8 months....kinda :)

Aubrey and Mama Halloween 2009

So Aubrey's actually 8 1/2 months now, but we've been really, really busy. It seems like everyday she's doing something new, crawling, yapping, and then some. I spend my day chasing her around the house, leaving little time to update you all, sorry :/ But, I stopped working weekends, and finally have a moment to sit down and write, so here goes it....
Yes, Aubrey is crawling now!!! I've had the camera on standby just trying to capture the moment. I wasn't able to get her first crawl on camera, but once she did it , it was easy enough to get her to do it again without being camera shy :) Unfortunately, I currently have no way to post it to the blog.... But trust me, I was VERY excited. I think my incessant giggling almost demands more attention than her crawling though! She started crawling shortly after my last post. These days, she's ALL over the place, its tough to keep up! She loves exploring but fortunately, she still LOVES being held :)
The fun thing about this age is that it never stops! She has mastered crawling and is moving on to bigger and better tricks. Recently shes been able to walk along things like the couch or her activity table (dare I predict a walking baby by Christmas???). As recently as today, shes been trying to conquer crawling up stairs... fortunately we have baby gates :) Otherwise, who knows the injuries she'd sustain from her very own adventureland!
As I mentioned earlier, I've stopped working weekends. It feels like every time I write a post my job is changing in one way or another. This time, I hope I've found a long term position that works for both Aubrey and I. I started teaching pre-k's and so far so good. Its a school on the close side of Reno and Aubrey is just down the hall from me. I get to work longer hours while she gets to play and learn in an environment suitable for her age... we also get to meet up and have lunch together and I can peak in on her throughout the day. I just worked my last weekend day yesterday, and am so thankful to have found a position that allows me to be home when Jer is home.
Well thats, that... Nine months is just around the corner and we are looking forward to seeing everyone in just a few weeks (Thanksgiving!). She'll be able to show off her tricks, up close and personal :)

7 months!

Seven months, I can't believe it! I'm not sure why, but its seems soooo old, maybe because it sounds so close to one! She's grown so much in the past month, seems like everyday she's showing us a new trick, especially in the last week or two.
Aubrey and I started a new job, and by new I mean new to her because I've worked there for a couple years now! Yep, I am back at the academy up in Squaw. They told me I could bring Aubrey if I work weekends, and beggars can't be choosers... Any job that lets me bring Aubrey is hard to turn down. So every Saturday and Sunday I pack her up and take her to high school! She's a big hit, all of the students ADORE her! She gets a lot of comments on her good looks :) Sometimes I hear the students talking to each other, "have you seen her eyes, amazing..." Looks like Auntie Amber was right, but one more month and we'll know for sure if her eyes are going to stay blue.
She is trying REALLY hard to crawl, but isn't there yet. The picture below shows her complaining about moving further and further away from her toy. She is able to scoot backwards, which would be nice if that's what she was going for. She can't seem to figure out how to push herself forward, though has been trying various methods for about a week now. Before, she was just trying the same thing over and over again, leading to a very frustrated baby. Now she is at least experimenting with other movements, testing them all out to see if it will get her there. No luck so far, but she's no quitter! Though, every once in a while I'll catch her up on her hands and knees rocking back and forth like she's about to go somewhere. Once she sees me watching she immediately flops down as if she's embarrassed or something. It's hard to say exactly how long, but we'll have a mobile baby in no time!


She's showing us lots of new tricks. She's started "talking" quite a bit and loves to say, "hiya, dadadadada..." Her other favorite sound is literally, "blah, blah, blah..." I've been trying pretty hard, but so far she can't say Mama! She is also eating all sorts of new things. She gets a lot of pureed fruits and veggies and is content with them until she seems mama and daddy eating something else. When we sit down for dinner I let her eat little tiny chunks of "real" food with us. She's really enjoying it!
It's been so much fun watching Aubrey learn and grow. So much is happening so fast now, my guess is next month I'll be writing about how I'm chasing her ALL over our little mountain town!

Bath time!!!!

Aubrey still loves her baths!!!
6 1/2 months old

6 months!

