Two generations of BFFs

So today, Audrey and I made a trip to the Northland to visit my friend Melanie and her kids, Tristan and Addison, who were in town for the holidays and our friend Lisa and her son Garrett. Melanie, Lisa and I have been good friends since grade school - it's so fun that we are all moms now and can trade stories! This was the first time we got all of the kiddos together! It was so great to see them and catch up!

Audrey's First (Four) Christmas(es)!

So we made it through Audrey's first Christmas, but the festivities aren't over yet! So far, we've had four Christmas celebrations. We spent the day before Christmas Eve and Christmas Eve with Scott's family. Then we spent Christmas Day with my family. Monday, we saw my aunt and uncle and their family and later this week, my sister and her family will be in town to celebrate Christmas...so it really will be about 12 days of Christmas for us! :-) We are so fortunate to have most of our family here in town to celebrate with - thanks to everyone for making Audrey's first Christmas so special!

As you'll see in the photos, Audrey pretty much slept through the whole thing, but she got a ton of adorable gifts including new clothes, books, toys and more! However, Santa didn't come this year because she is so little, but he will definitely visit the Lee house next year (and hopefully we'll even put up a tree!).

Grandma and Grandpa Borello - how cute are they?!?

Sydney and Aunt Laura - they've got Bieber Fever!

Audrey with her cousins - Ryan, Sydney and JT

So at Scott's family's celebration at Nana and Papa's house, Audrey got to meet a lot of the family! She finally met Scott's grandparents for the first time plus a lot of extended family. There were a lot of experienced Grandmas and Moms at the celebration, so Audrey was in good hands. Thanks to Aunt Kathleen, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Crystal, Sydney, Babka and Nana for helping out! Scott's cousin Mary couldn't hold her due to a cold, but she gave us a lot of great advice (she is a pediatrician and a mommy expecting her second son in Spring, so she is an expert!).

We spent Christmas Day at my parent's house, Gaga and Papa's. Grandma and Uncle Kevin were there to help celebrate.



Family Photo!




On Monday, we celebrated with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Judy and their kids, Trent, Brett and Abby (Katie couldn't make it).

Papa, Gaga and Teddy with Audrey

Aunt Judy

 My sister and her family will arrive on Thursday, so more festive Christmas celebrations to come! Audrey will finally get to meet her cousins Meredith and Gwendolyn!



Trent and Abby



One Month Check-up - a day early...

Today Audrey had her one month check up. Apparently it was supposed to be tomorrow, but I had the days mixed up. The ladies at my pediatrician's office must think I'm stupid because I always do something like this...I think it just shows how sleep deprived I am! They were so nice and squeezed us in a day early. Audrey did so well, she got her shots and her measurements and the doctor said she looked great! She weighs 8 lbs. 11.5 oz. (34%) and 21.5 inches (56%), so since birth she has gained 1 lb. and 2.5 oz. and grown 2.5 inches! Other progress includes holding her head up for short periods of time, following objects (she loves the swing and the play gym) and I'm pretty sure I got her to smile yesterday, but it might have just been gas!

Here is her "official" one month photo. My friend Jeannie suggested I take a monthly shot with a stuffed animal to track her growth - great idea! So this is my velveteen rabbit that I had when I was growing up.

Audrey's Nursery - almost complete!

So here are some long overdue shots of Audrey's nursery. Scott began working on it back in July/August after we found out we were having a girl and I ordered the bedding. I wanted something that was fun and girly yet elegant and the bedding I found was perfect! I got it on http://www.babybedding.com/ - the brand is Carousel. I loved it because you can buy the bedding piece by piece (vs. an entire set that comes with pieces you might not use) AND you can buy coordinating fabric! My mom and I made the curtains and I made the pillow! It took us literally all day to make the curtains (about 10 hours to be exact), but they turned out really well! The curtains are lined, so they will be great for afternoon naps! We still have a few finishing touches to add, but it is very close to begin done...

1 Month Old!

Audrey is one month old today and I can't believe how the time has flown by! We are going to the doctor for our one month appointment on Wednesday, so we can't wait to see how much she has grown, but based on these photos, I think she looks bigger!


Week 1

 

1 Month



This week, we started preparing for Christmas with the most important thing - baking Christmas cookies at Gaga & Papa's house! My mom and I always bake a ton of cookies each year and this was Audrey's first time. She didn't help much, but she looked darn cute in her apron. I told Gaga that next year when cousins Meredith and Gwendolyn are living in town, we will have a 1 year old, a 2 year old and a 6 year old to help with the baking! :-)

Check us out - matching aprons!

We had some more visitors today. Lisa stopped by for lunch and tonight our friend Hillary stopped by. It's so great to have visitors since we've been stuck in the house most of the time for the past month! Hillary is due in February, so we were already planning our play dates. She doesn't know what she's having yet, but I think it's a girl (and I'm usually right about these things...right, Henry?)  :-)

Practicing her skills - she's a natural!

A Big Day!

Today was a big day for the Lee's...Audrey and I had our first of many mommy/daughter shopping trips! This was our first outing just the two of us, so it was a big deal. We went to meet some other new mommies from Hallmark at the Nordstrom Cafe - ahh, Audrey's first trip to Nordy's...she loved it! We actually did pretty well for our first outing. A few key learnings for mommy:

• Our stroller is HEAVY! I had no idea! I hadn't lifted it before and I almost couldn't get it in and out of the car. I do love the stroller (It's the Jeep Liberty all-terrain), but man is it heavy! Note to self - get back to the gym and work on upper body strength.
• Bring a change of clothes at all times! Our friend Henry had a little blow out at the lunch table, which reminded me that this can happen at any time (we've had a few blow outs in our jammies at home!)!
• Bring a hat! We arrived in Audrey's adorable pink snowsuit. By the time I got it off, she fell asleep and I didn't want to risk waking her up to put it back on, so I just had to cover her with a blanket. I think she was fine, but I was worried that she was going to freeze to death!

