Brewing Agape: Fourth of July Week/End

"Just make it to six months and then you know you're going to live" - This is what my mom told me from week one and momma was right. We're going to live.

Well we've made it to the halfway mark. Raise your hand if you're surprised. *raises hand* Raise your hand if your excited about this. *raises both hands*
I knew we'd hit this point eventually but it definitely came faster than I thought it would. Those newborn days are behind us and part of me misses the squishy snuggles and newborn scent. But as I told someone the other day "our first 3 months sucked. Like really sucked". The next 3 months is where we finally found a rhythm and a schedule and sleep! Now here we are halfway through Audra's first year of life and already on solids.

Green beans. Before the mess.

I told myself I would wait until she was a solid six months or later. She has her whole entire life ahead of her to eat, so why push it? Nursing is now getting easier and better (when you don't factor in nipple pain or clogged ducts or a super distracted baby) so why not just keep doing it without having her on solids? All this and more went through my head week after week. I bought some small things of food "just to have so were ready". Then I got out her high chair from storage. "I'll just put it on the chair so we can get used to having it". "I'll just put the straps in so it's ready to go" Ours was a hand-me-down from my sister in law so it needed a new cover. So I told myself "once we get a new cover she can get used to sitting in it". That held true but she hated her high chair the first few times I put her in it. Especially if I dared to strap her in. "What sweet craziness is this!? You sit me in a chair and then strap me in? Nope. Sorry. Not happening" Well it all came to a point one day when she finally was used to her chair, she had her favorite toy to play with while sitting in it and we were both sitting at the table while I ate lunch and I got THE LOOK. That "why are you eating and I'm not?" look. The "I'm ready Momma, I'm really truly ready" look. I got the puppy dog eyes, the baby face from my baby.

I melted and gave in. "Tomorrow we will start you on solids." Two weeks shy of her six month "birthday". But let's be honest for two seconds. From the time we are little girls we are given baby dolls with all the accessories. They have diapers and bottles and tiny little clothes. Then we get little spoons and plates for them and pretend to feed them. It's something that is imprinted in us from a young age and we anxiously await the day until we have our own real baby that will sit perfectly in a chair and open nice and wide for a tiny spoon filled with baby food. Then we have a baby and once we make it to the point where solids can be introduced if we feel that's what we want to do; it's even harder to wait. It's like sitting there on Christmas morning surrounded by presents and being told "OK you can open them if you want because it's the appropriate time to do it but you really don't need these gifts so we can wait 4 or 5 months". Tell a kid that on Christmas and see what they do. So all this to say that once we got closer and closer to her six month mark it became harder and harder to wait. Ants-in-the-pants wiggling may have occurred.

The next day I had it planned out that we would start around lunch, after her morning nap and we would start with green beans. If you know anything about me you know I don't eat a ton of veggies. OK I barely eat them. I eat them once a week if were lucky. I know I.Am.Horrible. But I'm planning to get Audra good and used to veggies so she can get the nutrients from them that she's not getting from me. So green beans it is. She loved it! She has also had sweet potatoes which no surprise she likes more than green beans but I'm trying to give her more beans than potatoes for now.

So aside from starting solids Audra greets six months with sitting up to play more than lying down. She also got to sit up in the grocery cart in the same week - it was a monumental week for sure! She loved just watching everyone and taking it all in. I'm pretty sure we could have wondered around WalMart for an hour and she would have been content the entire time.

I also sit her up after her bath so she can splash in the water a little bit. She loves it!

We are down to 3 naps a day about an hour on average for each of them. Most of the time she'll wake up from her last nap around 4 or 5 pm and then we don't put her to bed until 9pm but it's growing harder for her to wait that long so recently I've stopped fighting it and put her to bed around 8:30. It has seemed to work out so far. She barely lets me hold her chest to chest for any reason except going down for a nap or bed time. She is too interested at looking at everything that she doesn't want to be held facing any other way other than out. Ha. She is not crawling yet but loves to push her butt in the air and use that to scoot her way towards something of interest to her. Her pincher grasp is getting better every day thanks to all the tags on every toy we own she goes directly for it with her pincher grasp. I cannot get enough of watching her grab the tag with her thumb and pointer finger. Seriously. Watching her teach herself this brand new thing is fascinating. I don't even know how else to explain it but I love watching it!! Audra also loves watching and lunging for our cat.

This weekend we celebrated (Audra's first) Fourth of July. She did well with her first fireworks but her second time around was a little rough and she was more ready for bedtime then fireworks.

Audra loves her Aunt Jackie who took this photo. Liam loves Audra. I love them both.

Three generations. Finally.

Totally obsessed with this picture of Audra. Despite her tired eyes she is perfect in every way. Oh and my hand on her lap keeping her from falling forward. Which she did the other day. Forward and onto the floor. Kid you not I about peed my pants. Scariest moment ever.