End of February...and 13 months!!

New This Week: Aside from taking more and more steps on her own, Aurelia Vail has a few more items on the "new" list...she now thinks that anything with a zippered pocket must have treats in it! She digs in my pockets or even my sweatshirts with zippers! The little smartie pants has figured out that I keep treats in my purse and it has a zipper and every once in a while, I'll stick some treats in my zippered pockets of my vest and coats, so now she thinks everything like that has treats!
We started out the week in Harmony for our dear friend, Mary Scrabeck's funeral. It was a very nice memorial of her life and family. She will be missed...
On Tuesday, Aurelia Vail turned 13 months!! Another month flew by!! Daddy got camara happy with some shots of Aurelia's sleepy do...I'm sure she'll love these when she gets older!

On Wednesday, we were anxiously waiting by the phone to see if Tio Ramon and Auntie D are having a boy or girl... They're having a little GIRL!!! So we are soooo happy for them and can't wait to have a little cousin to play with!
Aurelia has gotten to be so sweet lately, she sometimes just wants to sit on your lap, or she'll grab your face and kiss you, or she just cuddles...kind of like this...
On Friday, we were at Target and got a little silly, trying on hats!
On Saturday, we visited Great Grandpa Doc in his new place and really enjoyed the Open House! He has such a nice place! They even had a little play area for Aurelia to play in...she had a blast!
It was a nice, short week!

We are mobile!!!

New This Week: Walking!! Miss Aurelia Vail Wand is officially a toddler!! And is on the move! Look out world, here she comes!

We started out the week by doing a little light cleaning...starting with the kitchen...it's a good thing I had help!
On Tuesday, we decided to go to the Children's Museum...She was soooo excited to be there, she just loves it there!
She started out in the little crawler's area...

And then moved to the old stomping grounds of ice fishing...

Aurelia even made a little friend...
Then we discovered buttons...
And she had to push EVERY button we could find...
We did a little shopping...
And enjoyed the scenery...
We had so much fun that she just zonked out on the way home!
Wednesday...drumroll please...she's walking!!! Miss Aurelia Vail is walking...she just stood by the couch for a minute and decided to take a few steps...no hesitation! She still needs a person to catch her on the landing, but she's moving!
On Thursday Ari had so much fun in the highchair, singing songs and watching Mommy make lunch...

Mommy had to work on Friday, so Aurelia spent the day at the MOA with Grandma Bena and Grandpa Steve! They did some shopping, lunch, and the rides! Then we all met Tia Bria and Charlie for a nice dinner. It must have been a blast, because she chatted all the way home!
We ended the week with a nice family day on Saturday and then Ari and Mommy headed to Harmony on Sunday, for the night.

Valentine's Day!!

New This Week: Miss Aurelia Vail now "helps" getting dressed! When asked, she will put her hand through the sleeve...and then she's so excited when her hand pops out! She also likes to help do her hair...she knows that she uses the comb for her hair and she even shows me where she wants her barretts to go! She also really (really, really!!!) loves "If You're Happy and You Know It"...she claps her little hands and gets so excited the minute she hears the song! Daddy will just whistle it and she stops whatever she's doing and starts clapping her little chubby hands!

We started off the week with a fun day with Yaya!! Mommy had to work on Monday and Miss Aurelia got to spend the day with Yaya. Here she is making some music!
Those teeth are coming in and Grandma Bena suggested a popsicle to help with the pain...sure did the trick!
I think we may have a little musician on our hands...
On Thursday, we met Mommy's friend, Christie at MOA and had a nice little walk around the mall, people watching! Afterwards, we took a little break and enjoyed an Orange Julius...I hadn't realized this wasn't a first for her...ahem...Grandma Bena!

We celebrated Valentine's Day early, since it was a work weekend for Mommy. Tia Bria came over and spent the evening with Ari Vail, while Mommy and Daddy had a wonderful night on the town!
Aurelia helped Mommy bake over 150 little brownie bites on Saturday, getting ready for a PC fundraiser event on Sunday. I think she liked tasting the "not-so-nice" ones! And as a true little multitasker, here she is playing AND watching Elmo!

This was the view on Sunday morning...gotta love the hair!!!
It was a quick week, but a good one!

