6 months old!

I can hardly believe my little angel baby is 6 months old today. My how time has flown! I know, I know... that's what everyone says, and believe me, plenty of people have made an effort to tell me again and again. But still... it's shocking.

I can't believe how much she's grown! She was 8lb 3.9oz when she was born, and 21 inches long. Now she's 19lb and 25 inches long!!

Here are some little milestones Aubrey has reached at her 6 month mark:

• She can pull herself up to sitting.
• Can sit unsupported for short periods of time, and very well when supported.
• Can hold her own spoon when eating. 
• Holds her own bottle.
• Is eating cereals, (rice, oatmeal, wheat, and oatmeal with banana) and will be starting veggies next week!
• Uses a sippy cup for drinking water. (Had to implement this one a little early because she kept trying to take my water bottles!! LOL!)
• Is trying and trying to talk!
• Loves to "pet" Daddy's beard.
• Loves to bounce in her bouncer (her little legs are getting so strong!)
• Loves "Finding Nemo"... I think it's all the pretty colors!
• Plays peek-a-boo by covering her face with her blanket then yanking it down when I ask "Where's the baby?"
• Attempting to mimick sign for "milk" when asked if she wants a bottle.
• Recognizes and responds to signs for "milk," "diaper," "mommy," "daddy," and "more"
• Trying to crawl by sticking her butt up in the air and leaning forward on her boppy
• Loves "reading" books with Daddy
• Can pick up toys and switch back and forth between them
• Is starting to master her "pincher" hold using the little toys attached to bars (like on her swing and bouncer... you know what I mean? I have no idea what that's called, lol!)
• Hates wearing shoes and/or socks
• Is starting to play with Tina (our Jack Russell), and wants to pet her when she comes near.

I'm sure there's some I'm forgetting, but this girl changes every day and amazes us constantly! I'm pretty sure she'll be reading by her 1st birthday. (kidding...) ;)

Also, her hair is finally growing back in, and it's shiny and blonde! What a change from the dark haired little baby we brought home from the hospital! LOL She's so strong too... also a change from the fragile little monkey we started out with.

J and I just love watching her grow and learn about all the things around her. There's just something so magical about watching the discovery and amazement in her eyes when she sees something she's never seen before, or figures something out for herself. She's such a happy baby, always smiling and laughing at silly momma and daddy.

I must say it's been the shortest 6 months of my life, and being a Mommy is both the toughest and most rewarding experience I've ever had. Even after 6 months, it's hard to believe I'm actually a Mom now. I don't "feel" any different, except that I'm constantly thinking about Aubrey and what she's doing or what she may need at any given moment. 

Aubrey is such a joy, and we are both so happy to be blessed with such an amazing little girl. We can't wait to see what she has in store for us in the next 6 months!

Great idea!

Yesterday as I was blogging about something or other, I got a notification from Blogger about a new site they're partnered with.

http://blogspot.sharedbook.com/blog2print/googleblogger/index.html

It's a little site that takes your blog and makes it into a book! You can get it in either hardback or paper, and you can have your entire blog published or just an excerpt. Aaaaaand it's super easy to use and they do all the messy formatting FOR YOU!

I personally am no stranger to book publishing, as I've done many in the past, but this site takes like, oh 90% of the work out of it. Hopefully it's still around in a few years when I get ready to publish all this for Aubrey. Talk about your cheaters' scrapbook, haha!

Anyway, just wanted to pass it along to any who may not have seen it yet. :)

Have a great day!!

Feeding time!

Feeding solids has been quite the experience so far... Aubrey doesn't always love to eat what's being served up, but she doesn't miss an opportunity to stick her hands in the bowl, or wipe what's on her mouth all over her face, LOL!

Today I decided to give her her own spoon, in hopes that she might feel a little more involved, and a little less like making a huge mess. It seemed to work for the most part...

Look at that! She figured out how to use it "right"!

I uploaded a little video of feeding time for everyone, I hope it works. She was making me laugh so hard with all her little grossed out faces!

Visiting Daddy for lunch...

Aubrey and I are so lucky that we get to have Daddy home 3 days a week. We love having him around (even if he's working outside) because that means lots of extra hugs for us! However, having him all to ourselves for 3 days in a row seems to make us miss him more when he's gone to work.

Sometimes we have to remedy that little problem with a trip to see him for lunch! See how Aubrey loves seeing her Daddy unexpectedly in the middle of the day? LOL

You think they love each other? ;)

New Blog!

