6 Months

Happy 6 months to Audrey!  

 Personality:  I've gotta say, Audrey has got to be one of the calmest babies out there.  Even a older farmer in a cowboy hat came up to us in the supermarket and said that Audrey is as "peaceful as a horse under a tree!"  Lol!  I don't know about the horse part, but she really is SOOO peaceful!  She isn't one of those overly silly babies and definitely not a fussy baby.  Just so, so sweet and peaceful.  She seriously hardly every complains about anything, just contently and peacefully enjoys her surroundings and those interacting with her with happy coos.

Likes: People…she let's literally anyone hold her.  Jumping, being held standing/sitting up, playing with toys, interacting with Elijah, bucket baths, jumping, sucking on her ring and pinkie finger 

New:  Sleeping with her arms out of the swaddle (there was no point in it anymore because she kept wiggling out from the half opened zipper.  The transition has been seamless), her first mild cold, sitting up unassisted (actually we realized just days before she turned 5 months that she could do this and she has been getting progressively stronger, though still can't let go of her hands on the floor).  Rolling both ways, lifting up her bum to get on hands/knees, rocking like she's wanting to crawl, eating her first foods (banana, avocado, papaya, carrots, apples), playing for long periods of time of the floor with her toys

Routine:  Nothing new

Struggles:  Starting to wake up for a dream feed again.  I think she is just ready for more calories but still learning to eat, so I'm hoping this is temporary.  I do it around 10pm so it's not a problem, but if I skip she wakes up at night wanting to eat a TON so I've been opting to do the dream feed again for a while.   

This month Audrey also did GREAT on our trip to Goias.  She loved being held by all of the people on the Asas retreat and by her grandparents.

This is her characteristic happy and peaceful look…seriously looks like this  95% of the time

Starting to really interact with each other for the first time.  I asked Elijah to bring Audrey some toys…when I looked a minute later, ALL these toys were in front of her

First food…a banana from a village we fly to.  Perfect food for our little missionary kid!

Audrey is 5 Months

Miss Audrey is 5 months this week and I'm learning how hard photoshoots are that involve skirts!  Seems as soon as I get her true, irresistible smiles coming through, she throws modesty aside lol!  Hence the next two pics :)

 Between that and the fun of trying out her new sitting skill, this was the first session that was a bit challenging.

 I guess we'll make this one our keeper

Personality:  Continues to be very easy going, sweet, and flexible

Likes: Her jumper (can jump for over an hour!), practicing standing, chewing on things, sleeping swaddled but with the zipper down a few inches so she can suck on her ring and middle finger but still feel cozy.  Interestingly, these were the same two fingers E sucked on and me too when I was a baby!!

New: Sitting up using arms for support 

Routine: Solidly into a four hour schedule.  Sleeping 8 to 8

Struggles: Seems to have pain as bottom teeth cut, but still nothing coming through!

Audrey is 4 Months (a few days late :)

 Personality: Smiley, happy, easy going, sweet, flexible (She didn't have any trouble at all adapting to our lack of schedule and traveling with G-ma and Popi.  Slept through the night anyway and got right back into a routine when they left)

Likes: Jumping in her jumper, being held sitting or standing, looking at her doll, sucking on her fingers rather than a pacifier, spending time with G-ma and Popi

New: Starting to reach for things, wanting to teethe on everything, rolling over back to belly (Did it for the first time the day after she turned 3 months.  After a few times trying it out, she stopped doing it completely until she started again this week.  Doing it all the time now).  She actually gets the idea of jumping in her jumper and can do it for 45 minutes straight.  She also has great belly laughs, is very alert and interested, did awesome when she flew on an Asas plane and spent the day in a village

Routine: Moving to a 3 1/2 to 4 hour cycle.  Just dropped the dream feed last night successfully!  Consistently sleeping 8pm to 8 am

Struggles: Occasionally gets some trapped gas that bothers her for a few minutes, mom keeping track of her routine (much harder with #2!)

This little sweetie is getting more and more fun every day!  We love you!

