Just a few noteworthy things...

The other night as we were going to bed we heard Aurelia over the monitor saying "Num Num Num" in her sleep. She was "eating" in her sleep, and really enjoying whatever it was that she was eating.

I said "Holy Cow" and Aurelia started mooing!

She loves sitting on the couch and will walk up, point, and give a little inflected squeak. When I ask her if she wants to sit on the couch, she replies "Yes" with the biggest smile on her face and nods her head. **cutest thing ever**

Garrett was playing chase with Aurelia this evening while I was getting her bath together. They finished playing before I finished putting things together, so Aurelia came and stood at the gate to wait. While she was waiting, she was saying "Boo" and screaming in response and then laughing at herself. **okay, so this one was the CUTEST THING EVER**

This kid seriously cracks me up.

She's walking!!!

It was only two weeks ago that Aurelia unexpectedly took two very shakey steps from the couch to me. Now look at her go! She's standing up all on her own, too. That's brand new! She spent a lot of time doing a frustrated stink bug walk around the room before figuring that one out. She's still a little wobbly, but loving every minute of it  She'll be a pro in no time.

Here she is, carrying around her two most prized possessions: a decommissioned remote control and wireless mouse.

Happy First Birthday, Aurelia!!!

August already . . . it seems so surreal that one year ago I was swollen to the size of an elephant, trying to keep myself as busy as possible so I wasn't going crazy with anxiousness waiting for Aurelia to be born. One year seems like such a small amount of time when you consider the whole picture of ones life, but one year has brought so many tremendous changes to our little family. Garrett and I often remarked how my pregnancy seemed to last forever. Every week felt like a year, and the trend continued with 36 hours of labor and a hospital stay before we were finally able to bring our baby home. Now she is 1 year, and it seems as though it has happened overnight.
Aurelia is such an incredible light in this world. She always puts a smile on my face. No matter what the day brings, I can count on her to find joy in the smallest things. She reminds me everyday how beautiful our world is. She loves laughing and making people laugh. She is a flirt, especially with older gentlemen in the grocery store. She won't pass up a chance to wave hello and give a sweet smile. What an immense gift she is to us, and to everyone she meets. We love you, Rae. Happy Birthday!

Rae's birthday party was a lot of fun. We chose a watermelon picnic theme, and had a few close friends and family over. Garrett's mom, stepdad, and his mom's best friend, Diane, flew out to spend the week with us. They were so much help getting everything together for her party. Bridget made a cute table runner for our kitchen island that looked amazing, and I made a birthday banner, which turned out pretty well considering my very tiny amount of crafting experience and talent.

Yummy cupcakes and cookies from Froste Bake Shoppe

The Spread

Thank you for all the great presents!!!

Walking with her new dinosaur!

The birthday kids! Rae's party was on the 28th, which was Phoenix's bday and Garrett's friend Matt's son had a birthday that weekend as well, so we sang to all three of them.

I made Rae a special Apple Swirl birthday cake that was super yummy

(and also low sugar and dairy free.)

She loved it!

Relaxing after the party with her new princess cup. I think she had a great time.

July

July began with the arrival of our newest nephew, Samuel Kuhlmann who was born at Nativiti, the birthing center here in Spring. Tony, my oldest brother, was able to get some time off from deployment to be here for the birth, which gave us an opportunity to see him before he left for the Middle East. We were so excited to get to spend time with him, Jenn, and little Sammy. We went up to Jenn's sister's home in Cleveland, TX the morning of the Fourth for a visit. It was nice to see all of them and to get to spend a little time with Libby on her birthday. (For those of you who don't know, Libby was born on the Fourth of July during Tony's first deployment to Iraq six years ago).

We left Cleveland that afternoon, and headed down to have dinner with our good friends JP and Billie. While we were there, their dogs, two adorable schnauzers named Ashton and Darian, were barking at us from behind the bedroom door. Aurelia heard them and very excitedly starting barking back. It was hilarious and terribly cute.

The beginning of July was full of little accidents. It seemed at every turn Aurelia was bumping or falling into everything. We started to consider replacing all our furniture with pillows and wrapping Aurelia in Charmin everyday. She got her first black eye, several nice goose eggs, and sprained her wrist. It seemed I was constantly on the phone with my sister, Tiffany, an EMT and mother of an almost 2 year old, asking for advice and getting reassurance. Thanks, Tiff! I guess this is just the beginning of trying to get used to the hurdles that come from gaining indepenence.

In mid-July for Garett's dad's 60th birthday, we headed to Lake Tahoe. This was Aurelia's first airplane ride. She loved all the people and spent much of the flight to and from Reno flirting her little heart out.

Of course our first stop was: In N Out!

Actually . . .  Babies R Us and Whole Foods, and then In N Out. Our priorities have shifted a little bit. :)

We rented a little house in South Lake.

