So much for New Year's Resolutions . . .

Okay. It's August. August!!! Already.
And my last post was a Christmas/New Year's post. I have a list of excuses . . . knee injury, constant computer issues (yet to be resolved. I am typing this post on our new, but really not so new, laptop), family health issues, a rather independent toddler, and the ever increasing speed of time. Why is it flying by so quickly? And a myriad other mundane life issues.
I have no pictures on this laptop yet and have not recovered them from the black hole we call our home computer. For some reason, Aurelia is the only one who can get it turned on, and that's random at best. I'm also never really close when she does this so I have no idea how she gets it to work. She has magic, mischievious little fingers.
I have been relying on facebook and my iphone and ipad to update everyone, and am sad that my only true writing outlet right now is stagnant and decaying. My desire to begin writing again has yet to fade. It will happen regularly. I know this. I just can't promise when. **sigh**
Rae's birthday is coming up quick. I can't believe she's almost 2!!! Keep an eye out for a good birthday post, if anyone is still paying any attention to this dying little spark.

love.

candice.

Christmas 2011/New Years 2012

Christmas this year was so much fun. Rae was a little more aware of what was going on and even learned to say "Santa" and "Snowman" from our walks around the neighborhood to see the Christmas decorations.

When she woke up Christmas morning she stopped off at her kitchen cupboard (we designated one cupboard in the kitchen, hers, so she could get into it whenever she wants instead of ransacking all of them).

For the first little while, she was more interested in playing with her food mill than openning presents until she finally realized what was inside. Then, of course, she spent all her time playing with the first few we openned and is still discovering new toys a week later.

It's amazing how much more fun Christmas is when you have kids. It's like being a kid again.

Here she is in her new outfit from Nana, watching Baby Signing Time, the video she got from her Aunt Rachel and Uncle Pete.
For New Years we decided to throw a little party with the cousins at noon instead of midnight so Aurelia could be awake to participate. For our Noon Years Eve party, we decided on an Asian theme, since we figured it was 12 hours ahead somewhere in Japan or China. I made some dessert sushi. They turned out great. Tasty and fun.

After Aurelia's nap we took a walk down to the Nature Center by our house.

Lately, Rae has insisted that when we go for walks, she gets to push the stroller. If we attempt to help push or guide it while she is pushing, she very firmly asks us to stop. We've gotten a lot of odd looks from people passing by when they see an empty stoller rolling along with Garrett and myself off to the side. She has a lot of fun filling up the basket and pushing it along, and we figure it's good exercise for her. She is very independent and loves to go for walks. Once she's out of the stroller, there is not much we can do to get her back in. No matter how far we are from home or the car, she insists on walking all by herself.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to write every day this year, and at least twice a month on the blog. Rae has matured so much this past year. It's nice to be able to look back at the big milestones that I've recorded, but there were also so many that i missed writing down. I hope to make the missed milestones list a lot smaller this year.
Happy New Year. I know 2012 will be our best year yet. I hope it is yours, too.

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.