I'm Back

It’s been awhile since I last update the blog. I could list a bunch of reasons but it really doesn’t matter and you probably don’t really care. You really want to know what’s been happening with Aubrey. I am going to try to summarize everything that has happen since my last post. I am sure I will miss some things but I should be able to hit the highlights.

Daddy Day Care

Mommy went out of town this weekend (last weekend of the February) and left daddy in charge. This is the first time Daddy has had to keep Aubrey by himself for an extended period of time. Daddy was able to get her fed, dressed and ready for day care pretty close to on schedule. A few minutes behind schedule but not too bad. I think Saturday is going to be a lazy day for Aubrey and me. I might just let her run around in her diaper.

Stay posted for more updates from the weekend.

Size - 5 months flies by (Jayna and Jacob)

Jayna and Jacob made their arrival the first two weeks of February. We visited both of them in the hospital and it is hard for us to imagine that 5 months ago LA and I had a baby that small. It is amazing how fast time flies and how big Aubrey has gotten. I guess this continues throughout life.

Sitting Up

She has started to sit up some on her own or with some help from mommy and daddy. Hopefully, she will figure this out in the coming weeks so she doesn’t have to spend so much time on her back. She can fall to the sides and back pretty quickly. Mommy and Daddy will have to be on their toes to keep her from hitting her head. She is pretty flexible – she can be sitting and bend at her waist and put her head between her legs.

Weekend at Nanny’s (Feb)

Leigh-Ann and I went on our annual trip with our friends to our family beach house at Surfside Beach for a weekend in February and left Aubrey with Nana Von and Gramps. She did wonderful and they enjoyed keeping her. LA and I did fine and didn’t worry ourselves to death about her. However, we did miss her and were anxious to get home and spend some time with her. Everybody was worried about how we did and were asking us all kinds of questions. It wasn’t a big deal. I think the biggest reason is that Aubrey is a good baby. I would have a lot harder time leaving our child with anyone including family, if she cried all day and/or was a holy terror (which still could and probably happen in the coming years) it would be a different situation. I probably wouldn’t leave her with anyone if she was a crier or was fussy all the time. We are blessed that Aubrey has been such a good baby.

Valentines’ Day

So a week before Valentine’s Day LA brought home a flyer from school that asked if we wanted to purchase a Valentine’s Day gift for her. It was only like $3 dollars and they sucked us in. Come on, really…we weren’t going to let her be the only one not to get something even though she didn’t even know she got anything. The funny thing was about a day earlier we had discussed if we were going to do anything for her and had decided not to do anything because she wouldn’t remember it. On Valentine’s Day, LA and I got a bag of goodies for her – actually some of it was for us (a brownie and some chocolate). She also got some Valentine’s day gifts from her friends in the class. LA and I weren’t prepared for that – oops. What’s the next holiday? Looks like her friends will get something for St. Patrick ’s Day. Got any suggestions?

Baby Foods and Her Desire for Real Food

After her four months doctors appointment, we started feeding Aubrey cereal in the mornings. She did real good with it and figured it out pretty quickly. We advanced from the rice cereal which by the way is not real tasty. It taste’s like the flour and water stuff you dipped newspaper in to make paper mache. Aubrey started with squash then sweet potatoes, carrots (which she didn’t like at first but is doing better with them), peas, green beans, and applesauce. We have a few more fruits to work through but so far no allergic reactions. This is a blessing. Often times at dinner, we will feed Aubrey and then eat dinner and hold Aubrey or put her in the Boppy. She has figured out what we are doing and gets mad watching us eat. She wants you to feed her what you are eating and let her drink out of your cup. We’ve got a video of her attaching my cup and it is funny. I will try to post it to the blog.

Putting Her Hands In The Mouth and Sucking Her Thumbs

For awhile now Aubrey has wanted to put her hands into her mouth and we have been steadfast in her telling “No, hands in your mouth”. This is going to be a learning lesson for her about her daddy. I am going to win this battle/challenge. I will not loose. I am going to loose a bunch of battles over the years but this is one that I will win. I will keep you posted.

