She's Engaged!

She’s engaged!!!

I am SO excited!!! A few weeks ago we found out about Kyle's plan of a surprise engagement party and, of course, that he was going to propose to Caitlin!  We went up a little early to enjoy a little lunch in Auburn...

It's so crazy to me that Josh and I went to Momma G's on our first "unofficial" date about 9 and a half years ago and now we are bringing our baby here! 

We met up with my parents and Madeline after lunch and then headed to Kyle's house.  His family was there and many of their friends...and some pretty tasty food! We hung out for a while and finally they came in...

They were just a little happy;)

We all had a lot of celebrating this special day together and can't wait to start getting everything ready for the big day...here's a few more pictures...

For more and some super fun pictures check out Caitlin's facebook page...I apparently don't have too many....but those were some highlights!!

CONGRATULATIONS CAITLIN AND KYLE!!!!!

All About Aubrey: 9 Months Old

I just realized I hadn't posted anything since last month's All About Aubrey...we've been a little busy and I took a photography class that took up a lot of my free time at night.  I'll do better this month and already have a few posts in mind:) 

For now...holy cow!! It doesn't seem like it has been a whole month since I wrote Aubrey's last post. This month has flown by!  I told my mom that these past 9 months have gone by much fast than the 9 before:)  If I had to choose a month where she's changed the most I think this past month would be it.  She's learned so many new things and seems to have become closer to a toddler and farther away from a little baby.  Some days I miss that little baby, or maybe I'd like to freeze time right now because you're at such a fun age! We love you so, SO much sweet girl!!  Happy 9 months, Aubs!!!

Firsts: cold :(, pulling up on the side of your crib (we had to drop your crib down towards the beginning of the month), crawling, eating pancakes, engagement party (it was funny because you knew it wasn’t about you and you kept blowing off Caitlin the whole night even though you normally really like her), waving bye-bye, trip to the park, swinging in a swing and sliding down a slide.

News Headlines: I’ve been pretty busy lately so I haven’t watch the news…don’t judge.  But big news in our lives…Caitlin got engaged to her boyfriend Kyle!!  We are all so excited for her.  We went to Auburn to surprise her for an engagement party.

Mommy’s favorite: I love that you dance to music…it makes me laugh everytime. I also LOVE when I build towers with your stacking cups.  You love to knock them down and you crack up every time!!

Daddy’s Favorites: When he pretends to chase you and you smile and try to crawl away.

Milestones: You have started doing so many new things this month.  I think within the past 2 weeks you’ve really taken off. You are now able to easily pull up, crawl like a little speed demon.  You have become so mobile the past month…we first found you sitting up in your crib at the beginning and now you can sit up, lay down, stand up, and crawl away. My little baby is growing up so quickly! You also started waving bye-bye today!!

*Measurements: You’re wearing all size 3 diapers.  Your clothes are such a mish-mosh of sizes. You can still wear some 3-6 months, but some are too small.  Plus the next size up is weird…we have the option of 6-9, 6-12, 9 months, and 12 months.  You can fit into some of all of these sizes, but some of the exact same sizes in the same brands are huge on you. So we just keep trying on things every day which you love…HA!  You have your check-up tomorrow so we will see your weight and length.

Like Mommy and Daddy: you love to eat snacks

Funniest Moment:  We were at a restaurant and whenever we are out and there are other kids around you try to squeal and talk to them really loudly.  Well a little boy started pitching a fit and screaming super loud. He was about 2 or so and Aubrey was just staring at him and squealing and yelling at him in her loudest voice.  It was hilarious and the table behind us was laughing at this crazy scene.

Memorable moment: You exploded your diaper of course when we were 30 minutes away from home about to eat lunch.  We had you in the trunk of the car and you had poop running down your leg…it was everywhere!!  We finally got you all cleaned up and put your clothes in a doggie bag from the trashcan outside of Petsmart and put your diaper in the doggie “oopsie” trashcan.

Challenges: Your stuffy nose was difficult for a few days…you were so pitiful! Your constipation problem took a 180 turn due to teething. Also diaper changing has become a daily challenge…you refuse to stay on your back for longer than about 3 seconds.  This makes for some interesting moments.

Feedings/Eating: You nurse about every 4 hours.  You eat breakfast sometimes, lunch, and dinner. If you eat breakfast it is normally yogurt and some cheerios with juice. For lunch and dinner you eat some kind of fruit and a veggie.  You are doing really well at eating things like cheerios, puffs, Mum mums or crackers or other dry bready items.  You gag or refuse to eat anything slimy like peaches, noodles, avocado, etc.

