It's been a long week! Aubrey wakes up at least once a night crying. We've tried the nightlight and seems to help a little. She's certainly indicated that she's afraid of the dark as I tried to turn off the nightlight one time when she woke up in the night thinking it was keeping her awake, and she completely freaked out. Now it seems she's afraid of everything. Naps seemed to be getting back on track but the past 2 days she cries at naptime too. Today a small plane went overhead and it was loud, like a helicopter. She had just stopped crying and I was like, 'here she goes again.' and she totally did.....Mark went up there to comfort her and turned up her sound machine to the highest level. I've just moved my computer downstairs to our room so if she's still fighting nap and bedtime tonight and tomorrow then we are going to try putting her in her big girl bed. This computer has been in her big girl room until this afternoon. So we'll see how that goes. Mark and I are both really tired and starting to lose our patience so we were happy that Noni and Papa D let her spend the night last night so we could have a reprieve. I'm sure Mom is napping today after last night! So after a little rest this afternoon I should be refueled to be ready for the week!
As for Mark and I - we went out Fri. night with some friends to see a Neil Diamond cover band called "DiamondBag". It was hilarious. This guy gets on stage in jeans, a long sleeve burnt orange t-shirt and a baseball cap on backwards, plus he looks all of 12 years old. They start singing kind of a hard-rock version of Neil Diamond. We're thinking, 'where's the sequins?' 'Where's the campy band we were hoping to see? It was not what we expected but if you turned your head away from him and watched the basketball game, he sounded just like Neil Diamond. Then you realize how many Neil Diamond songs you really know! We sang Cracklin' Rose, Sweet Caroline (of course!), Rock me gently, rock me slowly. We were having fun. Come to find out the guy is 35 and grew up listening to Neil Diamond because his Dad was a big fan. Hilarious! We didn't stay for the second set but heard that he did come back decked in sequins. He was wearing the burnt orange to celebrate UT's basketball victory. Last night we hosted a shower for the Japaks and Bickelhaupts. It was a really fun group of friends and it's fun welcoming your best friends a step closer toward being parents. We are going to have a busy summer with so many new babies being born! By the beg. of July, we'll be welcoming 6 new babies to the world!

If anyone has any suggestions on what to do when your toddler is suddenly TERRIFIED of her bed (after apparent nightmare episode at 3:30 am on Fri.), please feel free to email me! Aubrey has always been one that goes to bed so easily at naptime and bedtime. We can read her books, dump her in bed with silky and whatever else she has dragged into bed with her, and we don't hear from her again until she wakes up. Now, it's taking us an hour to get her to sleep and she's screaming hysterically. She's also waking up in the morning crying instead of her usual chirpy singing and chattering. Since I'm completely unfamiliar with this behavior, we are kind of at a loss of what to do. I''ve never been a big fan of waiting something out so, even though it's been all of 2 days, I've consulted every book I have, the 2 websites I rely on and I called my sister (who to me -is the genius of parenting!) Naptime today was MUCH better and Mark has bedtime by himself tonight since I'm meeting my girlfriends for our monthly dinner (Dunstan's steakhouse tonight - YUM!). Hopefully we are back on track but I thought I'd see if there was anyone reading this that might have some words of wisdom. We haven't moved her to her big girl room yet, but we were hoping to do that in the next few months..... That has been the big news of the weekend. It's funny how parenting seems to just rock along day to day with no big changes and then BAM! we are hit with this and realize how clueless we really are. Mark is much more patient with listening to her cry it out while I sit by him counting the seconds in my head and biting my fingernails. I'm so thankful we didn't have to do the "ferberizing" when Aubrey was such a small baby. We let her 'cry it out' but it was short enough that even I could stand it.
Today we met Kendall and Jen at McDonald's for lunch. I think Aubrey was a little disappointed that Zemi wasn't there too, which was fine because Kendall was a little disappointed that Mark wasn't there. We pretty much had the play area to ourselves. We could not figure out where everyone was today - there must have been some big sale at Kohl's or something. Anyway.... the girls were loving it. Aubrey came and sat down to eat some fries and Kendall was calling her from the play area, "Come ON Aubrey!!!!" Aubrey totally answers back, ' OK ------------- I'm EATING!" It was hilarious!!!!

