Three Years Old!

Sadly, I am almost 2 months late on this post, but hey, better late than never right? We have been very busy around here & it's time to document what Aubrey is up to at 3 years old! She turned 3 on July 7th & I can't believe she is growing up so fast! She is a complete joy & make mine & Nathan's lives 10000000000x better!!! So, here is what Aubs is up to at 3 years old!

• Goes to bed between 8:00 & 8:30. During the week, we wake her up at 7:30 for school. On the weekends, she will often sleep until 9-10.
  
• Loves to eat! Some of her favorites include: chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, fruit snacks, any kind of bread, cheese, crackers, hot dogs, strawberries, apples, grapes, broccoli, pizza, & much more. She is NOT a picky eater at all!
  
• Favorite drinks are chocolate milk, Capri Sun (she calls it Sun Juice), sweet tea, & apple juice. She enjoys the occasional sip of coke too (eww ;)).
  
• Talks NON STOP. Seriously. And the things she says.... she is hilarious!
• Smartie Pants :) She can spell her name, tell you her full name, count to 30, count to 10 in Spanish, knows her birthday, knows a lot of colors in Spanish & other random words (up, down, open, close, witch (lol), hello, bye, etc), learning how to write her name, & just completely amazes me more & more every day!
• Is very good at critical thinking. The other day she wanted to use our Swiffer mop. She wanted a sweeper thing to put on it & I told her they were all gone. She walks away & comes back a minute later with a paper towel & says here mom, this is the same size, we can just use this, LOL.
  
• Has a very big imagination. She loves to play with her Little People toys & will just make up little stories for them allll day long!
• Also loves to read & be read to!
• Started "real" Preschool on August 15th :)
  
• Weighs 24 lbs & is 34.5 inches tall. 10th percentile for height, not on the charts for weight.
• Stillllllll battling constant strep infections. Hoping ONE day we get to the bottom of that. She's had it 9 times since the end of January. Anytime she stops an antibiotic, she has strep again within a week :(
• I asked her today her favorites & this is what she told me. Favorite color: Green. Favorite food: Bananas Favorite Number: 1
• Her favorite color usually changes with what color outfit she has on ;)
  

Overall, Aubs is the best thing that has ever happened to us & we are so thankful & blessed!! She is our little dream come true!!!!

Aubrey Quotes

Aubrey is at such a fun age. I honestly wish I could just record her 24-7 (except maybe when she's being bad ;) Which luckily is rare. She is a very good kid!). She constantly has us cracking up at the things she says or does! Here are a few recent things that I wanted to write down so I can remember one day!

• Nathan took Aubrey with him to Lowes this weekend. They were walking through the garden department & a sprinkler was going. Aubs got very serious and said LISTEN DAD. It's a SNAKE! Nathan tried to explain to her that it wasn't a snake, but a sprinkler. She refused to believe that. She kept insisting that it was a snake because it was saying ssss ssss ssss. Nathan said several people were giggling over this situation :)
• We built a flower bed this weekend in our front yard. It was getting close to Aubrey's naptime & I told her we were about to have to go in for naptime. She said I want to nap out here, in my NEW bed, my FLOWER BED. ;)
• Whenever you ask Aubrey why Mommy goes to work, she replies "to make money to buy me new clothes!"
• This morning Aubrey wanted to watch a show that I am not a fan of. I told her no & she said "But MOM, it's COOL!". Umm yes, she's 2, not 13!!
• One day Nathan hadn't shaved. Aubs felt his face & said Eww, Dad, your face is dirty!

I know there are more stories that I'm forgetting! She is just so funny & smart! She definitely has my attitude haha!! Not sure if that's a good thing or not ;) As usual, she's getting over being sick. She had strep throat AGAIN. O-M-G. That makes January, February, March, & April that she's had it!! EVERY month since she had her tonsils out in December!! Not a happy momma! She also got Strep while on an antibiotic for a sinus infection. So now we think she's immune to another antibiotic =\ Her doctor put her on a new antibiotic that she's never had before. Hopefully we won't deal with strep anymore this year!!! We've had ENOUGH!

I can't believe it's May! Time just fliesssssssss by! I'll have a 3 year old before I know it!

Aubs These Days :)

I feel like I haven't done a "What Aubs Is Doing Now" post lately, so here we go. It will be very random, as I try to think about allllllll the things she does now. She is one busy little girl!!

