Back at Work

I've been back at work for about a month now and Aubree has been getting to spend special time with our family. She's had days with her daddy, days with Aunt Sharon and her cousins, days with my mom, and she even got to have some days with my dad.
I am the one that is sad and pooped out. She's having a blast!
Here are some of the things she's up to:
laughing, cooing, & babbling
rolling from front to back & trying from back to front
putting everything in her mouth
growing (she's over 11 lbs and almost 24 inches long)
sleeping through the night often
loving bath time and the outdoors

I only have 3 1/2 weeks until summer vacation when I'll be able to relax and enjoy my baby girl full-time!

Aubree's Recent Adventures

I haven't had a lot of time to update posts and Aubree has had so many fun times lately. She went to her first Pirate Party to celebrate her cousin Elijah's 4th birthday. She played the part of the pirates' pet parrot, squawking appropriately.

She also went to a fun birthday party for her cousin Kate's 4th birthday at The Little Gym. All of the little girls looked so darling in their tutus.

Aubree had her first road trip to Fort Worth where she visited her Grann and Grandaddy for Easter.



We had so much fun at the strawberry farm. We ended up eating 15 lbs of strawberries in 3 days!
No, Aubree didn't get to go to prom, but she did get to go to the pre-prom party to take pictures of Scott and her beautiful sister Taylor

With me being back at work, Aubree has been lucky to spend a lot of time with her daddy. Isn't he handsome?
Her Aunt Sharon has taken care of her quite a few days too. Kate has been loving every minute of it!
Last week Aubree went to her first baseball game. It was a good one to go to because her cousin Jack was having a great game playing third base. He was awarded the team ball. Click on the picture to see the video.

Progress on Hips

Yesterday Aubree went in for another ultrasound for her hips to find out that her right hip has healed completely! We were so happy. Her left hip has not completely healed so she is going to wear her harness for a couple of weeks then she will switch to wearing her new hip brace only at night. It looks almost exactly like the one that I wore as a baby!

The tears from this photo are from recovering from her shots, not from wearing the brace.
Yes, she had to get quite a few shots today when we visited the doctor for her two month check-up. I think she's handling it well so far. She's just been a little grumpy.
She's just 7 weeks and 4 days but Dr. Nguyen had her weighed and measured and gave us her stats as compared to other 2 month old babies:
Weight 9 lbs 14 oz
25th percentile
Height 22 1/2 inches
fiftieth percentile
FOC (head circumference)
38.4 cm
fiftieth percentile
We were very happy with her growth and her measurements.

She's had a very good week and has started to smile a lot more. She's also more aware and gets a kick out of new things to see and hear. She's even started trying to talk to us!

Thank you so much for your prayers for our precious Baby Aubree!

From the Torture Museum:

Here's the old hip brace that my parents found in their closet:

This is my mom getting ready to leave the hospital with me 34 years ago:

Finally, here's me and John with Aubree the first day that she was put into the harness. Thank goodness for the upgrade in medical devices!
Click here to see more pictures of our past 3 weeks with our sweet baby girl, Aubree!

Aubree's First Week

Today Aubree turned one week old. What a wonderful week for us! We were in the hospital recovering Friday-Monday. We finally came home about 10:30 PM Monday night. Aubree already has so many people that love her and came to meet her in the hospital while we were there.

Since the hospital, we've had to spend a lot of our time running from one doctor appointment to another. Sweet Aubree was diagnosed with bilateral hip dysplacia. She has to wear an annoying little harness to hold her hips in place so the bone won't grow with them out of socket. I had the same condition as a newborn, so I don't know why it never crossed my mind that it might happen to her. I was a breech delivery and had to wear a brace to correct my hips for three months as a newborn. The risk factors for hip dysplacia are:

• female
• first born
• runs in the family
• breech

Aubree met the criteria for every risk factor! Her orthopedist thinks she'll be able to correct it with the brace in three months. She will have to go in weekly to make sure that it's developing correctly. Please pray for her that the brace will fix the problem completely.
Unfortunately, the brace is getting in the way of some of her cutest outfits, so my mom has been helping me go through her things to see what she can wear with it.
We had a visit with the pediatrician yesterday because she had lost close to 10% of her body weight in the hospital and they wanted to make sure that she got it back up. She wasn't eating a lot in the hospital but has been a hearty eater since we've come home. Just like her mama! We were so happy to hear that she has regained nearly all of her weight. Her birth weight was 7 lbs 6 oz and yesterday she was 7 lbs 5 1/2 oz. She's also grown an inch already! I'm so happy that she's growing so well but a little sad that I won't have a tiny baby for long.
We love sweet little Aubree and are so thankful for everyone's prayers and support.
Click here to see more pictures from the past week.

Aubree Ann Laurell

Aubree Ann Laurell is here!

January 8, 2010

10:07 am

19 1/2 inches
We love her! More to come soon.

Click here to check out our Picasa Web Album:

Aubree Ann Laurell

Baby Laurell Will Be Born Tomorrow!

Just a quick note to let you know that Baby Laurell will be born tomorrow by C-section. She is still breech so Dr. Pinell scheduled a C-section for her to make her way safely into this world.
We are very excited and a little nervous about all that will take place in the next 24 hours. We can't wait to meet this little girl!
Please say a prayer for us and for her that all will go well!