February!

New This Week: Aurelia can now point to her eyes and nose, along with her head! She also likes to point to your eyes, nose, and head! She's also getting good at recognizing her hands and feet when we say "where's your hand/feet?", especially when getting her dressed! And most exciting this week...Miss Aurelia Vail took her first steps!!! She is now taking about 3-4 steps on her own, between a solid object and a person...she still is pretty wobbly and prefers to crawl from place to place, but she's getting braver!!

We were a bit bored after her bath on Monday and we just had fun trying on onesies...this one was so funny because it was a 12 month onesie from Uncle Jonjon but her little belly was full of milk that it wouldn't snap!!
This one (from her Tio Ramon and Auntie D in Ft Worth) fit just right and she was being so silly in it!
On Tuesday, Mommy had a day long meeting and so Grandma Bena was over to spend the day with her Aurelia! Here is Ari, showing off her dance and singing moves!
Here is Ari, relaxing in her bouncer, and watching Elmo's World...
Hello, this is Crazy Hair, waiting for her breakfast! I guess she got tired of waiting and decided to check out her choices! She pulled out a can of pop and ricotta cheese...don't worry, I convinced her that that was not quite the breakfast I had in mind! She was quite thirsty after lunch taht she couldn't decide between her milk or water! Of course she didn't want to put her drinks down to eat, so it was quite entertaining to see her try and pick up her food with her mouth! Goofball!
On Saturday, we stopped at our friends' home and Aurelia had fun tormenting their dog...sorry Tofte! It was fun to see Elaine, Georgia, and Josh! Sorry we missed Dick! After our visit, we headed to MOA and had a fun little family afternoon! Ari got so excited when she saw the rides, so we decided to try the little merry-go-round first and she loved it!

But after the little one, she still wanted to get near the BIG merry-go-round! So she and her Daddy had a good time on there...unfortunately it was moving too fast to get a good picture...

Last week in January...

New this week: Well, we are officially off of formula and on to whole milk! She is loving it! And so far, so good! Also new this week, we have eliminated that morning nap. The first day was fine and then after that she seemed like she was missing something around 10...but we got through it and she is sleeping really well in the afternoon! There are still a few times that she'll take a short little nap in the morning, but only if she woke up early or is just having one of those days! The one that is really making an adjustment is Mommy!! Man I love those naps...time to get things done!! Oh well, we're adjusting! Aurelia is better at that than we are!! ha ha! Another new thing that Ari has started doing pretending to talk on the phone! It's really cute, she'll hand me the phone, I'll pretend to talk on it and that the person calling is looking for her. And then I hand it to her and she holds it up to her head (way past her ear!!)! It's really funny to watch her do! She hasn't started "talking" into it yet, but I have a feeling it's coming!

We started out the week with a Dr's visit...her 1 year check up! Ari has only gained about a pound in 3 months! She is now up to 18 pounds, 12 ounces, which puts her in the 14th percentile. The Dr. didn't seem too concerned with her weight, especially now that she's moving around more (a whole lot more!!!). She did grow a couple of inches and is at 28 inches, the 38th percentile and in the 45th percentile for head size. Dr. Golnik was very impressed with all her cognitive and verbal actions, she was quite the little show-off!
When we got home from the clinic, she had MORE birthday presents to open from her Tio Ramon and Auntie D in Texas! She loved her tutu and kept it on the entire night until PJ's, but I do think she's going to be a shoe girl...
She loves clapping when things make her happy (sometimes she claps along with her Happy Dance!!), here she is clapping for Kitty, not sure what he did that made her happy! Maybe it's just that he's Kitty!
And she does love her Elmo...although it kinda looks like Elmo's yelling at her...
Along with her shoes, this girl loves her phones!! She has a couple of different ones, her Elmo one, a musical one, one that looks most like a real cell (V-tech), but her favorite is still one of ours! On Wednesday, she was all about looking at Wuelo's picture and kept picking up the phone, I think she was trying to tell us something and missed her Wuelo!!!
On Thursday, Mommy picked up a dayshift and Miss Ari Vail spent the day with her Daddy... And this is what I came home to, after her bath...looks like Daddy had fun doing her hair!
On Friday, Zac and I both had our annual eye appointment and so we took the afternoon and enjoyed the mall...Aurelia enjoyed her snack!!
It was a work weekend, but for the most part, it was a nice relaxing weekend with our little family!!!

