow the towpath back along the canal rather than clambering over the rocky trail. We managed to get a family photo before Audrey fell asleep in the carrier.
Though we generally stayed closer to home this past weekend, we did visit the neighborhood playground, where we practically had to pry Audrey off the teeter-totter. She’s never had so much fun on it before.
The graffiti in the background makes an interesting contrast to the other woodsy settings, don’t you think? I’m thankful that despite living in the middle of a city, we have access to great parks in the area. We’ve really enjoyed helping Audrey to explore them this fall.
A few weeks ago Audrey and I visited my parents and grandmother. It was wonderful having time with family (and getting a much-needed break from cooking/cleaning the house), although we missed Kenji. He was on the West Coast at the same time for a work conference. I’m glad Christmas is only a matter of weeks away (!), when all three of us will get a chance to head north again.
