Operation pool = A bust

Aubrey went on her first vacation this weekend. Brian had a bowling tournament in Tucson so Aubrey and I went with him. The drive down was a little under 2 hours and I wasn't sure how she would do. Good news....she did great! She ate right before we left so that she would last the trip without needing to stop for milk. She then ended up napping for about 45 minutes and happily played and jabbered the rest of the car ride down.

We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch and Aubrey got to sit in her own little chair. First time we have done the high chair thing while at a restaurant. She had some of my french fries (I took the potato out of the deep fried casing and that is what she ate....no worries!). She was super happy to play with a spoon and look around at all of the people and the tacky decor!

After lunch we piled back in the car and headed to the bowling alley. Brian played 6 games and Aubrey was great the entire time. She ate off and on at the bowling alley - we have now come to the point that there is very little shyness about feeding her in public. When a girl needs to eat then she needs to eat! She even took a short little nap which was perfect because it gave her enough energy to last throughout the rest of the tournament. Brian was happy to have the fans there and was ok with his performance. Overall he hit his average so that was a good thing.

After Day 1 of the tournament was over we headed to the resort to check in. Resort?!?! Yes I said resort! Brian found this place online and thought we should try it. The rooms were huge and this was going to be Aubrey's first vacation. It was a very beautiful place. We had a mountain view room. The plantings were beautiful and it felt a whole lot cooler than home.

There was a pool right outside the back door of our room and there was another up at lobby area. We trekked up to the lobby area pool thinking that it would be less crowded than the one near our room. Brian got into the pool and I handed Aubrey over to him. She did ok until the water hit her upper legs and then she SCREAMED! The water was pretty chilly (anything under 80 is cold in my mind). She wanted no part of the pool. We thought maybe the one near our room would be warmer since it was a bit smaller so we packed up and went to that one. No such luck! This time Aubrey came in with me and she screamed again. She was not a fan of either pool. Poor kid starts swim lessons in 2 weeks....

We went to dinner last night and Aubrey slept through most of it since it was past her bedtime. We then drove back to the resort and as we were driving down to the room I spotted a snake. Brian thought that it was wonderful and asked me to turn the car around so that he could get out and take a picture. He got 2 pics with his phone - this thing was black and white and loooong. So super creepy! We got back to our room and Aubrey woke up but Brian took her out of her seat and she cuddled up on his bed and fell back to sleep. We had two separate beds - he requested a king but we got 2 fulls. As we were ready to go to bed Brian out Aubrey in her pack and play and she woke up yelling. She ended up coming into bed with me and she and I spent the night together in our bed while Brian enjoyed his own bed.

We got up this morning around 7:30 (which is sleeping in for us!). We drove Brian to his bowling tournament and then Aubrey and I came back to the resort for breakfast. She sat in a high chair again and snacked on a little bit of oatmeal that they were serving. She was very good which was nice because it gave me a chance to enjoy breakfast. After she had enough of the oatmeal I gave her a spoon to play with. She was having a great time with it until she dropped it. A man from the next table over had been eying her earlier while she was eating and when she noticed him she stopped eating (remember this is the same girl that was a no show on her due date....she does nothing on demand!). Well this nice man came over with a clean spoon for her so that she could continue to have fun.

After breakfast was over we went back to the room and packed up. We headed over to pick Brian up, grabbed some lunch and hit the road for home. The ride back was uneventful. We did need to stop for Aubrey to eat. She was fussing in her seat and giving us the sign for milk (I have been trying to teach her the sign for milk and she started using it on Mother's Day). I need to learn some more so that we can help her communicate with us. That is the next big project...

8 months today!

Miss A is officially 8 months old today...holy cow! It's hard to believe our little baby is not so "little" anymore. I remember when she started school thinking that I didn't want any of the "big" kids (mobile kids) anywhere near her because I didn't want her to get trampled. Now she is one of the biggger kids in school. As of Tuesday she is the 2nd oldest in her classroom. I know that the parents of all of the little ones must be thinking the same thing about her that I was thinking - "Get that big kid away from my poor defenseless baby". The good news is that she isn't trampling them yet. She is trying like heck to crawl though. We have seen many rug burns on her chin, arms and knees. She keeps wiggling off her blanket onto the carpet where she rubs and rubs while trying to go anywhere. Check out the video for a laugh...

Photo Shoot

Sunday we had unusually nice weather so we decided to take advantage of it. Aubrey and Brian went to church Sunday morning and then came to see me at work. I am working Sunday mornings for the city of Tempe with adult baseball. They hung out there and helped me clean up the fields and then we went to Liberty Market for lunch. Aubrey napped through most of lunch and when she woke up she was a happy camper! After lunch we went and took some pics outside. I realized Aubrey had never played in the grass so you get to see her first adventures with nature. She was very intrigued with the grass as well as the leaf that you see in the last picture. She had a good time checking everything out.

For awhile we even had an audience. Two older couples came along and were watching us try like heck to get her to smile for the camera. They got some good laughs in - hopefully they were laughing at Aubrey and how cute she is and not at her parents that were making lots of sounds that made us sound crazy!

Wiggle Worm

Aubrey really wants to be on the move! About two weeks ago she learned how to consistently roll from her belly to her back so now she can roll both ways. Good news for her - but now we need to be on the lookout at all times!

She has been really restless when going down to sleep at night. Typically she gets one last feeding in around 8 and falls asleep eating. The past few weeks though she has had some difficulty some nights getting to sleep. Brian has learned that if he lays down with her on our bed she rolls from her back to her side and cuddles right up to his chest. She is then asleep within 5 minutes. The other night was a tough sleep night so I tried Brian's little trick. She rolled and rolled for 30 minutes before finally zonking out. Awhile back I read that when a baby is learning a new skill or has just learned one they may wake up in the middle of the night to "practice" it. She is really trying to her her practice in. She'll start rolling around and getting up on her arms and toes all the while crying with her eyes closed. She is working really hard to crawl. She'll get there soon.

Here are some cute pics that don't necessarily have to do with the content of the post but they are cute. Here is Aubrey standing on her own (using the wall for balance), smiling up at me and not enjoying some bananas.

Before and After the Bath

I broke out the camera the other night before Aubrey's bath. She had her very own photo shoot and I actually got some good pics. Usually the smile shuts off right after the first picture is snapped but she had a blast the other night.

In the last picture she is practicing her standing. She has graduated from 2 hands to just one. Her balance is still pretty shaky but we are working on it. She can stand at the table and hold herself up. She'll be movin' in no time!

Then and Now

Aubrey has lost the little baby body. She is now long and looks like a big girl. The first two pics are of her at 7 months with her bear. The last picture is her at 1 month. Check out all of the changes in just 6 months. She is just about 8 lbs heavier now than at 1 month and is about 6 inches longer - such a big girl!

Who's that Girl?

Fun in the mirror....listen closely and you can hear her talking. Daddy however is not the person behind the camera. We are still trying to get her to know who Osito, Dada and Mama are.