First Year Thoughts

So I hope you all can excuse/follow this blog. I know it is all over the place and may not necessarily make sense, but that’s why I titled this “First Year Thoughts.” Enjoy!

One year has come and gone and I can hardly believe how much Aubrey has changed and grown! People laugh when I say she is turning into more and more of a “little person” everyday, but it is so true. Every day she gets a little more personality and learns something new; she’s as silly as her Daddy (if you can even imagine that!) and also so sweet! Without fail, she amazes us every day!

This first year really did go by in the blink of an eye! It literally feels like just yesterday I was telling Justin that I think I’m feeling contractions and then one day later we were on our way to the hospital! It was such a long week in the hospital waiting for her to decide it was time to enter this world and while I remember the pain being pretty extreme, I don’t actually remember what it felt like…so weird. When it was time to push, I remember everything around me became so surreal. I could feel the pain and it hurt, but I was so focused on pushing, that the pain seemed secondary. And even amidst all of that pain and pushing, I still managed to be curious if she had hair when her head popped out! Haha! Aubrey is the most amazing miracle of our entire lives and I’ll never forget how I felt when she was first plopped (literally plopped) on my chest. I cried so hard because I instantly loved her more than anything in the entire world and I was so happy to see her laying there crying too.

Babies (and of course my Aubrey girl in particular) are simply amazing! I am astonished everyday when I see her learn something new or their natural ability/inclination to start doing new things; rollover, get up on all fours, crawl, pull themselves up, walk! Every time she reaches a new milestone I get the most fluttery feeling in my heart; I guess this is what my Mom & Dad have been talking about all these years when they would say, “My heart is bursting with pride.”

On a side note, Aubrey’s first birthday was a major success and when Justin and I got home we literally talked about what an absolute BLAST we had! It was better than we could have ever imagined or hoped for! I think we may continue this for the next few years! I know she is only one and it may have been over the top, but I truly think Aubrey enjoyed the party as well! She was laughing at all of her cousins and friends in the water; she was splashing everyone and had a smile the entire time! I couldn’t help laughing at the end because it was next to impossible to get the last of the kids out of the pool! Justin made a really great three tier cake with Minnie Mouse decorations and Aubrey made us all laugh when she daintily placed her finger in the icing and licked it rather than just diving in!

Of course we just celebrated Christmas and this year was much different than last year! Last year Aubrey was just over a week old and pretty much slept through all of Christmas; however, this year she was wide awake and helped rip open a few of her presents and was VERY excited about all of her new things! She was cracking us up because she would help tear open a present, be somewhat interested in the toy and then very interested in the paper! At some points she was so interested with the paper or other toy that she could care less about the rest of the presents! It was really exciting to see her face light up with each new gift! Thank you to everyone that made her Christmas so special!

As of today, Aubrey is soooo close to walking and we are anxiously awaiting those first few steps! Right now she will walk with you if you hold her hands and she’ll take a dive towards you if you stand in front of her! She’s also babbling away in some foreign baby language that we can only pretend to understand right now!  Although, amidst all of the jargon, we do hear a few actual words; Mama, Dada, pretty (which sounds more like pweee) and hacha (which we’re interpreting as ‘what’s that’ for now). She also likes to shake her head no at us and give dirty looks when she isn’t getting her way; I find it extremely hard to stay serious when she gives me ‘the look’ because it is just so gosh darn cute!

On one last random side note, we just want to say a humongous THANK YOU to everyone that gave us diapers at Justin’s diaper party and my baby showers last year! It literally was a one year supply of diapers for us! We are actually on our very last pack from the diaper party/baby shower and we are both amazed and extremely grateful for all of it! It is a wonderful feeling knowing you have so many amazing people in your life that care about you and your family!

Well I guess that is all for now, we can’t wait to see what this next year brings us and all of the new milestones Aubrey will reach! We’ll be sure to share them all with you and keep you updated! As always, I’ll post some of my favorite pictures below of our little chunker! These are from her birthday and Christmas!

Love,

Candice, Justin & Aubrey

$The Girl Loves Money$

I know that I recently posted a lengthy blog, but I just HAD to share the funniest story that happened to us this past weekend!

