7 Months Old

Aubrey Nicole, you are 7 months old!

You are about 17 lbs and 27 1/4 inches long.  You wear size 3 diapers, 9 month clothes and even some 12 month pants and pajamas.  I can't believe you are wearing some 12 month clothes.  The 9 month pajamas were getting kind of tight but the 12 month ones looked huge.  We put them on and the top half is still kind of big, but the legs are the perfect size.

Things you have learned/do this month:
 - You screamed Dada a couple times when you were really angry.  I think it was an accident and you were more trying to catch your breath, but I liked it because it was only a day or two after Daddy left and so it was exactly how I felt.  Since then I think you've said it a couple more times when you're talking but nothing consistent that I can get on camera yet.
 - You signed "milk" to me this morning.  It was so sweet.  You were scratching your crib when I went to get you up so I lifted your hand and you stopped, then I signed milk to you and you did it back.
 - You can play peek-a-boo.  You will put something on your face and pull it off all by yourself.
 - You act like you're teething just by the amount of drool and all the things you are chewing on, but no sign of one yet.  You have been chewing on your tongue a lot which looks really cute with your cheeks.
 - I will call you a soft surfaces sitter (because you're still a little wobbly sometimes and you'd hurt yourself on hard surfaces).  You can sit up for long periods of time as long as there is something right in front of you that you want to play with but can't move.  You get really excited when you grab something and swing your arms out and drop the toy.  Then you fall over trying to get it back.  You will also try to lift your feet and stick them on top of things while you're sitting which causes you immediately to fall over backwards.  You did sit for over 15 minutes on a blanket outside last night watching the neighbor kids run around and play.
 - You can push on all the way with your arms now when on your tummy and I've also seen you bring your legs up under you and get to your knees but never both at the same time.
 - You love carrots!  They are by far your favorite followed closely by peaches, sweet potatoes and squash.  You also eat prunes, peas, rice cereal and green beans.
 - I've tried giving you some milk in a sippy cup a couple times but you want nothing to do with it.  One day you were pretty hungry so I got your milk ready and put just a little bit of it in the sippy cup and even took out the spill proof part that makes you actually suck on it so the milk just came right out.  You let the milk pool in your mouth and then stuck your tongue out making it slide out down your chin.  I laughed so then you thought you were funny and kept doing it.
 - You are able to grip and move things with your feet.  You were laying under your play gym and the toy you wanted was down near your feet so you brought both feet together around the toy and pulled them toward your head so you could grab it.  I thought it was just a fluke, but you accidentally lost hold of the toy a couple minutes later and immediately grabbed it with your feet again.
 - You got to spend a week with your Daddy this month.  You had so much fun for about 2 days and then you got sick.  I think you two look a lot alike.
 - You took your first trip to the hospital (besides being born) and I was completely serious when I said you weren't allowed to ever go back.

E

Here and Gone

Well....

That seems to be about all I can manage about this past week.  It came and went way too fast.  The time seemed to fly by up until the about 40 minutes when we sat in the airport right outside of security.  We mostly just sat.  There didn't seem to be words for the occasion.  It didn't help that Aubrey was sick the majority of the week.  Matt barely got to see the happy playful baby that's been around for a while now and instead she didn't feel good at all.  We even ended up in the ER Saturday night where she was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Poor thing didn't have a good week overall but still had some good moments when the Tylenol was working.

I had planned on taking lots of pictures so I would have them for the next 9 months, but I just didn't want to miss any moments behind the camera so I didn't get very many.

Play time before getting sick

Twins!

4th of July

 Hospital

Airport

Final Hugs

Boy am I going to miss this guy.  He's a rock for our family, the laughter in the house and most certainly the man God intended for me.

Love you, Matt!  2 days down.

E

Conflicted

Today marks 98 days of deployment.  In 2 days it'll be 100 days and I'll get to pick Matt up from the airport for a week at home.  I wish I could say that I'm super excited, but right now my emotions are all over the place.  On one hand I am really excited.  I miss Matt so much and want to see him so bad, but I also know the week is going to fly by and then there's the goodbye that I'm dreading.

Five weeks ago I went to Austin and had a great time, but at the end of the weekend I had to say goodbye knowing what I was going home to.  I couldn't pretend that the time was going to fly by or that I was going to be motivated to do all sorts of things to make the time seem to go faster like I could in March.  The only reason it wasn't so bad was that I knew I'd get to see him again in a little over a month.  That won't be the case this time.  In a week and a half I'll say goodbye for approximately 9 months.  I also know that this time he'll be leaving the country and there will be new hurdles to figure out.

