4 Months

Aubrey had her 4 month check-up today. We celebrated her turning 4 months old last week by bringing out her 4th set of clothes.

When she was born, her preemie clothes were WAY too big. Then we had newborn. Then 0-3 months. And now.... she is breaking into the 3-6 month size. She is still wearing some of her smaller clothes, but she is growing fast:

And, to get a size comparison idea, her preemie onesie is just barely over 9 inches long:

Here are her 4 month stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 7 oz (19%)

Height: 23.75 inches (24%)

Head Circumference: 15.25 inches (4%)

I was excited that her head grew so well. That was the last thing to finally make the charts. At her appointment, her pediatrician did an assessment of her development (head control, bear weight on legs, tummy time, social interaction, reaching for objects, etc.) 

She said that based on her assessment, she is completely in the normal range for a 4 month old. So, even though her adjusted age is still not quite 3 months, she is no longer planning on adjusting her age because she is doing so well. Whahoo! I am excited.

The not exciting part was that the shots were rough on the poor little girl. I didn't notice too much of an effect at 2 months, but today was a rough day.

She has been feverish, fussy, tired, not eating well, and just generally miserable all day. Needless to say that I did not get anything done today. Except maybe watching a few too many Grey's Anatomy episodes while Aubrey took a long nap on my chest. I love the snuggles, but it is hard to see her so miserable.

Aubrey's Blessing & Easter

Today was a special day in that we blessed Aubrey at church today and it was Easter. We are so lucky that almost everybody from both my family and Steven's family were able to come visit for the occasion. We were only missing my brother, Trent, who is in the middle of final exams at University, and Steven's brother, Jason, who is on a mission.

We had 16 adults and 4 children. Lots of people. Even though our current apartment is double the square footage than it used to be, it was still quite full. But, it was great to have everybody here, and I would take a crammed apartment any day to spend some time with our families.

I was conflicted because I loved her blessing outfit AND I wanted her to have an adorable first Easter outfit, so I split the day and our little girl had both:

Aubrey was so good all weekend and enjoyed all the attention she received. I also was told many times that I don't know how lucky I am because she is such a good baby. Apparently, not all babies put themselves to sleep, rarely cry, eat well, and are just generally happy :)  We are proud parents.

All the Foote cousins were also together for the first time. They were really cute. Aubrey especially enjoyed meeting her "twin cousin" David. Katie was due one week before me. Aubrey came earlier than expected but they are still less than a month apart.

THANK YOU everybody for coming so far. We had such a great weekend and are so blessed to have such great families. Aubrey already misses everybody :(

So far so fast....

My little girl is sleeping peacefully, and I spent the past 10 minutes just watching her sleep. I never get tired of looking at her.

Now that Aubrey is doing so well, I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about her birth and how far she has already come. Here is the last pregnancy photo I ever took. Aubrey was born just a few days later. At the time, I had no idea what was about to happen:

 Here is how my little girl looked the very first time that I met her. Right after she was born, they took her straight to the NICU and I didn't get to see her for a couple of hours until after I got out of recovery. Steven still laughs because I convinced the nurse that I was just fine and walked myself up to the NICU just a couple of hours after giving birth.

And, here is Aubrey now- completely healthy and completely thriving:

When she was in the NICU, I was pretty strong. I only had a few breakdowns, and I did what I needed to do to take her home. I was pretty much on autopilot. Looking back, some of the stuff she went through was pretty scary. The nurses even told me that she was a candidate for failure to thrive because she struggled so much with weight gain in the NICU. So now, when I look at her chubby cheeks, I am just so grateful.

As hard as the whole experience was for me, I feel like it has made me appreciate motherhood so much more. It was harder for Steven and I to get pregnant with Aubrey than I would have liked and it was harder for her to come into this world than I would have liked.

But, I don't really take anything for granted- not even the little things like how she can eat and breathe. Because I remember when she struggled to eat and struggled to breathe.

I will admit that at times I still feel guilty. I think that motherhood always comes with some guilt because you always want to make sure you are doing your best for your baby. But, I think that having a premature baby adds extra guilt. I know deep down that it wasn't my fault... but I still think- "did I not gain enough weight?" "Was I too busy/stressed at work?" "Was it my fault that she has already had to go through so much?"

I'm also scared for future children. They did a pathology report on my placenta, and basically it showed that my placenta had aged. And, the OB said that I have a small uterus. So, the chances of having another baby premature are higher than I would like. But, I try not to dwell on that fact. I wonder if I will ever get to go to the hospital excited to give birth, not terrified because I know it is just too early.

However, for now I'll just hug my little girl and be so grateful that she is ours and that she is doing so well.

She is such a sweet, good baby. I feel like I must have had to earn the privilege of being her mom, and that is why we had to go through so much. And I am thankful every day that she is mine. I love being her mom more than anything.