Our little girl is 1/2 a year old already! It is insane! She's still slow to grow, though. We went to the doctor the other day and she's only 12lb 10oz. Unfortunately, we spent a good part of the month with a sick baby. Aubrey got her first fever, spiking at about 102, scaring her mama quite a bit. After about a week of thinking, "It's just a cold..." I finally took her to the doctor only to find out that my poor girl had her first ear infection and her first bout of pink eye... no fun! It's been a week and a half and she's finally starting to look a lot better.
Aubrey can sit up pretty good now! She still likes to pretend that she can't, but if you get her interested in something enough, she's even able to sit herself back up if she sways too far in one direction or another.
She seems increasingly interested in her brother, the dog, who is surprising gentle with her. If she gets in a cranky mood we'll make Bentley sit right in front of her. He'll catch her attention and entertain her for a few minutes. She even tries to "swim" over to him, making her first attempts to crawl just to get one grab of his thick fur. Unfortunately, this swimming motion gets her nowhere and she ends up doing a semi-roll/flop to try to get closer to him.
Sick baby and all, we continue to have a blast... until next time!

Jer says there's only 4 1/2 years until she starts kindergarten... ridiculous!

5 months!

Can you all believe how time is flying?! Aubrey's a little fireball at 5 months old! Its been quite the month with lots of changes. It seems like our tiny angel is growing some horns, but they're still so cute :) She can now throw little fits... arching her back, screaming out, but only at home of course... We're always getting, "She's so mellow," whenever we're out. She's fooling everyone because she definitely has her mothers spunk, and I REALLY prayed she'd get her daddy's temperament!
If she had her way, she'd be standing all day long. She loves for someone to hold her up on her feet, and if you try and get her to work on sitting she tries to pull herself up into a stand. Even with her resistance to sitting she is getting there. She can sit unassisted for a few seconds before giving me the pouty look and arching her back.

I started walking with Aubrey in a stroller. She really likes it. Before, she was too small and wasn't able to just sit in a stroller, but instead had to sit in her car seat that sat in the stroller. She didn't like that very much but now enjoys looking forward and lounging back. She loves being outside and prefers to be walked around. We spend a good part of our day either on the swing, walking around the pond with her in the sling, or walking in the stroller. It's nice to be out, remember that our highest temperatures are around 90 degrees, and that's on a really bad day!!!

4 month appt.

So Aubrey is 4 months old now!!! Crazy, I know. We just went to her 4 month doc appointment and she had to get more shots, never fun. She only weighs 11 lbs, 10 oz. The doc said it's low, but should be okay because she started out small. She guesses that Aubrey's just using up a lot of energy because she NEVER stops moving! They'd like to wait to start cereal until she doubles her birth weight but she did say that if I'm anxious to start I can give her one bowl a day and just wait until she gains a couple more pounds to up it to three times a day... I, of course, was anxious, I even started a couple days before the appointment, so I am continuing to give her the one bowl a day. Aubrey seems to really enjoy it but she lacks patience. In between spoonfuls she yells at me like, "Hurry up!" I think it's cute which probably doesn't help!
Things just keep getting more fun around here. Aubrey is starting to giggle and is even trying to sit up already. She loves it when anyone gets on the floor and plays with her. Between work (nannying) and home most of my day is spent on the floor, but there's no place I'd rather be, even if it means that nothing gets done! Aubrey enjoys going to work with me. Her and Sahana (8 months) are becoming great friends. Today they fell asleep side by side as they stared at one another. It was precious! Since we've started Aubrey can now roll both directions, is getting really good at tummy time (seen on the first picture), and is just in an all around better mood on the days we go and play!
I don't want to feel like I got my degree for nothing, so, even though I only work part time, I try to implement some of the things I've learned throughout our day. At work and at home I try to have developmental play with Aubrey. We do Itsy Bitsy yoga, baby massage, reading aloud, and even sneak in some exercise for me, using her as weight of course! Silly baby has no idea that this is work, she thinks its all play, a win-win for everyone! These developmental games don't fill up an entire day and there is lots of free play where Aubrey can take charge and decide what she wants to do, which usually requires she be in my arms or walking around the neighborhood! We call her our little personal trainer because she never wants us to stop moving!
Well, its been a very speedy four months, but we've enjoyed every minute of it so far. I'll try to post more pictures, but days are filling up fast now that I'm working and Aubrey isn't sleeping as much during the day. Until next time........

hmmmm....

