First Birthday Pictures

Here are just some of the adorable pictures that my friend Terri took.

At Aubrey's check up she weighed 18 lbs. 11 oz. (25!!), was 28 inches long (25%), and her head was 18 3/4 inches (95%). She has gone from way off the curve to 25% for weight. That was exciting to find out. The doctor said that she looked great!

Just some pictures from the first day of school. (ok. I'll admit that I forgot to take pictures of the girls on their first day which was last Thursday. These are actually from Monday which was Noah's first day of preschool.)

Noah - Preschool

Kaylee - 1st Grader!





Daphne - 2nd Grader!!



And, of course, no blog post would be complete without some cute pictures of Aubrey!

More Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Aubrey!!

Aubrey turns 1 this Saturday, August 7. It is so hard for me to believe that a year has gone by since her birth. Needless to say, this time a year ago was a very stressful time for us. I was in the hospital and the doctors were trying to keep my blood pressure down. For those of you who don't know the story, I had been on bedrest for a couple of weeks, but it wasn't doing the job. I finally went to the hospital Monday night because I knew my blood pressure was high and I was not feeling good at all. When they check my bp at the hospital, it was 222/116 so I got an invitation to stay. After a few days of trying to get it under control, the doctors decided that they couldn't wait any longer, so they started inducing me. I had asked my doctor to just wait one more day because my parents were still in Hawaii, but he looked at me like I was crazy (I was on some strong drugs so I'm blaming the craziness on them!) and said absolutely not. After a long day to everybody else, but what seemed like just a few hours to me because I was so sedated, Aubrey was born. It was such a relief to hear her cry. She weighed in at 3 lbs. 10oz. and was 171/2 inches long. She looked like a worm. They immediatley took her to the NICU where she got to spend her first three weeks of life. We were so grateful that she had no major problems during her stay in the hospital. She was there mainly to gain weight and so the doctors could observe her. It was hard making trips back and forth. I remember that I would drop off Daphne and Kaylee at school, then Noah and I would spend the day at the hospital. Micah would usually go over there to feed Aubrey a bottle after he got off work at night. When she was just over 4 pounds, we were able to bring her home. Since then, she has been healthy and has been steadily putting on weight. She now weighs almost 18 pounds. She still looks small for her age (especially compared to some of the boys) and she's not doing everything a "normal" 12 month old would do. But that's okay with me!! I'm not really ready for her to be walking and getting into everything in the house. I have really enjoyed her being more of a baby for longer.

Here are some things I'd like to remember about Aubrey at this age....she doens't crawl, but she rolls and pushes off with one foot to get around the living room; she loves to pulls things out of bags and basket. This will keep her busy for a while; she's a great eater; she is content to sit and watch other kids. She is an observer; she is a momma's girl; she can say Momma, Dada, nenene (which I think means no because that's what she says to her siblings when they take things from her); she waves hi and bye; she understands a lot. She definitely understands when I tell her "no" or if I pat her on the bottom - both of those usually make her cry; she would love to play with the TV remote and my phone. She tries her hardest to get them if she can see them; she does a great job riding in the car; she loves the water and enjoys going to the pool and taking baths; she's a pretty good sleeper and has rarely ended up in my bed during the night; she's very loving; when I hold her, she lays her head against me and just pats me. It's so sweet; she loves Daphne, Kaylee, and Noah and will laugh for them or at them more than anyone else.

As many of you know, Aubrey was a big surpise for our family, but she is a joy and a blessing and we would not be complete without her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY!