Six Weeks Old

Happy Birthday, Aubrey! Six weeks old last Thursday. Let's see, what's going on...?

We're getting social smiles. Aubrey is ABSOLUTELY mesmerized with anything that's got lines and contrasting colors. The wrought iron headboard and the wrought iron spiral candle holder that hangs above our bed is a source of endless fascination. The ceiling fan, too. Turn it on slow and it's like Ambien for babies...

Aubrey's not only holding her head up on her own, she's STANDING. No joke. As long as one of us is holding her torso to keep her from toppling over, she can stand and support her own weight and hold her head straight. Now, it lasts mebbe 'bout six, seven, ten seconds and then she kinda forgets that she has to hold her knees locked and sinks back down to a squat. But this surprised us. We're still waiting for her to figure out that she has hands. It's coming soon...

She's grown two inches since birth and -- according to the "step on the scale with her in your arms" method -- she's now 11.5 pounds. Knock off a few ounces for clothing and diaper. We've already had to retire some of the smaller 0-3 month clothing and the smaller 3-6 month clothing is starting to fit. And the baby acne is clearing up!

Still extremely cute. :-)

And now, more pictures...

According to Jenny, The real reason Virginia Tech Basketball is doing so well this season...



Momma & baby



"Yeah, I'm letting him watch now, but wait until the commercial comes on..."



Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be contestants on American Idol...

S & J

Aubrey's First Big Trip

We took Aubrey on her first big trip to visit her grandparents and great-grandmother in Newport News, Virginia. She showed us once again how lucky we are. During the whole three-hour ride down, she woke up for only about five minutes and a quick bottle calmed her down for the rest of the ride. During the ride back, we thought we would have a nightmare with the traffic, but she gave us a break once again. One feeding stop halfway, and a diaper change, but really, not much more than that.

Sweet baby!!

We've been getting smiles galore lately, and a bunch of coos and aahs as she begins to discover that she can use her voicebox for more than howling for food, LOL. No coherent syllables or words yet, just gurgles. She's already starting to hold her head up, sit up for a few seconds with a little help and kick her legs. Bicycling or karate, yet to be determined.

OK, some more pictures.

Four generations:



Aubrey's trip to the Olive Garden:



Asleep on the couch. Look at those cute little pink socks!



We're thinking either Olympic cross-country skiing or crane operator. TBD. Check back in about 20 years.



More Little Hands!!



S & J

A Day In The Life...

Hanging out with Daddy




Nyahhh, nyahhh...



Little hands!!



Little Feet!!



S & J

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aubrey and her new blanket from Great-grandma A




Napping with her new buddy from Grandma R



A little iMac Photobooth fun:






"Yeah, yeah, c'mon, let's wrap this up, I have a meeting with a producer from a much better studio..."




Checking out today's news...




"Really? Well, we'll just see about that..."




Snoozing at the end of a busy day...




S & J

Four Weeks Old

A whole batch of new photos of our delightful little four-week-old.

The general report is "AOK". Aubrey is eating healthily, gaining weight at the right rate and is a pretty well-tempered baby. When she cries, there's a reason; when there isn't a reason, she's pretty placid. She's unfortunately going through a little "baby acne" phase, but the pediatrician assures us it's temporary and will disappear by end of February give or take a week. She's out of the swaddle and seems happy to sleep without it. We're seeing reflex smiles and maybe -- maybe -- one social smile today, but she's still working on it. She can fix on an object visually, but is not yet tracking moving objects. That should come in the next weeks.

We're doing ok. Everytime we think we've figured something out, she changes the rules on us. She still wakes up around 4 am for a feeding, so we're still experiencing the joys of sleep deprivation. And we have been thoroughly amazed at the number of things you can learn to do one-handed, or with your non-dominant hand. Like wash an entire sink of dishes. Or, uhh..., do blog entries. At some point this week Steve managed to hold Aubrey with his left thigh and left hand and hold the bottle in Aubrey's mouth with his chin, all while cradling the phone on his left ear and shoulder and changing the channel on the TV with his right hand. Should he decide to leave the foreign service, we're thinking a second career as an acrobat with Cirque de Soleil.

Enough blah blah. We know why you really come here. :-) Pictures!!











S & J