11 months

Age: 11 months!  I can't believe that we will have a ONE YEAR OLD in a month!

Height: getting taller.  We will find out in a month.

Weight:   Just over 15 pounds.  She hasn't gained much weight but she is moving so much!

Head Circumference: getting bigger.  We will find out in a month.

Clothes:  Occasionally I will get sentimental and pull out a 6 month shirt that I can't pack up yet.  Otherwise she is mostly in 9 month everything.  12 months is just a bit too big.  I remind myself of that every time I forget to do laundry and have to put her in 12 month jammies that are about a mile too long.

Diaper Size: Still in a size 2.  Apparently I thought I would never go to the store again because I stocked up on a few hundred diapers from Sam's Club.  We are still considering cloth diapers but for now we are working our way through our size 2s.

Things she loves: everything, still.  Her new favorite is standing, pulling herself up, climbing over things, walking with her Sit to Stand Learning Walker.  

Things she hates: Aubree hates being left alone and being in her crib.  She also is a grouch when she is tired but hates sleeping so that is fun for me.  

Milestones:  She is finally starting to imitate us!  She makes a clicking noise with her tongue after we do.   She is also starting to stand on her own and walking with her toys.  I am 98.5% sure she is saying "Mom" and "Mama".  It could also be "More" when she is demanding food or water.  

Teething: She is stuck at 7 teeth.  She has 4 on top and 3 on the bottom.  The bottom right just won't pop through.

Sleeping: Depends on the night.  I have to knock on wood, but she occasionally sleeps 6-8 hours!  On the other hand sometimes she is up every 2-3 hours, but I prefer to look on the bright side.  It helps that we installed a blackout shade in her room so in looks like the dead of night at 8 am.  

Eating:  This kid will eat anything.  She LOVES pasta, especially tortellini.  She also loves drinking out of her straw cups.  She will eat anything that we eat and wants everything that we drink out of a straw.

Looking forward to: OUR BABY TURNING ONE!  I also can't wait to watch her walk for the first time and start talking.  Is it too soon to look forward to her being potty trained? :)

Just another week

All of our weeks seem so be flying by these days.  Between Spring cleaning (which is going to turn into Summer cleaning as well), working, and chasing around the baby-turning-toddler, we barely have time to breath, let alone relax.  I am cherishing every moment though.  My sweet baby is growing before my eyes and I am loving every minute of little-miss-personality.

 I am also working on my photography skills.  I love it so much and can't wait to get better!

Aubree is slowly making friends with the dogs.  They still don't quite understand her yet.

Aubree has also been helping me A LOT with work.  She seems to think that my papers belong on the floor... and on her head.

She also likes to help do laundry by taking it out of the basket and putting it onto the floor.  What a good little helper.

In the midst of all of our cleaning and organizing, we have made many, many trips to the store.  Aubree got to sit on a stool and watch Brave at IKEA.  (Yes, my baby can sit on a stool, when did that happen?)

 We also stopped for an Icee break at American Furniture.  

And what else would you do at a furniture store but stop to take a picture with the lions.  Totally normal, right?

...and drink more of Mommy's Icee when she isn't looking.

The weather is anything but predictable around here so when it is nice, we take every chance we get to enjoy it.  Aubree loves watching the dogs play outside and she has learned how to get out on her own.

Most importantly, her hair is long enough for a barrette!  I have not been this excited since we brought her home!

Poor girl has also got a few more teeth.  She got 3 all at once so she has 7 now!

I have to admit, Baby cuddles are the best thing in the entire world.  Nothing beats them.  The only thing that might be cuter is a baby cuddle AND a puppy cuddle at the same time.

We have also been going to church, which we love.  Aubree loves it too.  She loves to watch the other babies and crawl to the window to watch people walk by.

And just for fun, my little grump fish wears her crown and chews on hair ties.

It's March!

It's March which means it is offically time for some Spring Cleaning! (and it is the month before Aubree's birthday which means all those projects that have been sitting on our to-do list for a year are begging to get done... well, if you ask Dan they probabbly sound a bit more like nagging in a voice that sounds oddly similar to mine.)  So, it is time to get them done! 

First off, we are making an effort to eat at home and eat a bit more healthy.  I am adding more veggies to our plates and we are eating more salads.  Now that Aubree eats everything we eat I think it is time that we actually stop eating like we are still in college...  Good bye Taco Bell at 9 pm.  It is perfect timing for Spring Cleaning because we are going to clean out our fridge and pantry and refill it with some healthier options.

Our project for this week is child-proofing... Quite a daunting task when you start to see every item in your house as something that will potentially harm your child.  The first thought is how to wrap every corner and hard surface in bubble wrap but when Dan tells you that you are a crazy person you start to think more realistically.  

We have already plugged all the outlets.  Well, all the outlets we could find.  Aubree always seems to find the one that we didn't see.

We put nobs on our gas oven so tiny fingers can not start fires on the stove.  (Child-proofing and Mommy-proofing just as I am starting to cook more... awesome.)  We are in the process of pulling out the baby gates to block of Aubree's new favorite toys... the dog bowls and the stairs.  She LOVES crawling over and taking out handfuls of food and throwing them on the ground one at a time.  Then, if we have not made it to her by handful number 3, she starts splashing in the water bowl.  If the gates didn't require drilling in the wall, they would already be up.  

She can officially make it to the top all by herself (with me one step behind, of course).

We are also putting bumpers on our fireplace bricks.  Probably, most importantly, we are in the process of building a new tv stand and mounting our tv.  Now that Aubree can stand and pull herself up, she has discovered the lights on the DVR.  (Not only is she pulling herself up, but she is climbing over the wall of toys in front of the tv stand.)  Her favorite is the blue light that turns the cable off.  She also found the red light on the xbox that spits out a CD... which is also fun to pull on.  Now the xbox is broken.  Needless to say, the tv stand will have doors.  That is a month-long project in itself but we are hoping to get our whole house cleaned and organized by the summer!

Aubree loves to help her Daddy!

Shelves will be cleared out...

and gates will be installed properly...

The list never ends.  Maybe by the time she is 18 we will finally catch up and get a break :)

Busy... Busy... Busy...

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately.  Aubree is getting so much older and stronger.

We officially have a crawler AND a climber (and a master escape artist) so it is a bit more difficult to relax.  We have all been super busy as well.

Here is a quick look at what we've been up to lately....

I have been taking photography classes so I can take better pictures of our baby before she is no longer a baby.  I LOVE it!  I am having so much fun, I just wish my model wanted to sit still for longer than 2.5 seconds.

 I think I am getting pretty comfortable with photoshop.  So now I have to convince Dan to take me to the beach so I can edit people out of our pictures :)

We got a new computer!  Dan got me a computer for Christmas (and my birthday... and every holiday for the next 3 years...) We stopped for a quick lunch and Aubree had a great time flirting with the two year old at the next table.  She is trouble.

Aubree has been playing with all of her Christmas toys!

...and her favorite things, which are not toys... keys, bags, dogs...

We celebrated my birthday at Aubree's 9 month checkup.  She does not like the doctor very much and neither do I.

But I do love the cuddles afterwards.

I just love Baby cuddles!

Aubree has been teething!  She officially has her two front teeth, bottom 3 teeth and is working on a few others.

She is growing up so fast!  She can eat a pouch all by herself and is holding her own sippy cups.  She is even learning how to hold them up to get water.

Our boys may not love Aubree but they are learning quickly...

Finally, our little crawler has become a climber.  She can pull herself up on all of her toys... and her crib.