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.