I really wish I could carry a video camera around with me all the time. I just laugh so much at what comes out of Aubrey's mouth these days. I hear her singing her version of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in the car...........she talks to her babies about rocking them or having some milk.....she 'reads' her books outloud.....she's just such a character. Unfortuately, looks like she will be a shy one. She's fine with people she is comfortable with, like our family and close friends. She couldn't get enough of Mark's brother Alan when he came to visit last weekend. But, when we are in a bigger crowd of kids, like neighborhood playgroup, she becomes really clingy to me for quite awhile until she warms up and sometimes she never does. Even at the park if there is one other kid on the playground equipment, she's real tentative to just go play. My mom says I was like that as a kid too. Sorry Aubrey! I have to really work at not pushing her into the crowd of kids and let her decide when she's ready to play.
Yesterday she was big into 'helping' me. 'Help me? help me?', she would ask when I was loading up diapers into her changing table cabinet. I did let her help me and she had so much fun shoving the diapers in there. I was proud of myself for leaving them all crammed in there in disarray, but I did have to straighten it this morning - I can't help myself!
Now she's napping and the house is so quiet! I am going to get off the computer and go enjoy it!

Allright... I've caught up... for the most part with my 'to do' list and thought I'd write a fill in on our latest events since I was rambling earlier and didn't feel like adding anything else into my last blog.....
I thought Aubrey knocked out a tooth the other night in the bathtub and I lost it. She fell back in the tub and was pretty much laying down in the water - face up - I didn't panic then but merely said 'uh..oh' and went to pick her up. Then, she slipped again and fell forward onto the side of the bathtub and I swear I saw the 2 front teeth hit the tub. So of course I panic and she sees that panic and starts wailing! I'm just hugging her afraid to look at her face because I'm sure there's blood and some tooth loss or at least a crack....Mark came in and took her because she always wants the other parent when something happens and I just lost it. So there's Mark soaking wet from the baby trying to calm her down and trying to calm down his equally soaking wet wife... No tooth loss.... no cracks... not even any bleeding. Thank God! It was hard calming her down this time since I was still weeping myself. Kids really are in tune with their parents and will get really upset if you are upset. The only other time this has happened was when I fell down the stairs (of course I did!) and I hurt my ankle. I just sat there holding it. I wasn't crying, but it really upset Aubrey. Poor girl...
This weekend she was showing off spelling her name. We would ask her to do it one time and from then on she'd just spout it out, but she'd make sure you were listening. She's really good at yelling your name until you acknowledge whatever it is she is doing.
My favorite today was when we were driving to meet Mark for lunch. We were at Coit and Campbell and Aubrey is yelling, MOMMMY.....MOMMMY!!!!! LOOK!!!! I turn around and I'm like, 'what'? She points and says, 'Target, Mommy, Target'. And after we pass the Super Target she starts yelling, 'YEAH TARGET... YEAH TARGET!!!' She's my girl!!!!

