It's the 14th again!

Aubrey is 7 months old today! Its been a hard day...... we got back from Dallas at 1:30am last night (delayed flight in Atlanta BUT we met Jake from the Bachelorette!) I could tell she wasn't herself starting on Saturday when I had lunch with some of my high school friends and it progressed from there. On the flight home she was coughing, had a runny nose, and threw up all over me. I took her to the doc today and got some medicine so hopefully our little bugs will get better soon. This is the first time she has been sick so it has kinda freaked us out.

Anyways, at her appt today she weighed 16 lbs 15 oz! I took a pic to mark her 7 month birthday after a long nap and a few hours of medicine so she doesn't look that sick (the congestion is worst in the morning and evenings). Thanks for being such a little trooper this weekend Aubs!

Santa

We took Aubrey to meet Santa this weekend. She sat on Santa's lap at the mall on Saturday and then again on Sunday at our squadrons children's Christmas party. I thought she would be scared of Santa especially with her starting to have some separation anxiety. Aubs proved me wrong again and loved sitting on his lap, she must know that Santa brings the gifts!

At the Mall in her Santa outfit
Children's Christmas Party, Aubrey loved touching his beard
Aubrey playing in the backyard. She is ready for the holiday season!

Turkey Days

We just got back from a trip to Houston where we celebrated Thanksgiving. Our flight back was delayed and we didn't get home until 2:30am so I am a little brain dead at this point:) Anyways we had a wonderful time visiting family. On Thanksgiving Day we did the Turkey Trot 5K run that benefits Sheltering Arms Senior Services. It was our first year to do the Trot and I think we'll make it a new tradition - it's a great way to work up an appetite for a good cause. After the trot we headed to my parents "property" that is an hour outside Houston. When we got there we found Nate's and my parents cooking up a storm! I have been there before but Nate and Aubrey haven't. Nate was in heaven and did all things manly. It was fun to get away from the hustle and bustle and just relax and be in the fresh air (filled with smoke from the campfire!). There is a camphouse but you do have to rough it a bit, I wasn't sure how Aubrey would do in those conditions. She adapted like a champ. I love dressing that baby up like a girly-girl but I think someday soon she'll throw off her bows to go play with with her uncles, grandpas, and dad in the woods! Thanks Mom and Dad for a great Thanksgiving.

After the run, we left Aubrey in her jammies to keep her toasty warm!

Aubs started eating bananas this Thanksgiving

4-wheeling with Dad and Pap

Uncle James meets Aubs

Wood chopping foolSwinging at the camphouse
At the pond feeding the ducksSwing meee!

Veggie Update

I am proud to announce that Aubrey has had a change of heart and is eating her carrots! After my last post I spoke to several of my Mommy friends and they gave me lots of suggestions on how to introduce solids. I added about a teaspoon of the carrots to her rice cereal/breastmilk combination to help slowly introduce the new flavor. After the first bite she gave a puzzled look but kept opening for more. Over the last few days I have added more carrots to the mixture at each feeding and today she ate carrots straight up! Nate and I were so happy. I hope this continues because one thing I have learned about babies is that they change daily. This is a helpful link a friends suggested about introducing solid foods.

My doctor did not discuss any of the suggestions my friends told me about. I guess that's why I was so shocked when she wouldn't eat the solid foods. I didn't do any research other than what the doctor told me and just fed her stage one baby food and thought it was going to be easy as that. I was clueless. Well now I will know for our next child, Nate you are going to have to wait for awhile (he is ready for number 2 already:)

I have a baby food maker so I am going to start having fun with that after our Thanksgiving travels!

Carrots are the enemy!

Aubrey had her 6 month apt on Monday and everything looks great! She is 16 lbs and 26 inches long. The doctor said I could start her on stage one solid foods. She already gets rice cereal before bed so on Tuesday I planned to feed her some carrots in the afternoon. I am suppose to introduce one food at a time for five days to make sure she doesn't have a reaction. I was really excited about this and bought carrots as our first solid food. Well let me just say that Aubrey does not share in my excitement. I have never seen her shun food in this way. I mean she wants to put everything in her mouth but when those carrots touched her lips she locked her jaw and made the most horrible face, she acted like I was torturing her with this orange mush. I thought maybe it was just the first feeding and she would need to get used to the flavor since she is used to only breastmilk. So I tried again Wednesday, same reaction.

