Mommy, WOW, I'm a big kid now!

Now that Aurora's a duck, she gets to go on buggy rides! How much fun is that!? Here she is with some of her little buddies, and one of her new teachers, Bernice.

She's been doing great with all the new foods too. Today she had applesauce in the morning, mixed vegetables with lunch, and soft pretzels as an afternoon snack. Her teachers say she is happy and active all day.

However, today she had the worst napping day of all time - only one 20 minute nap around Noon and that's it. Which meant a very cranky over-tired girl who refused to eat at all once she got home. Actually, the last two nights she's refused to nurse before bed, and I figured it was because she is a big girl now and only wants big girl food. Today was 10 times worse because she wouldn't eat OR nurse. I've actually been considering weaning her because it's so frustrating when she pushes away and cries, but today I realized that moving to the duck's room must just be a big change. Not only is she eating big girl food, but naps are harder and she probably wears herself out more. Perhaps it'll just take an adjustment period. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day...

Milestones

Here's the first good picture I've gotten of a tooth...

And the first good pictures of Aurora actually waving. She usually holds her hand the wrong direction and does a very small grabby wave, which is extremely cute.

I did not get a picture of Aurora's first words, but Chuck thinks there's a good chance she said "daddy" on purpose this morning. She's been babbling and saying "da da" for months now, but this morning she crawled right up to him, climbed up to his knee and said "daddy!" Then he picked her up and she said "Hi daddy!" Tonight I said something to her and she very clearly responded "okay."

Okay, so I can't tell you for sure that she knows what she's saying - she's probably just mimicking what she's heard, but isn't that what language is? Doesn't that count!?!?

Quack

This week my little Rora Rooster transitioned from the Lambs room into the Ducks room at daycare. Gone are the days of taking naps in baby swings with the infants – now she'll spend her days playing with kiddos who are crawling, toddling and eating solid foods. Actually, the babies in the Ducks room are her old buddies Jordan, Seth and Adelina!

The twins are making the transition now too, and they’re Aurora's best daycare friends. Carole said she would’ve loved to keep Aurora in the infant room longer because she’s so sweet and easy to care for, but it was time for the twins to move up (they’re more aggressive) and she wanted to keep them together.

Along with the new room, new toys, and new teachers, comes a whole new menu of foods to try. One of the great things about the childcare center we chose is that they provide snacks and lunch for the kids, including vegetarian options everyday. My homework is to review the next two week’s of menus and let them know what Aurora can and can’t eat. It’s kind of freaking me out because I feel like we just mastered baby food, and now we’re already graduating to real people food!?

Here’s next Monday’s menu:

Morning snack: Bananas and Cheerios
Lunch: Veggie pasta, green beans, peaches
Afternoon snack: Goldfish

Aurora can probably try just about all of that. She may be small for her age, but she just got a little bigger!

Change

I've been collecting buttons and stickers for Aurora for about a year now - little mementos for her baby box so that she can go back years from now and see that all this happened the year she was born. She attended her first Obama rally when I was 8-months pregnant, accompanied us to vote when she was 6-months old, and now at 9-months Aurora's America will be led by President Obama.

It is my sincere hope that Aurora grows up in a country and world that is tolerant of all people, regardless of their race, religion, or sexual orientation; that she only reads about those things in history books and perhaps sees it on old youtube re-runs of Jerry Springer, but can't quite imagine how a world like that ever existed in the first place...

Perhaps all today really signifies is a new direction from the last 8-years, and quite honestly, that's good enough for me! But I am not alone in hoping that it means more.

9 Months

This weekend Aurora turned 9-months old, which means she's been alive out in the world for exactly as long as she was in my tummy!

Today was also Aurora's 9-month well-baby visit. First, we found out that she weighs 17 lbs 4 oz, which means she's only in the 30th percentile now. Dr. Sood thought that perhaps she needs to be eating more, but it seems to me that she's perfectly proportionate, as she's in the 30th percentile for height as well (and she does have a little tummy going on!).

I can't say that she's perfectly healthy though. Dr. Sood looked in her ears and knew right away that she has an ear infection. She was surprised that I hadn't noticed anything earlier. She asked if Rora had been acting fussy, and I said "No, she's happy all the time!" It's true; she's been cute and smiley, sleeping and eating great, and I've just figured that any little ear tugging or irritability have been due to teething.

Her eyes have been goopy the last couple of days too, and she's had a perpetually runny nose. She's actually kind of a mess right now! As I was driving home from the pharmacy - picking up amoxicillin and eye gel for Aurora - I got a call that her blood test came back and she's slightly anemic, so I have to start giving her iron supplements. We have another appt in 2-weeks, and I'm confident she'll be back to normal by then.

Before signing out, I'd like to mention that today's my mom's birthday!!! Happy birthday Grandma Slane!

Shopping Spree!

This week we got a Target gift card in the mail, and today we had fun spending it. We stocked up on essentials like diapers, wipes, detergent, baby food, kitty food and litter, and picked up some special treats for Aurora, like new jammies, socks, sippy cups, and even a fun "walk 'n' ride" toy! The walk 'n' ride is so cool. It goes a little too fast for her right now, but she's already getting the hang of it. Aurora will be walking before we know it!

