Lately

I have been so bad at taking pictures lately. I want to document and remember this time of our lives, but this is all I get!

I'm going to try and be better especially since my mom is always asking if I have updated the blog, and most of the time the answer is "no."

So, here is what the Foote family has been up to lately:

Aubrey- As fun as ever, although the temper tantrums have begun. She is just a determined little girl, and even my best attempts at distraction usually fail. She wants what she wants, and lets me know how she feels if she doesn't get it! But, other than that she is so cute. Gives lots of hugs and kisses, loves to play with her friends, and is learning new things all the time. She says her name- "Aub-ee" which is probably my new favorite thing.

Steven- is LOVING his new job. We seriously can't say enough good things about how amazing working at LinkedIn can be. He gets to bike to work every day (20 mile round trip) and is getting in darn good shape. Which is a good thing because he has oodles and oodles of free food to eat at work. He is also now home in time to hang out and play!

Paige- I'm just trying to keep up with my crazy toddler, be a good mom and wife, and also keep a part of "Paige" alive. For a while after Aubrey was born, I wasn't quite sure what to do since the traditional sewing and crafting hobbies are not really my thing. But, I am finding my niche- I've been couponing and budgeting and decorating and organizing. I honestly probably spend too much time cleaning. I've also been working out (below pre-baby weight!), and I try to make play dates or park dates or lunch dates at least 3 times a week. I'm a social mom :)

While life is not without its challenges, our family is in a good place right now. We feel very blessed.

Zachary Cole

My sister had her baby! And he is darn cute:

Zachary Cole

February 18, 2012

5 lbs 14 oz

So my mom flew in last Friday night to help watch our little bundle of energy because we were moving on Saturday. My mom was not even here for 24 hours when my brother-in-law called in the middle of the night to tell us that my sister's water had broken and she was in labor. 

My mom quickly booked a ticket and was on her way to LA within a few hours. So, moving day was a little crazy because we had been up since 4 am and moving while chasing around a toddler was well... not fun. 

Even though by her due date my sister was considered full-term, they estimated that her due date was a little off and Zachary was actually slightly premature. He spent 5 days in the NICU and is now home and I hear doing great! Oh, and he was born on my dad's birthday, so that was pretty special. 

Congrats Nicole and Steve! I can't wait to see my little nephew. He is just so cute. 

I will admit that having her water break early just like mine makes me very nervous for having another baby. I now feel like it wasn't a fluke, but I guess only time will tell. Maybe if my life isn't in complete chaos next time, I can hold on as long as she did. 

And... some more pictures. We are so excited for this new addition to the family. 

New Place

We are in our new apartment! And, so far we are really loving it.

I never thought we would be fancy apartment complex type of people, but since we are here for the foreseeable future and buying a house in this crazy, expensive place isn't an option yet, we wanted a place that could feel like home. And a washer and dryer. As much fun as it was dragging Aubrey and our giant bags of laundry to the laundromat each week, I don't think that is something I will miss.

Our place has some fun perks. We get our own garage, 3 pools (one just for lap swimming), 2 gyms, right next to a bunch of parks, in a super nice area, and close to shopping. Doesn't everybody want to come visit now? Please?

I (as Steven will tell you) tend to turn into a bit of a crazy person when we move. I just can't seem to stop until everything is done and organized. Steven was also a HUGE help. So, here we are three days after move-in and I am done! All boxes unpacked, furniture in place, pictures hung, laundry done, and house cleaned. However, I did pull some muscle in my back and can now barely walk. I guess I over-did things...

Here is a tour for anybody who likes that sort of thing (I love it), and for my own memories:

The family/living room:

 I think that the vaulted ceilings are my favorite. And yes, the picture in our living room is the same as the one on our blog. Let's just say we don't have too many family picture options to choose from. 

The Kitchen:

Dining Room:

Hallway/Washer & Dryer:

Yeah! Yeah! This is honestly probably the biggest reason why we moved.

Guest Bathroom:

Super excited to have two bathrooms. Super unexcited to clean two bathrooms. 

Aubrey's Room:

And... our bedroom/master bathroom:

There you have it! Our happy home. Sometimes it is hard because I know that if we lived pretty much ANYWHERE else, we would already be able to have a really nice house. 

But, we are enjoying life and excited at the great work experience Steven is able to get while we are here in Silicon Valley. So, for now, we will continue to be apartment dwellers :)

The Aubbers

Well, I definitely fell off the blogging wagon for a while. Mostly because we haven't really taken very many pictures lately, and because things have been a little crazy. We are moving next week to a new apartment, and my to-do list is pretty long. But, mostly for my own benefit, I thought it was time to do an update on the Aubbers.