Day Care

Towards the end of January the couple keeping Aubrey decided that it wasn’t working out and they would keep her until we could find someone else. We didn’t have a plan but decided not to take Aubrey back. A couple from our Sunday school class offered to keep Aubrey for a week – Dave and Shara. They were expecting in about three weeks and I think they wanted a dry run to make sure they were ready for their new baby girl. Aubrey had a great week taking walks and playing with Maggie, their dog. Fortunately, she can not talk and tell us she wants a dog.  I don’t think mommy and daddy are ready for that yet. Shara even got to take Aubrey to her doctor’s appointment and freaked everyone out in the office with the baby in the car seat and being pregnant. I am sure she got some strange looks. It was a great knowing that they were keeping Aubrey. LA and I got on the phone on Monday and fortunately Summerville Baptist CDC had and opening and we visited and decided to enroll her there. It has been working out good. It is close to the house and the three ladies there do a good job with her. She has four new friends and will have another one in April when the fifth child arrives – the parents are paying to hold a spot. We have registered her for next year at Summerville Baptist. She is going to start out in the baby class and move to the crawler class when she turns one. Her birthday is going to cause her to be the oldest in her class. Most of the starting dates are birthdays before September 1.

Recap of Everything Since Nov. 24th Post and 4 Month Check Up

LA went to the doctor for her 4 month appoint today. The tale of the tape is as follows:
Length: 25 ¾ in - 95th Percentile
Weight: 14lbs 11oz – 75th Precentile
Head: 15in – 20th Precentile

Everything looks good and the doctor is pleased with her progress. We are going to start with foods this week. That should be interesting since her natural reaction is to lick everything and stick her tongue out. It is rice cereal to start with one time a day and then two times a day and eventually three times a day. From there it will be vegetables then fruits one color at a time following the same pattern.

She got her second round of shots and cried a little bit, but was a big girl. It was a little easier for mommy and daddy this time. Her next appointment will be at six months.

Miscellaneous

*Kerrick tried to kiss her (Evidently, I am going to have to talk to him and I put her on restriction from her playmate for 3 days)
*She is talking and even has a learned to yell a little bit
*She has laughed
*She has had two bouts of a head cold (took her to the doctor the first time)

Christmas

Aubrey got to celebrate her first Christmas. Unfortunately, she was only about 3.5 months old and didn’t know any difference between a normal day and Christmas day. Next year will be a little different but Santa did come see her and she got clothes, bibs, CD Player, Piggy Bank and a lamp. The economic situation must have hurt Santa because the piggy bank wasn’t loaded down with money.

We spent the late morning and afternoon at Grandma and Aube’s house with my sister’s family. The evening was with LA’s family. LA’s family rotates based on age and it was LA and my time to host. Tight quarters and semi-organized chaos would be an understatement. It was a long day but we survived and we had a great time. It was good to be able to spend time with both of our families on Christmas day. We are fortunate and blessed.

Rolling Over

Aubrey has started rolling over and her first roll over is pretty funny. LA and I were both home the first time she rolled over from back to front. It was the day after Christmas. Anyway, Aubrey and I were downstairs hanging out. She was having some daddy time. She was on her back and she rolled over and I didn’t think much about it. Later on Aubrey and I went upstairs to see mommy and I asked LA “if it was a big deal that Aubrey had rolled over from her back to her front”. I quickly learned that it was a BIG DEAL. Evidently, it is a milestone. LA wasn’t too happy about me not calling her downstairs. A little while later I am in the kitchen and I hear LA and Aubrey playing and LA is trying to get Aubrey to turnover. It was funny to hear LA trying to convince her to do it again. I think she finally rolled over but she wasn’t too happy about it. She is getting better at it but she still isn’t to hipped up on being on her tummy except when she has just finished a bottle and is tired.

Baptism

Aubrey was baptized on December 21, 2009 at Bethany UMC. It was truly a special day and was a reminder to LA and me of the responsibility that we have in raising Aubrey. We have had and continue to be surrounded by Godly family and friends that will help us along the way. Aubrey wore Leigh-Ann’s christening dress which was special but we couldn’t have waited much longer or Aubrey would not have fit in the dress. Aubrey was good throughout the entire service. She was alert and awake during the baptism. She didn’t even cry or flinch when they put the water on her. She fell asleep shortly after the baptism. We had three pews full of family and plenty of friends throughout the church.

