Ranch Dressing to the Rescue?

Miss picky pants is the toughest nut to crack when it comes to getting an ounce of food in her tummy. There are about 3 things she will eat with any consistency, and only like a little bird. As I was trying in vain to get her to eat pieces of chicken fingers, I thought, hey - maybe ranch dressing would make it more palatable. Well the ranch was a hit! Unfortunately, the chicken finger pieces only served as a vehicle for getting the ranch to her mouth. Once they were licked clean they were promptly discarded. That is, until she found out that apparently sourdough toast tastes good dipped in ranch too and the chicken finger pieces were completely abandoned. *Sigh* I thought babies were supposed to gobble up everything without discretion!

Soccer girl

Aubrey just got a Halloween package from Nana and Papa and they included an Aubrey sized soccer ball. An instant favorite! Way to go Nana & Papa!!!

We spent this morning, and then take 2 this afternoon trying to get some nice family pictures at the park. Aubrey was much more intersted in exploring and pulling up grass and flowers than in sitting still for a family photo. Our first trip this morning was too cold and we didn't last long, nor did we get any good shots. What I did get was a gimpy limp for the rest of the day because I stepped in a hole and my foot bent a way feet shouldn't bend :-S
We did get a couple cute shots though our second time around though :)

Say Cheese

I know I've been a total slacker when it comes to updating here! We're down to 72 days until Jarom's last day - wooo hoooo! And Aubrey and I will be leaving a little before then. And since the munchkin is a 22 hour a day job I've been trying to pack a little each day in those 2 hours I sometimes have. I know, excuses, excuses... Well here is something to make you smile then -

Everything is good over here in Nebraska. The warm weather is slipping away very quickly. Now it's time to bundle up and do all the fun fall things you can do out here in the middle of the country, like... corn mazes, pumpkin patches, hay rides, and .... more corn stuff I guess.

Aubrey is getting so big, and so fast. One second trying to give stuff to the dog, the next second climbing on top of the couch, the next running away from me with a guilty look on her face and probably something in her mouth. She is learning new words all the time and definitely understands us, but that doesn't translate to obeying those words when it doesn't sound fun. "Bring Mommy a book or toy" are always winners, "eat your peas", not so much.

Mommy and Daddy are her favorite toys right now. She figured out that she can grab our fingers and lead us around the house and to whatever fun thing she wants us to do. Like bringing us to her flower toy that plays music and making us dance. The other day Jarom was sitting on the couch counting to 3 then lifting her up in the air from the ground then plopping her on his lap. If he stopped Aubrey would grab his hands and start counting "one, one, eeee" or "two, one, eeee" every once in a while she even got "one, two, eeee" I was rolling. Who needs outside entertainment when you have a toddler?

Aubrey's Birthday Celebration Across the Country

Aubrey had a wonderful long trip to California of which I will be posting much more later, but she has a doctor's appointment today :( so time is short. Enjoy a little scrapblog!

Happy Birthday Aubrey!!

She is a year old today! I can't believe it!! I have some cute pictures to put up, but then it's back to packing and getting ready to visit California!!!!

Children's Museum

Look who's walking!!!

Wow! I couldn't believe my eyes when she took a few steps and less than an hour later she was walking almost 5 feet on her own!!! A little while later she was making her way to the end of the couch and trying to walk off on her own across the room. Pretty soon she's going to be running all over the place. She is just so amazing :) Just earlier today I was saying I hoped she started walking before we left for California so Jarom could see it, I guess she took that as a challenge!

Hope there were lots of Happy 4ths to go around!

Let's get it out of the way first - check out that beard on Jarom! It's his "thesis beard" and it will not go away until said thesis is completed. His adviser has given him an arbitrary early deadline of the end of August, as opposed by graduation in the middle of December. He is supposed to be dedicating hours previously dedicated to eating, sleeping, and breathing to finishing his thesis early. He's voluntarily sacrificed shaving hours as well. :)
Anyway, I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Lincoln was an absolute war zone of loud bangs and sparkley fireworks. We contributed in a small way of our own so that Aubrey could have her first 4th in style. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're banned back home aren't they? So sad :(
Speaking of home... have I mentioned how excited we are to be coming back home and be done with school for good at the end of this year? Once we find out when the magic date is we'll get a count down going *happy dance!*

Wow! 11 months old!!!

How did that go by so fast? I can't believe she's coming up on one year already. I saw a tiny newborn the other day and I couldn't believe how tiny she was, I couldn't believe Aubrey used to be that small - actually smaller! I couldn't believe how big she is now and how fast she is learning and growing. I can't believe my baby is almost a year old!!!! I added a fun little countdown to her big day. Not much to report on for now. Aubrey is still climbing on everything, trying to walk, and learning new things every day. Jarom has finished data collection for his research so now he starts his thesis. I am still reveling in Mommy-hood. We are fairly certain we'll be coming home at the end of this year. All in all, all is well in our little world!

We have teeth!

After a few months of wondering if Aubrey's first rebellion against her father would be to not have any teeth for him to straighten, we have the first 2 poking through.
Well, you're going to have to take my word for it because that was the best shot I could get and her tongue is covering those little suckers up.

"Mommy, what's with the camera right in my face?"

