Will I Ever Get Caught Up?

Memorial day weekend was amazing. We went to the Kings River with a large group of people. It started out as the Stoops (Ryan’s Aunt and Uncle) and a few of their rafting buddies and their families. Then everyone started inviting other friends and family over the years (us included) and the group has grown from 30-40 people the first 3 years we went to this year it was close to 70. That was a little bit much in my opinion; it felt really disjointed and I didn’t get to spend as much time with everyone I wanted to since we were so spread out. And there were a lot of people we didn’t know. BUT we had our own little baby brigade going, and that was awesome.

We had Aurora, then there was Laura & Marshall’s baby girl Hazel (who is 3 days younger than Aurora), and Marshall’s brother Marco & his wife Destiny with their son Cullen. We spent most of our time trying to keep them clean “enough” and keep them out of trouble, which is easy to find when you are camping. Hazel and Aurora finally got to meet each other which was great, since Laura and I had gotten so close over email the last 2 years as we were pregnant with the girls, delivered them and then this year leading up to the weekend. We threw them a mini bday party even though their 1yr old birthdays had already happened and both of us had thrown parties in our own hometowns for them.

Aurora didn’t eat enough, got too many snacks and junk food, but hey, that’s what special occasions are for right? Thanks daddy for her first Oreo, which she is now OBSESSED with.

Speaking of obsessions, Aurora is obsessed with any kind of water play. Im so glad that summer is near, and it will be hot enough for her to play out on our patio in the wonderful water table that Ashley’s mom got for her birthday. Its nice too cause I can watch her while in the kitchen cooking or cleaning and she can play out there. Still have yet to check out the kiddie pool in our complex but looking forward to it.

On to teeth; the other top middle tooth broke weeks ago, and the other side tooth is ready to break. Which sucks cause when she is teething she is restless and whines a lot at night. She gets a runny nose then a bad cough with it, and needs her pacifier all the time. Cant wait till those crazy molars break through (NOT) which I have heard are beasts. But we are brushing her teeth now, although I have to say its hard to remember to brush her teeth before putting her to bed cause it just has not been part of the routine. Im an old dog and its hard to learn new tricks! Lol. She doesn’t mind too much; just gets really frustrated for the 15 seconds I make her let me brush her teeth then is fine after I hand it over to her. She LOVES the vibration of the electronic toothbrush on her mouth.

Her communication abilities are pretty amazing now. She totally understands what we say, and can follow simple directions, loves helping. Every morning she enjoys taking her diaper and opening the diaper pail and putting her diaper in then closing it. Last night she was helping me pluck grapes off its vine and putting them in Tupperware. When she got bored with that she started feeding them to me one by one. Which actually was a faster process cause I could pluck them way faster than she could feed them to me. This morning she didn’t drink all of her bottle and I always reoffer her her bottle to make sure she isn’t just taking a break . So I asked her “Are you all done with your bottle? Do you want any more?” And she shook her head. But then a few minutes later she was dressed, time to go down stairs and I again offered her the bottle but this time the question was “Can you hold the bottle for Mommy while we walk down the stairs?” and she totally took it and held it. So shes not just interpreting the gestures and inferring the rest; because the gesture was the same, but the only thing different was the words, and she reacted differently.

She’s also walking all over the place now that she came back from camping, where everything was uneven and off road terrain. Back her with flat carpets and unmoving things on it, she can really book it! Its fun to have her run back and forth between two people.

She is using her fork better still needs help stabbing food. We got her her very own spoon and fork from Crate & Barrel. They are so cute! She loves them, even when shes not eating.

Here is the tired part though; she won’t sit still for 2 seconds!!! When she is awake, she is going non stop, and you better be ready to run after her. It’s exhausting and I don’t know how she has the energy to keep it up all day; its not like she eats enough to expend that much. She wont even sit still to watch tv. Other kids are mesmerized by tv shows and movies, but not her. She could care less and they don’t hold her attention for longer than a large bang sound.

So those are the updates on her. Im still trying to get caught up from the weekend at the river. Its tough! Finally downloaded all the photos and videos, but have not yet uploaded them all to my sites (FB, Picasa, etc). The house is a wreck and desperately needs a cleaning and this weekend we will be gone all weekend; Saturday we are celebrating my brother’s birthday at my Mom’s house, and on Sunday we get to see Venissa’s new baby girl Addison, who was born on May 31st. But, as a “seasoned mom” now, I realize that a clean house and getting all your chores done and your to-do-list under 30 items is WAY over rated.