LA and I had cleaned the house, porch and decorated the downstairs with all our Christmas decorations and had all the family over for lunch. Fortunately, the weather held off and we were able to use the porch for overflow seating.

It was a Great Day that we will remember forever for our family and friends and commitments we made.

The funniest part of the day really didn’t even have anything to with the baptism. After everyone except Nana and Gramps had left LA was playing with Aubrey and she began sticking her tongue out and wow, she has a long tongue and she would be talking while she would stick it out. Check out the video. Maybe, we should send it into America’s funniest videos.

Christmas Tree Tradition

Our first two Christmases, LA and I have purchased a Frasier Fur from the local missions committee at our church but this year we missed the deadline and would have to get one on our own. We planned all week that we would go and get a tree on a Saturday afternoon. I went and got my trailer to make it easier to carry and about 30 minutes prior to leaving we began to talk about where we were going to get a tree and LA begins to talking about going to Jedburg and Ridgeville and I begin to inquire why we had to go all the way out there to get a tree. We were on the wrong page – LA was talking about going an cutting our own tree at the Christmas tree farm and I was talking about going the Christmas tree lots around town like I had done for every year before we started purchasing them from the church. I had never gone and cut a Christmas tree down. When I heard what LA was expecting it explained a lot about the comments she had been making to me – starting a family tradition with Aubrey, don’t forget the camera…etc. After my wife finished cracking on me and my version of a “family tradition” of riding around town to find a tree, we loaded up in the car and started searching. At our second stop “Creech’s” on Bacon Bridge Road we found a lovely tree that was “fresh cut” (probably about one-two weeks ago). So we didn’t go cut a tree down but we did have fun and a few laughs and created some memories. Maybe next year we will go and cut a tree down.

Thanksgiving 08

LA, Aubrey, Grandma, Aube and I went to my sister’s house in Savannah for Thanksgiving. This was a first for us, since for the past 41 years of my life we have either been at my grandmother’s house, aunt’s house or at the beach house. I figured it would be interesting and worst case scenario was that we would have to stop at Cracker Barrel on the way home – it was a win/win for me. My nephew Carter and his girlfriend Katie Parks (KP) got to see and hold Aubrey for the first time. We had a good time that day and everyone got to hold her and we watched the Detroit Lions get killed. My sister out did herself and the food was very good. It was kind of disappointing that I didn’t get to stop at Cracker Barrel but there will be other days.

Code Red

It's been fairly quite week on the Aubrey front the past week. She is smiling, making faces, cooing, eating, fussy and still peeing and pooping. Since it's hard to describe the smiling/cooing/playing, lets talk about what is easy to describe - her poops. Ever since we started supplementing her feedings with formula her poops have reduced to about once every other day or two which is nice because wets are much easier and quicker to change and more importantly they have been happening with Andrea during the day. Last night Aubrey and I were hanging out in the chair and she is just as happy as can be. She is smiling, kicking her feet and sliding down in her boppy. I would but pick her up and put her higher and she would work her way down by kicking her feet. About the third time, I grabbed her and I felt wetness. It was on her side and front. My first fatherly instinct was that she had spit up but that was quickly ruled out and moved down the possibility chart to she had t-ted and the diaper was full or was improperly sealed and had leaked that was also quickly ruled out. Upon closer inspection, we had a major CODE RED situation on our hands. I called mommy and told her - we had a diaper breach of number 2 out the front of the diaper and had a major haz mat situation and all hands were needed to respond. Wow, I am not sure how to describe it or if you even want me to but the first thing that comes to my mind is mud - everywhere. I assessed the situation after taking the diaper off and called for the bath water to be prepared. This was no match for baby wipes. Mommy got a throw away pad. I disposed of the diaper and mommy began the first wave of cleaning with the wipes. We got the water ready and cleaned her from head to toe just to make sure she was completely clean. We were glad this happened at home and not while out somewhere or glad someone else wasn't holding her. Anyway, sorry this is the funniest story of the week...maybe it's just funny to LA and I. We were laughing the whole time. I guess we are going to have to train her not to poop on the weekends - just M-F 8 - 3:30pm while at Andrea's. I am still interested in making a girls diaper that prohibits the mess from coming forward. Any takers?

