"Horton Hears a Who"

trey and i took aubren to her first movie on the big screen: "Horton Hears a Who." what better way to start the outing than to go to the store and let aubs pick out some candy (see pic below on how that ended up)? we decided on her favorite, m&ms (num-nums), raisinets, and sour patch kids. she was so excited when we got to the theatre. we waited for trey to arrive and when she saw him she ran outside yelling, "c'mon, daddy, c'mon! come in here!". she sat through the entire movie, but during certain scenes she would loudly say, "oh my gosh!" we are looking forward to doing this again soon - however, next time we will forgo the candy and just bring fishies instead.

(post movie sugar crash)

community

i am blessed to be in community with so many wonderful friends! i am glad to have walked through the journey of motherhood with each and every one of you. some of the best memories of aubren's life have been shared with you - especially with those of you in our playgroup. these 9 women have shared life with me from day one of aubren's existence!

we (the moms) were meeting last night and caren mentioned something that i have thought of many times. she said she felt one of the reasons the Lord gave her Jack at the time He did was to bring her into community with us. two years ago i did not know most of these women and now looking back we have shared so much - birthdays, holidays, hospital stays, miscarriages, pregnancies, refreshing weekends away, and much more. we have been there to give advice, to be each others sounding boards, confidants, and to be a shoulder to cry on.

i know that i am a better mom, wife, and friend because of all of you and i am thankful for your sweet friendship. aubren and i look forward to sharing many more memories with you and your little ones.

aubren's social network from day one...

rolling eyes

i have experienced three different types of "eyes rolling back in aubren's head" moments. two of them i did not enjoy: when she had seizures, and when she had a concussion. the third, though, is the one i love: when i am cuddling with her at nap time and she begins to doze off. i love that as i rub her shoulders and sing to her, she feels secure and can completely relax and drift off to sleep.

i love that she is a cuddler and is affectionate, just like her daddy.

science museum

hampton, tyler, aubs, sydney, carsen, caleb

last thursday our playgroup went to the science museum in fairpark. aubren had alot of fun. the entire downstairs was set up with all kinds of activities for kids. she can't wait to take daddy next time.

my aunt karis went to guatemala and brought me
back this cute dress. thank you aunt karis - i love it!

pull ups

aubren has been increasingly more interested in using her "big girl potty" this past week. however, most of the time she sits on it she doesn't do anything or she waits until we come out to put her diaper back on and pees on the floor!

i was excited and proud today - we went to the gym and when i picked her up from the nursery the teacher mentioned that aubren had asked to use the big potty. i thought for sure she wouldn't have held it and her diaper would be full but it was dry and she went on the big potty! so home we went to eat her prize - a little cup of marshmallows.

just to encourage her in this process i let her pick out some princess pull ups today. she is very excited about her new attire!

this picture was taken about 7 months ago but i love it!

she does her own makeup these days

"nigh night babies"

"wake up"

aubren loves her four babies. she named two after her cousins, audrey and kenzie, and the other two have just been called babies until recently. the other day i asked how her baby was doing and she corrected me by saying, "no mommy, "this baby alexa". we laugh because we have no idea where she learned that name - we don't know anyone named alexa.

she loves to put her dolls to sleep. she lays out four pillows, lays her babies on them, covers them each with their own blanket, and then makes sure they each have a toy. much like what we do with her at naptime. she goes to bed with her pillow, comfy blanket, paci, and a book.

"super aubren"

today was aubren's "super why" birthday party at the park. upon arrival, each kid got a super duper computer and had to find super letters to get their super hero cape (thanks jj for helping make them). aubren loves to run around with her cape yelling, "super aubren!" the kids had fun feeding the ducks, coloring, and playing on the playground.

thanks to our sweet friend, amy, for a yummy "wonder red" cake.

papa and jj got aubren her first big girl tricycle!

aubren was excited to see her family and friends, and we were excited to share this day with everyone. thanks to everyone who celebrated with us!

happy birthday aubren!

our baby turned 2 today (well, actually at 11:56pm tonight), and our day was full of fun activities. trey and i woke her up this morning, and the first thing she asked for was a cupcake! we sang her happy birthday and she rolled her eyes at us as if she were embarrassed. we then told her that she had surprises out in the living room. she screamed "woo-hoo" and ran to open some presents: a new marching band set, a dinosaur, and a princess view master. she also got to have chocolate "nilk" and marshmallows for breakfast.

later we went to swimming lessons. she always has a lot of fun swimming until i count to three and dunk her; so, since it was her birthday, we only went under three times.


after swimming, we went and picked up cupcakes and took them to trey's office. his coworkers are always so sweet with aubren. they threw her a little party. miss "kafy" (kathy) gave her a stuffed dog that plays music with the use of an mp3 player, so she got to listen to her Beatles songs all day. "stephy" (stephanie) got her a microwave and play food, and they both pitched in on a chef's hat and apron (oven mitts, too) with her name embroidered on it. she loved all her presents and her cupcake! the only mishap was when another coworker, bill, pointed a redi-whip container at her and made a scary face. she bawled and had to be comforted by daddy for a few minutes, but got back on track when we let her open presents.

we ended the day with soccer practice and mr gatti's pizza and games. all in all, it was a great day! we are blessed to have such a sweet little girl to celebrate. we love you aubren!

"uh oh"

aubren has never tried to get down from her twin bed when napping (of course, she waits until the day after we take down her crib)! as i am checking our blog i hear the pitter patter of her feet running out to the living room. she sees me, says "uh oh", and darts back to her room and into her bed. hopefully this will be the first and only time!

our favorite phrases

aubren says many funny phrases; here are some of our favorites...

"too sunny!" (as you can see in the picture, the sun was so bright she had to keep her hat over her eyes)

"no daddy, just girls." (sometimes she doesn't want trey to go with us so she informs him the outing is just for us girls)

"too spicy!" (her response to eating anything from salsa to lemons - but she stills loves them)

she adds an "n" to words ending with an r (fruit bar = fruit barn, more = morn)

"oh no, mommy, what happened? what's wrong mommy?" (her response anytime i say "oh no")

"i love you daddy. wait, daddy, wait! kisses!" (running to trey as he goes out the door for work)

"no, i want to cry." (her response when she throws a fit and we tell her to stop crying)

"baby go timeout, not nice." (when asked why, she explains that the baby hit her)

"mommy lay down, too?" (she loves to snuggle when going to bed)

"daddy pick out comfy blanket; thank you daddy. mommy buy it; thank you mommy." (trey picked out her blanket when we found out we were having a girl because it reminded him of his childhood blanket)

bye-bye baby crib

today trey took down aubren's crib. she has been sleeping in her "big girl bed" since march, so we decided it was about time. she got so excited when she saw her new room - she started running in circles, screaming. i guess she likes the space. of course, after her birthday (this week), the addition of a kitchen set (thanks to cousin liese), and new table/chairs she isn't going to have much room to run around!

cough, cough, cough.

our little trooper

it's been a rough month - in the past 4 weeks aubren has had an MRI (followup, but it did require sedation - and took FOUR sticks to get the IV set), fifth's disease, strep, and now pneumonia and an ear infection. i probably don't have to mention that with her history of febrile seizures and 7 days of fever, we've not had the most restful month.

hopefully the z-pack they prescribed today will do the trick. she has soccer practice coming up!