I broke the 5 day rule today and tried sweet potatoes because I heard EVERY baby loves them. Well this baby doesn't. I am going to keep trying and be patient. Maybe she is not ready for solid foods with all that flavor or maybe its the veggies. I want to hold off on the fruits and keep trying the veggies for now. Here are a few pics of our first feeding. Nate was at work so it was hard to take a photo of her true disgusted face but I think I captured it pretty well.

First spoonful, you can tell she wasn't sure what to think at first

Hold up......that is disgusting and I will not eat it.

Sick Mommy!
We ended with Aubs giving me the "evil eye"

I would like to add that even though she has carrots all around her mouth probably only a 1/2 tsp went in. When she locks her mouth ain't nothing getting in!

Dedication

Aubrey was dedicated today at First Baptist Church of Norfolk. I was a little worried she would get over stimulated on the altar and start to cry, but she did awesome (as did the other 3 babies) and just smiled in my arms. We wanted to dedicate Aubrey because she is a gift from God and we pray that God will grant us grace and wisdom in raising Aubrey and carrying out our responsibilities as parents. Aubs, we pray that one day you will trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Family pic on the AltarDaddy and Aubs

She fell asleep during the sermon. This was her first time to be in the service, we normally put her in the nursery. Bill and Stac came to support Aubs

Aubrey checking out her new book and Bible from the dedication. A few shots after this she had them both in her mouth!

Whoop Aubrey is 6 months

Happy 6 Months Aubrey Lynn! I swear each morning you wake up bigger than I put you to bed--you are growing so fast. Here is a picture to mark your 6 month Birthday in your Aggie Cheerleader outfit. Jess is going to babysit you tonight so Mom and Dad can go the the squadron Dining Out at The Cavalier, don't grow too much while we're gone!

Baby Hats

I am in the search of warm, soft, and cute winter hats for Aubrey. For some reason I have the need to accessorize her head. She has a beautifully shaped head and actually a decent amount of hair but its just so much fun to dress her up that I can't resist. Not to mention as the weather gets colder and colder I need to keep that baby's head warm! I also realize that my accessorizing days are numbered because she is bound to start ripping things off her head, so I better enjoy it while it lasts:)

She has sadly outgrown most of her newborn hats but she does have the one pictured below that Nate's Aunt Di sent. We went out to dinner on the beach on Saturday and she needed an extra layer with that cold air coming off the water. Off to find some hats for my baby girl....

Daddy's Girls before dinner at Mahi Mah's (if you look close you can see Reba popping a squat, lovely:)

Before dinner.....Did I do that?

Sitting Up??

Is she sitting up? Mom says yes and Dad says no. We have to put Aubrey in the sit up position but she will stay in that position for a very long time on her own so I think that is sitting up! Nate however thinks she needs to be able to put herself in the sit up position to be considered as sitting up on her own. I don't know what the official definition is, but in my book she is sitting up with a disclaimer! Here is a pic of our little Bugger Bean showing off her new skill. You go Aubs, work on that core strength!

First Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Michael's!! Here is a picture of Aubrey's first Halloween costume. Can't wait to take her Trick or Treating when she is older.

Back at the Beach!

Aubrey and I made it back home on Tuesday night. She did great on the flight home which made traveling easy for me. The next day she was a bit fussy and I think all the excitment and change of schedule caught up with her. Daddy came home from Key West last night and she was excited to see him and be in his arms again.

We had lots of fun in Houston, Aubrey had many visitors. Aunt Jenny drove in from San Antonio and Gram and Gramps drove in from Dallas. It was a short trip and we look forward to going back with Daddy for the holidays!

Nana got me a pink Bumbo

Playing with Grandma Laurie

Tummy Time (it was hard with Nana and Pap's four dogs!!) Aubrey and her Grands Connie and Adrienne came to play too! Aubrey loved Connie's voice, we are trying to convince her to make a CD for babies:) Aubrey just loved her bouncer at Nana's Aubrey and Mom at the Houston Airport Hanging out in her big girl stroller while Mom got a snack at the airport
Saying bye to Uncle Taylor and Nana At home ready for Halloween!

