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?

Well, hello there..

things have been busy lately! we've set the date for aubrey's baptism, december 13, and i've been looking high and low for invitations that aren't crazy expensive. i got her gown at a consignment shop for $20 brand new with the tags still attached to it!
my sister and brother-in-law, jeannie & rob, are going to be aubrey's godparents. when deciding, there was no doubt in my mind that they were the ones i wanted to fulfill the role.

what else is going on? oh nothing much, besides aubrey is now eating rice cereal!! keith and i mixed some cereal with some formula and the results were not pretty. hilarious, yes. pretty, no.


since she didn't like it, i decided to go out and buy a few cans of banana puree to mix in and she absolutely loved it! it also made her sleep extremely well last night. we fed her the cereal right before bedtime and before putting her down, rubbed a little orajel on her poor little gums and she slept for almost 12 hours!

halloween is saturday and i have not finished aubrey's costume! i can't find the fabric dye that i bought and without it, i can't finish. if i can't find it by saturday, i will just go and buy one from walmart. they are ridiculously cute and inexpensive!

what are your little ones dressing up as for halloween?

Sorry.

not much has been going on lately, so i apologize for not writing in this more often.
we did get our first snow of the season, even though it's only mid-october.

aubrey and i went to parlee farm on monday and took some pictures. i, of course, forgot my wallet.
otherwise i would have gotten some apples and a pumpkin, or two.



on wednesday, i took aubrey to the mall to get her pictures done and was not happy with the results. the photographer only took six pictures. out of the six, only one was good. if i didn't have a coupon for 36 photos for $4.99 i wouldn't have even ordered any.

this is the one that i ordered. all of the other ones she either looked awkward, or looked like she had just got done crying.

what are your plans for the weekend? <3

Our trip to Maine

this weekend was lovely. friday morning, i packed up the car and me, aubrey & my mother started our 3 1/2 hour trip to maine to visit keith's mom. aubrey did quite well during the ride and we didn't have to stop at all! the foliage on the way up was absolutely beautiful. i wish i could've gotten a picture, or two. so many different shades of reds, oranges, and yellows..


it's always chilly up in maine, so i made sure to pack some extra snuggly pj's for my sweetie


aubrey and her grandma!


we left early sunday morning and later on that afternoon, we went to visit rachel and mackenzie:


such a big size difference! baby mackenzie is only 5 weeks old, so it is to be expected. aubrey was also 3 days late, whereas mackenzie was 3 weeks early.

i hope you all had a lovely weekend. i really do need to start updating this more! as soon as aubrey gets old enough to do more things, i will be making a blog just for her.

On the road again..

i've spent the past hour trying to get aubrey to go to sleep but it's not looking too promising.
tomorrow after she has her a.m. feeding, i am loading up the car and we're taking a trip up to maine to visit keith's mom. it's a four hour drive so i would really like her to go to bed soon.
keith won't be going with us. just me, aubrey & my mom. it's my mom's first time up there so hopefully she'll like it. i made keith's mother & grandmother frames. if my camera wasn't already packed away i would upload the pictures to show you. i really love how they came out!

aubrey has been kind-of fussy for the past week or two. she was crying earlier and i got a good look at her gums and the bottom ones are super bumpy! i am praying that she's not getting in a bunch of teeth at once, the poor little thing. i have a couple of teethers packed and if worst comes to worst, i can grab some baby orajel at walmart when we get up to maine. hopefully i'll come back on sunday with lots of pictures to share.

i hope you all have a lovely weekend <3

This post has been brought to you by the number '4'..

tagged by miri @ herewearetogether.com!

four jobs i’ve had
stock clerk/assembler at a wire & cable company
customer service rep at bed, bath & beyond
assistant manager @ claire's accessories
..and of course, a mama :)

four movies i could watch over and over
the departed
fever pitch
10 things i hate about you
sex and the city

four places i’ve lived
lowell
tyngsboro
(yep,just two.)

