Aubrie is a Ladybug

When I dropped the kids off for Rodeo Day at MDO this morning, I had a chance to talk to one of the other Moms from a girl in Aubrie's class, named Addy. She told me that Addy just loves Aubrie, and says her name all the time.

In fact, they took Addy to Build-A-Bear the other day, where she bought a ladybug. Guess what Addy wanted to name her new ladybug? You got it; Aubrie! Isn't that cute?! Aubrie has her first best friend!

Unk's 80th Birthday Party

On Saturday, February 19, 2011, the kids, my Mom, and I took a drive to Talco, Tx (East Texas) for my Great Uncle's (Unk) 80th birthday party. It's probably been about 6 years since I have been up to visit, and it was so nice to see everyone again. 

It's about a 6 hour drive from our house, so it was nice to have my Mom along for the ride. She really helped make it a smooth ride with the kiddos on that long trip! We actually missed the party, though. We drove up about 10 minutes before the party was officially over. But it was really cool to see the small church where my cousins were married again. So as soon as we got there, we packed back in the car and headed over to Unk's house.

His house is amazing, and brought back so many fond memories. I got to see my cousins again, and I was reminded of all the fun times we had there during the summers and Thanksgiving each year. He used to have about 1,000 acres surrounding his home, and we were able to run around to our hearts' content as children. We would ride the 4-wheelers through the "forest," find cool trails, make trips to Walmart for more fishing gear (because we lost all of our lures in the trees...), fishing, and playing canasta are just some of my memories. I also remember my Great Aunt Laverne making us take baths every night before bedtime, which I never understood until now. There's no way I'd let my own children go to sleep as dirty as we must have been!

I got to see my cousins and their families, too. Ashley turned 13 last week, and I hadn't seen her since she was like 6. Zachary, Markus, and Kristopher were all so much bigger, and were all three "all boy." And we got to meet Diane's 8 month old baby, Evelyn. She was so cute and chubby! I loved it!

Clay, Amanda, Ashley, and Kinley took Aubrie and Evan to the closest pond to the house, also. I stayed back to chit chat with family. We used to spend so many hours fishing at this pond, and it was neat that my kids were able to see that and experience some of that.

Evan loved the cows, and tried to talk to them. He was kind of disappointed that they didn't moo to him, until he saw some farm equipment that he wanted to touch. But as we were looking at the equipment, one of the cows mooed really loudly, and he thought it was really cool.

Aubrie was like a little monkey attached to me the whole time. If anyone wanted to hold her, I had to peel her off of me, pass her off, and then run away. She and Ashley bonded, though, and Ashley hung onto Aubrie almost the entire time we were at the house. I even saw Aubrie put her head on Ashley's shoulder once. So cute.

It was so nice to see everyone, and I hope we can make it up there more often so that my kids can experience at least a little bit of the wonderfulness that I did as a kid.

(more pics to come... It keeps saying I'm at my picture storage limit, but I've never had that problem in the 3 years that I've had the blog... So I'll figure it out and then add more pictures).

Yumm!

I love these pictures of Aubrie! I also wish that I could find some pictures of Evan where his face was covered in yogurt and put them beside these pictures. 

This is what happens when you give a baby an almost empty container of yogurt and turn away from the table for 10 seconds...

Another First

Aubrie has had her first hair "trim!" Not her whole head, I only trimmed her bangs. I couldn't handle them hanging down past her nose any longer! I had to put her hair in a ponytail just to keep it out of her face. I hope I didn't make her look like a boy by doing this...!

It's A First

At least I think so... Aubrie was diagnosed with her first ear infection at her 12 month checkup this morning. I would've never known because she was so happy! The teachers from her MDO class told me that she'd had a small fever yesterday (99.6), but she's also teething so that's what I thought it was. They said she was also pulling at her ear a bit. The only other sign that we saw was that she'd had trouble sleeping for the past 2 days. Now she can hopefully start feeling better now that we can get her some antibiotics, and then maybe she'll sleep better (& us, too!).

Her 12 month stats:

17 lbs, 14 oz.

28.25 inches long

she got 4 shots, and a toe prick to check for anemia, and she was such a trooper

Valentine's Day

Yesterday, Chris had his normal Monday morning Bible study to attend, but said that he was going to have time to come home before going back to school (they meet at 5:30am!). But by 8am, he still wasn't home, so I just assumed that he couldn't make it home before he had to be at school. Boy, was I wrong!

Around 8:20, the kids and I hear a knock on the door, and it's Chris! He's carrying red roses, chocolate, and heart cookie cutters for me, a balloon and candy for Evan, and a stuffed animal for Aubrie. He did good!

We are so blessed to have Chris in our lives. I say blessed because I know it's not just luck that we are together. With everything that Chris and I have been through, God had to be behind it. And God continues to bless us, amazingly. Chris works hard to make money and support us, especially so that I can stay home with the kids, and we are all eternally grateful for his sacrifice for us. Thank you, Chris, and we love you so much!

Aubrie's 12th Month (Already!)

*She has started to "walk" along the side of the couch and bookshelves in our living room. Just one step closer to walking - eek!

*We are still having issues with her skin. Since she was little, she's had different rashes off and on, and we haven't been able to figure out what they all are. She's had ringworm (I know, yucky), and another rash that just keeps coming back. The doc says it's some kind of allergy (she thinks). I have psoriasis, so I'm not sure if she has that as well, or what. Right now I'm trying a different clothes detergent because I can only see the rash where her clothes hit her, and not where her diaper is. So, we'll see how this goes. She has her 12 month checkup on Friday and I will ask her doctor about it again.

*She is such a goofy girl! She loves to watch whatever her big brother is doing, and laughs at everything.

*She loves to point to noses, and can actually point to her own when we ask, but gets a little confused when we ask her to point to "Mommy's nose," etc.

*She still takes any bow I've put in her hair out withing just a few seconds of me getting it there. The exception is when I'm able to distract her with food or a toy, but it's usually gone not too much later. Maybe she'll get better about this, because I can't resist putting bows in her hair. She looks so cute with them in her hair!

*Speaking of hair, hers is just getting longer and longer! I'm trying to curl it with my fingers at the nape of her neck, but it doesn't always work. I think I'm going to have to give her first haircut very soon, because she can hardly see through her bangs when her hair isn't in a ponytail on top!

*She now has 12 teeth. Yup, you read correctly. 8 on top and 4 on bottom. In fact, she just cut her eyeteeth and whatever the tooth next to it is called on top on both the left and right side yesterday! I was afraid to keep nursing her with all those teeth, but she's been really good and isn't biting nearly as much as she used to. (Yeah for me!).

(photo taken at exactly 9:26pm, Feb 13, 2011)

Photos from her 1st Birthday Party (Ballerina Party)