Time to Blog

I have to say, it’s getting harder and harder to blog on weeknights. A lot has been going on at work - I’m recruiting a new group of interns while preparing for the office move. And it’s a new TV season, so I’ve been spending my evenings watching The Bachelor and American Idol, as well as Top Chef and What Not to Wear. But seriously, I only get a couple hours a day with Aurora during the week, and I’ve been making a real effort to focus on having fun with her during that time. No TV or computer until she’s asleep!

We really do spend most of our time laughing and being silly. Right now the thing that makes her laugh the most is when I pretend I’m going to chomp her food (or her feet, or her tummy!). She’s super ticklish. She also loves it when I jump around or dance while holding her.

Tonight I took a bunch of pictures while she was eating, in the hopes to get a glimpse at the new little tooth that’s poking through, but this was the best I got. I know they're too dark and are not the best pics, but I thought they were worth posting. What a sweet little girl...

Look what came in the mail today!

I realize that we didn't really focus much on having a traditional Christmas this year, and that starting next year we'll probably want to have a tree and the whole nine yards. So, I took advantage of an after-Christmas sale and bought us personalized stockings!!!

Aurora's Weekend

This weekend Aurora hung out with Teresa... Played with trains at Barnes & Noble...
And found herself having a very bad hair day once the hats came off...
She also cut her first tooth! It didn't seem to bother her as much as I thought it would - she just drooled a lot and put everything in her mouth like crazy. You wouldn't be able to see it yet in a picture, but I kept getting glimpses of white on her gums, and now I can feel the sharp top poking through. Yup, hair and teeth coming soon!

Baby gates

A couple weeks ago, Aurora decided she'd like to give climbing a try, and made it to the second stair before Chuck intervened. So, last weekend we went to install the baby gates we bought months ago, and realized we needed an extension to get them to fit right. I placed an order, and last night we were able to get the gates up.

Rora doesn't seem to care much - in fact, I had to persuade her to "pose" for this picture. Tater on the other hand... this changes things for her. She's been peeing on the stairway landing since we brought Aurora home (gross), but she's also been really sweet and snugly at night when Rora's asleep in the nursery. Unfortunately for Tater, carpet preservation comes before nighttime snuggles, and she is now banished to the downstairs.

This morning when I went down, there was no kitty to be seen! I searched for quite awhile, and I know what you might be thinking - but trust me, there's no way that cat will be jumping over this gate. Chuck finally found her in the back of a cupboard in the kitchen. That particular cupboard has a magnetic closure and is hard to open, so I'm not sure how she ended up in there of all places, but the cupboards are next on the list to be baby proofed, so even they will be off limits to the kitty soon enough.

Needless to say, Tater's not the happiest kitty - but then again, she never has been. Oh well.

Work and Play

I've been back at work for two days now, and it's going really well. In fact, after returning from vacation, I'm more certain than ever that being a working mom is really the way to go for me right now. Don't get me wrong, I loved every moment of my time off with Aurora, and one day I might still change my mind. But compared to staying at home, work has just been sort of... relaxing!

The mornings will probably always feel a little rushed, trying to get everything together for daycare and work, and pumping at work is not fun or easy. But Aurora has a great time playing all day at daycare, and I really enjoy recruiting interns and volunteers. Aside from that, those last few days of vacation I found myself being a little more of a couch potato than I'd like to admit.

Aurora and I have been enjoying our time together after work more than usual as well. She has been really happy these last two evenings, and has been going to bed closer to 7pm, which gives us a little more time than before. First we play for a little while, then I give her some Cheerios and baby food, followed by bath time, jammies, and a little more play time before her last feeding and bedtime.

These pictures should give you an idea of why work is more relaxing than home. You see, Aurora has plenty of neat toys, a great activity mat, and a fun excersaucer which she likes to stand up on and cruise around. However, playtime at our house always consists of:

Pulling the books off the bookshelf...
Playing with any and all shoes that may be on the floor...

And Chasing Tater whenever the opportunity arises...

I took all three of those pictures within the span of less than two minutes. She also likes to play with the remote controls, my laptop, and the fireplace whenever possible. You know, you can only baby proof so much! Actually, she's a really good girl and we spend lots of time laughing and being silly :) I kind of think I have the best of both worlds. If only there were no traffic...

Vacation's over

I can't believe our two weeks is up. These last few days I've been feeling a little under the weather, so I haven't had much energy to blog or really do much worth blogging about. In the past week, I have dropped Aurora at daycare twice so that I could see movies with friends! Other than that, we've just been hanging out since our house guests left.

The cutest thing to happen this week is that Chuck's started playing the guitar for Aurora while I make her dinner. She doesn't really like being stuck in the high chair while I prepare her food, so I asked him to keep her occupied...

Tomorrow it's back to work, back to the normal routine. So long holidays, so long 2008. We're on to a new year filled with new adventures in toddlerhood!

Goddess of the Dawn

Well, here we are at the dawn of a new year. The year Aurora was born has come to a close. We didn't do anything crazy to celebrate - just hung out with Andrew & Lena on their last day in Austin; relaxed and enjoyed some of the best this city has to offer, including queso at Chuy's...

And a beautiful afternoon at Austin Museum of Art Laguna Gloria.

I hadn't realized that Laguna Gloria had a statue of Aurora, Goddess of the Dawn. In fact, the entire garden is dedicated to the passage of time. The four seasons, past present and future. A fitting way to spend our last day of 2008. Here's something new for the new year... a little tuft of curly blonde hair growing on the back of Rora's head! Let's hope for more of that in 2009.