Hey all! As you know, I've been tirelessly working on my new business venture for the last few months. Since I was having trouble seperating the "work" and the "personal" side when dealing with this blog, I decided to make a dedicated blog just for my business. Here it is:

http://littlebirdiebaby.blogspot.com/

Go check it out, become a follower and tell your friends! I'm pretty doggone proud of myself because I designed and created my new blog completely from scratch to match my store, my business cards, and all my other media. Feedback is always appreciated too!!

XOXO
Rach

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween from 
Jerry, Rach, Aubrey and Tina!

This year, we went with the pirate theme again, since we had so much fun decorating for the trick-or-treaters last year. Here we are, the pirate, his wench, our parrot and the pirate-dog, LOL! We didn't take Aubrey trick-or-treating because, well, what does a 4 month old need with a bucket full of candy? LOL She was SO adorable dressed up as our little parrot, everyone who came by thought she was just so cute.

and of course Tina was none too happy to be dressed up! LOL

There weren't as many kids as last year it seemed, but I think that mostly had to do with the fact that Halloween fell on a Sunday. But, we had plenty of trick-or-treaters, and even had some surprise visitors! Steve, Jamie, Dane (dressed as a ceiling fan) and Emma (the ladybug) came by to see the decorations and let us load up Dane's bucket with candy!

Daddies loving on each other's baby girls :)

Dane in the "haunted pirate ship"

Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Patch!

Well, it's fall and you know what that means... PUMPKINS!! :) We took Aubrey to the pumpkin patch the weekend before Halloween, and she was just too precious. I don't think she knew what to make of all the huge piles of pumpkins everywhere, but she really seemed to like it.

Fall in Houston is pretty warm, and even though the day started out overcast, the clouds cleared and it got bright and hot quick! Aubrey was a good sport with all the photos, despite the heat and and the bright sun, but she was totally sacked out by the time we got to the train ride, LOL. I'm sure she'll have much more fun next year!

Fishes!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here on the blog yet, but Aubrey is in LOVE with "Finding Nemo." I think it's the vibrant colors more than anything, but the more we watch it, the more I think she just likes it because she likes it!

I'm not sure if we just guessed right, or if she's grown into it, but this kid is all about the fishes! Her little playmat we got from the Orums at the shower is ocean themed, her bouncer is ocean themed, and several of her outfits are "fishy"... I didn't even realize it until the other day, but it all goes together! LOL

Anyway, so we were out running errands this weekend and went by Petco to pick up some things for Squirt the turtle, and Aubrey was in heaven!! She just loved looking at all the fishies swimming around, and seemed ecpecially excited to see the clown fish. We're thinking there may be a salt water aquarium in our future somewhere... LOL

Seeing the fish...

Looking a little confused at first...

Oh, wait! It's Nemo! LOL

We can't WAIT to take her to the downtown aquarium when she's a little bigger!! I just know she's going to love that! It's such a fun place even for adults, I can only imagine how tickled it will make our little fish loving girl!

The Purple Pixie Princess

I've been dressing Aubrey in some of my onesie designs so I have some "action shots" for marketing, etc. This little photo shoot quickly turned into something much more fun and much more precious than I could have imagined. She's such a doll!!

Potbelly Fred

Potbelly Fred is a raccoon. Well, a stuffed one of course! He was Jerry's favorite when he was growing up, and he slept with him every night. Last weekend, we found him in a box and I decided to revive him!

He needed a little mending and a good cleaning, so I put him back together and gave him a good cleaning with the always miraculous OXY cleaner. He was looking better already, so I tossed him into the wash with the baby soap and then the dryer to fluff him up. I brushed out all of his fur, so he would be nice and fluffy again and soft enough to cuddle!

Needless to say, Jerry was pretty happy to see his old friend "good as new" again. Of course the real reason he was so happy was because he wanted to share his old buddy with Aubrey. Even though she's still a little young to know what's up, we set Fred up in her room to watch over her until she's ready to let him cuddle HER to sleep too. :)

Our little Bookworm

Since the beginning, (and when I say beginning I mean like in-utero) we've been reading to Aubrey. Now that she's doing some supported sitting up she's having alot of fun reading the books "all by herself"! What a little bookworm she's becoming! ;)

"Reading" her own version of the story to Momma

 Turning the pages "all by myself"

Listening intently and ready for more!

Aubrey's first solids!

We had Aubrey's 4 month checkup this week, and despite the terrible shots, we did get some exciting news... it's time to start feeding her cereal! We were so excited and just couldn't wait!! 

 These faces just kill me! We were laughing SO hard!

 She even did pretty well with her first sippy cup of water! :)

Enough of this mess! Can I just eat my finger instead?