Happy Birthday Aubrey!!

I can't believe I am just now finishing her 1 year post!! I'm such a slacker....I'll explain why in a later post. But for now it is all about Aubrey!

At 12 months of age, Aubrey, you....

- weigh 19 pounds at 13 ounces....i can't believe you don't weigh more than this. You feel like such a chunk to me!

- have nixed baby food and eat a variety of table food. Your favorites include mac and cheese, hot dogs, chicken, edamame, broccoli, carrots (if they are freshly cooked), cucumbers, scrambled eggs, and pretty much any kind of fruit!

- are not walking independently, but can manage to get around anywhere you like. You are a climber and I really have to watch you at the playground. Today you climbed all the way up the slide....my oh my!

- are developing a big time temper!! I mean, huge! If I am holding you and put you down, you will sometimes throw yourself face-first on the ground and scream! I'm waiting for the fist banging and feet kicking to start.

- BUT, you are also such a sweet natured baby. You smile and laugh all the time...especially at your big brother.

- you say mama, dada (which is pretty funny and great since he's been gone for the last 6 months) and sometimes bye.

- can do a dinosaur "roar" which I guess is your first official animal sound...go figure!!!

- have busted your mouth 3 times since we've been back in Hawaii. It freaks me out every time and I always worry that we need to go to the ER, but the bleeding always stops pretty quickly.

- are starting to wear some 12-18 month and 18 month clothes.

- wear size 3 diapers.

- have 6 teeth (2 on bottom and 4 on top).

- are happiest when you are eating or being held!!

- LOVE to be outside! And you manage to get filthy!

- still cuddle with mommy and it just melts my heart!

We love you so much Aubrey!!!

Showin' Some Riley Love!

So I haven't talked about my precious first born in awhile! And even though it is Aubrey's birthday week...I thought I'd show you a little picture of my main man these days!! I will add to this later about all he is saying and doing, but for now, I leave you with this handsome hunk!! Such a cutie!!

OH my Riley...he's just as sweet as he can be...most of the time!! When asked his age, he keeps saying "Four". I have no idea where that is coming from, but I am starting to think that I might be ok with skipping the rest of our 2's and all of our 3's! Just kidding! We've recently transitioned to a big boy bed and although he now knows that he can get out, he's doing pretty well. He is sleeping much better at night so that is a good thing. This boy LOVES to wrestle! And when a grown-up isn't there to do it with him, he tries to do it with Aubrey! She's actually pretty tough and gives him a run for his money, but of course I'm so nervous about her getting hurt. Riley is really ready for his daddy to get home...really ready! And I seriously think that these last 5/6 weeks (yes we are almost there) may the most tough. I feel like Satan is just throwing attack after attack. BUT, with the Lord's help, we will make it. And I've been asking Him regularly to just help us get through this. I think being home has made Riley think about Edmond being gone even more often. When we pull in the driveway and see Edmond's jeep, Riley always asks, "Is Daddy home?" Driving around on base, when get close to the helicopter hanger's, Riley says, "That's wear my daddy lives." Poor thing...he's just so confused and wants his daddy. I am going to try to keep us extra busy and doing lots of fun stuff while we are waiting on Edmond's return.

Come home soon Edmond!!!!

11 months old!!

Here she is....our sweet little princess who is growing up way too fast!! Well, at 11 months of age, Aubrey, you.....
-have 4 teeth...with 2 more on the way....I feel like this will never end!
-had your first ER visit, which turned out to be teething (who would have thought that a 103 fever over several days would have just been teething and we had to go to the ER with our insurance since we were out of network).
-are finally eating some table food: carrots, broccoli, dumplins, banana, apple, grapes, crackers, and other random things we feed you from our plates!
-had your first swim, but didn't seem to like it too much (I think that was actually a month ago after we arrived here)
-LOVE your snacks!!!
-are wearing size 3 diapers and size 6-12 month or 12 month clothes
-are much more vocal when you don't like something...you've learned how to shriek!
-still LOVE your brother and cousins
-have discovered stairs (while at Pitty Pat and Gaga's house)
-have incredible balance....you can go from standing alone to a squat on the ground and just hold it
-are not too confident in your ability to walk...as soon as I let go of your hands, you slowly squat to the ground!!! I'm not in a hurry though.
-continue to put EVERYTHING in your mouth
-are starting to wave to us
-say "mamamama" and "dadadadada" all the time
-starting to repeat "bye bye" while waving
You are such a funny girl and we love having you with us! You make us laugh and smile each and every day!
We truly love you, Aubrey!

