Anniversary

Ian and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary last Monday by going to the museum with Audrey.

Ian is a wonderful husband and a great dad. He always makes me laugh. Spending time with him is so much fun. I'm sure Audrey feels the same!

Audrey had a great time at the museum. There were lots of things for her to look at and play with. She even got to unearth some dinosaur bones in the sandpit!

She did seem slightly more interested in eating the sand, unfortunately. But at least she had fun! Her parents got to have some fun too.

Our favourite exhibit was the one with the animals, past and present. The dinosaur bones and the weird and interesting insects and sea creatures, the stuffed big cats and elephants and the giant birds. Audrey stared at it all, wide-eyed, and Ian and I read all the amazing information on the displays about evolution and conservation. It was a really wonderful trip, I hope we can go back again soon.

We got home absolutely exhausted. Audrey falls asleep lately in one of two ways - either nursed down by me quietly in bed with soft white noise playing, or with Ian to Daft Punk music. Both seem to work equally well. Who would've thought. Here she is in a Daft Punk stupor.

It's becoming more rare for me to catch a photo of her sleeping now, so I run to get the camera when she falls asleep anywhere with enough light that I don't have to use a flash which might wake her up. She naps usually three times in a day, for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. The other day Ian went to put her down for a nap, and a good while later I wandered upstairs to see where he'd got to and found this.

"Shh!" says Audrey. "I just got him to sleep!"

Catching Up

Audrey's been a little poorly over the past day or so, she's been sick a few times and is more subdued than normal, poor little thing. At night she's been restless, whimpering in her sleep and reaching out for me, waking up crying if I'm not there. So I've been spending my evenings lying next to her, soothing her when she stirs, nursing her as often as she likes, letting her snuggle up to me and grip tightly to the front of my pajamas. And it might sound funny, but I love it. I love being a mother, her mother - even when it's hard, all-consuming work. I love that she reaches for me when she's unwell, that I can help to make it better. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for this, like this is who I am, this is the point of it all. From playing with dolls as a child to working as a nursery teacher to the shelter to motherhood. I love it. I am it. I've just been waiting for her to come along.

We've a few different day trips lately, because day trips are great fun. I'll be talking about them over the next post or two. The first was with Ros, we went to the garden centre and visited butterfly world.

Audrey held my hand and sat on the seat beside me on the bus.

It was a gorgeously hot day, almost too hot! But the butterflies were out in force.

Ros was very brave and held a snake! Audrey and I took pics from a distance.

We divided our time between the hot and muggy butterfly house and the cooler garden centre, where we had lunch and looked at the baby books. Audrey got a new book about bees! Her favourite, though, was seeing all the butterflies and trying to catch them.

Before we went home we had a go on the swings - Audrey's first time in a play park!

Such a lovely day. It was so warm that in the cafe we gave Audrey some water to sip from a paper cup - she had great fun splashing it all over herself, and even managed to drink a little bit. She knows what to do with a cup and can lift it to her mouth, but she needs a little help making sure she doesn't just then tip the whole thing over her face! It's messy, but it's only water and she'll learn. As long as she's having fun with it it's not really a problem - especially on such hot days.

Finally, here is a video of our Audrey Bea, since a few people said they liked to see the last video post. Hope you like this one too! Audrey is demonstrating how good she is at sitting up, and some of her favourite toys.

To you from me

We just woke up and, thanks to the rain and mist which has just broken this morning after a week of unlikely sunshine, it is still barely light outside. Audrey is sat in her play ring, playing with her toys. Her current favourites include soft, crinkly fabric books and a rabbit with floppy ears called Runty which was a gift from our friends Ace and Faye that she hasn't stopped playing with since yesterday. Runty is their rabbit's nickname, which has now been passed onto this wee fellow.

Lamby still goes everywhere with us, and is starting to get tatty enough from being dragged along by one leg through grass and carpet and play mats and kitchen floors that he looks pretty close to becoming real. Those who've read the Velveteen Rabbit will understand.

Her eyes are still so blue. I wonder if they'll change. At what age do they change?

We packed the plat mat away, banished it to the nursery. She just wasn't using it that much any more. She much prefers to be sitting up now, and she can sit unassisted as long as someone is there to catch her when she lunges off to one side to grab at Shambles the cat. I was a little sad at packing the play mat away. It goes too fast, it's almost cruel.

This is a lovely time. She's endlessly curious, playful, excited. She waves her arms in the air, she picks up her favourite toys from the ground, she investigates napkins and paper cups and empty fizzy drinks bottles. She loves wooden spoons and my wood and amber nursing necklace, she likes the smell of apples.

She's so friendly now, and SO BIG.

Shambles is her BFF. When she sees him she starts to wave her arms up and down in excitement, then starts shouting and reaching for him. He's very patient with her, and will often walk up and let her stroke him. Gently, we say. Gently.

Because she'll be starting solids very soon, we've been getting her used to being in the high chair (thanks Drew and Karen!). She sits in there happily while I'm cooking and talks to me. Or to Shambles, if he's around. I've been saving these jars and filling them with interesting things for her to investigate and play with: water, blackcurrant squash, pumpkin seeds, rice, dry pasta, cotton wool.

The housework never gets done, but that's all right. Because instead we go to the park and lie on blankets soaking up the last bits of summer sun and trying to stop baby from eating the mown grass.

Audrey has been having a lot of fun meeting other babies at the various groups we go to. It's lovely to see how social she is becoming.

Ok, baby is awake and it's time to get going. Ian and I are celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary today by going on a trip to the museum with our daughter. Love to you from me, Audrey Bea!