It's Been a Year...

New This Week: Aurelia has started clapping and loves to celebrate her little accomplishments with a nice round of applause! She is also starting to really follow commands...when asked, she'll put Kitty down when we are going upstairs or she takes out her paci and puts Lamby/Turtle in the crib when we are done with diapers after she wakes up. She seems to do it with such pride too! She also does more than her head-shake dance move...she now does a little bounce and shakes her booty, along with her "happy dance" that she does when she's sitting down, very cute! Along with finding her head when we read the 5 Little Monkeys book, she also has found noses! She loves to squeeze them, so look out! She has gotten really good at blowing (now without a little spit!) when we tell her something is hot. And just in time for her 1st Birthday Party, she has nailed down the #1! When we ask her how old she is, she points her little finger.

Well we started off the week (Tia Bria's Birthday!!!) by doing a little shopping with Grandma Bena. Unfortunately, Tia Bria couldn't join us so we celebrated with her in spirit...at the mall! Aurelia showed how she has found and loves the little Merry-go-Round at Southdale. She got soooo excited and just wanted to ride the little boat! She was a good girl afterward and had lunch with Grandma Bena and Mommy, like a big girl! She had such a good time shopping, she just kept at it when we got home!
Here she is, making some music, singing and dancing away!
On Wednesday (Grandpa Steve's birthday...unfortunately he was out of the country) it seems that Ari said her first sentance...Momma and Dada!! We just looked at eachother and asked her to say it again and she did! She said it again in her crib with she was trying to go to sleep...we were pretty proud! I think she was just trying to say Momma and Dada together so she doesn't hurt any feelings! Also, on Wednesday, she began following commands; putting things in the bucket, exp - "put the blocks in the bucket" "put Piggie in the bucket" "put the moracca in the bucket" FREAK'N GENIUS!!! ha ha! Here she is squeezing her buddy, Elmo's nose...
We spent Thursday, getting ready to pick up Wuelo! We were so excited for his visit!
We had a nice relaxing day on Friday (Mommy's birthday), so relaxing we didn't take our daily picture! In the morning we went to Aurelia's 1st hair appointment! That's right, she got her very first haircut! She did soooo good! It was a kids' place so she had a little horse to sit on (very much like the merry-go-round), Shrek on tv, and a very, very great stylist!!!


After her haircut, we went home for some lunch and then headed to MOA for a little shopping and dinner. Then came home to cake and presents! It was a great day!
Saturday was the big day! Aurelia Vail turned 1 at 1156 on the 23rd! We had her party at the Embassy Suites, by our home. It was just a convenient place to have all of our families together!
Watching our guests arrive...
Having some (and sharing) lunch!
Her first juice box with Grandma Bena!
Hanging out with Wuelo!
Having fun with Ashley!
Our guests getting some lunch!

Putting on her "Birthday Princess" crown!
Cake...yum!!!
Opening presents!
Chilling with Connor and Great Grandpa Doc...
And very happy that she had such a great birthday...thank you all!!!!
After our guests left, we went up to Grandma Bena and Grandpa Steve's room and continued the celebration! But first we had a little nap, followed by a dip in the pool! Did NOT go as we thought it would, ha ha! Aurelia wanted nothing to do with the pool. She seemed excited at first but I think it was just too cold for her...so her first pool experience didn't really go very far! But we went back up to the room and opened presents from Tia Bria and Charlie, and had some more dinner and yummy cake that Grandma Bena had made for us. It was a great birthday day for Aurelia Vail!
On Sunday morning, we sadly took Wuelo back to the airport and said our goodbyes. Then we headed to IHOP to celebrate the end of our birthday(s) week! The nice ladies there sang to Tia Bria, Grandpa Steve, Mommy, and Ari! She LOVED the fact that she got ice cream...again!!! It was a nice way to wrap up our birthday week!
More sad news on Sunday evening...when the Vikings lost!!! But here is Ari trying her hardest to tell the Vikes that we need a touchdown!