Love.This.Picture

Jose was reading and Aubri decided to jump on the chair and hug him. She loves asking "What you doing?" Over. And over. And over again.

I was sitting on the other couch across from them and she said, "Mama, picture. Cheese!" I asked if she wanted me to take her picture and she let me know she wanted a picture of her and daddy. I had the camera out in 5 seconds and love the (non pirate eye) pure joy I caught on her face! Can you tell she loves her daddy?

18 weeks

Another week down! I have felt this little baby move a lot more this week. One night Jose and I were watching TV and he had his head on my stomach and felt a tiny kick! I think this baby may end up being much more active than Aubri.

My belly really popped out this week! One morning I just looked down and thought "Whoa! When did that get here?!?" I think I am at the point if people saw me they would assume I was pregnant and not just fat. YES!

WE CAN'T WAIT....2 more weeks until we find what we are having! I'm already trying to think up ideas for a baby boy nursery, or if it is a girl Aubri will get a new room and I'm trying to design that! And of course, once we know if it is a boy or girl we can get serious about deciding on a name.


I have no pregnancy related complaints, aches or pains to report...but have been fighting some annoying bug. For the past week I've had swollen glands in my neck making it verrrrry sore and painful. Swallowing, yawning, moving my neck, all of it hurts! In typical fashion, my body fights back and I get a cold sore out of the deal. This time in my nose. At first I was happy that I got it out of view (those things are gross), but have decided that I'd rather it be on my lip for the world to see, then in my nose causing so much pain.

To add to this discomfort, I take the FDA's, and American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Drugs statement very seriously : "No drug or chemical, whether prescription, over-the-counter or food additive- can be regarded as having been proven entirely free of potential harm to the fetus." So that means no meds for me. Aside from drinking tea with honey and gargling with salt water, I haven't been able to mask the symptoms. WHAAAAA! Ok, I'm pulling it together now. No more whining.

I have got to add that I am very grateful that at least I don't have any pregnancy discomforts to add! Not so much as a little uterine twinge or cramp.

Aubri wanted to get in the picture, but didn't feel like posing.

Potty Training...

Is a piece of cake! Well maybe not that easy, but it sure is getting easier! We have had very few accidents, and Aubri really has the hang of this thing. We bought her a potty watch that sings every 30 minutes. It is her signal to stop what she is doing and we run to the potty. Her reward is jelly beans, and boy have we gone through a lot!

We have kicked the diapers bye-bye, and she now only wears pull-ups and underwear at home. She has not been consistent going #2, but her big prize incentives are helping with that.

I tend to avoid public restrooms at all costs so it has been challenging for me to have to take Aubri every 30 minutes. I had never been to a lot of the restrooms at our favorite stores until this week (Trader Joes, Costco, Target, and more!).

Another inconvenience to potty training is that Aubri wakes up early in the morning (and even once at night) yelling for me to take her potty! I know this is a great thing, and a step to keeping her dry around the clock, but it is messing with my sleep. ;-) I'm realizing that potty training takes a lot of sacrifice on the parents part, and I think part of the reason so many kids are still in diapers at 3 years old is it is easier for parents. My two cents.

She thinks it is funny now to take off streaking. Wait until she sees this picture when she is 13!

Pumpkin Patch

Wow! Avila Barn was all abuzz now that the pumpkins are here. We learned it was a mistake to let Aubri run around the place 3 weeks ago, because this time she tried doing it again. Unfortunately it wasn't empty like our last trip, but filled to the brim with people, and she was so much more comfortable!


Grammy, Nana, Papa, uncle Jasen, Adri and PJ joined us and I think everyone had a great time. My mom kept laughing that Aubri knew the places to pose (though accompanying the pose is the infamous pirate eye!).



As soon as we got there, Aubri ran up to the barrels of pumpkins and picked out her tiny little pumpkin. She carried it around with her until it got in her way I guess.

A few weeks back, even though she loved the animals, she wouldn't get very close. This time she had no fear feeding them, and even got her fingers nibbled a few times.


We took a quick hay ride down to the pumpkin patch and hoped off long enough to take a few pictures. She picked out another pumpkin, but since it was too heavy she got over that pumpkin fast too.



Papa helped her cut it.


That's not a pumpkin I'm smuggling under my shirt! It's the baby bump!

We topped the day off with pumpkin ice cream, and Aubri finally picked another small pumpkin that she wanted!

17 weeks!

I am 17 weeks pregnant! Can't believe it! Less than 3 weeks until our ultrasound appointment...but no closer to settling on a name!

I've been feeling the baby move this week! LOVE IT! I didn't feel Aubri until my 18th week, and even then I wasn't sure. But this time I'm sure it is the baby fluttering and squirming around. I only can feel the movement when I'm very still and lying down (which rarely happens) so it is mostly in the evenings that I get a chance to feel him/her moving around.

