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.