Spring Time

Lots of little things are happening around these parts.  As the weather has been fairly nice, we (Erik) had a chance to get the first mow of the year in this weekend and we also started work on our backyard.  Now that we have a fence, although it is yet to be stained due to the road construction behind our house, we can put in some flower beds and a little vegetable garden.  We may be a little late in preparing soil for a garden since we could have started planting by now, but we won't be too far behind.  I hope to start out small and get the hang of it so we don't dive in over our heads.  I'm really excited!

I'm also doing a LOT of spring cleaning.  It has to come in spurts, usually during nap time, but the parts of the house that are finished are soooo much better.  I started in the kitchen.  I moved all of our china (that we never use) to the hutch that Erik built in the breakfast area.  It had been spread out in the upper cabinets all over the kitchen, so now it's all in one place.  We took all of the entertaining dishes and got them together above the fridge since we don't use them often and then just continued to get all "like" things together.  You think that would have happened when we moved in, but you see, I STILL have boxes that need unpacking in the attic.  It is a never-ending saga.  We also donated a lot of stuff to make space and I really like my organized, functional kitchen!

I moved the spring cleaning into our bathroom and that's where I'm stuck right now.  My goal is to get all the cleaning supplies and medicines corralled so we can put baby proofing thingies on those cabinets, and it's taking longer than I thought.  The closet is next.  We have got to take control of the laundry situation we have over here!

Audrey is still reeeaalllyy close to crawling.  Through a combination of scooting, pulling, rolling, etc, she made it all the way across her room on Saturday.

She seems to get really active and squirmy when she's tired, and she hasn't been napping well lately, especially on the weekends, so it's been a little crazy.  I say that, and she's been asleep for almost an hour and half now.  She must be worn out after the weekend!  We took her to the nursery for church and Sunday school, and she fell asleep on the way home and STAYED asleep in her car seat for over 30 minutes.  She hasn't done that since she was a newborn!

She has been teething like crazy, which probably explains her napping issues, constant drooling, chewing on her thumb and rare bouts of whining.  She never really fusses, so when she gets whiny, I know she's not feeling good.  Her gums around her front top teeth, #E and F, are super swollen, so I know she's working hard!

We welcomed a new cousin last Sunday and got to visit again this Saturday.  Carter is the first boy on either side of the family.  He's quite outnumbered  by the girls right now!

Things I Love: Biz

I've decided to periodically talk about some things I use around the house, or with Audrey, that I just love.  They make my life easier, I will never stop buying or using them, and I think they might be helpful to other people, too.  No one is paying me to do this or giving me anything, I just like hearing what makes other mom's lives easier, so if anyone ever reads this, it might help them, too.  

I don't know where I learned this...but Biz is amazing.  I started buying it in my first year of dental school to get the smell of gross anatomy lab out of my scrubs.  I know that sounds pretty gross (haha), but listen, if this can get the smell of cadaver out of your clothes, it's pretty amazing.  Most of my classmates just bought a pair of scrubs that they only wore in the gross lab and threw them away at the end of the year.  I thought it was 1) disgusting to wear smelly scrubs a couple of times a week, 2) a waste of time to change into and out of those smelly, yucky scrubs, and 3) a waste of money to buy extra scrubs just for lab and then throw them away!

So I used Biz.  It's great.  No cadaver smell whatsoever!

So then I had a baby and after the first baby poop blowout, I rinsed and washed and dried that sad little onesie just like normal, and  - voila! - the baby poop doesn't come out.  I had no idea.  But if you soak it in Biz first?  It comes out.  Like magic.  

I get the powder in the box.  I really just use it to treat stains, but you can boost each load with it, too.  LOVE it!

http://www.bizstainfighter.com/

6 Months

Audrey was born on the 30th of August, and February doesn't have 30 days, so what do you do? Well at least this February had 29 days, so we got pretty close!

Audrey is so close to crawling I joke with Erik in the evenings that I'll send the video of her crawling to him at work the next day ; ).

She's had rice, oatmeal, peas, butternut squash, and avocado.  Daddy loves feeding her every night!  We saw today that her two bottom teeth (#O and P) have cut through the gum, so we're on our way to more exciting foods!

She's still working on sitting, but it took a while for her to even agree to stay in that position because she loves to push up and stand. She's sleeping 9-11 hours at a stretch and is getting better at napping in her crib. For a while, the swing and the holiday version of "Fireplace for the Home" is what got her to nap. We've upgraded to the jogging stroller and she loves going on walks!

We're looking forward to her dr. appointment on Wednesday, so we'll have her updated stats.  Although I feel like she's been so much in the past two months after an allergic reaction, ear infection and then RSV, we have a pretty good idea of where she stands!