Never send a man to do a womans job!
Jeremy came out saying putting pants on babies is too hard... so he did this instead!

New Tricks...

I bought this thing at Target for like $35 and I got so mad when Aubrey refused to use it... Imagine my delight when I looked down yesterday and saw her, not just kicking the ball, but bringing it towards her with her feet!

Look who's growing up...

...I am!!! I am finally letting Aubrey sleep in a crib, though my arms do miss her while shes napping :) I just recently started working, and by recent I mean really recent (I only started 3 days ago). Anyway, I am now watching a 7mo. old, Monday through Friday in the mornings and taking Aubrey with me. I realized pretty early on that I can't rock her to sleep for naps while also trying to entertain another little one. That said, I finally gave in and now she's sleeping in her wooden cage :) for at least one nap a day (usually two though, or 1.5)! Thank Heaven for this thing though...
... Its the video monitor Grammy Krohn got us for the baby shower. I'd be strapped to her crib if I had to make this transition without it! Crazy or not, I'm a nervous Mama and I'm not afraid to admit it, and this little piece of machinery is my life line!
In other news, Aubrey just won't stop growing. I try to tell her that she can take her time, but she has places to go and demands she gets there promptly. I don't think she'll be happy until shes found a way to fly! Already shes rolling over, but only from her back to her tummy, and kicking her legs and spinning around. I put her in the crib the other day and took a shower only to find her flipped the opposite direction and on her stomach. I thought her swaddle was on her head but lifted it up and found her feet!
It's more than just her moving, though. She's so alert now, so aware of everything going on around her. She is even starting to giggle, which is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen! She'd better lighten up on the cuteness or I'm sure her Daddy and I will be broke one day from giving her WHATEVER she wants with just one little giggle! Well, she's awake now, so Mama to the rescue, "Did you wake-sie girl-sie, girl-sie?!

Yes that is hair in her eye, no I'm not going to cut it :) We clip it back when shes awake!

Memorial Weekend

Aubrey's Memorial Day adventures... swimming with Abby and
trying to hold her bottle!

Einstine look alike....

This is what Aubrey looks like when she gets out of her bath. Her hair is getting so long, it reaches her eyes now! I'm not sure that shes happy with me. Her expression makes me think she'd rather we do her hair before any pictures :)

She's already three months now, which is absolutely crazy! I used to think people were just saying the appropriate thing when they'd say, "...it feels like just yesterday..." but it really does! Time is just flying by and shes growing so fast. We think she might possibly be teething. Shes been sleeping horribly, drooling, and is super fussy the last couple of days. I guess we'll see if a little toothy pops up!

We've been dragging her all around California for the whole month of May. I think its confusing her because we've been going nonstop and it doesn't look to be ending any time soon. First we went on vacation and were gone the first two weeks of May, then there was sis's shower, now memorial day, then baby Grayson will be here, then our anniversary in SF. It'll be nice to finally get a break in, I dunno, July! The fourth needs to be at our house, Aubrey says so!

Hiking...

Aubrey loves eating her carrier!

Helping Mama bake...

She reads me the recipe....


...so happy once they're ready for the oven!

Hahaha!

Thats gotta be the smallest butt crack
I have ever seen!

10 weeks

Aubrey with hat hair, crying because she didn't
wanna come in from our walk... atta girl!

So, Aubrey is 10 weeks now (crazy, I know) and recently shes found much entertainment hosting the mama and daddy Olympics. Shes come to a point in her life where she wants to move around and see whatever we're seeing, but, unfortunately, because of her size, she cannot. Unless, of course, we're holding her face out, sitting on our arms and walking around the living room. We love her curiosity, but if our arms get tired and we decide for a break she screams out, almost as if shes saying, "endurance is key, guys!" and because we're trying for the most spoiled baby of all time, we agree with her. So we pick her back up, sit her forward, and continue making laps!
Another "game"she plays, is her dueling with her swaddle. We swaddle her up for bedtime every night and it never fails, she starts kicking her little legs as forcefully as she can and throwing her arms all over the place as she tries to escape. Eventually we do get her all bundled, but shes no quitter. Nope, come 4am shes usually at it again and about half the time I roll over and see her legs out and a big smile on her face. Victory, she wins again!
We've pretty much got her on a nighttime schedule. She tends to wake up once at 4:00am and again at 6:30am, but, not wanting me to brag, she threw that out the window last night. Yep, last night she woke up at 4am and instead of eating and falling back asleep she was talking as LOUD as she could. Just droning on about who knows what... Whatever it was on her mind, she wanted to talk about it for a LONG time because she was at it until 6:3o this morning. I partly blame myself because I tend to smile when shes being that cute, no matter the time of day, and well, I imagine she thought it was an appropriate time to discuss current events or tell on Abigail for pulling her hair, seeing as Mama was awake anyway!
Whatever it is shes doing, helping us with our exercise or keeping us awake at night, shes adorable while she does it. I think we both agree these past 10 weeks have been the most amazing in our lives!

