A Day in the Life of Valerie

Three Years Old!

2011-08-27T21:59:00.002-05:00

Sadly, I am almost 2 months late on this post, but hey, better late than never right? We have been very busy around here & it's time to document what Aubrey is up to at 3 years old! She turned 3 on July 7th & I can't believe she is growing up so fast! She is a complete joy & make mine & Nathan's lives 10000000000x better!!! So, here is what Aubs is up to at 3 years old!

Goes to bed between 8:00 & 8:30. During the week, we wake her up at 7:30 for school. On the weekends, she will often sleep until 9-10.
Loves to eat! Some of her favorites include: chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, fruit snacks, any kind of bread, cheese, crackers, hot dogs, strawberries, apples, grapes, broccoli, pizza, & much more. She is NOT a picky eater at all!
Favorite drinks are chocolate milk, Capri Sun (she calls it Sun Juice), sweet tea, & apple juice. She enjoys the occasional sip of coke too (eww ;)).
Talks NON STOP. Seriously. And the things she says.... she is hilarious!
Smartie Pants :) She can spell her name, tell you her full name, count to 30, count to 10 in Spanish, knows her birthday, knows a lot of colors in Spanish & other random words (up, down, open, close, witch (lol), hello, bye, etc), learning how to write her name, & just completely amazes me more & more every day!
Is very good at critical thinking. The other day she wanted to use our Swiffer mop. She wanted a sweeper thing to put on it & I told her they were all gone. She walks away & comes back a minute later with a paper towel & says here mom, this is the same size, we can just use this, LOL.
Has a very big imagination. She loves to play with her Little People toys & will just make up little stories for them allll day long!
Also loves to read & be read to!
Started "real" Preschool on August 15th :)
Weighs 24 lbs & is 34.5 inches tall. 10th percentile for height, not on the charts for weight.
Stillllllll battling constant strep infections. Hoping ONE day we get to the bottom of that. She's had it 9 times since the end of January. Anytime she stops an antibiotic, she has strep again within a week :(
I asked her today her favorites & this is what she told me. Favorite color: Green. Favorite food: Bananas Favorite Number: 1
Her favorite color usually changes with what color outfit she has on ;)

Overall, Aubs is the best thing that has ever happened to us & we are so thankful & blessed!! She is our little dream come true!!!!

Aubrey Quotes

2011-05-02T18:35:00.004-05:00

Aubrey is at such a fun age. I honestly wish I could just record her 24-7 (except maybe when she's being bad ;) Which luckily is rare. She is a very good kid!). She constantly has us cracking up at the things she says or does! Here are a few recent things that I wanted to write down so I can remember one day!

Nathan took Aubrey with him to Lowes this weekend. They were walking through the garden department & a sprinkler was going. Aubs got very serious and said LISTEN DAD. It's a SNAKE! Nathan tried to explain to her that it wasn't a snake, but a sprinkler. She refused to believe that. She kept insisting that it was a snake because it was saying ssss ssss ssss. Nathan said several people were giggling over this situation :)
We built a flower bed this weekend in our front yard. It was getting close to Aubrey's naptime & I told her we were about to have to go in for naptime. She said I want to nap out here, in my NEW bed, my FLOWER BED. ;)
Whenever you ask Aubrey why Mommy goes to work, she replies "to make money to buy me new clothes!"
This morning Aubrey wanted to watch a show that I am not a fan of. I told her no & she said "But MOM, it's COOL!". Umm yes, she's 2, not 13!!
One day Nathan hadn't shaved. Aubs felt his face & said Eww, Dad, your face is dirty!

I know there are more stories that I'm forgetting! She is just so funny & smart! She definitely has my attitude haha!! Not sure if that's a good thing or not ;) As usual, she's getting over being sick. She had strep throat AGAIN. O-M-G. That makes January, February, March, & April that she's had it!! EVERY month since she had her tonsils out in December!! Not a happy momma! She also got Strep while on an antibiotic for a sinus infection. So now we think she's immune to another antibiotic =\ Her doctor put her on a new antibiotic that she's never had before. Hopefully we won't deal with strep anymore this year!!! We've had ENOUGH!

I can't believe it's May! Time just fliesssssssss by! I'll have a 3 year old before I know it!

Aubs These Days :)

2011-03-21T21:52:00.002-05:00

I feel like I haven't done a "What Aubs Is Doing Now" post lately, so here we go. It will be very random, as I try to think about allllllll the things she does now. She is one busy little girl!!

She can count to 20 in English, 10 in Spanish
She can spell her name & will tell you her name is "Aubrey Claire Williams" which actually sounds like "Aubee Cware Will-lems"
She can tell you how old she is when you ask her. Also, if you ask her what her favorite number is, she says "2". I think another favorite number is "28" though. She will randomly say this number often. Example: I asked Nathan what time it was, Aubs said "It's 28".
Despite her little size & lack of growth, the kid LOVES to eat! Some of her favorites are chicken nuggets, cheese, popsicles, ice cream, Dora snacks, poptarts, cookie cereal, & definitely candy (wonder where she gets that from?? :) )
She calls every place ___ house. Examples: Chick Fil A= Chicken House & Play House (lol she really says it just like that as we drive by... hey mommy, that's the chicken house AND the play house!). School= School house. My work= Marilyn, Cassidi, & Shelly's house (girls I work with. I guess she thinks they live there lol). Cici's= Pizza house. The list goes on & on. It's too cute!
She mostly calls us Mommy & Daddy, but has been shortening it to Mom & Dad some lately. It's kinda sad, lol It makes her seem a lot older!
She talks NON STOP. She asks 10 million questions a day, usually the same question repeatedly. I try to remind myself that she is inquisitive & learning... when I really want to just strangle her sometimes ;) It really is funny to think back to before she had her 1st set of tubes & I was soooo worried that she only said 3 words. Oh to go back to those days sometimes... ;)
She has been paci free since Valentine's Day!! This was a huge deal in our house! It actually went a LOT easier than I thought it would! She was watching Dora (as usual) on Vday night & it flashed back to the past... one of the characters, Benny, was a baby & had a paci. Aubs thought this was so funny. I said oh my goodness Aubrey, Swiper (another character lol) swiped your paci & gave it to Baby Benny! She loved the idea & I quickly turned around & said DITCH THE PACI to Nathan! She will now tell you if you ask what happened to her paci that Baby Benny has it. :)
Sometimes I ask Aubs what her favorites are. Here are her recent answers. Food: Chocolate (haha!), Number: 2, Color: Pink
She is obsessed with Dora the Explorer. I don't mind it since she actually learns from it. She also has recently started liking "Wugwats" aka Rugrats :) I loved that show when I was younger too.
She has known all of her shapes & colors for quite a while now.
We let her start staying up a little later in the past month or so. She now goes to bed between 8-8:30. During the week, I wake her up at 7:30 to get ready for school. On the weekends she will usually sleep until at least 8.
She loves playing outside. Today she told me "I LUB my swingset Mommy!" :)
She is full of funny quotes. Some of the most recent ones I can remember:

Me: What should Daddy get from the store?
Aubs: Dora Snacks, Crackers, Ice Cream, oh & some Beans. lol So random!

Aubs: Mommy, I'm counting the pickles on your arm! (Pickles= Freckles!)

Another big milestone in our house, Aubs is officially night time potty trained! She has been daytime trained since October. I am so glad to be done with diapers for a while!!

Well, that's all I can think of for now. She is so much fun & I feel so blessed to be a mommy to such a smart, beautiful, sweet little girl!

As usual, this blog entry wouldn't be complete without a sickie report @@ We were in Texarkana this weekend & I thought Aubs felt warm. I checked her temp and it was 101.6. She seemed to be doing okay. She went to bed that night around 7 & woke up at 5:30am whimpering in her sleep. I got her up & she instantly fell back asleep on me. She was so clammy & kept whining in her sleep :( When she did wake up, she was sooo pitiful. Very lethargic, could barely walk, etc. We rushed back to Hot Springs to take her to the doctor (no pediatricians were open in Texarkana on Sunday). The verdict? Aubs has strep throat, AGAIN!! This is the 3rd time she's had it since having her tonsils & adenoids removed in December. I am sooooo not happy!! It's just insane that she keeps getting it over & over, especially with no tonsils!! She's on another antibiotic & has to go back to the doctor next Tuesday to be rechecked to make sure the antibiotics are actually working or if the strep is just never going away. Hopefully we will get a good report!

Oh and on another medical note, we have an appt scheduled for Aubs at Arkansas Children's Hospital June 8th. She will see the endocrine specialist & hopefully we'll get some answers on why she's not growing. It's not that noticeable to us, but whenever she is around my bff's kids, it becomes VERY obvious. All of my friends kids are bigger or the same size as Aubrey & Aubs is 19 months, 13 months, & 6 months older than them :( Definitely praying about that situation!

Hope everyone has a great week! My doctor is out of town this week for Spring Break, so it should be a nice laid back week at work for me! :)

Tired

2011-03-09T19:25:00.003-06:00

I am so TIRED. I feel like I can never get enough sleep. We have been so busy lately. We have been going to Texarkana just about every weekend because I have a lot of people wanting to do pics there. It's fun, but exhausting!!

This weekend we are going back again. I'm doing some pictures & we're also going to Catelyn's 8th birthday party!! I can't believe Catie is going to be 8. She is growing up too fast, along with Aubrey & the rest of my bff's kiddos!!

I am hoping to do some pictures of Aubs soon. I have barely been taking pics of her lately (besides cell phone pics) and that is sooooooo unlike me! We have just been on the go go go!!

I am ready for June ;) My grandma is coming down & I'm taking a week off to spend time with her. We're also having Aubrey's birthday party in June so that my grandma can attend. I loveeee planning birthday parties!! We're going to have it at the same place we had her 1st birthday party. Aubs wants a Dora party this year, so that's what she's going to have. Of course I would rather have a different themed birthday party, but it's HER birthday party, so who am I to tell her no Dora party!? It will be a cute Dora party ;)

I have pictures scheduled for almost every weekend from now until May... so I am one tired, busy, & blessed momma!! :)

Busy!!

2011-02-28T21:13:00.002-06:00

As usual, I've been super busy & haven't had time to update. And as usual, I'm going to try my best to be a better blogger!!!! lol We'll see. My goal right now is to blog once a week! I think I can do that!

It seems like every time I update, Aubs is sick. Well, today is no different. I took her to the doctor this am and she has strep throat, again. I also brought up to her doctor that she doesn't seem to have grown any since she turned 2. He pulled up her growth chart on his computer & said Wow, yes, there is a problem there. She has always been little and on her own little growth curve, but she has completely dropped off the charts :( He is referring her to see an endocrine specialist at Arkansas Children's Hospital. He said it will probably be near the summer before they can get her in. He also did some labs on her today, to check her immune system. She could have an immune deficiency which could be why she KEEPS getting sick over & over. Those labs should be back in about 2 weeks. I just pray everything is okay with my sweet little girl!

We have been on the go-go-go lately! I have been super busy doing pictures. I am LOVING it!!! Me & Nathan have been praying very hard lately about some changes we hope will be happening for our family soon. I know if it's meant to be it will happen... it's all in God's hands!

Me & Aubs went to my parents house this weekend & we had a great time! Aubrey just loves her Nana & Papa so much! It makes me so happy to see them together :) I am blessed to have great parents who are also wonderful grandparents!!

This is all for now, I will try try try to be a better blogger!!! :)

Snow Day

2011-02-09T08:12:00.002-06:00

As usual, I've been a very bad blogger. I have been so incredibly busy lately. However, today is another "Snow Day", so I am at home with Aubs, who is still sleeping away. I figured now was a good time to get back on track with blogging!

Aubrey is getting so big :) I can't believe she is already 2 & a half. It is like talking to a little adult with her now. She says some of the funniest things & makes us smile every day :) 6 weeks to the day after her surgery, I had to take her to the doctor & found out she had strep throat. I was not a happy momma. I thought having her tonsils out was going to help her not get it as often. Grr. Her doctor also told me her tube in her right ear was not functioning. This really made me not a happy momma. It's been 6 weeks!!!! Anyway, he put her on omnicef for the strep throat. Well, 10 days later, she was still sick. She now had a nasty cough, nasty green/yellow snot, & was wheezing. So, back to the doctor we went. He said she had a very bad sinus infection, which the omnicef should have been treating as well. However, she's been on this antibiotic so many times, her body's bacteria was not responding to the antibiotic anymore. Wonderful. I figured Aubs would start becoming immune to certain antibiotics since she has been on them SO many times. :( He switched her to a different antibiotic and she seems to be getting better now! :) He also said her other tube looked like it wasn't functioning now either. I will be so mad if she has to get ANOTHER set! Oh & my little shrimp weighs 22.4 lbs lol :) Her Valentine's Party is on Monday & I'm looking forward to being there!

Another reason I have been so busy lately is because in January, I launched my photography business, Fancy Photography (www.fancyphotography.org)! It has been so exciting. I absolutely love photography & it is an amazing feeling to be doing something that I truly love! I've had a great response in business in just a month & it has definitely kept me busy! My dream is that one day I can quit my job as a nurse & just be a full time photographer :) My wonderful hubby made my entire website for me. He is very good with that kind of thing! I told him we were the perfect team lol So if any of you are looking for a reasonably priced photographer, you have found one! ;)

Anyway, as usual, I'm going to try to be a better blogger.... we will see how that goes! haha!

Christmas & More

2010-12-28T19:29:00.004-06:00

Christmas:

Christmas was so exciting this year. I thought Christmas was exciting when I was a kid, but I think I enjoy it 100 times more as a parent. I couldn't wait for Aubrey to wake up on Christmas morning! She was really into Santa Claus this year & asked everyday if Christmas was here yet so she could open presents. I finally had to wake Aubs up at 8:15am, I couldn't wait any longer! With the first present, she was still kind of out of it. It didn't take her long to get into the groove though! She was so cute! "What's in it?" she would ask as she was opening each present! She was very excited about all of her new things. Nana & Papa got her clothes, slippers, dvds, & went in half with us for her big Santa present. Aunt Lee Lee got her tons of Dora stuff, including Dora games, a Dora snuggie, & Dora tattoos. Uncle Kurt got her a Barbie car, which was a BIG hit! Me & Nathan got her clothes, some different toys & games (walking/barking puppy, toy toaster, Dora memory game, Candyland, Chutes N Ladders, easel, etc). Nathan's mom & stepdad got us some dvd players for the car. Her big Santa surprise was waiting outside :) Santa (aka Mommy/Daddy/Nana/Papa) brought her a brand new swingset!! She had the biggest smile on her face when she saw it! Now, whenever she wants to go play on it, she says "I go outside play on Santa surprise!" :) I was taking her outside to play on it Sunday & she said "I close my eyes again, Santa surprise!" hahaha I made her close her eyes when I took her out there on Christmas morning ;) So, all in all, Aubs is spoiled rotten, our house looks like Santa threw up, & we have one happy little girl :) We were very glad to be able to spend the day with my family!

More:

One of the scariest things ever happened this past week. Me, Nathan, & Aubs were goofing off & I had Aubrey on my back & I was on Nathan's back. Well, Aubs went to get down so I backed up to our bed so she could lower herself down. I was still holding onto her arm & she kinda pulled back & popped her wrist pretty hard. She started crying of course, so I was holding her & trying to calm her down. All of a sudden, she went totally limp, her head flopped back, & her eyes rolled into the back of her head. It was SOOOOOOO SCARY! I started freaking out!!! ALL nursing skills went out the window & Mommy freak out skills took their place!!! I tried shaking her & she wasn't coming to. By this point, I am bawling, scared to death!!! Nathan grabbed her from me & kind of shook her/hit her on her back & she came to. Oh my gosh, seriously, soooo scary. I'm not sure if it was some weird reaction to pain or what, but I hope I never have to see that again!!!

The same night as the passing out episode, I accidentally let Aubrey see her Barbie car from Uncle Kurt. Ooops! Nathan was putting it together in the living room. We had put Aubs to bed already. I heard Aubs on the monitor, so I went to check on her. She said she needed her medicine, that her mouth (throat) was hurting. I said okay, let's go... and let her walk right into the living room, the SAME living room where Nathan was putting the car together! I hurried her back to her bathroom & said "She didn't see anything!". Seconds later, Aubs said "That's MY pink car!!!" LOL. The next day she asked where her pink car was & I told her she was dreaming ;) LOL!!