Audrey is 3 Months

Personality: Go with the flow, social, easy going

Likes: Laying on the floor/her gym, being held upright, going in the tree swing Jeyson made and doorway jumper, attention, and smiles

New: Cooing/start of laughs, enough control to sit in the jumper, FINALLY less poop every day :)

Routine: Started getting to bed around 8:30pm, but this has resulted in the habit of now waking around 5:45am every day.  Sticking to a 3 hour routine during the day and giving a dream feed until the early wake up moves a bit later.  If it weren't for this early wake up, she seems ready for a 4 hour routine, but I want to make sure she's getting enough feeds in

Struggles: The early wake up has been tiring, even if I go back to sleep after.  Also she refuses bottles which makes leaving her a bit harder.  Looking into new bottle options

We all love Audrey being part of the family and I'm surprised how fun it is already to have another girl around the house which ha been so boyish up until now :)

Audrey is 2 Months

Personality:  Flexible, social, easy going

Likes: To be nearby people, her bouncy seat, showers, pacifier, being swaddled, sitting up straight

New: Head control, smiles (though not consistent yet), sleeping through the night…wohoo!!!  (Started as of 6 weeks and is getting more consistent each week)

Routine: 8:00 wake up/nurse, 9:00 nap, 11:00 wake up/nurse, 12:00 nap, 1:30/2:00 wake up/nurse, 3:00 nap, 5:00 wake up/nap 6:00 doze on and off (usually in bouncy seat), 7:00 nurse/pj's, 8:00 nurse, 8:30 sleep (in theory…struggling with that!!), 10:00 dream feed

Stuggles: Getting her to sleep in her bed at bedtime.  She does great during her naps mostly, but does not like to be in her bed before her dream feed at night.  The times she does this successfully, she has not slept through the night 

We're loving this girl and getting to know her more each day!

Elijah is 3!

Sunday was Elijah's 3rd birthday.  We had a tiny party which Elijah loved!  He really wanted to wear a party hat and have his friend Mateus over.  Both of his wishes came true and more.

(I cheated and made cinnamon rolls instead of a cake since my cakes always flop under pressure :)

 My favorite part of the day was watching Elijah play pin the tail on the donkey for the first time.  Absolutely hilarious!

 We've been following the Ciotta family tradition of taking a birthday picture with dad so we can see how the kids are growing.  So fun to look back on over the past years.

Here's what our new 3 year old has been up to:

Personality: Happy, reserved, helpful, kind, good sense of humor, prefers stability

Likes: Playing on play equipment, hot dogs, Paw Patrol, playing with cars/trains/boats etc, going to school, playing with older kids, reading books, stickers, going to the park, running to the truck to greet Jeyson when he arrives, helping load laundry into the machine and any other household task, tools, picking out his own clothes, repetition of the same routine every day, overhearing and adding to our conversations (quite hilarious, especially when he gets the whole topic wrong!), checking out how Audrey has no teeth lol!

New:  What hasn't changed in the last year??  Potty trained, sleeping in a big boy bed, knows to wait to get out until his clock turns green, independent player, talking about everything, lots of preferences about what he wants to do, imaginative play starting, learning lots of Portuguese words, eating everything (even vegetables), retelling stories of what happened, starting to become responsible and trustworthy in some areas little by little, joining in on jokes/humor and even laughing at himself

Routine:  Up at 7:00, nap 1-3:30,  sleeping at 7:30pm

Stuggles: Obeying right away, preferences about how details should be done, learning to get dressed and use the potty all on his own

Audrey - 1 Month

Audrey Sophia is 1 month old today.  In keeping with the tradition, I decided to try to blog a little about her each month for the first year, though it's definitely more challenging with 2 on our hands this time!  Here goes:

Personality:  Easy going most of the time.  Lets anyone hold her, including Elijah.

Likes: Being held up over a shoulder, sitting in her bouncy vibrating seat, sucking a pacifier and getting swaddled when she is tired.  She also really likes to being close to us, even if is just to suck on her pacifier laying next to us…makes her so much happier than being alone.  Also likes having a night light on in her room.

Routine: Wake up time at 8 am (often wakes up an hour or two before that but I treat it as a night feed and put her back until 8).  2-3 hour cycle throughout the day of eat, play, sleep and is in bed by 9pm.  Wakes up one time at night (around 2-3 am) to eat.  Still working out more definite times of the day for naps.

Struggles:  Going to sleep in her crib at bedtime.  For naps we can easily put her down sleepy but awake, but at her bedtime she cries in her crib unless we put her down all the way asleep.  We need to work on this and making her bedtime a bit earlier too.  Another struggle is at night occasionally she wakes up to feed and then doesn't want to sleep again for another hour or two!  Happy but awake, which is better than crying, but still results in tired parents.  

We are so glad this sweetie joined our family.  It's hard to imagine how we didn't have her before.  We look forward to getting to know her more and more in the coming months and years!