On Saturday, I took Aubrey with me to the grocery store to get some things for Eric’s graduation party happening later in that afternoon.  We did our shopping and proceeded to checkout.  While standing in line there was a little old man behind us and he kept making funny faces at Aubrey and talking “baby talk” to her and trying to get a smile out of her.  Well, Aubrey just wasn’t going to have ANY of it; she gave him a death stare that said, “Don’t talk to me.  Don’t look at me.  Don’t breathe near me.”  I tried to give her a little bounce to see if I could get her to crack a little smile…nothing.

So we continue through the line and proceed to checkout.  As we are leaving the little old man pulls out a dollar and says, “Here sweetie, put this in your piggy bank.”  I tell him no that it’s ok and he doesn’t need to give her any money.  Well as I’m saying all this, Aubrey lights up with a HUGE smile and snatches the dollar from the little old man!  I said, “Oh so now you like him because he gave you money?”  The man just laughed and said, “That’s usually the reason women like me.”  We say goodbye and head to the car…all the while Aubrey is holding her dollar and smiling big!

What can I say?  The girl loves money!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Parties, Rides and Sippy Cups…

Another few months have passed us by and our little family is doing amazing!  Our beauty is getting so big and becoming quite the character with all her little faces, laughs and new things she has been learning!  We hope you enjoy this blog as we catch you up on what we’ve been up to!

Aubrey recently got her first invite to a KIDS party and we were soooo excited to go!  Aubrey’s friend Bella turned 3 and we joined her to celebrate!  We spent the day before the party at the mall trying to find the perfect gift.  We finally decided to go to Build-A-Bear when we saw the frenzy going on over the Smurf toys and build Bella a Smurfette doll!  It was so cute and so fun; Aubrey even kissed (well licked) the heart for her!  The party was great Aubrey enjoyed some cake and laughed watching all the kids run around and play!  I can’t wait until she is old enough to run with all the other kids!

 

In addition to Bella’s birthday, we also celebrated Daddy’s birthday!  The three of us enjoyed a YUMMY dinner at Tucanos followed by a weekend of fun with lots of family and friends!

What a lucky girl!  Grandpa Perea and Nana treated us all to a fun time at Cliff’s this summer for Intel family night!  Obviously there isn’t a whole heck of a lot that she can do at Cliff’s but we definitely enjoyed what she could go on!  I have a feeling that this girl is going to be an adrenaline junkie like her Mommy!  She wasn’t scared on anything; she just kept laughing non-stop!

We recently had a lazy Sunday afternoon and so we decided on a whim to go to Explora!  Even though Aubrey is a little too young to go there, I thought it still might be fun to check it out; besides, Justin and I are kids at heart!  She definitely had a good time!  She really liked the water stuff, bubbles, music and air stuff!  Even though she wasn’t exploring it in the way that it was meant to be explored, I still think she was learning!  Checkout our kaleidoscope pictures we took while we were there!

Aubrey is quickly approaching 9 months and she still is not crawling…honestly we think she might not crawl at all.  Sometimes she will get up on all fours and do a little rocking, but that’s it.  Today she actually pulled herself up to standing and she likes to sit on her knees in her playpen all the time.  She’s doing her best to try and crawl, but she just doesn’t like to be on her tummy very much; she would rather be sitting up and playing around that way.  We’ll see though…we’re close to mobility…any day now!

While she hasn’t started crawling yet, she definitely has reached other milestones!  She recently started drinking out of a sippy cup (thanks for the tip Roseanna!) and she absolutely LOVES pear juice, water and tea!  She’ll also drink from a straw if given the chance at dinner time.  It’s crazy how little things like these mean so much!

Last but not least, our little beauty recently cut her top two teeth!  These ones were a little more painful then the last two, but we survived and they’re now coming in nicely!

That’s all for now, hope you enjoyed!  As always, I’ll end with some of my fave pics from the past few months!  Love you all!

Love,

Justin, Candice & Aubrey

**The Adventures of Aubrey Jaye** **4 to 6 Months**

July 16th, 2011 - 7 months old - Our little beauty

Hi Everyone,

Wow! Seven months old today! Here we are again, months have passed us by and our little Aubrey is a completely different person than when we last checked in! Life has been such an adventure with our little princess and Justin and I are enjoying each and every moment of it! Aubrey’s growing and changing every day and her personality is getting bigger and bigger! I really think she is going to take after Justin because she is such a funny girl…and she knows it! From our first Mother’s and Father’s day to a first vacation and tons of other little milestones, I hope you enjoy this blog! Let the adventure begin!
  


