Happy Birthday to me!!

(I wrote this yesterday, but never published it)


Today I turned the big 25!! I have had a wonderful day and week.

Jonathan's sister Karen came to spend the week with us. It has been so much fun to have some one here with me during the day to talk to!  We have had a very fun filled week.  We visited down town and went to the farmers market and the next day went and shopped at the Pleasant Ridge shopping center.

Today we went to the Heights and walked around.  After walking around we stopped by Cupcakes on Kavanaugh to cool off.  We decided it was okay to have our dessert first before our lunch because it was my birthday.  :)

decisions, decisions, what cupcake to choose...

red velvet, and white with choc. icing.....

yummy!!!

We then walked down to Za Za for lunch.  It was the first time we have eaten there and it was wonderful.  Karen got a yummy salad, and we split the Margaretta pizza.

Audrey eating her lunch

yummy green beans

After our wonderful lunch we came back to the house so Audrey could take a nap. We decided that we would rest as well from our very eventful afternoon.

Aunt Karen offered to babysit Audrey so Jonathan could take me out for a birthday dinner.  We went to my favorite place Macaroni Grill.  This was the perfect birthday, spending time with great family and eating great food!!! What more could you ask for!!!

Recap

I know 2 post in one day!! Hey, I've got to take advantage of a baby sleeping in and nap time.  Besides I've been really lazy the past few weeks about posting.  I thought since it has been a while I would post some pictures of some of the things we have been doing.

Father's Day weekend we went down to El Dorado to spend it with my family.  While we were there my best friend from high school was also in town with her little boy.  We have known each other since 5th grade and have kept in touch.  Her little boy is 6 month old Kaden.  Audrey was very excited about meeting him.  She couldn't get enough!!! I just hope this isn't a sign!!!

 This highchair was my Grandfathers highchair that his parents bought used! Also, take a look at that little foot, remember the picture several post back,  she has to have that foot propped up!!

 Her new found friend!!! She LOVES Chloe!! 

 This is now how I find her when I go to get her up now. Or she is standing!!

This past Thursday we went to an Arkansas Travelers game with some of our friends.  It was so hot and humid. You would think as the night went on that it would get cooler, not so much!!!  It only got more humid.  However, Audrey did extremely well!!!  The game started at 7:10 and we didn't leave until 9 and she wasn't fussy at all considering how hot it was!! You can tell by her cute little red cheeks :)

 Don't you love those pretty blue eyes!!

 Jonathan said I had to take a picture of the field too!!

We have had a bit of a squirrel problem at the Friedmann house.  We have 2 bird feeders on our back deck. They are supposedly squirrel proof and have worked really well to keep them out until they chewed through the plastic to get to the seeds.  Well, Jonathan has declared  war. I woke up Friday morning to this sitting on my deck! I had to watch this poor little squirrel all day long struggle to get out.  :(  I did keep Jonathan and his buddies at work laughing while called him throughout the day to ask if I should give him water or some more seeds, or if I should be worried that he was getting rained on :) 

Well, Jonathan came home and killed the squirrel and it is now sitting in my freezer waiting for me to cook it (which I may or may not do).  I'm really hoping this war ends soon, I'm not sure if I can handle anymore squirrels in my kitchen!!!

 1 down, 1 ba-gillion to go :)

 Be afraid, be very afraid!!

Forth of July (a little late)

We had a wonderful Forth of July weekend.  We spent it with our best friends, Chris and Cydni Scroggs and their little boy Sam. 

Chris and Cydni have been our friends since college.  We got married within a week of each other and now have had babies within a few months of each other. It has been so much fun to share life with each other.  We see them several times a year. 

It was so much fun watching Audrey and Sam interact with each other!!  When they first met we drove down to Ruston to meet Sam.  He was 5 weeks old and Audrey was about 4 months.  They really didn't have anything to do with each other then.  With Audrey being 8 months old and Sam almost 5, we were all very excited to see what they would think of each other.  They were very excited about seeing each other.  Within minutes of them meeting they were already holding hands :)  Sam had just mastered rolling over and Audrey was crawling all over him and using his head to try and stand up.

