25.

i almost forgot to mention, i turned 25 last month!! ah! i had a great birthday and a great birthday party with Will, Audrey, my dad, Michael and Chelsea:

Audrey was on a mission to destroy my cake!

can you tell she had been eating carrots the last few days? her nose and cheeks were tinted orange!

Poppa and his favorite girl :) Audrey has a "baby's first diamond ring" rattle that she loves; however, it's pretty heavy and clunky so you have to watch her if she gets a hold of it to make sure she doesn't hit herself in the face with it and you also have to be careful if you're in "rattle range" when she has it in her hand! Here's how it went down the first time Poppa experienced the rattle (note that the rattle is blurry because she was constantly whacking him with it! haha):

love these two :)

And, as promised -- pictures from our going away dinner! (thanks Dad!)

While we stayed at Will's parent's house, i noticed a picture of Will from when he was a little boy hanging on the wall. i had to share it with you because it blew my mind how much Audrey and Will look alike! i mean, i hear it all the time how Audrey looks just like her dad, but until I saw this picture -- i never realized how much!

And just so i don't feel completely left out, here's a shot of me and my baby bear:

Audrey was too busy looking at "the baby in the mirror" to look at the camera :)

baby food diaries.

I love homemade baby food! Not only is it really fun to make, it’s also super cost effective and a healthier alternative to store bought baby food which is full of additives and preservatives (tuna oil and gelatin in the carrots? Um, no! Gross!). Audrey seems to love it too! The few in between times I’ve tried to give her jarred food, she flat out refused it. On my first try, I made carrots and green beans. I washed and cut the carrots, put them in the steamer, waited for the beep, dumped them into my magic bullet, added a tiny bit of water, and pureed away! Then put the puree in a ziplock bag, cut the bottom right corner, and squeezed the puree (like you would do with icing on a cake) into ice cube trays. Ice cube trays are great since each cube is approximately one ounce. I use the trays for freezing and storing breast milk as well so I know how much to thaw when it comes time to use it. 

first batch is in progress!

YUM!! carrot puree!

green bean puree!!! delish!

final product!

mango/banana cubes!

So far I’ve made carrots, green beans, sweet peas, pears, mangos, bananas, apples, peaches, and sweet potatoes. The other night I made banana and mango, and sweet pea and apple combo cubes! So far she has loved every food she’s tried (even peas!) but is definitely partial to the most recent combo cubes. Will thinks I’m totally gross but every once in a while I’ll sneak a little bite while I’m feeding her. It’s not gross!!! I’m just making sure my finished product tastes good okay? I love the baby bullet steamer more than I thought I would. Although it probably would’ve been more economical to just buy a basket steamer, I like that I can just pop the food in the steamer, push a button, and walk away. Everything is always perfectly steamed and if I get distracted (which happens often now that little A is more mobile), I don’t have to worry about overcooking it. It’s also nice for thawing the food cubes, since I avoid the microwave for all things baby. The steamer has a defrost setting, which works the same way as the steamer feature. I just put the cubes on a tray, push a button, and walk away until it beeps. The steamer also makes the best hard-boiled eggs! I thought it was a random feature, and didn’t plan on using it. But, I tried it out last week and to my surprise, the eggs were done perfectly! It takes the guesswork out of making traditional hard-boiled eggs.  It’s nice to know that even after Audrey outgrows food cubes, we can still use it to make eggs as well as use the sterilize feature for pacis, small baby toys, and bottle nipples.

I’ve tried to capture all of the lovely faces that Audrey makes when trying a new food over the last couple months but with the move and my forgetfulness, I may have missed a few. She has become very expressive lately, and also likes to wrinkle her nose and make a very unladylike snorting noise whenever she’s eating. Enjoy!

green beans!

sweet peas!

mango and banana

making the snorting noise! haha

LOVED mango!

playing with pears!

goodbye, hello.

I had a pretty lengthy post written out while Audrey was napping and I was “supervising” Will’s sister Ann and her friends on their half day of school. I went to get Audrey up from her nap, sat her up on the couch next to me (and my computer unfortunately), walked away for 10 seconds to grab my tea, came back and it was…..GONE. then Miss Computer Whiz got extremely angry when I wouldn’t let her continue to destroy my blog with random key strokes and threw a fit. I gave up and decided I would type it all out again at the house when I had a minute, and post it the next time I had internet. 

