It’s not swine flu…

But it’s enough to keep Aurora out of daycare. Our little Rooster woke up this morning with red, puffy, goopy eyes and a low grade fever. We just had her ears checked last week and knew she was teething, but when she woke up with icky eyes we made a doctor appointment right away. Turns out she actually has an ear infection and is generally a mess.

Chuck has been crazy busy at work lately, but he knew I had a full morning and offered to take her to the doctor and stay with her until I could get home. I picked up her antibiotics and came home early this afternoon to a sweet napping baby.

Unfortunately, she woke up sad, clingy, hot, and simply wouldn’t stop crying. After a dose of Tylenol and a good half hour of rocking and singing to her, she was ready to go outside and play!

I’ve been washing my hands all day, but I’m not afraid to kiss my girl…

I have to say, I love my job and Aurora loves being at daycare, so playing hookie is not as fun as it used to be - but, if we have to stay home tomorrow, we’ll stay home. If this is as bad as it gets, we’re blessed.

Aurora’s week

Not only does Aurora get to do all kinds of fun new activities in the Bunnies room, now she has a teacher who captures it all and sends pictures at the end of each week! I have a feeling this “week in pictures” will become a regular occurrence on the blog…

Here’s Aurora enjoying a snack with her little friends, sitting at their tiny table and chairs. You’d think they’d get up and run wild, but Stephenie says they all stay put until they’re done and get excused one by one to wash their hands in the sink. I love that she’s learning table manners!

Here she is playing with water toys. On Friday when we went to pick her up they were playing with dried split peas in the same plastic tub, and all the kids were fascinated and having such a good time.

After so much eating and playing, the kiddos get tired. The whole class takes a 2-hour nap together each day, and Stephenie says she falls asleep easily and stays asleep on her little mat, no problem. I wish this picture was better... what a sweet little sleeper!

I’m amazed at how quickly she’s settled into the Bunnies room and routine, and can tell that she’s learning new skills and having a great time every single day. Of course, now I have the added challenge of keeping her equally entertained throughout the weekend. Here are a couple pics from this weekend’s attempt…

Photo Shoot

Today JCPenney emailed the downloadable copies of our weekend photos. I go to JCP because they have a deal where I can get free sitting fees and portrait sheets for only $3.99 each. This time the "smilesbywire" was free too! I realize the pics may not be as good or creative as a professional photographer, but it's fast, convenient, cheap, and I think they do a pretty good job!

We actually ended up with the same photographer as my mom and I had last year when we had our Mother's Day shoot! This time she was pregnant. Must be that sweet baby Aurora made her want one of her own. Regardless, she had us pose the same way she had me and my mom pose last year for this one. I loved the version with my mom, and I kind of love this one too!

Aurora didn't love having to pose/smile on command, which I guess isn't a big surprise. She didn't really cooperate during the Thanksgiving photo shoot either. But she's so cute, it didn't even matter...

The first part of our sitting included the family, then we changed her into the beautiful dress that my Mom #3 (Katie's mom Donnell) made for Aurora. That's right, she sewed it herself! Perfect...

When we were at JCP looking at the full-sized pictures, we all agreed this was the cutest. It's just so Aurora. Amazingly, it seems she doesn't really need her wubby in her new big-girl classroom! Perhaps we'll be able to ween her of it soon. For now, I leave you with this...

But wait, there's more!

This one wasn't exactly a celebration. Today was Aurora’s 1-year well-baby check. It was not the most fun day of my life.

Our appointment was for 8:50am. Traffic was worse than usual, but we got there on time, got called into the room, then waited… and waited… and waited. Of course, now that Aurora’s a year old, she is just go go go non-stop, and waiting in a small room filled with strange things to sit on, fall off of, bump her head on, and get into was a little rough. Especially for me, knowing that what we were waiting for was not going to be pleasant.

At about 9:30am, Dr. Sood finally came in to poke, prod and interrogate. Aurora measured 28-1/2 inches long and is still not quite 20 lbs (19 lbs 4 oz), which puts her in the 25-30th percentile. She gave me a talk about nutrition, how much milk she needs etc… but honestly, Aurora’s perfectly healthy and she eats as much as she wants. She’s just on the petite side!

Three shots later (MMR, Hep A, and chickenpox), and we were on our way to the lab to draw blood from that tiny little finger. Amazingly, Aurora did great at daycare and was completely normal tonight.

Over the weekend there was one more special event that I wanted to wait and blog about once we had her most recent stats. We hung the growth chart and marked Aurora’s 1-year height.

We measured her standing height at 27-1/2 inches, so I guess lying down at the doctor’s office gave her an extra inch. According to our chart, Aurora is now taller than a penguin!

