Aubree's 12-month check-up

I took Aubree in for her 12-month check-up on Tuesday...aside from her cold/ear infection, which is getting better everyday, Dr. Davey said she looks great.  She was busy getting into every possible thing in that exam room. :)  She doesn't seem to be afraid of the nurse or doctor like Ayla was.  She walked right up to both of them, patted them on the leg, and started "talking."  It wasn't until the four shots in her little legs did she get upset.  And I don't blame her.  Poor thing.

Her measurements are still pretty close to what Ayla's were...20 lbs.4 oz (33%)...Ayla was five ounces heavier.  If it weren't for her cold and loss of appetite, I'm sure she would have been over that.  She measured 30 inches (75%)...Ayla was 3/4 of an inch shorter.  And her head was at the 68th percentile.

She seems to be back to normal now...still working on getting rid of that runny nose and a little bit of congestion.  She's eating again and is HAPPY.  (Not counting this morning...she woke up an hour early freeeeaking out.  After she finally calmed down, she drank most of her bottle and went back to bed after crying for several minutes.  I'm hoping she just needed a little more sleep and will wake up in a good mood.)

Unfortunately, she has passed her cold on to Ayla and me.  There's no way we could have avoided it...snot, drool, and puke everywhere.  Ayla always seems to power through her colds.  She doesn't skip a beat.  I wish I was like that.  I'm exhausted times a gazillion and feel like poo.  Not that I ever want to be sick, but it was a lot easier to be sick when we didn't have kids...I'd sleep for two days straight and be back on my feet.  Now?  No chance.

Sick Birthday Girl

Long story short: Went to see the doctor on Thursday (her birthday), ear infection, miserable baby, lots of puke, a three year old bored to tears, Dean out of town for work, my parents in Taiwan, MOMMY MELTDOWN.

Enter the best in-laws in the world.

Dean's parents were here Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights to keep me company and help with the girls--dinner, bedtime, everything.  I seriously have no idea what I would have done without them.  No, really.  No CLUE what I would have done.  Sure I have my bad days here and there (who doesn't?), but I usually bounce back...this time though, I was on the verge of a breakdown.  So THANK YOU, Lee and Barb...thank you so so so much...not just for the past few days, but thank you for always being there for us no matter what.  We are so lucky to have two sets of parents who are forever willing to lend a helping hand.

And the best news?  Miss Aubree is feeling better!  They prescribed an antibiotic for her ear infection and it seemed to kick in after just a few doses.  She is mostly back to her happy self...still a little bit of a stuffy nose and some coughing, which is why she has thrown up so much lately.  I think the phlegm catches in her throat and makes her gag.  I'm so done with cleaning up puke.  Her appetite is coming back slowly but surely.  I feel like she has lost a little bit of the chunkiness in her legs and cheeks since she hasn't been eating nearly as much.  :(  I don't blame her though...I don't ever feel like eating a whole lot when I'm sick.  I'm just really glad she's feeling better.  I felt so terrible for her...she just wasn't herself!  

I couldn't NOT take pictures of her on her actual birthday...snot, drool, droopy eyes, and all.  I still want to get her out for some 1-year photos...maybe this weekend.

Aubree: 1-year

This was the fastest year of my life.  I can't believe our little baby is one today.  It just blows me away.  I feel like we were just at the hospital!

Unfortunately, she seems to be feeling even worse today.  Darn cold.  I hate that she's sick on her birthday.  I can tell she's miserable by her mood.  She's normally the happiest baby in the world but the past few days, she's been whining and crying off and on, which is so unlike her.  Right now she's napping and if she wakes up in time, I'm going to try to get her in to see the doctor.  Her regular doctor is not in today so we will see a nurse practitioner.  The only time they have is 11:30 so I had a bit of a mini-meltdown when I got off the phone.  I hate waking her up from naps and it's even worse if she's sick...so I don't know if I should wake her to take her in or wait to go in tomorrow.  Sigh.

Anyways.

Like I said, she's such a happy baby.  If I had to choose only one word to describe her, HAPPY would be it.  She has such a cute, easygoing personality and tends to be pretty friendly with everyone.  The only time she isn't and runs to me is when she's tired.  Besides that, she's completely content to toddle around with her hot pink blankie in her hand.

She's a GREAT eater, which makes me so so so happy.  She will eat just about everything we give her--fruits, veggies, meat, eggs, fish, bread, etc.  We ran out of formula last week so I switched her to whole milk.  She was a little iffy about it at first, but I think she's getting used to it.  I'm trying to get her to drink out of her sippy cup.  She does great with water, but when I put milk in there, she doesn't drink enough of it to make a difference.  She still gets bottles...we'll slowly work on getting her off of them!

She's still taking two naps a day--one around 10:30 a.m. and another around 2:00 p,m,  We tried switching her to just one nap after lunch but that pretty much just crashed and burned.  She was a wreck!  She obviously wasn't ready so we switched her back.  She goes to bed at 8:00 p.m. and sleeps until 7:00 a.m.-ish.