Anyway, thought I'd share the news. It totally caught me off guard because she hasn't been inappreciably more fussy and she hasn't been chewing things all that much. Not that I'm complaining :)

On another note, we survived the monster storms last night. Even though a few tornadoes touched down around south eastern Nebraska it was largely spared from damage. And the worst we personally got was a thorough scare. We were extremely happy that we moved to our current south east location though since the rest of the city suffered a lot of flooding, some lightning strikes, a fire, and at least one tornado that may or may not have touched down. Reports were mixed last night. But here in the south east the storms mostly just rattled their sabers. Have I mentioned how happy we are to be moving home at the end of this year?

UPDATE: cute and smart baby alert :)

*I wasn't pointing at my mouth or anything, it was all her!*

Its the little things

As everyone is well aware, Aubrey is adorable :) Just now she was taking her morning nap and about half way into it she popped open her eyes and vigorously kicked off the blanket I had draped over her little legs, looked over at me, then went right back to sleep. I was so tickled I just felt like sharing. Also, I have some pics from a little trip to the park. Have I mentioned how adorable she is?

Oh, by the way - it looks like it is definitely going to work out with the orthodontist we were talking to so we're coming home permanently at the end of the year!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!

And another by the way - I'm just dying for those Laguna beach pictures!!! Someone please send me some

What a fun filled trip!

In case you haven't noticed, I like pictures - lots of them, and I like making little digital scrapbook pages... also lots of them :) I've already worked up quite a few from our last little trip. I am still waiting to collect pictures from the various cameras in Laguna before I make that page - hint, hint :). But until I get all the pictures and have time for some chatty blogging, here is my digital scrapbook of (some of) our most recent trip. Enjoy!

We're going back!!!!

So in my last post not too long ago we were back home... we're about to go back again. *Happy Dance* Hurray for Mother's Day. Just have a quick second to post so I'll toss in some bonus pictures of the princess and some things Elder Jason has shared with us about Russia. We got giggles out of how they say "Congratulations with Christmas" and birthday's and other holidays instead of Merry or Happy. And on a less silly note, we hear that the week of Easter you greet people by saying "Jesus is resurrected!" to which they answer "truly he's resurrected!" Yay for Russia and their interesting greetings :)

Now for the pictures -

We are in California

"center of attention"Woo Hoo! Well, we've been here for a few days, but Nana is at work, Papa is supposed to be resting after his knee surgery but I don't know where he is, Daddy is working on school work and Aubrey is sleeping - so that gives me a minute to say a quick hello :) Aubrey is soaking up all the attention and exploring Nana & Papa's house. Jarom and I met with an orthodontist and his wife who might be selling their practice to us. We had a great time, and I think the 4 of us got along very well. It was a very nice evening, and the first time I'd been away from my baby girl! Aside from apparently eating some paper, she was just fine, but it was still a little nerve wracking for me. We're going to Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Rick's tonight so Aubrey can see the rest of her California family. I can't believe it's Friday already, I have no idea where all of the time has gone!!! I don't want to go back to Nebraska :(

Happy First Easter Aubrey!

Aubrey's First Word!!!

And of course as soon as we turned of the camera she said it again! We just finished calling the grandparents since they have rights to new flashes. But now its available for general release - we're so proud!! The (second) most amazing thing is we caught it on tape to be amazed at over and over again :)

Happy 8 months little one!

Aubrey is 2/3rds of a year old! Time flies huh? She's mastered crawling and is starting to wave, and for a child that outrightly rejected any bottles or pacifiers is getting pretty good at drinking from her sippy cups. She even does a good job of 'feeding' herself - if I give her a spoon with food on it, most of it gets to her mouth :). She is just growing up so fast. Getting so big too. We just had to upgrade to the convertible car seat since she is too long for her infant seat now, and she's even wearing some things in 12 month size! I have no idea where all that time went, and now I'm fairly certain I'm going to turn around and our babble conversations will have turned into conversations about which grad school to attend!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For Aubrey's first St. Patrick's Day she got to smell corned beef and didn't have to smell cabbage :) She also got to wear a cutie-cute Kiss Me I'm Irish top that none other than her Nana bought her. Nana, spoils her so rotten! And she does it from afar, that takes skill. But Nana gets to see her in 2 weeks!!! We are so excited :)

Look Out! Aubrey is Mobile!!!

Just about a week ago she just started moving across the room! She was headed for her object of constant fascination, the dog :) Malibu has been freaked out pretty much ever since then and is often running away from her. I have to go to Target today and buy a big enough baby gate to block off the kitchen and another one for the top of the stairs, then I have to spend the rest of the day figuring out how to make half of my furniture levitate about 3 feet off the ground so she can't hurt herself on it or play with things she shouldn't. I might also have to invest in one of those play yard fences to block off the desk because I am at a loss there! :) My mommy was right, I spent all that time encouraging her to crawl and I already wish she couldn't get in to everything everywhere!

Sitting and Pulling herself up on her own!

As of Monday Aubrey has figured out how to sit up on her own! And the very next day she figured out how to pull her self up to standing in her little bath tub and quickly applied that knowledge to her crib and anything she can get a hold of. She is getting so big! Even though she isn't crawling yet, and has never been a fan of rolling, somehow she is getting herself around the house if you set her down. She has created a system of stretching out while laying down, then getting up on all fours like she's about to crawl, then sitting, then back to all fours and sometimes pushing herself backwards, this is how she manages to get all the way across the room to a toy or more often other interesting object that shouldn't be there. Although we are trying to get her to crawl, she has made it quite clear she would rather walk, and as I speak she is working on getting up on to her feet without something to pull up on... for this reason I keep plenty of pillows and blankets around her because the poor thing has had quite a few face plants already :( Nothing a few Mommy kisses can't fix :)