Sunday, October 30, 2016

Aubrey 11 Months!



There is NO way my baby will be 1 in just one short month! No way! I seriously have no idea where this last year has gone!  But I do know that this little lady is growing up to become such a fun, spunky, adventurous, fearless, little thing and I can't wait for what the next year will bring!
Happy 11 Months Aubrey Lynn!


11 Month Highlights:
-This month you started legit saying a couple words.  In the past 2 months, there were times I thought you were trying, but this month you got it.  You say "Hi" and "Ahh duh" (all done) consistently, with "bye" "ok", "nye" ("good night") and "dada" thrown in more often than not.  Now, to work on "MAMA"!!!

-We went to BJ Reece Apple Orchard in the North GA Mountains and had a great time once again.  There weren't tons of apples to choose from (we KEEP saying we need to go mid-Sept rather than mid or end of Oct!), but we still had a great time enjoying the gorgeous weather, eating more apples than we brought home, and spending time with family.




-You started walking this month which is just so stinking cute b/c you are so little and it just doesn't look like you should be walking!  Right now you take about 8-10 steps and then fall over, but can stand right back up and try again! Occasionally you will make it all the way across the living room or kitchen (about 15-20 steps for you) but most times this takes you a few rounds of walk, fall, repeat.

-We celebrated your first Halloween this year, and we had a great time doing a bunch of festive things this year!  We carved a pumpkin as a family while listening to "spooky" (ok, children's!) Halloween music.  We had some friends over for a Halloween brunch which was delicious!  We went to Suwanee Creek Park Trek or Treat which was a gorgeous 80 degree sunny day!  And you even dressed up for a short, hot second!  I think you are the cutest little pumpkin and lady bug out there : )


Sleeping: This is a touchy subject for Mama because that whole 8 month sleep regression that turned into a 9 month regression, continued through 10 months.  Bedtime was around 6:30 or 7pm most nights, and you woke up around 6:30 am for the day most mornings.  That doesn't sound so bad, right?  Wellll, you also woke up twice to eat usually around 10 or 11 pm, and then at 2, 3 or 4 am.  The lovely thing about the 10pm wake up was about 2 nights a week, you wouldn't want to go back to sleep! Yup, you just thought it was a little 3 hour nap from 7 til 10. Not cool Aubrey Lynn, not cool.  Some nights we could get you back to sleep by 11:30 or so, but others (most) took til 1 or 2! So exhausting.

As for naps- you still don't get the hang of what a 10 month old should be doing for naps.  Your morning nap is usually your best, and you will sleep 1 hr 15 min to 2 hours (the 2 hour naps are days after you don't sleep well at night).  I usually put you down around 9:30 or 10am. Then, you afternoon nap is usually 15-30 minutes. The only exception to this rule is when you take a short (30-40 minute) morning nap, and then you will nap 45 minutes to an hour in the afternoon.  If anything I can count on your naps having no predictability whatsoever! Makes for a difficult time trying to schedule things.

With all that being said, 5 days before you hit 11 months, you finally figured out you were exhausted, or just decided you didn't need to eat so much during the the night, and finally slept (slept!) from 7 pm til about 6, 7 or 8 am!  On the mornings you woke up at 6, I fed you and put you right back to sleep til about 8 or 8:30!  You used this as your morning nap, so other naps during the day were about 30 minutes, but hey, I will take it!  I can't remember the last time I got a 7 hour uninterrupted nights sleep! Heavenly!  

Breastfeeding & Eating: You LOVE your "milkies." You would eat 72 times a day if I let you! That being said, you've been eating about 6 times a day: 6:30 am, 9:30am, noon, 3pm, 6 or 7pm, and 10 or 11pm.  You take 5-7 minutes during the day, and about 15 at night.  

You are also a good solid food eater, so I was hoping you'd cut back on the milk the more you ate, but nope (although we may be getting there)!  You love eating whatever we are eating, and really don't love purees anymore (unless it's a squeezie, or Bella is eating it).  You LOVE to feed yourself, and heaven forbid if I try to feed you unless you are really hungry!  You flail your arms around in the air and growl like "No, don't feed me!"  

I was really impressed this month with how well you developed your pincer grasp, and even though I cut things into teeny tiny piece, you have very few things that fall in your bib or on the floor...you make sure they all get in your mouth!  