The baby is now the size of my hand! I think this is the week he/she can hear sounds so they will soon be able to hear Aubri blowing raspberries on my stomach.

I've gained about 5 pounds total, but fortunately haven't experience the headaches and backaches I had by this time during my last pregnancy(from sitting at my desk at work). Pregnancy is so easy when you aren't working full time!

We have had an exciting week with Aubri- we are potty training! She is doing so well, and we are so proud of her. But it is a lot of work!! After day 1 I was seriously sore from squatting in front of her potty chair, and lifting her up and down. And it is really hard for me to remember to take her when we are out and about. I hate public restrooms no matter what, but keeping a curious 20 month old from touching anything is really really tough.

We have been sitting her on the potty here and there since she was about 9 months, so she has always been pretty comfortable going. For months she tells us she has to go potty, but usually she just wanted to sit there and have us read books. This past weekend though, she seemed to learn how to make herself pee. She kept saying she had to go, and would! We just went with it, and have been so impressed how often she tells us she has to go. We also remind her to go throughout the day and yesterday managed to stay dry from 12:30pm to 9:00 pm!! She has lots of big girl panties but doesn't love wearing them.

What has really helped is the hot weather! I started getting sick a couple of days ago so Aubri and I spent the day at my parents house so I could sleep while they watched her. Aubri ran around outside all day in her swimsuit or panties, drinking water from the hose and stopping to use the potty. We've of course had a few accidents but overall had so much success! Can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up!

Aubriella has decided it is not fair that she isn't in the pictures, so this week she is joining me. Keep in mind this is minutes before bedtime the day I slept and rested allll day at my parents house because I was starting to get sick.

If we didn't' already have a cute Strawberry costume, I would so dress her up as a pirate!

16 weeks

Just realized I never posted about 16 weeks, and 17 weeks is tomorrow! The bad thing is I can't even remember if anything happened that week. Oh well! Pregnancy has been comfortable, easy, and enjoyable.

I have lots of fun pictures to share of this new week, so stay tuned!

Pirate Eye

Aubri finally stays still for pictures, but always makes this pirate eye face! I think she knows she is being funny.

And if she isn't making the pirate eye, she is making her funny face.

Or jumping



This is the most normal I could get! Silly girl!

Fall Bucket List

What do you think? Is this cute or is this cute (don't you love how I give you options?)? I found this little graphic on my new fave blog to follow The Real Housewives of Bucks County.If I remember correctly they found it on Pinterest (I am sooo badly wanting to start using this, but am heading the advice that it is severely addicting and I don't need anything else to take my time). I saved this graphic and had it printed 8x10 on Walmart.com photo. I had plans to frame it and use a white board marker to cross things off, but got too excited and taped it to the fridge.

We are moving right along with our bucket list! So far we have gone apple picking, gone on a hay ride, photo shoot in the leaves (though our leaf pile is a little pathetic), gone on 1 date, made fall cookies (twice!), drank fancy coffee drinks, and yesterday we had a nice family picnic (perfect timing before the rain hit!). We plan on crossing off all the items....though we've had our fill of s'mores and bon fires over the summer so I won't be bummed if we skip that. By the way, since we are on the subject of marshmallows (s'mores=mallows, you following?), I compulsively purchased a pack of pumpkin spice flavored marshmallows. I love all things pumpkin flavored, but forgot I don't love marshmallows. Anyone have any good ideas of how to use them??

I have got to give a little plug for the movie Courageous. Jose and I had a great date night in SLO and got to watch it. I love supporting wholeseome, Godly movies and this gets 2 thumbs up. Of course it is lower budget than most Hollywood movies, so excuse some of the cheesy acting, but the story and message make up for it. I cried, and Jose had "dust in his eyes".

Aubriella turned 20 months a few days ago. I can't believe it! She is really seeming to grow up. She used the potty a few times this weekend, started telling us "wait one minute!" (where in the world did she get that from??), sings her ABCD's (what she calls them) perfectly up to I, then mumbles her way through ellemeno, shouts P and several other correct letters, but mostly just keeps up the tune perfectly after that. She is a character always trying to get her way, and be cute but mischievous. Last week she was a little stinker. One day particularly. We stopped by Jose's work and I considered leaving her and running! But we survived that day, and 3 days later were back to normal (after Jose became handy at plumbing and snaked out the items little Aubri had stuck down the toilet). Yup, she keeps us on our toes, but despite my frustrations, sometimes I can't help but hold in a laugh. Like yesterday when she took a big drink of water in the car and was swishing it around in her mouth. We saw the gleam in her eye, and the pursed up smile, and told her to swallow the water. She shook her head no, continued to gleam, and of course sprayed her water everywhere. That is her new favorite thing. She did it again that night at my parents, and last week it was milk at the restaurant. Lord give me wisdom with this independent little girl!

yup, that is lipstick she decided to put on.