Weekend

Thanks to the help of Grandmother and Mimi, we made it through our first weekend without Dad. David had to travel to Gulf Shores this weekend with work, so Grandmother came and helped out Thursday and Friday and Mimi came in over the weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have great shots with them, but I do have a few of bathtime and bouncy time. Also, Audrey actually started to smile this weekend at us and loves watching her mobile. It's amazing how much she's changing and growing each day!



Bathing in the bucket - we do have a real baby bathtub, but Audrey seems to prefer this at the moment - she likes the coziness!

Chilling in the bouncy seat

Four Weeks Old!

I can't believe that this time four weeks and one day ago, Audrey was coming into the world! It seems so much shorter than that, but of course my days and nights are completely confused. However, I do think we are coming out of the daze slightly (knock on wood)! She seems to be doing well with the eat every 3 hours routine and sleep for 2 in between during the day. Grandmother and Mimi are here this weekend helping out which is a welcome treat! They are always up for rocking her, which frees Mommy up for a bit to blog.

Here she is at 4 weeks - we've noticed that she's getting a few more rolls around her thighs and arms (so cute when you're a baby) and tracking our faces and fingers more when we're in front of her. We go for our next dr. appt next week so we'll see what new info we gather there. Enjoy!

A Few Pics

These are just a few pics from my camera over the past few days. Baby girl is LOVING the swing and her blanket. In fact, over the past couple of nights, when she wakes up around 3 AM, and she doesn't want to settle and go into her crib, I've started just sticking her in the swing and she rocks herself to sleep in that. (I hope I don't regret that when I have to break her of it!)
Last night, we would have gotten a good night's sleep, if it hadn't been for the incredible thunderstorm we had. It has been raining for the past week and we've gotten over 12 inches with more to come today. David got up with me at 3 AM to go and check our garage which tends to flood with heavy showers. Sure enough, it was soaked so he moved what he could from the floor to keep it from getting soaked. The flooding has been so bad around us that they canceled school today due to the road blockages and a mud slide near Stone Mountain. Craziness!

Snug as a bug

Rocking away

Hello world

Three Weeks

Well, here's her 3 week update. And, for one more fabulous thing - she is sleeping in her swing for the first time as I type this!! She was getting fussy and I knew it was time for a nap, so we swaddled her and anticipated a bit of a screaming session. But, instead of putting her in the pack n play, we stuck her in the swing and she's been asleep for an hour!! Woohoo! I love when new tricks work - hopefully, it keeps working!

Catch Up

Sorry for my delay in posting. It has been a whirlwind of activity for the past week or so. Here are a few more pics from our visit with David's parents and our quick trip to SC this past weekend. Audrey has been crying a lot during the day when it's time to go down for a nap and breaking out of her swaddle blanket. Also, at night, we were having to wait until she was completely asleep to lay her down or else she would wake up crying 10 minutes later after breaking free. It would almost take us 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get her down each time! Luckily, I called a friend from church who has an amazing swaddle blanket called the 'Miracle Swaddle' and it really has been - at least for the past 24 hours. She went down at 10:45 last night, woke up at 3:00 and then went right back down until 7:45!! Wohoo! I could hardly go back to sleep myself after the 3:00 feeding because I kept expecting her to start crying. This morning she has gone down for both of her naps easily, so I'm hoping she keeps it up!! Maybe we're on the upswing! Thank the Lord for the swaddle and the sound machine!


Lucy in the truck with Granddaddy

Audrey with my cousin Elizabeth

Audrey (tired) with Mimi and Pops

Audrey with my friend Carly

Trying out the Baby Bjorn for the first time

The Carter cousins - Lee, Thad, Jennifer, Katherine, and me

the beautiful crib David's dad made along with the bedding by his mom

2009 silver dollar

awake at 2 weeks

asleep in the crib

Asleep - 2 weeks

Audrey on the quilt that David's mom made for her with Granddaddy

Asleep again

Labor Day Weekend

Thanks for the advice emails about ways to lull Audrey to sleep. The past 48 hours have been better. Between swaddling, the hairdryer, and shushing, we have gotten her down most of the time. She did have one episode between 9-12 PM last night where nothing was working but she finally went down and slept between 3-4 hours each part of the night.

We've had a good weekend with David's parents in town. They've been so helpful around the house and got to experience Audrey's first bath and her meeting Lucy for the first time. Lucy has not adjusted yet - she doesn't mind Audrey being her, but she goes crazy when she starts to cry. This is particularly problematic at night, so Lucy might soon become an "outside dog", otherwise known as a 'normal dog.'

David's dad made a beautiful cradle for Audrey that I will post pictures of once we get it inside this afternoon. They also brought us a freezer for our garage which is perfect for the meals our church friends are sending us this week. Here are the pics from the weekend.


Grandmother, Audrey and Mommy

Audrey's first bath - she loved it, can't you tell??

Audrey with Granddaddy

Audrey with Grandmother

Audrey meeting Lucy

Audrey's First Walk

Audrey napping with Mommy

Hairdryer Helper??

Two nights ago, we could not get Audrey to settle down around 11:00 at night. She was not wanting to go to sleep and working herself into craziness. She started when I was in the shower, so David was trying everything he knew. Finally, he walked into our room where I was drying my hair and she immediately stopped! She loved it! So, every time that night when we laid her down and she wasn't quite asleep, we turned it on and she went right back down. Great!! So, then I made the worst mistake....I bragged about her. And, so what happened last night between 2-5 AM? Girlfriend wouldn't lay back down to save my life. Grrr! Hairdryer, noise machine, nothing. So, if any of you out there have any suggestions for things you have done to help your baby settle back down after feedings, let me know! I would love to hear them. I try to follow Baby Wise and not have to get her completely back to sleep before I lay her down, but really, at this point, I would take anything for SLEEP!

Otherwise, yesterday, we returned to the doctor for a weight check. When she was born, she was 8 lbs., 2 ozs. When we left the hospital on Friday, she was 7 lbs., 10 ozs and on Monday, she was 7 lbs., 12 ozs. By yesterday, she was up to 8 lbs., 5 ozs.! She gained 9 ounces in 3 days! The girl can eat. She's turning into our Buddha baby!

First Photo Session

When I first told my hairstylist I was having a baby, she immediately told me about taking her grandson to JC Penney when he was a week old to have pictures made. I've kept that in the back of my mind, so yesterday, David, Mimi and I ventured out. I've picked a few to post here and several also on Facebook. I know several are similar, but I went ahead and put them all up. If any of you are interested in ordering, I can still order more for several more weeks. Just let me know. So, here she is at 6 days old! She did great and didn't pee on Daddy once!! You'll have to ask him about the crazy way he had to pose, especially for the "egg" picture where she's in his hands.

We've had a quiet day today. Mimi and Pops left this morning : ( and Audrey and I took long morning naps. All three of us took a long walk in the beautiful weather we're having and we're looking forward to watching football this weekend! I love that fall is in the air!

the "egg" pose