I wrote 2 different posts last night to recap our weekend -some of it relaxing, some of it some intense yard work - but I had issues and it wouldn't post. This is the 2nd time I've tried to post today and am retyping my thoughts word for word ONE MORE TIME and then I quit! Right now, my mind is on completely different thoughts. Let me just begin with the fact that I am speaking out of complete 'ignorance'. I don't watch the Sun. morning political talk shows. I don't even read the paper except for the headlines. I might read the first part of a story, but if it says, 'continued on page 35', then I'm usually out. Basically, I'm a typical SUV driving, toddler tune listening, toddler tv watching mom, so I don't really take the time to stay up on current events. However, I am anxious to see what Pres. Bush has to say tonight. I'm guessing we will be going to war with Iraq soon since I'm sure the ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to leave his country will not be met. Guess it was inevitable, but I was hoping that with so many other countries against it that we would have continued with the inspections and disarmament and then what? Who knows... but I was hoping that it wouldn't be war. I just have an uneasy feeling about it. It's going to be long... and hard....and is our ultimate goal to kill or capture Hussein? Can we do that? So my prayers are with Pres. Bush and the government that they will make the correct decision for the right reasons. God knows they have more information than we do.
And as far as the whole brou-ha-ha with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks and her comment that she was ashamed that Bush was a Texan; I just feel sad for her. I compared it to working for a big corporation. As an employee, you don't always agree with the decisions that are made by upper management. Sometimes you speak out against those decisions in order to create change and sometimes you just 'shut up and row'. Many times (especially for me) it's hard to walk that fine line to determine whether it's a time to speak up or shut up especially when confronted with others' strong opinions (that you find yourself agreeing with). I've made the mistake many times of speaking my mind when I should have just shut up and 'supported' my management team and I had to live with the repercussions. This is so NOT on the same level as bad mouthing your President at a time when solidarity should be shown, but to me it is a similar situation. I just think that in the face of such strong anti-war, anti-American sentiments, Natalie got all caught up in it and said something for complete shock value and now she's paying for it. Will this be the end of the Dixie Chicks? I doubt it. Once we go to war and focus on other issues (give it about a week), people will pull out their cds again or download it from the web if they in fact destroyed their cd. Their music will again be played on the radio; people will go to their concerts for a good time and to escape 'real life, and life will go on. So there you go... there are my 2 cents...take it or leave it....
Pray for our government... pray for President Bush... pray for our country... pray for our troops....Selfishly, I pray that my sister has a safe flight from NY to Dallas and back again this weekend. I also pray that my French neighbors' parents make it to the US safely and are able to return home when they want. I also pray that they are not disrespected while they are here in the US.

Is it only Wednesday? In the past 2 days, I've gone to the zoo, hosted a homemade gourmet party, gone shopping at Stonebriar mall, had the family over for dinner and prepared for another homemade gourmet party for tonight! I'm ready to fall over. I've told a couple of friends that I don't think it's all that fair that you don't sleep all that well when you are pregnant and you aren't supposed to have caffeine! I should at least get one or the other! The weather is gorgeous today and the sun always seems to perk me up, so we'll probably spend a little time in the yard this afternoon. Yea Springtime!
It took me over an hour to go to bed last night once I got in bed. You should have seen it! I had books strewn all over the place. "What to Expect when you are Expecting", "The Baby Whisperer for the Toddler years", "Positive Discipline for Toddlers ages 1 - 3", my preg. journal for Aubrey, my new pregnancy journal, my regular journal. No wonder I can't sleep at night! I've got too much to think about after reading all those books!
We are getting close to the phase of resisting everything! Aubrey will sleep just fine once in bed for naptime, but I'm getting the 'later...nap....later' at naptime. A few tears and then we are reading books, snuggling with the silky and everything is great. So I KNOW what's coming and I've got to bone up on how to be 'kind and firm'..... I'm sure it will be thrown out the window once we really get into it, but you never know and you've got to be prepared! I think we read 4 books when we were pregnant with Aubrey! Now, this time, we are down to just one..... But I SWEAR I will take just as many pictures of our second child as I have of Aubrey!