I tried to take Aubrey's paci away on Christmas Eve, but that was a failed attempt, LOL. I was hoping that since it was Christmas Eve, I could bribe her to go to sleep without it "Santa won't come until you go to sleep!" Unfortunately, this did not work out in my favor. It all began earlier in the night when she noticed her paci had a "boo boo". Somehow it got a lil tear in it. I told her that she should throw it away. She carefully placed it on top of the trash can lol. When she wasn't looking, I took it. When she asked for it again, I told her she had thrown it away. I put her to bed at 7:15 & over two hours later, at 9:30, she was STILL awake. I finally gave in & gave it back to her. She was asleep within 5 minutes. It's crazy to me how fast just a lil piece of rubber makes her go to sleep! We had gotten bad about letting her have it all the time again when she was so sick. So, we have her back down to just naptime & bedtime. Hopefully we'll be able to kick those soon enough. It's HARD!! We tell her during the day when she asks for it that Swiper swiped her paci's. She thinks this is hilarious during the day. At night, if we try telling her this, she no longer finds it funny, at all. Sigh.....

So, last night, Aubs randomly started calling her baby doll "baby sister" hahaha! It's the funniest/cutest thing ever. She talks to her baby & says different things like "Come on sister, time for bed!" or "I want to take baby sister to school with me". She switches between saying her baby's name is "Baby sister" or "Balerie". lol! I'm really not sure where the baby sister business came from. Too bad that's the only baby sister she'll be getting for a while. I would love to have another baby in the next year or so but daycare is too expensive for two little ones & we have way too many bills for me to just stay at home. Boo. Maybe in another couple of years or so.

We're going to Texarkana this weekend & I can't wait. I'm ready to hang out with my BFFs!!! :) We always have a great time together! We will also be visiting with some of Nathan's family. Well, I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!

The Whole Family on Christmas :)

Aubs seeing her swingset for the first time!!

She LOVES her new car!

"Dreams" do come true!!! ;)

Opening presents!

A picture we took before Aubs popped her wrist & ended up passing out. UGHHH SCARY!!!

Good Day

2010-12-18T21:11:00.004-06:00

Today was a very good day. Aubs is feeling a lot better, yay!! She is still running a low grade fever, staying right around 100.5-101.0, but at least she is acting like herself again! We had a great day as a family today! We spent lots of time watching Dora, as usual. She counted to 5 in Spanish today which is something I didn't realize she knew how to do, lol. Since she was feeling so much better, we decided to go eat Chinese & then go look at Christmas lights afterwards. Aubrey is in LOVE with Christmas lights this year! It's so cute to hear her gasp & oooohh & awww over all the different lights. :) She has been so cute & funny today. Sometimes I wish I could keep a constant video camera on her!

Some funny things she said today:

With a very pitiful face, she came into the living room & said "Mommy, Daddy told me nooooo".

On our way to dinner, "Mommy, my mouth doesn't hurt anymore. It's ALL BETTER!"

Me, "What's your name?" Aubrey, "Aubrey Williams Claire" hehehe... when I asked her again later she just said "Aubrey Williams" which is pretty much the cutest thing ever to hear her say :)

I know there was more, but that's all I can remember right now. This is why I wish I had a constant video camera on her ;) Hope everyone else had a good day! Here are some pictures from today!

I love her eyes!!

Cutie pie!

Christmas Fairy ;)

Eating Chinese!

Catch Up

2010-12-17T20:07:00.006-06:00

As usual, I've gotten behind in blogging =\ Ughhh!! I hate when that happens. Things have been crazy the past few months here. Like I said in my last post, Aubs had been super sick since October 25th. After my last post, Aubrey had 9 days where she was off of antibiotics & then she got strep throat. I called her ENT to tell him about Aubrey being on antibiotics almost non stop since October 25th & he said it was time to take out her tonsils & adenoids & reinsert tubes in her ears. So, that is what we had done this past Tuesday, on December 14th. It was quite an experience. We had to be at the hospital at 5:45 am.

Aubrey was happy as could be. Poor little thing had no idea what she was in for! (right before they took her back!)

Her surgery began around 7:10 & her doctor came to give us a report about 7:50. He said her tonsils were "rotten". Once they got her into recovery, they brought us back. It was heartbreaking!! I have never seen Aubrey look SOOO pitiful!! While in recovery, she started to desat (oxygen saturation dropped, normal is 95-100% & her's dropped to 85). That was a little scary to watch! The nurses rushed around & got oxygen on her asap. Thankfully it came back up pretty quickly. Since Aubs is only 2 & so little (she only weighs 23 lbs), she had to stay for at least 8 hours after the surgery. She was not drinking or eating anything, so we ended up having to stay overnight so she could keep getting IV fluids. As long as she had her pain meds, she did okay.
(high on pain meds!)

You could tell when the meds were starting to wear off though :( She would get so sad/fussy/mad! When she woke up on Wednesday, she drank some chocolate milk & ate a little bit of pancakes & scrambled eggs. This was enough to get us a discharge from the hospital! We got home around 8:45am Wednesday afternoon. She has done pretty well the past few days. She is slowly starting to eat & drink a little more. Her diet has mostly consisted of pudding, yogurt, ice cream, milkshakes, & popsicles. She started running fever (100.8) last night & it has continued to tonight. I called her doctor & they said to just make sure she was getting plenty of fluids. Hopefully, once she is completely healed from all of this, she will barely be sick anymore!!

Christmas is right around the corner & I can't believe it! Aubrey has a ton of gifts under our tree already. It's just so hard not to spoil her! I can't wait to see her face on Christmas morning :) She is really into Christmas this year. She LOVES Santa Claus. Sometimes she calls him Santa Claus, other times she will say "I sat on Christmas' lap" lol If you ask her what Santa says, she quickly replies, HO HO HO! If you ask her what presents she wants Santa to bring her, she either says "HO HO HO!", "Christmas tree", or "Christmas". lol!

(click to view bigger, crazy how much she grew/matured from last year to this year!)

I can't believe she is almost 2 & a half!!! WHERE IS TIME GOING! My baby is getting so big! She is so smart, it amazes me! I know all moms think their kids are smart, but she really is very advanced for her age. Makes this momma proud!!

Well, as usual, I'm really going to try to be a better blogger!! So until next time... :)

P.S. Please pray for Nathan's cousins baby girl. Reagan was born on November 21st & is at Arkansas Children's Hospital. Her heart valves are reversed & she has holes in her heart. They are doing heart surgery this week sometime. I can't imagine how scared/worried/stressed Nathan's cousin Ryan & his wife Ruth are. Any thoughts & prayers are very appreciated!!

Sick, Sick, Sick

2010-11-09T20:52:00.003-06:00

Well, the cooler weather has hit & as usual, that brought on some sickness for Aubrey. It's been B-A-D. I hate that she gets SO sick!!! :(

It all started two weeks ago. I took her to the doctor on October 25th (Monday). She had an ear infection in her right ear & tonsillitis. She was put on antibiotics for 10 days. I took her to her ENT doctor the following Monday, November 1st. I wanted to talk to him about taking her adenoids & tonsils out. She constantly has sinus infections, throat problems, & she also sleeps with her mouth open & snores, which is a sign that adenoids are enlarged. He said he wants to wait until she is closer to 3 or 30 lbs. He also wants to see how her ears do over the fall/winter. He said her right tube is still working, but her left one is not working at all. So, that was pretty much a wasted visit. I was kind of aggravated that they had me come in & pay our $35 copay for something they could have told us over the phone (waiting until she was closer to 3/30 lbs). On Wednesday, November 3rd, Aubrey had finished her antibiotics, but was doing very, very bad. She had an asthma attack on Saturday, October 30th. Her asthma was out of control. She was coughing/wheezing almost non stop. She also woke up Wednesday with a gunky, swollen left eye. So, back to her pediatrician's office we went. He diagnosed her with a sinus infection, pink eye, & a severe asthma exacerbation. He put her on a Z pack for her sinus infection, some eye drops for her pink eye, & a round of steroids for her asthma. The eye drops cleared her pink eye up very fast. The Z pack seemed to help with her sinus infection some. She still had some congestion with greenish snot but not as bad as it was. The steroids helped her asthma slightly. She was still having very bad coughing episodes with wheezing. So, once again, yesterday (Monday, November 8th), we headed back to her pediatricians office. She finished her steroids/Z pack on Sunday & just wasn't doing well with her asthma. Well, she now has a VERY bad left ear infection. He said it was one of the worst he has seen & it looked like her ear drum was about to perforate. :( The bad thing is, she developed this awful ear infection while ON antibiotics. Not a good sign at all. She lost a little over a pound in 5 days. Her doctor said babies/kids her age should never lose weight. He thinks her asthma is so aggravated right now by ALL of these infections she's had over the past 2 weeks. So, Aubs got a rocephin (antibiotic) shot & is on yet another oral antibiotic, Augmentin for 10 days. She has to go back to see her pedi on Monday, November 22nd to see how her ears are & see how her asthma is doing & make sure she's gained weight back. Yesterday, she weighed less than she did at her 2 year appt in July :( She weighed 22 lbs 2 oz yesterday & weighed 23 lbs 6 oz last Wednesday. Her pedi said if she has even just one more ear infection this fall/winter, he will tell her ENT she needs tubes reinserted immediately. If we have to do this, her ENT will likely do her adenoids & tonsils at the same time. Honestly, I'm just ready to do it ALL & get it over with. I feel so bad for Aubrey that she has been so sick.

I've left out a lot of details but this is all just off the top of my head right now. I'll try to post again soon about Halloween (she missed out on trick or treating due to being sick but was able to go to a fall festival & trick or treat at the mall on the 29th) & other random things. Please just keep Aubs in your prayers if you can! Hoping for good news & better health at our next appt!!

Big Girl

2010-10-17T14:26:00.004-05:00

This week was a big week for Aubrey! It seems like she went from being my baby to a big girl very quickly this week! Here's some new things she learned & did for the first time!

Learned how to pedal her tricycle by herself
Converted her crib to a toddler/daybed
Started telling me she had to go pee in the potty... and actually went!
Went down the big slide at the park all by herself (she used to be terrified!)

It's amazing to me how fast Aubs is growing up. I barely even remember when she was a little baby anymore. It's sad & exciting all at the same time. I love watching her grow.. she is so smart & cute! :) Here are some pictures of her new exciting adventures from this week!

Manners

2010-10-10T08:54:00.002-05:00

I love when children use manners & are so polite. I am very proud of Aubrey because she has been doing AWESOME with using her manners lately! She almost always says please when asking for something. It's very rare that she doesn't say thank you after getting what she asked for. She also says excuse me if you are in her way. She says Bless You if you sneeze (sometimes she even says this if you cough, lol). We are now working on Yes & No Ma'am/Sir. She sounds so cute while saying it! Two of my favorite "manner" stories of Aubrey this week:

1. One day this week, we were out back playing. Aubrey went down her slide & Parker was standing at the end of it. She almost hit Parker while sliding down & she said "Excuse me, Parker!"

2. Last night, she sat down to eat dinner. I already had her bowl of food on the table & she looked at me and so sweetly said "Thank you for the food, Mommy!" and I said "You're welcome, Aubrey!" & she said "Thank you thank you!" again. hahaha :) That's more appreciation than I even get from Nathan when it comes to dinner! ;)

We've had a great weekend together. Aubrey had a blast on Friday spending the day with her Nana! Nana brought lots of presents from her & Papa. Aubs loved all of them! Great weekend!

Sassy!

2010-10-04T20:27:00.002-05:00

I can't believe, at the age of 2, my daughter already has smart mouth answers, lol! It really is quite funny. Today, on our way home from work/daycare, I asked her what she had for lunch. She looks at me like I am sooo stupid & in a very sassy tone says, "Food, Mommy!". hahaha!

Another funny Aubrey quote from this weekend:

Nathan was in the bathroom & Aubrey ran to the door & said "KNOCK KNOCK!" Nathan said "Who is it??" & Aubrey instantly replied "AUBREY, DADDY!" hehehe.. Nathan asked "What are you doing?" and she said "Watching Dora & Boots!!". Nathan said "You can't be watching Dora if you're in here..." & she said "OH!" and took off running back to the living room to finish watching Dora. :)

Aubrey is sooooo Dora obsessed lately. She is constantly saying "I wanna watch Dora and Boots!" We only have one Dora dvd right now. She has watched it probably 50 times, in the past month. lol She has seen it so many times, that she says what is going to happen, before it even happens! We just signed up for Netflix, so she'll be getting her own Dora deliveries soon. Last week, while driving to daycare, Aubs was eating some fruit snacks. She put one in her mouth & said "Yum, yum, delicioso!" Then, last night at dinner, she pushed her bowl away from her and said "Empuje" which sounds like am-boo-hey & it means push in Spanish. Sooooo funny!

More Aubrey quotes to come later this week I'm sure... she never fails to make me smile with the crazy things she says! :)

Phone Calls

2010-09-26T09:06:00.002-05:00

Aubrey loves calling her Nana & Papa on the phone. She will just blabber away to them. One day this week, she called her Nana on the way home from daycare. She said "Hi Nana! Hi Papa! Hi Tirt!" (Tirt= Uncle Kurt). Nana told Aubrey that Kurt wasn't there, that he went bye-bye. Aubrey asked "Where Tirt go??". We told her he went to the Army. She sat there for a minute processing this, saying "Tirt go to Army?"... then she said "Where Army??" lol It was so cute.

Last night, she wanted to call Papa. They had a nice little conversation & then I was talking to Papa. Aubrey was being bad & I said "Do you want Papa to hear you get a spanking?" to which she IMMEDIATELY replied "Yeah!!!" hahaha She is so rotten!

LOVE!!

2010-09-25T22:13:00.002-05:00

My heart is so full of love & happiness. There is absolutely no greater feeling than being a mom! I love this little girl SOOOOOOOOOOO very much!!!! I am so thankful that God blessed me with a *wonderful* husband & then He blessed us with our precious little girl!! We may not be rich, famous, etc, but I can honestly say as long as I have Aubrey & Nathan in my life, I am completely & totally happy!! <3 <3 <3

Laundry Lover

2010-09-25T15:29:00.002-05:00

Aubrey has always loved helping with the laundry. She loves for me to hand her things to put into the dryer. Well, this week, she has upped her laundry loving as she learned how to fold! ;) She is making her momma proud! Hopefully she will continue her love for laundry, as her momma HATES it!!!

"Don't want it"

2010-09-23T19:21:00.002-05:00

Aubrey has learned the phrase "don't want it/to/etc" and uses it excessively these days. Sometimes it's cute, sometimes it's funny, & other times it's downright frustrating. lol Tonight was a frustrating night. She was refusing to eat her chicken n dumplings. She kept pushing her bowl away saying "I don't want it." We made her sit there for a while to see if she would eat. She kept refusing & saying over & over "I don't want it." I told her she had to take 3 more bites & she refused. So, I told her she could get down but she wasn't getting anything else to eat tonight & if she was hungry she would have to eat her 3 bites of chicken n dumplings first. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she said "I want crackers!" Ummmm, no Miss Aubrey! You aren't playing me! Then she wanted a "snack" aka fruit snack. Nope, no fruit snacks for her either. She was not a happy camper but each time she asked for something else, I offered her 3 bites of chicken n dumplings so she could have what she was asking for. She refused each time.

Ahhh.... gotta love the stubbornness of a two year old. Unfortunately for her, she has two equally as stubborn parents!!

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

2010-09-23T07:28:00.002-05:00

We all know how funny kids can be once they learn how to talk. They say things that just make you laugh & wonder where that came from. Well, we've had a LOT of that going on with Aubrey lately. I've decided that I definitely need to start writing these stories down so that I can look back on them one day. I was going to get a notebook to write them down in, but I decided to just do it here, on my virtual notebook :) I am going to try to record at least one funny story of her's a day, because there is usually always at least one!

So, my first story to record is from last night, 9-22-10. Aubrey took off her diaper & said she was poopy. However, there was no poop in the diaper, so I decided to put her on her potty. I told her to push her poo poo out. She sat there & pushed real hard & farted. She said "I farted!!" hehehe.. I laughed & said good job, but now push really hard & push that poo poo out! So, she scrunches up her face & grunts, pushes reallllly hard, & then says "AHH! IT'S *STUCK*"!!!! hahaha It was soooo funny!!! I couldn't stop laughing.

I know she will dislike me one day for making a point to remember these funny stories, especially when they are bathroom related, but it's all about the memories! ;)

So stayed tuned for more funny Aubrey stories :) She is a mess!!!!

