Love her

I adore this girl more than words can express and am so thankful my girls do too!

And since we added another girl to our crew, Diane has been not only an awesome friend to me, but a fantastic playmate to Bella.  Thank you, Thank you Di!  

TGIF

Fridays are wonderful for so many reasons, but mainly because its the last work day of the week, which means the weekend, and family time, for two whole days!  But since fridays are the last work day, we tend to feel pretty exhausted to about the work week.  So what better way to ring in the weekend, then to let the kids play it up Friday night, while we enjoy the company of our dearest friends Anthony and Jessie?  I can't think of anything more perfect!

We've made it a regular get together the last few Fridays--

Book Reading.

Movie Watching.

We have really enjoyed our Fridays so far, and we all are a little sad we had to put our get together on hold for the next couple Fridays due to our crazy schedules.  Looking forward to more Friday nights in the future.

Happy 6 months Aubrey, belated of course

Halfway to her first birthday, Aubrey has sure changed a BUNCH, and it definitely seems like the last 6 months have breezed by compared to our first go around with this back when Bella was 6 months.  Guess that's what its like when you add a second child.  Either way, we are so thankful we have had this opportunity to watch our littlest girl grow, learn and change right before our very eyes.

Since Aubrey is now in daycare three days a week, we have learned she is still the most patient, content baby that has EVER existed.  Truly, we have received tons of compliments from the teachers in her room, about how smiley she always is.  While she loves snuggling up to all the lovely ladies who care for her, she is just as content rolling on the floor or chatting it up in one of the exersaucers.  She is as happy as they come, and even when she chooses not to take a nap longer than 30 minutes--pretty typical when she is in daycare--she is still her jolly little self.  And while this transition was unbelievably hard for us, it is wonderful to hear she has adjusted so well, and they love taking care of our littlest girl.

Aubrey also has begun to take on the new role as the loudest one in our household.  I have no doubt she is already trying to compete with her sister, and she has quickly learned you must be loud to get noticed.  Here is a perfect example--

She has also finally started sharing her silly little laugh with us.  I say silly, because well, it just is--its more of a cackle then anything else and it just makes me laugh when I hear it.

She is still loving her baby food these days, and so is Caddy.  

She recently started trying rice crackers at dinner time, and apparently her and Caddy have made a sweet deal.  If she saves her last bite for him every time, he promises to gently take it from her hand.  She LOVES it, and Caddy, well he has definitely gotten sweeter, and maybe a bit rounder, with each child.  

She has also grown two tiny teeth.  These two sprouted within days of each other maybe a week or so after her 5 month birthday, but since then there have been no others...

Our littlest girl with her sunny smile definitely brings joy to our lives on a daily basis, and has since she was born 6 months ago.  We are constantly reminded how chill this little babe really is, and forever thankful for it too.  Looking forward to the next 6 months, and watching her change even more than she already has.  Goodness knows, time does fly.

Important Mommy Memories--

Size 2 Diapers

6 months clothes

Likes only orange vegetables, and all fruit baby foods

Loves her oatmeal every night

Eats 6oz bottles

Sleeps through the night most every night from 7p-6:30a

Sitting up with support

2 teeth

Reaching for people, grabbing toys and food

naps 30min-1.25 hours in the AM, 1.5-2 hours in the afternoon

can say "mamma, dadda, beya (aka Bella), and hi"

Two bottom teeth

Lowes Build and Grow, Take 2

We attended another Lowes Build and Grow session because B just HAD to build Dusty from the new Planes movie.  No she had never seen the movie, but she was all about this hammering thing and a free toy too.

So off we headed to Lowes, Aubrey again the tag along lil' sis, and ended up with this great plane--

I would love to say that this project was built mostly by Bella, however that would be a lie.  This one was A LOT harder than the first, and mommy did a lot more than I expected this time around.  Still super enjoyable.  And still willing to attend another one.  Just hoping the next class will put be back in the participant's seat rather than the observer.  

Bella's last swim lesson

While this was more than a month ago now, we still want to remember and recall Bella's last successful swim lesson.  I say successful because there was one more that followed this one, but long story short, it poured down rain and Bella wasn't quite the willing participant.  

Here however though, she shows a lot of great progress!

My only hope is that we can maintain a little of this ability between now and next spring when pool season starts back up, rather than starting all over again.  Guess only time will tell.

Our new deck

We have been dreaming if a deck on the back of our house since the moment we moved in 7+years ago.  And we Drew had the plan to build one, but well, life kind of took over.  We spend the first few years furnishing our house, then Bella came, which meant we had to finish the basement, and then Aubrey.  Considering we are still working to complete her room, I know, I know, this deck was long over due.  And we are so excited about it.

Thankfully Drew is quite the handyman, a hidden talent he has discovered since we got married way back when, and he has built a deck and fence before with the help of my dad and uncle when we lived in our condo.  

This time though, he didn't have help.

It was just Drew, and his tools.  And me, the water girl. ;)

The framing took an entire 3 day weekend, and then a few evenings the following week.

But then it was time to screw on the boards--which is when B was SUPER DUPER excited to help.

Then there was the stairs from the backdoor to the deck.

And then the railing.

Since then he has added some benches…

These aren't quite finished though, so that will come later.  

Pretty proud of my hubby's design, and the endless number of hours he has put toward making this deck happen.  So looking forward to utilizing this new outdoor space in the months ahead!

One day I will catch up.

Life has been oh so busy these days, but I have finally downloaded the 1000s of pics/video I have sitting on my phone, and am working on getting them up on here.  While there were plenty to share, I pulled out a few highlights and sneak peaks to get you looking forward to the post ahead...

Aubrey sprouted two teeth!  This was about 2 weeks after her 5 month birthday, and they literally appeared over night.  One morning we had one, the next day we had two.  

The girls started back to school.  Or shall I say, Bella started school, and Aubrey began daycare 3 days a week with her sister--they are both doing fantastic!  More on this in future posts...

Dare I say we have a deck?!  Bella thinks its her own personal stage, and her daddy has definitely worked hard and long enough on it to deserve a separate post in the days ahead.