Ok - so we still haven't watched the movie we rented on Friday night. We went right to bed after I shut down the computer. I did get to sleep in today - yea! so I feel refreshed for the day, but just looked at my calendar for the week and hoping I can muster enough energy to make it through. Courtney, Tom and Madison are in town. It's great to get the girls together because it's a glimpse into what life will be like with 2 kids at this age range. Aubrey is Madison's shadow and Madison is very sweet and patient about it. We gave them a bath last night and I just wished for another girl! Of course it would be awesome to have a boy enter this all girl domain, but having 2 girls would be so fun! Court's always on the go so we have activities planned for the next 2 days while they are here, plus 2 homemade gourmet events.....phew.... I better get to bed to get ready for it!
Aubrey asked Daddy to play 'life' for her this morning.... I taped Bon Jovi at the Super Bowl back in January. They sang, 'It's My Life', which has been her favorite song for quite awhile so she tries to watch the video as much as possible. Mom and Dad are starting to tire of the song and have to tell her 'one more time', whether it's the video or the song in the car. Luckily, in the car, if I change it to 'Matthews....mommy....MATTHEWS (Dave Matthews) or 'chicks' (the Dixie Chicks) she's almost as happy. Every once in awhile we have to mix in the Toddler Tunes of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".........but so far we have a good mix of the songs mommy likes and the ones that Aubrey likes. Thank goodness!

Friday nights - - - not so much what they used to be..... We ate dinner and then headed to the mall to play in the play area because I could not stand just being at home tonight like it was any other night. So, we at least had a fun family outing. I've got to work on setting up babysitters! I used to be able to plan ahead so well, but not anymore!
Today was such a beautiful day. These are the days that make me SO SO happy that I don't work! We ran a few errands this morning and then came home to fix a quick lunch of cheese sandwiches and cheetos. Kind of reminds me of kindergarten! Packed it in a bag, grabbed a blanket and we were off the park for a picnic lunch and some play on the slides. I wish I would've brought my video camera.
Coming home tonight Aubrey was just a chattering in the back seat. Her name is on all her sippy cups so she was pointing her name out to Daddy, specifically 'A'. Mark said, 'well what does that say?' and she said, 'A-U-B-R-E-Y!' Wow. Mark and I were floored! She's said a few of the letters in her name before but never the whole thing. She's so smart! : ) She'll be all confused when she actually starts to learn the ABC's because she'll wonder why B follows A instead of U. But, we'll worry about that later!
Now that Aubrey is off to bed... Mommy and Daddy are going to go watch a movie that I think came out last summer that we never saw.... if I can stay awake.....I'll just say again... Friday nights--- not so much what they used to be!

What a day! 11 week dr. appt. - waited an hour and a half to see the dr., but once we do, she's so awesome. We got to hear the heartbeat and we also got a sonogram! That was exciting because I wasn't expecting it. It was SO amazing. The baby is all of 2 inches big, but you can see the head, the body and 2 tiny legs and 2 tiny arms. This baby was jumping all around doing somersaults. We got some great pictures of it. It was too too cool.
Our other fun part of the day was visiting the new Flower Mound Super Target. YEAH! I LOVE Super Target and could have stayed there all day. I just love new stores with all the inventory and everything so fresh and clean and straightened on the shelf. It really tugs at my obsessive heart to see all the labels straight and facing the same way. Plus it's the first Target I've been to that sells wine and beer since Lewisville is about the only town around here that is still 'dry'. I lingered on that isle for some time just counting the days until I could enjoy a Cabernet at such a great price!
Aubrey was intent on hitting me today and I had about enough of it after bathtime. Most of the time I can get my point across by ignoring her or speaking firmly enough that she understands, But, tonight, I spoke in really harsh tones about standing up in the tub and she must have found that particular voice funny because she was laughing and then hitting me. So, she got a nice smack on her fresh and clean cold wet bottom. Nice. Didn't you read about that in your parenting book how you hit your kid really hard as you are trying to teach them not to hit you? Yeah... Dr. Phil and all the other Dr.'s would have recoiled in horror at that site tonight. First time she got a good smack in her life and she didn't like it at all. It got her attention but don't know that it taught her anything. She was over it soon enough and "helping" me put lotion on her knees and feet. While I was getting her dressed she was looking at a book and pointed out "Santa". Anyone in a book with white hair is Santa these days. I said, 'actually that looks like a grandma'. And as CLEAR AS A BELL, she repeats 'Grandma!' We've been showing her pictures of Mark's mom and dad for months and pointing out Grandma and Pop Pop. She's got Pop Pop down cold, but won't even try to say Grandma. So after she said it, I had a party and probably overpraising her pronouncement, but it really was very exciting and deserved an immediate call to Grandma. There we are with her flaming red bottom and dancing in a cirle with our hands over our head because she was saying Grandma. She got to stay up an extra 15 minutes! Not that she even knew it, but it made me feel better! Now, I'll go downstairs and pull out my Positive Discipline book and re-read that chapter on 'when kids hit'.