And for the record, she never poo'ed in the potty..... she definitely got an A for effort though LOL

3 Day Weekend!

2010-08-27T12:14:00.002-05:00

The doctor I work for had a family emergency this week, so we are closed today. Aubrey's daycare is also closed today for a teacher's work day, so we're spending the day together! So far we've had a great day! We played outside some this morning & then went over to Cassidi's house. Cass was babysitting her 6 week old niece. I thought it would be interesting to see how Aubs was around a little baby. She just stared at her for the most part. She did get a little jealous when I was holding her. She kept pulling on my shirt for me to hold her. lol Good thing it will still be a few years before she has to play the role of Big Sister!

Tomorrow we are going to Brady's 5th birthday party. They are having a big inflatable water slide, so I know Aubs will have a blast! Brady is the sweet little boy of one of our patients at work. I have become close with a lot of our patients & their kiddos :)

Sunday, we are probably going to go to the water park in Arkadelphia. I have 2 "free" passes left from Aubs birthday party, so we need to use them up before the summer is over! Aubrey always loves to swimming aka "put her feet in water!"

When Aubrey wakes up from her nap, we are going shopping! :) She is a girly girl & usually loves to shop with me. She will look things over & say "That's cute!" haha :)

We're looking forward to another 3 day weekend next weekend for Labor Day! We will be heading to my parents house for a going away party for my brother. He leaves Sept 8th to go to Georgia for basic training. We will miss him bunches!

Guess I should finish cleaning.. more later :)

Life These Days...

2010-08-24T18:33:00.002-05:00

Well, Aubrey went to bed at 6:15 tonight so I figured no better time to blog than now! Nathan had to leave early for work this morning (6:30) & she heard him & woke up SUPER early for her, so she was WORN out tonight! First, I'm going to play a little bit of catch up.

Aubs is doing great! She is sooooooo vocal these days omg. Why we paid hundreds of dollars to get tubes in her ears, I'll never know??? Just kidding, of course to help her with the millions of ear infections she had... but seriously it is quite humorous to think back to how worried I was that she wasn't talking because she NEVER stops talking now!! She is loving her new daycare. She has 2 best friends that she talks about often. "Ne Ne" aka Sydney & Tucker :) I am glad she is loving it!! She is moving up to the next class on Monday. Her teachers tell me often that she is very smart! Sometimes she is too smart for her own good! She constantly spells her name now. She can also count to 10 but often skips 5 for some reason. She knows most of her colors but her favorite is definitely "yellow". Even when she knows something is NOT yellow, she'll say "That yellow Mommy?". :) Healthwise, she is doing pretty good right now. She is on Pulmicort breathing treatments once a day right now for her asthma. We may have to increase her back to twice a day in the fall/winter, which is her worst time of the year, but maybe we'll be able to get by with just once a day! We also recently started her on Singulair, which is a chewable tablet that will help with her asthma AND allergies! She calls it her "night night medicine candy" ;) We are hoping that between her breathing treatments & the Singulair, she will have a MUCH better fall/winter this year! Fingers crossed!!

As for me & Nathan, we're doing great as well. We are loving our new house! Nathan is in the LONG application process at Benton Police Department right now. He first applied in April. Since then, he has done a written test, physical, home interview, & oral board interview. We are now waiting for a letter saying what rank he is for the next available position. We are just praying about everything & we know God will lead us in the right direction.

Well, now that I'm all caught up, I will try to post daily about what we did & of course include pictures of Miss Aubs!!

Have a good night, everyone!

Better Blogger...

2010-08-23T21:35:00.002-05:00

Yep, I've said it before & I'm saying it again.. I'm going to try to be a better blogger!! I hate when I get out of writing on here. It is really so much fun to look back & read what was going on in our lives in the past. So here's to being a better blogger, AGAIN!!

This is going to be super short. My sweet girl is asleep & my hubby is passed out on the couch. I'm thinking they have the right idea & I'm about to head off to dream land too!

Tomorrow I'll post pics of Miss Aubs & everything she is up to these days. So check back soon!!! :)

Goodnight!

Mommy Brag

2010-07-21T22:23:00.002-05:00

All of you who are moms know how it is. Your perfect angel does something special and you just want to shout about it & tell the whole world! ;) Well, I'm having one of those Mommy Brag moments right now! As of July 17th, Aubrey officially knows how to spell her name all by herself! I am so excited & proud!! Here is a video of my sweet girl showing off her new skills! ;) Like I said in my 2 year birthday update, she has been saying "A-B-Y, AUBREY!" for quite a while now. On Saturday, while eating breakfast, she just randomly started spelling it the right way! I couldn't believe it! :) Watch for yourself! I'm so proud of you, Aubrey!! <3

Happy 2nd Birthday, Aubrey Claire!!

2010-07-07T18:34:00.003-05:00

Aubrey, I can NOT believe you are two years old today. When I was pregnant with you, everyone told me to enjoy every second because time would fly right by. Now I find myself telling other new moms that too. It is crazy how quickly you are growing up! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and your dad. You bring so much joy & love to our lives.

(Birthday Party at Daycare!)

You are such a smart and beautiful little girl. We get compliments from people about you all the time. Even though you are starting to throw some serious fits these days, you are still a very well behaved little girl. You are entering your "terrible two's" afterall, so the fits are to be expected. You have grown & matured so much in the past year. You now weigh 22 lbs 4 oz & are 33 inches tall. At 12 months, you weighed 17 lbs 9 oz & were 28 inches tall. It's hard to believe that you were just learning how to walk this time last year & now you run around full speed 24-7!

(Enjoying your cupcake at your birthday party at school!)

Your vocabulary is soaring; I barely even remember the days of being concerned that you weren't saying anything. You talk NON stop now!! You love to sing your ABC's. My favorite part is when you get to L-M-N-O-P. You sing this by moving your tongue real fast becuase that's what it sounds like to you. Your favorite part of your ABC's is Q R S. You sing that part SO loudly! You are already learning how to spell your name. If we spell your name out, you say AUBREY! when we are done. When we ask you to spell your name, you say A B Y, Aubrey! You're just missing a few letters in there! ;) You have the sweetest little voice. Some of the words you say in your own way are the cutest things. Some of our favorites are: Where NAR you? (Where are you?), That's so money! (That's so funny!), Parper (Parker), Nolk (Milk), Howside (Outside), Mow Mower (Lawn Mower), & many, many more. A phrase we are hearing VERY often these days is "I do it!" You are little Miss Independent! You also keep saying "I want pink mo-no-ike-el (motorcycle)" anytime someone says it's your birthday! Good thing Nana & Papa are getting you one! (You call lots of things mo-no-ike-els: motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles (which is what Nana & Papa are getting you!),4 wheelers, etc.).

(Special Birthday Hat from your teachers! :) )

You absolutely love to eat. Some of your favorites right now are chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, crackers, cereal, & cookies. You also LOVE animals. Some of your favorites are puppies, birds, kitty cats, monkeys, cows, & pigs. You know all the sounds for all of these animals. I also ask what sound an indian makes & you put your hand to your mouth and say ah ah ah ah ah! You also love for me to ask what sound a monster makes; you do a very good monster growl! I personally love to ask you what does mommy say? You reply with I loveeeee youuu!!! (which is soooo very true!)

(Birthday Girl before school!)

You are a little mermaid and love to be in the water. You go to bed & wake up saying "I put feet in water!". You even said this in your sleep a few nights ago! Speaking of bed, you still absolutely love your sleep. You still go to bed at 7, usually 7:30 at the latest. I always have to wake you up in the morning for school. You get at least 12 hours of sleep a night. On the weekends, you often sleep around 15 hours, sometimes even longer. You still take one nap a day. At daycare, it's usually 1-1.5 hours. At home on the weekends, its usually 2-3 hours. I hope you are always such a great sleeper!

I could go on and on, but this pretty much summarizes your life right now. Like I said, you are the VERY best thing that has ever happened to us & we love you more than ANYTHING!!!! We look forward to watching you grow another year! Happy Birthday, Aubrey Claire!! You will always be mommy's baby girl!

Two Year Video

2010-07-05T10:51:00.002-05:00

I've been a horrible, horrible, horrible blogger :( Life has been crazy busy lately. I'll try to do a huge update soon... but for now, here is the video I made of Aubrey from 12-24 months. :( I can not believe my baby girl will be 2 on Wednesday!!! She is such a blessing in our lives!!! We love her more than ANYTHING!!

Weekend Fun

2010-05-16T15:22:00.003-05:00

Another great weekend has gone by way too fast! This weekend, me, my mom, Colleen, & Aubrey went to Little Rock. I wanted to go to The Children's Place to get a dress for Aubrey for our family pictures coming up on June 6th. I also decided to have her pictures done at JC Penney's while we were there. They turned out pretty cute :) I was very mad to find out that the mall we were at did NOT have a The Children's Place!! What the heck! It was a big mall so I guess I just expected it to be there! We have to go back in 2 weeks anyway to pick Aubrey's pictures up, so we'll just go to where TCP is at then (different location!).

This week is Aubrey's last week at her daycare! I am so, so, so sad :( I know it's probably going to be worse on me than it is her (which I'm thankful for), but still... ugh. I just feel like Aubrey will essentially be losing one of her "2nd moms". She goes to daycare M-F 8-5... add up the hours, that's a lot of time spent at daycare. Sister Julie has been with her since she started there at 7 weeks old. It just makes me really sad that they won't be able to see each other anymore. :( Sister Julie said she wants to give me her email so I can send her pictures of Aubrey. HAHA, that shouldn't be a problem!! Aubrey will start her new daycare when we get back from New York. We were going to have her start June 21st, but go figure, that's the one week in the summer the new daycare is closed. So, she will start the next week, June 28th. My mom is going to watch her the days we both work the June 21st week. Yay for Nana! I'm really hoping Aubrey being out of daycare for over a month doesn't have a negative effect on her. Her life is so structured right now, so that's why I worry. I think she will be fine though.

The house is coming along great! They said it should be finished in 3 weeks! YAY! We should close right when we get back from New York. I am so excited & can't wait to move in!! The deck is finished, they are mudding the walls now, & laying sod outside.

Just a few more weeks until we leave for New York & I can't wait! We are in need of a vacation! It will be so nice to spend an entire week together as a family! Nathan may be getting a M-F job at the prison sometime soon... we are keeping our fingers crossed & praying a lot about that. Hopefully it will work out because that would be a great blessing to our family! I'm also praying my dad gets the job he applied for in Bryant. It's only about 30 minutes away from us & that would be SO SO SO amazing to have my parents so close!!!!

Well, here's a few pictures from Aubrey's photo shoot yesterday at JCP. Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

and just for fun...

She is really growing up way too fast! <3 I love you, Aubrey Claire!!!! <3

Words

2010-05-11T20:27:00.002-05:00

Aubrey is talking SOOOO much now. It's impossible to try to do a "word" count on how many words she can say now, like I've done in the past. Some of her words crack me up though! Here are a few of my favorite "Aubrey" words & what they stand for :)

do do ike el= motorcycle
die= fly
see al= cereal
jew= juice
pane= plane
yee yee= lee lee (aunt lee lee)
ya ya= kayannah (her best friend at school)
you eee= julie (for sister julie, her lil personal nun at school lol)
how side= outside
hide= slide

Those are just a few of my favorites that I can think of right now. It is so cute hearing her talk ALL THE TIME now. Sometimes I try to tell her "Let's play the quiet game". She always loses ;)

Last night, Aubrey had a dream I guess about her best friend (Kayannah). It was so cute... she mumbled something on the monitor & then said YAYA! & then mumbled some more! hahaha! Today when I picked Aubs up at daycare, she had on this cute little apron. Sister Julie said it was for Aubrey to keep. I'm not sure if Sister Julie made it for her or not, but it's just the perfect size for Aubrey. It's too cute & funny!

Hope everyone had a great day! I'm ready for the weekend already!

Shame on Me

2010-05-10T22:38:00.004-05:00

Okay, I've reallllly been sucking as a blogger lately. I've missed way too much these past few weeks! It would take FOREVER to go back & reblog about it all... so now my goal is to catch up from this weekend & BE A BETTER BLOGGER! lol

Saturday, we went to Texarkana. We stopped by St. Michael's & visited Nathan's great grandma who is in the hospital. After that, we had some lunch at On The Border. Then we headed to Fouke & went to a yard sale. I got a lot of cute things for Aubrey for cheap! :) Aubrey had the nastiest explosive diaper ever at the yard sale. WOW. I'm glad I found a cute summer outfit while we were there so I could change her. Nasty! After that, we went & visted Nathan's Aunt Gloria Jo. I love her so much!! She reminds me so much of my grandma who died in 2005. Then we headed back to Texarkana for a get together with my BFFs. We had a great time!! We ate some yummy finger foods & then sat outside & watched the kids play (including some of the big kids, me included haha!). I left my camera at home (shocking, I know!), so I didn't get any pics :( You can check out my BFFs page for pics from the night though (www.carlasclan.blogspot.com) We got home late Saturday night.

Mother's Day was a great day. My one gift request was to sleep in. I did just that & slept til 9:30! Aubrey & Nathan were lazy & slept until 10:45! Aubrey ate breakfast & played for a little bit & then was ready for a nap at 12:00. I decided to take a nap too around 2:00. When I woke up at 3:30, that little stinker was STILL asleep! She finally woke up around 4:00! We went & looked at the house after she ate some lunch. It's coming a long great!! I can't wait to move in! They have all of the sheetrock done. They have started on the back deck & doing the dirtwork for the yard & driveway! When we got home, I spent FOREVER hanging up all of Aubrey's clothes. Wow, that kid has way too many!! It's so much fun shopping for her though :) While I was in her room, she came running in & said HERE MOMMY! She had colored a homemade Happy Mother's Day card for me. :) It was sooo cute & she was so proud of it! She had the biggest smile on her face! She also made me a cute little plant at school. Tonight it actually has two little "stems" instead of just one, like in this picture lol.

Little Miss Lazy Pants was back in bed at 7:00.. guess she had a hard day on Saturday & was trying to catch up on her sleep! I have never felt sooooooooo happy as I do being a mommy to Aubrey. She just makes my whole world PERFECT!! I love her SOOOOOOOOOO much!!!

Today was a good day.. just the same ole same ole. Aubrey is ADDICTED to cereal. She ate 3 bowls of it for breakfast on Saturday & Sunday. I left the box out on the table & it's what she insisted on having for dinner. I fixed her some cavatini at first & she pushed it to the side & kept saying "see-al" "see-al"! So, see-al is what she got. lol At least it's somewhat healthy! She had 3 bowls tonight too! Oinker!!

I'm already ready for the weekend lol. I'm taking my mom to lunch for her Mother's Day present & as usual, we'll have a great weekend together while Nathan works. Okay, that gets me caught up for the past weekend, hopefully I can stay caught up again! :)

House!

2010-05-01T17:53:00.003-05:00

I have lots of random stuff to post about, but the most exciting gets the title of this post :) We are soooo thrilled & excited because in June, we will be 1st time home owners!! It has happened VERY fast but we are feeling SOOOO blessed!!! I found a new neighborhood that is being built & I casually mentioned it to Nathan (to keep in mind for the next 1-2 years when we thought we would start looking to buy a house). Well, Nathan was bored on his day off, so he decided to call a realtor & go take a look (the neighborhood is gated, so he couldn't just drive in by himself). Well, the next thing we know, we're getting approved for a mortgage & signing a contract on our new house!! :) It will be a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car garage house! It's the perfect size for us!! I am not trying to brag by any means, but I do have to say that I am just very proud of me & Nathan. Not many 23 year olds are in the same place as us. I just feel so incredibly BLESSED to have the husband of my dreams, the most adorable little daughter, & now a house! It feels like my life can't get ANY better! Here is a picture of what will soon be our house!

Anyway, I have a lot more to write about but I'll have to do that at another time! Time to cook dinner now! :)

Bad Blogger

2010-04-17T08:05:00.002-05:00

I am guilty of being a bad, bad blogger lately. I have just been SOOO busy & haven't had the time to sit down & blog. It's been a good while, so I'm not sure I can catch up on EVERYTHING, but I will do my best :) Right now I am waiting on my mom to get here & for Aubrey to wake up, so I have a little bit of time!

Since my last update, we took Aubrey to Little Rock. She had so much fun! We took her to the zoo & to The Wonder Place, which is an indoor activity place for toddlers. It was so funny. We were at the zoo & Nathan was pointing out the gorilla's to Aubs, & Aubs got sooooooooo excited.... about a BIRD flying by. LOL She can see birds all the time & that was what she was most excited about? Silly girl!!

