How I Waste My Day

It's the end of the day and I'm sitting back thinking over the day.

I feel like I'm busy ALL day with Aubrey, but I have NOTHING to show for it!

We're working on potty training. So FIRST thing this morning, we have some no-diaper time. I had her sit on her little potty getting her used to sitting on it. I believe potty training is a PROCESS and we're taking it slow. No rush.

Anyhow, she sat on her potty and watched Winnie the Pooh. When it ended, we put the diaper back on and then watched Tarzan. But when I say WATCHED, I mean, she RAN around making a mess and would stop to watch the TV every now and then.

She went down for a nap and I had a LITTLE downtime to work on my own project of putting ALL the pictures on the computer on to DVDs to help open up some free space.

Nap ended and she was up again, making her own little DISASTER area all over the apartment. We watched Tangled while I had her on the potty AGAIN (like I said, it's a slow process). Her diaper went back on after the movie and we watched some Phineas and Ferb. What a GREAT show!

I made Aubrey dinner of spaghetti-o's. It got ALL over her, which isn't any surprise. So in to the tub she went.

Jared went out and got some groceries for our holiday trip I posted about earlier (view post here ) and came home while I finished up the bath. Hooray he was home to help with Aubrey!

If I were to try and explain to people what I do all day, I would be LAUGHED at! They'd say "all you do is watch fun movies with your child, make quick meals and then pass Aubrey off to your husband." But that is SO not true!

Aubrey is usually very good and happy and so much fun. She's just full of energy and she's a constantly distracted baby. But when she's mad, she is MAD and turns into some other baby ENTIRELY!

What I do all day is control the BEAST!! 

• We watch movies she loves so she can dance and we can have some fun together. 
• I am CONSTANTLY putting away her toys and books so she doesn't hurt herself and she knows where to find them for future "use." 
• I make meals to help her grow, but I'm limited to only a few things I know she will eat and I try and experiment with her snacks. Today I learned she likes chicken dipped in Heinz 57 steak sauce :)
• I clean her and the floor up after her eating and I am ALWAYS trying to find all the cereal pieces that fall out of her little cup.

By the time Jared gets home, I've run out of most of my tricks to keep Aubrey good! Jared is so much better at playing with Aubrey and getting her to laugh. Aubrey and I watch the SAME movies every day. We read the SAME books. It's enough to drive some people crazy!

But I know my day is not a waste. Aubrey is happy in bed. She's growing, she's learning, and she's just so much fun. I love spending all day with her, even if she's running me ragged. It was my choice to be a stay-at-home mom and I am so glad I made that decision.

I suppose I should have titled this post "How I Enjoy My Day."

Family Excursions

We are getting ready for our trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving at Jared's grandparents' home.

I'm planning for the WORST possible scenario, hoping it will be better and I can be a happy mom.

But I'm not TOO optimistic. 

The last couple trips out there, Aubrey was NOT the happiest or the easiest. She was teething and going through a growth spurt and was SO shy, getting through the day was a struggle. 

We'll leave Thursday in the morning pretty soon after she wakes up. Poor baby will have to be in the car for 2 HOURS! Hopefully we'll get there before her nap so she can run around and get her energy under control.

Jared would like to stay for a few days and come back on Sunday. I'm TOTALLY fine with that. I just always feel REALLY bad when Aubrey isn't a happy guest. 

I started making the list of things to bring to make Aubrey comfortable while there. It's turning in to a huge list! She'll need clothes, change of clothes, pajamas, socks, her playpen, blankets, her toothbrush, and the list goes ON AND ON!!

Oh man, I hope I don't forget anything! It's Jared's family so he'll want to spend time with them. I get that. No problem. But if I'm the one taking charge of Aubrey, I want to make sure she has EVERYTHING to help her stay in a good mood! If it means I take over the room with the TV to watch Winnie the Pooh or Tangled, so be it!

But I'm REALLY really hoping she'll do well in the car, be good after getting used to everyone in Ohio, and be cute and happy and playful in the huge backyard.

The REAL goal this weekend though is to get a good picture of Aubrey with Jared's grandparents! The last attempt did not have a good ending :)

Lazy mornings

Aubrey and I have had a CRAZY past couple days, so today, it's just going to be LAZY!

Laundry is done, most of the cleaning is done. We're just hanging out in our PAJAMAS!

I had EVERY intention to go to exercise group this morning, but I've had a stuffy nose and it's IMPOSSIBLE for me to sleep with one.

I woke up tired and a little sore from moving around. 

Jared was really awesome and did ALL the grocery shopping last night, so I don't have to do that tonight either!

I'll END the lazy day by going to a little party a friend is putting on for other friends with birthdays in November. After being home ALL day, I should probably get out and be social!

And it's Jared's turn to put Aubrey to bed tonight, so I don't feel TOO bad for leaving him on his own tonight for just a half hour!

Laundry Days

Aubrey is HYSTERICAL when I need to do laundry! 

She's become my own personal helper when I load things in to the washing machine. She'll pull out socks and small things from the basket and NICELY put it in the machine. 