I am also looking for someone to re-engineer the car seat so that it is easier to carry and isn't constantly hitting your knee. I have the idea but not the design skills...autocad anybody?

Busy week with Thanksgiving and shopping. Too bad Aubrey won't get any turkey this year...Mommy will eat her portion since "she eats like a man" (LA's quote from Saturday night 11/22 w/witnesses). Actually, daddy's going to take her share....wink,wink.

Here's some good news she slept from 9pm until 7am on Sat night to Sun am and last night she slept from 9:30pm to 6:30am with us having to wake her up this morning. She is skipping her last feeding at 10/11pm. We are so blessed. We pray it will continue. The sleeping gene she's got must have come from her mother. We will have to wait to see if she got the lazy gene from me.

CU Weekend and 2 Month Check Up

o, LA and I began packing for our weekend trip on Thursday evening for our first weekend trip with Aubrey to Clemson for Homecoming. Wow, it takes a lot of work to get everything together. The pack and play is an interesting thing. Something that is supposed to be portable isn't the easiest thing to get back into its bag to transport. We attempted to do it without the directions, why would you need them? We found out why - because it is impossible to do it without reading them and dissecting every word. I am glad we kept them. We had all the pieces moving in the right direction but it would not collapse all the way. Evidently the autocad person at Graco took the day off when they completed the drawings in the instruction manual. They have like 12 steps and 2 drawings. Anyway, we finally got it and I will say that now that we have read the directions (very slowly) and done it twice it is easier.

Aubrey is a great baby. She slept the entire way to Alex and Alisha's house. Even with mommy and daddy fussing about all the traffic. We hit Columbia at 5:00pm - they have a rush hour problem on I-26 from our side of Columbia to the Newberry side of Columbia. What a pain in the butt. It was 80mph to stopped back to 60mph then down to 30mph - a big slinky. We pit stopped at Alex's in G'Vegas to feed her and then head to Lieu's for dinner - the spicy chicken is the deal, worth a stop if you are ever in G'Vegas and are hungry! It's a Timmy D favorite. Aubrey slept the entire time at dinner, she has the best table manners. We loaded up after dinner and headed to Townville - just outside Clemson on Lake Hartwell. Lake Hartwell is having a serious water problem. I don't know how far down it is but it has to be down 15-20 feet. There are a lot of docks sitting on dry ground. You could repel the bank down to the water or climb from the water to the bank.

Aubrey had a good night sleep and was ready for a long day on Saturday - tailgating and the game. The day turned out to be a pretty good day based on the forecast - 70% chance of rain in the morning and highs in the upper 50' - low 60's and windy. Your not going to believe this but it didn't rain and it was actually sunny with some clouds moving through and windy. They got the wind and temp right but missed the rain. My opinion is that we now allow the weather to control our lives. We have too much information available about the weather (sometimes it's right and most of the time it is wrong) and we have become obsessed with it. Aubrey slept through the most exciting 25 seconds in college football - Tigers running down the hill, the first quarter and second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter. I don't think she is going to remember much about the whole Clemson experience but her blood now runneth orange. We applied for early acceptance and are awaiting CU's response. We have pictures to help her remember and many more trips to Clemson in her future. She is going to know that you don't root for chicken, you just eat them. Just for the record Clemson is 1-0 when she is in attendance. I am going to write Dabo and TDP and tell them of Clemson's success when she is at the game and see if they could upgrade my tickets to the 50 yard line about 25 rows up. She is their good luck charm. We took her to Howard's Rock after the game and she committed to giving 110% to CU.

Aubrey had a pretty good evening Saturday but a busy Sunday morning. She was up at 12:30am to feed, 3:30am to feed and 6:30am to feed. She seemed like she was a little congested which made mommy and daddy feel horrible about taking her to the game and having her outside in the wind for most of the day Saturday. Were such good parents - were from the your not going to interfere with our plans/what doesn't kill her will make her stronger school of thought. Anyway, it seems everyone was a little congested on Sunday morning. It was probably from us knocking all the dust around the house. She bounced back and was fine on the ride home and has been good so far this week - see we not such bad parents after all.