The first night was a little rough for Aurelia, but she adjusted really well after that. The weather was perfect for the trip, and we spent as much time outside as we possibly could.

This was Garrett's Dad and Carolyn's first time seeing Aurelia since she was just weeks old. She had a lot of fun playing with her Grandma and Grandpa Vice.

After several days in Tahoe we headed down to Reno to visit with friends. We spent as much time as we could with Cas, who was working like mad over the summer. She is trying to finish up her master's degree while working at the school and with a private environmental firm. She was super busy so we were very grateful for the time we got to catch up with her.

She came along with us on our walk to downtown, a walk that Garrett and I used to take at least once a week when we lived in Reno.

We also got a chance to visit Stephanie, an old coworker and friend of mine, who's daughter, Cadence, was born on the same day as Aurelia. They had a fun play date together,  and it was nice to get a chance to catch up with Steph. 

They weren't having the photo session. They both wanted to play with toys. We had a lot of fun, and have been missing the West ever since.
The flight home was a little harder on all of us, and it took Aurelia a couple weeks to adjust back to her schedule at home. Within the first couple of days she started teething and hasn't stopped. She now has 9 teeth (Four on top, Four on the bottom in the front and one molar.) That's 7 teeth in four or five weeks. Like I said it's been a crazy couple of months.

What month is it?

Things have been a little crazy lately, and I have fallen behind on the posts. Sorry to all who have continued to check up on us and found nothing. Garrett is in Boise this weekend, so I am hoping to use my quiet evenings to get up to date. So check back soon for more . . . But for now I will leave you with a few photos from our fun Fourth of July.

Family Vacation, and other goings on

Well, I finally got some vacation pictures on the blog. Yay. Sorry for the long wait. Aurelia has decided that she needs to wake up in the middle of the night again. I'm sure it's from all the things she is learning to do these days. Everyday is something new. As a matter of fact, right now she is trying out her singing voice instead of sleeping. She's started using the back of her hand like a trumpet mute, and creates some fun sounds. She's started clapping. We've enjoyed that one. She loves to hear other's clap, especially when we listen to live music. She loves dancing, too. She is cruising along the couches now and stands herself up with the help of anything and anyone any chance she gets. She loves when we read her books and loves turning the pages all by herself.
We are a tired bunch today. Last night I forgot to open the laundry room door before going to bed, and Blink needed his cat box at about 3 in the morning. Usually, if he wants something, he will come in our room and meow until we get up or kick him out of the room, depending on how tired we are and how pressing his need is. Last night he bypassed us all together and pushed Aurelia's door open. I heard his cries and her squeals of glee through the monitor (she loves her kitty). He knew that waking her up would get us out of bed. He's quite the clever cat, but it made for a long night. She wanted to continue to play with the kitty instead of go back to sleep.
We went on our first family vacation recently. Port Aransas is about 5 hours south of Spring, just outside of Corpus Chrisit on a barrier island. We had heard that the beaches were nicer there than in Galveston.

There was a lot of seaweed and trash on the beach that the city cleans up regularly but if you go down when they haven't cleaned in awhile you can find some pretty scary stuff in the seaweed. Among the treasures we saw: flip-flops, strings, food wrapping, pieces of clothing, toys, syringes (no needles but still not something you want to see at the beach). Fortunately, the trash was only bad the first night we went down. It was all cleaned up for the rest of the trip, and the water cleans a nice amount of beach to safely walk and play on when it is bad.
It's odd to see so much scaffolding on the horizon. We counted three or four oil rigs and a number of barges coming and going. There are lights dotting the horizon at all times.
Aurelia loved playing in the water.

She is definitely a water baby.

Yep, she even ate some sand without me knowing it. Yuck!
The condo we rented was nice, once we got the right one. There was a bit of a key mix up in the beginning which was not a pleasant experience. The place we initially opened was a smelly dirty disaster with a cockroach the size of a small dog dead in the entry way. Apparently they had recently fumigated that one. It was scary. Once we talked to the rental place, we figured things out and got into the right condo, which had been remodeled and was so much nicer. Still, I don't think we will be going back to that place now that I know what's on the other side of the walls. Still gives me chills.
The rest of the vacation went smoothly. Aurelia adjusted to the travel bed and new surroundings like a seasoned traveller. I think she was ready to stay at the beach for good. We took a trip into Corpus to the Texas State Aquarium, which was a lot of fun. Aurelia enjoyed all the people more than the fish. At one point she had otters doing flips right in front of her but she couldn't take her eyes off of a woman in a tie-dyed shirt. It was cute. She is quite the flirt.

We saw a dolphin show and Aurelia loved it.

 Heading down to the beach

 Playing in the water with daddy!