Exploration Acres

Today we visited Exploration Acres with other CAT employees and had a good time venturing out into the corn maze, eating catered food, and playing. The girls were so tired by the time we left... both were asleep shortly after we got on the road. The temp was around 55 so we kept Audrey bundled up while she cruised around in the stroller not wanting her to catch anything else while she tries to get over an ear infection. She was quite the happy girl being outside watching lots of kids play. Lovin' the straw tunnel - we weren't sure she'd like going in this with it being dark but she obviously did from the look on her face when she came out. Glad we didn't have to go in after her! It only took about 15 tries to get this picture! :0) Duck races - this is such a neat idea! Snugglin' on the hayride back to the corn maze. Anna loved riding on the wagon - she got so excited when she saw the tractor coming to pick us up! Which way do we go? Daddy got us lost in the corn maze but not for long thankfully! My sweet, sweet girls who are growing oh so fast!

Audrey's 1st Ear Infection

I took Audrey to the doctor on Thursday as she's been congested for about 3 weeks now and it's not getting any better. I figured she had a sinus infection but to my surprise she actually has an ear infection. She'd been fussy but we figured it was teething related. Thankfully she was prescribed an antibiotic as Thursday night was awful! She's been spending lots of time sleeping on Daddy or Mommy as that's the only way she seems to get comfortable. She was more like herself today so hopefully the worst is over and this doesn't become a reoccurring thing.

Pumpkins

Anna had her first experience carving pumpkins this week. Daddy and Mommy actually did the carving but she did help clean them out, a little. She didn't love the feel of all the goop inside...that's a great job for Daddy to do!

7 Months Old

7 months old - Wow! She sure doesn't seem 7 months old as she's still a peanut having lost a month of growth in the beginning but developmentally she's doing great. She's been sitting up for about a month now and since then has been entertaining herself quite well with toys. It's so nice that I can put her on the floor with a few toys and actually get some house stuff done or just sit and watch her play. Anna is enjoying getting to play with her although we sometimes have to make her let Audrey just play and learn by herself. She's doing much better eating solids and doesn't mind sitting in her high chair now. She does ok with a sippy cup but still needs some practice. Before too long we'll be introducing finger foods - Yea! She's nursing 4 times a day and sleeping 11-12 hours at night but not consistently. It seems she's up 1-3 nights a week and it usually takes nursing her to get her back to sleep. She's not a great napper: on a good day she'll sleep 30 min to an hour in the morning and 1-2 hours in the afternoon. On a bad day she'll sleep an hour total all day and of course is very cranky, only happy if mommy holds her. Those are some LONG days! I cut her hair on top as it was hanging in her eyes and it looks so much better now. We started doing baby sign language with her about a month ago and she really seems to be concentrating on what our hands are doing. I started it with Anna at 6 months working on "all done", "eat", "more", and "drink" and she signed "all done" at 8 months so I hope we have the same progress with Audrey. Anna's doing it with us now as we teach Audrey and she thinks it's so fun.

Fun with hats

Anna and I had so much fun putting hats on Audrey and laughing hysterically! Audrey's facial expressions were great and her round little face and big blue eyes popping out with a hat on her head is just too cute!

dot com sesame street

This is Anna's new favorite thing to do..."play dot com sesame street". She's really gotten good with the mouse on the computers at preschool and often asks to play on the computer at home. It's not something we let her do every day but it is a good distraction when Audrey's being a handful. :0)

Praise Baby

So thankful for the Praise Baby DVDs and music - entertaining for the girls and uplifting songs for mommy! Check it out at http://www.praisebabycollection.com/index2.html

Indian Summer

Today definitely felt like an Indian summer with the temp being so warm. The shade in the backyard has been great on these warmer days keeping it cool enough to play outside comfortably. Thankfully Audrey enjoys swinging outside because when she refuses to nap that's about the only thing that will keep her content.

Gaining...

