Fun Size

    It's no secret, I am significantly shorter than my family. 

    See...

    
    There is quite a height difference. 

    But I think I know why I've stayed so small, both in width and height. 

    Most everything I eat is fun-size, junior size or kids' size. 

    I like Happy Meals from McDonalds, eating from the kid's menu at restaurants, and if there is a smaller option, I pretty much always get it. 

    For example, Jared and I went to Chipotle yesterday and the nice man let me order off the kid's menu. I got a small quesadilla, side of rice, side of beans, a small bag of chips and a chocolate milk box. It was the PERFECT size for me!

    Another example is from a few months ago. We had a Moe's Southwest Grill across the road from our apartment complex and we went there a lot (it's DELICIOUS!!). Jared would get a regular size burrito, but I always got the Jr. option of the same burrito :) Even then, I would save a part of the burrito for lunch the other day. 

    Third example is the kid's menu from Cracker Barrel. On days I didn't want to cook, we'd order and get take out from Cracker Barrel. Everything is in such large proportions, I again went to the kid's menu. The last time we did this, I couldn't even finish my meal! I had to put some of it in the fridge for the next day. 

    So yes, that must be the reason why I am so small! But, I am just fine eating smaller proportions. I don't get super full and I always have room for dessert a few minutes after eating dinner :)

    Yet, I dream of only being a little shorter than my family :)

(Obviously, they are bending their knees to reach my level)

It's Too Cold

    It's too cold for anything here in Geneva, IL! It's too cold to change out of pajamas. It's too cold to get out of a hot shower. It's too cold to even think of considering going outside!

    Yesterday morning, the temperature was -3 WITHOUT counting the wind chill. 

    That is way too cold for me to function!

    I didn't leave the house yesterday, and I didn't even consider thinking about it. 

    Monday, I ran out after taking a shower to get a few snacks and to stock Aubrey up on food for the week and hopefully next week. My hair was still wet and I'm pretty sure it froze a little bit in the car and during the minute walk into the store. 

    In fact, it was so cold, our little radio antenna on the outside of the car couldn't fully extend. Our windshield wiper fluid is frozen, so I hope our windshield doesn't get super dirty this winter!

    If I ever leave this house again, it is a definite requirement that someone warm up the car for 5 minutes with the heat up way high before I get in. My seat warmer must be turned on and I will have several layers of clothing on. Two pairs of socks may become the new norm!

    Don't worry though, by 10pm last night as I finished this blog post, it warmed up to a toasty 10 degrees....

Dear Aubrey #1

Dear Aubrey, 

    You are just so funny! Every day you get cuter and cuter and I just can't believe it! I love the silly noises you make and the hilarious faces you come up with!

    Everyone loves you and thinks you are so great! It's funny how even though you wake up in the middle of the night and drive us crazy sometimes, you can be so cute and we forgive you in a second!

    Those 'dada' sounds you make are adorable and you are getting that much closer to saying "Da-Da"! We're still working on "Ma-Ma," which is fine :)

    In a few weeks you'll probably get brave enough to stand on your own, which will be so great and so terrifying at the same time!

    I love you and love spending each day with you! You make me happy and my life is so much better with you in it. 

         Love, 

            Mom (and Dad)

I Love Schedules

    I am a huge believer in schedules. 

    It's been a few days, but Aubrey is finally settling back into a system. Not an exact schedule, but I know generally how to plan my days now!

    Here's how it works on good days: 

    -Wake up around 7am. Eat, play, have fun with family

    -Nap around 10:30am for an hour or (two if we're lucky). Eat, play, more fun

    -Another nap around 3:30pm for an hour. Eat, play and lots more fun

    -7pm is usually quiet time and we wind down from a fun day. We change into pajamas and feed her one last time so she'll sleep with a full belly!

    -8pm we start getting her ready by bed. We read her stories and sing her songs until she rubs her face a lot, pulls on her ear and starts rubbing her face into my shirt. 

    Whenever she is ready, we lay her in bed, give her the little pink bear, cover her with a blanket and hope for the best :) Sure, sometimes during the night she likes to wake up and tell us all about her dreams. But she'll usually fall back asleep after a little bit if we just put her pacifier back in. 

    The past few days, things were crazy! We never knew when Aubrey would go down for a nap and she would wake up crazy hours during the night. The worst was when she woke up at 4 and refused to go back to sleep. 

    Hopefully that is all over! As I type this, she is in bed right now sleeping happily in her crib :)

Best Laid Plans

    We went to Utah for my twin brother's wedding and that will be a post of it's own, once I have more time and a few pictures. But, the wedding/reception/family fun is not what I want to blog about right now. 

