A battle of the wills

I feel like parenting a toddler can be so trying sometimes. Just when you feel like you are in a good place behavior wise, something new comes up. And when I say a "good place" I just mean that things are generally pleasant and there aren't major meltdowns coming at you every 5 minutes.

Aubrey has actually been behaving really well lately. I feel like she has really come into an easier stage. She communicates VERY well, and she is pretty independent. She usually minds well for the most part, and we haven't had any major discipline issues lately. There are little things that she needs to be disciplined for everyday, but we are past the stage where I feel like all I do is get on to her for doing stuff that she knows she isn't supposed to do or ignoring me when I tell her to do something.

Of course, things were just a little too pleasant. She had to go and rock the boat ;) The past two days we have had some major drama over FOOD of all things. We have never really had issues over food before. Aubrey isn't an overly picky eater and eats well for the most part. David and I feel like our children should be allowed to have preferences about food just like we do. I'm not running a buffet at mealtime, but I don't expect Aubrey to eat food that I know she hates, because I don't eat food that I hate. However, I do expect her to at least TRY a food before deciding that she doesn't like it. Last night, she decided that she didn't like zucchini, even though she hadn't even touched it. We told her that she needed to eat one bite, and if she didn't like it, she didn't have to eat anymore. You would have thought we told her she had to eat 10 pounds of zucchini for all the drama that went on over that bite. Finally, after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, she ate a bite, and it was over.

Until today, that is. We went to lunch, and when we got home, Aubrey was still hungry. She asked for some strawberries, so I washed and cut some up for her. But then she decided that she didn't want strawberries anymore. I told her that she had asked for them, so she had to eat them because it would be wasteful if she didn't. She would. not. eat. those dang strawberries. I about lost my mind over this! At first I told her that she had to sit in her chair until she ate them. She got up anyway, so she got in trouble. I explained the situation to her and told her how it was going to be, but she would NOT touch a strawberry. I even put a bite in her mouth at one point, and she just spit it out. I have not been so frustrated with my sweet girl in quite a while :-/ The most annoying part is that I KNOW she loves strawberries, and she ASKED for them. It's not even like I'm asking her to eat something that she doesn't like!

I had to leave the room and call David to get some advice and sympathy. It was past naptime, but I had told her she was staying in her chair until she ate the strawberries. Since I obviously couldn't force her to eat the strawberries, we decided that I would put her down for her nap, but then when she wakes up and is hungry for a snack, guess what she's getting? Yep, a plate of strawberries! ;)

I am thankful that Aubrey is usually sweet and pleasant to be around, and I'm hoping this doesn't become the trend at mealtimes. And I'm REALLY hoping that Aubrey is in the mood for strawberries when she wakes up! In the meantime, I'm going to need some extra patience.

Potty Training: Part 2

I blogged a while back about our potty training adventures so far, so I thought it was time for a little update! After that post, Aubrey was really to the point where I felt like she was potty trained at home, but she still wore diapers and then pull-ups when we ventured out. However, if she had a pull-up on, she wet it. I didn't really know how to advance beyond that point, until one day when we were getting ready to go somewhere, and Aubrey said she wanted to wear panties. I was a little nervous about that, but I figured what the heck? I just told myself, "If she has an accident, she has an accident. Not the end of the world."

Well... she didn't have an accident! She did GREAT, and I think having one successful outing in panties under our belt gave me the confidence to start letting her wear panties all the time. She's really been wearing panties everywhere since then, with a few exceptions. She has had a few accidents, but I just know that's to be expected, so we don't sweat it. Most of her accidents have happened in the car on the way to or from church (about a 30 minute drive). She doesn't really like for other people to take her to the potty, so David or I usually go to the nursery and take her between church and Sunday School, but she's even getting better about letting other people take her. So, I guess at this point, it's safe to say that Aubrey is potty trained! (I think I can say that even though she still occasionally has accidents, right? No one is perfect ;)

I really don't have anything to compare this experience to since I've never potty trained a child before, but I think Aubrey was really easy to train. We really just let her go at her own pace, and she just let us know when she was ready for the next step, and that seemed to be perfect for her. I think it was KEY that we didn't rush it. We took the potty training experience slowly, and that really worked. I'm sure some kids might require more of a gentle nudge, though ;) She still wears diapers to sleep. (The pull-ups leak.) I'm not even worried about that right now. It doesn't bother me at all for her to still wear diapers at night. I think bed wetting might be in Aubrey's genes, so I'm not stressing over that yet. HA! ;)

She still uses her little potty, but I would like to get rid of that soon. I feel torn about that, though. On one hand, I don't want to get rid of it, because she can go by herself, which is SO nice. It especially comes in handy when she needs to potty while I'm tending to Jude. On the other hand, I'd like to get rid of the little potty, because I HATE cleaning that thing. It would be so much easier if we could just flush! Haha! So, we'll see how long it sticks around.

So, that's been our potty training journey. All in all, it was pretty painless. I still can't believe that we have successfully potty trained a child now. How is our baby that old?!?

Why?

This conversation that I had with Aubrey this morning perfectly sums up the stage that she is in. What stage is that? The "WHY?" stage!!!

Aubrey: "Mommy, why did those mean girls break Cinderella's necklace and her dress?"

Me: "Because they didn't want her to go to the ball."

Aubrey: "Why didn't they want Cinderella to go to the ball?"

Me: "Because they didn't want her to dance with the prince. They wanted to dance with the prince themselves."

Aubrey: "Why didn't they want Cinderella to dance with the prince?"

Me: "Because they wanted to dance with him. They were being selfish."

Aubrey: "Why were those mean girls being selfish?"

Me: "Well, because they were mean."

Aubrey: "Why were they mean?"

Me: "I don't really know, Aubrey." (Looking back, I'm thinking this probably would have been a good opportunity to have a deep theological discussion with her. Maybe next time! ;)

Aubrey: "Why don't you know?"

Me: "I just don't know."

Aubrey: "Why you just don't know?"

At that point, I changed the subject and tried to distract her. Thankfully it worked this time! She is not always so easily distracted :) This line of questioning could have literally gone on all day if I had let it. It's cute sometimes.... and sometimes it's tiring! Haha!

On a similar note, Aubrey is completely into all things related to Disney Princesses these days. My mom just gave her the Cinderella DVD, so that is her favorite at the moment. She also LOVES Aladdin. All week, Aubrey has insisted that David is Aladdin, she is Jasmine, and Jude is Abu (the monkey). I'm Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) apparently. What is hilarious is that she calls us these names pretty consistently. I was folding laundry this morning, and Aubrey held up a piece of clothing and said, "Aurora, is this Aladdin's underwear?" Ha! And she will ask me every afternoon if "Aladdin" is almost home from work. The FUNNIEST, though, is when David and I catch ourselves referring to Jude as Abu even when Aubrey isn't in the room. I mean, he does kind of sound like a little monkey when he talks ;) Ha!