A chocolate mess - Living the good life



Enjoying a picnic at the park



  





 

Our First Mother’s Day

It was such an odd feeling to celebrate Mother’s Day for the first time; even after all this time, it’s still hard to believe that I’m a Mom. During Mother’s day last year, I was pregnant with Aubrey and the idea of having a baby still had me in a state of shock. :) Justin asked me if I wanted to celebrate last year since I was a ‘Mom to be,’ but I told him no because it felt weird; maybe I’m strange, but that’s how I felt. However, this year was different and despite the fresh feeling of being a new Mom, I was super excited to share the day with family and most importantly, with my little Aubrey. Being her Mom is the best thing I could have ever hoped for; that little girl is everything to me and I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

The three of us celebrated the day with a nice lunch at Applebee’s with my Mom, Dad and brother. Aubrey was dressed soooo cute and was wearing an outfit that said, “Pretty like Mommy.” It melted my heart. After lunch we went back home and just enjoyed the afternoon being lazy and watching movies. Aubrey was so sweet and got me some really pretty flowers to plant in our front yard. (Justin swears she told him to get that as my Mother’ day gift and he was just doing what she said.) It really was the most perfect first Mother’s Day I could have imagined.

Looking back on all of the Mother’s days that I’ve spent with my Mom I can remember her always saying that (1) all she wanted to for Mother’s day was to spend time with us and (2) homemade gifts are the best. I never used to believe her and thought she was just saying that because she knew my brother and I couldn’t buy her anything (due to a lack of money and jobs and all that other stuff lol). Now I get it though, those really, truly are the two best things you can get on Mother’s day…time with your baby and gift made straight from the heart with love.

P.S. Mom, I’m still buying you stuff for Mother’s Day though ;)

Mother's Day 2011 with Mommy and Nana

Miss Potato Head

Aubrey had her six month checkup on June 2nd just before we left on our first ever family vacation! Dr. Knott, our pediatrician said she was doing amazing and that we need to make sure our house is baby proofed ASAP because she will be mobile by the time we see him again (at 9 months)! Can’t wait! The funniest thing happened while we were there though…and thus the reason for this section. The doctor came into our room to see Aubrey and pulled up her chart on the computer. He said, “So Aubrey looks good as far as growth. She’s in the 50th percentile for height and weight so that means she is average and right on track. However, she is in the 98th percentile for head size. Her head size has been above average since she was born, but I just want to check something to make sure it’s normal.” I said ok and asked what we needed to do. He then proceeded to tell me that he wanted to measure MY head to see how big it was and make sure that her head size was a genetic trait. So I took down my hair and waited for him to measure me. He took the measurement once then smoothed my hair down a little more and took it again and said, “Yep. That’s a big one. She just has a big head like her Mom.” My face INSTANTLY turned bright, bright red! I told him, “Well her Dad has a really big head too.” Haha…I didn’t know what else to see, I was so embarrassed. Dr. Knott just looked at me and said, “Ok. Well we will measure his head next time too.” So for the rest of the appointment I remained a nice shade of red as the doctor completed his checks. At the end of the appointment he looked at Aubrey and said, “It was so good to see you Aubrey! You are doing so good! We’ll see you in a few months Miss Potato Head!” My poor child, sorry baby. :)

Top heavy...now we know why  ;)

Our First Family Vacation

At the beginning of June we took our first ever family vacation! We went to Corpus Christi to celebrate Auntie Nicole’s graduation from High School and Grandpa Vento’s retirement from the Coast Guard. Aubrey did so good traveling and even earned her wings on her very first airplane ride! It was definitely an experience taking a baby on vacation and particularly through airport security, but it was great and we had a blast!

Like I said, traveling was definitely an experience but it also wasn’t the nightmare that I had originally anticipated, lol. We had a few unexpected bumps going through security (mainly having to fold down the stroller and car seat to get them through scanner). But we made it with plenty of time to spare at the gate. Once at the gate, we waited our turn for family boarding, got setup in our seats on the plane and got a bottle ready to go for Aubrey to have during takeoff. The little princess did so well during the takeoff and just drank her bottle all the way up to 10,000 feet in the air! Once we were up there she fell asleep and napped for the entire flight!