After party

As if throwing a party on Saturday wasn’t enough, we continued to celebrate all weekend long. Sunday we took Aurora for her 1st Birthday photo shoot (pics to come), then on to Red Robin for her free birthday lunch. I was so excited that even kiddos get a free meal from Red Robin on their birthday. Turns out kids always eat free at Red Robin! Aurora had chicken strips and cantaloupe, but it seems her favorite part was just dancing to the music…

Later that night we took advantage of the short time we had Grandma Nancy here by going out to dinner all by ourselves. We made reservations at uchi and boy did we splurge! Of course, the last time we actually went out to dinner alone together was last year on Father’s Day. We’ve had a couple of date nights since then, but one was a company party, the other was just a movie. We do go out and meet up for lunch now and then, but this was different… we just relaxed and celebrated surviving our first full year of parenthood.

Thanks for everything, Nancy! It looks like Teresa, Amelia, and Bailey will make sure we go on date nights regularly from now on.

Birthday Girl!

A year ago tonight we were in the hospital with a tiny baby girl and had no idea what we were in for. I can tell you now that it's been way better than I could've ever hoped for. Today we celebrated our first year of sweet baby love with many of our closest friends and Grandma Nancy.

I'm truly amazed at how much Aurora changes every day... from squirming to rolling over, crawling to walking, mama's milk to baby food to real food. Today was another milestone; her first whole milk!

And if I could just say, Aurora did alright in the gift department!!! She got tons of cute outfits, books, and toys. Her favorites were probably the alligator xylophone and the mini-soccer ball. My favorite might be the beautiful dress from Nicolette. What am I saying... it's all great!

Thanks to everybody who came, helped, emailed, sent gifts, etc... What a special day it's been. Here's to many many more!

Fridge Art

I bet that's not what you expected my next blog to be called! It's true, Grandma Nancy came today and we're getting everything ready for Aurora's birthday party, but this I had to share. They moved her into the Bunnies room a day early, which is fine except that she came home EXHAUSTED, overtired and cranky. She did take a 1-1/2 hour nap (and it was on a little cot instead of in a crib!), but still. I guess they play hard in the Bunnies room.

They also do artwork! Yes, today we got Aurora's first art project sent home in her daycare bag. It's a cat, with yellow and blue crayon scribbled lightly in random places. We're assuming Aurora is only responsible for the crayon marks.

They also returned her old photo and name sign from way back when she was in the Lamb's room, which I thought might be nice to display with our new "artwork." Here ya have it!

The most amazing thing is that it looks like this will be a daily occurrence. The Bunnies have an entire Lesson Plan! Today's lesson plan included:

Song: "Head, Shoulders"
Language/Social Skill: Saying "Leaf"
Common Area: Laundry Basket Fun
Gross/Fine Motor: Slot Drop Can
Art: Blooming Tree
Sensory: Sand and Shovels

So... if today's art was "Blooming Tree," why did Aurora feel so inclined to draw a cat!?!?

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So much will be happening in the next week, I hardly know where to begin. Nancy’s arriving on Friday, Aurora’s birthday is Saturday, Monday she’s moving into the Bunnies room at daycare, and Tuesday is her 1-year doctor appointment. Of course, that’s just an overview… so much planning goes in to each of those, and there’s more happening in and around each day as well.

One of those little peripheral events is that I decided Monday was my last day pumping. I actually ended up with enough milk in the freezer to stop almost a full week earlier than what I’d planned. In the Bunnies room, she’ll be given whole milk three times a day, and she’ll be drinking from sippy cups instead of bottles! If we weren’t ready for these changes, she could’ve stayed in the Ducks room longer, but she’s been doing great with one nap a day, she does great with sippy cups, and she’s such a confident little walker. This week she started playing with the Bunnies for a couple hours a day and she’s been so happy.

Another little detail is that Sunday night Chuck and I will be going out to dinner ALONE to celebrate one year of Aurora while Nancy babysits!!! After that, Chuck wants to start monthly date nights.

Until then, here's my big independent girl feeding herself. Just getting her upstairs for a bath was a challenge after this one…

Encore!

On Friday I took Aurora to the movies for the first time. We went to the Alamo Drafthouse for the 'Baby Day' showing of Monsters vs. Aliens with my co-worker Katherine and her baby, Jack. That's right... it was a baby date! Aurora fell asleep for the last half hour or so, after spending the first half of the movie chowing down on popcorn.

Then Kim & I took Aurora to her first theatrical performance this morning. We saw an outdoor play called Heron & Crane. We grabbed a shady spot way in the back, under a tent.

Aurora's favorite part was right at the beginning, when the crane character was hiding in the bushes near us, waiting for his big entrance. They must've spent a good 5-minutes smiling and waving at each other! The crane's name was Jude, and it turns out he works for the YMCA and knows Daniela. It's a small world!

This has been such a fun 3-day weekend. Aurora... what do you say???

Check out those ears...