Wardrobe Woes

Well, I figured it would happen at some point; I just didn't expect it to be so soon. I thought I would have at least another 10 years before it started. What am I referring to? Wardrobe drama with my daughter. Yes, getting dressed and deciding what Aubrey is going to wear each day has now become a MAJOR ordeal at our house. It usually involves weeping and gnashing of teeth. From both of us. How is Aubrey already this opinionated about her clothes at age two and a half??! What is my life going to be like when she is 13??!

Seriously, Aubrey has recently developed some VERY strong ideas about what she does and doesn't want to wear. The child changes clothes no less than 5 times a day. Sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) there is a pile of clean "baby laundry" in the floor of my room waiting to be put away. I can just never stay on top of this because really the only time to fold laundry is when my little "helper" is sleeping, otherwise my neatly folded piles end up strewn all over the place and not so neat and not so folded. However, it's kind of hard to fold and put away laundry when the kids are sleeping if the laundry needs to be put away in the kids' rooms. Plus, I feel like I literally do a HUGE load of Aubrey and Jude's laundry every other day. (Have I mentioned that we're potty training and that Aubrey changes clothes 5 times a day?) So, Aubrey usually has a nice little stack of clothes to choose from conveniently located right in the floor of my room. This makes it very easy for her to slip in there and do a quick wardrobe change whenever the urge strikes her. And it apparently strikes her a lot.

I try to let her express her creativity and pick her own outfits when we aren't going anywhere. She likes to pick out some rather colorful ensembles. I'm sure you've noticed that she's usually wearing a pretty off the wall outfit in pictures that I post of her. In case you've forgotten, let me refresh your memory:

Pink on Pink

Mismatched BOY pajamas

Pajama shirt and no pants outside

Christmas shirt in April with random pajama bottoms

Just clashes

So yeah, Aubrey definitely has some say in what she wears around the house. However, I'm just NOT going to let my two and a half year old decide what she wears OUT of the house. Maybe I'm mean, but I like to think that I'm just protecting her from herself :) She'll thank me later, I know she will. She doesn't see it quite like that right now, though. I have just come to accept the fact that there is going to be a HUGE meltdown when it comes time to get dressed to go out. And it does not matter what I pick out for her to wear. She NEVER wants to wear it. Sometimes, I've already picked out her clothes and ironed them, and she decides she wants to wear something else. The thing that she wants to wear might actually be a "real outfit" that I would be ok with her wearing if I hadn't already ironed something else and gotten the shoes/bow to go with it (we're always running late and I just don't have time for a last minute outfit swap). So the next day, I decide that I'll let her wear the outfit that she was having a FIT to wear the day before. But it's too late. She is completely over that outfit and has her heart set on a different one. Different day, different favorite outfit, new meltdown. So, basically, I can't win!

I'm kind of speaking lightly and jokingly about all of this, but it really is stressful. I used to love picking out Aubrey's clothes and getting her dressed and fixing her hair and putting her bow and shoes on. Now it's something I pretty much dread, because I know what an ordeal it's going to be. I'm also having to teach her that throwing fits when she doesn't get her way is never acceptable behavior. It seems silly that something as simple as clothes has now lead to major disciplinary issues. I want to give her some independence, and that's why I do let her wear whatever she wants around the house, and I try to work with her and pick stuff that I think she likes. But, at the end of the day, she just has to learn that she can't be in charge of everything, and if it takes something like clothes to teach her that, well, I guess that's just how it's going to be. I'm also having to crack down on the number of times a day that she can change clothes. Of course she changes clothes if she has an accident, and I let her change when we get home if I have made her wear something that she hates. I just can't stay on top of the laundry if she changes 12 times a day!

Also, Aubrey will NOT keep her shoes on when we get in the car. I'm always having to put shoes and socks on when we get where we're going. I know this is pretty common, though. She doesn't really care for bows anymore, either. She used to LOVE bows, but now she rarely wants to wear them. She will tolerate them for a little while, but she usually ends up ripping them out of her hair and totally messing up her hair. She then looks like she has bed head after ripping a bow out of it! Ha!

So, all that to say, we're having some trouble in the clothing department at the Howie house. I'm praying that this isn't a sign of things to come in her teenage years. Maybe she is getting all of her wardrobe angst of of her system now and it will be smooth sailing from here on out? Maybe? Am I the only one with a two year old who is this opinionated, or is this normal??

Week in Review: EARLY Mornings and Meltdowns

This week was started off great, but then Aubrey got a little sick and we had some ROUGH days. She threw probably the worst fits she has ever thrown in her life. I knew she wasn't feeling her best, but it was SO hard to be patient and loving when she was acting like that. I did just loose it a few times. She seems to be back to her sweet self now, and I'm SO HAPPY about that!

Sunday: We got ready and went to church and Sunday School. It was the last day of our Missions Conference, and we had another guest preacher. Sunday School was really good - we had two different missionaries speak to us. One of them was from Palmer Home for Children, and it was so sad to hear about what some kids go through. After church, we had a lunch at church for the Missions Conference. That was fun, and it was nice to not have to cook when we got home! :) We went home after lunch, and Jude was sleeping in his carseat, so we brought him in and just left him in there. David put Aubrey down for a nap, and I took a nap too. He said Aubrey never went to sleep, but Jude slept in his seat for a long time. Whatever works! We went back to church that evening, and then went to get pizza with the Arants after church. That was so fun, and we got home pretty late, so we put the kids right to bed. I got on the computer, and we ended up staying up way too late.

Monday: I woke up nervous because we were expecting bad weather that day. You know how I hate bad weather! We did have a good morning at home in spite of the severe weather threat.

Just a normal morning playing with Belle :-)

Rebekkah stopped by after lunch to give me her opinion on my curtain dilemma. (By the way, THANK YOU for your feedback on that! It was very helpful :) We talked for a little while, and then I put the kids down for a nap when she left. The bad weather was supposed to come early afternoon, but the estimated time kept getting pushed back. It worked out well that it came later because it didn't interfere with the kids' naps. The longer I waited for it to hit, though, the more nervous I got. Haha! I also put off going to the grocery store because I didn't want to get caught out in it. Since it didn't end up getting here until about 5:00, I didn't make it to the grocery store that day. We did end having a tornado warning here, and the kids and I spent some time in the bathroom waiting it out. We had some fun conversations while we were in there at least :-) The one good thing that came of the bad weather was that the power went out at our church, and so karate got cancelled and David was able to come home earlier than usual. When he got home, I ran to pick up some dinner since I never made it to the grocery store. We ended up having an unexpected evening at home, which was nice. We got the kids in the bed that night, and Rebekkah and I went to the gym. After we got home, I went to bed.