We had a wonderful Easter. My mom came down on Thursday before Easter & kept Aubrey for us on Good Friday. Aubrey's daycare was closed & me & Nathan both had to work. Nana & Aubs had a great day together! Saturday we dyed Easter eggs for the first time which was a lot of fun. Aubs did great at it! There were only 2 minor spillage accidents, where Super Nana was quick to clean up the mess! lol Super Momma was behind the camera lens of course ;) Easter Sunday we went to Fouke. We went to church & then to Nathan's grandma's & then to his other grandma's house. It was a good day spent with family.

Last weekend, we went to Fouke again for one of my best friend's from high school's wedding. Amanda looked so beautiful & I'm so happy for her! Aubrey had SOOOO much fun. OMG it was hilarious. She tore the dance floor UPPPPP! I didn't even know she had some of the moves in her that she showed us that night LOL She is so full of personality! I am really loving this age right now!!

This week proved to be interesting, when I took Aubrey to the doctor on Monday. I was taking her due to her asthma. I have been giving her Pulmicort breathing treatments but I was out of samples so I needed to take her to her doctor. She was officially diagnosed with asthma, but we saw that coming a long time ago. Kinda hard to avoid when you've had RSV twice & a STRONG family history. The good news is we have her on the right treatment now that is really helping her. She does so good with her treatments now too. She holds them in place & waits for her tootsie roll reward at the end :) Anyway, while we were at the doctor, her doctor went to check her ears, as he usually does. Well guess what? Aubrey had an earring back lodged INSIDE her ear!!!! I was in shock. She did lose an earring, but it was well over a month ago. We have been to the night clinic since then & they never said anything about having an earring back in her ear! UGH! Her pediatrician tried to get it out but he said it was lodged too deep. So, we had to go see an ENT on Tuesday to get it out! That was AWFUL!!! They papoosed her which means they laid her on this board & velcroed her arms & legs down. There was this lady who I guess was in training or something & she tried to get it out & tried & tried & couldn't do it. Poor Aubrey was crying sooooo hard "MOMMMY NOOOOOOO OWWWW NOOOO MOMMMYYY" :( It was so heartbreaking!!! Finally the lady gave up & the dr reached right in & got it. It really aggravated me that the doctor didn't do it from the get go. I understand that the other girl needs to train, but please, train on adults, not my sweet one year old!! So anyway, we are glad that freak accident is over & done with!!

That's about all the exciting news I have for now. I will try to be a better blogger again ;) I'll post again later this weekend with some pictures. :)

Surprise Surprise

2010-03-25T11:12:00.004-05:00

Shocking, I know, but guess who had to go to the doctor again on Monday? SIGH. I truly hope that one day I can look back on this blog and think "Wow, those were some bad times when Aubrey was sick all the time. I'm so glad she's ALWAYS healthy now!". Yes, that is my dream!! Now, I know I am blessed with an overall healthy little girl. It could be much, much worse & that is something I pray I never have to deal with. However, it is getting very frustrating having to take Aubrey to the doctor every 2 weeks!! We have seriously been at the doctor's office every 2 weeks since December. Anyway, I took her on Monday because she's had a really bad cough that gets super bad at nighttime. I thought maybe she needed a different inhaler or something, because the albuterol just wasn't touching it. The doctor checked her over & noted her throat was a little red. I mentioned that she just had RSV & Strep throat 2 weeks ago. He decided to do a strep test on her. Guess what the results were? POSITIVE. I was so disgusted, lol. I mean really!! She JUST had it!! So, he put her on amoxicillin for 10 days & we're to continue her breathing treatments for her cough. She's been on the antibiotic since Monday & treatments since then as well & her cough really still isn't much better. I'm going to give her a breathing treatment of Pulmicort tonight & see if that helps her. I'm thinking her cough is definitely asthma related, because a cough doesn't go with strep usually. One good thing is that Aubrey actually does her treatments by herself now (with us sitting there with her of course)! Just a few months ago she would fight them, so this is great progress! So anyway, there's our 2384039284093 sick update of this year.

Even when she's sick, she still acts happy 99% of the time, which is a blessing. Poor thing, I think she is just used to being sick that it really doesn't phase her. She seems to be doing fine with the exception of the cough during the night. We are taking her to Little Rock this weekend to go to the zoo & to The Wonder Place ( www.thewonderplace.com ). We are looking forward to it! I think she will have a blast!

I'll post another update after we go! Have a great week/weekend!

Lots to talk about!

2010-03-19T21:08:00.013-05:00

Okay, it has been two weeks since I've posted, so I have a lot of ground to cover. I'm going to make a list about each topic I want to talk about & then I'll dig in. lol

Aubrey's daycare closing
Trip to Nana & Papa's house
Tornado Warnings
3 Day weekend
Trip to Fouke
Aubrey's 1st Haircut
Catelyn's birthday party
Carla's birthday
Day at the Park
Nathan's birthday
Spring Break

1. Aubrey's daycare is closing their infant & toddler classes on May 21st. I was SO VERY upset to find this out :( I cried!! I love Aubrey's daycare SOOOO much. It is so hard to have to leave her everyday, but I feel 110% comfortable with Aubrey's daycare, which makes it SOOO much easier to have to leave her. She has gone there since she was 7 weeks old! It just broke my heart to hear that they are closing. Aubrey loves her daycare so much. Everyday as we drive up to her daycare, she claps her hands together & says yay! She also has her own little personal attendant basically lol Sister Julie. Sister Julie is this sweet little (seriously, less than 5 feet tall lol) nun who has been Aubrey's teacher since she was a newborn. They are best friends. Sister Mary, who is the director of the daycare, said she has never seen Sister Julie have a favorite like Aubs before. lol! They are just so sweet. Both Sister Julie & Sister Mary came to visit Aubrey when she was in the hospital last year with RSV. That meant so much to me!!! Anyway, we looked at few different daycares & decided on a new one. I just PRAY that Aubrey & I love her new daycare as much as the one she goes to now. Her last day at her current daycare will be May 21st. She will start her new daycare June 21st. We're going on vacation June 9th-15th, so rather than starting her in a new place & having to pay for a week of daycare while on vacation, we decided to just keep her out until we get back. Nathan will keep her on his off days & my sister will keep her on the days we both have to work.

2. We went to Nana & Papa's house for the weekend & had a great time. We did what we usually do, shop shop shop! :) Aubrey had a lot of fun playing with my parent's dogs, Calvin & Anna. She especially loved Anna, who is actually our dog Parker's sister. lol She kept yelling Annnnna while playing outside with her. :) Too cute! Aubrey surprised me by staying awake the whole trip home from my parent's house (1.5 hours) when we came back after only taking a 20 minute nap that day! She regretted it the next day when she had to get up for daycare! She hadn't been in a week due to having strep throat & rsv & was used to sleeping in!

3. Last Wednesday night, Colleen was over & we had planned on going to get our eyebrows waxed & go to a consignment sale. My dad called us when we were on our way home from picking Aubrey up from daycare & said there were bad storms headed our way. We picked up some Wendy's & headed home. Not too long after that, we were in a tornado warning. Ugh! I hate bad storms like that! So off to Aubrey's closet we went! We sat in there for about 30-45 minutes. Aubrey did so good! I was so proud of her. I brought my laptop in the closet with us. I played her favorite song "Put a ring on it" by Beyonce LOL Aubs just danced her little heart out while hail was pounding our house! Thankfully, no tornado touched down around us & we eventually were able to come out of the closet!

4. I took off last Friday & was very glad to have a 3 day weekend! Me & Nathan took Aubrey to daycare (it was class picture day!) & then headed to Little Rock. We went to a consignment sale there & got Aubs some great stuff. Then we came back to Hot Springs & ate lunch at On the Border. Later that afternoon, I went & had my massage that Nathan got me for Valentine's Day. It was wonderful!! Then we picked Aubs up. We were going to take her to the park but it was too cold! :( All in all, it was a wonderful Friday off! :)

5. Last weekend we went to Fouke. First we went to Stylerz for haircuts. More on that next! Then we met up with Nathan's grandma & went to Lake Wright Patman to do some family pictures! It was SOOOO windy & pretty chilly, so I wasn't getting my hopes up too much about them. We did end up with a few very cute ones, in my opinion! :)

After that, we headed to Nathan's grandma's house to have a little get together with his grandparents & two aunts & their kids & his brothers. We had an early birthday party for Nathan :) After that we went to his dad's house & visited for a little bit & then to his mom's. Sunday, we went to church & to his grandma's for lunch. After that, we headed to Genoa for my BFF's daughter's birthday party! More on that soon too! It was a great weekend!

6. Aubrey had her First "Haircut" when we went to Texarkana. It was more like a trim, but hey, it still counts ;) lol She was so serious the whole time. I think she was worried! LOL! She did very good though! I'm hoping now her hair will grow faster & thicken up some!! She still has her little curls in the back, which I'm glad didn't go away with the cut!

7. Carla's little girl Catelyn turned 7 on March 10th & we went to her birthday party last Sunday. It was a "Fancy Nancy" themed party. All the little girls dressed in their fanciest attire. It was so cute!! We had a great time at the party! I can't believe Catie is 7. She was 4 when me & Carla became friends! Time flies!!

8. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF MY BESTEST FRIENDS, CARLA!!!! Her birthday was March 15th. Hope you had a great day!!!

9. Wednesday, we took Aubrey to the park & she had so much fun!! The slides are definitely her favorite now! She LOVED the swings last year. I put her in the swings on Wednesday & she was NOT a fan!! lol I was so suprised! She looked so scared/worried. She had a blast running around! After the park, we took her to eat at Chik Fil A. She got to play some more on the indoor playground there! It was a WONDERFUL day!!

10. Today (March 20th) is Nathan's birthday!! Happy Birthday to my VERY bestestestest friend!! We are going out to eat tonight after he gets off with his dad & his wife. Aubrey picked out her own present (well I did give her specific things to choose from lol) & card for Nathan! :) Hopefully he will like his gifts from us!

11. Spring break is next week & that means the doctor I work for will be gone all week! Since he is gone, I get to take off Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, & Friday! YAY! I'm so excited! We are going to take Aubrey to Memphis next Friday. We are going to go to the zoo there & also the Children's Museum. I've heard really awesome things about both! Hopefully she will have a great time, although I'm sure she will!! So I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing week!

Whew, I think I am officially caught up! lol Longest post ever! Today, me & Aubrey went to 2 yard sales. I got her 2 Old Navy dresses, 2 capri sets, a pair of jeans, 3 pairs of pjs, & a pair of Nike shoes for $13 total! YAY! :) Tomorrow we are going to Little Rock to go to our last consignment sale for the season lol Hopefully I'll find a few more good deals. Her spring/summer section in her closet is already jam packed! It's just too much fun shopping for a little girl!

Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Coming Soon...

2010-03-18T21:23:00.000-05:00

I know it's been forever since I've blogged but I have been so busy!! I am exhausted! I actually have NO plans at all for this weekend, so I *promise*I will blog then!! So stay tuned.... :)

Update

2010-03-02T22:15:00.003-06:00

Well, I took Aubrey to the doctor this morning. She has RSV & Strep Throat. :( My poor, pitiful baby girl! I'm not going to lie. After we left the doctor's office, I had a little breakdown. It is just SO frustrating that she is sick alllll the time. It makes me feel like a bad mom, even though I'm doing the best I can. I give her vitamins every day, she eats her healthy veggies everyday, always wears a jacket.... what else can I do?!?!?! :( :( :( She's on breathing treatments for the RSV & a Z Pack for the strep throat. She has to stay home from daycare until at least Friday. If her cough/congestion/fever is better by Friday, she can go back to school. We'll see how she does. Last year when she had RSV, she ended up hospitalized. Praying so hard that we can avoid that this time. Here's my sweet baby waiting on the results of her strep & RSV tests (which she was NOT thrilled with- nasal swab & throat swab- no fun at all!).

Any thoughts & prayers for my sweet girl would be very appreciated. She acts okay for the most part, just a little more clingy/whiney... she is a real trooper. <3

BUSY Weekend!!

2010-03-01T20:22:00.005-06:00

I had a SUPER busy but VERY fun weekend!!

Saturday, Nathan & Aubrey had a daddy/daughter day while I headed to Texarkana. First, I stopped by Polka Dots & Lollipops, a big consignment sale that was going on. I got Aubrey a The Childrens Place tank top, a pair of Old Navy capris/pants, & a The Childrens Place bikini for $5.50 total. Can't beat that!!! Then I headed to get my hair cut, but my girl was really busy & I had no time to wait, so I'll go back the next time we come down. After that, I met up with Carla. We did a little shopping & grabbed some lunch. Then we took Elizabeth some Get Well Soon flowers & candy. :( She had the flu & couldn't go with us to Jennifer's house. We sure missed her! After Elizabeth's, we headed to Atlanta to meet the newest baby in the BFF circle!!!! Miss Peyton Olivia was born February 23rd, weighing 7 lbs 12 oz. She is soooo beautiful!! I'm so glad Jenn has officially joined the Mommy club! Now there are 6 kids between us 4 BFFs!! lol Poor Preston is the only boy! Anyway, we had a great time visiting with Jenn & Peyton. We did a photoshoot of Miss Peyton.

She is soooo cute!!! Before I knew it, it was time to head back towards Hot Springs. Nathan met me in Bismarck so I could get Aubs & we could go to Girls Night at my coworkers house, Shelly! We had a GREAT time.

Eating some yummy candy

Sharing with Spencer (he is 4 months younger than Aubs lol)

Walking in Momma's shoes ;)

She loved being a "momma" to Spencer. She kept giving him his "ba-ba" back & feeding him lol

Me & My Goofy Girl :)

Aubrey was definitely the entertainment of the night. lol She is soooo funny! All the girls were complimenting Aubrey on how smart & polite she was. Made her momma proud :D We headed home at 9:00. Aubrey totally passed out on the way home.

Sunday, I had to wake a passed out Aubrey up at 10:00 so we could get ready to meet my parents & brother in Little Rock (Colleen had to work & has no car since she wrecked-- thats a whole different story lol). We met them at The Purple Cow. It was not that great =\ After that, we went to another consignment sale that was going on there, Rhea Lana's. We got Aubs more great stuff. I finally found the zebra toy at a good price ($20), so of course I had to get that for Aubs! She LOVES it!! It was great visting with my family :) We headed back home & spent the rest of the day just relaxing.

Aubrey is, once again, sick. :( I think she has a sinus infection and/or upper respiratory infection. She is super congested, has a cough, & 102* fever. I will be calling her doctor in the morning. I feel so sad for my baby girl. She's dealt with being sick ENOUGH. I wish she would grow out of this soon!!!!

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great weekend & has a great week!

Shopping & Vacation Fun

2010-02-21T07:16:00.005-06:00

This weekend has been pretty good so far. Yesterday, me & Aubs went to Duck Duck Goose & I got her a few (more) things there. lol I already went Wednesday & Thursday, but yesterday was half price day! Then we came home & Aubs slept for 3.5 hours. When she got up from her nap, we headed to Arkadelphia to meet up with my sister. We ate at Tamollys & then we went to Walmart. Colleen had to go to work at 5, so we headed back to Hot Springs. We stopped by TJ Maxx on our way home, but didn't find anything good. I had planned on sleeping in this morning, but my throat is hurting really badly & woke me up. I hope I'm not getting laryngitis. My voice keeps coming & going. Nathan's alarm didn't go off this morning, so he left in a rush this morning. I wish he could have been off today.

Today, (even though I really don't feel very good) I'm going shopping with my sister. Being a little sick won't stop me from shopping! I'm going shopping for Aubrey's spring/summer wardrobe. I participated in a big consignment sale called Duck Duck Goose this week. I entered all of Aubrey's clothes from last spring/summer. I love doing these because it feels like I don't have to really spend money on her new clothes, the new clothes just replace the old ones! I did have a hard time at first, selling her clothes. Now I just know that even if we do have another girl in the future, I will want to buy her new stuff anyway, so I might as well sell Aubrey's old stuff. I do save some of the special things, like her coming home outfit, 1st Easter dress, etc. :) Anyway, I made $180 in the sale this week. I am so excited! I can't wait to use that money & get Aubrey a bunch of new, cute outfits! I hope it starts warming up soon. I am so tired of it being cold! I'm also very bored with Aubrey's winter wardrobe. lol It just seems like I've been putting the same clothes on her for MONTHS now. Time to move on to warmer & brighter weather!