After a whole morning of traveling via plane and car, we finally made it to Corpus and were smacked right in the face with heat and humidity! Despite the heat, we enjoyed our vacation and Aubrey was spoiled to DEATH by her Great Grandma Connie, Nana, Grandpa Vento, Uncle Jeppy, Uncle Kevy, Auntie Nicole and many other friends and family! There is so much to tell, but I’ll just let the pictures do the talking. 


Earned her wings!





 

Snoozing with Auntie Nicole



 



Crazy family!





 

  



Crackin up with Uncle Jeppy





With Daddy at the Texas State Aquarium



With Mommy inside a fish bubble!



Family trip to the aquarium



Tractor fun...lol...only in Texas

First time at the ocean

With Auntie Nicole and Mommy in the ocean



The ladies of the family at Grandpa Vento's Retirement



With Grandma & Grandpa at Auntie Nicole's grad party

Hangin with Uncle Kevy

Family pic :)

Being silly with Uncle Jeppy

Copying her Uncle Kevy's face

Family photo

Our First Father’s Day


We celebrated our first Father’s day shortly after returning from vacation and just like Mother’s Day, it was AMAZING! Aubrey gave Justin a new wallet with her pictures in it…I think she was getting tired of his dirty, old Ninja Turtles wallet. ;) I’m not sure how Justin did it, but we celebrated Father’s Day ALL weekend long for him! The Friday before, we went out to Olive Garden with my family and celebrated with them. On Saturday we went up to Buffalo Thunder and met up with the Williams/Smith clan to celebrate with them. THEN on Sunday we went to Justin’s Dad’s house and celebrated there! What a spoiled Daddy! Aubrey is very lucky to have such a good Daddy and I’m lucky to have him as my husband to help raise her. (P.S. Aubrey tried her first bite of ice cream for Father’s day…silly Grandpa)

Getting her very first bite of ice cream from Grandpa

Hanging out with Great Grandma Williams

First Tooth (Teeth)


We discovered Aubrey’s first teeth on June 27th, 2011…wow…what a bittersweet day! It seems like with each milestone she gets to, it is so excited but also kind of sad. I’m happy to see her grow and I’m happy to see her discover so many new things everyday. However, it is also a little sad because I just want to keep her my tiny little princess. She’ll never be that small again and she’ll never be the same tomorrow as she is today. I’m sure I’m not the only one and I’m sure other Mothers can relate. ANYWAYS, back to the teeth. Aubrey and I were sitting on the couch just watching TV one night and playing with eachother. She is at the stage where she likes to put EVERYTHING in her mouth! Well, she grabbed my finger and was playing around with it and then she suddenly put it in her mouth and bit down! OW! I was more shocked then hurt; it just wasn’t something I was expecting. So I looked in mouth and there they were…not one but two tiny front bottom teeth poking out!

I’ve heard so many stories about how awful it is when babies start teething and I was so nervous for Aubrey’s to come in. If it weren’t for her biting me though, it could have been quite a while before we noticed those little teeth. I’m just praying for the same experience for the rest of her teeth! 

All smiles when we discovered her new teeth

First two teeth cutting through

4th of July


Despite the dry weather and all of the fires in New Mexico this year, we still managed to have a FANTASTIC 4th of July! We enjoyed a BBQ the day before at Great Auntie Jackie’s house along with family and friends. It was good food, good laughs and good times! On the 4th, we drove up to Santa Fe and enjoyed another BBQ at Great Auntie Baby’s house (and Roseanna and cousins). Tons of family was there and it was so awesome to see all of the new babies and the cousins together! It may look like a TON of kids in the picture below, but we’re actually still missing quite a few! Crazy how much our family has grown!

We went to Santa Fe High School where Grandpa Perea was playing with Lumbre del Sol! Again there was tons of family there to spend our evening with AND fireworks! Aubrey did great with the fireworks! She just sat there on my lap and happily watched them!

Haha...just love her face here

With Grandpa and cousin Jessica

The gals...Mommy, Aubrey, Grandma, Auntie Shari and cousin Jessica

Hanging with her Perea cousins...so many!

More cousins!

Happy 4th of July

That’s All For Now!


Well those are the highlights since we last checked in! I could sit here and gush about every little tiny thing that she does that we love, but we just have that kind of time! We are just having a blast with life and enjoying every minute with Aubrey! Hope to see you all soon!

Love,



Justin, Candice & Aubrey