Tuesday: This was SUCH a busy but fun day! I got up early for Bible Study. We started a new study on Proverbs. I think it will be good, but we are just getting into it that day. After Bible Study, Rebekkah and I left and grabbed a quick lunch. We then went over to my grandparents' house. My mom and grandmother had offered to watch our kids so that Rebekkah and I could go get our hair cut. We went to my cousin Devin, and she cut both our hair. We also got our eyebrows waxed - much needed! ;-) I was so happy to get my hair freshened up! When we got back to my grandparents' house, the kids were playing and having a blast. Rebekkah and Carver headed home, and I left the kids with my mom and grandmother again and ran to Kroger. It's so much quicker when I get to go alone. We went home after that, and Aubrey fell asleep in the car. She was exhausted from skipping her nap. I cooked some taco soup for dinner when we got home, and then David got home. Rebekkah and I were going bathing suit shopping that night, so I got the kids situated with David and then left. We has so much fun shopping! We both tried on TONS of bathing suits and ended up taking several home each to get our husbands opinions. It's just so hard to find a cute, decent looking bathing suit! We ended up shopping until the mall was about to close! When I got home, Aubrey was in bed, and David was trying to give Jude a bottle. He wasn't having it, though. Jude has recently decided that he no longer likes bottles. I nursed him and put him to bed. I showed David the bathing suits after that, and then we went to bed.

Wednesday: Aubrey was up at the CRACK of dawn. Like, at 6 am. Ughh. Normally I would make her stay in her bed until 7, but I didn't want her yelling and waking Jude up, so we ended up getting up. She laid in my bed with me for a while, but then she was over it. We watched a movie and I laid on the couch. Haha! She was extremely fussy all morning. We got ready to meet Sarah Denley and Ann Peyton for lunch, and I about LOST IT several times Aubrey was being so awful. She was a little congested, so I figured she didn't feel great. The way she was behaving was still unacceptable, though, and we had a rough morning :( We did make it to lunch, thankfully! Aubrey was good while we were there - she really does usually cheer up when we get out of the house if she's having a bad day. I was glad to get to talk to SD and have fun after our trying morning :-) After lunch, the kids and I stopped at TJ Maxx and Old Navy on our way home. Aubrey and Jude both took naps when we got home. Thank goodness! Jude woke up first and he sat on the floor playing and smiling at Mommy :-)Aubrey was still asleep when David got home, and she woke up MAD. She was just inconsolable. Everything set her off. David felt sorry for me when he saw how she had been all day. Ha! We both felt bad for Aubrey, too, because she is not normally like that. We got ready and went to church. Aubrey was mad that she had to be strapped into her carseat. Then she realized she had left her beloved Belle at home, and oh my gosh. That was just tragic. She cried and cried and cried. It was pitiful. She acted ok when we got to church, but she was clingy to me. Rebekkah and I left church after dinner to go to the gym, and David drove the kids home. David had just gotten home from church when I got home. He took Aubrey upstairs for bed while I got Jude ready for bed. Aubrey was still in an awful mood and had many meltdowns before bed. It was nice when the house was finally quiet, not gonna lie! I enjoyed the quiet for a while before going to bed.

Thursday: Aubrey was up at the crack of DAWN again. I don't know why she thinks it's acceptable to get up before the sun. I'm PRAYING this is just because she has been coughing, and when that goes away, so will this getting up at 6 am business :/ We had another not so fun morning. Aubrey was a bear. Thankfully, we had plans to get out of the house. We were going to meet Rebekkah and Carver to do some shopping. We got an early start so that we wouldn't mess up the kids' naptimes, and we shopped ALL morning. The kids did pretty well, all things considered. Jude didn't feel like napping in his stroller, so I had to get him out and carry him a while. We took a Chick Fil A lunch break and then shopped for a little longer until the kids had had enough. It was naptime immediately when we got home. Aubrey went to sleep without a peep, but Jude had a little trouble getting to sleep. We had to try a few times. He just wanted to stay up and play! When he finally did go to sleep, I cleaned out my closet and took out a TON of stuff to get rid of. Now my closet is pretty bare! Haha. Aubrey woke up as I was finishing up with that. Annnd, she had fever. That wasn't a total shock after the way she had been acting the past few days. The funny/weird part was that she was in such a SWEET mood when she was running fever. She was the most pleasant that she had been in days! I let her sit on the couch and watch Sleeping Beauty since she was sick, and I cooked some dinner. Jude woke up in a good mood, too :-) David skipped karate that night to spend some time with us and mow the grass. We ate dinner as soon as he got home. We noticed that Aubrey was wheezing, so we started breathing treatments. SO HOPING she grows out of that soon! David and Aubrey then went outside and did some yard work, and Jude and I stayed in and watched American Idol. We got the kids to bed a little later, and then I did a workout DVD since Rebekkah wasn't able to go to the gym that night. It was NOT fun! It was late and time for bed after that.

Friday: Aubrey SHOCKED me by sleeping until 8:00 that day! Jude had been sleeping until 8:30 and 9:00 all week, and wouldn't you know it, he was up at 7:30 that day?! Oh well - sleeping until 7:30 was MUCH better than 6! We stayed home all day and had a pretty boring day. Jude took a good morning nap, and Aubrey and I played and I did a little housework.

I painted Aubrey's fingernails and toenails, and they looked super cute! She was so still and sweet while I painted them and let them dry. I'm glad I took a picture, because when I bathed her that afternoon, the fingernail polish was GONE when she got out :-/

When it was time for Aubrey's nap, she wasn't having it. I guess sleeping until the late hour of 8 just made her not tired?? Ha! I kept having to tell her to stay quiet so that Jude could sleep, and I finally just gave up and got her out of bed. I gave her a bath and we played until David got home, and then we hung out and read some stories for a while :-)We went to dinner at Cheddar's that evening. After dinner we went to Ross, and I got a dress that I might use as my Easter dress. When we got home, we put the kids to bed. Aubrey has been on a mommy kick lately and insisted on me putting her to bed even though David always puts her to bed. It was kind of sweet, and of course I obliged her :-) Once Aubrey and Jude were both asleep, I got on the internet for a while, and then went to bed.