Yesterday, I booked our tickets for New York!! I'm so excited! We are going to visit my grandma again this summer. She is 86 years old so travelling down here is getting harder for her. Aubrey is her only great grandchild, so of course my grandma loves to see her when she can. We are going June 9th-15th. I'm really looking forward to it! We had a great time last year. Hopefully this year our trip to NYC will go a little better. Last year, I forgot Aubrey's bottles at my grandma's house, so Aubrey was not a happy camper for a few hours! Then it started to rain while we were trying to make our way back to the train station & got completely soaked. And to top it off, a train in front of us derailed & we were delayed for about 1.5 hours on our way back to my grandma's! Hopefully travelling with a nearly 2 year old won't be too hard. :)

I hope everyone has had a great weekend & has a great week! <3 I don't think she has changed much, except for getting more hair ;)

This picture cracks me up!! lol

Boo! :)

Word Count

2010-02-20T11:39:00.005-06:00

Just for my own memory, I want to write down all the words Aubrey can say now, at 19 months.
Dada/Daddy
Mama/Mommy
Aubrey
Hi
Hey
Ho Ho Ho
Uh Oh
Bye Bye
Baby
Papa
Nana
Down
Up
Ball
Touchdown!
Doggy
Puppy
Kitty
Ouch/Ow
No
Go
Get
Eye/I
Me
Cheese
Bless You
Thank You
Beep Beep
Boo!
You
Excuse
Bow
Book
Balloon
Yum
Eww
Poo Poo
Pee Pee
Juice
Shoe
Sock
Ni-Ni (Night Night)
Eat
Bite
Eat
Stop
Yeah
Mine

That's all I can think of right now. There is probably a few others I'm forgetting! That's a total of 48 & her pediatrician said by age 2 she should be saying 50, so she is doing fantastic! I am so thrilled. She has improved SOOOO much on her vocabulary since getting the tubes in her ears. They have been a miracle worker!!!!

Of course, I can't post a blog without a pic or two of the princess! :)

*I've thought of a few more words Aubs can say: there, that, all done, more, & ba-ba (bottle). So yay, she's past the 50 she should be at, at age 2! :)

Weekly Update

2010-02-14T12:13:00.004-06:00

Time to review the past week ;)

Monday: It snowed overnight & Aubrey's daycare was closed. We were going to keep her home anyway because she was still running fever Sunday night. She finally was better by Monday night! I went to work for about an hour & came home sick. I guess I got Aubrey's virus. My stomach hurt SO bad. I never actually got sick, but I felt awful. I came home & slept for 3 straight hours! We just had a lazy day at home together.

Tuesday: Aubrey's daycare was closed again, so Aubrey stayed home with Nathan. They had a good time at home together :) I felt a little better & went back to work.

Wednesday: Aubrey went back to daycare for the 1st time since the past Wednesday! She was glad to be back :) She loves her daycare!! Just a normal day for us. I got off early & came home & started some laundry. Then I picked Aubs up early from daycare & we went back up to my work to visit for a little bit. Aubrey ate almost an entire bowl of guacamole that Cassidi had made. She was loving it!!! (However, I did not love the diaper that followed this a day later!).

Thursday: It started snowing again when I was on my way home from Benton. Colleen had picked Aubs up from daycare. We had planned on going out to eat, but I brought home KFC instead since the snow was starting to come down harder. Colleen passed out on the couch at like 8. lol

Friday: We ended up getting about 1.5 inches of snow. It was so pretty :) The roads were good though, so Aubs still went to daycare. I made Aubrey another snow midget before we left, lol. She had fun running around out back. She took cupcakes to school for Valentine's day. She was so excited about them. She kept staring at them & saying "ooooh!!" hahaha. We kept Kaden (our 3 month old nephew) Friday night. Aubrey loved playing with him & kept saying "baby!" over & over! She was so helpful. Keeping Kaden definitely helped me on my decison on when to have another baby. We have decided we definitely want to wait until Aubrey is a lot older, as in 4-6 years old. I just felt so guilty not being able to give Aubrey all of my attention on Friday night while I was taking care of Kaden. I also hated having to tell her "no" so many times, even though she was really just trying to help. I want her to be our "baby" for a few more years before we bring another baby into the picture. I think we will start trying for another baby when I have to have my iud taken out (they only last 5 years), so that is about 3.5 years away.

Saturday: I had planned on taking Aubrey & Kaden to Sears to have their pictures done together & we were going to keep Kaden Saturday night too, but I woke up sick again Saturday morning!! So, we drove to Prescott & met Nathan's aunt Amy who said he would keep Kaden that night since we weren't going to. We had lunch with Amy & Morgan before heading back home. When we got home, I took a 3 hour nap. Those seem to help me when I'm not feeling good! Then we just had a lazy day at home!

So, there's the week in review ;) haha It's been a pretty good week. Nathan got me a massage at a local spa for Valentine's day! I was so surprised & excited!! Ever since my wreck, my back/neck is always messed up & massages really help! It was a very thoughtful present!

Aubrey seems to be learning a new word every day. She cracked me up one day this week when I burped really loud & she looked at me & said "Excuse you!!" hahaha! I didn't even know she knew how to say that, let alone in the right context! Her favorite word right now is "Thank you!". She always knows when to say it & it is so adorable!

Well, I hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day! We are just having a nice day at home together! Wouldn't want to spend the day with anyone else besides my two loves!! :)

The Joys of Parenthood

2010-02-07T17:04:00.002-06:00

I love, love, love being a mom. I seriously feel like being a mom is the one thing I was destined to do. I have never felt so "right" or happy with anything else. It is the best thing ever to me. However, this weekend, I've experienced some "joys of parenthood" I would be perfectly happy to never experience again!! And no, I'm not naive, I know this is ONLY the beginning!

I'm 99.9% sure Aubrey has rotavirus. :( Like I said in my last post, she threw up during the night Wednesday night. She stayed home with Nathan on Thursday & had two very nasty diarrhea diapers. Friday, she was completely fine. We went to Fouke for Nathan's dad's wedding & she seemed fine the entire day/night! Yesterday, me, my mom, & Aubs were on our way to start our day of shopping. We had a very busy day planned! Just as we were pulling into the TJ Maxx parking lot, our first stop of the day, Aubrey puked EVERYWHERE. It was like she was a water faucet. Poor baby girl!!! I felt so bad for her. I pulled into a parking spot to undress her & before I could even get her clothes off she threw up again. I stripped her down to just her diaper (I of course, had no extra outfit with us which is unusual for us). I put her back in her seat (which I tried my very best to clean out with baby wipes & her jacket) & wrapped her up in her blanket & we headed back home. I put her down for a nap & she slept for 4 hours. When I went to get her up, I found her almost completely covered from chest to toes in diarrhea. :( Soooo incredibly nasty!! We HATE rotovirus! So needless to say, I've done a LOT of laundry this weekend. I seriously wanted to just buy her a new carseat rather than take it apart to wash. The smell was awful!!!

Today, she hasn't vomited or had diarrhea, but she is barely eating, so that's probably why. She is still running a fever, so she will stay home with Nathan tomorrow. Her doctor said if she was still sick tomorrow, we would need to bring her in. Hopefully she will be better by tomorrow morning. She has been extra clingy, which is something she does when she really doesn't feel good. Oh & the fact that she is pretty much avoiding all food, that is a big sign something is not right with our baby girl!

In other news, Aubrey is 19 months old today. I can't believe she is now closer to the age 2 instead of 1! Time is just flying by. I don't have a big post written up. I have been so busy with her being sick. Not much has changed since 18 months. She has added some more words to her vocabulary. I will have to post on that soon. She is such a big girl now & seems so intelligent. I know most parents think their babies are smart but we get told how smart she is from others too so I don't think I'm being too obnoxious thinking she's a little smartie ;)

I'll post again later this week with pictures from the wedding. Congratulations to Nathan's dad, Chad & Pam. They seem VERY happy! I know how wonderful a happy marriage can be. I am blessed to have been in one myself for a little over 3 years now. I thank God everyday for putting Nathan into my life. He is my very best friend & I love him with all of my heart!!

This is already way longer than I wanted it to be, sorry for all the details on the puke/diarrhea but I want to remember this stuff in a few years, so details are key ;) Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Almost...

2010-02-04T18:43:00.009-06:00

Well, we almost made it two weeks with Aubs not being sick! ALMOST. Then the nasty stomach virus hit my poor baby girl! I went to wake her up this morning to get her ready for daycare & before I even opened her door I could smell something BAD. :( She had thrown up sometime during the night. I feel so bad that I didn't hear her!! Luckily, Nathan was off today, so he stayed home with her. She has slept most of the day. She slept from 10:15-3:00 & went back to sleep again at 4:15 & is still sleeping. Nathan said she had some really nasty diapers today too & that he had to use "half the wipe box!" LOL! I'd rather deal with that than the throw up. I literally was gagging this morning!! GROSS!

Hopefully she will be better in the morning. We have plans to go to Fouke tomorrow for Nathan's dad's wedding. If it comes down to it, I'll stay home with Aubrey so Nathan can still go. From what I hear, this virus that's been going around has been a 24 hour bug so hopefully Aubrey will be better & we can all go.

Not much has been going on this week. Just the same ole same ole :) I have been getting all of Aubrey's stuff ready to sell at Duck Duck Goose. It is a big consignment sale that we have here twice a year. I have 100 items to sell, so hopefully I'll make a good amount of money so I can turn right back around & spend it on Aubrey's spring/summer wardrobe!

Well, that's about it for now. Just wanted to do a quick update. Please pray for Aubrey that she will be well again soon. Also keep my BFF's daughter, Catie, in your thoughts & prayers too. She's been running a high fever & has a respiratory infection. It's just no fun when your babies are sick!!

Here's a few pics from this week:

I don't even know why we buy toys?! She had SO much fun playing in this box!

Aubrey & Aunt Lee Lee watching American Idol... Aubs still in the box of course! LOL!

Seriously.... so cute!!! :)

Playing in her tent/tunnel :)

Cheese!

Here & There

2010-01-30T12:32:00.004-06:00

Life has been busy at the Williams residence like usual! Last Saturday, Aubrey & I went to Texarkana for Jenn's baby shower. We had a great time & Jenn got a lot of great stuff for baby Peyton! It was raining when it was time to head back home & Carla asked if I would please please please stay the night. lol! I called Nathan like I was a 12 year old & asked if I could stay the night with my bff, hahaha. He said he didn't care, especially since it was raining pretty good here. So, Aubrey & I stayed the night at Carla's house! We had a lot of fun. Aubrey stayed up SUPER late (10:30!) playing with Carla's girls & Emma. Elizabeth & Travis came over & we had pizza. The girls watched The Pregnancy Pact & the guys played Xbox. I was sad Nathan wasn't there with us, but me & Aubrey had a great time! Sunday we went to church & surprised Nathan's family :) That was fun! Afterwards we went to eat at Nathan's grandma's. We headed back towards home & met up with Colleen at TaMolly's. After that we headed home & got ready for the week to begin!

Nothing too exciting happened this week, just the same ole same ole. The director of Aubrey's daycare told me on Monday that they are going to have to start charging us more because Aubrey eats SO much! HAHAHA! She is so tiny but she can really pack some food in! A funny moment this week was when I told Aubrey "Let's go fix your hair!". She ran to the bathroom, stood at the counter, pointed to her hair, and said "Bow! Bow!". lol I have the girl trained right! :) Friday we had an ice day! My work was cancelled, Nathan was off, & Aubrey got to stay home from school! We had a great day snuggled up in the house together! This morning when we woke up, there was a LITTLE bit of snow on the ground! We went outside & made Aubrey's very first snowman.. or snowmidget! LOL! We worked with what we had! Now Aubrey is asleep & we are just relaxing. Hopefully the roads will be better tomorrow so I can go to Target! Anyway, hope everyone has a great weekend! Here are some pictures from throughout the week!

Aubrey's 1st Snowman! hahaha!

Reading a book, one of her favorite things to do :)

Such a sweetie!!

Posing with her prize for winning 1st place in a baby photo contest @ photowow.com!! :)

BFFs @ Jenn's Baby Shower!!

Oh & here is a video of Aubrey dancing her little heart out! hahaha! She LOVES this song! And yes, we DO clean. She insists on having every toy out while she's up so we straighten up after she goes to bed! So ignore the millions of toys & blanket pallet! :)

Busy Day

2010-01-23T06:38:00.003-06:00

Today will be a busy day & it got off to a VERY early start! Aubrey woke up around 5:30 am. That is SOOOO unlike her. She was just fussing so much & pulling at her ear. I put some numbing ear drops in & she went right back to sleep. Poor baby! Now I am up though. Once I wake up like that, I have a hard time going back to sleep. I took her back to the doctor on Wednesday & along with croup, she also had an upper respiratory infection & an ear infection. Sheesh! She just can not catch a break it seems! She is on a Z Pack now & it has really helped her a lot!

Today we are going to Texarkana for my BFF Jenn's baby shower. She is due Feb 27th with little Miss Peyton Olivia :) I am so excited for her! She's the last BFF to become a mommy! :) Now we will have kids everywhere whenever we get together, lol! I'm meeting up with Carla & Elizabeth at Target at 11:30 so we can buy our gift for Jenn (carseat!). Then we have to head out to Bloomburg to start setting up for the shower. It should be a fun & busy day! My mom was supposed to come down this weekend but she isn't feeling well. We will miss her!
Hmm.. not much else to write about. Here's a few pics from this week :)

One passed out little girl

Mommy & Aubs after bathtime :)

At the doctor's office on Wednesday

My pretty little girl :)

<3 <3 <3

Sickling

2010-01-19T07:42:00.003-06:00

I took my little sickling back to the doctor yesterday. When her doctor walked in, he said "It seems like we've seen ya'll a lot lately..." Umm, ya think?! Poor Aubrey. :( It seems like she can never catch a break!! Anyway, she has croup, which was likely caused from RSV. She had to get a steroid shot & we have to keep doing her breathing treatments. He said the steroid shot should help her improve pretty quickly. If we don't see any major improvements by Wednesday, we have to take her back. Hopefully she will improve!! She still had a pretty rough night. She was up a lot coughing & crying. :( She stayed home from daycare yesterday with Nathan & today she is staying home with my mom. I could have stayed home with her, but I wouldn't have gotten paid. We are not allowed to use our sick time on our children. Don't even get me started on that subject. So, I am SO grateful that my mom can come down & watch her for me. Aubrey loves spending time with her Nana so they should have a great day together!

Yesterday, I got pulled over, AGAIN. I swear, I need to go to Speeding Anonymous!!! I have a serious problem! I got a ticket in June & another one the day after Thanksgiving. I am still paying the last ticket off! I have been making payments on it every Monday. I only have 2 payments left. Then I go and get pulled over again!!! I was going down this little back road that I thought was 35 mph. Just as soon as I saw the speed limit sign saying "25 mph", I saw the cop. I had no time to slow down. :( Thankfully the cop was very nice & just gave me a verbal warning. He said "Congratulations on your new car. Slow down some!" My heart was beating so fast. I can NOT get another ticket!! I need to start paying better attention. I'm never speeding for a reason. I just don't pay attention & don't realize I'm speeding or don't realize what the speed limit is. I am really going to try to work on that!!

Well, it's January 19th & so far my New Year's resolutions are off to a good start ;) I am being a better blogger. I printed a ton of Aubrey's pictures AND put them into an album! I still have some to work on but I'm finished with one album! The best New Year's resolution update I have is that my car is still clean! Woo hoo! This is a big accomplishment for me!! lol Hopefully I can keep up the good work! ;)

Well, no pictures today. I really need to download pictures off of my camera. With Aubrey being sick, I haven't taken many recently. I am waiting on my mom to get here & then I'm off to work. Hope everyone has a great day!!

Lazy Weekend

2010-01-17T13:14:00.004-06:00

We don't have too many lazy weekends around here. The weekends Nathan works, my mom comes down & we are always busy doing things out & about. Most weekends Nathan's off, we go out of town or have something planned. This weekend Nathan was off & we had no plans!! YAY!!

Friday night, Aubrey started getting sick, again. Poor thing. She gets well for like a week and then is sick again. I hate it for her!! It started out as just a runny nose & has moved into her chest, which seems to always happen now. She has been coughing & wheezing really badly. I feel so bad for her!!

Saturday, me, Colleen, & Aubrey had planned on going shopping. Since Aubrey had a rough night Friday coughing all night, I decided she needed to stay home with daddy. Good idea, because she slept the entire time we were gone, taking an almost FIVE hour nap! Poor thing, she needed some rest!! So, me & Colleen headed to Bryant to go shopping. We went to Chili's first to eat lunch. It was pretty good... except for about 30 minutes later it did NOT agree with me. Ugh it was awful, my stomach was hurting so bad!! It didn't stop me from shopping though. We went to Target, Old Navy, & Kohls. I was pretty bummed because I was looking for specific sandals & capri's for Aubrey & didn't find them! I'm going to check the Target/Kohls in Texarkana next weekend while we are there for Jennifer's baby shower!

