Adilyn Ann

Here she is our beautiful, perfect, calm, independent little girl Adilyn Ann.  She was born on December 3rd, 2013 at 3:35pm after being forced to arrive!  Labor and delivery with Adilyn was vastly different than Aubrey.  I was induced the morning of December 3rd and when that didn't take effect like they had hoped they used pitocin and less than 1 1/2 hours later our sweet baby girl was born.  When they placed her in my arms I remember looking at Adam and we both just went "wow...it's Aubrey!".  She was 8lbs 10 oz and 20.5" long, almost a pound and 1 inch bigger than big sister Aubrey was.  Aubrey handled becoming a bib sister great.  She loves her little sister and helps out whenever she can, especially with putting diapers in the garbage and bottles in the sink.

Almost 5 months later!

So almost 5 months since my last post and wow has a lot happened!!!  Here is a very very quick recap on the last 5 months.  And here is to hoping I can update this more frequently now!

We took Aubrey to her first ever movie theatre movie, Frozen.  She ate a lot, and I mean A LOT of popcorn and was pretty quiet throughout the entire movie.  I'm pretty sure she was completely enamored with it!

Baby Downs was due on November 23rd but that day came and went, so did Thanksgiving, and finally on December 3rd, after being induced...Adilyn Ann made her debut!  Our beautiful little girl was a spitting image of her big sister (more details in another post all about Adilyn!). 

We had an amazing Christmas with both girls.  Sophia the elf on the shelf made her debut at our house and she sure did keep Aubrey busy in the morning searching for her and also kept Aubrey on her best behavior so that Sophia didn't need to report back to Santa!

Santa was very good to everyone this year, especially Miss Aubrey.  Aubrey was very excited to see the new princess Jeep Santa left near the tree for her and even attempted to drive it in the house.

We spent New Year's Eve at home with my parents and it felt like old times when I was a little kid!  Aubrey had so much fun eating the snacks and staying up late (til 10).

Aubrey started 2 1/2 year old preschool at the end of January and to say she loves it would be an understatement.  On her very first day she had no reservations about me leaving, probably cause her buddy Jack was there, but then when I got there to pick her up she informed me that she was not going home! 

We celebrated Adilyn's baptism with our immediate families and had some great food following.  We even had a surprise guest, my Uncle Brent who was home visiting from Arizona. 

I went back to work after maternity leave in early March.......insert super sad face here.  The girls are left each day in loving hands of my mom though so that definitely makes it a little easier to leave.

My peanut

Love this little girl so much....she will always be my little peanut!

From 5 days old to 2 years old!

 

 

Photos copyright of Blush Pictures, LLC

 

Go Pack Go!

This baby sure is lucky!  So far, baby has gotten to travel to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit twice (ok maybe that city isn't too exciting), has gotten to watch two Brewers games from box seats, and now, Monday night football for the Packer game at Lambeau field....1st row! 

We had a great time at the game with Tom and Nicole (and baby Moniz too) even though Aaron Rodgers got hurt and we lost 27-20 to the Bears no less!  The weather was perfect too!

37 weeks...and this mommy is ready for baby to arrive!

Just like mustache grandpa!

Aubrey has quite the sense of a humor for a 2 year old, she even likes to poke fun of Grandpa Downs because of his mustache!  Over Halloween time I bought a package of fake mustaches and she had such a fun time wearing them around and wearing them to show "Mustache Grandpa"!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween this year was so much fun watching Aubrey enjoy the holiday and have a great time with her buddy Jack as they went from house to house getting candy!!

One very beautiful Cinderella and a muscular Spiderman!

 

I even dressed up too, thanks to Grandma Pam for making me the shirt!!!

 

Goodbye hugs!

Pumpkin Time!

We've had our pumpkins picked out for over a week and something always kept getting in our way of getting them carved.  We finally did it!  Aubrey loved getting all the seeds and guts out of her pumpkin, but I think she loved the Cinderella that daddy carved even more!

The Little Farmer

Adam and I took off last Friday to spend some quality time with Aubrey at The Little Farmer.  We always in the past have gone on a weekend when it is extremely busy you and you spend a good chunk of your time there waiting in lines.  Going on a Friday, was so different! There were no lines and a majority of the people there were under 8 years old!  It was a bit chilly but we still had a great time feeding the goats, playing around on the playground, finding our way out of the corn maze, buying some baked goods to take home, and finally enjoying the caramel apples before heading home.

 

The Journey Begins....finally!

We've been out of our house in Oshkosh since mid-April and living with my parents since, patiently waiting for our new home to be started.  Well that day is finally here!  Trust me, it has taken lots of patience but we are so happy to see it starting.  Here are some shots of the basement hole being dug!

Married already???

It really is true that kids say the darndest things.  Here is a conversation that Aubrey had with my mom during the day and then one she had with me right before bed.  Keep in mind, she is 2 years old!