I guess we will see if we are invited back next year or if they had all "the traveling Carter's" they could stand. They say she was a good baby and they didn't mind but the truth will be found out next year.

We had her two month check-up today and her first series of shots. The doctor did the old "Heee/She trick" when he walked in the room. I guess the pink isn't enough of a giveaway. The measurement and percentiles first. She weighed 11lbs and 10oz (an increase of 2lbs 7oz from her two week check-up) and is still in the 75th percentile (which is good...she doesn't have a weight problem - no need to put her on a diet yet). She is 23.5 inches (an increase of 2.5 inches from her two week check-up) and is the 90th percentile. Her head circumference is 15" (an increase of .5 inches from her two week check-up) and is in the 25th percentile. I told her and everyone after her two week, we would not be satisfied with her "C"/Average performance and would be consulting with a baby trainer to boost her performance. It is helping and we are seeing results. We will continue to work on the weight - more feedings. We are pleased with her growth. We are going to give her a smiley face sticker for her hard work but not too much praise because we don't want her to be satisfied. We are not real worried about ther head size. If you have an area to be behind in we will choose that one. Don't be discouraged with the "C" on the weight, we can overcome this lack of effort on her part. Although, we could have bumped her weight up a little, if we would have feed her before her appointment or if we would have kept the wet diaper on her.

She got a couple of shots shortly after she was born while in the hospital but none since then. She got shots today to prevent the following diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hib, hepatitis b, polio, pneumococcal and rotavirus. She got three combo shots and one orally. The nurse came in and gave her the orally administered one first and then asked LA to put Aubrey on the examining table and to hold her arms. So Aubrey is staring at mommy while the nurse gives her three quick shots - two in one leg (thigh) and one in her other leg (thigh). So now she thinks mommy is the bad person that hurt her. Daddy just hung out and was there to console her after the shots. She has a destinctive cry for pain. There is no build up to it. The nurse stuck her and her eyes got big (looking at mommy and saying "what are you doing?, holy, crap that hurts") and she let out a loud cry and before she knew it she had been stuck two more times. I will give the nurse credit. She was quick but as a job that has to be a bummer making innocent babies cry everyday - not much to look forward to each day but she is helping to prevent diseases. Mommy and Daddy did real good and didn't cry. Aubrey let out a couple of cries and wimpers but starting sucking on her pacificer and was calmed down in a couple of minutes. She is a tough baby, probably more like a very short memory. Anyway, it wasn't near as bad as we thought it would be. We will see how she does over the next couple of days - looking for a temperture or her being fussy. We have some children's Tylanol ready, if she gets a fever or is fussy or if we just want to get some rest (just kidding).

Mommy and Daddy were recommended to get a Flu shot to help prevent Aubrey from hopefully getting the Flu. Aubrey is too young to get one herself. She will get some benefit from mommy getting one. Daddy is real excited about having to get a shot.

Next appointment is at four months - next year. We get more shots and talk about introducing her to rice cereal. So it's the natural stuff and formula for the time being.

PS - We did ask about her being so gassy and the doctor told us it was normal. Her digestive system is having to switch back and forth processing the natural and formula and her being gassy is just part of it. He told us to deal with it. If she's around and something smells, guess what it's her (It's going to be nice having a free pass.)

Survived

I am not sure if 4 days qualifies as "it's going to be ok" but we are surviving the first week of day care. LA is adjusting to being back at school and all the fun that her job entails. I am dropping off Aubrey in the morning and LA is picking her up after school. We are still working getting everyone settled into a schedule but we will get the system figured out just about time for Thanksgiving. It makes it easier to drop Aubrey off each morning because she has been such a good baby. It would be hard for us to leave a fussy, crying baby with someone (that will be a hard morning, when daddy drops her off and she is crying. Hopefully, that won't happen.) Aubrey loves Andrea and her new boyfriend - Kerrick (I am going to check on the spelling). She is enjoying her new toys - bouncy seat. Andrea confirmed what we already knew - Aubrey is gassy and it smells. If we are out somewhere and she drops a bomb, it is going to hard to point the finger at her and someone believe it. One good thing is that she has decided to poop about every 1-2 days and she likes to do it while at the baby sitter. Mommy and Daddy haven't changed a poopy diaper all week. I apologized to Andrea today but it sure is easier to change her when it just a wet diaper.

