Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here's our Christmas card that's never going to get printed. Happy Green Christmas!
I realize that it's been so long since I've done an entry, which is a shame because there are so many fun times that I could have been documenting. Time just gets away!
We've had a wonderful Christmas season. Aubree is at the cutest age to enjoy all of the fun Christmas stuff like Santa, baby Jesus, presents, candy, and parties. She got to meet Santa Claus 3 times this year. The first time was at the mall and was a disaster:
The next time was a few weeks later at the oil ranch. We were outside so she first saw him from a long distance and yelled out "Hi Santa" but when he invited her to come over she decided that she was close enough. I finally coxed her to get on his lap and she didn't cry but wasn't too happy either.
Last week Aubree met Santa Claus for the 3rd time at our play group's Christmas party. Though she still wouldn't smile for the camera, she did actually talk to him this time and went back to his lap several times during the party.

I really hadn't talked about Santa that much to her except when I was directly preparing her to see him at a party or event so last night I remembered to tell her that he was coming to visit our house and that he would leave candy and presents for Aubree, Taylor, and Brittany. She responded by saying "Where's Jesus?" so I figured she didn't really understand what I was talking about. This morning at 5 am John and I hear Aubree shout through the monitor, "Hi Santa!" It was just about the cutest thing ever and I wondered if Santa Claus really did visit her in her room. Luckily, she went back to sleep right away until a reasonable hour and had a great time later this morning sharing gifts with the family and eating Hershey Kisses for the first time. (Possible caffeine related hyper problem, will update after more research.)
Love to everyone! Merry Christmas!

Happy Easter / Happy Mother’s Day

Belated Happy Easter and Happy Mother’s Day! We have had a wonderful time playing with our extended family over the holidays. We had over 20 family members at our house over Easter weekend, starting with my family and ending with John’s family. My family spent the night Friday and Saturday so the kids could have more time to play and so we could get up early Saturday morning to do a neighborhood 5K. We also had a family picture taken that we had been trying to coordinate for my mom’s Mother’s Day gift from LAST Mother’s Day. Everyone was finally together so here it is:

Our little family had a nice trip to San Antonio to see Brittany’s dance competition. We visited Grandma and Uncle Jim and we went to Fiesta Texas. They actually have a lot of rides that babies can go on. Here’s the baby roller coaster:

Aubree and I joined a local playgroup through meetup.com and we’ve been going to playdates at least twice a week. It is so nice for me to meet other women with babies that live on this side of town. I still have to commute to see most of my friends, with or without babies.

Next we’re looking forward to summer, especially visiting Grann and Grandaddy at the lake house and going to the pool with our cousins!

We Have a Toddler!

We’ve had so much go on since my last update. Aubree is not a little baby anymore, we now have a toddler! She’s not technically walking by herself, she still clings and cruises, but she’s definitely learning to express herself like a big girl, for better or for worse.

Her vocabulary is growing so fast. She’s such a sponge at this age: repeating things she hears, responding to questions, remembering people’s names, mimicking animal sounds. She even says “thank you” when you hand her something.

Even through a couple of illnesses, we’ve kept very busy. We love to dance, read, and eat. We love to visit Gymboree, the zoo, the Children’s Museum, and our friends.

To catch you up on Aubree's first holiday season so far:

Our little duck passed out candy from a roasting pot for Halloween.

For Thanksgiving Aubree, John, and I went to Fort Worth to see my parents.
Here's almost the whole group snuggled into one elevator.

Aubree attended and slept through most of another first,
a Christmas parade in downtown Fort Worth.

Most recently, Aubree got to meet Santa Claus for the first time.

Calorie Counting

Aubree is on a diet! She gets to eat as much high calorie and high fat food as possible. She hasn't gained much weight in the past few months so her doctor wants us to try to beef her up before her next appointment. She gets to eat milk, yogurt, meat, cheese, oil, cereal, crackers, rice cakes, egg yolk, and all kinds of fruits and veggies.

Aubree is very tiny (less than 14 lbs) but we have a lot of small babies in the family so we're not really worried.
She has been burning a lot of those extra calories by crawling, playing, and walking while holding onto something. We've been having so much fun with our precious little girl!

We especially enjoy going to baby time every Monday, where we read, sing, dance, and play with other babies.

A Well-Loved Baby

We are starting to see our baby grow up already. She's learning so fast. She can:

• pull herself to standing & stand leaning on something
• say "hi," "Mama" and "Dada" indiscriminately
• eat rice cereal, oatmeal, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, carrots, pears, peaches, apples, and bananas

• wave by opening and closing her hand
• grab things with both hands and grab things with a pincer grip
• sit and play with her toys or a box independently for about 15 minutes (She's working on the Your Baby Can Read program. It's entertaining if nothing else.)
  

Our family is so thankful to have her. She brings us so much joy every day! We often sit around looking at her and laughing with her and telling her how cute and wonderful she is. I hope it doesn't go to her head!Unfortunately, Aubree had to have her first ER visit when she fell off the changing table on Sunday. Praise God for protecting her sweet little head from any serious injury.

We took a trip to Destin, FL and stopped in New Orleans for some fun on the way. My mom and both of my grandparents on my mom's side of the family grew up in New Orleans, so we felt like riding the St. Charles streetcar was a historical mode of transportation.

Aubree also enjoyed her first Astros game. She even stayed awake to watch the Friday Night Fireworks!The most exciting part of the summer was welcoming Aubree's new cousin to the world. His name is Nathan and he is precious. Aubree is going to have so much fun playing with him when he gets a little bigger!

The Lake House

We've had 2 trips to my parents' lake house since my last update. They were so much fun!
Most of my dad's family came out on the first trip. We got to see parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, and second cousins. Some of them live far away and we do not get to visit very often. Here are some of the highlights:

We picked plums & peaches in the yard.

We skied, wake boarded, and tubed.
Aubree used her special spot on the boat to catch up on her beauty rest.

We went fishing.
We made bracelets.
We enjoyed relaxing by the water.

We went to Six Flags. My mom, Aubree, and Annabelle stayed home where Annabelle showed Aubree how to hold her own bottle.
We played with puppets.

We had a Hula Hooping contest.

Taylor hooped for almost a half hour and won the contest! Taylor taught Elizabeth how to Hula for her birthday and she has been practicing a lot. Elizabeth hooped for over an hour when she got home!

We've been having such a fun summer!