Just for Fun

Brag on Dad Day!

One of my favorite things about being home right now (other than visiting with my precious family, of course), is getting to enjoy my Dad's beautiful yard! His favorite thing is to work in his yard and get it looking nice. He is constantly building patios, flower beds and also loves putting in fountains! He works his behind off all spring trying to get it ready for the summer. Here are a few pictures of his gorgeous yard!

Several of the patios and the pool area offer lots of shade which is perfect for us in the afternoon. Riley can play till he is pooped and Aubrey and I can watch him while sitting in the shade. I'm so proud of my dad and all of the hard work he puts into his yard! Just wanted to share!

10 Months

Our little angel turned 10 months old on Sunday! I remembered to take the pictures, but totally forgot to do a post! She is just the sweetest thing...but she is learning to throw a good fit when she doesn't get her way. I guess she may be a little fiesty like her mama!

At 10 months old, Aubrey, you....
- have 2 teeth (on the bottom) and are about to get a top one...any day now!
- still wear size 3 diapers and mostly 12 month clothes
- have amazing balance and pull up on anything and everything
- are starting to eat table food and LOVE bananas, dumplings, mandarin oranges, and mac and cheese
- know how to "play" some games with your brother, including hide and seek...it's so cute to watch you crawl to his hiding place and squeal when you see him
- can wave "bye" (although a little delayed) and will often repeat it
- say "mama" and "dada" all the time...not sure if it is meaningful or not, but I'd like to think so!
- are putting EVERYTHING in your mouth! I have to be better about watching you because just this week, I fished out of your mouth a piece of dog food, lint, and a quarter! I know...it could have been very BAD. - are starting to "walk" around with a little push toy that we are borrowing from a friend
- LOVE to play in the dishwasher and with Mimi's tupperware
- also enjoy standing at the dryer and helping me to fold clothes

- and you are STILL our precious little girl! I can't wait for your daddy to get home and cuddle with you. I hope and pray that it doesn't take too long for you to get used to him again. We read your recorded book that he made for you, almost every night so that his voice will always be familiar to you. We are so very thankful for you Aubrey!

Ready or Not!!

Oh my precious first born!! He is coming up with all kids of things these days! He keeps us laughing and sometimes almost brings me to tears with all of the sweet things he says. I want to keep track of all of it so I thought I'd list some of his latest ramblings here.
- My parents' dog is named Buddy and Riley completely adores him. Most of the day he is looking for Buddy, letting him go outside or making sure he has food to eat. Incidentally, "buddy" is also the term of endearment that I (and many others in our family) often use for Riley. We say things like, "Come here buddy" or "I love you buddy" or sometimes we even shorten it to "Can you give that to me, Bud?" I'm sure you can see what's coming. After being here a very short time, Riley's response to that has turned to, "I not Buddy, I Riley!" And he's pretty adament about it too. I've tried explaining it but it does no good!
- When I need for us to quit an activity so that we can do something else, I've found that Riley responds the best when I give him some kind of warning and a countdown. Usually I do the 5 minute and then the 1 minute countdown until we have to stop whatever it is we are doing. So now, anytime I tell Riley we are going to have to stop something or do something else, he responds with, "One more minute, mommy, one more minute." The kicker is that he'll try to say this over and over again and obviously doesn't get how long an actual minute really is!!
- I have been working with him on counting lately. And I've found that he does best when it's in the context of playing a game. He's not one to just sit down and count things with me...he wants to be active! So, we've starting playing lots of hide and seek. He LOVES this game...doesn't really "get" it yet, but loves it nonetheless! Anyway, so the other day he actually counted to 12 or 13 (I've only been working on 1-10) and later that night my mom wanted him to do it for my Dad. So Riley counted to 10 and then stopped. We wanted to see if he could keep going so we said..."what comes after 10?" And without missing a beat, he yelled out "REady or not, here I come!" We just died laughing!! Hopefully by the time he gets in to school, he will know what actually comes after 10!
- And here is the sweetest thing he's said lately. I found out the other day that he knows my name...and Edmond's. I wanted him to say them for my mom one day and after he told her his daddy's name, he said, "I miss my daddy, I love my daddy, He my superhero!" It was really the sweetest thing to hear as a mother! We all looked at each other with tears in our eyes. He sure does love his daddy and his return just cannot come soon enough!
Thank you all for the prayers and words of encouragment during this deployment. It really means alot!