Favorite foods this month: yogurt, cheese, any kind of fruit!, black beans, spaghetti, eggs, toast, sweet potatoes, and really whatever is on Mama's plate! You did a great job eating oatmeal in the morning, eating 1-2 heaping Tbl (uncooked) mixed with a couple oz of frozen breastmilk +/- berries added in, but the last week you have wanted no part in it (probably b/c I didn't let you feed yourself the bowl of mush!)
Mmm....spaghetti night!! She ate more than Bella did that night!
Aubrey Loves:
-Drinking water from a water bottle
-Feeding herself
-Musical toys and listening to music
-Taking baths
-Looking in mirrors
-Being outside, taking walks 
-Dancing (this girl has moves!)
-Trying to do whatever Bella or cousin Dani is doing...keeping up with the big girls!

Aubrey Hates:
-Napping
-Having shoes on
-Taking weekly board pictures...as soon as you see the board on the floor you start crying so hard! 

 11 Month Stats:
  -Height: 27.5 in (approximately 25th percentile)

-Weight: 17 lb 10 oz (5th percentile, but you gained 1.5 lbs in the last month...woot woot!)

*Wearing mostly 6-9 month and 9 month things (the few 12 month things I've tried on you are just too big!).

*Wearing size 3 diapers

*No new teeth- still 6 total (4 uppers, 2 lowers)
Aubrey's Firsts this Month:

 -First cold : ( @ 43 weeks
-Walking! At 45 weeks you really started taking off!

 This Month in Pictures:

 
 
Happy baby!

You LOVE baths! Running, jumping, splashing, getting water all in your face, you are fearless!

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Florida Family Vacation!

For the 4th year in a row, we have taken a road trip down to Fort Walton Beach, FL, although this was the first year with 2 kids 2 and under!


 Jon and I laugh saying it was more a 2 week "trip" and less a 2 week "vacation" but either way, it was nice having Jon off of work for 2 full weeks, and be able to spend some time as a family at the beach.  The beach has always been my happy place, and I think Isabella can officially say that as well!  

She truly had a blast taking walks in the sand (which she initally called dirt!), finding shells and pieces of sand dollars, chasing birds, "fwimmin" in the "big water" (gulf) or the pool, and yelling "SAND BUGGY" every time one drove by!  She was in heaven because there were only 1 or 2 days where she didn't get to go swimming, and those days were filled with other fun adventures, so there was never a dull moment for this 2 year old!
Chasing birds: her new favorite pastime




 

Aubrey went out to the beach a total of 3 times in 2 weeks (I mean, really, what is a 9 month old going to do when she won't sit still and wants to shovel sand in her mouth if she's not in the water?). Initially she absolutely hated the waves even though they were small, and she was terrified sitting on the sand as the water came up.  But, once we were out where it was calm (AKA no splashing waves), she was chill and loved it.  




We all spent quite a bit of time at the pool which we knew would be a winner with both girls (and SO much easier than taking them to the beach!). Bella really got comfortable in the pool with her floaties, and loved learning to doggie paddle, twirl, float on her back, blow bubbles and put her face under water.  I was impressed with how much she learned in a short period of time. 






Daddy & Mama got a couple date nights since we went with Mimi and Pops and let me tell ya, that was a highlight!  

AMAZING French seafood place right on the harbor....AMAZING food!!
SeaBlaster boar ride where we saw the most insane amount of dolphins and drank cold beer....it was awesome!

 
Otherwise, we spent time relaxing inside where it wasn't 95 or 100 degrees, going for a family run (I intended to run 6 times in 2 weeks; one 4 mile run was a little short of that goal...oh well!), eating out, staying in jammies extra long, and just enjoying time as a family that we don't normally get!
Mini golfing on an exceptionally hot and sunny day! It was fun though!
 
"Hi elephante" - yes, we rock Spanglish around here : )


Sweaty post-4 mile run picture

snuggles after nap time with the Aubster

Jumping in puddles after the storm

So this never happens...Aubrey sleeping on one of us!

Such a fun day trip to Rosemary Beach

Apparently it was an exhausting trip for Aubrey!
Daddy and Bella walk down the beach date

Taking lots of silly selfies!


Enjoying one of many picnics on the balcony
It was great to get away as a family.  We made memories, laughed quite a bit, and since Mimi and Pops were there to help out a ton, got some good 1 on 1 adult time, as well as some fun 1 on 1 girlie time.  Until next year Fort Walton Beach!