Where there is smoke...

Luckily, there is no fire.....

Steven has been gone all week working in Orange County and he gets back tonight. Now that my mom is gone, I have just been here alone with Aubrey for the past couple of days. This afternoon, I had just put Aubrey down for a nap when the fire alarm in our apartment complex went off.

I opened the door to see if it was just a false alarm, when I saw everybody evacuating and I smelled smoke. I will admit that I was pretty shaken and scared, probably even more than was warranted because just this past summer, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law (Jer & Ked) had their 3rd floor apartment burn down just two weeks after they moved in. They lost almost everything, and so I know how scary apartment fires can be. 

It felt pretty similar to when we rushed to the hospital when my water broke. Except instead of grabbing my purse and a towel, I grabbed Aubrey and my diaper bag.

I put her car seat in the stroller and realized when I got to the end of the hall, that because it was a fire, I couldn't use the elevator. So, I had to carry Aubrey and the stroller (with Aubrey in the stroller) down three flights of stairs. My workout for the day  :)

The fire department was there and since it was pouring rain, I put Aubrey in the car and drove down the street to wait and see. Luckily, in the end, it was just a kitchen fire that was mostly smoke. It was scary, especially being all alone here, but I'm grateful that everything is fine.

Sometimes I seriously feel like the past few months of my life could be the setting of a dramatic movie. Can we go back to normal now?

Newborn Photos

Right before we left for California, I had Aubrey's newborn photos taken. Since I'm not supposed to take Aubrey anywhere for a while, my friend Heather came to the house to take them for me.

She is so talented. I absolutely LOVE them. I also love seeing how much Aubrey has already grown. She is gaining weight so well and has officially grown out of her newborn clothes. We're on the 0-3 month wardrobe now.

The pictures were taken when she was 5 weeks old.... so she technically shouldn't have even been born yet. Here are a few of my favorites. I especially love how the pictures capture her funny personality.

Finally Settled

When we moved into Wymount temporarily in July, we only unpacked half of our boxes and pretty much just lived with the basics. I have now completely unpacked and put away everything in our apartment, and so for the first time in 8 months, I finally feel like I have a home.

After everything that has gone on the past few months, I now feel like I can relax, breathe, and just live life again. I didn't really realize how stressed I have been until I started to relax. However.... just as Aubrey and I get here, Steven has been sent to work in Orange County for the next three weeks. *sigh* I guess life never really slows down.

So, to entice our family and friends to come visit, here is a tour of our apartment:

The kitchen:

Bathroom:

Dining Room:

Bedroom:

Aubrey's Room:

And Living Room:

We really like it here, and hope we can stay for a while. I know I mentioned this in my last post, but one of the main things I am LOVING is the weather. 70 degrees in February. Having grown up in Canada, I almost didn't know that was possible. 

And.... the "Littlest Foote"....

Is starting to get some chub on her cheeks. I'm loving it!

California Here We Come....

Aubrey and I are now finally in California and we are all together as a family for good. Aubrey was discharged from the NICU on January 12th but since the insurance for my job went through the end of January and the insurance from Steven's job started February 1st, we stayed in Utah until the end of the month.

My mom (who has stayed to help me this whole time since Steven was gone), and I started the normally 13-hour-drive at 5 am on Sunday. The plan was to make it to Reno and then drive the rest of the way on Monday, but my mom and I are both kind of the "get it done" type, and so we ended up driving the entire way in one day- with a newborn who had to eat every couple of hours and get out of her car seat every hour and a half because we had to watch her oxygen levels.

The 13-hour trip turned into an 18-hour trip and we pulled up at our apartment at 11 that night.

Aubrey was seriously the BEST baby all day. She hardly cried and the drive with her was better than I thought.

However, by the end of the trip, I was covered in poop, pee, spit up, infant vitamins, and a cup of sprite. I sure looked and smelled good when Steven first saw us.

Now, we have been working like mad to get our apartment all organized and decorated. I love to unpack so it has been fun. Pictures to come later.

Aubrey is doing great and I feel so blessed and relieved that she is now healthy. She looks healthy and from her last three doctors appointments, she is gaining about an ounce a day, which is about half a pound a week. She now weighs about 7 pounds...... which is "almost" on the growth charts. Almost. We are getting there.

She is a funny baby. She is very alert and is already starting to coo, holds her head up pretty well, and grunts like a man. I am getting good at doing everything one handed (currently burping her and typing) and I am surviving pretty well on little sleep.

And, one thing that I am loving about our new home is definitely the weather. It is freezing back in Utah, and I just got back from a nice, sunny walk. I think I can get used to this.

Family Photo

Steven was able to come and visit this weekend and even though we were only together as a family for about 36 hours, the time was so good and so needed. One thing that we tried to do was take our first family photo in which I wasn't wearing a hospital gown and she wasn't hooked up to monitors and tubes.

She was hilarious, and the progression of these photos shows how hard it is to take a picture with a newborn:

But.... we finally managed to get a good shot. Good enough to be the new blog photo.

Life at Home

Aubrey has now been home for five days and it feels great. I am grateful for the NICU and I learned a lot in those rough few weeks, but now she feels like my daughter and I can hug and hold her whenever I want.

Here is her first time in her car seat, all ready to make the ride home:

Here we are with the NICU nurse who discharged us on Wednesday morning. This is after my mom and I had spent three and a half straight days living in the hospital. We look good :)  

And.... she is home! She is so sweet and funny and likes to party at 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 in the morning. However, sleep deprivation has never been more rewarding.  

Little Miracles

Ever since Aubrey has been born, life has been a huge blur and it has been filled with some long, tough days. However, all along the way, there have been little miracles that have been definite answers to prayers.

Since my water broke and I went into labor so fast, they didn't give her any steroid shots or anything for her lungs, yet she came out breathing on her own, which was a miracle at only 34 weeks. She never had any medications or infections or anything too serious.

The day that I was discharged from the hospital, Steven and I drove back to Wallsburg at midnight, and when I got up at 6, the power in the house had gone off. When my uncle came to fix the problem, he found that there was a fire in the electrical box and the whole house could have burned down.

There have been so many other little blessings and miracles along the way that have strengthened my testimony and the importance of having faith. Another little miracle that I am SO happy about is that Aubrey does not have to come home on oxygen, and unless something goes wrong today, she is coming home..... TOMORROW!!!!

The doctors had told me that she would have to come home on oxygen, but they had to do an oxygen saturation study to document the need. For 12 hours, she had to do all her feedings, have a bath, and spend 90 minutes in her car seat to test how her oxygen levels responded. I told myself, "Ok, just get through this. We know she will be on oxygen, but then she at least can come home."

She had been struggling up until the day that they did the study and then she just turned a corner and her oxygen has been great ever since. She has been eating like a champ and gaining weight. She passed her 12 hour feeding test, and her first 24 hour feeding test. She is on her last 24 hour feeding test today, and should be discharged tomorrow. So... I have basically been living at the hospital since Sunday. Even though Steven has been gone and that is hard, my mom has been with me the entire time and I am lucky to have her.

Aubrey will have spent 3 weeks and 3 days in the NICU. She was born at 4 lbs 9 oz. She dropped down to 4 lbs 2 oz, and will be discharged at 5 lbs 9 oz. We are so grateful she is growing and coming home. This has been her "home" since she was born......

However, I think we are all ready for her to leave and really come home. I can't wait.