She will be two months on Friday and this is going to be a big weekend for her. It will be her first overnight (with mommy and daddy). We are going up Friday for the Clemson game on Saturday and stay on Lake Hartwell with some friends. it will also be her first Clemson game. Maybe she can become their good luck charm. Look for pictures (I think some funny pictures could come from this weekend) and say a prayer that we still have eight friends when we come home (none of them have babies yet - this could be a call for more birth control for them (and a reminder not to invite "The Carter's" next time) or it might push a couple of them into having a playmate for Aubrey).

Next Tuesday is a big day - Two month check-up and shoots. That should be fun. We are planning to give her a big dose of baby sleep, sleep medicine. Say a prayer that mommy doesn't start crying when they give her the shots. Anybody want to guess her weight? I know she is growing because she has very little NB clothes left to wear. It is getting hard to pull her head through the small opening and just a difficult to take it off (and by the way she hates you pulling thing over her head.) The 3 month clothes are a little big but much easier to take on an off. My guess is 10-11lbs and 24-26 inches.

D-Day

D - Day (An invasion or dropping off your child for the 1st day of day care)

Well today is officially the first day of "day care" for Aubrey and LA is back to school. Here's a summary - Not a good day. Our days now start at 5:00am, which is early. This morning Aubrey must have known something was up because she spit up on two outfits while daddy was changing her. We were running out of clothes to put her in. I will drop Aubrey off in the mornings and LA will pick her up. Anyway, not going to bore you with the details but it was a weird feeling leaving Aubrey with Andrea this morning. It was easy because, we know Andrea will be great with Aubrey and this is a much better option than day care but hard because it's not what I or LA want to do but hey, we aren't the first and won't be the last. Put us down not being the parents of the year for 2008 (maybe in 2009). It will be good for Aubrey to have a playmate in a couple of months when she is becoming more active. Plus as I talked about earlier, she will want to stay there with all the toys. My biggest hope is that LA will survive school. It is not going to easy and those kids are in for a rude awakening. There little 8 weeks vacation has come to an abrupt halt. They better buckle down and walk the line or it isn't going to be pretty. I probably should have gone in last Friday and had a talk with them.

Aubrey went to her first Summerville Green Wave game on last Friday (November 7, 2008). She cheered (slept) the Green Wave to victory on homecoming. Maybe 18 years from now she will be the homecoming queen. Friday was LA's birthday so Aubrey got mommy some pretty flowers and a card. Daddy got mommy a camera to take pictures of Aubrey. Aubrey went to two 1 year old birthday parties this weekend - Sims and CJ. She had a blast (sleeping) and daddy ate her portion of cake and cupcakes. This being a parent is tough work.

Between the last post and this post we started giving Aubrey some formula to supplement and prepare her for daycare. This was at about the six-seven week time frame and she decided to stop pooping for three days after having been pooping two-three times each day. We knew that she was ok because she passing gas and it was terrible (it still is, much worse than mommies). So what do you do when you don't know what to do? Call the doctor? no way. You consult the baby book, internet and friends with small children. The doctor is option four. The baby book said that at six weeks her bowels begin adjusting so pooping might not be as regular. So we had two contributors to the problem - formula and the six week growing/changes. Kayro syrup was found to be a remedy that had worked so daddy went out and bought some. We mixed it into her bottle and after another day passed nothing had happened. So not what do you do? You call the doctor who you should have called in step one. We had the right solution but wrong type of Kayro syrup - you need the dark. I had picked up the light. 50/50 chance and I chose wrong - not surprising. It happens everyday. Looks like we will be doing some baking w/ the light - pecan pies, yummy, yummy. It worked like a champ, messy as all get out. In case anyone was wondering, formula poop is horrible! Hopefully, we will not have to continue to do this.

Aubrey is eight weeks old + one day - 58 days old. So the question is - At eight weeks is she two months old? or Will two months old be on the 14th of November? I say she will be two months old on Nov 14 - two calendar months after her birth date. One other question, When do we tell people how old she is in months instead of weeks?