I think the worst part is that Aubrey doesn't have any idea who her daddy is.  I see so much of Matt in her especially when she smiles and it's heartbreaking that she doesn't get to spend time with him.  I'm praying this week drags by and that I can focus on the time we do have.

E

6 Months Old - Take 2

I can't believe it but, Aubrey Nicole, you are 6 months old!

You are 16 lbs and 25 3/4 inches long.  You wear size 3 diapers and 6-9 and I"m washing the 9 month clothes to add to the closet.  I'm still gathering all the 6 month clothes to put away.  I have trouble keeping up  with the sizes since you seem to be growing so fast.

Things you have learned/do this month:
 - You said your first word... Mama!!!  You said it 3 times in a row and then when I went to get the camera you wouldn't talk at all.  Luckily you decided to say it one more time a little while later that I got on video so I have proof because you haven't even attempted to say it again.
 - You love rolling around and decided it will get you all kinds of fun places.  Right now you pretty much only go one direction so you'll roll all the way until you hit a stopping point then get upset until someone comes and turns you around.  I guess I'd better head to the store for some baby gates soon.
 - You love eating your food: squash, prunes, rice cereal and green beans (in order of preference).  The daycare says it's like feeding a bird with you.  You open your mouth so wide and talk/babble almost the whole time.
 - You can grab your feet and pull them toward your mouth, but you aren't quite strong enough to get them all the way there yet.
 - You are fascinated by your hands right now.  You'll be playing and then all the sudden see your hands and hold them up in front of your face and just turn them around and open and close your fingers and stare at them for long periods of time.  I find this really funny.
 - You are such a happy baby.  You will whine and fuss sometimes but you don't cry much anymore.  You cried for approximately 10 seconds when they gave you the 3 shots at the doctor's office.  You pouted your bottom lip out really big and had a huge crocodile tear and then stopped immediately when I picked you up.
 - You are still a great nighttime sleeper but mostly refuse naps unless you're in the car or being held.  Sometimes I pick you up from daycare and you've taken one 20 minute nap all day.  I asked the doctor about this and she gave me some bad news... she said you may never really nap.  She said that as long as you are happy and not fussing or acting really tired then you may just not need the sleep and there isn't a whole lot to do.  I don't want to mess up your nighttime sleeping by holding you for naps all the time, but sometimes on the weekends you wear me out so much that I can't make it any longer so I put you on my chest while I lay on the couch and we nap together.

It's getting much harder to take your pictures because you keep trying to escape and steal the paper.

I wish you didn't have that nasty cough in the middle, but this is pretty common now days.  You are a talker.

E

6 Months - Very Angry

So I wrote the whole 6 month post, got all the pictures and videos loaded... I was having trouble getting a couple of the last pictures loaded and then all of the sudden everything was gone.  I quickly closed it before the auto save started again, I said no to the "do you want to save before closing" and it's still all gone.


ANGRY!

Catching Up

Well, it's been a little while.  Aubrey and I have had a fun month.  The best part was traveling to Austin, Texas, to see Matt!  It was a great vacation for all of us.  My mom came so Matt and I got to go on a couple dates and Aubrey got some Mimi time.

Aubrey is a champion traveler.  We had 2 flights both ways and she basically slept for all 4 plane rides.

Matt got to feed her the first food besides rice cereal.  She wasn't quite sure what to think of the squash at first, but by day 2 she decided it was really good.

 We went swimming almost everyday while we were there.  She's still not 100% sure what to think about pools.  She absolutely loves her bath and kicks and splashes the entire time, but pools are still a mystery.

 Tired girl!

Enough kisses guys!

Taking a walk through the flower garden.

Just loving on Daddy.

 After we got back home I put together a jumper for her to play in.  She doesn't quite have the hang of actually jumping, but she does finally put weight on her legs.  She really likes the toys and music though even if she doesn't jump.  I can't find a picture of her playing in it.  Just the one of the million parts that need to go together.

She eats green beans and prunes now too.  She's not sure if she really likes the green beans but the prunes are super tasty.  The daycare says she's like feeding a bird.  She opens her mouth up really wide and talks and makes noises almost the whole time.

Our next excitement of the month was a tornado.  Aubrey and I hung out in the basement for about an hour with no electricity.  She just stared at me then went back to sleep.  Even the loud thunder didn't seem to phase her.  I don't think a tornado actually hit our subdivision but there were some spotted nearby and we have some damage from the wind.  The garage door was the worst for our house and after having a garage for several years, I'm not really liking the adjustment back to no garage.

Thanks to some great friends and neighbors for helping get my car out of the garage so I wouldn't be stuck and helping pick up all the limbs and debris from the yard.  I wasn't feeling up to doing it all by myself.

E