So we had lunch with Theresa and her daughter Katelyn, Laura and her son Henry and Rebecca and her son Lawson. Later, we met up with Morgan and her son Shaw. It was so great so see other moms and trade stories about motherhood. I had a lot of questions for them - they have been at this a few months longer than I have, so they had a lot of wisdom to share.

We were able to nurse in the mother's room at Nordstrom (I think I will be back there soon - makes shopping a lot easy when you have a full, happy baby). That bought us enough time to hit a few stores before heading home for another meal.

Later that night, we experienced another first - baby's first projectile vomit! I had heard about this happening, but you just can't imagine what it's like until you're covered in it. I think Audrey was just too hungry and ate a little too fast because I picked her up to burp her and the next thing I know, I'm literally covered from neck to knee in baby puke. Luckily Scott was there to witness (otherwise he wouldn't have believed me) and help. I asked him to please take the baby so I can change clothes and clean up the couch and he said "no, I'm afraid of her!" Why is mom the one that always gets to have all the fun? After I convinced Scott that there was nothing left in her stomach, he took her and changed her clothes while I changed my outfit and cleaned the couch. Oh the joys of motherhood! :-) Needless to say, we were both pretty tired after today!

Week 2 & Week 3: Visitors and Boyfriends



Garrett & Audrey with the Daddies - enjoying a cold one!

I'm trying to catch up on my posts, so this one will be a combo post for week 2 and 3. We've had a lot of boys over to visit. Guess this is a small glimpse into what the teenage years might be like (don't think Daddy will be too happy about that!). Audrey got to meet her first boyfriend, Henry. He is 3 months older than she is, so they will be good friends soon! She also got to meet Garrett, he is 6 months older. We didn't get photos of the other older men she met, but she enjoyed meeting Bennett and Braden as well!

Other visitors this week included our friends Pete and Anthony, Jeni (Bennett's mommy), Shana and Stephanie and Zach. With the cold weather, we haven't ventured out much, but we did go to dinner at Nana and Papa's house!

Henry and Audrey





A few fun things we've discovered about Audrey so far:

• She loves floor time! She spends some time on her back kicking away and then some time on her tummy. She'll be holding up her head before we know it!

Oscar likes tummy time, too!

• She HATES having the hiccups - they really make her mad!
• So far, she likes the swing for small periods of time. She enjoyed looking at the animals on the mobile and then got overwhelmed! 
• She likes to be swaddled, but must have her arms free. She sometimes sleeps with her arms above her head - adorable!

Week 1: a week of firsts!

So we've had a week with Audrey so far and things are going very well! She is a great baby. However, no one can prepare you for the sleep deprivation that you experience as a new mom. Scott was able to take about a month off of work to be home with us to help and he has been amazing! He is so helpful and supportive. He's already a natural at being a father - I like to call him the baby whisperer because he can always get Audrey to fall right to sleep!

Daddy's little girl!

We've had some challenges with breast feeding so far. No one tells you that this is hard! You just expect it to come so naturally, but that's not always the case. When Audrey was born, she was "tongue-tied" meaning her frenulum was connected under her tongue to the end of her tongue, so she couldn't latch on. Luckily, they were able to clip this in the hospital, it is a fairly easy procedure. She still had trouble after this, so after seeing our favorite lactation specialist at St. Luke's, our problems were solved! Thanks, Mary Grace! :-) Ever since then, things have been going smoothly!

This has also been a week of firsts - first walk, first bath (at home), first meeting with the big brothers (Brody & Oscar, our fur children), and many visitors. We had Great Grandma June (my grandma and the inspiration for her middle name) and Uncle Kevin come to visit on Thanksgiving. We also had my Aunt and Uncle Joe and my cousins Katie, Trent, Brett and Abby come the day after Thanksgiving. My friend Jeannie stopped by and brought us Panera and diapers - what a life saver! :-) She is expecting her second in April, so she is an old pro at being a mommy! Luckily, since it was Thanksgiving weekend, some friends from out of town were in town and able to stop by for a visit to meet Audrey! It was so great to see Melanie and Josh and Amanda.

Jeannie

Great Grandma June and Brody



"I'm ready for my close-up!"

Today we had Audrey's first photo shoot. We used Kayla at Only Young Once and she was wonderful! She does the sessions out of her house and she is so patient and wonderful! So we headed up north for the session at 10:00 this morning. Miraculously, I was able to shower and get ready before Audrey and Scott woke up and I was ready in time! Scott couldn't believe it! Still, we arrived at the session a few minutes late. Getting out of the house with a baby is so much harder - luckily, Kayla understood.

Audrey did pretty well during the photo shoot considering the circumstances. She really wasn't very happy the whole time and wanted to nurse about every 30 minutes. But amazingly enough, Kayla was able to get some good shots of Audrey looking pretty happy. Scott and I joined in for a few family shots. Within the 5 minutes that she was shooting us, Audrey managed to poop twice and pee on me (she was naked for the entire photo session)! The mess looks a lot bigger when it's on your clothes and not in the diaper! I can't believe that much poo/pee can come from such a tiny baby! Good thing I was wearing my black maternity pants...I have quickly learned that black is my new favorite color - hides stains pretty well!