1st Night in the Crib

Ok, so I often wondered why my friends who have blogs that actually got me started doing this (actually it was LA saying "you ought to do that for us" or "so and so has a blog, we need a blog - always trying to keep up with the Jones) have big gaps in posts or either the blog goes to blog heaven after the baby is born. I now know why...it's busy (4 hours between feedings actually means .5 hours with feeding, diapers and taking a nap), we are down to one computer, you take the small things for granted as they happen and forget to post about it, and the actual reason is the realization of the monster that you have created by ever starting a blog and the hope that it will just fade away if you don't post but it won't - people are demanding.)

So what’s been happening since the last post. I say not a whole lot but that goes back to the taking the small events for granted. Aubrey is still eating, sleeping peeing and pooping. She still sleeps about 4 hours at a time and about 6 or 7 after she feeds around 9, 10 or 11pm. You would think that we are spoiling her but actually she is spoiling us. If they were all as good as she has been we would have a population problem like China in the US. We are spoiling her but I think all parents do. It's just the nature of loving someone so much. Sometimes she will cry when we both leave the room and stops when we walk back in. She will cry to be held and loved on. It's not all the time but it's good when she does do it. Most of the time she is perfectly content to be propped up somewhere to look around or sleep. She is becoming more alert and is starting to focus on items. It is funny to watch her go cross-eyed as she tries to focus. She is starting to find her voice - making cooing sounds. She will now even give you a little smile. She has figured out that daddy's shirt is the burp cloth. You can use a burp cloth but it never seems to hit it. Her favorite game to play is to pee or poop without her diaper on. It goes something like this - remove dirty diaper, clean up mess with wipes, turn head to get a new diaper and turn around to find she has peed or pooped on the changing pad or she pees or poops on the new diaper as soon as you get it underneath her or on her. That is frustrating...Leigh-Ann says I am too slow (but it happens to her also). Aubrey is good at making "upset" faces just before she starts to cry.

We think she is going through a grow spurt because in the past week she is wanting more to eat. The other evening LA gave me a bottle with 6 ounces of milk and asked me to feed her. It looked like she was starving as she sucked down the first couple of ounces. When I took the bottle from her to burp her, you would have thought the world was ending. She was crying and getting upset and didn't stop until I gave her the bottle back. This went on for the rest of the bottle as she ate all six ounces. We were certain that she would give some of it back but it all stayed down. This has happened on a couple of other occasions in the past week. We know she is growing because she is starting to outgrow some of her new born items...great, week 6 and already needing a wardrobe change (this is going to get expensive).

LA is going back to work on November 10th. We have met with the Andrea and Andy who are going to be keeping Aubrey. They are a super nice couple and we know Aubrey will be well cared for from 7:30 to 3:00pm each day. They have a 9 month old son Garrick and two greyhounds that will be keeping Aubrey company each day. It is funny because we were apprehensive about taking her anywhere but now we are worried that she will not want to come home because of all the toys, swings, pack n' play and everything else that she doesn't have at home that she will have access to each day. Andy will be home on most days until around 12:00pm until he goes into work. This will be a good situation for Aubrey and much better than daycare. I would love for LA not to have to work but until a couple of condos disappear from our liabilities it just not feasible. Anybody out there want a condo cheap for Aubrey's sake...

Saturday night was the final night in the bassinet/pack n' play. We moved her to her crib on Sunday night and LA and I slept through all her crying - solid wood doors block the crying pretty good. Actually, she slept fine in her crib. The crib is so big for her right now. She has plenty of room to stretch out.

PS = We purchased a baby monitor yesterday. So we can sleep in peace, knowing she is ok.

PSS - A couple of other real quick things that she has done - She went to the State fair for another hog show (Aubrey 2, Daddy 1). She is real good in Sunday School...mommy and daddy are working on a schedule for church. She visited daddy at work. She has been to Summerville high school a couple of times (she hopes something new will be around buy the time she gets to high school, instead of the old buildings that daddy went to school in).

PSSS - Check back for Halloween pictures....they are going to be great! What's she going to be?