Today, we have just been laying around. Aubrey got up about 9 & I brought her into our room. She laid in the bed watching tv with me while Nathan still slept. She ended up falling back asleep on me, which is something she never does. I hate that she's sick but I do enjoy the extra cuddles. She never has time to cuddle anymore, she is always too busy!

Aubrey is down for a nap now & Nathan is watching the Cowboys game. Aubrey watched some of the game with Nathan before she went down for her nap!

Later this afternoon, after Aubrey gets up, we are going to head to Arkadelphia to eat at TaMolly's with my sister. She left her wallet here yesterday & needs it.. and I was craving some Mexican food so I said we would just bring it to her!

So, it's been a nice, relaxing weekend. I will probably be taking Aubrey to the doctor tomorrow if she doesn't get any better.. which from the sounds of her cough today.. doesn't seem like she's going to. I hope everyone else has had a nice weekend!! Have a great week!

BFFs

2010-01-14T20:36:00.002-06:00

I decided I want to write a post about my BFFs. Of course, my very bestest friend is Nathan. He is a wonderful husband & dad & I don't know what I would do without him! A girl's gotta have her "girl" friends though... and I have 3 of the best!!

I met Carla, Elizabeth, & Jennifer in nursing school in February 2007. I remember thinking on the first day that I wanted to be friends with Elizabeth, because she had just gotten married in October 2006 & me & Nathan had just gotten married in November 2006! Plus, she looked "normal". hahaha! I honestly don't remember when we first became friends, but it wasn't too long after nursing school started. We often would message each other at night on myspace. Carla & Elizabeth also became friends. I don't really remember much about Carla from the beginning of nursing school. I do remember she teared up when she was talking about her girls on the first day. I sooooooooo understand that now!!! It's so hard leaving your babies at daycare for the first time!! Other than that though, I don't remember much about her. She sat on the other side of the classroom. After her & Elizabeth became friends, I started talking to her more since she was Elizabeth more. Carla said she didn't like me at first HAHA! I guess I can come off a little.. not friendly at first. heheh. She loves me now though so it's okay! Jennifer came into our class in the 2nd quarter. She was put into my clinical group which was NOT the best. She looked "normal" too and I was excited to maybe find someone cool in my group haha! I showed her around & we became friends quickly! Before we knew it, me, Carla, Elizabeth, and Jenn were all hanging out on breaks together & going to lunch! I truly believe God put us all in nursing school together so that we could become life long friends!!!

Carla, Elizabeth, & Jenn are definitely LIFE Long friends. It's weird how sometimes friendships just fade out of your life.. but I can really see us all still being best friends when we're 80, saggy, & wrinkly!! LOL! We all just get along so well! Carla showed us how amazing being a mom is! She has 2 girls, Catelyn who is 6 & Savannah who is 4. They were 4 & 2 when we were in nursing school. In October 2007, I got pregnant with Aubrey! Then in April 2008, Elizabeth got pregnant with Emma Grace! Then in August 2008, Jenn got married! Next up was Carla! She got pregnant with Mr. Preston at the end of November 2008. Jenn wasn't far behind.. she got pregnant in June 2009 & is now due next month with Peyton!! LOTS OF BABIES!! It's so nice to have each other to talk to about our kids. I know some of my friends from high school who don't have kids could care less to hear me talk about how Aubrey went poo poo in the potty for the 1st time or how many teeth she has now, etc!

I am so blessed & thankful to have 3 of the best friends a girl could ask for!! Even though I live 1.5 hours away from them now, they are still my very best friends & I keep in very close contact with them!! So here's the end to my super cheesy BFF post... I just had to write about my awesome BFFs & how much I love them!!!!

Firsts

2010-01-12T19:24:00.003-06:00

Life has been busy as usual lately. We've experienced some "firsts" in the past few days. Sunday we went to Emma's "FIRST" Birthday Party!! YAY! Emma is one of Aubrey's BFFs :) Aubrey had so much fun at Emma's party!! There was pizza, cake, a carousel, games, etc! It was a great first birthday party for a great little girl! :)

The other "first" is a BIG first to us! Aubrey went poo poo in her potty for the first time on Sunday night! YAY!!! We were so very happy & excited for her. Aubrey was so proud of herself too! I am one proud momma & excited to report she has gone poo poo on her potty for the 3rd consecutive night!! We are hoping this is a great start to potty training!

Tomorrow night, me, Aubrey, & my sister are meeting Elizabeth, Emma, & her mom for dinner at PF Changs. Yummy! I've never eaten there but I've heard it's AWESOME, so that is another "first" I am looking forward to! :)

Well, time to watch American Idol with my sister :) More later this week!

Lots of Randomness!

2010-01-08T19:20:00.007-06:00

I find it very hard to blog during the week. After working all day & playing/feeding/bathing Aubrey, by the time Aubrey is in bed, I just don't have the motivation to sit down & focus on blogging! Friday's are different though. I feel like I can really relax & just reflect on the past week! :)

So, Monday we woke up to snow! Not a lot by any means, but hey, it was still snow! Of course I had to document Aubrey's first experience with snow with some pictures! I didn't take many though, because she was still sick & it was just way too cold for pictures!

Tuesday, I texted Nathan while on my way to the Village saying how I wish I could get an SUV. Well.... 24 hours later, I had an SUV!! Hahaha! I promise I am usually not that spoiled! Things definitely worked out in my favor! We traded in Nathan's truck, which his brother was driving. Now Cody will drive our cobalt, Nathan will drive my Fusion, & I have the new car!! It's a 2008 Equinox. I *LOVE* it sooooo much!!! It is so nice! It has leather (heated!!) seats, a sunroof, & only has 30,000 miles on it, which isn't bad at all for being used. I am very thankful my hubby is so good to me! My 2nd New Year's Resolution is to keep this car CLEAN! I pinky swore Nathan I would... so I am REALLY going to try!!! lol

My sister has been staying with us this week because her dorm is still closed but she had to work. It's been fun! :) Good sisterly bonding time! We have become addicted to the card games Old Maid & Blink (it's like the game Speed). So much fun! She has been picking Aubrey up for us while we were stuck at the car dealership finishing up paperwork & that has been very helpful!

Today I got to sleep in some because Aubrey's doctor's appt was at 9:30. That was nice! Her appt went well. We got some steroid cream to use on her eczema. Poor thing, I feel so bad for her little skin. She has it on her arms, legs, back, & a little on her cheeks. Hopefully this new cream will help with that! Then when I got to work, my dr had called in sick. So it was an easy morning. The day went by fast & I'm so glad to be home! I'm ready for a fun weekend!! My mom is coming down tomorrow & we always have so much fun when she is here. Sunday I am going to Texarkana for my BFF's daughter's 1st birthday party! Aubrey's BFF Emma turned 1 on December 29th! We are looking forward to seeing our BFFs!!!

I hope everyone has had a good week & has a great weekend! :)

18 Months!!

2010-01-07T19:07:00.003-06:00

Aubrey Claire, you are 18 months old today. This almost seems impossible! How can you already be a year & half?! You are growing into such a beautiful little girl. You are now 30 inches tall & 21 pounds 6 ounces! That's a weight gain of 1 pound 5 ounces from 15 months (There was a nurse error last time on your height, because at 15 months you measured 30.25 inches. We know you didn't shrink & we measured you twice today to make sure it was really 30 inches!) The biggest difference between 15 months & 18 months has definitely been your speech. You had surgery on October 30th to place tubes in your ears to help drain the fluid you constantly had on your ears & to prevent all of the ear infections you kept getting. Those little tubes have been miracle workers! It's now been almost 10 weeks since you've had the tubes & we have seen such an amazing improvement in your speech! Before you got the tubes, the only real words you could say were: Dada, Uh Oh, Hi, & Eye/I. Here is what you are saying now!

Dada
Mama
Hi
Uh Oh
Bye Bye
Baby
Papa
Down
Up
Ball
Touchdown!
DoggyKitty
Ouch/Ow
No
Go
Get
Eye/I
Me
Cheese
Bless You
Thank You
Beep Beep
Boo!

It seems like you add a new word to your vocabulary every day! You even said your first "sentence" on December 30th. "I go bye bye!" We love hearing your adorable little voice.

You now have 7 teeth, with an 8th & 9th already broken through the gums. You have your two bottom teeth. You have 5 teeth up top. You got your left eye tooth first. It looked like your right eye tooth would come in next, but then your left middle tooth beat that one! Next was the right eye tooth. Then while we have been patiently waiting on your right middle tooth to come in, you got two back teeth, one on each side!! That surprised Momma. She wasn't even checking for back teeth until one day she noticed something in the back when you yawned. That's when she found out you had two teeth in the back hiding out! Your right middle tooth has broken through the gums & now in the past day your bottom left tooth beside your bottom left middle tooth is coming in a little more everyday.

You are a social butterfly. You love being around other kids. Today you moved to the "toddler" class at daycare. This is where the children from 18 months- 3 years are. Mommy was very sad to see you in the room with all of the "big" kids. Instead of taking you to the nursery & putting you in your highchair to eat breakfast, you sat down at the big kids table in the cafeteria & started eating cereal with milk out of a bowl like a big girl! You loved it though. Even though you are definitely the smallest kid in there, you know how to stand up for yourself. Your favorite nun, Sister Julie, is now a teacher in the toddler class & you are happy to be back in her class again. We get compliments from your teachers all the time about how smart you are. You now know all of your body parts (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head, belly, hands, arms, feet, legs, toes, fingers, & booty). You can "sing" the ABCs (you don't have the exact letter pronounciations down, but you hum & make up your "own" letters to the exact tune of ABCs). We can ask you where something is & you know exactly what we are talking about & point right to it. You are also very independent. You like to do things on your own. You are definitely strong willed with a little bit of a temper too. If we try to help you with something you are trying to do, you push us away because you want to do it on your own. If you are unable to do what you are trying, you get very mad. Not sure where that temper comes from... haha!

Some of your favorite things do to are:
1) Give kisses. You LOVE smacking your lips & going up to everyone who is in the room at that time (including Carson & Parker) giving big kisses!
2) Playing with your babies. You have become quite the little momma lately. It is so cute to watch you "feed" your baby. You always randomly give your babies hugs & kisses which is adorable to watch!
3) Play outside. You love playing outside & you're not too happy that it's been too cold out to play. We are all ready for spring to be here!
4) Sleep!! You LOVE your sleep. It's like having a little teenager already. You make Mommy & Daddy scared to give you a brother or sister. You have spoiled us so badly with being such a good baby that we are afraid a brother or sister would be bad, bad, bad!

Aubrey, it is so amazing to watch you continue to grow & learn every day. Not a day goes by that you don't put a HUGE smile on Mommy & Daddy's face. You are truly the light of our lives & we love you SOOOOO very much!!! Happy 18 Months, Aubrey Claire!

Early Start

2010-01-03T09:11:00.000-06:00

I got up at 7:30 this morning to go grocery shopping before Aubrey & Nathan woke up. It worked out great!! There were hardly any people at Walmart, so it made shopping very easy. Sometimes it's just easier to go grocery shopping without Aubrey. She has decided she is too big to sit in the front seat. She wants to stand up in the basket & this can be stressful between trying to load that part up with groceries & making sure she's holding on while I'm pushing! Now I got all the shopping done & groceries put away & Nathan & Aubrey are still asleep! :)

Tomorrow starts a new work week. Aubrey has to go back to daycare. Her daycare was closed the past week. She's not going to like having to get up early again! She's been sleeping in until at least 9am every morning. I have enjoyed two 3 day weekends in a row. I wish every weekend was a 3 day weekend!! That would be NICE!

Aubrey seems to be feeling a little better. Her cough isn't as bad as it was. She did much better last night!! I hate that she is sick so often :( It breaks my heart for her. She is a trooper though & does pretty good handling her sickies. We are going to Sears today to have her 18 month pictures done. Hopefully we'll get at least one good shot!

Well, I hear Aubrey waking up now! More later :)

<3 Valerie

2009 Survey (Boredom at it's best!!)

2010-01-02T21:26:00.000-06:00

JANUARY:

Who kissed you on new years? Nathan

Did you have a new year’s resolution this year? If I did, I don't remember it

Does it snow where you live? Rarely :(

Do you like hot chocolate? It's okay.

Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? No.

FEBRUARY:

Who was your Valentine this year? Nathan

When you were little did you buy Valentine’s for the whole class? Of course!

Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not? Not really.

MARCH:

Are you Irish? Yep!

Do you wear green on St. Patty’s Day? Yes.

What did you do for St. Patty’s Day in 2009? Nothing special.

Are you happy when winter is pretty much over? YES.

APRIL:

Do you like the rain? If I don't have to get out in it.

Did you play an April fool’s joke on anyone this year? I'm sure.

Do you get tons of candy on Easter? My mom still gives us Easter Baskets!! :)

Do you celebrate 4/20? Negative.

Do you love the month of April? Sure :)

MAY:

What is your favorite flower? Tulip!

Do you like the spring? Yes

Finish the phrase “April showers”: Bring May Flowers

Do you celebrate Mothers Day? Yes! :)

Is there anything special about May to you? Mother's Day

JUNE:

What year did/will you graduate from high school? I graduated Dec. 2004

Did you do anything fun during this month? Went to New York

Have a favorite baseball team? No

Do you celebrate Father’s Day? Yes

JULY:

What did you do on the Fourth of July this year? We flew home from New York!

What did you do that month? Celebrated Aubrey's 1st birthday!!!

Did you go on any vacations during this month? We were in New York from June 29th-July 4th.

Did you blast the A/C all day? I'm sure.

AUGUST:

Do you do anything special at the end of your summer every year? Summer is not that exciting now that I'm a big girl who has to work all summer ;)

What was your favorite summer memory of ‘09? Aubrey's first birthday!

Did you have a sunburn? Maybe in New York.. don't remember.

Did you go to the beach a lot? Once in New York

SEPTEMBER:

Are you attending college/school? DONE!

Who's your favorite teacher? N/A

Do you like fall better than summer? Love Fall!! My favorite season!

OCTOBER:

What was your last Halloween costume? Witch.

What is your favorite candy? Sour Skittles/ Sour Patch Kids/ Sour Punch Straws/ Milky Way/ Hot Tamales

Who’s birthday is during this month? My Dad's

NOVEMBER:

Whose house did you go to for Thanksgiving? Nathan's great grandmas

What are you thankful for? my wonderful family & friends!!

Do you love stuffing? Yum!

DECEMBER:

Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes!

Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe? Yep

Get anything special last year? Yep

What do you want this year? I got what I wanted :)

Do you know what your next new years resolution will be? THIS! To be a better blogger ;)

Stayed single almost the whole year? Umm no.

Were involved in something you'll never forget? Yes.

Dyed your hair? Nope, unless you count highlights.

Came close to losing your life? No.

Saw one of your favorite bands/artists live? No.

2009:

FRIENDS & ENEMIES

Did you meet any new friends this year? Yes

Did you hate anyone? hehehe

Do you have any regrets when it comes to your friendships? No

2009:

YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Did you have a cake? Yes! Nathan & Aubs got me a cookie cake :) And Shelly made me an oreo cake at work!

Did you have a party? Yep, at work!

Did you get any presents? Yes.

2009:

ALL ABOUT YOU

Did you change at all this year? Not much.

Did you change your style? No, not really.

Were you in school? Nope!

Did anyone close to you give birth? Yep!! My BFF Carla!

Did you go on any vacations? Yes, to New York.

Would you change anything about yourself now? No.

2009:

WRAP UP

Was 2009 a good year? Yes.

Do you think 2010 will top 2009? Maybe.

IN THE YEAR 2009 I CONFESS THAT I.

Had your heart broken? No

Done something you've regretted? Not that I can think of.

Painted a picture? No

Wrote a poem? No

Ran a mile? YEAH RIGHT.

Visited a foreign country? No

Cut in a line of waiting people? Not that I can remember? But maybe..

Told someone you were busy when you weren't? Probably

Lied about how old you were? No

IN 2009

I....Lied? I'm sure.

Disappointed someone close? Don't think so.. hope not anyway!

Hid a seccret? Not that I can think of.

Pretended to be happy? Don't have to pretend :)

Layed out under the stars? No

Kept your new years resolution? Don't remember it..

Forgot your new years resolution? Yep if I had one lol

Met someone who changed your life? Hmm.. in 2009? Maybe.