She loves to climb, climb, climb, and gets pretty excited when she makes it on top of things. We sold our kitchen table and bought a new one that is going to be delivered next week, but for now, this is the only chair we have. I think Aubrey will miss it when it gets demoted again to the deck. 

She talks all the time.... just not in English. "Real" words that she can say are: Hi (as a greeting), Hey! (I want attention!), Uh oh (ususally when she drops something... on purpose), Yum (umm...umm...), mama (usually just mom mom), dada, and yeah. She has started repeating some words that I tell her to say, but I don't think she uses anything else with meaning yet. 

Putting her to sleep is like a dream now. I seriously can put her down for naps or bedtime and she either sings her self to sleep or doesn't make a peep. I definitely have been blessed with a good little sleeper. 

She has been eating pretty well, and is now officially drinking whole milk out of a straw cup. Weaning her was easier than I thought it would be. She loves curry and other random things you wouldn't expect a baby to eat.

I also find it pretty ironic that as soon as she started eating well.... her growth curve dropped. She was a whopping 17 lbs 15 oz at her one year check-up. I think she has grown a bit since then, but she is definitely a tiny girl. She never stops moving... and that is why most pictures of her now look like this!

She has a very funny, social personality. She can also be mischievous. She will walk up to the toilet pointing and shaking her head saying "ah ah" and then stick her hand in. And then smile at me. She knows she shouldn't, but just can't help herself!

Mischief and all, I am loving the stage she is at. She is so much fun! Now that she is walking and running all over, she just seems so much like a little girl... not a baby. I loved the sweet newborn stage, but I actually think I am a better mom for the toddler stage. We go to parks, play dates, shopping, etc. Now, we just need it to get warm enough for the pool. She is my little buddy :)

Baby Shower!

Aubrey and I just got back from a fun week in LA where we helped host my sister's baby shower along with my mom and Connie. We had a lot of fun with the aqua and brown color scheme (love these colors!)

The food was delicious and we spent the few days before making and prepping everything. I think that it turned out looking pretty darn cute.

See the blue cupcakes? We also made a whole pan of brown fudge ones, but they ended up getting spilled all over the car and my mom on the way there. We chose to laugh instead of cry and my mom was a great sport considering she was covered in chocolate :)

Miss Aubrey was such a trooper. We dragged her all over LA and she was her happy little self. She is also quite the social butterfly and made lots of friends wherever we went. 

Nicole got so much cute stuff.... Baby Mac is going to be one very well-dressed little guy.

Most of all, it was so much fun spending the week with my little girl, my mom, and my sister. We are good friends, and I'm grateful for that.

Weekend of Unemployment

Steven had his exit interview at E & Y on Thursday morning and he started his new job at LinkedIn on Monday. So, we had a nice long weekend of unemployment. We were still pretty tired from all the vacationing we did at Christmas, so we mostly just hung out as a family. But, we couldn't resist a trip to San Francisco. We live by cool stuff and I would feel ungrateful if we didn't experience all that cool stuff!

We have tried 2 other times to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, but it never happened. However, this time was a success!

We had a lot of fun. Our experience in three words would probably be: windy, exercise, and crowded. There we so many people. And lots of bikes. A lot of people that don't know how to ride bikes. But, it was great, and Aubrey was happy the entire time. Even with the wind blowing in her face like crazy.

We went to a park after and the only thing that Aubrey wanted to do was walk up and down these stairs. Over and over and over. We had to take turns because really... there were only so many times I thought that was interesting.

Now our days of vacations are over and Steven is back to work. So far, both he and I are loving it. 

I'm mostly loving that he eats both breakfast and lunch at work and so I only have to feed him dinner. This might mean I can slip a few more clothes for me/Steven/Aubrey into the cart at Target and still meet my "grocery" budget :)

Trouble

I wanted to get a video of Aubrey walking before she is proficient at it. Right now she kind of lumbers along and I think it is so cute. And pretty funny. Well..... except when that lumbering is right into the table, or the floor, or the couch, etc. She has her one-year check-up tomorrow and will be sporting a few nasty bruises.

This little girl just loves to MOVE. She seriously runs around the house like this all day long. I cleaned the apartment today and I clean about as fast as she takes apart. We are in trouble. But I wouldn't have it any other way :)