    Heads up, this is a lengthy story. If you don't want to read it all at once, find a good stopping point in the middle and come back later :)

    Thursday: Aubrey flew with my parents who were scheduled to fly in to Utah a few hours before us. We were hoping they could get to my uncle's house and Aubrey could go to bed before it was a crazy hour. Jared and I weren't supposed to land til about midnight Utah time (2am here). 

    My dad kept pointing out a phrase to me "Best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." So true...so true...

    Things were late leaving the Atlanta airport. Jared and I arrived in Houston and began our long wait for our connecting flight. I got a call from my Mom saying their connecting flight left without them because they were late getting in to Arizona. So they were waiting for another flight and would land in Utah maybe an hour before us...awesome.

    From what they said, Aubrey was as good as expected. She freaked out a little, cried, slept for an hour and would play and be pretty good. When we got to Cale's though to sleep, things went so downhill...

    Aubrey would not sleep that night. She woke up every half hour, if she even lasted that long. 

    Friday: James came over to watch Aubrey while we went to Mount Timpanogos. Poor James...we get back and find out she's been crying, but she slept a little bit in his arms. She wouldn't eat very much and I just figured she was tired and freaking out about the time change and stupid cold.

    The day was of her being fussy and just not being normal. She wasn't being very cute and she'd cry and started sounding a little sick. I'd get her to sleep in my arms a little bit, but never lasted long and never seemed to help. That night was awful again. No sleep until I gave her to my Mom and then my Mom was up with her.

    Saturday: James watched her again while we were in the Bountiful temple for Chris and Alicia's wedding. It was rough being outside in the snow with a sick baby. By this time, we knew she was sick but only thought it was a cold because she wasn't sleeping and it was freezing.

    My grandparents were concerned and of course voiced their opinions, telling us to take Aubrey to the doctor because babies get RSV and could die and if they get the flu, it's more serious. I was getting worried and began imagining the worst. 

    But we were still at the temple and were taking pictures...outside...in the freezing weather. We took a few family pictures outside and Jared took Aubrey inside the waiting room while I took more pictures with the Bridesmaids. Remember, it was freezing cold outside. We couldn't wear jackets in the pictures so I was just in a long sleeve shirt and a skirt.

    Finally, we get to leave and my Mom drove us to a little InstaCare on the way home. 

    Turns out, Aubrey had croup! Poor baby! She got sick Thursday and it progressed because she was off her sleeping schedule and it was so cold. The doctor gave her a shot, gave us some drugs we could give her and told us tips to help. 

    Oh my goodness, she was showing signs of getting better by that evening! We borrowed a humidifier and Aubrey slept through the night! Sunday morning at church, she was happier and played and was cute!

    We survived the first sickness! The next few days of her recovery was just dealing with a TERRIBLE cough and stuffy/runny nose. Each day she got better and was closer to her funny, cute, adorable self! She's been laughing lately and crawling all over! We bought a humidifier and I see a difference. 

    Her runny nose is getting better and her cough is not as awful! Of course, from being outside the Bountiful temple, I caught an awful cold that hit me a few hours before New Year's Eve. And a few days later, Jared got sick from me. 

    All 3 of us were so sick when we first got home. Dumb snow in dumb freezing Utah. I told my brothers they can't get married in the winter unless it's somewhere warm!

Wedding/Reception Recap

    So my twin brother got married on the 29th. It was pretty fun seeing him with his fiancee (at the time) and then see them get married and sealed for eternity. It was super nice remembering when Jared and I got married oh so long ago.

    As I wrote in the post when Aubrey got sick, we went up Thursday and stayed with an aunt and uncle and my parents :)

    They got married in the Bountiful Temple because Alicia has a brother who is serving a mission in the Salt Lake area (I guess). His mission president said the brother could attend the sealing if it was at a temple in his current area. Which happened to be the Bountiful Temple!

    Pictures outside the temple were good. My face was frozen and poor Aubrey was sick so we had to take pictures quickly on my side of the family and Jared ran her indoors. Pictures lasted forever though. I complained when getting my wedding pictures done too, so I'll never be happy :)

    I know we got some good pictures and after the trip to the InstaCare for Aubrey, we went back to Cale and Tash's (my aunt and uncle we were staying with were also hosting the reception). The decorations were put up in advance so everything was easy :) Food was brought including the amazing groom's cake I got to make as a wedding present!!

    The photographer came and took some more pictures, which was fun. He got some fun pictures of Aubrey! And he made a funny comment about how I look like Katie Holmes...

    I think the after party was pretty hilarious! Ben and James were going crazy on the ping pong table! Jared and I joined in for a game of Around the World or something. Ben and James decided to play Pink Belly or something. Essentially, the person who loses has to lift up his shirt and the winner gets to hit the ball at his belly. If he misses, he doesn't get a re-shot. 

    Talking with Ben, James, Jared, my parents and Cale and Tash were hilarious! Things should not be repeated...

    Anyhow, the wedding was great, the reception was fun and things turned out pretty well!!