Saturday: David had a workday to go to at church that morning, so the kids and I were on our own. Aubrey actually slept until almost 9 - amazing!! Jude was up at about 8, but it was SO nice to be able to sleep that late.

We ate breakfast and then put our bathing suits on because we were going to play in our blowup pool in the backyard!

Aubrey looks SO OLD to me in these pictures! She was mesmerized by Beauty and the Beast on TV when I snapped these pics.

Jude was sitting on the floor, and Aubrey wanted him to "sit in her lap." She loves to sit like this.

Rebekkah and Carver came over to play in the pool with us. It was really fun to just sit and chat in the water while the kids played. We were hoping to get some sun, and I think we got a little. This was during Jude's morning nap, but he took a really short nap for some reason. When I realized that he wasn't going back to sleep, I brought his exersaucer out and put it in the shade, and he played in there and watched us happily. I didn't want to put him in the pool because the water was COLD. Aubrey and Carver loved playing in the water together :-)

Unfortunately, there was one causality in the pool fun: my PHONE. Aubrey chunked my phone in the water before I even realized what she was doing, and she thought it was hilarious. I took it apart and put it in a bowl of rice, and I just put it back together and I think it might have survived! Thank the Lord! I really wasn't thrilled about having to buy a new phone. Anyway, Rebekkah and Carver left when it was naptime, and we ate lunch and I took a shower. Then David was home. We talked to him for a while, and then we put the kids down for naps. I left when the kids were down and went to Kohls, Target, and Stein Mart. It was nice to be out by myself for a little while :-) When I got home, Aubrey was just waking up from her nap, and Jude was already up. We bathed the children and got them dressed.

Jude is sporting some Auburn attire ;-) He is also trying SO hard to crawl. I don't think I'm ready for that yet!!

We then went to eat Mexican and made our weekly Kroger run before heading home for bed.

So, that was our week! I'm hoping that we will be able to play outside in our pool some more this week. I'm pasty white and need some sun! Haha. Also, I'm HOPING that I might get to go meet a sweet new baby this week. Can you make that happen, SD? Haha.

Potty Training

Now that we're kind of on a roll with the potty training, I thought I would do a post and share what's worked for us so far. I definitely don't want to come across like a know-it-all or like I think I'm now an expert because I've been potty training my child for two weeks. Ha! Aubrey definitely is not "fully potty trained" yet, and I'm still learning what does and doesn't work for her. I know every child is different, but this has been our potty training experience so far:

Several months ago, we bought a little potty for Aubrey just to see how she would do and to introduce the concept. I was in no hurry, but I wanted her to get used to the idea of going on the potty at some point. Well, she LOVED the potty. A little bit too much. She wanted to sit on that thing all the time. She would just sit and sit but never do anything. I really think she started to think it was a toy, which I didn't want. I wanted her to learn that you "do your business" on the potty, and that's it. No sitting for hours looking at books. Haha! So, I decided that she wasn't ready, and we put the potty away.

A few months later, my mom bought Aubrey some cute little princess panties. I wasn't really ready to try again, so I just didn't show them to Aubrey. Well, she found them (it wasn't all that shocking that she did considering I left them in the floor of her room - ha!). Of course she wanted to wear them immediately, so we tried again. And she had many many accidents in the panties. She did go on the potty a few times, but she was going in the panties way more than the potty. At that point, I don't think she quite understood how to recognize the urge to go before she went. I think we probably could have pushed through at that point and she would have caught on, but I was just tired of cleaning up tee tee, frankly. So, we went back to diapers.

A little time passed, and I didn't really even think about potty training. It was in the back of my mind that we probably should start working on it soon, but I really just didn't know how to go about it. Everyone says, "When they're ready you'll know." Or, "Don't rush them." I really wasn't sure how I would "know" when she was ready, though. Well, the way I knew was that she suddenly started telling me that she needed to "tee tee." Pretty hard to miss. Ha! So, we got the potty back out and gave it another go. This time, she has done great! I decided to just let her run around without any pants on because I wasn't thrilled about the idea of washing 27 pairs of panties a day. That has actually worked REALLY well for us. She hates the idea of getting the floor all wet, and it's only happened once. She has been great about going on the potty. I don't even have to ask her a million times if she needs to tee tee. She will just run to the bathroom, and when I follow her in there, she is sitting on her little potty. Too cute! It's really been great. She gets one jelly bean when uses the bathroom, and she LOVES that :-) We have been putting panties on her a little more lately, and she has done pretty well with that, too. She has had a few accidents, but not many.

Right now, she is still wearing diapers when we leave the house. Someone recommended that I get some of those plastic panties to wear over her regular panties, and we did get some, but they were massive. Seriously, I think the size 2T would fit me. Haha! We laughed so hard when we opened those things. When we realized that they weren't really going to work, I got some pull-ups. They seem pretty pointless, though. When we are out and about, she never wants to go on the potty. I don't know if she is just too busy, or if going on a big potty scares her, but we haven't gotten to that point yet. That's definitely the next thing we need to work on. I don't know if I should just put a pull-up on her and make her sit on the potty every once and a while or what. We're still learning!

So... what's worked for us so far:

-Waiting until Aubrey was ready!

-Taking her pants and diaper off.

-Giving her a reward when she goes.

-Using a little potty.

-Being patient and not getting frustrated when she has an accident.

-Getting really excited when she goes on the potty.

Hopefully in the next month or so, we will be totally potty trained! Every time I buy diapers now, I think that might be the last time I buy diapers for Aubrey. Bittersweet!

2.5 part 2

by David Howie

Carrie forgot a few things that Aubrey is doing at her 2.5th birthday, and of course I have a different perspective on some things. At age two and a half, Aubrey is also...

...very precise. Example conversations include:

- "Look at that red car." "That's a truck."
- "There's Gramzie's car." "Gramzie has a van."

- "Don't poke your finger in Jude's eye." "That's a thumb."
- "I like your red shirt." "That's a dress."
- "Let's rinse the soap off." "That's called shampoo."
And many more. I love it.

...happy to see her daddy. When I get home from work, she comes running to the door giggling. It's the most amazing thing ever.

...a great big sister. She loves Jude. She'll lay by him on the floor and tickle him. She's very helpful in fetching things for him like his paci, a toy, or an extra diaper. And she loves having him sit in her lap. It's super cute.

...a Beauty and the Beast fanatic. She got the DVD for Christmas and didn't watch it at all for months. She's not much of a tv girl - too active. But when we were all sick, we put in the DVD. Carrie said, "You think she'll last 15 minutes?" I think she watched it like 5 times over the next 3 days. Yesterday she watched it 3 times. It's nice to have something to take her attention and keep her quiet, but we don't want her to be a tv zombie. Plus I hum "Be Our Guest" to myself at work now. I comfort myself with the fact that she's so into the movie because we started with reading the book to her.

