12 Members!!

I've got 12 "official" fans... one for every pound!!

Slumber Party

So much to tell.  First, mama decided that even though I didn't sleep through the night without my swaddle, I looked too cute in my footy pajamas not to try again.  Exhibit A:

Good thing, too, because apparently it was my three month growth spurt waking me up at the time (a growing girl has got to eat!), and I am happy to report that I have been sleeping soundly through the night, un-swaddled, in cute footy pj's for over a week now.  Woop!

In other news, the ac is out... again.  It's a good thing we all really love this house, because the ac unit is a lemon!  Daddy says it's the compressor this time.  We're just waiting for the part to come in.  We spent the first two nights at Haven's house again and then took a family vote:  keep staying at Haven's or buy a window unit and camp out in the living room.  I lost the vote 2-1, and we got a window unit.

Camping out in the living room is actually more fun than I thought it would be.  I get to fall asleep downstairs watching infant-inappropriate programming with mommy and daddy, and when I wake up in the morning I get to join them on the twin-bed pull out couch.  Everybody squeeeeeze!

Here's me on the twin sleeper after everyone else got up:

And a short video of me waking up.  I love mornings so much.  

Jesus loves the little chiiiiildren

Did you know that I have a sibling?  I do!  He (or she!) is in heaven with Jesus, and I'll get to meet him one day.  Mommy and daddy experienced a miscarriage before they got pregnant with me.  Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon thing to happen.  It's hard work getting everything to line up just right in there!  Many of mommy and daddy's friends have this same sad story to tell.  It's hard to understand, but I like to think that it means my brother or sister has friends to play with in heaven just like I have friends to play with here.  I bet they have Wednesday play dates just like I do.  Mommy and daddy say we belong to God anyway.  He created each of us to know him and love him.  I guess some of us he chooses to keep from the beginning and some of us he chooses to trust with a mommy and a daddy for a short time.  Like really important baby sitters!  Mommy and daddy are hopeful that they will one day give me more brothers and sisters on earth, but they are reminded that they are not in control of that even though it's easy to talk about "having babies" as if they are.  To my mommy and daddy's friends who have experienced this loss, recently or not, before or after having other babies, just once or multiple times, I am sending up a little prayer for your peace and healing and asking my older brother (or sister!) to make sure those babies are all invited to next week's play date.  Aaaaamen.

Three Month Photo Shoot by Melody Lao

Back in the Swaddle

A couple of mornings ago mama found me cross-ways in my crib, fully swaddled.  This means that without the use of my arms or legs, I managed to squirm myself around 90 degrees.  I'm amazing.  This feat, along with the fact that I've been napping better and better (longer and longer) without a swaddle during the days, led my parents to suspect that I might be ready to sleep through the night without the swaddle.  Last night I was given the opportunity to prove that I'm big enough.  Unfortunately, the excitement of it all was too much for me, and I ended up waking them several times.  Fooey.  I have a feeling I'm going to be back in the swaddle again tonight.

3 Months

No thank you, mommy.

Yesterday mommy made me laugh and today she made me cry.  I believe she was trying to get me to open my mouth wide because she was opening her mouth wide, but the noise that came out was unbearable.  She should leave the singing to daddy.

The bumble bee says, "bzzzzz."

To recap, mom made me baaaaarely giggle 3 weeks ago (by sticking my foot in my face of all things!)  She's been trying ever since to recreate that magic moment, but I haven't been interested.  This past Friday mommy's friend, Carrie, made me laugh.  Not a tiny little airy giggle, but a full-fledged laugh.  It was music to my mommy's ears... she laughed too and teared up a little.

Four days after laughing at with Miss Carrie I finally laughed for mommy.

I just noticed I'm wearing the same onesie today that I was wearing in my photo shoot last week.  I clearly need to expand my wardrobe.

12 Weeks

My First Babysitter

Mom had a dermatology appointment today so I got my very first baby sitter.  Her name is Miss Hillary and she loved me a lot.  I think mom was nervous about being out and about without me.  I'm her sidekick, you know, and it's a big world out there... and she's just a little mama.  Five minutes after she left she came running back in because she "forgot her cell phone."  Mmm hmm...

I think mom did okay without me though, and I had a good time with Hillary.  We made sounds at each other, counted, did some exercises... babycises... and my favorite thing: fell asleep on the porch swing.

Here's how mama found us when she got home:

Showers > Baths

Showers are greater than baths... this is apparently the best kept secret in the house...

All this time I've been getting a bath in my whale tub, totally unaware of how much more exciting a shower is.  Well about a week ago I got my chance.

As usual mommy drug me chained to my bouncy seat into the bathroom while she enjoyed the wonders of a shower.  I suspected that something better than my whale tub was behind that curtain and I devised a plan to get to the other side.  I'm usually in a onesie but this time I was just in a diaper.  Halfway to naked... perfect!  I started my little whimper shortly after mama started her shower.  She knew right away that she wouldn't be able to finish before I lost it.

She tried singing her little ditty, but I didn't let it get to me this time.  I cried louder so that her song wouldn't calm me down.  Mama had no choice but to cut her shower short or bring me in there with her.  What's she going to decide?!!

She steps out of the shower, soaking the bath mats... and me... as she quickly takes off my diaper.  Weeeee!!  Here we go!!  Rescued by mommy, my ticket to the shower!!

My world just got so much more exciting and I never want to go back to that plastic whale again.

Tomato tasting. Don't judge me.

Porch Swing

Some of my favorite times so far have been spent on the porch swing.  I don't know what it is, but I just love to lay out there, especially in the evenings, and stare at all of the green go back and forth around me.  My parents take me out there a lot when I'm crying, because it has a tendency to relax me when nothing else will.

It's been too hot to spend a lot of time out there, but I went out for a little while today with my mommy and my cousin Olivia.

Mommy let me stay out there one time while it started storming.  We swung and listened as the wind picked up and the sky got grayer.  The tall skinny trees were waving at me.  The rain drops started tapping softly and eventually got louder.  The wind blew some of the rain onto the porch and onto my face.  And even though the thunder and lightening was right over head the whole thing was so relaxing I just fell right to sleep.

I love the porch swing.

11 Weeks

Sometimes mommy takes a shower

I don't allow mommy much chance to shower, but she manages to squeeze one in about every other day it seems.  I'm not sure why she's complaining, that's more often that I see the tub these days.

She drags me into the bathroom in my bouncy seat and the sound of the shower and the exhaust fan is usually enough to entertain me.  Today however, I got bored after mommy shaved her left leg... and before she shaved her right one.  Seemed like fine timing to me.  In an effort to tide me over a little longer mama sang one of my favorite ditties.  It goes like this:

Skinna ma rinky Audrey dink
Skinna ma Audrey doooo
I love you....

Repeat until right leg is smooth and I can be rescued from that bouncy seat.

Her little trick worked today, but next time I'll know it's coming and I won't be so easily amused.