Grateful Monday

this week, "grateful friday" has become "grateful monday".

so, on this monday, i am extremely. thankful. (i can't stress it enough) for having such a healthy little girl.



(don't mind the christmas pjs! we don't have many pjs that fit her right now, as she is going through a growth spurt!)





a friend that i met on WhatToExpect.com when i was pregnant is going through an extremely difficult time with her daughter (who was born in july, just like aubrey) right now. out of respect for her, i won't say exactly what is going on but it makes me sit back and realize how fortunate i am that aubrey has been 100% healthy for her first 6 months of life (minus a small 24-hour stomach bug she had on thursday) and i can only pray that this good health continues until she is old and gray. my fellow WTE mama and her family are in my thoughts & prayers, as well as everybody else she knows, i'm sure. <3

that being said, i am also grateful for family. aubrey met her first little cousin, peyton, on thursday. peyton lives in georgia and is visiting for a couple of weeks with keith's brother and his wife. aubrey is almost 3 months older than peyton, but peyton is almost just as big.




hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Holiday Recap!

i hope you all had a wonderful christmas and new years eve. i apologize for not posting for a while. every weekend in december was a busy one! the weekend after aubrey's baptism was my niece's baby shower. she is having a boy and is due in march! then, of course, the weekend after that was christmas, and before i knew it, it's almost 3 weeks since my last post!

christmas eve, we went to 3 different houses to celebrate! first we went to keith's father's house. we opened our presents and spent some time there. i got some good-smelling candles from bath & body works (kitchen spice & moonlight pomegranate) and a giftcard to michael's (which i already used, obviously! i love my crafts!). aubrey got quite a few toys and outfits. after that, we went to my sister's house for presents and dinner. i finally got some cushions for my rocking chair! it is much more comfy to sit in now. after we left there, we went to keith's stepmother's brother's house. we played rock band (i even sang! nothing too hard, just the ramones & another song that i can't remember right now). we got home around 11 and aubrey slept through til 6am when i woke her up to open presents.

santa was very good to us this year! after presents, we packed up the car, picked up keith's sister christina, and started on our 4 hour journey up to maine. we stopped at a gas station to fill up before hitting the highway and they were giving away free iced coffee (i know, i know, iced coffee at a gas station? but it is REALLY GOOD coffee. better than dunkin's, in my opinion!) so i pretended like i had a car full of people that wanted coffee when i went in and got more than just one :)

when we walked into keith's mother's house she was sitting at her dining room table. when she saw us, she got up and ran over to us and gave us hugs and started crying. i'm so glad that we could surprise her like that. she grabbed aubrey right away and brought her over to open presents. she got her that recordable 'twas the night before christmas' book that hallmark put out this year, which is great because now aubrey will be able to recognize her grandma's voice even though we don't see her often. we stayed until about 10am on sunday and then came back home.

a few (of many!) christmas pictures:



aubrey and the build-a-bear santa brought for her. matching outfits!


we had a nice new years eve, too. i gave aubrey a bath in the new inflatable rubber duckie tub i got her! she's getting too big for her new tub (did i mention, she is now 17.5 lb and 26.5" long!?


aubrey must've known it was a special occasion, because she just did not want to sleep! finally around 10pm we decided to go over to keith's dad's to bring in the new year.



this week is going to be a pretty busy one, as well. aubrey's little cousin peyton is coming up to visit from georgia! we haven't met her yet and we are so excited to see her and keith's brother and wife. i will definitely be posting pictures! we are also in the process of rearranging and cleaning our apartment top to bottom, so expect pictures from that soon too!

i wish you all a year that is full of laughter, fun and of course, love! after getting married and being blessed with a beautiful, healthy little girl, i know 2009 will be a tough year to follow, but i am excited to see what 2010 holds for me & my family!

Aubrey's Baptism

as you all know, we had aubrey baptized on sunday! the day started off with a bath


her hair is getting so long!

she did very well at the ceremony (meaning, she slept half of the time):


she liked when the holy water was poured over her head:


and even when she was awake, she was too focused on the ceiling fans at the church to be loud and talkative:


after the ceremony, we went back to aubrey's godparent's (who happen to be my sister and her husband!) home to celebrate.


i didn't see much of aubrey once the party started. there were so many people there who wanted to see and hold her!


aubrey got so many nice gifts from our family and friends. she got quite a few books (yay!), clothes, a few toys, picture frames, and keepsakes, not to mention some lovely cards.

after everybody left, we got her out of her dress and let her (attempt to) crawl around and play.




did you, or do you plan to, get your baby baptized? it was such a beautiful and spiritual ceremony and i am glad we did it!

Grateful Friday

this week, i am grateful for...


another year with my mother! yesterday was her birthday. i made her a strawberry cake with cool whip topping. we went down to her apartment and gave her a card with some scratch tickets and enjoyed our little dessert..


aubrey had a tiny bit of cool whip, too!

this weekend is going to be a busy one. keith's mother is coming down from maine to spend the weekend for aubrey's baptism, which is on sunday. i also need to get the food ready. i am doing a fruit platter, tuna & chicken salad finger rolls, and crock pot kielbasa. :)

what are you thankful for this week?

