DAD!

I can see it already.  My darling little baby is completely enamored with her dad.  Of course, this  makes me happy, because it means she has a good bond with her father, who is an incredibly good man.  This "daddy's girl" stuff is emerging sooner than I thought, though, and I fear I may be pushed to the side sooner than I anticipated. :)  I read this blog post called The Third Wheel and I just know in a few short months this will be my lot in life.  How do I know this?  I'll give you just a *few* examples.

• When I go in to fetch Audrey after she's finished her nap I say, "Hi Audrey!"  She looks around, looks at me, and says, "dad?"
• Audrey loves looking at family pictures.  I'll point to each of us and say our names.  "Baby Audrey!" She gets excited.  "Dada!"  She kicks her legs even more excited.  "Mama!" I say .... she points to Tony's picture and says "dada!" 
• Last night Audrey and I were having quite the giggle fest waiting for Tony to come home.  As soon as she heard him open the door, her head quickly swung to the direction of our entryway and she screamed, "DAD!" and our giggle fest ended as quickly as it began.
• Today I ran out to get the mail while Audrey was eating a snack in her chair.  She heard the door shut. "Dad!" she exclaimed.  I had the job of informing her that no, it wasn't dad, just stinky old mom :).  She was clearly frustrated.

I've got a serious case of "Daddy's Girl" on my hands over here.  I think it's super adorable and Tony deserves the honor of Audrey being president of his fan club.  Plus, there are TWO great and amazing things I've gotten out of Audrey being head-over-heels for her daddy.  1) first word, anyone??? and 2) she's got a dad that throws all that love right back at her and then some and it's clear she can tell.  I just hope she doesn't forget me in all of the daddy madness :).

The Official 9 Month Report

I felt like I needed to follow up my "mom guilt" post with something happy and encouraging (besides my brilliant idea to fix lumpy fruit dip) so I thought I'd report on Audrey at her 9 month milestone.  I haven't been super great at updating "stats" with Audrey and after reading my good friend's blog and seeing how well she documents her cute little son's life, I thought I should follow her example and write some things down so I'll remember them one day.

Last week was Audrey's 9 month check up even though her 9 month "birthday" was the week before.  I could tell that Audrey was nervous as we went into the pediatrician's office.  I think she's starting to remember that place.  I feel so bad that every time we're there she gets poked!  She had to get her iron levels tested so they had to draw blood this time.  It was only one poke that probably hardly hurt, but because the nurses were holding her foot, she freaked out.

I was glad to have the opportunity to talk to the doctor about Audrey possibly weaning and my guilt that was coming with it.  Our pediatrician is notoriously blunt (one of the reasons why we liked him, he gives us straight no-crap answers) and when I told him what was happening and how I was feeling he simply said,  "You are absolutely fine."  He explained to me that as babies get older, smarter, and more mobile that they prefer a bottle so they can still check things out around them.  When they nurse they have a very limited view.  He told me to embrace the fact that she's smart and inquisitive and wants to see the world around her.  I thought he would try to push me into nursing as long as I can but he told me if either of us isn't interested in nursing anymore, just stop, no big deal.  I'm sure if I went to a lactation consultant it would have been different, but that's why I didn't go there, ha ha.  I told him that while I had *zero* intentions of nursing Audrey until she's two, that I felt the tiniest twinge of guilt after reading all of the recommendations from Le Leche League and other organizations devoted to breastfeeding.  He seemed to not be a fan of going until two, either.  He was really pleased that Audrey was trying all kinds of table foods.  Even though deep inside I know I'm doing an okay job raising Audrey, it's always nice to hear a professional tell me so. :)

After going over Audrey's measurements, her doctor told me that I was doing everything right to help her grow.  He said I should stay guilt-free as long as she keeps growing how she is.

Weight:  19.5 lbs  62nd%

Height:  28.5  89th%

Head Circumference:  18.5 in  99th%!

Audrey's got some big ol' brains in her noggin!  Her little marker is waaay off the charts, but I don't think there's a 100th percentile so 99 is as high as they could write it.  No wonder none of her clothes fit over her head....

Audrey's Favorites

Food: avocados

Song: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "Mouskedoer" song

Toy: Baby iPhone and Lovey Bunny

Person: D-A-D!

Fixing Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

Because of the lack of information on this subject, I feel like it is my duty to provide the internet with some valuable knowledge I acquired last night.

Last night I was making a very large quantity of fruit dip for a catering job I was doing today and despite beating the cream cheese to soften it for 15 minutes in addition to letting it sit out to get to room temperature, my dip became a lumpy mess after I added the other ingredients.  It seriously looked like cottage cheese.  I tried all of the remedies I found online and nothing worked.  I let it sit for an hour to hopefully soften the cream cheese, I just kept beating it and beating it, I tried putting it near the warm stove to soften it, and none of it worked.

By this time it was 11pm and I was freaking out that my dip looked disgusting for the party.  I finally came up with the idea to try and put it in the food processor to break up the chunks of cream cheese and hopefully smooth it out.

It worked!!!!

Much to my surprise my food processor quickly turned my lumpy cottage cheese fruit dip into smooth, creamy, beautifully fluffy dip!  I just had to post this so that I can possibly help a young woman such as myself who is up at 11pm panicking about her fruit dip.  Never fear, the food processor is your friend!

You're welcome :)