Yesterday I took Aurora to see the pediatrician. She hasn’t been sleeping well, but it looks like she’s actually just teething – her ears were clear. Dr. Sood wasn’t available so we ended up seeing Dr. Bennett, and Aurora really liked her. While she was examining her, she’d say things like “hello little ears!” in the sweetest voice. Recently Aurora has not liked the doctor, and this really did put her at ease.

This morning we headed over to the Austin Museum of Art Laguna Gloria for a special Easter celebration. As you can see below, Aurora’s first Easter included a visit with the Easter bunny, coloring (er, trying to eat crayons), silly bunny ears, and a train ride.

Amazingly, we ended up sitting next to her pediatrician from yesterday on the little train! She recognized Aurora right away, even remembered her name, and we ended up spending a lot of time chatting with her and her friends. It was the first of a LOT of socializing we did today.

After the holiday festivities we drove up to Round Rock for a first birthday party. One of my co-workers has a daughter named Sofia who’s just one week older than Aurora! I can’t remember the last time I saw so many babies outside of daycare, and they were all so cute. Aurora was the only little walker and she worked the room. She’d walk by the other babies and guests and just casually grab their toy/cup/food and keep going, dropping a cracker or sippy cup in its place. Such a funny girl.

She got a sweet pair of sunglasses in her goodie bag, and I think she's ready for her turn as the star birthday girl next.

That was the last of my picture taking, though it was not the last of our outings. After the party we trekked down to South Austin for a BBQ, which actually consisted of watching Chuck’s co-workers play basketball outside in the cold and rain. By the time we got home, we were all exhausted. Aurora went to bed early, and I may just follow her example.

Happy Kim Day!

Today was such a fun day at work. It was Kim's 45th Birthday and we organized the staff and volunteers to all wear their best "Kim-suit," which you may recall from last Halloween normally consists of a clean white tee shirt and jeans. Of course, the one day we all dress as Kim, Kim dressed as some sort of anti-Kim! She wore a black tee shirt, skirt, boots, and rainbow socks!!!

I wore a shirt Kim gave me a couple years ago. The picture is a dragon, since Kim & I are both dragons. In fact, my mom's a dragon too! Together we cover 1952, 1964, and 1976. I'm not sure what Bailey is, but she makes an awefully cute Kim look-alike...

We went to lunch at P. Terry’s, had popsicles at work, and we all pooled our money together for a pretty darn good gift card from Lucky Brand Jeans (that's where she bought the dragon shirt!).

It was a great way to end what was an extremely busy but short work week. I have tomorrow off because Aurora’s daycare’s closed for Good Friday, and this weekend our calendar is packed with fun activities, parties and celebrations. Get ready for a lot of blogging these next few days and weeks!!!

Party time

Last night we let Aurora stay up past her bedtime and headed out to our friend Barb’s birthday party. Barbara is an adult, though you wouldn’t know it by the attendance – there had to have been 20 kids there! It’s was Barb’s “Big Fat Greek 40th Birthday” and the food was awesome. Add a couple of Greek musicians, all the wine, beer, and ouzo you could want, along with a couple of sheet cakes, and you’ve got yourself a party.

Aurora loved running around with the big kids. I was sure they’d knock her down, but she held her own! She played with balloons, danced to the music, and licked my spoon after I had cake. It was cute how much frosting got on her face considering how little was actually on the spoon. At the end of the evening I dabbed a finger into the ouzo and put a drop on her tongue, which definitely caused a reaction. I wish I had pictures!

She was asleep by 7:45pm, about an hour later than usual, but the excitement of the party kept her energized until the end. This morning she was so tired! The little Rooster probably could’ve slept until 8am (couldn’t we all?), but alas we had to wake up at 6:45am as usual. This afternoon she wasn’t nearly as sleepy as I thought she’d be, but she did something pretty sneaky that she’s never done before…

Here’s a funny photo sequence of Aurora at dinner. I gave her little pieces of cheese, crackers, and turkey (along with yogurt, which you can see on her face). After eating all the cheese and crackers, I noticed she started picking around the side of her high chair. I went to inspect the situation, and found her hiding the turkey in-between the high chair and seat pad!

BUSTED!!!

Bluebonnets

Apparently it’s mandatory here in Austin to take pictures of your kids (or dogs) out among the Texas wildflowers. In the springtime they line the highways and sprout up everywhere, which is really beautiful. Instead of pulling over on the side of the road to get a picture, Jennifer and I planned a lovely morning with Aurora and Larkin at the Wildflower Center.

Kim Barnett came along for some baby love and helped us take pictures, which was perfect.

After a nice walk we had lunch at the cafe. Both girls used these cool stick-on place mats. Rora was sure I'd let her order off the menu...

I'll admit, we picked up Aurora's place mat from chick-fil-a this morning when we bought her her very own breakfast kid's meal. At one point she was eating a big bite, and I asked "Is Aurora eating chicken or bread?" to which she very clearly answered "chicken." I'm not sure I really wanted "chicken" to be among her first words, but we had a nice day.