• She can count to 20 in English, 10 in Spanish
• She can spell her name & will tell you her name is "Aubrey Claire Williams" which actually sounds like "Aubee Cware Will-lems"
• She can tell you how old she is when you ask her. Also, if you ask her what her favorite number is, she says "2". I think another favorite number is "28" though. She will randomly say this number often. Example: I asked Nathan what time it was, Aubs said "It's 28".
  
• Despite her little size & lack of growth, the kid LOVES to eat! Some of her favorites are chicken nuggets, cheese, popsicles, ice cream, Dora snacks, poptarts, cookie cereal, & definitely candy (wonder where she gets that from?? :) )
• She calls every place ___ house. Examples: Chick Fil A= Chicken House & Play House (lol she really says it just like that as we drive by... hey mommy, that's the chicken house AND the play house!). School= School house. My work= Marilyn, Cassidi, & Shelly's house (girls I work with. I guess she thinks they live there lol). Cici's= Pizza house. The list goes on & on. It's too cute!
• She mostly calls us Mommy & Daddy, but has been shortening it to Mom & Dad some lately. It's kinda sad, lol It makes her seem a lot older!
• She talks NON STOP. She asks 10 million questions a day, usually the same question repeatedly. I try to remind myself that she is inquisitive & learning... when I really want to just strangle her sometimes ;) It really is funny to think back to before she had her 1st set of tubes & I was soooo worried that she only said 3 words. Oh to go back to those days sometimes... ;)
  
• She has been paci free since Valentine's Day!! This was a huge deal in our house! It actually went a LOT easier than I thought it would! She was watching Dora (as usual) on Vday night & it flashed back to the past... one of the characters, Benny, was a baby & had a paci. Aubs thought this was so funny. I said oh my goodness Aubrey, Swiper (another character lol) swiped your paci & gave it to Baby Benny! She loved the idea & I quickly turned around & said DITCH THE PACI to Nathan! She will now tell you if you ask what happened to her paci that Baby Benny has it. :)
  
• Sometimes I ask Aubs what her favorites are. Here are her recent answers. Food: Chocolate (haha!), Number: 2, Color: Pink
• She is obsessed with Dora the Explorer. I don't mind it since she actually learns from it. She also has recently started liking "Wugwats" aka Rugrats :) I loved that show when I was younger too.
  
• She has known all of her shapes & colors for quite a while now.
  
• We let her start staying up a little later in the past month or so. She now goes to bed between 8-8:30. During the week, I wake her up at 7:30 to get ready for school. On the weekends she will usually sleep until at least 8.
  
• She loves playing outside. Today she told me "I LUB my swingset Mommy!" :)
• She is full of funny quotes. Some of the most recent ones I can remember:
  

Me: What should Daddy get from the store?
Aubs: Dora Snacks, Crackers, Ice Cream, oh & some Beans. lol So random!

Aubs: Mommy, I'm counting the pickles on your arm! (Pickles= Freckles!)

• Another big milestone in our house, Aubs is officially night time potty trained! She has been daytime trained since October. I am so glad to be done with diapers for a while!!

Well, that's all I can think of for now. She is so much fun & I feel so blessed to be a mommy to such a smart, beautiful, sweet little girl!

As usual, this blog entry wouldn't be complete without a sickie report @@ We were in Texarkana this weekend & I thought Aubs felt warm. I checked her temp and it was 101.6. She seemed to be doing okay. She went to bed that night around 7 & woke up at 5:30am whimpering in her sleep. I got her up & she instantly fell back asleep on me. She was so clammy & kept whining in her sleep :( When she did wake up, she was sooo pitiful. Very lethargic, could barely walk, etc. We rushed back to Hot Springs to take her to the doctor (no pediatricians were open in Texarkana on Sunday). The verdict? Aubs has strep throat, AGAIN!! This is the 3rd time she's had it since having her tonsils & adenoids removed in December. I am sooooo not happy!! It's just insane that she keeps getting it over & over, especially with no tonsils!! She's on another antibiotic & has to go back to the doctor next Tuesday to be rechecked to make sure the antibiotics are actually working or if the strep is just never going away. Hopefully we will get a good report!

Oh and on another medical note, we have an appt scheduled for Aubs at Arkansas Children's Hospital June 8th. She will see the endocrine specialist & hopefully we'll get some answers on why she's not growing. It's not that noticeable to us, but whenever she is around my bff's kids, it becomes VERY obvious. All of my friends kids are bigger or the same size as Aubrey & Aubs is 19 months, 13 months, & 6 months older than them :( Definitely praying about that situation!

