Late night with Audrey Salter

She must be in training to take Conan's spot or maybe Jimmy Kimmell, because Audrey will not go to bed before 9:45 pm. She does whatever she can to stay up as late as she can. Around 8:45 pm, she begins to throw herself on her side or back, like she belongs on a fainting couch, and laughs and hides her eyes. I have to admit, it is actually very cute and she thinks it is even funnier when I throw myself on the floor and mimic her. She thinks it means that I want to wrestle so she gets in a few superplexes and body slams.....yet still....no going to sleep.
Do you think there are people who are actually born to be night owls? If she goes to bed before 9 pm, she still wakes up around 3 pm and searches all over the room with her eye to find some type of food source ( aka the bottle). If she goes to bed after 9 pm, she stays down until 7:30 am or later.
Sleeping in general has become quite a touch-and-go for us.
I chalk this up to what seems to be an ear infection that never quite goes away and a new tooth coming in literally every other week....she's up to 8 and the 9th one of working it's way down. Needless to say, I again break every mommy rule in the book and I lay with her in the spare room. If I can lay next to her and prop her up in a boppy pillow, and it means that she doesnt get drainage into her ear...guess what....I'm doing it!
I am really good at breaking mommy rules...and I am sure more than one person is shaking their head and saying "you will pay for it!"
I try my best!
She is on a schedule, but it's flexible. she can fall asleep anywhere and it is usually around the same time, once at 10:30 am and once at 3:30 pm.
She eats table food....when she wants to. She much prefers her bottle.
She sleeps when she is ready...and it works for us.
No matter what, here is what matters most:
I have a genuinley happy kid who enjoys wagon rides, being outside in her swing, watching her fishies, teasing her puppy dog, sitting in her little tikes tug boat, watching the kids across the street catch fire flies, splashing in her pool, pressing her face against the front door glass, banging pots and pans in the kitchen...and I love her for all those reasons.
It's 10 pm and her daddy has finally put her down. I will carry her up the steps and place her in her crib and maybe,. just maybe, we will get some sleep! :)

Lake Tobias

Last weekend, Mom, Jim, Audrey and Aunt robin and I headed to Halifax PA to enjoy a morning at Lake Tobias Safari and Zoological Park.
We got there quite early....in fact we were the first in line.
We got our tickets to the Safari Ride and enjoyed seeing emus and Elk and Deer and Buffalo. We even fed the animals crackers.
After our ride, we enjoyed the petting zoo and animal exhibits.
It was a wonderful, inexpensive trip; well worth the day! We loved it!
We cant wait to go back in the fall and see how much our new little animal friends have grown and changed.

Niagara Falls and Camping

Over Memorial Day weekend, Jim, Audrey, my folks and I headed to Kent, NY.
My dad has had a camper at North of The Ridge Campground for the past 15 years.
We made sure we had our passports, including Audrey's, and we made our way across the border to Canada to visit Niagara Falls. This was Jim's first trip to the Falls and Audrey's 2nd vacation.
We strapped Audrey in our backpack and headed to sight-see.
Audrey did great!
She enjoyed watching all of the people.
We took turns carrying her around. As you can see, we got some great shots during our vist.



That evening, we visited Browns Berry patch, one of our favorite spots for ice cream and entertainment.
Our friend the self feeding goat was there and we got our picture taken in some of the cut outs.

The next day, Jim and I headed out on the boat with my dad.
For 6 hours, we enjoyed the calm water...but we caught no fish.
While pulling into the dock, Jim noted that he could see fish from the walkway of the dock. One minute after saying it...Jim leaned in and caught a fish with his bare hands. quite funny!





We had a great time with my parents. We enjoyed the campground and sights.
We cant wait to do it again.

The Sillies

Audrey is such a happy kid! I am so thankful for this fact! She is full of energy, always on the go, always babbling away! If Audrey isn't happy, it can only be one of three things: She's hungry, she's tired....or she isn't the center of attention. LOL!
There is no getting around a crawling child that wants your attention. If she needs us, she finds us and lets us know that she is hoping for some attention.
I promise....she gets plenty of attention!
As she learns new things everyday...she often gets the sillies. Her smile widens, her grin is toothy and she blows air in and out of her nose so that she makes noise.
You can't help but smile with her!

Springtime

The flowers are in full bloom....and the Salter household is quite busy.
Jim has started church softball and the race track has opened.
Audrey has started swim classes at the Y.
She is doing great!
I am super excited that she is at ease in the water. She has even gone under twice.
I am keeping busy as well, as always.
Tomorrow marks my first official Mother's Day.
Audrey turned 9 months old today!It is hard to believe that she has been on the outside as long as she was on the inside now.
She is crawling all around the house, pulling herself up. It seems that every day she has the start of another new tooth....so far she has 6 through and 1 new one on its way!
Life is good.I am so blessed to be this little kiddos mom! She is the light of my life!

WOW.....it's been awhile since I blogged

Perhaps it is because the Salter household has been so busy.
Our little La-La is on the move.
She started out slow, but has certainly picked up the crawling pace. We are so proud of her...and yet...so afraid of what being on the move entails....a much more watchful set of parents.
She is loving magazines, especially when she can rip them apart.
She likes to pull herself up on the sofa, but hasnt yet decided that she wants to move from one place.
She is drinking out of a cup and likes straws; thanks to Gammie!
Today, her 5th tooth made an appearance.
I went to daycare last week to discover that she was in the toddlers room.
I now know what they meant by "don't blink"!

A trip to the Emergency room

Audrey had her first trip to the emergency room yesterday.
After her fever spiked to 104.9, she became stoic and unresponsive for 5 minutes.
Jim and I rushed to the hospital with his lights and sirens signaling and we made our way into the emergency room, where Audrey was assisted by 5 wonderful nurses who made her their first concern.
After a bout of blueness around the lips and eyes, she began to shake and shiver, as she faught off the temperature break.
Her skin became purplish with pink spots and it took 30 minutes to stabilize her and calm her.
Then, we sat through a few attempts at collecting blood ( chubby babies don't have visible veins)which eventually led to a heel stick and finger stick to collect the blood.
Our visit also included a chest xray and a urinalysis.
All forms of illness were ruled out, including rsv, swine flu, etc...
It turns out that Audrey has a viral infection that first displayed itself as pink eye and have coursed though other places in her body: her ears and throat.
She is taking Amoxycillin, and alternating tylenol and motrin, as well as continuing on her pink eye drops.
What a horrifying experience!
We are so blessed that Val came to the hospital to bring us food and then she headed to our house to let out Molli and also grab Tylenol for Audrey.
Even in the craziness, it is easy to find the blessings.
We are contining to monitor Audreys temperature and hope that her nose and chest clears of the congestion.

I am trusting God that she will never have to go back.