Christmas

This year we had a wonderful Christmas with my family in Southern California. And I even got what I wanted most for Christmas- our whole family to be healthy! We all spent pretty much the entire time between Thanksgiving and Christmas sick. Including a nasty bout of stomach flu that hit Aubrey pretty hard.

But, Christmas was wonderful! I have such a great family!

I think that my favorite part of Christmas Day might have been this moment that my mom managed to catch on camera.

Aubrey got her first kiss from a dog and was quite surprised! The shock wasn't enough to keep her from trying to get more "kisses" from the dog.

Steven and I got each other a new Chromebook that is awesome and making writing this blog pretty nice. It boots in 8 seconds!

Aubrey got to eat even more cake at her family birthday party. She cried when I took it away. 

After Christmas, we then spent the next few days going like mad. We went to Disneyland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, the Holiday Bowl, and the beach. Whew. 

Aubrey is now walking and seems to think that running is even better than walking. She is such a good little baby (or toddler I guess now), but definitely very active and keeps me on my toes.

She was NOT a fan of the beach. Maybe next time.

We all can't wait to meet little "Baby Mac" and we were very grateful for him at the amusement parks. Since the parks were so crowded and crazy and my sister is quite pregnant, we got her a wheelchair. That wheelchair got us on a lot of rides without having to wait in line. Definitely the way to do Disneyland.

Aubrey couldn't get enough of the rides and shows. She is a girl after my heart! We even got stuck in the Haunted Mansion for about 15 minutes. I thought she would cry, but she loved it!

We had such a good time. We are so blessed to have such great family that likes to have lots of fun. 

Happy Birthday!

My sweet little Aubrey is ONE!!

I can't believe that it has been a year since all of this happened.

It has been a quite the year, and I couldn't imagine life without my little girl in it. Aubrey is such a joy. I'm amazed and grateful that I get to be her mother.

To celebrate, here is a video montage Steven and I made- Aubrey's first year of life in 5 minutes. Trust me, it's good :) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY!

First Sweets

Even though Aubrey's real birthday isn't until next Monday, she had her first taste of "birthday cake" tonight.

These 3 amigos are so cute together and are all born just a few weeks apart...

So, of course we had to have a joint party for them!

Tonight was definitely Aubrey's first taste of anything sweet. If I already haven't had a hard enough time getting her to eat her vegetables, I'm now going to be doomed. . .

She seriously could not get enough of that cupcake. After eating over half, I was worried she might get sick, so I took the rest away. Her solution? Just go after James' and Tyler's cupcakes. They were both a little less aggressive with the sugar.

I blame my sugar addiction on my mother. I guess Aubrey will have the same excuse. 

We had so much fun. I love watching Aubrey with her little buddies!

New Direction

Since the news is going out in both of our families' Christmas cards, we figured that now was a good time to share that on January 9th, Steven will be starting a new job as a Web developer/programmer with LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com).

We are SUPER excited about this opportunity and feel very blessed. Going from public accounting to web programming will definitely be a change, but a change in a very good way. Way better pay, way better hours, and a way better job in an area that Steven is passionate about.

The past year has honestly been a hard one for the Foote family. Starting with Aubrey's unexpected premature birth, NICU stay, moving here, and then having Steven gone so much at a job that just wasn't working out, we definitely learned alot and grew as a family. We are very excited that 2012 is looking to be much better.

We are finally settled in and LOVING where we live (except the expense. My accountant heart still almost faints every time we pay rent). We love the area, we love our friends, we love the weather... and now we hope to love Steven's job.

From almost the beginning, we knew that Ernst & Young was not going to work out for us. Let's just say that we are surprised that they made it on the "50 Best Places to Work" list.

But, we made sure that Steven will stay to the 1 year mark (+ 3 days) so that he can still get his CPA designation.

LinkedIn is an awesome company with great benefits. Steven is especially excited about the ice cream freezer and free lunch every day. I'm excited about the awesome health insurance and that Steven will actually be working at ONE place instead of traveling all over.