...an outdoor lover. She's always ready to go outside. It's about the only thing she likes more than watching Beauty and the Beast. She likes to play on the deck and walk on the sidewalk. She's good about not going in the street. She's much more wary of Knightly now. She used to be fearless, but now she understands what it means to be knocked down by a crazy dog.

...a little big bigger than average. She's about 29 pounds and 36 inches tall - both 55th percentile.

...my precious little girl. Don't grow up so fast.

2.5

My sweet little baby girl is two and a half years old, as of today! That really blows my mind. I cannot believe that she is half-way to being THREE. I really feel like we literally just had her second birthday party about a month ago, and now we're half-way to another one. In honor of her half birthday, I wanted to "write down" some things that she's up to these days now that she is practically grown ;-)

At two and a half years old, Aubrey...

...Is potty training! We've been working on it all week, and she is really doing great! We're still figuring out the best way to go about it, so I'll post more details when we have it all figured out. (What am I saying? We'll never have it all figured out!) :-)...Is super attached to her "baby Belle." You'll notice the doll in most of these pictures. She is a little Belle doll (from Beauty and the Beast), and Aubrey got her for Christmas. She decided that Belle is her new best friend recently. That doll goes just about everywhere with us. She just LOVES Belle. She tries to "blame" things on Belle, which is so funny to me. Sometimes if I tell her to do something that she doesn't want to do, she will say, "But Belle doesn't want to." Ha! Of course she doesn't get away with that ;-) ...Still sleeps in her crib. She climbed out of her crib once several months ago, and I thought for sure that the crib days were drawing to a close. She hasn't climbed out since, though, and I'm SO thankful. Mommy just isn't ready for that transition just yet! She sleeps great, but she has been waking up earlier and earlier lately. She usually gets about 12 hours of sleep a day, including her nap. ...Has strong opinions about what she likes to eat. She can usually tell me exactly what she is "in the mood for" for a meal. Sometimes I let her pick what she wants (like for breakfast or lunch), but other times she just has to eat what I give her. Or NOT eat it, as is usually the case ;-) In the nursery at church, they get a little snack, and they sometimes give them little gummy snacks. Aubrey loves those things and begs for "yummies" all the time. I got her some little fruit chews for special treats to have at home, and she thinks that is just awesome. Her favorite thing to drink is "yemonade" (lemonade). ...Talks non-stop. We have real conversations now, and I just love that. I think it's so fun that she has a mind of her of own now and can express her own opinions. She doesn't just repeat phrases that she's heard us say; she comes up with things all on her own now, and it's HILARIOUS. I told David the other day that I really feel like she is my little companion now. I've always enjoyed her company since the day she was born, but it feels more like I have a little buddy here with me everyday (as opposed to a baby who doesn't provide a whole lot of [verbal] feedback). It's so fun!...Knows her colors. She gets blue and green confused sometimes, but she is very good at identifying colors. Of course her absolute favorite color in PINK. She tells me frequently, "Mommy, I love pink." She also loves purple and red :-)...Loves to point out when things "match." If we both have on blue jeans, she will put her leg up to mine and say, "Look! They match!" She will do the same thing if we're wearing the same color. If we're both barefoot, she will put her foot next to mine and say, "We both have 'naken' (naked) feet!"...Enjoys reading books. She loves it when we read to her, and she picks out which book she wants us to read to her before nap and bedtime. She has little names for her books, and she can recite pages from memory on her favorite books that we read the most often. I'm so glad she enjoys books and hope she always loves to read. ...Loves playing with her Legos! She will sit and build "towers" with her Legos for the longest time. I love them, too, because they are a nice quiet toy ;-) She builds "arks" for us, and she usually does some kind of pattern with the colors. She's quite artistic with her Legos. Ha! ...Reminds me to pray and thank God for her food if I forget. I love this. She will also randomly thank God for things. I love to hear her talk to God. I pray that the Lord is working in her heart even now to draw her to Himself. I hope that she loves the Lord more than anything and never remembers a day when she didn't love and talk to Him about everything. This is our greatest prayer and hope for our children. There is nothing I want more than to know that my children are His.

This little list really doesn't even scratch the surface about how funny and cute and smart we think Aubrey is. She and Jude are the apples of our eyes, and we think everything they do is spectacular. (Except the temper tantrums and disobedience of course! ;-) Second only to my salvation, Aubrey really is one of the biggest blessings in my life (along with David and Jude), and I am humbled and blessed to call her my daughter! Happy HALF birthday, sweet Aubrey! I love you so much! :-)

Random Ramblings

-Yesterday was a fun day! Ashley was in town for a quick trip, and, since Sarah Denley is currently on bedrest, we met at her house for lunch. It was so fun and especially exciting, because Ashley announced that they got a referral that morning! That means they have a sweet baby boy waiting for them in Korea! We were so thrilled for them, and it was exciting to hear the news in person and "hot off the press." Fun fact: their baby boy and Jude are almost exactly the same age! :-) Anyway, we were joking yesterday about how every time Ashley comes to town, there is "baby news." Last time she was here, SD announced that she was pregnant with baby Graves, and this time Ashley had the baby news. I told David that the pressure is on for me to have some kind of baby announcement the next time Ashley comes. He said she better not be coming for a while then. Ha! I'm sure I'll wear him down eventually ;-) Haha!

-Today has been rainy and overcast, which is actually my favorite kind of weather. Except when there are tornado watches. Which there are tonight. Ughh. I hate spring in the South, because I can't even enjoy a good rainy day without worrying about dang tornadoes!

-Jude has been sleeping pretty good in his bed. He's been waking up at 3:20 the past few nights, though. It's a little tricky to get him back to sleep. That's still an improvement over how he was sleeping in our room. He was waking up several times a night then, and I was feeding him at least once. I haven't been feeding him until the early morning lately. Naps are still hit or miss, but they are MUCH more frequent than they were a month ago, so I'm trying to remain positive. I've learned that if Jude doesn't get his morning nap, I might as well hang it up for the day. That's tough, because if we do anything (lunch, errands, Bible Study, park), he will almost definitely not get a morning nap. Today we went to Bible Study, and he doesn't really nap in the nursery. He got a little catnap in his seat because we ran to Kroger afterward. I've pretty much spent the entire rest of the afternoon trying to get him to nap. I've tried letting him cry, rocking him, walking around with him, nursing him, and just letting him sit in my lap. He just finally went to sleep a few minutes ago, and I bet he'll be up in 20 minutes. It's frustrating, because he is SO exhausted he can barely hold his eyes open, but he just won't give it up when he gets overtired. Poor guy. Anyway, the sleep situation is definitely not perfect around here, but it's much improved.

