over the river and through the wood to grandmother's house we go...

Okay it is a bit further than that, but now we can sing the song to Aubrey. If only I knew more of the words....

Aubrey's first Christmas will be celebrated in Connecticut and we are headed out early in the morning tomorrow. Or really the middle of the night--4am. (bleh, i am not a morning person, but now i am used to getting up in the middle of the night, maybe it will be easier?) Our strategy is to get up before Aubrey's normal waking up time, quickly get dressed, sleep-feed the baby and put her in the car in her pjs without disturbing the sleep too much in the hopes that she will go back to sleep for a few more hours. We are trying this method as suggested by the experienced parenting advice of Daisy my sister in law who has many trips with babies under her belt. This could work really well, giving us about 3-4 hours of sleeping baby driving time, or it could backfire and just give us cranky because you woke me up early baby time.

Aubrey sometimes has a hard time dealing with new places and people, so I hope this trip isn't too stressful for her. Part of me as a mom wants to shield her from everything that makes her upset and cry and the other part of me is like, well, this is life, you have to learn to be flexible. So the two moms in me will compromise and she can take in all the new and scary stuff from the comfort of my arms (better rest now, back, because you have a lot of baby carrying to do!) I am trying not to get my hopes up too much, but it would be so very nice for Aubrey to like being held by her Gramma and Grampa (and aunt and uncle) so that I can get some R and R too!

The day I had been dreading...

Poor little Aubrey has her first cold. And I am sick too--we have our first mommy-daughter illness. Her nose is running and she is very clingy (don't put me down, don't stop walking, don't stop patting my back) and not sleeping well at all, which is the opposite of what I want, I just want to lay in bed and sleep. Saturday night I got a total of less than two hours of sleep between mommy worries (is she breathing okay?) and her fussiness. Last night was much better, we got a humidifier and that seemed to help. Hopefully we are on the mend now because I have a lot to do this week, and then on Saturday we have the big trip to see my family for Christmas. I am just going to have to let a bunch of my "to do" list slide I think. I told my mom I might be bringing "naked" sugar cookies up for Christmas because I might not get around to decorating them!

I'm ready, where are my presents?

All I want for Christmas is...

...my first baby tooth.

Well, I take back what I said yesterday about Aubrey's tooth not popping through the gums for a while--it is here! Sometime last night the sharp little edge poked through. It is just barely coming out, and it is very hard to see, but there is definitely a tooth! I am a little bit sad--my baby has a tooth already--only four and a half months old. Hopefully now it is through the gums we will get back to sleeping at night!

Here are Aubrey and I right before we headed out the door to church. See how dark it is? It has been so cloudy and rainy for so many days in a row--I miss you sunshine!

I am guessing that Aubrey is teething because she has been so cranky and needy lately. She went from sleeping through the night to waking up 5+ times. Yawn--I miss you sleep! Plus throughout the day she wants to be held and wants 100% of my attention on her which is making household chores and getting ready for Christmas very hard! I can feel a little ridge under her gums on the bottom in the front left tooth position, but can't really see anything. I think it will still be a while before anything comes out.

We went to get our Christmas tree on Saturday and decorated it and I got all the presents wrapped and in the mail to our family in Texas and Pennsylvania. Yay! Now I have to figure out when in the world I am going to bake Christmas cookies--it will probably have to wait until the weekend when Bill is here so there is someone else to hold Miss Cranky Pants.

Aubrey is so close to rolling over now, she actually has done it a few times from back to belly on the bed with me but I don't really count that because it was "downhill" toward me laying on the bed. When I put her on her tummy on the floor now she is doing this funny thing where she will plant her face in the ground and suck on the blanket while wiggling her legs and sort of lifting her butt in the air. I told her the next step is for her to do pushups with her arms to lift her front up, but she wants to do it her way! She is very good at rolling onto her side from her back to reach for toys, so it will only be a matter of time. Sitting up is going well too, she has started being able to correct herself if she leans and starts tipping over. She has sat without my steadying her for about a minute at a time so far. Now she almost never wants to be lying down; I think one of her biggest frustrations as a baby is not physically being able to do what she is mentally ready for.

for all my mommy friends....

I have only started browsing through this site, but it seems to have some really fun and unique toys. http://www.oompa.com/ Look how cool this castle is! One feature I like is the section they have of European-made toys--for those who are concerned about the safety of toys from China.

First Snow

an aubrey minute

Aren't I so cute?

Sniff, sniff. Smells good....

mmmm, tastes good too.

And, hey, look, bunny, you match my socks!

THE END

Jumperoo

Not sure why this came out sideways, oops. Well, you can tilt your head to get it. Isn't she cute? :)

A couple pictures and thoughts

Aubrey is enjoying her Christmas present from Bill's parents. Yes, a little early, but I couldn't see waiting to let her use it when she doesn't really know what Christmas is yet. She just learned how to jump up and down in it today, it is so, so very funny. She gets extremely excited, her arms wave around and her eyes get huge and round.

And here is Aubrey all dressed to go Christmas shopping. I figured since it is December it is okay to start dressing her in her Christmas outfits. :)

We have been busily decorating and shopping for Christmas. I really love this time of year, it is so cheery. The hustle and bustle of the malls, the twinkling and sparkling decorations everywhere, the smells of holiday baking all bring me excitement. Last week my bible study enjoyed an interesting conversation about Christmas when we were discussing what we were planning as far as having our kids believe or not believe in Santa. During this conversation I realised how many people in this country are raised to celebrate holidays not really understanding why or what we are celebrating. It is our intention to have Aubrey grow up knowing Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ most importantly, but also that the origin of the Christmas tree came from the missionary St. Boniface and Martin Luther is reported to be the first to decorate it. There is so much rich biblical and historical tradition surrounding this day that go way beyond a man in a red suit jumping down chimneys.