When it's time to switch to the dryer, she'll pull things out FOR me. And she LOVES when I lift her up to toss the dryer sheet in.

FOLDING is another matter, but even then, she's not TOO terrible. Just just likes to climb in the basket and get in the way. Sometimes she'll knock over piles, but that's easy to fix. 

Jared was SUPER sweet this morning and while I stayed in bed for an extra few minutes, he started a load. By the time Aubrey and I were home from dropping him off at work, the first wash load was DONE.

Today is a BIG laundry day. I'm doing whites, darks, towels and Aubrey's clothes. On good days I can SQUEEZE Aubrey's tiny clothes in to our load of whites. Not today. She has towels and blankets I need to wash. 

Maybe someday I'll add ironing to my list of tasks on laundry day. But I burn myself ALL THE TIME when I iron. So if Jared wants his shirts to look good, HE has to do it! Things like that take me a small notch below being a perfect wife.

Winnie the Pooh

Every morning, without fail, Aubrey wants to watch Winnie the Pooh. She'll stand in front of the TV and point saying "Pooh?"

It was cute the first week. Now it's been about 3 weeks of watching Winnie the Pooh EVERY DAY! Or practically every day. We don't watch it on Sunday too often, thank goodness.

I have almost every song MEMORIZED, which I suppose is good for when we're in the car and she gets fussy. 

Aubrey will just STARE at the screen and thinks this is the best movie ever. 

But I really shouldn't complain. I put the movie on and I can do SO MANY things like clean and get ready for the day without having her want my full attention. 

In fact, I'm even typing this post WHILE she's watching the movie sitting on her princess chair!

Sometimes when I'm feeling ADVENTUROUS I'll sit her on her potty while watching. So I'm getting her comfortable sitting on it and she sits still for quite a bit of time. This MAY be the time to give potty training a big push!

Testing a new style

I am a TERRIBLE blogger nowadays. I used to be pretty good when I first started. I had a lot more time and it was lots of fun. 

But since having Aubrey and her turning into a toddler, I am VERY limited in how much time I get for myself. 

Thank goodness for NAPS!!

So I'm going to try a new style out of just doing little journal pieces. I figure I can spend a couple minutes every weekday and say something about my life currently. 

Here it goes!

Sometimes, it is just impossible having one car. Other people look forward to having a house and a yard and things like that. But I just want another car! Nothing brand new or crazy amazing. I just want something SIMPLE that will get me from A to B. In fact, Jared can get the newer car and I can keep Froderick just for me. 

Why?

Having 2 cars will cut back on Aubrey's time in the carseat. And when SHE'S happy, I'M happy. Today we drove to drop Jared off at work and then back home. Then a little bit later, we were back in the car going to the chiropractor's office and then back home. THEN we were in the car to drop a pie off for Jared's WORK party at noon. We're going to have to GO BACK out to pick Jared up. That's just too much driving and TRYING to take care of Aubrey in the car. 

Sure, one trip was bad planning on my part. I SHOULD have made the pie the night BEFORE and just had Jared take it in when we dropped him off. My bad.

But still! The day when we have two cars will be GLORIOUS! Just having the OPTION of going out will make things a little easier. And then the main thing I'd have to worry about is planning things around Aubrey's schedule. But that's for another day. 

Halloween 2013 pictures

     We love going to pumpkin patches and last year was so fun with Aubrey. She was still pretty little and couldn't sit upright, but we all had a great time.

    We found a pumpkin patch this year that was similar to the one in Nashville. It was more of a farm-type place that had a hay ride and mazes for kids of all sizes and even a pony!

     Because Aubrey had been sick for a little bit, we decided to wait til the last Saturday to go. And we are so glad we went!

     It was such a fun place and Aubrey was so cute! 

Aubrey went through the little maze made with hay.

When she got to the end, she just climbed over the wall, rather than climb under the tube thing she was supposed to.

She even went through the bigger kid made and would pose at the entrance. :)

We all went through the corn maze and got a little family picture.

Aubrey found her pumpkin! She loved sitting with it and carrying it around.

First ride in a plow!

The pony was there for rides and to also just sit on. Aubrey was so good and sat on the pony and would pet it nicely.

She climbed up on the pumpkin throne and loved giving us a cheesy, happy smile!

Aubrey didn't care about the hay ride but she loved sitting on Daddy's lap and having him tickle her.

Got another little family photo while on the ride!

Happy Halloween everyone!!

     On Monday, our family activity was decorating the pumpkins we found!

 We just had Aubrey color hers.

 She LOVED tasting the pumpkin goopy-ness!!

Our family pumpkins. Jared did the Batman signal. Aubrey colored a face. I did a haunted house scene with a witch.

     For the actual holiday day, we were pretty boring. Jared and I made treats for his work the night before. And we watched Young Frankenstein while decorating snickerdoodles.

      We did have a super cute costume for Aubrey though! Her Nana got it for her and it was awesome!

     She just wore it to the ward trunk-or-treat party on Saturday and around the apartment on Halloween. Such a sweet little strawberry!