-Aubrey makes me laugh so much these days. She is so vocal, and she's LOUD. We were in Target the other day, and a mother and a little girl walked by us. The little girl was wearing a cute little outfit and soccer cleats. Aubrey asked me VERY loudly why "that girl" was wearing boy shoes? Haha! The mom kind of gave me a dirty look :-/ Aubrey isn't the greatest at sharing. I think this is partly her age, and partly the fact that she doesn't really have to share her stuff with anyone at home (yet!). We've really been working with her on sharing, and anytime she does give a toy to Jude or something like that, we make a big deal out of it and tell her how great it is to share. So now, if another child has a toy that she wants, she thinks she can just go grab it and yell, "You need to SHARE!" at the child. Oh boy. So now, we're working on teaching her that SHE needs to share and not worry about other kids. This parenting stuff can be hard! ;-)

-I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in about 2 weeks. It wasn't fun. And I had to go by myself because Rebekkah is out of town, so that made it even worse. I need to crack down though, because we're going to the beach in a couple of months!! I'm SO excited about it! We're going with the Arants and taking all the kids, so that should be an adventure! I can't wait to see how the kids like the beach. Anyway, my goal is to be at least presentable in a bathing suit by the time we go. It's funny the way your goals change after having kids. I don't even expect to look good; I just don't want to look gross. Haha :)

-I guess I should go try to do at least one productive thing today before Jude wakes up. Happy Tuesday!

PS - So much for doing something productive. Jude was awake before I could even publish this post. Oh well!

Talking and Talking

I think Aubrey has officially entered the stage where she is going to start saying things that embarrass me to death. She just says whatever pops into her head, and she says everything loudly. We were in Target tonight, and there was a lady in a wheel chair. A teenage looking boy was pushing her around, and Aubrey remarked (in a very loud voice, of course), "Mommy, look at that little boy in that big stroller!" We saw them again later, and she said, "There's that little boy (it was a woman) in that big stroller again, Mommy!" I tried to hustle her in the opposite direction every time I saw them coming after that. Haha!

When we were in the car tonight, Jude was blowing raspberries in his car seat. Aubrey was very concerned about the fact that he was spitting. She kept telling him in the bossiest tone you can imagine, "Stop spitting, Jude!" Or, "Stop spitting right now! You can only spit outside, Jude!!" (She knows that from experience!)

I told her to give me a kiss today, and she said that she couldn't kiss me on the lips because she was sick and had germs. I said I thought she was well. She said she had a cough, and I reminded her that she hadn't been coughing lately. Oddly enough, right about then, she was seized by a (fake) coughing spell. Ha!

And finally, who knew a crib could be such a danger zone!? The poor girl "hurts" herself constantly while she is in her crib "trying to go to sleep" for her nap. It's just the strangest thing. She calls me up there about every 30 seconds to kiss her forehead, her hand, her leg, etc. I think someone is becoming a little expert on stalling naptime! ;)

Aubrey keeps me laughing, for sure. She's got plenty of personality, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Aubrey-isms

Aubrey is as funny and cute as ever! She keeps me laughing everyday, for sure. Here are a few cute things she had said and done lately:

-David started this thing where every time he would change Aubrey's diaper, he would say, "Hello, clean diaper!" when he got the new diaper out and put it on her. Now, she thinks diapers are called "hello clean diapers." She uses it as a title rather than a greeting. Ha! When I get her out of the bath, she is quick to tell me that she needs a "hello clean diaper!" She offers to get a "hello clean diaper" for Jude frequently. The funniest is when she is being whiny about getting her diaper changed, and she says in the most pitiful, sad voice you can imagine, "I don't want a hello clean diaper." TOO hilarious!

-Aubrey is very opinionated. It's rare that that girl doesn't have an opinion about something, especially clothes. It seems like she never wants to wear what I consider to be her cutest clothes. Of course, I'm not letting my two year old completely control her wardrobe at this point, so I do make her wear her cute clothes ;) Yesterday, she decided to get opinionated about my clothes too. I put a thick, comfy sweater on to go run errands, and Aubrey said, "Why you wearing that, Mommy? I don't like it!" Ha! She said that several more times while we were out shopping. Lovely.

-Aubrey does still have a crazy good memory when it comes to clothes. You may remember I blogged about that a while back. I was getting her dressed today in a sweater dress that she had only worn once several weeks ago. The first time she wore it, David was the one picking out her clothes, and he paired it with jeans and her cowboy boots. So today when I was pulling the dress over her head, she asked me where her jeans and boots were. I didn't know what she was talking about at first, but then I remembered. I told her she was wearing it with tights today ;)

-Aubrey loves for things to be in the proper place. She is way more Type A than her mother. Haha! She knows where things go, and she can usually remember where she has left her stuff. Sometimes when Jude spits up on the floor, if I'm in the middle of doing something else, I'll just leave it for a minute and plan to clean it up when I finish what I'm doing. This doesn't work for Aubrey. She wants it cleaned up immediately. She will even clean it up herself if I'll just hand her a paper towel. Ha!

-She has really gotten into talking on the phone. Anytime I'm on the phone, she wants to talk to whoever I'm talking to. Especially if it's David. She will carry on real, lengthy conversations, and it's hilarious to listen to her side of the conversation. I never know what's going to come out of her mouth. She also walks around with my old cell phone deep in conversation with various members of the family.

-She has a great imagination, and I love watching her play and pretend. She talks to her babies and eats and drinks imaginary food and "tea." It's so sweet to watch.

-Aubrey LOVES reading books. She has a few favorites and she can recite pages out of the books that we read most often. One of her favorites is called The Going to Bed Book. There are several different animals in the book who are all getting ready to go to bed. One of the animals is a lion. He is on most of the pages, but there is one pages where the animals are coming down some stairs, and the lion isn't on that page. She asked me where the lion was when we were reading that book the other day, and I told her I didn't know where he was. She said, "He's prolly still upstairs." Ha! I thought that was very logical of her ;)

-Aubrey thrives on routine. When we're getting ready for her nap, she wants to do the exact same things she does before getting ready for bed at night. For example, she wants to turn the lamp on to read a book, even though it's daylight and the lamp really isn't necessary. That lamp is on at night, and she wants it on before her nap, too! And that's fine with me.

