**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

Proud Mommy & Daddy…

Hey Everyone!

I used to kind of laugh to myself when I would see or hear parents just ‘oooohhhhh and aaaahhhhh’ over their kids telling anyone and everyone who would listen all about how great THEIR baby is.  I found it comical that they would brag about things their kids were doing that I just thought was something kids were SUPPOSED to do at their age.  Well, I get it now and I proudly admit that I am now one of those parents!  Hahaha!  I can’t help it, I don’t think any parent can.  You are just bursting with pride for your baby and all of their little accomplishments and just want to share it with the world!  Even though Aubrey is just developing and going through all of life’s little milestones; Justin and I are incredibly proud of her and amazed by her accomplishments everyday.  So not only is this a blog to catch everyone up on our past two months with the little princess, it is also my time to be one of THOSE parents.  ;)

Ear Piercing

Yes we did it, we put holes in our daughter’s ears…deal with it.  Since before Aubrey was even born, I have been waiting for the day we could pierce her ears and so as soon she was old enough, we took her!  I worked at Claire’s for many years where I did about a million ear piercings; so I wrestled around with the idea of whether or not I wanted to do it myself.  I thought if I did it then I would know everything was clean and done right.  In the end, I decided to just let one of the girls in the mall do it because as much as I wanted this for Aubrey, I couldn’t actually be the one to do it.  It would be hard enough for me to go in and hold her through it all.

So on March 9th, 2011, Justin and I decided to head to Coronado mall to have Aubrey’s ears pierced.  Justin laughed at me because I went into both Claire’s stores at the mall and checked out the girl working their before deciding on which one I would let pierce my daughter’s ears.  When I finally decided who the ‘lucky girl’ would be, we went in and started the paperwork.  I was SO nervous.  The lady was really nice and patient with us and she did a great job.  When she marked the dots on her ears, we discovered that Aubrey has one of Justin’s ears and one of mine; so it was a bit difficult determining if the dots were placed evenly.  Once the dots were where we liked them, I held Aubrey tight and just like that, she had pierced ears!  She cried of course (surprisingly I didn’t) but Daddy scooped her up right away and soothed his little princess down.  She had stopped crying and was just fine before we even left the store. 

What an adventure, but they look great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma & Grandpa Vento

Justin’s Step-Dad recently retired from the Coast Guard and while he and his Mom were making the trip from his station in San Diego back to Corpus Christi, TX they made a slight detour to come see us here in Albuquerque.  We were so happy to have them so Aubrey could meet her Grandpa Vento finally!  She took to him instantly and couldn’t stop staring at him and laughing at all the little noises he made at her.  It was so sweet!  She also got the chance to spend lots of time with her Grandma Vento (who we actually call Nana) and she was sooooo incredibly spoiled…like usual.

While Nana and Grandpa were in town we baptized Aubrey (which I’ll talk about later) and we took her on her very first trip to the zoo!  The weather was beautiful while they were in town, so we thought it would be nice to make a trip out to see the lions and tigers and bears (oh my)!  Aubrey had a great time and I think her favorite was the polar bears.  I think she was entertained by that blue glow from the water when you go underneath; plus it was feeding time when we got there, so a polar bear would jump in every once in awhile.

  

 

 

 

 

 

Baptismal

On March 13th, 2011, we baptized Aubrey Jaye Lopez into the Catholic faith.  We were joined by her Godparents, Eric Perea (my brother) and Kristen McPeek (our friend), Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins and many, many friends.  The ceremony was held at Risen Savior here in Albuquerque.  It was really nice because it was just us and one other family having their baby baptized, so it felt a little more personal.  Aubrey did such a good job and only fussed a little when the priest poured the water over her head.  She looked like such an angel in her little outfit (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Lopez) and I was kind of sad that she would probably only have the chance to wear it once.  I laughed when we got her ready for church in the morning because the dress was so full and poufy that when Justin’s Mom handed her to me I had to have her wait to make sure I was actually grabbing baby and not just dress!

After the ceremony we had a little reception at Grandma and Grandpa Perea’s house in Corrales.  Aubrey loved it because she was sooooo spoiled with all of the attention from her family and friends.  I don’t think she was put down for even one second that day; everyone just took turns passing her around and holding her.

It was wonderful to have so many of our family and friends there to celebrate another special day with our new little family.  I’ve been a total slacker on sending out ‘thank you’ cards to all of you who gave Aubrey such nice gifts, but please know that we really do appreciate everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swimming

Aubrey is a BIG fan of the bath tub!  She just loves the water and is such a goofball when she is in it!  She is always kicking in the water, cooing and going crazy.  So since she loves the bath so much, we thought why not try taking her to the pool for a swim?  We took her to the West Mesa Aquatic Center in her super cute bathing suit and gave it a try.  She seemed to like it and was very curious and just keeping quiet and looking around at everything.  We swam around a bit and gave her a few dunks and then she was done.  Looking back I laughed because we were only there for about 15 – 20 minutes but total loading and unloading time for this event was about an hour!  ::Sigh:: Kids and their stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s about it for now…our little babe is just growing up too fast on us already and its only been 4 months.  We’re enjoying each and every day with her and just having a blast!  It is such a joy to see her grow and change everyday; from those big laughs, rolling over, holding her own bottle and jumping in her bouncer, every day is a new adventure and we’re lovin’ it!

Love,

Justin, Candice & Aubrey

Time Flies…

Once again, time has quickly passed us by again and it’s all just a memory.  Two months have come and gone and Aubrey is growing so fast; while she still mostly eats, poops and sleeps (ha ha), we are really starting to see her personality come out as she crosses every little milestone. She is beginning to see her hands and feet and exploring them with curiosity, she likes to hold her little rings in her gym and seems to be amazed by what happens when she starts swinging her arms around, she seems to recognize more and more people around her and will coo and smile for them and she seems to love listening to music or having someone sing to her. Simply put, she is amazing!

Justin and I have to step back and laugh at ourselves every day because of all the things we are learning and experiencing through parenthood. We’ve found that we’ll do just about anything to get a smile out of her. From dancing to singing to making silly faces, if it makes her smile, we’ll do it (and we’ll continue to do it until it doesn’t work anymore!)! I told Justin the other day that I think we could make our own baby album with all of the songs we’ve made up! It’s funny how the words just come to you even during a horribly dirty diaper changing! “Oh baby! Dirty diaper, dirty diaper! My baby has a poopy diaper and she is so stinky, but I love her cause she is my stinky girl!” Haha!

Like I said earlier, she is also starting to recognize people and shows it by cooing and smiling when she sees them. She smiles when she sees her Daddy come through the door after work and she smiles when you go in her room to get her out of her swing (unless she’s screaming bloody murder because she is hungry…then that is a different story). The other day her Uncle Eric came over to visit and she would not stop cooing and smiling from the second she saw him! It was like she knew exactly who he was and was SUPER happy to see him; she even cried for a little bit when he left. I also get reports that she always smiles for her Grandparents when they watch her for us during the week!

 

My Mom and I were talking about how amazing it is that you can love someone so much in an instant. I was telling her that it is really amazing to see the affect that Aubrey has on people and how she just magically changes them or brings out the best in them. I’ve seen her bring out a side of a person that I’ve never seen before in an instant.  Like I said, SHE’S AMAZING!

As always, I’ll leave you with some more pictures.

Love,

Candice, Justin & Aubrey