Sleeping: This changes about every other day…we just can’t get you on a schedule!!  Even if we put you down about 8 every night, you wake up at different times throughout the night and in the morning.  You were doing well and only waking up once and still sleeping in until about 8:30, but recently you’ve been waking up twice again.  Napping…sigh… You were sleeping about an hour or hour and a half at least once and then a 30 or 45-minute nap.  When you were sick you slept for about 2 hours and then another one-hour nap.  Now, its anyone’s guess how long and how many naps, and anywhere from 1-3 naps a day, and anywhere from 30 minutes to and hour and 30 minutes.  Also, I should add this to challenges, but you’ve been harder to get down for a nap ever since you learned to pull up on your crib.

Personality: I think you get a stronger personality every month.  You know what you want and you really let us know if you love something or hate it.  You have become so fun recently! You make yourself laugh sometimes and will look at us with a big smile on your face like you are just trying to get us to make you laugh. You can be so silly sometime, but you can also pitch a major fit if you don’t like something.

Likes: going outside, crawling around and pulling up on all furniture, dancing to music, eating snack food like puffs, mum mums, cheerios, graham crackers, etc., mommy and daddy, GG and Big D (you reached for GG even when you were with mommy the whole time we saw her and Big D peeked in on you in the nursery and you cried when he walked away…he liked it a little bit!), eating shoes

Dislikes: Saline drops, getting your nose sucked, eating mango and noodles, getting your diaper changed, taking naps, when mommy or daddy walk away, wearing shoes

Mobility: You have absolutely taken off in this area this past month.  You can now crawl very quickly and get where you want to go.  You are also starting to cruise on furniture once you pull up. This is pretty new though so you are still pretty slow.

Favorite toy: We have these stacking cups that are different colors that you love to un-stack. They were in a drawer and you crawled over, opened them, and pulled them out to play with. These are the cups you love to knock down!

Upcoming Events: Your 9 month check up. Going to Atlanta for a girls weekend and Aunt Madeline’s prom with Rebecca and Aunt Caitlin.

New Explorations: You are exploring the house all on your own now that you can crawl!  I’ve had to make sure all of the outlets are covered and the cords and such are up.

Sounds and words: You babble all of the time.  Still your go to /d/ and /n/ sounds.  You may have added the /b/ sound the other day.  But you mix them with all the different vowel sounds instead of just da da and na na.

Teeth: You now have 6 teeth!! Holy moly they came in fast! Both top teeth have come through now, and just the other day I was tickling her and saw she had gotten both of her next top teeth (not sure what they are called). I’m not sure when they came in exactly! I kept thinking you were teething, but never saw the bottom ones, which I thought were supposed to come in first. So…they were a surprise!

Yummy pancakes!

Finger painting with homemade finger paint.

Aubrey's first Valentine's Day

Poor little sick baby:(

Swinging for the first time...she loved it!

At the park with Mommy and Daddy

Greeting us by standing up in her crib.

Congratulations!!!

A real glimpse at a 9 month old taking pictures.

Happy 9 Months Aubrey:)

All About Aubrey: 8 Months Old

Happy 8 months Aubrey!  I can't believe how quickly you are growing and changing...you're becoming such a big girl.  We love you so, SO much!!!

Firsts: sitting in a shopping cart and a high chair in a restaurant, prescription, eating Gerber Mum Mums, sitting up in bed after a nap.

News Headlines: 5-year-old boy was held hostage in Midland, AL for several days in an underground bunker.  He was finally rescued by FBI!

Mommy’s Favorite: When you bob to music and clap your hands

Daddy’s Favorite: When you kick your legs like a dolphin and get really excited right before you eat.

Milestones: pulling up on Mommy’s fingers to a standing position, picking up small things (like Cheerios) using a pincer grip, you can drink out of a sippy cup all by yourself and are great at it!, you go easily from a sitting position to laying down, once we found you in your crib after a nap sitting up!

Measurements: You are wearing size 6-9 and 9 month footie pj’s.  Most of your clothes are 3-6, but they some seem a little snug and some 6-9 month clothes are starting to fit.  You are in size 3 diaper at night and during the day as soon as we finish up a few more size 2’s. You weigh 16 lbs. 3 oz. based on our home scale and are about 26.5 inches.

Funniest Moment: I can’t think of one particular moment, but you are so much fun to watch!  Everything you do makes us smile and laugh. We love watching you bounce in your jumperoo, listen to you talk really loud in public places, the fact that you go after everything with your mouth wide open, and its even a little funny when we take something and you get really mad.  This won’t be funny later, but for now it is a little bit because you’re so little and you have such a strong opinion about things.

Memorable moment: Not necessarily a wonderful moment, but memorable nonetheless! You had been having a little, um, issue with constipation…Poor babyL You had gotten pretty miserable.  We’d called the doctor, made a visit, and called back, We tried peaches, pears, prunes, oatmeal, and even a stool softener, but to no avail.  The final call lead us to buy some glycerin suppositories.  We called Steffani to come over and help us.  Let’s just say it was quite an experience.  I have basically never seen so much poop in my life!  Let alone coming out of someone so tiny.  Hopefully you are feeling much better now!