Traveling Baby!

Well I wasn't able to take a pic of Aubrey's first plane ride. Honestly I didn't even think about it until I landed in Houston and was in the car headed for my parents house. Its hard when you only have one set of hands to handle a baby and all her gear!! Aubrey was a fantastic traveler and didn't have any problems in the plane, she never cried once! The only issue was a dirty diaper but thankfully the nice lady sitting next to us stood up and made it easy on me. Aubs played for the first hour and slept in my lap for the rest of the 3 hour flight. We were in the very last row and everyone who walked to the bathroom commented on how peaceful she looked.

Since I don't have any pics of our plane ride here are a few from our Texas visit so far.

Pumpkin Patch (this is at a church where I went to preschool)

Grandpa Dave and Aubrey (Nates parents drove from Dallas to Houston to visit on Saturday)

Texas Bound

I will be taking Aubrey to Texas for the first time this week. My parents bought me a ticket to Houston while Nate is training in Key West. I am really excited to show Aubrey the great state of Texas! You know, she was actually born over Texas soil. Yes that's right, Nana overnighted Texas soil (it cost her $40 to mail dirt!) so Aubrey could tell people she was born over Texas soil. Our friends think we are crazy and that people are brain washed in Texas but they just don't understand. I always say home is where the Navy takes us, but the truth is Texas is our TRUE home:)

Our Texas baby!

The Texas soil Aubrey was born over, and the pink camel Nate got her in Dubai (her first present from Daddy!) The Navy has broaden our horizons:) My friend Katrina took the above pictures during Aubrey's newborn shots. She made Aubrey's birth announcement. You can visit her website here, she does lots of print work and logo design. Thanks Katrina!!

5 month Birthday

I can't believe our little girl is 5 months old today. She is getting so big and its amazing to watch her grow and develop each day. Here are a few things that she has been doing this month. (The list is long, its more for my memory and to put in her baby book!)

*Aubrey wakes up every morning smiling and giggling (this started at about 2 months). She is definitely a morning baby and it sure starts my day off on the right foot. I look forward to each morning with her.

*Rolling around, she is a "rolly polly baby" as Nate says! If you put her on the floor she roll travels and will end up on the other side of the room in no time! She now loves being on her tummy.

*She loves I mean LOVES playing with her Dad. She will laugh uncontrollably at Nate. I love watching them together, it melts my heart.

*Sticking things in her mouth, if its in her reach you can bet it will see the inside of her mouth.

*I started Aubs on rice cereal this month. I originally wanted to nurse exclusively until 6 months but she just seemed ready for the next step so we gave it a try. At first she was more interested in the spoon but each day gets better at taking the cereal. We give her about at tablespoon of rice cereal with breast milk before her last feeding.

*She loves watching TV. I play Baby Einstein for her about once a week which she loves but she will watch anything especially football.

*She loves to chew on Vulli the Giraffe

*She loves to move her hands and legs while she is on her back (it looks like she is running) to music. This normally leads to me picking her up and dancing around the room with her.

*Aubs loves bath time and her newest thing is splashing water EVERYWHERE. She gets those legs kicking and the counter and Nate and I get a bath too:)

*She will sit up for a few seconds and then topples over, I don't think it will be too long before she is sitting on her own.

*Aubrey is really good at supporting her weight on her legs. She will stand up and lock her knees and wobbles around but is definitely supporting herself.

*Talking, Aubrey has two voices her play voice and her soft sweet voice. Some days she will talk non stop when she is playing and other days she will softly whisper to me after nursing or while we are rocking her. She is excellent with eye contact and will look right at you when your talking.

*Sleeping, Aubs has been a rock star sleeper from day one. She normally goes to bed at 8pm and wakes at 8am. Lately I think she is going thru a growth spurt because she has been waking a 6am starving and then goes right back to sleep till about 8:30am.

*Textures, Aubrey is discovering that everything feels differently. She likes to rub her fingers on objects/fabrics and learn about things thru touch.

Aubrey we love you so much, you bring so much joy to our lives! Below are a few pics I took today to mark your 5 month birthday.