four places i’ve vacationed
daytona beach, florida
hartland, maine (my favorite place to go to get away! so quiet and peaceful, and we get to see keith's mom
columbus, georgia (not really a vacation, more like visiting his brother who got into a bad accident)
upstate new york

four of my favorite dishes
steak, corn on the cob & baked potato
chicken gratella
brocolli & cheese
macaroni & cheese (the best comfort food!)

four sites i visit daily
gmail
facebook
etsy
pogo

four tv shows i love
drop dead diva (i really hope they continue on with this.)
friends
sex and the city
jon & kate plus 8 (yes, still)

four albums i can’t live without
greatest hits, michael jackson (it's always playing in my car and keith hates it!)
jack johnson & colbie caillat mix i made
#1's, elvis presley
playtime fun, baby einsteins (i played it for aubrey and she loves it!)

four places i’d rather be right now
in bed, but i have a little one who, surprisingly, is hogging the whole thing in it's queen sized glory.
apple & pumpkin picking. pretty soon my favorite apples, honeycrisp, will be in full force. i think i will use these to make applesauce for aubrey.
in front of a fireplace with a good book & a sleeping baby by my side
up in maine. we may be going this weekend, which would be quite nice.

this weekend has been nice. friday was our anniversary (from when we started dating, not from when we got married). we went out for a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant with our friends mike & jon. saturday was a pretty uneventful day, but you need that every once in a while. keith did give aubrey a bath, and it was his first time (why yes, she is almost 3 months old and daddy still hadn't given her a bath yet):

yesterday, my best friend and her boyfriend came over. keith and kenny watched the football game while laura and i went to the mall. we met up with her brother, whom i haven't seen in years, and we went out for a late lunch. then we came back to my apartment and hung out for a bit:

i can't believe i didn't mention this last week, but keith and i have a new niece! charlotte peyton was born on september 23rd at 10:29 pm. she looks just like keith's brother! she's a doll. we can't wait for aubrey and her first little cousin to meet!:

i think i am going to start making aubrey's baby food pretty soon. it holds for quite some time, so why not get a head start? once she becomes mobile, i won't have time to do ANYTHING. does anybody have any good recipes for baby food, or links to websites? i would appreciate it.

how was everybody's weekend?

Well, that was fast..

our adorable little fish, chandler, died earlier. we just got him last weekend at my niece's wedding.
rest in piece, little guy!

in other news, our apartment complex had a multi-family yard sale today. i got rid of quite a bit of things we don't use anymore and got some really neat stuff:
a coach wallet for $2. it's a fake, but it's the most authentic looking fake i've ever seen.
two baby einstein cds for aubrey. a lullaby one & a playtime one, $1 a piece! they go for like $15 in the stores.
a little fisher-price keyboard, only $0.50
two frames that my mother was going to put out, but she gave to me instead ;)
a giraffe toy, where you put the ball in it's mouth and it goes rolling down a spiral slide and ends up coming out of one of the giraffe's four feet. $1, too cute!
lilo & stitch, the movie. it's one of my favorites and it was only $1. i have no idea what happened to my copy of it. it must've gotten lost in the shuffle while keith and i moved in.

tomorrow, my best friend and her boyfriend are coming over. laura and i are just going to hang out while kenny & keith have some male bonding time over the patriot's game. should be good times. laura and i have been best friends since we were two year olds. my sister and her father were best friends so we saw each other all the time and became inseperable.

who is your oldest friend, and how did you meet?

Grateful... Monday

i do apologize for being MIA for almost a week. it's been busy around here!

friday night was my niece's wedding. she and her husband have been together for 11 years and he finally popped the question last october. the wedding was beautiful.

this week i am thankful for:

my beautiful family. that's my niece, and yes she is 4 years older than me. :)


open bar, because well, who wouldn't be? ;)


our adorable new fish, chandler. he was the centerpiece at our table and we won him :)



and lastly, having fabulous friends. <3

what are you thankful for this week?