Monday, March 25, 2013

Audrey - 16 months (nearly)

One of my nicknames for Audrey is SnuggleBug and that pretty much sums up how she is these days.  So snuggly!!!  I love it.  She lays her head in the hollow of my neck and shoulder and puts her arms around me and I just melt with the sweetness of it.  She wears my arms and back out on the weekends, because she loves me to carry her as much as possible.  She gets upset when I set her down and she still prefers her mama over anyone else.  No complaints from me!

Her latest lovebug move?  When you ask for a kiss she'll lean her head into you so you can give her one.  Awww!  I also heard from her teacher at school that when the other boys and girls are upset, she tried to calm them down.  Apparently she goes to get their toys or pacifiers and hands them to them.  Last night Barrett was wailing in time-out, which he was placed in because he pushed her.  She picked up his blanket and shuffled down the hall to take it to him. 

Also, we handed her a baby doll two weeks ago and she took that little doll, pulled it to her chest and gave it the sweetest little hug.  She's definitely a little girl!  She now likes to put the doll into a stroller and walk it around the house.  She's very interested in putting its pacifier in and taking it out. 


She says a few words regularly:  mama and uh-oh.  Some words she says infrequently:  hi, daddy (ah-ee), and more (muh).  I haven't picked up on any others yet. 

I know she's starting to understand what we're saying pretty well, since she's starting to follow some simple commands.  Like leaning in for a kiss or if I ask her to get a book, she'll go pick one out.  She lets me know what she wants by pointing and if I offer her something she doesn't want, she'll shake head head furiously or push it away.  So even though she's still not speaking a lot, her non-verbal communication is strong.



Favorite books:  Audrey's obsessed with Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  She and the speech therapist read this book weekly and so now she's obsessed with our book at home.  Whenever I try to read other books to her at bedtime, she rips them out of my hands and shoves Brown Bear in.  She does like the lift-the-flap books we have too. 

Favorite toys:  she always likes to walk around with a toy in her hand - lately it's either her little yellow duck or one of our bath books.  She takes this to daycare, in the car, to bed. 

I'll say one thing about my kids - they're obsessive.

Favorite foods:  Audrey's still on a restricted diet but that ends this week - hooray!  I am so ready to be done with this.  Making all these extra meals has been a huge pain.  She still eats pretty well but the drinking has been difficult.  She's never been too enthusiastic about drinking, starting from the bottles at the very beginning and continuing to valveless sippy cups or open top cups.  But in the last two weeks, she pretty much decided she wasn't drinking at.all.  We push and push the liquids but she still doesn't drink much.  I don't know what the deal is but it drives me crazy!

Size:  She wears size 3 diapers and is in size 12-18 month clothes.  She still wears 12 month pajamas but there isn't much additional room and I plan to move her to the 18 month now (although they seem so big!).  She is 18lbs, 10oz.  She's around the 2nd percentile for weight and I think around the 4th percentile for height.  She's only gained four ounces since her pre-op appointment six weeks ago and her height is just a tad bit more.  I'm not surprised but that was a bit of a bummer.  The first few weeks after her surgery, she lost her belly.  It's back now, but she had a lot to overcome.  I hope that she'll grow now that she can be back on her regular food again.

I think she's already figuring out how much fun it is to push her brother's buttons.  She like to grab his toys and tease him.  I don't feel too sorry for him because he instigates plenty with her too.  I think now that she's so much more active, he sees her as more of a peer so he is a little more rough-and-tumble with her than I'd like.  She usually likes it and just smiles and laughs when he's pushing her around or climbing on her but sometimes it erupts into tears.  I have to watch very closely.  Barrett definitely sees her as competition now for our attention.  He mimics all the things she does and of course the things she plays with are suddenly what he needs to play with.   

Snatching a toy from big brother and running!
I couldn't have imagined such a sweet little girl in our lives.  Everyone who knows her is head over heels in love with her.  She's so sweet, so playful and so loving!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Latest Barrett-isms

Barrett is a never-ending source of laughter these days.  Some of the latest things he's said to make us laugh...

Tonight on the way home from school:
me: "I see you didn't eat lunch today!  Why not?"
Barrett:  "I didn't like it.  I didn't like it, I didn't like the pizza, I don't like pizza bagels, I didn't like the fruit, I don't like yellow fruit, I didn't like it, I didn't like the fruit, I didn't like it... I like ice cream.  I like ice cream and candy."
oh. Okay then.

Barrett is obsessed with getting bigger and tall (like Daddy/like Mommy).  Some of the funny things he's said about that:
Barrett:  "When I grow big and tall like the sky, I won't fit in Mommy's car."

Barrett and Audrey were splashing in the tub, giggling and having fun. 
Barrett to me:  "When you get littler, you can get in the bath with us and play too."
Sorry, kid, it doesn't work that way.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Audrey's Cleft Palate Repair in Pictures

We are nearly 4 weeks out from her surgery now, and Audrey is healing like a champ.  I felt like I'd been holding my breath for the last few months in nervous anticipation of this surgery and now I can finally let it out and feel like the worst is over. 

Pre-surgery, trying to keep Audrey happy despite the early morning wake up
The Versed was kicking in!
 

I look back at these pictures and I want to cry over the images of my sweet baby girl. Seeing these brings back such awful memories of holding her in the recovery room as tight as I could and wishing I could take away her pain. It was such a terrible few days in the hospital and the first days at home. But she was such a strong little cookie and she is past it now.


Sad little girl

 
Fortunately those days went quickly and Audrey recovered amazingly.  Despite the splints, despite the food restrictions, she adjusted so well.  So proud of our sweet little girl!