Haha! Impressive :)

Aubrey is getting pretty good at holding her head up, but she'll do you one better... She looks like shes dancing here, though, developmentally, there's no possible way! In any case she likes the song and the little fumbles in her sturdy head holding look like a super cute head bob. I'll take it :)

Bumbo Seat

Aubrey's 1st time in her Bumbo seat!!!
(With crazy hair!)

Tummy Time!!!

Aubrey doing tummy time!
April 21, 2009

9 weeks!

Well Aubrey's getting older... I can't believe we've had her here for 9 whole weeks. It feels like we brought her home just a few short days ago. Because I posted late last week there's not too much to update you all on. I've been playing around on my new fancy camera (thanks Dave!) and the picture above is an example of the fun I'm having!
Aubrey gets her vaccinations on Friday... pray that everything goes smoothly! That's all for now...

Oops! 8 weeks...

I guess we've been pretty busy because I haven't posted anything in over two weeks! A lot has been going on with our little one growing so big. She is getting more adorable by the second. Recently shes been on a big smiling kick. She'll smile and coo, sometimes for NO reason. She's just an all around happy girl!
She's starting to hold her head up more and more, maybe because I realized she needed more tummy time when we got pictures a couple weeks back. She HATED being on her tummy and I thought, "Oh no, now everyone knows I'm not doing enough tummy time!" So we've been working on it and she is definitely getting better.
Her hair is getting a lot longer! It gets knots in the back and that silly soft bristle baby brush can't seem to fight back. I must be the only person on the planet wondering if her baby needs conditioner! Fortunately, we look back at Jer's baby pictures and see that his hair was just as long, so at least one other mom has gone through this :) I tell Jeremy that he needs to deal with Aubrey's hair because he's had that hair all his life, its so foreign to me, I just don't know what to do with it! I can put in the little bows and all that, but forget about all the rest that sticking out EVERYWHERE else!
She's growing, but so is the size of her blow outs (by blow outs I mean the gross pumpkin pie looking substance that overflows her diapers from time to time). It can, however, lead to some pretty cute pictures as you can see above. We were at a friends house and she blew out all over her clothes. To gain time we sat her in the sink and she loved it! I guess she thought it was made just for her because she just got all cozy and seemed to enjoyed herself! She's a blast and I'm sure nothing cuter has ever existed :)

6 weeks

Aubrey turned 6 weeks old on Tuesday! True to form, we've been keeping ourselves busy and we're posting the updates a tad bit late. We spent Tuesday in Sacramento with Grandma Krohn and Auntie Amber getting pictures taken with Abigail. As you might see from her precious scowl, she wasn't too happy with me for making her sit all pretty for her pictures!
She is growing so fast. We got her weighed today and she's now 8lbs 1.5oz. This is very exciting because it means she gained an oz a day for the last week...meaning I'm getting pats on the back rather than looks of concern regarding her weight!!! I still can't believe shes 8lbs! I know its still so tiny, but it seems big all things considered. Its been a blast so far. We love her increasing sassyness and her cute little looks. We've had a great 6 weeks and are looking forward to the weeks to come.

"Give me my Mohawk back!!!"

Apparently she is not a bow type-a-girl!

5 weeks....