Saturday we took them to the Farmers Market downtown which was so much fun.  Jonathan and I had never been before, which I can't believe since we have lived here now for 3 year.  We made it down there right before it started getting hot.  I did bring my camera, but realized by the time we got back to the car that I didn't take any pictures :( 

On Sunday we hung out around the house and grilled some amazing food. Here are the rest of our pictures from the weekend.

 We have probably a dozen pictures of the four of  us.  In everyone of them Audrey looks like this.  I'm not sure what Daddy was doing to get her to smile, but it wasn't working :)

Family picture (Jonathan didn't want a matching shirt)

Cydni's mom let us use her Expedition so we could all ride in the same car.  It was so cute to see them side by side in the SUV.

This is what our kitchen looked like after a fun filled weekend with 2 babies!!!

Month 1

They say when your having a baby it doesn't seem real until you are actually holding it in your arms.  Well, that is true, but it becomes even more real when you walk into your home with a baby and you're in your own environment,  when you use your own changing table for the first time,  put your sweet one in the bouncy seat, and then most of all trying to figure what is wrong  with no nurse button to push!!!
  
There were lots and lots of ups and downs for the first few weeks.  I have never ever experienced exhaustion like that.  It is like your not even sure who you are any more.  It feels like all you do is rock, nurse and change diapers all day long.

I had Audrey on a Wednesday, came home on a Friday, and Jonathan was back to work that Monday.  I remember one day he came home and found me in tears on the couch.  He sat down beside me and asked me what was wrong.  I said I feel like a terrible mother!!  All I ever wanted was to be a mom, I had looked forward to this for so long, but I just don't like her!  How can a mother not even like her own baby!!  Don't get me wrong I loved Audrey with all of my heart, but I felt like all she was doing was taking from me.  Jonathan just laughed at me.  He was so sweet with the hormonal roller coaster that I was on for weeks.  He just told me that it was okay, that I was a great mom and that I it would get better.

He was right... the next day he came in and I told him that I liked her for 50% of the day, and the next day was 75%.  Then finally one day he came home and I met him at the door and threw my arms around him and told him that I like her for 100% of the day!!!

This difficulty was something that I did not know to expect.  I knew about postpartum depression and that you would be on a hormonal roller coaster, but I just thought about the extremes, not about the little things like its okay not to like you baby sometimes, that you would literally cry over anything (once again, I'm not one to cry I hate crying so this was all new to me), going from mad to happy to sad all in a millisecond.  I never ever thought about hurting Audrey or leaving her.  Plus, it was just the fact that I didn't know what to do, and at first all she did was sleep and I didn't get any rewards for all that I did and sacrificed for her.  (Maybe this is training for the teenage years :)  )

The first month wasn't all bad, don't get me wrong... I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything. These were just part of the hardest weeks. So enough of the bad stuff... here are the fun parts of this first month

- She was eating every three hours
- Starting to stay awake for longer periods of time
- Moved to her own room at 2 weeks
- Tried to drink out of a bottle
-Started to hold your head up on your own
- Went to a fall Carnival
- Grandpa and Granna came to stay 
- Went to El Dorado for Thanksgiving

It was amazing how long I could watch her sleep. 

I think we have a million pictures of just her sleeping :)

For the first several days she loved to be swadelded. But then

started sleeping like this and never liked being confined again.

Our little pumpkin!

Playing her first carnival game

Grandpa and Granna

Audrey,
Even though mommy had a hard time adjusting to being a mommy, I loved you from the first moment you were in my arms.  I'm so glad that I had the bad times, because without them I wouldn't have the good times!! You are so precious to me and your daddy! We can't wait to watch you grow and look forward to every new stage that we enter!!

Love you so!

Mommy