Texas, here we come!

New This Week: Aurelia has discovered that you can watch TV in the car!! Our trip to Texas began this week and we introduced the portable DVD player with Elmo...so 15+ hours of ELMO!!!!
Baby #2 is busy moving amniotic fluid through its nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in the lungs begin to develop. Its legs are growing longer than its arms now, and it can move all of its joints and limbs. Although the eyelids are still fused shut, Baby can sense light. Baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple)!

Aurelia started out the week in her PJs, as we were busy doing laundry and packing; getting ready for our trip!
We found some time on Tuesday to make it to the park and enjoy the beautiful weather!!

We began our car ride to Ft Worth on Thursday! As soon as the DVD player came on, we had a little zombie on our hands!
At some point we had to seperate the girls, as Ari liked to tease Frida and Frida wasn't having it...
We were happy to see the little neck pillows worked out great! Poor little pumpkin!

We were lucky enough to stay over at Trevor's in Kansas City and get some rest...so we were all in a better mood in the morning to continue our road trip!
Frida had no problem getting the hang of just falling asleep!
Here she is enjoying a little "num-num" aka. a milkshake!
Just about there, but of course we squeezed in another episode of Elmo's World!!

16 months!

New This Week: We have noticed that Aurelia can now fill in the blanks when we're reading books to her! She loves Good Night Moon and will do the "shhh" sound when we get to the old lady whispering hush. In her I Love You Through and Through, she does the some of the words, like "mad". As well as some of her other little books that she likes to read over and over...and over and over! haha! She has added to her animal sounds again and can now roar like a bear and hiss like a snake (with a little lisp!).
Baby #2 can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck its thumb. Thanks to brain impulses, the facial muscles are getting a workout as the tiny features form one expression after another. From head to bottom, Baby measures 3 1/2 inches -- about the size of a lemon -- and weighs 1 1/2 ounces.

On Monday, we had a nice little picnic outside with Monkey...


We went to the MN Zoo with the Lunds on Tuesday. The girls had a blast at the little splash pad! It was so much spending the day with Ella and Riley!!

I introduced Aurelia to sweet and sour sauce and she LOVED it! I don't know if it was the actual sauce or just the "dip-dip" that she liked! Either way, I think she had fun!

We had a playdate with Miss Sarah on Thursday. It was fun to watch Ari be sooo comfortable playing in someone else's home! Poor Sarah had to really share!
Friday was such a nice day out that we enjoyed an ice cream cone out on the back steps.

Ari Vail also got to see both her Tia Bria and Auntie Chelsea in the afternoon! She was such a goof when she woke up from her nap, she didn't know what to do!
Mommy had a Pampered Chef show on Saturday, so Aurelia had some Auntie Chelsea time, showing her her toys and what a good little shopper she is!
Sunday marked Aurelia Vail's 16 months! Time is just flying by!

May...

New This Week: We had our first weekend away! It went way better than Mommy had thought it would! We sure missed our little peanut, but it looked like we all had a nice weekend. The other new thing this week is that Aurelia can act like a bunny by pretending to chew and shake her head!
Baby #2's ears are now developed enough that it can hear when we sing or talk, and the kidneys are making urine. Fingerprints have formed on Baby's tiny fingertips, the veins and organs are clearly visible through the still-thin skin, and its body is starting to catch up with its head -- which makes up just a third of the tiny body size now. Baby is almost 3 inches long, almost the size of a peach!
We had a typical start to our week, so typical, we forgot to take pictures on Monday and Tuesday!!
On Wednesday, Auntie Chelsea and Trevor spent the day with Aurelia at the Mall of America! They went to Build-a-Bear and rode some of the rides! It looked like they had a great time!








On Thursday, we had a playdate with Aston and Kingsley...it was sooo much fun to watch Ari and AJ play! And little Kingsley is too cute!









After our playdate, we headed to Harmony. This was the beginning of Mommy and Daddy's first weekend away.
We left on Friday afternoon to Amana, IA and Aurelia stayed with Grandma Bena and got to spend some time with Yaya on Sunday. It was a really fun and restful weekend. And it looks like Ari Vail didn't miss us at all!!

Mother's Day

New This Week: Aurelia can now tell us "no", oh and "yes" too! She's very good at nodding and shaking her head!
We are at the end of the 1st trimester this week! From crown to rump, Baby is just over two inches long, about the size of a plum and weighs half an ounce. Most of the systems have now developed. Reflexes are the big thing this week too, Baby's fingers will now be able to open and close, toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and the little mouth can now make sucking movements.

We started out the week with Mommy working an earlier shift on Monday.
We enjoyed the beautiful weather outside on Tuesday with some time at the park.


Tuesday also marked our 12th week with Baby #2! The first trimester has definately flown by!
We couldn't figure out what to wear on Wednesday so we opted for a diaper for the morning part...I think she liked it; more bonding time with her bebo! haha!

We also had our 12 week visit with the Dr today. The Dr was very happy with how Baby is progressing.
On Thursday, we had a completly relaxing day...
Friday morning we got up and decided to make brownies...although I'm pretty sure we were missing some fudge at the end! Either way I had quite the little stirrer to help me out!



Friday afternoon we picked up Zach and Nicki and enjoyed a fun time at Underwater World!


On Saturday, we celebrated Mother's Day with Yaya, Papa, and Auntie Chelsea at Buca's, downtown. It was really nice to see them!
We celebrated Mother's Day with Grandma Bena at Stella's in Uptown. Grandpa and Uncle JonJon came up too and it was a very nice day.

End of April...

New This Week: Aurelia is adding to her vocabulary every day and her two new favorite words are "cookoo" aka cookie and "cracker", which, surprisingly are VERY clear!
Baby #2 is now about 1.5 inches long and can now open and close it's little bity hands!

We started out the week with Aurelia's 15 month check up. She now weighs 20 pounds and 6 ounces, which puts her at the 14th percentile. And she's 30.5 inches tall (52nd percentile).
Tuesday was a typical day at home, here she is enjoying her lunch...

On Friday we went to the zoo. The kids had fun getting to touch all the baby animals!



On Friday, Daddy had to be away for the night to work the next day with Papa, so we had a "girl's night", with all the fun stuff; pizza and ice cream!!!
This was the first weekend in a loooong time that we didn't have anything planned or any place that we needed to be! It was soooo nice to just have some family time!