I have a wonderful praise to share...Audrey has been gaining weight quite rapidly lately (Anna really packed on the weight at this age too). When we took her for her 6 month check-up 2 1/2 weeks ago she weighed 13 lb. 6 oz. and had gone from the 12th percentile down to the 7th percentile (length was near the 75th percentile!). Not good! She hadn't been nursing well as she'd rather watch what's going on around her than eat. We decided to really try to push her to eat better before changing medecines. So, for the past 2 weeks I've been trying to keep things very calm when she nurses (Anna playing quietly, no t.v. on, no ceiling fan on, etc.), we've been pushing more solids on her, and have been offering formula after she nurses in the evening. She doesn't usually take the extra formula, we make a 2 oz. bottle, but sometimes I can get her to drink an ounce of it. We went for a check-up yesterday and she weighed 14 lbs. 4 oz. which puts her back in the 10th percentile. This is awesome weight gain for her age. She's gained almost an entire pound in 2 weeks when they're only supposed to gain 1/4 of an ounce a day at this age. We are going to continue to push her and make her eat more. She is taking in more solids so I think we've successfully stretched her stomach to hold more which is what Dr. Miller was hoping for. Praise the Lord for some answered prayers!! Now if we can just get her and Anna over their nasty colds, we'll be doing great! We expected them to have more colds with Anna going to preschool but it sure isn't fun especially when your infant is so congested she can't take her paci or nurse very well. Thankfully, this too shall pass...

"Miss Anna" the teacher

Here's Anna singing her preschool songs pretending to be the teacher and talking to her imaginary student, Lindsay, who was actually the helper of the day at preschool on Thursday. She had the hiccups while singing so that's why there are pauses every now and then. :0) I love hearing her sing (I think Audrey does too) and share with us what she's learning. Their focus this month has been that God is with them wherever they go and a few days ago she was telling me all of the places that God is with her. I'm so thankful we have a very nice place to send her to that's also very affordable!

Pumpkin Cookies

Anna and Kenley enjoyed baking cookies this weekend. The girls get so excited when they see one another!

Our Little Beauties

Couldn't decide which one I like better... :0)

Fun outside

Most nights after dinner we take the girls out for a walk. Audrey hangs out in the stroller kicking her legs, enjoying the fresh air and Anna does a great job riding her bike. I'm amazed at how far she can ride going up and down small hills without tiring. The cooler evenings have been such a blessing!

"I can sit up now!"

Leg Braces

Anna's been wearing her leg braces for over a week now and is adjusting well. We go see Miss Vicky, the PT, on Thursday to see if she's made any progress. It'd be great if she progresses quickly and she doesn't have to wear them the minimum 6 months or longer. She has to wear shoes with them so we have an inside pair of shoes and an outside pair of shoes. Anna picked out the pattern that's on them...they're quite cute!

Audrey the Explorer

Miss Audrey is starting to explore the things around her. She loves to get the plant and yank on it while she's in the exersaucer (don't worry it's fake). Who needs toys when she can get into other "fun" stuff. When she's on a mission, she can scootch or roll off her floor gym getting to wherever she's wanting to go. Won't be long before she's into everything...yikes!

Helper of the Day

Anna was Helper of the Day recently at preschool and now she thinks she needs to be Helper of the Day everyday. "Julie" got to go along for show and tell and Anna took oreos and milk for snack. She's really enjoying preschool. It's fun to hear her sing the songs at home and tell us about her friends. She talks a lot about Alli who has a baby sister named Audrey as well.

Measuring

Grandpa Smith sent some fun scales for Anna to play with and she loves measuring things with them. We've done tomatoes and beans so far. She loves to poor the beans in the buckets and count how many scoops it takes to make one side weigh more. We were able to do this while Audrey napped. There's just something so sweet about a sleeping baby.

Preschool - Here she comes!

I'm still struggling a bit that Anna is now in preschool. Where has the time gone?! She was so excited to go and had a lot of fun. Mommy was able to hold back the tears until I got to the van. :0) Audrey had lots of smiles for her sister when we went to pick her up. I think she missed her too. Who would've guessed...an Elmo backpack! She was so excited to hang up her backpack in her cubby.

Labor Day Weekend

We spent this past weekend with our good friends Quentin and Paula. Thankfully we live close enough now that we can visit a few times a year. We were neighbors in TN and then moved away and now we're close again which is great! Anna had lots of fun playing with Elli and Jess and we were so excited to meet Owen. Hard to believe Audrey and Owen were born just 2 days apart! They're on opposite ends of the growth chart. :0) Too cute!! We visited the zoo and enjoyed seeing all the animals. Audrey and Owen did great hanging out in the strollers. The girls were excited to ride the train. It was the fast way to see part of the zoo which was nice as we were all getting hungry for lunch. We also went to see the Backwater Gamblers water show and it was impressive. I can't imagine making a pyramid on water skis!! Anna loved it...wish I could've gotten a picture of her eyes while she was watching the show. :0)