-If I need to take a shower while Aubrey is awake, I take her into the bathroom with me and close the door. The other day I was getting ready to get in the shower and I had turned the water on. Aubrey was staring at the running water, and I could tell her little wheels were turning. She asked me, "Is that where Daddy takes him's clothes off and gets in that rain?" Ha! Well, yes. Yes, it is.

-Aubrey is pretty fascinated by the fact that I feed Jude milk from my "tummy." She came up with that, and I don't correct her. Recently, she was walking around with a hair spray top (totally RANDOM) and I noticed that she had it up her shirt. I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was "getting Jude's milk out of her tummy." Oh my. This cracks me up because a.) I have obviously stressed to her that it is JUDE'S milk that comes out of my tummy, and b.) she has clearly seen me pump a few times ;)

I just love watching Aubrey's personality develop. She has a big personality, for sure, and I LOVE it. It's fun to see the ways that she is different and similar to David and me. She is like us in lots of ways, but she is also very much her own person. It will be neat to see Jude's personality develop, too. I can't wait to see if Aubrey and Jude will have a lot in common or if they will be opposites. Either way, we love them both dearly, and being parents to these precious children is SO much fun!

talking

By David Howie

As your infant becomes a toddler, they can learn to talk. Sometimes it's not so great.

And sometimes it's sublime.

(Not sure how it switched to 'eat' at the end.)

This and That

I feel like I really haven't posted much lately. I'm blaming it entirely on this little guy:You know my sweet, easy baby? Yeah, he's recently decided to go a little more high-maintenance on me. I feel guilty even saying that, though, because he still is SUCH a sweet baby. He just likes his Mama and he likes to be HELD. He has definitely reached the age where he knows if he's not being held and he doesn't like it one bit. It's funny to see the differences in Aubrey and Jude's personalities already. Aubrey was pretty high-maintenance as an infant. I'll be honest and say that I pretty much held her constantly for the first 3-4 months of her life. Haha. She really started to get easier and more independent when she was about 4 months old. Jude has been just the opposite. He was a pretty easy infant, and I actually had guilt over the fact that I didn't hold him NEARLY as much much as I held Aubrey as a newborn. Now that he's 4 months old, though, we're making up for it! ;) I'm half kidding - he really likes to be able to see me at all times. Usually I don't have to be holding him as long as he can see me and I'm talking to him. Nap time has been kind of hit or miss with him lately, too. He doesn't really like his pack n play anymore. He loves to sleep in his swing, but I know I'll regret that habit, so I'm trying not to let him sleep in his swing everyday. Some days I just need him to sleep for a few solid hours, and we do resort to the swing. Even though Jude has been more needy lately, I can't stay frustrated with him for long. His smile melts my heart every time, and I'm certainly not going to complain that he loves me! :) It does make it difficult to blog when you've got a baby attached to you, though.

Aubrey is doing great. Everyday with her is an adventure. I just never know what is going to come out of her mouth. She talks constantly. She speaks in 8 and 10 word sentences now. The other day, she said something and I was so impressed that I had to stop and count how many words she had just said. She definitely has a mind of her own. She wants to pick out her own clothes these days. She doesn't like the stuff that Mommy picks out for her to wear. If she is already like that at 2, I can't imagine what she will be wearing at 10! Ha! She thinks she NEEDS everything she lays her eyes on. I hear, "Mommy, I NEED that!" a lot these days. I'm trying to teach her the difference between a want and a need. I don't think she quite gets it ;) She still is just in love with Jude and is sweet to him almost all of the time. Her absolute #1 favorite person in the whole word is my brother, Joel. She thinks he hung the moon and then some. When I tell her I love her, her response is almost always, "I love JOEL!" It's heartwarming, really :/ Anyway, the other day, my family was going through and naming everyone and asking Aubrey if she loved them. She was saying, "No, I love Joel" every time. When they got to Jude, though, she paused, thought for a second, and nodded her head that she did love Jude. Awww. If she isn't going to love her mother, at least she loves her brother. Haha! She's a mess.

We have been doing lots of little projects around our house. We are hosting Thanksgiving lunch over here this year. Before you get too impressed, I'm NOT cooking the turkey ;) Anyway, we've gotten several things done around the house that have been on my list for the past year. We need to host things more often! All that to say, I'll be posting pictures soon. I know I've never even posted pictures of Jude's nursery! That's bad! Nursery and dining room pictures are coming soon :)

I guess that's enough for now. Just wanted to give a little update. Hope everyone is having a fun Thanksgiving week!

Four Month Stats & A Shopping Trip

Jude went to the doctor for his 4 month checkup today. He doesn't actually turn 4 months old until next week, but we went ahead and had his appointment. I'm in shock that my baby is even near 4 months old already! Jude got a great report at the doctor. She said he seems very alert and happy, and we can start rice cereal if we want to. Food from a spoon?! No way is Jude that old! ;) We'll probably wait a while before we start cereal because Aubrey really didn't have much interest in it until she was older. We also found out that Jude is a growing boy! :) Here are his stats:

Weight: 15 lbs, 5 oz (75th percentile)
Height: 25 1/2 in (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 43 cm (75th percentile)

In other words, Jude is a very well-proportioned boy! ;)

After the appointment, I thought it would be a good idea to do a little shopping. We were already out of the house, and it was nowhere near naptime, so I thought it was a good a time as any. We are having pictures made on Friday, and I'm searching for clothes for all of us to wear. Finding something that doesn't make me look 6 months pregnant and 300 pounds is proving to be a challenge. Haha! Our nice little shopping trip wasn't quite as fun as I had hoped.

My normally happy, content little baby was having a meltdown as soon as I parked the car. I was hoping he would settle down when I got the stroller moving. He didn't. I finally came to the conclusion that he must be hungry since he didn't eat very well before we left home. So I had to hightail it to the nearest dressing room to feed Jude. When I got him out of his seat, he had a blowout diaper. Being the unorganized mother that I am, I didn't have a change of clothes for him. Of course. I was able to get him clean enough, though, but he was NOT happy by the time I finished with the diaper. I finally got him calmed down enough to eat, and we were just about to leave the dressing room when I smelled Aubrey. So, I had to stop and change dirty diaper #2 in the dressing room.