She's not saying a whole lot yet. I believe her first word may have been "cheese".  Fitting because she loves to eat. :) She also says "go"...usually while she's walking around..."Go-Go-Go!"  She quacks when she plays with her rubber ducky in the bath and will "woof" at dogs (toy ones).  She says "Dada" a lot but we're not sure if she means Dean.  In Chinese, she says "yow" which means "rock" (like in a rocking chair), "din" which means "light", and "da" which means "hit".  Weird...not sure why she knows that one.  I think she's starting to say "big sister" in Chinese.  She signs "more" and "all done."  If you ask her where a certain person is, she will look at them--Daddy, Ayla, Kody--however, if you ask her where Mommy is, we get nothin'.  She waves bye-bye and blows kisses.  So cute.  We're currently working on body parts.  She knows her nose is on her head somewhere but hasn't quite landed ON her nose yet and she knows where her belly is.  She will only do all this stuff when the mood strikes her.  Sometimes she'll just completely ignore us.  She points at things all the time and says something in Aubree-ese.  I think I've mentioned before that she's consistent in whatever she's trying to say...it's always the same "word" for the same things.  I can't wait for her to really start talking.  I remember how fun it was with Ayla.

She loves Elmo...she freezes when the opening music comes on.  She dances to every kind of music.  I love looking in the mirror in the car and seeing her bopping her head to Zac Brown Band.  She listened to him the whole time I was pregnant with her because Ayla was addicted to that cd.  We haven't stopped either.  Anytime she's fussy, I turn it on and she calms down.  Music is an amazing thing.

She loves bath time.  Lately, I've been bathing them together to save time and they seem to have fun with each other in there if they're not fighting over the same toys.  She always puts up a fight when we drag her out.  She is really good at lifting her arms straight up in the air and throwing her head back when she doesn't want to be picked up.  Little stinker.  She can be pretty feisty when she wants to be.  It usually happens when Ayla steals something from her--she's pulled Ayla's hair a couple times.  She even tries to push her...someday she'll probably outweigh Ayla.

She's snuggly especially if she has her blankie...it's so cute.  If you hold it out, she comes to you with a smile and giggles as soon as that blankie touches her face.  Luckily, we have a dozen of them because she likes to chew on it for comfort so after a day or two, the thing is totally nasty and needs to be switched out.  There's nothing better than when she lays her head on my chest or leans in on my face...stinky blankie and all.

We've started reading "Goodnight Moon" to her before bed and she seems to really like it.  It's one of my favorite parts of the day...anything to get her to snuggle with me for a bit. :)

Just in the past week or so, she has come to love being outside.  We were spoiled by the great weather last week so when it rained for what felt like DAYS this week, we were all going a bit stir-crazy inside.

She still likes to put everything in her mouth...she's eaten dog food, paper, you name it.  I SWEAR we watch her but sometimes she sneaks a few things in.  Oops.  She's a very curious little girl and gets into every imaginable thing.  She's into climbing right now...on to chairs, tables, toys, boxes.  She's definitely a handful and can be exhausting sometimes when I'm trying to get things done around the house but she's so fun right now.

She is such a sweet little baby.  We love her so much and can't get enough of her. I love every little thing about her--her sweet smile, her chubby cheeks, her giggles, her chunky legs, her babbling. While I was pregnant, I wondered how we could love another little person as much as we love Ayla.  We quickly realized that we're lucky enough to feel that love, twofold.  She has brought so much joy to this family.  We are so blessed.

Happy 1st Birthday, sweet Aubree girl!  We love you so much!

[I think her pictures will have to wait until she feels better...hopefully that's sooner than later!]

Aubree's 1st birthday party!

Are you ready for a TON of pictures?  I went a little nuts.  Believe it or not, I didn't even post all of them. 

We had Aubree's first birthday party this past Sunday...it couldn't have gone any better!  She took a good nap right beforehand and woke up a HAPPY baby.  She was walking all over the house, blankie in hand, chuckling at random things. :)  She even noticed the decorations we put up and pointed them out.  I didn't think she would even realize they were there.  She was in such a good mood the whole time and seemed to love all the friends and family who were here to celebrate with her.  Just the fact that she was happy was enough for me...everything else could have gone wrong and it wouldn't have mattered.  We had lunch first (THANK YOU Barb for the yuuuuummy sandwiches!) and then we opened presents.  Aubree actually hung around me for most of them and seemed interested in what we were opening.  After presents, we did cake. :)  She was a little iffy about it at first but slowly started picking at it.  Eventually, it was all over her hands, face, and hair...exactly what I wanted. :)  

Thanks so much to everyone who made it...Mom and Dad (in Taiwan), we missed you!  I think I posted enough pictures to make you feel like you didn't miss a thing. :)

It was a great time...great weather, great company, great BABY.  Love her so much.  Tomorrow (the 22nd) is her actual birthday.  I can hardly believe it...it brings tears to my eyes as I think about it.  One year ago at this time, we were at the hospital walking laps as I breathed through contractions.  How has an entire year gone by already??

Happy birthday girl!

Ehh...I wasn't thrilled with how the cake ended up looking...the picture makes it look even worse!

Daddy and Ayla went and got balloons for the birthday girl.

She was clapping for them. :)

She loves sunglasses!  Whenever I put some on her, she walks away grinning. 

Grandma and Grandpa made this...her name spelled out with things around their house.  I LOVE it.  It's beautiful!

Smash cake!

She caught a cold and has had a terribly runny nose and slight cough the past couple of days.  I'm praying that she wakes up feeling better tomorrow.  I'll be so bummed if she feels crummy on her birthday. :(