Explore

Steven and I were talking today and decided that one really cool part about being new here in the Bay Area is that we don't have to go very far to feel like we are on vacation. We took advantage of a beautiful day today and explored quite a bit of the Bay.

First stop: San Francisco where Steven had to listen to my off-key version of the Full House theme song while we checked out the "Full House House" on Broderick street. I LOVED that show growing up. In fact, I still like that show. Brought back many memories of my childhood.

Then we went and visited the "Palace of Fine Arts", which is this really cool garden/pond/architecture park. I loved Central Park in New York, and I really liked this place too. Something about such beautiful quiet parks in the middle of huge cities is really cool.

Then we ventured across the Golden Gate Bridge to the other side of the Bay and checked out Sausalito. We had a pizza lunch and walked around the boardwalk. The views of the Bay were incredible, but it was WAY too crowded for my liking. I guess we're not the only ones who think it is a cool place.

Our next stop was Oakland, where we visited the Oakland temple. 

Then finished the day in Fremont eating dinner at Claim Jumper with a giftcard Steven won from work. Whew. I'm tired just thinking about our day.

And Aubrey? She was an angel of course. That is why I often call her "Aubrey Angel." Steven, however, has decided to nickname her "The Aubs." I'm not the hugest fan. But, really... we have a pretty easy, happy baby. I just have to feed her, change her diaper and make sure she is able to look around and she is good to go.   

Just a Thursday

Today is just one of those days. The first thing that I saw this morning when I went to wake Aubrey up was poo and pee everywhere. All over the crib sheet, all over her blanket, all over her sleeper, etc. After investigating further, I realized that in my exhausted middle of the night stupor, I must have done a terrible job on her diaper because the entire front had come undone. She is still our little stinker, but I can't blame that one on her :) 

Then, I went on a pretty good bike ride this morning while Steven watched Aubrey. It rained last night and the bike path was covered with a ton of snails. My bike ride felt like "dodge the snails." I did a pretty good job.... but I know that I definitely didn't "dodge" one. I felt really bad and that is one sick, crunchy, sound!

Steven got to stay home from work this morning and study because he is currently taking his first CPA exam. Aubrey "helped" him study:

He has a ton on his plate and manages to handle everything so well. He really is pretty darn amazing.

Oh... and we bounced our rent check. WHAT??? I know. That is how I felt when the apartment manager called and told us. Don't worry, the Bay Area is super expensive but we are not out of funds. Actually, somehow even with all of Aubrey's medical bills, we have more savings than before.

Some checks that we had when Steven managed a condo for his dad got mixed in with our checks, and so I accidentally wrote the check with the wrong checkbook. It was a $60 ouch mistake, and we now have to pay our rent with a cashiers check for six months to prove that we have money.

I was embarrased. Also a little mad because the apartment manager called and said that normally the protocol is to send us a 3-day eviction notice but she thought she would call because we don't seem like people who bounce checks. I feel so bad for people who honestly just get a little behind. The world can be cruel.

I am now blogging when I should be finishing cleaning the house before Aubrey wakes up from her nap. I want it to be Friday. I think I've had enough of Thursday.

I take it back....

Aubrey was more than willing to show off her happy cuteness today:

And, I'm very lucky that she was this happy after our three-hour-stint at the DMV this morning. I had been to the DMV in Utah.... not a fun experience, but we were completely unprepared for what the DMV in California would be like.

We got there before it opened at 8 and the line to get a number already stretched halfway around the building. Five lines, a bunch of money, and a grumpy baby later, we are now officially registered to drive and vote in California.

And, I did a very un-Paige-like thing and took the written test without even glancing at the handbook. I quite honestly couldn't remember half of the answers, but my 17 years of schooling taught me all the tricks of multiple-choice tests, and I managed to only get two wrong. Steven did the same thing, but he got three wrong :) 

I also can't believe that I'm blogging two days in a row. Can you tell that Steven is working late?

Conference Weekend

We are used to spending conference weekend with lots of family. Now that it is "just us" we had to spend conference in a new way. And we had a great time.

We bought a new TV back in January with some of the graduation money my parents gave Steven.

But... we are too cheap to pay for anything except Netflix so our conference watching had a little bit of a different set-up.

Aubrey was an attentive listener. She really loves to look around, so the Bumbo is her new favorite toy.  And, I'm sad because Aubrey seriously spends half of her day giggling and smiling.... but as soon as I try to take a picture or show her off on video chats.... nothing. I guess everybody will just have to come visit and see her happy cuteness in person.

And... I had great time with my good friend Lauren for the traditional "girls' night" on Saturday. We went out for dinner and shopping. My kind of night. Aubrey blissfully slept through the entire experience. I'm very lucky because a couple of girls that I did the BYU accounting program with are also in the Bay Area, so I had some friends waiting when I got here. Friends definitely make life sweeter.

And.... just because Steven and I think this is hilarious, here is how we found Aubrey when we went to check on her during her nap this morning. She is a bundle of personality.