I’ve been writing this post in my head for a month. every time I went to write it, I either didn’t know what to say once I sat down to a blank screen, had something to do all-of-a-sudden (read poop explosion, spit up evvverywhere, or baby talk/entertainment needed), simply just got too teary and didn’t want to continue, or haven’t had internet (which has been the case for the past 3 weeks). 

after 2 years of discussing and putting it off until “the timing was better,” Will and I finally took the plunge and moved to Georgia. we came to visit for Easter and began tentatively looking for work and a place to live. when we found both of those things fairly easily, there was really no reason not to (aside from being what feels like a million miles away from my family and friends). although it’s not for everyone, small town communities and the lifestyle that accompanies it is actually really relaxing and enjoyable for both of us. We found a PERFECT house in an adorable neighborhood about five minutes outside of town. It’s much bigger than the house we were living in but the expenses are still the same (win!). It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a den/playroom, formal living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry/storage room, shaded backyard brick patio, front porch, and an open garage. as soon as we put the finishing touches on unpacking and settling in, I’ll take you on a video tour! we love it!

mostly everything is done except for the formal living room, which is full of boxes and odds and ends. It was incredibly stressful to pack up and leave in such a short time. the week before we left, i made sure to spend as much time as possible with friends and family. there were a lot of tears throughout the week, and saying goodbye to my home state of 7 years was much harder than i expected it to be. it was especially difficult to say goodbye to my best friend, Laura, who has been like a sister to me for 6 of the 7 years that i lived there. the waterworks were also present saying goodbye to my brother, his (amazing) girlfriend Chelsea, and of course, my dad. oh, and Grandma Hammersley and i also had a little cry over the phone ;) Will, Audrey, Michael, Chelsea, my dad, and i all went out to a going away dinner at Casa Vallarta the night before Will's mom flew to Greensboro to get Audrey and Will's truck. (pictures coming soon, eh hem DAD!) Aunt Debbie came by in the morning before Will's mom arrived to say goodbye as well. How bittersweet but what a new adventure for us! Goodbye and hello....

Audrey is growing up so fast! Starting solids a month early has really helped her take off, especially with her weight gain! She started sitting up on her own (without the boppy around her) on her 6 month birthday! She can say mama, daddy (dah-dee haha), hi, and poppa. She is starting to crawl, but mostly just likes to scoot around and rock back and forth. She likes to stand up, holding onto the edge of the couch and has started working on learning to pull herself up from sitting. She giggles all the time and lately has started to snort a lot and make weird noises that you could easily mistake for a kitten! Gone is our snuggler, content with being in one place. We now have a little girl who must be on the move at all times!

Here's our last month in pictures...

all dressed up for her cousin's birthday party!

we tried to teach her to do fish lips!

As always, one of her favorite things to do is bounce around in her jumperoo! (as soon as i have more time and battery power, i'll upload more videos too!)

hoppy easter!

 

somebunny had a little too much easter!

family picture after church and lunch!

playtime with daddy! love these two :)

aren't they so adorable together?

Will bringing Ellie the elephant to life with a squeaky voice that Audrey loves!

baby's first pool party!

she loved the water and had a blast in her pool float!

my little shopper :)

easily entertained

it's so nice to not have to haul her around in her infant seat anymore!

getting a head start on reading with my kindle!

sitting up!

super messy mango-banana dinner = nakey playtime before bed!

silly face! hahaha love it!

rolling around on her new play mat!

impromptu nap on her play mat :) check out her pink camo paci!

me & my girl on my first mother's day!

LOVE MY FAMILY :)

part of my mother's day present -- a much needed break from diaper duty!

Audrey has adjusted to our new place wonderfully and was such a great traveler on the way down. We've been told several times what an easy going baby she is but even so, i was nervous about how everything would go. If anything, i think she is much happier at our new house! we all have so much more room to spread out and she loves her new play mat! i bought a king size quilt at target and put it on top of a down mattress topper i've had for a while. now when she tips over after getting bored of sitting up, i don't have to worry about her hitting her head. one of my favorite things is going in to get Audrey in the morning or when she wakes up from a nap. no matter how quiet i try to be, she can always hear me come in and as soon as she does, she pops her little head up and starts laughing! it's adorable!

I can't believe my sweet girl is 7 months old today! she now weighs 16 lbs. and is 25 inches long. my tiny bear is getting so big!!