Changed your outlook on life? Somewhat.. not really though.

Learned something new about yourself? Not really.

Tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it? Tamale Spread!

Made a change in your life? Yes

Found out who your true friends were? Yes & I love them! :)

Met great people? Yes.

Stayed up til sunrise? NO WAY.

Cried over the silliest things? Probably

Had friends who were drifting away from you? A few

Spent most of your money on food? Not most.. but a good portion goes towards food lol

Had a fist fight? No.

Liked more than 5 people at the same time? No way.

Wow, I feel like a teenager again after doing that. LOL! <3

New Layout

2010-01-02T09:21:00.000-06:00

I decided to try & do better about posting again. I always say this, so we'll see how long it lasts. I guess I'll consider this my New Years resolution :) To be a better blogger!

Things are the same as always :) Aubrey is growing up so fast. She is almost 18 months old now. I started writing her 18 month letter yesterday. Check back for that on Thursday. She is pretty sick right now :( She has a sinus infection that has gone to her chest. She is coughing non stop & wheezing some too. I'm praying she doesn't have RSV again. She sounds just like she did when she had that last January. I've started her back up on breathing treatments, so hopefully between those & her antibiotic, she will feel better soon. The good thing is she still acts like her normal happy self. Poor baby girl is so used to being sick, she has to REALLY be sick for it to bring her down now.

Me & Nathan are doing great. We celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary in November :) It seems impossible but I fall a little more in love with him everyday. He is my very best friend! Our jobs are going great. Nathan is still working at the prison and I'm still working at the allergy & asthma clinic. I love my job which makes it a lot easier having to go to work everyday. Aubrey also loves her daycare, so that definitely makes things easier as well. We are still loving living in HS. I miss my best friends but we still go down often & they come to see us too! We are planning a BFF vacation for Memorial Day & I hope it all works out because that will be a BLAST! :)

So, things are the same as always.. but that's fine with me. I wouldn't have my life any other way! :) Happy New Year & I'll try to be a better blogger :)

Please Vote!

2009-11-25T22:27:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! Aubrey is in a photo contest & needs your DAILY votes!!! :) You have to register, but I promise it's not hard at all! Save the site to your favorites so you can vote for her every day PLEASE! A reader's choice winner will be selected at the end of the month!

http://modelsearch.parenting.com/contests/voteformyentry/89168?sk=ha33yih

Give Away

2009-11-12T20:36:00.001-06:00

My BFF Elizabeth is having a give away on her blog for a Christmas onesie/shirt. It's definitely worth checking out! You can also see her beautiful little girl aka Aubrey's bff, Emma Grace :)

http://thestratefamily.blogspot.com/2009/11/giveaway.html

15 months old!

2009-10-07T16:40:00.001-05:00

Aubrey Claire, you are 15 months old today. Wow, where has the time gone? I seriously can't believe you are already this big. You have definitely made the turn from a baby to a toddler. Your looks are starting to change. You still definitely resemble your daddy, but you are starting to get your own look about you, instead of being daddy's little clone. You are officially done with bottles. Mommy kept you on them a little longer than usual to help you gain some extra weight. It helped, because you now weigh 20 lbs 1 oz, which is a pretty good weight gain since your one year check up where you weighed 17 lbs 9 oz. You are now 30.25 inches tall, having grown 2.25 inches since your one year check up. You are still little for your age, like you always have been! You are in the 13th percentile for weight & you recently had a pretty big growth spurt height wise & you are now in the 55th percentile for height! You are also done with baby food. You eat 3 meals and two snacks a day. You love club crackers just like your daddy. You finally have teeth now! You have your two front bottom teeth, your left upper eye tooth, & your right upper eye tooth is barely poking through. You decided to get your teeth a little out of order, skipping your two front middle teeth! You are a busy little girl, choosing to run just about everywhere these days, instead of walk. You love to jump in your crib or on the bed. When we say "jump", you move your legs up & down without bringing your feet off the ground. You also love to pretend you are a monster & instantly go into "monster mode" when we say "Aubrey, pretend like you're a monster!" You make the cutest little monster growls. You know where your eyes, mouth, head, & feet are. We are working on nose, ears, arms, & hands now. You learn things very quickly. We usually only have to show you something one time & you figure out how to do it on your own. You are a little behind on speech, which is most likely due to the 6 ear infections you've had since January & the fluid that is constantly on your ears. You will soon be having an operation to put tubes in your ears which will help drain this fluid. The doctor says after you get your tubes, we will be able to tell a difference in your hearing & speech almost immediately. Right now everything probably sounds like you are underwater. So, for right now, these are the words you can say. Hi, Dada (your most favorite word), Uh oh (second favorite word), Da (for dog, you say this everytime you point at the dogs), Oh, I/Eye, & you have said momma/nana once but now you feel like you have pleased momma & Nana by saying it one time & haven't repeated it since. We just recently turned your carseat around since you are now at 20 lbs. You look like such a big girl in the car. You really like being turned around because now you can see things better while we are driving. You are an amazing sleeper. Your bedtime is 7pm. I usually have to wake you up to get ready for daycare. You always get at least 12 hours of sleep. On the weekends, you have been known to sleep until 11am! Even with getting 12+ hours of sleep a night, you also still take one very good nap during the day, lasting at least an hour & sometimes up to 3 hours. Mommy loves her sleep so she is very glad you are following in her footsteps there! One of your favorite things to do is play ring around the rosie's. Even after Mommy & Daddy are so dizzy from playing & try to sit down, you come & grab our hands to tell us you still want to play some more. You also love when we sing the ABC's. You get the biggest smile on your face & clap your hands. You are the biggest blessing in your Mommy & Daddy's life. We are so thankful to have such a beautiful little girl. We are so proud of you & can't wait to watch you continue to grow & learn new things. Mommy & Daddy love you!! Happy 15 months baby girl!

One Year

2009-07-09T06:27:00.001-05:00

I can not believe my baby girl turned 1 year old on July 7th. Where did the time go? Everyone told me it would go by fast. I knew it would, but not that fast! Geez! A year ago I had a teeny tiny baby girl, weighing only 5 lbs 6 oz. Now, I have a very energetic little girl, weighing 17 lbs 9 oz. The love I have for Aubrey is undescribable. There are simply no words to explain how I feel everytime I look at her; she is my world & I would do anything & everything for her. She has been such a wonderful baby this past year, she really makes being a mom easy. I am almost scared to have another baby, lol. Surely the next one will be a terror since Aubrey was such a good & easy going baby! This past year holds so many memories of watching Aubrey grow from a tiny baby into a smart & outgoing one year old. She is walking all over the place now. :) She eats mostly all table foods now, with one baby food fruit & veggie a day as well. She is making the switch to real milk. We have almost completely weaned her from bottles. Sometimes she still wants one at bedtime, so that's the last one we have to tackle. She finally is working on her 1st tooth :) We are having her 1st birthday party on Saturday, Princess themed of course ;) I am truly blessed to have such a beautiful little girl as my daughter. I thank God for every day He gives me with Aubrey & Nathan. <3

Here is Aubrey's birthday party invitation, which shows a picture of her from each month from birth until 1 year :) (I whited out our information lol)

Awesome Give Away

2009-07-05T19:56:00.001-05:00

My friend, Gena, has an amazing give away going on right now. Please visit http://themorrisbunchblog.com/?p=1740&cpage=7#comment-3298 to check out the give away. What is being given away?? A Hoover Vacuum!! Please go check it out now! :) Give away ends S-O-O-N! Don't miss out! :)

Where Does The Time Go?

2009-05-24T07:11:00.000-05:00

This is me at this time last year. I was almost 32 weeks pregnant. I thought I still had 8 weeks left until I would meet my baby girl. I actually only had 6 weeks left. Miss Aubrey Claire decided to grace us with her presence 2 weeks & 1 day early. I was very happy about that! I can not believe how fast this past year has gone!! It is so bittersweet. It's so exciting to see Aubrey growing & learning new things every day, but at the same time I miss when she was still just a teeny newborn.

Aubrey is doing great. She will be 11 months old on June 7th. We are planning her first birthday party. It will be on July 11th. We're having it at a church that has an indoor playground. I have everything picked out for her party already, cake, decorations, etc. Aubrey last went to the doctor on May 15th (she had a viral infection) and weighed 17 lbs 1 oz! She is a growing girl!! She just thinks she is so grown up now. She tries to stand up to anything, even my legs, lol. She is crawling all over the place & into everything. We are taking her up to my work on Wednesday to have her allergy tested for milk. I pray that she has outgrown her allergy! She is missing out on some good foods because of it! She still doesn't have ANY teeth! lol I think she might be teething, but I really have no idea. I've thought that numerous times over the past 4-5 months & no teeth have ever showed up! I am so blessed to have such a beautiful baby girl as my daughter!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday. I had to get this dress when I saw it at a consignment sale, because it's the same dress Aubrey wore home from the hospital (although that one was preemie size and TOO big on Aubrey then!).

Another GREAT Give-Away!!

2009-04-17T20:14:00.001-05:00

My friend, Tara, is hosting a give-away on her blog. It's awesome, you should DEFINITELY check it out!

http://www.throughhazeleyesblog.com/2009/03/baby-kakes-ink-review-and-giveaway.html

The give away is for an adorable alphabet onesie from www.babykakesink.com
If you go to Tara's blog, which I posted a link for above, you can see her adorable daughter Olivia, modeling the alphabet onesie.

So go check it out!! You won't be sorry! :)

Awesome Give Away!!!

2009-04-01T20:40:00.001-05:00

Everyone needs to head over to my friend Gena's (www.themorrisbunchblog.com) blog & check out this awesome give away she is doing!

http://www.themorrisbunchblog.com/2009/03/tree-frog-creations-review-and-giveaway.html

This give away is for a personalized bucket!! You will see two pictures on Gena's post that are of Aubrey's bucket. I *LOVE* her bucket!!! It is so cute & a great diaper holder! My friend, Renae, is the maker of these wonderful buckets!! Be sure to check out her etsy store & purchase a bucket for yourself!!

If you enter Gena's give-away, be sure to say that I referred you!! Trust me, you DON'T want to miss out on this! A winner will be picked April 9th!

Please Pray!!

2009-03-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

Please pray for Baby Stellan! He is in need of every prayer he can get. Stellan was diagnosed with heart problems when he was still inside his momma's womb. However, after a grim diagnosis, Stellan was born a perfectly healthy baby boy! He is now 4 months old & recently went to the ER due to a severe cold (cough/wheezing). He was given a nebulizer treatment of albuterol which seems to have thrown his heart back into SVT (Supra Ventricular Tachycardia, which is a very high heart rate). Little Stellan is now in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) and needs every prayer he can get!! If you click on the button above, it will take you to his blog famous Mommy's site, MckMama! I have been praying my heart out for this sweet baby boy & hope that you will too! If you don't pray, please at least keep this precious baby in your thoughts!

Bloggity Blog Blog Blog

2009-02-25T14:11:00.000-06:00

I am off of work today because Nathan had deviated septum surgery. He is doing well, has already been on his computer some actually! lol He is sleeping beside me now :) I'm being a good wifey and taking care of him ;)

I ordered a new camera & I'm SO excited & can not wait until it gets here!!! I got a Canon Rebel! I am thrilllllled and can't wait to take a million and one pictures of Aubrey! She is the best subject when it comes to pictures! :)

Speaking of Aubrey, she is just growing up way too fast on me! We moved her to her "big girl" car seat this morning! Time flies!! I remember when she barely even fit into her infant car seat! We had to roll up receiving blankets & put them around her head to get her to fit. She is the light of my life!! I don't know what I would do without her!

Well, I guess that's all for now :) Of course I'll add some pictures of Aubrey...... :)

She loves to stand up!!

Pretty girl!

Bathtime fun!

She LOVES Zwieback Toast, she smiles the whole time she eats it!

Eating my grocery list! LOL!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T08:22:00.000-06:00

I'm going to try to get better about writing in this thing! We'll see how long it lasts. I hope everyone has a great Valentine's day! We are about to go to Bryant to go to Target & get Aubrey her "big girl" carseats. Can't believe she can move to a big girl car seat already. :( It seems like just yesterday I was having to fold up blankets and put them in her infant car seat so that she could fit. She is getting so big so fast! She is the light of my life!!! I love her SO much, a love that I never even knew I could have. :)

The tulips Nathan got me :)
He got me these to plant!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Aubrey

Big girl, standing up!

Have a great day!

Tagged

2009-02-13T20:17:00.001-06:00

So, I was tagged by my dear bff Elizabeth to do this... even though she called me a "blog stalker", which I was not!!! I'll do it anyway :P

Here are 13 random things, facts, goals, or habits about myself. In honor of Friday 13th...

1. I have a huge birthmark on the right side of my stomach.

2. Everytime I'm saying bye to Nathan, I always tell him I love him. You never know when it could be the last time to talk to someone.

3. I'm very bad about picturing the "worst" in my mind. I play out scenarios so far sometimes that I get tears in my eyes.

4. I absolutely love my job & the girls I work with!

5. I am very happy that I had a baby girl first. I realllllly wanted to have a girl first.

6. I am addicted to shopping for clothes for Aubrey. It's not like the kid needs ANYTHING, but I almost always buy her something when I'm out.

7. I always wanted to work in the medical field, ever since I was about 4 years old.

8. When I was in the 5th grade, we had these "memory book" things. Everyone had to list their favorite food, color, and number. I lied and said my favorite food was "beef a roni with ice cream"... just to be different. LMAO. I've never even had "beef a roni"!

9. All of my best friends are older than me (besides Nathan of course). Me & Nathan are at a higher maturity level than most others our age I think..

10. I love photography & would love to really get into it as a side thing someday.

11. I think JFK was hands down the hottest President yet.

12. My favorite tv show is One Tree Hill. I have been watching it since I was a junior in high school!

13. Being a mommy is the most rewarding "job" I've ever had! I can't imagine life without my precious baby girl!!

From My Myspace

2009-01-25T08:25:00.000-06:00

I'm horrible at keeping up with blogs =\ But here is a blog I posted to my myspace this morning, plus a few pictures :)

Time is flying...
I can not believe how fast time is going by these days. It seems like I was just pregnant & now I have a 6 & a half month old baby!

Aubrey is doing wonderful. Like I said, she is now 6 & a half months old. She is so adorable & such a good baby! She was hospitalized on January 15th because she got very dehydrated while she had RSV. She also had a double ear infection. :( Poor baby. Thankfully, we only had to stay overnight & she was back to her smiley self the next day! It was so sad seeing her so sick & I hope I don't have to see her like that again anytime soon!

Aubrey now weighs 13 lbs 8 oz. She has gained 8 lbs 2 oz since birth. She is now 24.5 inches long, which means she has grown 6 inches since birth. She is still so little compared to other 6 month olds, but she is growing! She is just destined to be a little girl! She can now sit up unassisted. She holds her own bottle and feeds herself 99% of the time (she is Miss Independent & sometimes gets mad if we try to hold her bottle!). She sleeps in her own room in her crib now. She is trying to learn how to crawl. She can scoot, but no real crawling yet. She is eating stage 2 baby foods mixed with cereal 2-3 times a day. She loves her baby food! We barely have enough time to get more on the spoon before she is opening her mouth wanting more again! She is such a happy baby, she smiles all the time :) She is definitely the best blessing God has given us!

Me & Nathan are doing great. He is an amazing daddy to Aubrey. I love watching the two of them interact. I can tell Aubrey is going to be a daddy's girl already. Nathan is still working at the prison & he loves his job. I love my job as well :) Our life seems pretty close to perfect these days.

Well, I just wanted to give an update on little Miss Aubrey Claire. Before I know it she will be turning one and walking & talking... :)

Feeling better at the hospital
First day at the hospital, very sick! :(

Getting ready to go home!

She *loves* her walker!

My precious baby girl! :)

Wow

2008-12-07T15:37:00.000-06:00

I have been so busy I haven't had any time to update this blog! Today is the first pj day I've had in FOREVER, so today is the day to update! :)

Aubrey is 5 months old today! I can't believe how fast time is passing by! She is getting so big. She had her 4 month check up on November 6th. She weighed 10 lbs 14 oz. I'm guessing shes almost 12 lbs now though. She is drinking 8 oz of formula at one time. She also is eating baby food mixed with cereal. Her two favorites are sweet potatoes & green peas. She hates the green beans! She is such a good baby. She sleeps from 7pm-5am. The 5am start is a little early but we are used to it. She can take her pacifier out of her mouth & put it back in. She is rolling, when she chooses to. She loves to sit in Momma's lap while Momma is on the computer (she is doing this right now ;)). She rarely cries! Give her her paci & blanket around 7pm and she puts herself to sleep. She is so wonderful & such a blessing to me & Nathan :) I love her so much!!! Being a mother is the best priviledge in the world! Here are some pictures since it's been so long :)

Can't Catch Up!