Grateful Friday

this week went by very quickly.

things i am grateful for this week...

i have no picture, but i am loving that we are getting our first snow storm of the year tomorrow! the past couple of days we have had such warm weather that i had to open the windows and enjoy the fresh air!


i'm grateful for winter evenings, which mean warm jammies and lots of snuggling by the tree


i'm grateful that aubrey is now just big enough to wear these pajamas. i bought them when i was pregnant, just a day after we found out that we were expecting a girl! i absolutely love them!


i'm grateful that madden is so good with aubrey. it takes him a long time to adjust to people, but the moment we brought aubrey home, he's very protective over his "little sister"


what are you grateful for this week?

New layout!

i went to the fabric store on friday when keith got home from work and got some fabric to make a quilt for aubrey. i just got done cutting out the squares from the first pattern. i find that nothing feels better than cuddling under a blanket on a cold rainy day, kind of like today is. aubrey is also getting to be old enough where she will sit still and look at a book that i am reading to her, so we can do it more often now. i got her quite a few books for christmas already.

speaking of christmas, now that it is december (well, in 12 hours anyway...) i put up a christmasy layout! i think it's adorable.

last night, we gave aubrey carrots for the first time and she couldn't get enough of them! she kept grabbing keith's hands and wouldn't let the spoon leave her mouth.



after she ate, we had a movie night and snuggled:


i also wanted to share this video of aubrey from yesterday. i don't quite know what was so funny, but this video makes me smile every time i watch it :)



to get in the christmas spirit, what are you all asking "santa" for?
i would love:
a sewing machine
coffee for my keurig
and another wonderful year with my family

Grateful Friday

this grateful friday is being written by an especially grateful mama. yesterday was aubrey's first thanksgiving! this year, my sister jeannie hosted thanksgiving at her house. the food was delicious, as always. after dinner at my sister's, we went to keith's dad's and spent some time there.


i absolutely love this dress.


trying so hard to sit up!


aubrey and her daddy


me and my little princess!


aubrey's little "feast". potatoes, squash, baby turkey in broth, and green beans! she also had a little taste of cranberry sauce:






also, aubrey has learned the true meaning of thanksgiving: passing out after eating!



another thing i am absolutely, without a doubt thankful for is discovering that frozen waffles make amazing teethers for a baby who rebels against teething rings:



i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

Grateful Friday

i am extremely aware i've missed the past couple friday's and to be honest, if it weren't for miri @ herewearetogether making her grateful friday post, i most likely would have forgotten today too. the days just seem to blend together lately, mainly because my baby is taking shorter and shorter naps. yesterday, she only slept for about a half hour total all day! but she has been sleeping for almost three hours now to make up for the lack of sleep yesterday, but i won't say anything else as i don't want to jinx it :)

this week, i am thankful for:

hot chocolate with marshmallows (and no, the rum in the background sadly did not make it's way into our mugs)


old christmas movies. santa claus is comin' to town is my absolute favorite (much better than the new stuff they are coming out with these days)


my beautiful little family in front of our beautiful tree


my sweet baby, who really is the best gift ever.

i know it is a tad bit early to put up our tree, but from now until the end of the month, seehere.com is offering 50 free photo cards with free shipping! just enter code freebies4mom-1109 when checking out :)

what is everyone doing for thanksgiving? keith and i will be going to my sister's house. she is hosting thanksgiving for my family this year. after that we are going to my father-in-law's. i can't wait to put aubrey in her cute little dress!

Four months, already?!

i can't believe my sweet little baby is already four months old. she's so close to sitting up on her own. all she does now is hold on to my finger. she is also becoming more & more aware of her surroundings. she loves looking in the mirror. she laughs every time she sees our dog, madden.

we are putting up our christmas tree early this year. after my experience with getting aubrey's pictures done at a "portrait studio", i've realized that i can do way better myself, and with a lot less frustration. so, instead of going out and paying too much money to get pictures done (sorry, mall santa, $22 for 2 5x7's is a bit much..) i will do them myself in front of our tree.

we tried our first bite of peas last week and she loves them. next on the agenda is green beans. we'll see how she feels about them. sweet potatoes are her favorite, i'd say. we can't get the spoon in her mouth fast enough!

what is your little ones' favorite foods?

There she goes...

i'm happy (and a bit nervous, i must say) to announce that aubrey is now rolling!


this weekend was a busy one. halloween was saturday and i decided to wait until the last possible minute to finish making aubrey's costume (from scratch!). i hate to toot my own but i do think i deserve it this time. toot toot!

she (obviously) was elmo from sesame street! the dye in her shirt & hat didn't come out as dark as i would have liked, but i enjoyed making it very much.



aubrey & her daddy


aubrey & her (messy-haired!) mama


aubrey & her papa (and her friend, mr. spider!)

we went to the doctor's yesterday and aubrey now weighs 14lb7.5oz & is 25" long! our little girl is growing up so fast, it's unbelievable.

what were your little ones for halloween?