Aubrey turned 5 weeks old yesterday, but we've been so busy we almost forgot :) I did, however, remember to take a picture. We were having some girl bonding time playing with her hair. This do is called a faux-hawk (Don't worry its held up by WATER only, no hair product for her just yet)! We had lots of fun seeing everyone this weekend. I think Aubrey got used to being held all day, though, because when I'd put her down she'd get a little mad when she realized that no one else was here to pick her up :) You've all spoiled her! Okay, okay... I've done my fair share of spoiling, but shes so cute, how could I not?! Other than that its been the same old thing... each week shes seems to get a little more personality and sass, is awake and attentive a little bit more, and gets cuter by the day. We're all having a blast watching her grow!

We all went for a little walk in the greenbelt yesterday and stopped to take a family photo! Look closely and you can see that our rebellious child (Bentley) had to be forced to sit for a picture!

1 month

Aubrey is already a month! She gives you a special treat to celebrate... a video of her smiling!!!

3 weeks

We had another doctors appointment yesterday. Aubrey now weighs 6lbs 13oz... but they are still concerned about her weight even though thats an average weight gain of an ounce a day since her last appointment. I almost got upset about the whole thing but I'm feeding her every time shes hungry and she has been eating A LOT! We figured there's not much more we can do so getting upset about where she falls on some chart will do us no good. The doc did say, however, that now is a good time to start pumping. I did last night and Jer was able to feed Aubrey for the first time! It was nice, but Aubrey definitely likes the real thing better!

Aubrey can do a magic trick...

...she can make sleep disappear! Does she look tired here? She should, because she just pulled an all nighter :) She was pretty much up every hour and a half to eat... it was exhausting! We really thought that she would sleep well because she had just followed that same pattern the whole day before. Fortunately, we got a nap in today so we should be all prepared to do the same thing tonight... though Mama would be totally happy with switching back to her twice a night feeding schedule!

In other news, she'll be three weeks tomorrow... that's unbelievable! Shes been awake so much the last couple of days and we're really enjoying it. It's so fun interacting with her regularly throughout the day. Shes even starting to grow into her newborn clothes... crazy since she was literally swimming in them when she was born. We're thinking in another week she'll be moving up to 0-3 months. Other than that we're just having fun and adapting to all the changes she throws our way. We're looking forward to a warmer week and plan to hopefully get out and introduce her to all the beauty that our little town has to offer!

We braved the elements today and took Aubrey out for her 1st walk. We got her all bundled up and ready to go, but as you might see she wasn't too happy with us. She stayed awake for the whole walk though. We kept it short because I think all of us were getting cold!

Aubrey went to the doctor yesterday and wasn't very happy about it as you can see. And being the good mama that I am I made her sit through it just a little longer in order to get a picture :) We thought she had an eye infection but its just a clogged duct. Doc said nothing to really worry about I just need to keep it clean so that it won't turn into an infection. Shes looking good though... up in weight since last time, now 6lbs 9oz!

Ah man... I caved and gave Aubrey a pacifier. The Dr. told me to wait until about 3 weeks and shes just over 2 weeks. I couldn't help it, she was using me as a pacifier and would get so fussy whenever I had to do ANYTHING. I finally just gave in because I needed to cook dinner. She loved it... and still nursed afterwards so I guess we're okay!

2 weeks

It's crazy that Aubrey can change so much in two weeks. Already shes getting her own little personality (which is quite similar to her Mama's, uh-oh). She's staying awake a lot more now, during the day though, so that's nice! The times vary, but she usually only wakes up twice throughout the night. So far there's just a lot of shuffling going on. She likes to make the calls while she's awake...
...demanding to be held by Mama...
...now by daddy...
...now she wants on her tummy mat (Thanks Tia Tabby!!!)...
...now in her swing...
...now rocked (at this point she doesn't care by whom)...
and the list goes on :) She gives me cute little faces and I can't help but say, "okay, as you wish little one!" So far we've had a very exciting two weeks and can't wait to see what next week brings us.

Bath time!!!
Aubrey 2 wks old
03.03.09

Aubrey and I got to wake up to this view this morning! It snowed a bunch last night and we got about a foot overnight, not to mention what we got throughout the day yesterday... putting us at a grand total of about 2 1/2 feet! Bentley loves it! It's so deep that he has to hop around everywhere. I'll leave the snow hopping to him... in the mean time Aubrey and I are planning for a nice relaxing day by the fire :)