2008-09-23T18:28:00.000-05:00

Life is so busy these days! I just can't seem to get caught up or find the time to blog! Aubrey is doing wonderful. She will be 3 months old on October 7th. I can't believe how quickly time is passing by! At her 2 month check up, she weighed 9 lbs 1 oz. She is still so teeny! She is in the 11th percentile for weight & 56th percentile for height (she was 22.25 inches long). When she was born, she was in the 5th percentile for weight & 20th percentile for height. So, she is growing, she's just little! She is smiling all the time now and it melts my heart. I can tell she is trying to laugh, but she hasn't accomplished that just yet. She will open her mouth so wide like she is laughing, but no sound comes out yet! lol I thank God every day for allowing me & Nathan to have such a solid, wonderful realtionship and for giving us such a beautiful baby girl! Here is my most recent favorite picture of my sweet angel!

From my myspace

2008-09-07T14:59:00.000-05:00

Living My Dream

I am living my dream come true. My life is so amazing, I love it! Years ago, if I could have known this is how everything would have worked out, I'm not sure I would have believed it. Being married to Nathan & mommy to Aubrey is everything I have always wanted. I feel so blessed :)

Aubrey is doing wonderful. She is two months old today! I can't believe how fast the time is going by. She is 1/6 of a year old ;) She goes to the doctor on Wednesday for her 2 month shots & a check up on her acid reflux. The acid reflux seems to be doing better, so hopefully she has been gaining weight like the doctor wants. She has started smiling all the time now and it just melts my heart! She is so beautiful!!

I started my new job on August 25th at Jackon Allergy & Asthma Clinic. I hated it at first because I *hated* leaving Aubrey at daycare. It's gotten easier though & I really love my job now. The girls I work with are hilarious & a blast to work with! I love Aubrey's daycare. They take such good care of her. There is a little nun that takes care of Aubrey. She loves Aubrey to death! Who wouldn't?! ;)

Me & Nathan are doing wonderful. He is my bestest friend. I love how we are still proving everyone wrong who thought we wouldn't make it. We are coming up on our two year wedding anniversary. Sometimes it seems like it's been so much longer than two years & other times, it feels like we just got married yesterday!

I have really been missing my BFFs in Texarkana lately! They are the only reason I would ever want to move back, lol. I am ready for a BFF reunion, because one is desperately needed!! Love ya Carla, Elizabeth, & Jenn!!!

Well, that's my short update on everything! <3

So busy

2008-08-27T18:11:00.000-05:00

I haven't been around much online lately because I started working again on Monday. The first two days were awful. I cried so much taking Aubrey to daycare. It was so, so hard. :( Today was better. I didn't cry! That's an accomplisment :P I know she is doing just fine there. When I got home on Monday, I was begging Nathan to find a job so that I could stay home with her. Now, I am feeling better about everything & Nathan does not have to look for another job. lol

I took Aubrey to the doctor again today because she has still been having trouble while eating due to her reflux. She will fight her bottle so hard & then just scream. He put her on another medicine, Reglan. She has to take it 4x a day, plus her Axid 2x a day. Fun fun. lol Hopefully this will help her. Her note from daycare yesterday said "She fights her bottle so hard. What can we do??" :( She weighed 8lbs 10oz today. She weighed 8lbs 8oz on Friday & her doctor likes to see babies her age gain 1oz a day, so she didn't have very good weight gain. Hopefully the new medicine will help her though.

My new job is going pretty well. I am working at the Asthma & Allergy clinic. Ever since I got home on Monday night, my allergies have been going crazy, lol. I think I might have touched something on one of the allergy test trays that I'm allergic to or something. I did take some meds that we get samples of up there & they are helping a lot! I have already gotten to do allergy tests on patients. I'm doing everything the other nurse does, it just takes me a little longer for now ;)

We are going to my parents house this weekend & I'm excited! We have to come back Sunday because Nathan has to work on Monday. I'm hoping my mom will come back with us & stay Monday, since we will both be off!

I have a bunch of adorable pictures of Aubrey, but those will have to come another time.... :)

Wow

2008-08-23T05:56:00.001-05:00

It's been an interesting past couple of days....

Let's see. I had two interviews this past week. I thought they both went well. I got a call yesterday and was offered one of the jobs :) I accepted. I begin working Monday at an allergy & asthma clinic. The only bad thing is the hours are from 9-6 & Aubrey's daycare closes at 5:20. Nathan can pick her up on his days off, but 2 days a week we will need someone to pick her up. So, we are trying to find someone who can do this for us. I think I will like this job though. :)

Yesterday I had my IUD put in. It went well. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as I had imagined it would. It really didn't hurt at all. It was just a little uncomfortable. Then I prepared myself for killer cramps but I have barely cramped at all! YAY! :) It's good to know Aubrey won't be getting a little brother or sister for a few years, lol.

Aubrey has been so incredibly fussy the past few days. I finally decided to call her doctor & see if she could be worked in because she just wasn't acting herself. I know babies are fussy, but this was way more than normal. On Wednesday & Thursday, she had EXPLOSIVE nasty, nasty, nasty diarrhea diapers. I mean, went through the diaper & her outfit explosive. lol So sick. She also was being very fussy while eating. She would suck on the bottle for a few minutes and then push it away & start crying. She has been spitting up too. She also shrieks when you lay her flat down, she always wants to be in an upright position. So I took her to the doctor yesterday. They did some blood work on her and it showed that she is getting over a viral infection. Poor baby :( She also has acid reflux, which explains the spitting up & not wanting to lay flat. So, we got a prescription to help with that. I gave her the first dose last night & it seemed to help immediately. Not sure if it was the medicine or what, but I was glad she was calmer! She slept from 7:00pm-12:30am. That was a nice break. I would have gone to bed around 9:30 when I was wanting to though if I had known she was going to sleep so long. lol I kept staying up because I figured as soon as I laid down, she would wake up. I finally went to bed around 11:00.

Today we are going to Texarkana for my best friend, Jennifer's, wedding :) So excited & happy for her!!! I remember back in nursing school when I was pushing her to hurry up & pick a date... and now it's here! Crazy.

I should have a lot of pics when I get back tomorrow afternoon :)

Catching Up

2008-08-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

I've been pretty busy these past few days. Our trip to Texarkana was fun. I took Aubrey to see Nathan's mom first. We stayed there about an hour. Then we went to see my friend Brittany who does my hair. After that we picked Elizabeth up & met Nathan's dad (he had some checks to give us). Then me, Elizabeth, & Aubrey went to the mall. I was hoping to find some cute stuff at The Children's Place since we don't have one there but they didn't have anything good. Then we just hung out at Elizabeth's house until it was time to meet Jennifer at Texas Roadhouse. Oh how I love Texas Roadhouse!! Yum!! Then we all went to Carla's graduation! I'm so proud of her :) However, I missed the entire thing because Aubrey decided to be a little fuss bucket lol. I had a feeling that would happen because she usually gets fussy around 7-8 & graduation was at 7. Plus it was super hot in the building, so I think it was making her mad. Poor baby. We still got to talk to Carla after the graduation though so it was okay. We are going back this Saturday for Jennifer's wedding!

My mom & dad came down on Friday. I always enjoy their visits :) Especially since my mom keeps Aubrey with her at nights :P We got 2 nights of uninterrupted sleep! Ahh, that was NICE! Me & my mom went to the mall & to some garage sales but didn't find anything good. Bad luck with shopping lately!

Here are some pictures from the past week or so :)

Daddy & Aubrey
Mommy & Aubrey

Aubrey
Not a happy baby! lol She still looks so cute though!

Enough with the pics, Mom!

Tummy time with Parker!

Showing off her new bowband :)

In Texarkana

Sweet baby

Just a swinging!

Looks like she's planning something ;)

My attempt at catching her first "awake" smile on camera, lol

I have a real size baby ;)

2008-08-13T12:29:00.000-05:00

That's right, Aubrey now weighs 8 lbs 2 oz. YAY! lol She weighed 5 lbs 6 oz when she was born, so that's a good weight gain (she is 5 weeks old now). My guess was 7 lbs 12 oz, so she made me proud! She did not make me proud last night however. lol She would NOT freakin go to sleep, ugh. I started feeding her at 9pm. She stayed up until 12!! Geez. I finally got her asleep in her swing & laid down. It seemed like it was just minutes later that she was crying again. I looked at my phone & it was 12:30, lol. No wonder, I had barely fallen asleep! Ugh. I finally passed her off to Nathan because I was getting super frustrated. I guess she fell asleep on his chest sometime between 1:00-1:30. Well then she got back up at 3:30 & stayed up until about 5:30. Then we both slept from 5:30 until 8:15. So I got about 5 hours of sleep total last night & not in a row. Blah. Hopefully she will do better tonight. I can't take too many nights like that. I *need* my sleep or I get really, really grouchy.

Well, I had an interview with a doctor's office yesterday. It's a very small office with just one doctor. He is foreign. Not too sure how the interview went. It was okay but when I met the doctor he was like "You have little baby. Babies get sick." @@ Yes, babies get sick, but so do adults & older children. Not to mention that Nathan is off 3 days one week & 2 days the next week & he would be the one staying home with her if she was sick anyway. Whatever though. It will be two weeks before I hear anything about that job. Not holding my hopes up! I did get another call for an interview yesterday after I had that interview so that made me feel better. I go next Thursday to interview at a cardiologist's office. Hopefully that interview will go better!

I called the daycare I had set up for Aubrey today. I had told them she would be starting Monday, August 18th. Well, since I don't have a job yet, no need to be paying for daycare yet. I asked how long they could hold her spot for her & they said until September 2nd, so that was a bit of a relief. Hopefully I will have a job by then!

My best friend Elizabeth found out today she is having a girl! YAY! For once, I was right. lol The last 3 pregnant people I had guessed on, I was wrong. I can't wait to go down there tomorrow for Carla's graduation. It's going to be so much fun being with my best friends again & showing Aubrey off to everyone :)

I still have pictures to post & I promise to get to that soon!

Love, Love, Love

2008-08-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

Nathan is too good to me sometimes, seriously. On Friday night, I went to lay down in Aubrey's room (we have a twin bed in there too). I told him I just needed an hour of uninterrupted sleep & then I would be back & we could all go to bed together. Well, the next thing I know, it's 4:20am & Nathan is waking me up asking if I can please feed Aubrey. He has to leave at 5:15am for work & had been up since 1:00am with her. I asked him why he didn't bring her to me hours earlier, considering he had to freakin go to work(!), & he simply said "I knew that you really needed some sleep." He's amazing. I did point out though that perhaps he needed sleep a little more that night, since he was the one who had to go to work! He is the best though. I honestly don't know what I would do without him. My whole life revolves around him and now Aubrey too. They are my world.

My mom & sister are flying into Little Rock today from Dallas. I'm hoping they will come here. I want my mom to stay tonight & tomorrow night. She said we will see. She helps out so much when she is here. Aubrey has been wearing me & Nathan out these past few days. She has been super fussy. I think it's gas, so there's pretty much nothing we can do. I feel so sorry for her. She is even hoarse from crying so much :( Poor baby.

I'm so scared that I'm not going to get a new job because the bastards at the doctor's office fired me. I still can't get over that. It pisses me off every single day. I was freakin 36 weeks pregnant! I think what makes me so mad is that I *know* that I did nothing wrong to get fired. They had never said that I wasn't doing my job good enough or anything. Then bam, you're fired because you don't have "the get up & go" we're looking for. Ummmm, okay. I'm 9 months pregnant, what the hell do you expect? Not to mention, that I didn't even ask for any kind of special treatment whatsoever! So I really don't know how I didn't have the "get up & go". I never sat down, ever, unless I was drawing someone's blood. Even though I should have been taking frequent breaks because my swelling was getting really bad. Nope, I was a trooper, not that it freakin mattered in the end. Ugh. Anyway, I hope them firing me doesn't prevent me from getting a new job. =\

Aubrey gave me her first smile while awake yesterday :) I tried to catch it on camera, but she stopped. I caught half of it though. I'll post those pictures later.

Well Rested

2008-08-07T10:23:00.001-05:00

Aubrey slept last night from 12:30-9:00am. Ahh, it was so nice! I know that she won't be doing that every night or anything, but it was very nice, if even for one night! She is passed out on my chest right now. She absolutely loves sleeping on my chest. I don't mind it so much myself. It's sweet to look down at her just sleeping away on me :) She smells so sweet right now too, since I just gave her a bath. My perfect little princess :) She is officially one month old today. WOW. I can't believe it's already been a month. It's going by so fast!

Next week, me & Aubrey are going to Texarkana on Thursday for my best friend's nursing school graduation! I'm so excited. I haven't seen Carla (who is graduating), Elizabeth, or Jennifer since Aubrey was born. They are all super excited to see her too. We are just staying the day. Graduation is at 7pm. We're going to come back that night. It will be a late night of driving, but I don't feel like staying the night down there. Then we are going back the next weekend (23rd) for Jennifer's wedding! Super excited about that too! I looked everywhere for a cute dress for Aubrey to wear to the wedding but couldn't find one anywhere. My friend Paige is sending me one that doesn't fit her daughter anymore though. It's so precious! I can't wait to dress Aubrey up in it! I hope it fits her decently. It's newborn size so it shouldn't be too, too big. She is fitting into some of her newborn size stuff now, yay. Growing so fast :)

Here is a hilarious picture I took last night of Aubrey mid-poo. It makes me laugh so hard!!

Bummed

2008-08-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

Well, I found out today that I won't be getting the school nurse job. They had 40 (!!) applicants so they had to narrow it down by experience. Considering the fact that I just graduated in February, I'm pretty sure I was probably the first one to go. :( I really had my hopes up about that job. ::sigh:: I will just have to keep looking for other openings. I really don't want to work in a hospital, but at this point, it's getting to where I'm going to have to take what I can get.

Last night, Aubrey cried almost non-stop from 7:30pm-10:30pm. It was awful. It was so frustrating because we had no idea what was wrong with her. We fed her, burped her, changed her, gave her gas drops, rocked her, bounced her, put her in her swing.... nothing. She would stop crying for maybe a 10 minute stretch & then she would be right back at it. Finally, at 9:45, I got desperate & loaded her into the car & drove around with her. She stopped crying & fell asleep. Of course, as soon as we got home though, she woke up & started crying again. She eventually had a big poop, so I changed her & gave her a little bit more of a bottle. She was out after that. I think her stomach must have just been hurting her really badly. It's like once she got the poo out, she felt better. Poor thing.

Well, I'm off to search the internet for more job openings...

Another Blog..

2008-08-02T14:57:00.000-05:00

Well, here is the beginning of yet another blog. lol I think I've had pretty much every internet blog there is to have. It started with Free Open Diary (FOD) way back in the day. Then it was LiveJournal, Xanga, Myspace, & now I have this. :) I do enjoy keeping up with a blog because it is fun for me to go read old entries. That's what I love about my xanga. I started that right when I was about to graduate high school so it is always entertaining to go back & read those old entries.

This blog will probably mostly be all about Aubrey. She is the center of our lives now :) She is such a sweet baby girl! I seriously can not believe she will be 4 weeks old on Monday & actually a month old on Thursday! The time has been flying by so fast! She is starting to get some chub on her & it's so cute!! She weighed 6lbs even at her last appt, which was when she was 2 weeks old. I'd say she's getting close to 7lbs now. We need to buy a scale just so I can weigh her! When she was first born, she was the clone of Nathan. Now though, I don't think she looks so much like him. I wouldn't say she looks like me either, but she is definitely changing.

So what's going on in our lives lately? I sent in an application for an elementary school nurse position. The application deadline was yesterday, so I'm hoping to hear something this week. I have always wanted to be a school nurse. The hours are great & who can say no to summers off plus all the breaks during the school year. So, keep your fingers crossed for me! Nathan has just been working his usual schedule, 6am-6pm. He is off this weekend, which means he will work Monday & Tuesday, be off Wednesday & Thursday, work Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, be off Monday & Tuesday, work Wednesday & Thursday, & be off Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. So basically he works every other weekend, which isn't too bad. He loves the schedule because the most he ever has to work is 3 days in a row.

Well, I think this is a good enough 1st entry ;) Hopefully I will keep up with this blog!