Hope everyone has a great week! My doctor is out of town this week for Spring Break, so it should be a nice laid back week at work for me! :)

Tired

I am so TIRED. I feel like I can never get enough sleep. We have been so busy lately. We have been going to Texarkana just about every weekend because I have a lot of people wanting to do pics there. It's fun, but exhausting!!

This weekend we are going back again. I'm doing some pictures & we're also going to Catelyn's 8th birthday party!! I can't believe Catie is going to be 8. She is growing up too fast, along with Aubrey & the rest of my bff's kiddos!!

I am hoping to do some pictures of Aubs soon. I have barely been taking pics of her lately (besides cell phone pics) and that is sooooooo unlike me! We have just been on the go go go!!

I am ready for June ;) My grandma is coming down & I'm taking a week off to spend time with her. We're also having Aubrey's birthday party in June so that my grandma can attend. I loveeee planning birthday parties!! We're going to have it at the same place we had her 1st birthday party. Aubs wants a Dora party this year, so that's what she's going to have. Of course I would rather have a different themed birthday party, but it's HER birthday party, so who am I to tell her no Dora party!? It will be a cute Dora party ;)

I have pictures scheduled for almost every weekend from now until May... so I am one tired, busy, & blessed momma!! :)

Busy!!

As usual, I've been super busy & haven't had time to update. And as usual, I'm going to try my best to be a better blogger!!!! lol We'll see. My goal right now is to blog once a week! I think I can do that!

It seems like every time I update, Aubs is sick. Well, today is no different. I took her to the doctor this am and she has strep throat, again. I also brought up to her doctor that she doesn't seem to have grown any since she turned 2. He pulled up her growth chart on his computer & said Wow, yes, there is a problem there. She has always been little and on her own little growth curve, but she has completely dropped off the charts :( He is referring her to see an endocrine specialist at Arkansas Children's Hospital. He said it will probably be near the summer before they can get her in. He also did some labs on her today, to check her immune system. She could have an immune deficiency which could be why she KEEPS getting sick over & over. Those labs should be back in about 2 weeks. I just pray everything is okay with my sweet little girl!

We have been on the go-go-go lately! I have been super busy doing pictures. I am LOVING it!!! Me & Nathan have been praying very hard lately about some changes we hope will be happening for our family soon. I know if it's meant to be it will happen... it's all in God's hands!

Me & Aubs went to my parents house this weekend & we had a great time! Aubrey just loves her Nana & Papa so much! It makes me so happy to see them together :) I am blessed to have great parents who are also wonderful grandparents!!

This is all for now, I will try try try to be a better blogger!!! :)

Snow Day

As usual, I've been a very bad blogger. I have been so incredibly busy lately. However, today is another "Snow Day", so I am at home with Aubs, who is still sleeping away. I figured now was a good time to get back on track with blogging!

Aubrey is getting so big :) I can't believe she is already 2 & a half. It is like talking to a little adult with her now. She says some of the funniest things & makes us smile every day :) 6 weeks to the day after her surgery, I had to take her to the doctor & found out she had strep throat. I was not a happy momma. I thought having her tonsils out was going to help her not get it as often. Grr. Her doctor also told me her tube in her right ear was not functioning. This really made me not a happy momma. It's been 6 weeks!!!! Anyway, he put her on omnicef for the strep throat. Well, 10 days later, she was still sick. She now had a nasty cough, nasty green/yellow snot, & was wheezing. So, back to the doctor we went. He said she had a very bad sinus infection, which the omnicef should have been treating as well. However, she's been on this antibiotic so many times, her body's bacteria was not responding to the antibiotic anymore. Wonderful. I figured Aubs would start becoming immune to certain antibiotics since she has been on them SO many times. :( He switched her to a different antibiotic and she seems to be getting better now! :) He also said her other tube looked like it wasn't functioning now either. I will be so mad if she has to get ANOTHER set! Oh & my little shrimp weighs 22.4 lbs lol :) Her Valentine's Party is on Monday & I'm looking forward to being there!

Another reason I have been so busy lately is because in January, I launched my photography business, Fancy Photography (www.fancyphotography.org)! It has been so exciting. I absolutely love photography & it is an amazing feeling to be doing something that I truly love! I've had a great response in business in just a month & it has definitely kept me busy! My dream is that one day I can quit my job as a nurse & just be a full time photographer :) My wonderful hubby made my entire website for me. He is very good with that kind of thing! I told him we were the perfect team lol So if any of you are looking for a reasonably priced photographer, you have found one! ;)

Anyway, as usual, I'm going to try to be a better blogger.... we will see how that goes! haha!