4 Months Old

Aubrey Nicole, you are 4 months old!

You are 14 lbs 15 oz and 24 inches long.  You wear size 2 diapers and 3-6 and 6 month clothes.

Things you've learned/can do now:
 - Your hands are in your mouth constantly, but you still prefer your pacifier to go to sleep.
 - You like to "bite" your lower lip.
 - You have learned how to blow bubbles with your saliva.  This combined with the first 2 items mean your face and chin are constantly wet now.  Sometimes it sounds like you're blowing raspberries when you make bubbles.
 - You see toys and reach for them now and grab on to things (including my hair and necklace).
 - You have a great laugh but are a tough crowd.  I can sometimes do something to make you laugh once and then a couple hours later you stare at me like I'm crazy.
 - You love talking and have added a gurgle sound that I think is funny.
 - You like looking in mirrors and talking to yourself.
 - You are a champ night time sleeper in your crib (usually 10 - 10.5 hours straight) and have even let me put you down with your eyes open 5 times and fallen asleep on your own.
 - You still hate naps and mostly refuse any good nap (more than 40 min) unless you're in the car or being held.  You are so tired from day care that most days you fall asleep before I get out of the parking lot.
  - You have always known how to spit your pacifier out by sticking your tongue out really fast, but now you think that's how to get things off your face too.  When we play peek a boo and I put something on your face you stick your tongue trying put to get it off.

E

Random

This post is just a bunch of random stuff.  I'm not good with transitions even when talking about the same topic so I'm not even going to attempt it with all these random topics.

I forgot to upload Aubrey's "artwork" and pictures from daycare for Easter.  She looked pretty cute with bunny ears!  The little chick is her footprint.

We are 2.5 weeks down with 49.5ish to go.  Right now it seems like it's going super slow, but I've been able to visit with several friends to help make the days less lonely.  I'm so thankful for friends who love us and enjoy spending time with us even when Aubrey's cranky.

I've started back to work and have hit the ground running.  My coworkers had been saving several things waiting for me to come back.  So much for easing back into it.  Some days I miss Aubrey like crazy and other days I'm glad to be around people that I enjoy working with.  I miss Matt like crazy everyday, but I'm learning how to continue focusing though it.  I think one of the hardest things right now is sleeping at night.  I'm exhausted from work and then Aubrey and then "chores", but it's still hard to fall asleep.

It's baseball season again!  I dressed Aubrey in Cardinal gear for opening day and the day care thought I didn't know what was going on.  They organized a Cards day for the home opener and didn't realize that it wasn't the first game.  She looked cute both days though!  Grandma Mary has hooked us up with all kinds of Cardinal gear so she'll always be ready.

Opening Day

This is what she thought of them opening on the west coast. 

Home Opener (I wish my double chin looked that cute)

She's only seen a little baseball, but so far it seems like she prefers basketball.  She loved March Madness.  There's a little more movement and crazy colors I think.

I can't believe she'll be 4 months old in a couple days!  That is all...

E

Easter

Well we made it through our first holiday without Matt.  Overall it was a good weekend even though it was hard without my best friend.  My parents came up on Friday and Aubrey had a good time playing with Mimi and Papa.  Saturday we all went to church to celebrate the one word that made history, egerthe. That's Greek for "He is risen".

Aubrey looked so cute in her Easter dress.

Today we just hung out in our PJs till about noon and then played outside for a little while.  Grandma Mary got an Easter onesie for Aubrey so she was festive even though no one saw us all day.

 Aubrey loves her Daddy doll.  I gave it to her and turned around to get the camera and she had flipped him around and was licking his face. 

E

Sending Off

Well the day I've been dreading arrived.  Matt has officially started his year long deployment.  He will be at Fort Hood, Texas, for the next approximately 3 months and then leave for Afghanistan.


We got to spend a couple nights with him at Whiteman AFB and attend a deployment ceremony.  Even though the snow almost foiled the ceremony, it was fun to put Aubrey in it for a little while.  She wasn't quite sure what to do. 

1-135th Attack Battalion Reconnaissance entering.

Matt!

The whole battalion (about 320 people) in prayer.

I woke up Aubrey from a nap to take pictures so she was a little sleepy.

Headed to Fort Hood.

This is how I'm going to track the time while Matt's gone.  

 He'll be at Fort Hood for approximately 3 months (left) and around 9 months (right) in Afghanistan.

I'm not looking forward to this year, but I know we will survive.  Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers and encouraging words.  We truly do have the best friends and family.

E

First Day of Day Care

Monday was Aubrey's first day of day care.  She did great!  They said she was very happy and only had one little time of really being upset and then she pooped so apparently she just needed to be left alone to do her business. :)  She only took two 30 minute naps (same as the day before) so she has to be exhausted, but at least she's still mostly happy.

Here's what they wrote on her daily sheet.  "Today I had a great 1st day!  I enjoyed looking at all the new faces.  I was a very happy baby today!  My favorite thing to do was to lay under the activity mat and wave my arms and kick my legs to make all the toys move!"

They said that she fell asleep laying on the floor playing once.  She's never even remotely indicated she'd just fall asleep anywhere outside of the car seat.  This would be an awesome new development if she decided to keep doing that, but it wouldn't help much if she still only sleeps 30 minutes.

E

3 Months Old

Aubrey Nicole Steck you are 3 months old!!

You are 13 lbs 2 oz and 23 1/4 inches long (unofficially since there wasn't a checkup this month).  You wear size 1 and 2 diapers and 3 month, 3-6 month and even some 6 month clothes.  You wear size 2 diapers on the days I think you're going to poo.  Now that we've switched to all formula you think that should be an every 3 day occurrence and then ruin whatever outfit you are wearing.  Once we finish this last box of size 1s we'll move up fully to size 2.

Things you have learned/can do now:
  - You have slept through the night for almost 2 weeks except you have been on a sleeping strike for the last 2 days.
  - You love to be carried around facing out and just watching everything going on around you.
  - You can raise your head 90 degrees and your shoulders off the floor. 
  - You love to talk but still just say "ahh" and "ehh".
  - You have decided that you hate being on your tummy on the floor now.  You have (in anger) rolled over twice onto your back but still for the most part need help getting started.
  - You are much more coordinated with your arms/hands now.  You bring them together and then stick them in your mouth.
  - You can hold a rattle and your ball for a little while, but you don't really realize you have them.
  - You like looking in mirrors.
  - You have slept in your bed/laying flat for 4 nights, but you still refuse to lay flat to nap and mostly refuse any afternoon nap unless you're being held.
  - We took the infant sling out of your bathtub and you weren't for sure what to do the first two nights, but the next night you realized what you could do sitting down in the water more and now we'll be putting the sling back on b/c I couldn't keep you on the seat you loved kicking and splashing so much.
  - You think Patty Cake is hilarious but usually only once.

You are so enjoying having Daddy home this month and love playing with him and walking around with him.

Matt went to take some pictures and he was focused on trying to get some without her hands in her mouth.  I asked him what happened to the 3 and he said "yeah I thought something didn't look right."

E

Matt is Home!!

Matt got back to Whiteman a day later than scheduled but he made it! Aubrey and I drove up for a welcome back/deployment party and then got to spend the night in a hotel. Aubrey had a long day with driving and then not really having much play time so she wasn't quite the happy smiley baby for Matt that I'd hoped for, but she was still pretty good.

In the month Matt was gone, she has grown so much that I had to move up the straps on the car seat and she slept through the night the 3 days before Matt got home.  Of course she decided to wake up what seemed like 10 times the night he comes home.

We only have about 18 days to spend with Matt before he leaves and we're trying to make the moments go by slowly.

E