Grandma was working on altering a wedding dress.
Aubrey: I want to grow up and wear a pretty dress and get married.
Grandma: Who are you going to marry?
Aubrey: Daddy
Grandma: But daddy is already married to mommy
Aubrey: I'll marry Jack!

Just before bed after saying goodnight and then kissing my tummy to tell baby goodnight.
Aubrey: Do you want to come live with my friend baby?
Me: Who is your friend you want the baby to live with?
Aubrey: Jack, he's my husband
Then Aubrey giggles and says: I don't think so...I'm just kidding!

Seriously...where does she get this stuff from???

32 Weeks

Time goes so much faster when you're pregnant with your second baby! I remember with Aubrey taking photos every few months of my belly and recording a lot more of how I was feeling.  Now that I have a two year old to chase around after, not so much time to do these things.  This is the first photo I've taken of my belly!  (Ok second, we just did maternity pictures with Blush and I can't wait to see those!).  So here is my belly at 32 weeks.  I decided to put on the exact same outfit I wore on my 32 weeks picture when I was pregnant with Aubrey....I don't look too much different, other than longer hair and not so much weight gain in my face this time.  My bump this time is a little bit smaller but not too much.  Overall this pregnancy has been fairly easy.  Some nauseousness in the first few months but that went away.  My cravings were all over the board, from cheese to burgers to now anything sweet.  I would say the biggest difference I am noticing this time is that it seems like there is less room in there for baby to move around.  Instead of kicks, I feel more pushing out.  Hopefully that doesn't mean a big baby!

What's Cooking?

Recently I pulled out my old kitchen play set from mom and dad's basement and got it all cleaned up for Aubrey to play with.  To say she loves it is putting it lightly.  She spends so much time playing in this kitchen!  Here she is enjoying some cake!  And below is a photo of me at age 3 when Santa gave me that kitchen set, 27 years ago!

Puppy Love

It melts my heart when I see Aubrey cuddling and loving up on the dogs.  I'm so glad we are able to provide her with a house that has pets in it and she can learn the true unconditional love that dogs have.  One of her favorite things to do with the dogs lately is to give them a check up.  She got a vet checkup kit for her birthday so it seems like the dogs are getting their eyes, ears, and heart checked all the time, followed up with a shot and some medicine. 

Yum...who wants a kiss?

This is the aftermath of two 2 year olds who have just eaten cupcakes with blue frosting!

 

 

2 Years Old!

Wow 2 years old, how is that possible?  Here is a self portrait of our adorable 2 year old and some updates on what she likes and what makes Aubrey, Aubrey!

 

Likes: pancakes, peanut butter and jelly, sweet corn on the cob, popcorn, marshmallows, macaroni and cheese, practically any kind of fruit, Doc McStuffins, Princarella (Princess Cinderella), all Disney Princesses, Minnie Mouse, Clifford, campfires, swimming, singing, dancing, playing games, helping at the vegetable stand, taking photos with our phones, and shopping(already...uh oh!).

I'm so amazed at how well and grown up she talks! I swear sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a 10 year old!  We are working on potty training and that is going extremely well!  For some reason she likes to go even more when we are away from home, but I will take it as a start.  Aubrey is excited to get a little brother or sister and already has guessed it will be a boy.  Either way she says we are naming the baby Kendu! 

An unexpected busy weekend!

Sometimes the best weekends turn out to be the ones that on Friday you have no set plans.  That was the past weekend for us!  Aubrey and I spent some quality time together on Friday while daddy golfed.  Then we were up early and ready to go Saturday morning for Ripon's Cookie Daze!  We met Tom and Jack and the kids had a great time eating cookies, drinking milk, and doing activities.  Aubrey even won 3rd place in the coloring contest for her age!

After a long afternoon nap, we headed to the Green Lake County Fair.  Aubrey absolutely loved it and wanted to go on just about every ride! She went on the carousel three different times and also tried out the kid swings.  Then it was off to play games where she won a blow up kitty picking ducks!  She was one little tired girl after we left.

 

 

On Sunday we went out on Green Lake with Adam's parents for a band that was playing in Norwegian Bay.  Aubrey had such a fun time dancing around in the water and just crashed when we got home.

 

 

Camping with Newbies!

The last weekend in July we headed to the WI Dells area for a camping trip with great friends.  One of the families are seasoned campers and for the other family this was their very first camping trip ever! I'm happy to say that when the weekend was over I think they had a really great time and they are even talking about a camper purchase sometime in their future!!  Adam and I also hope to purchase a camper in the future and we've already decided to make this camping trip an annual one! 

 

Aubrey was so excited to get to spend some time with her friend (and only girl friend she has!!!) Haveah!

We had a birthday celebration for Aubrey one of the nights we were there, complete with cake and birthday hats!

 

On Saturday we went to Mt. Olympus Park but unfortunately the unexpected cold weather didn't quite allow for any swimming.  Instead we enjoyed the rides!

 

 

Family photo on the wagon ride around the campground.