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

The Aubrey Effect

Aubrey and I have been hanging out at my parents house for a while to help pass the time until Matt comes home.  We've had a great time hanging out and playing, but the Aubrey effect is in full force!

Mom and Dad have had a couple snow days so we've had extra fun playing.

Aubrey found a sneaky way to get an extra bath even if it was in the kitchen sink.  

Diaper blowout!

This is what she typically looks like around 9:30pm after we've been trying to get her to go to sleep for an hour.  Just too much excitement to go to bed.

 

Matt is starting the 4 day journey back to Whiteman today and so there's a good chance we'll get to see him on Friday night even if he does have to work till Sunday.  I can't wait!! 

This is the approximate route (I'm not sure exactly, but this is close) they took getting to Boise and will go the same way to get back trying to avoid the weather in the mountains.  They may miss everything in the mountains, but if the weather doesn't clear up in Missouri that may be the biggest issue.  I'm praying for no delays!!

E

Baseball Season

It's almost baseball time and in honor of the first Spring training game Aubrey was decked out in her Cardinal gear.  She could hardly contain her excitement! 

I think Adidas got confused and thought this was the football Cardinals because the shirt looks like it needs some shoulder pads in them. 

Grandma Mary got her some more Cardinal gear for Valentine's Day that will fit towards the end of the season, but she's about to bust out of this shirt so we might have to pick up a couple more shirts for the next couple months. 

E

Idaho Update

Only 15 days till Matt comes home from Idaho!  He's doing good and has passed both day and night gunnery.  He got to fly one of the Apaches to Idaho.  They took quite the route.  The left from Whiteman AFB (near Kansas City) and flew down to Texas, over to Arizona, to Utah and finally to Idaho.  Their route just happened to go right over the Grand Canyon.  The reason they went that way was because they didn't want to cross the Rockies in winter and get weathered in and not get to Idaho on time.

Don't worry he wasn't the one flying when these pictures were taken.

E

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  We're missing Matt today and unfortunately this is only one of the first holidays/special events that we won't get to be together this year.  Aubrey and I spent the morning hanging out with some friends.  I think Aubrey misses Daddy's play time.  I'm not nearly as exciting.

He lets her watch Sports Center and plays hide and seek.  I even had a picture of them both snoozing after a hard session of tummy time that mysteriously disappeared.  I just read books, take lots of pictures and try to make her click her tongue and talk to me.

Watching Sports Center.

Happy Valentine's Day, Matt!  We love you!!

(This was the 4th outfit of the day so sorry you didn't get to see a picture of her Valentine's outfit.  I'm convinced she was just trying to get out of wearing clothes today.)

E