Challenges: Your constipation issue…sorry kid!  It has been so frustrating and I feel like we’ve tried everything.  We’ve eliminated foods such as bananas, all cereals because of the iron, and even apples.  We’ve given you prescription stool softeners and juice everyday.  The medicine started gagging you and making you throw up everything you’d eaten.  We are still working on this one.

How we spend the day: You wake up about 8:30 most mornings (occasionally 7ish if you’ve only woken up once during the night).  Daddy gets you up and changes your diaper and then mommy nurses you.  We play, eat a little breakfast, and then you go down for a nap about 2 hours later.  During the day we play, read, run errand (aka go to Walmart…), go for walks, and play some more!  Hard life! Some days we will go for a real adventure to Prattville so we can go to Target and grocery shop at Publix! You eat dinner around 6:30 and then start your bedtime routine around 7:30 or 8.  You get a bath, take your vitamins, get on your jammies, Daddy reads you a story, and then Mommy nurses you and puts you in your crib.

Feedings/Eating: You have done much better this month and are gagging much less.  You nurse about 5-6 times a day (depending on how many times you wake up at night), about every 4 hours. You eat yogurt, cheerios, and juice for breakfast and some kind of fruit and veggie for lunch and dinner.  You don’t always eat three solid meals, but we are working on it. 

Sleeping: You are (knock on wood!) sleeping a little better.  You are taking a little longer of naps.  You take about 2-3 naps a day and normally at least one is over an hour and only the 3^rd one if you take it is about 30 minutes.  At night you were very consistently waking up about 12 and 4.  Recently you’ve bumped the 4 o’clock feeding to about 5:30 and twice you’ve skipped the 12 o’clock feeding!  I’m not getting my hopes up though because you are so inconsistent.

Personality: You have such a fun, silly, and strong personality.  You have since the day you were born.  It is really starting to shine through.  You are so determined to get and do what you want and get mad and frustrated when you can’t.  You love to laugh, and sometimes you just look at us and giggle like you’re just waiting for us to do something funny to crack you up.  You love to play with your toys and you “talk” to your friends like Elmo while we ride in the car.

Likes: Mum mums, cheerios, puffs, yogurt bites, mommy’s fresh sweet potatoes, when we come get you out of your crib when you wake up, playing with your toys, playing in the bath, going for walks, riding in the grocery cart like a big girl.

Dislikes: avacados, sitting in the carseat, not being able to do something, having something you want taken away, when Mommy and Daddy walk away (you’ve started a little bit of separation anxiety recently)

Mobility: you are really wanting to crawl, but just haven’t quite made it yet. You will grab onto things and pull yourself across the floor.  Recently you’ve gotten very fast and you don’t stay in one place for very long.  You will push yourself with your knees, but you haven’t quite figured out how to coordinate everything yet. You are also love holding on to Mommy’s hands and pull yourself up to a standing position.  You try to do this with objects, but are still timid and can’t pull yourself all the way up yet.  You can go from sitting to laying down better now.

Favorite toy: shape blocks, Sophie the Giraffe, anything you probably shouldn’t have. You’ve recently start liking your paci, but not to suck on like a normal baby, you like to chew on the plastic part.  It entertains you for a while and is great while we are grocery shopping because we can clip it on so it doesn’t fall.

Upcoming Events: Mommy’s birthday, GG and Big D and Madeline are coming o visit

Sounds: Same sounds, na na na and da da da we hear all day long.  The new thing is that you have gotten so much louder.  It’s really funny because you have a lot to say and you are so loud, especially in restaurants. You also mix them all up and can have quite a conversation now.  You have the funniest expressions when you are talking to us.

Teeth: Your two bottom teeth are really coming in now and you’ve recently had one of your front top teeth cut through the gum.

Enjoying a MumMum

...and some cheerios

One of her favorite things...taking out all of her toys

2 little teeth!

gnawing on Sophie

She loved Chick fil A:)

How I found her after nap time on her 8 month birthday.

Happy 8 Months sweet, Aubrey!!! We love you:)

TBT: Picture Dump!

Because I've only recently started blogging, I realize there may be some pictures that some of you may have missed out on that you may enjoy seeing.  Maybe not...but I thought it'd be fun anyways:) I'm going to have a Throw Back Thursday blog with a few pictures from the past...

This week's theme you can guess...Preparing for Baby!!!

8 Weeks

Telling sweet friends!

Finding out she was a GIRL!!!

How we told our families

Registering...Josh enjoyed scanning things.

20, 24, 28, and 36 weeks

Being a good Daddy and assembling things

Nursery Pics

Shower at church

Kayla had a little boy about a month before Aubrey was born

Family and friends shower (we didn't take too many pictures)

Ready for her to come!!!