And... we will see where life takes us from here. We are super excited about this new direction!

Home Again

We are back from our fun Thanksgiving trip to Las Vegas. I took way too many pictures of course, but here are a few highlights:

 We had an early "Christmas" with Steven's family since that is when everybody was together. Aubrey got this pink tutu and loves to wear it. She seriously gets so excited to toddle around in it.

 We went to Steven's old high school to look around and visit his art teacher. This sign of In N Out that hangs up in the school was an art project he did and it is made up of hundreds of smaller pictures. FYI- Steven was voted most artistic in high school. It is a talent we both wish he had more time to pursue.

 We went to the ranch- lots of hiking, quad riding, and even some glow-in-the-dark frisbee.

 To me, it seems like Aubrey grew up so much while we were there. She took her first steps on Friday. She still seems a ways from actual walking (working on balance) but she is getting close. She so badly wants to be a "big girl" and play with her cousins, but most of the time just got left in the dust. Maybe next year :)

Blurry picture, but I wanted to document that we went and rode go-carts. I was proud that I did it, and that I went fast. At least I felt like I was going fast. I finished near the back of the pack, but it was really fun!

The car trips there and back were so much better than I thought. Aubrey actually slept 5 of the 9 hours on the way home. Thanks for a great time Foote's!

Cousins

We have been here in Las Vegas for almost a week now to celebrate Thanksgiving with Steven's family. We have been having a great time, and one of my favorite parts is seeing Aubrey with her cousins:

Yes, Aubrey is pulling David's ear, which put a quick end to this photo session...

 Seeing them all together brought back so many memories that I had playing with my cousins growing up. I remember one time we tied up my aunt's entire house in string while our moms went shopping. Oh to be a kid...

We are also super excited for my sister Nicole to have her baby, so Aubrey can have cousins on both sides!

11 Months

I can't believe that she is almost one!

At 11 months....

She is getting pretty good at walking between furniture and she loves to walk holding a hand. 

Steven calls her our "kamikaze baby" because she has no fear and thinks that she can just walk anywhere... even though she is not quite there yet!

She loves to hang out with her friends and is still my social little girl, but she has finally found some stranger anxiety... mostly afraid of strange men.

She has FINALLY decided that she has an appetite! Life has gotten so much easier now that mealtime is not such a battle.

And 11 months = boundless energy and less sleep. Despite the fact that I am totally not ready for it, she is trying her best to transition to just 1 nap a day. I don't know what I am going to do when she stops napping all together.

She has become great at imitating actions. She "talks" into anything she thinks is a phone, puts her hat on her head, etc.

She gets into everything and is REALLY quick. 

 

She is a babbler and has down the b, k, g, t, m, d, and f sounds. Mama, dada, and "hi" are the words I THINK she says with meaning, but at this age, it is really hard to tell. 

 

Even though she isn't even close for weight, she outgrew the length requirements on her car seat. She seems to like her new ride, even though the car is not a favorite place in general:

She is always on the go and I find it hard to get much of anything done. Hence, the complete lack of blogging this past month. 

 

Can't wait for the holidays and for her birthday!

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween here in the Foote house. One cute little lady bug couldn't contain her excitement:

Except when it came to taking pictures. She is usually such a ham for the camera, but we didn't get ANY good pictures. You get the general idea though...

We went to a Halloween party with a bunch of friends and a whole bunch of other babies. One two year old, one 14 month old, and 9 kids under 1. Pretty crazy.

Aubrey (the one who won't stay still) had a little ladybug twin (on the couch).

I had fun making these strawberry chocolate ghosts to take:

Aubrey had fun trying to break open a pinata:

And Steven had fun as Mr. Monk:

I will admit that we are not creative with Halloween costumes. I like to save my excitement for Christmas. Steven, however, does a pretty darn good Monk impression, so we found it fitting to "dress-up" as Monk and his assistant Natalie. 