We went to a great Mavs game last night - THANKS SHANDA - we sat right behind Mark Cuban's wife on the 2nd row mid court. It was awesome! We also enjoyed some time in the Dr Pepper suite. However, once the players were introduced and they were about to tip off, I had to excuse myself because I felt ill. I was sure it was the jumbo shrimp I ate for dinner. I was sick most of the rest of the evening and forced to watch the game from the suite. Thank goodness for the suite. I was treated to all the club crackers I wanted and I even got an awesome dinner roll. I came out of it and was able to watch the 4th quarter from our spectacular seats and even enjoyed some IHOP on the way home. However, once home was sick the rest of the night so I must have some horrible bug. What a night out!!! I'm feeling better today......so tomorrow will be back to normal.
Aubrey stayed with Noni and Papa D last night - THANKS MOM AND DAD - so it was nice to lay in bed all morning feeling crummy and not have to worry about Aubrey being entertained. They took her to dinner last night and she was chatting it up in the back seat of the car, like she always does. My dad got caught up in some traffic and they hear her yell from the back of the car, all of the sudden, 'C'mon people!' I guess she's ridden with me one too many times! So they were cracking up laughing and when traffic started up again, she's like, 'there ya go, people!'

Here is our first 'journal' entry. We are sending this out to friends and family to give you updates on how we are doing, what we are up to, and all the funny things that Aubrey does and says. We are hoping that everyone else will sign up as well so we can peek in and see what you guys are up to.
Today Aubrey spent the morning with 'Daddy' while 'Mommy' went and spent more money on Creative Memories. But, I SWEAR that I will have Aubrey's 1st year album done, updated the family album and even have time for another album all before summer gets here. I will have to be caught up before baby #2 arrives in Sept. and my life is turned completely upside down once again for a few months or more! For those of you who haven't heard that news yet - well - surprise! I am 11 weeks pregnant and feeling a little more normal this week than I was a few weeks ago. I can sleep through the night again without having to get up at 2 am or 6 am to eat a banana. But, my dreams are crazy, so if I look at some of you a little weird, I'm remembering some crazy dream that you were in. I have to admit that I have completely lost my mind and worry about this new baby coming into my life. My mom and I were talking about how when I'm in the shower I can't remember whether I've washed my hair already so God knows what's in it or not in it when I get out of the shower. I'm sure that it will get worse as time ticks away.
Aubrey NEVER stops talking. She loves to sing.... dance.... and tell you everything she sees in the car. I love hearing her little voice go on.. and on... and on... I really never tire of it unless she is supposed to be napping and I've been listening to her jump up and down in the bed and carrying on for an hour! There are times when it's nicer when it's just QUIET! Wow! I'm getting old. I love quiet during nap time. I don't even turn on the tv until Dr. Phil comes on at 3. And, then, it's only on above a whisper. Sometimes, it's even hard to hear him over the potato chips I'm crunching!
I'm hoping to post a note a couple of times a week so you can get a glimpse into our life and maybe we'll feel more connected so be sure to add this journal to your 'favorites' and check in from time to time. I stole this idea from Jennifer Zemler and Kris Murphy. I learned about it about 2 hours ago and I've already jumped on the bandwagon. We try to catch up with so many of you at least weekly (or sometimes YEARLY!) but you tend to gloss over everything you've been up to when you are on the phone and you miss out on some really good stories. So, with this, I hope that you feel a part of our simple but wonderful life. I love you all!!!!