I was wishing we had just gone home at this point, but I was hoping things would be ok now. Aubrey decided to take her shoes off, and she dropped one as I was strolling through Belk. I stopped the stroller to pick it up, but before I could grab it, an older lady tripped and about fell over it. Thank GOD she didn't fall, but I felt terrible! She said, "Oh, Honey! That scared me so bad! I thought it was a baby!" I apologized and got out of there :-/

Later, I was paying for something in Old Navy, and just as I had put my card back into my wallet and my wallet into my purse, the cashier informed me that he needed to see my card and ID. WHY do they always wait until you have everything put up before they tell you that?? I dug it back out and held my wallet up for him to see my ID. As I held it over the cash register, a penny dropped out of my wallet and fell into the slot where the receipt prints out. Oops! I apologized profusely, and he and another lady had to practically take the register apart to get my penny out before they could print my receipt. Oh my gosh.

After all that, I still don't even know if I like the stuff I bought for our pictures. I have some options, because my method was to pretty much grab anything that looked like a remote possibility and take it home to decide if it worked. So, that means I have some returns to make. I think I'll be doing that without the children ;)

Conversation with Aubrey

This is a funny conversation that took place in the car on the way home from church today. We were asking Aubrey about her time in the nursery, and who was there, and what she had learned, etc. She told us that several of the kids in her room were "cryin and cryin'." I knew this was the case because I had walked by Aubrey's room after I went to feed Jude and heard them. This is the conversation we had about that:

Aubrey: "Why was everybody cryin', Mommy?"

Me: "I think they just wanted their Mommies, Baby."

Aubrey: "Why, Mommy?"

Me: "Because they missed them."

Aubrey: "Why, Mommy?"

Me: "Well, I guess it's because they just love their Mommies."

Aubrey: "Why, Mommy?"

Me: "Because their Mommies are sweet."

Aubrey: "No."

Me: "Well, why don't you just ask your Daddy then."

Aubrey: "Why was everybody cryin', Daddy?"

David: "Because they're just immature little kids, Aubrey."

Aubrey: "Ok, Daddy."

THE END

25 Awesome Months of Aubrey!

Aubrey is 25 months old today! She is just SO grown up! She talks literally all the time, and she really is ALL toddler now. There is hardly even a trace of baby left in her :-/ It's kind of sad, but I also just LOVE the big girl she is growing into. When I hear her sweet little voice and see all the things she is learning and am able to actually carry on real conversations with her, it's hard to be sad that she is so grown up. I really believe every stage is the BEST when your child is in it! Anyway, in honor of Aubrey's 25 month birthday, here are some cute little "Aubrey-isms."

*Aubrey is SUCH a sweet big sister. She just loves Jude, and it makes me SO happy to see her interact with him. If Jude is crying when we are in the car, Aubrey will tell him over and over,
"It's ok, Jude. Don't cry." When he stops for breath, she gets so excited and says, "Jude's happy now, Mommy!" When he starts crying again she says, "Him sad again." Too sweet!

*Aubrey refers to Jude as "Aubey's boy." Sometimes when he cries, she asks me what's wrong with Aubey's boy. Other times, when I try to pick Jude up, she puts her hand on his stomach and tells me, "That's AUBEY'S boy!" Well, maybe so, but "Aubey's boy" has to eat! Haha.

*Aubrey can count to 10. David and I have no idea where she learned this, because neither one of us taught her, and she doesn't watch TV or DVDs. We're thinking she must have learned it from one of her books, but we can't think of one that we read her that teaches counting. Anyway, someone obviously taught her to count to 10, but she leaves out 4 every single time. So weird!

*Aubrey loves it when we read to her. She has a couple of books that are her favorites, and she can flip through the books herself and says phrases from the story. For example: We have a Bible Story book that she really loves, and one of the stories in the book is Zaccheus. She flips through that story and says, "Where is Jesus?" and "Zaccheus is TOO LITTLE!" Except it sounds like she is saying "Jesus is too little." Uh oh. I always feel the need to break out singing, "My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty..." when she says that. Ha!

*Sometimes I call Aubrey by her first and middle name. When I call her Aubrey Noel, she usually looks at me and says, "No Noel." If I ask her what her name is then, she says very definitely, "AUBEY."

*In the back of one of her books, there is a photograph of a woman who looks like a grandmother holding a little girl in her lap reading this book to her. Aubrey always points to the grandmother-looking lady and says, "Mommy." So, I pointed to the little girl and said, "Aubrey." Aubrey shook her head and told me, "That's NOT Aubey." So now, every time we see that picture, Aubrey immediately tell us that that is NOT Aubrey. But the grandmother is still Mommy. Thanks a lot.

*When we get home from somewhere and are pulling into our driveway, Aubrey usually says, "That's Aubey's house!" The other night we were in the car driving home, and Aubrey asked where Daddy's house was. She then answered her own question by saying, "It's at home."

*David and I decided to really buckle down on getting Aubrey to say "sir" and "mam" when she responds to us or other adults. This is something we really want her to do because we think it's so important to teach her to be respectful. Anyway, David has been way more diligent on correcting her than I have. It's just not something I think about a lot. We don't punish her when she forgets to say it - we just gently correct her by saying, "Yes, sir" or whatever the appropriate response is. She has finally started catching on and saying it without being prompted every time. It is pretty obvious that David has been more diligent about this than me though, because, when I ask her something, her response lately has been, "yes, sir." Except, it sounds more like "Yes SOOO" when she says it ;) I really don't have the heart to correct her!

*Aubrey has been going through a super picky stage lately. I feel like she barely eats anything. I try not to stress too much about it. She does eat; she just doesn't eat as much as I think she should. The other night we were eating out, and we had gotten Aubrey broccoli and fruit as her sides. She ate all the fruit but refused to touch the broccoli. I jokingly told her to dip her broccoli in the fruit juice and then eat it. She proceeded to do just that, and she ate every single bite of her broccoli! She then dipped her hamburger in the fruit juice too, but it didn't work as well - the bite came right back out. Ha! I was just thrilled she ate her veggies!

*She still takes one good nap everyday, and I am so grateful for that! It seems like she is taking longer and longer to fall asleep at night though. She just talks in her bed for the longest time after we put her down. The other night, it was after 11 before she fell asleep! The next day was rough because she was a G-R-U-M-P! Let's hope she doesn't make a habit of that!

I could go on and on about Aubrey because I really think every single thing (well, almost everything) she says and does is adorable. She is just such a JOY and I can't imagine life without her. I love that, not only do I love her dearly because she is my child, I also just genuinely enjoy being around her. She is so fun and precious!

(I have been planning on trying to take some cute pictures of Aubrey and Jude together because it occurred to me the other day that I have NO pictures of both of them smiling and looking at the camera. I was going to do it today, but when we got home from Bible Study and lunch, Aubrey's face was smeared in chocolate from a cookie and Jude was asleep. One of these days I'll get a picture of both of my children, I hope! Anyway, that's also why this post is lacking any pictures.)