If you have never seen Monk, then watch it! It is a favorite show of ours.

Happy Halloween!

Canada

Aubrey and I took a little vacation to visit my home and parents. Our week here is almost over and I have loved to see my family and get a little taste of cold weather. However, Aubrey has had a little bit of a rough week. There have been some great parts...

Always loving the park and swings. Nicely sporting her winter hat, which I think is pretty cute.

We don't have any stairs, so this was her first experience. Took about 10 seconds and now she is a pro at climbing up. And loves it.  

Greeting all her "fans" while going out to eat. She is a little flirt. 

And, of course hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.

Not so great parts?

• Aubrey hitting a full glass of water all over the guy in front of us on the plane. We were popular. I don't even want to think about the flight back.
• She got the stomach flu.... and all the symptoms that go along with it. Was up ALL night crying and miserable. I hated seeing her in so much pain. 
• Went to a Halloween party and got a trial run of her costume. I win the "bad mom" award since I forgot to run the costume through the wash first. She now has hives all over her face and neck. 
• Oh yeah... and she is cutting another tooth.

So, all and all... she has been pretty darn cranky. 

But, we still had a great trip and I will miss my family when we leave. But, I am so excited to see Steven again. 

Why can't I be in more than one place at once and be able to be with everybody I love? *sigh* Such is life. 

10 Months

Little miss Aubrey is already 10 months old! She is growing and changing every day and I love watching her happy little personality develop.

• She now has 5 teeth... and cut the 3 new ones on top in one day while on vacation in Las Vegas. That was not a fun day.
• Puts herself to sleep, takes great naps, sleeps through the night. BUT she is definitely an early riser.... sleeping in until 6:30 now feels like heaven. 

•  She is my climber and takes any opportunity she can find to swing her little leg up to higher ground. Keeps me on my toes.

•  Learned to drink from a straw which I'm grateful about because I'm hoping to wean her at one directly to a cup. She is getting better at eating now that she is mostly feeding herself but we have our days. Her pediatrician called her "strong-willed." Very fitting.

• Now says mama and dada fairly frequently along with a host of other continual babbling. Not always to the correct parent but it still feels great just to hear the sound!
• She learned to use her pointer finger which is really cute.... except for the few times she decided to "point" at my eye.

She is happy, and social, and wins hearts with her mega-watt smile. 

We Looooove her!

Buddies

These are Aubrey's little buddies:

Sometimes there are a couple of little girls that come hang out with us, but for the most part it is Aubrey and her boyfriends. 

Steven is a little worried about what that means for the future :)

I'm just so glad that we have found good friends here with kids Aubrey's age. They already love to hang out... and we moms have a good time too. Like, spending Thursday afternoon at the pool in the middle of October....

Yes, the weather is still hot and I am loving it.

Vegas Recap

We just got back from our trip to Las Vegas this morning. We took an EARLY (6:50 am) flight, and boy am I exhausted.

Flying with Aubrey was exponentially harder at 9 months than 6 or 7. Seriously.... our sweet little girl WILL NOT stay still. And, I am flying again to Canada by myself in just a couple of weeks. Pretty sure that is going to be a nightmare. It is a good thing she is so darn cute.

Vegas was a blast... here is a recap:

She started standing by herself for a few seconds at a time. We were pretty excited.

 Fun times at the park with Grandma.

 Spending time with Grandpa.

These two are definitely "kissing cousins." Here is Aubrey going for it. David wasn't quite sure at first since Aubrey is a little bit more aggressive.

Steven, Jason, Kimmy, and I went on the Big Shot ride at the Stratosphere.

Went to the lake

Don't think Aubrey will remember the lake.

Tourists on the strip. 

And... the main reason we planned the trip was to see Jason! Steven's little brother got home from his mission last month and we couldn't come to his homecoming. These two brothers had a great reunion. 

We had fun.... can't wait to go back next month for Thanksgiving.  Lots more traveling coming up in the next couple of months.