Tybee Island, GA

Above : notice the blur around Aubrey's feet....she bicycles her legs super fast...for some
reason she was SUPER happy at Matt and Johnni's...probably because
we were finally there and she got to meet her sweet friend Joella!

Last week we took a big long road trip first to Savannah, GA with our friends - Dave and Lily...unfortunately it rained for the better part of our 2 days there. But we did have a major feast of seafood at the Crab Shack on Tybee Island our first night there!

After Savannah we made the long drive down to Fort Rucker, AL where our friends - Matt and Johnni (you may have seen their blog linked to ours) - have been stationed for flight school . Matt graduates as a helicopter pilot this week and they are moving the same day that we are next week!! Anyway, we couldn't resist driving to see them and meet Joella...even if it was only for one night!! (The trip home was at least 10-12 hours....we are building up to our drive cross country next week).

I haven't had much time lately to get the photos blog ready...but here are a few to enjoy..there are more, maybe even better ones...but this is all I have time for now!!

We can't wait to see a few of you along our move West!

5 Months Old {Baby Dedication}

Scrub-a-dub-dub I love my baths!!!

"Yes? Can I help you?"

This weekend Aubrey's Nan came for a visit! It was so much fun and it was so nice to have a member of our family at Aubrey's Baby Dedication this weekend. We are happy that we were able to have Aubrey prayed over by a church that we have grown to appreciate and love. It is the first church that Ben and I have been members of together as a family. We are going to miss it and all of the wonderful friends we have made there!

Aubrey is now 5 months old! My how time flies...and yet she still seems like a 3 or 4 month old to me...maybe because today she is still wearing a 3 mos sleeper! Although she typically wears 3-6 mos now. In response to a comment from the last post....i really might weigh her at the grocery store! I swear she filled out over night!

Oh how we LOVE our little girl!!

Me and my Baby

This is how happy Aubrey is after her ten o'clock dream feed. Luckily she goes right back to sleep! She is making some great progress with her singing as well as sucking on her fingers. I don't think it has to do with her 4 month weight of a petite 12 pounds or height of 25 inches but who knows?

Not only does she stick her fingers efficiently in her own mouth but she'll find yours as well. She is really coming into her own when she grabs your nose, lips, and jewelry (for Chelsa not me!). Now that she is almost 5 months I'm very tempted to weigh her at the grocery store the next time we go - I'm convinced she has put the weight on in the last two weeks. Our little baby is beginning to fill out.

Back to the singing, she is catching some pretty high notes for her age and is daily getting more confident singing around others. She sings the most when she thinks we aren't around and used to immediately stop once the cameras came into view, but now she is able to hold out for longer...I'll get a video of her up here soon.

26 & Avatar & Lemon Yogurt Cake

Aubrey and me at our special friend's Special Forces graduation! Yay friend!

Finally here are the few pics we took the evening of my 26th birthday! While my girlfriends - Emily and Rachael (thank you girls SOOO much!!) did the bedtime routine with Aubrey, Ben took me out to see Avatar in 3D. This was my first 3D movie.....and it was SO GOOD! I loved it!! Hence all the awards eh :)

We then went home to have a piece - or two - of the most delicious birthday cake... each year I pick out the recipe and Ben bakes it for me :) This year it was the Barefoot Contessa "Lemon Yogurt Cake" with Blueberry Sauce. Delicious!

Happy Valentines Day & Best Lasagna Recipe & Funny Daddies

Taking a morning nap to catch up on sleep from our "sick week"

ready for a walk~

Well, it has been a week of suffering and recovering from cold's in our home! It all started with Miss Aubrey, so there were a few long nights of lying awake (okay only me) listening to her cough and make sure that she didn't choke on the mucous....this week we learned that babies throw up the mucous that they can't get out.

So, our first Valentines day as mommy and daddy! Baby in bed by 6pm. Awesome!! Ben got the groceries and I made - what we both agree is THE BEST lasagna we have ever had. After our romantic dinner, we crashed on couch watching the movie "UP". At about 7:30pm, Ben went to check on our sleeping beauty. She was sound asleep. Whew. Looked like we were going to have ourselves a nice, quiet, valentines evening :) But about 10 minutes later, I just had this feeling we should check on her again. Ben crept in and felt the covers...intuition i guess. They were wet. We picked her up and she had thrown up a lot. Poor dear needed a bath. We're not sure why she threw up, she didn't sound too congested that night, but she may have been just getting the rest out. As i held her and comforted her she started moaning and threw up again. So for the next while we held and comforted our exhausted baby who did not feel like a bath...but needed one. Bless her sweet heart!!

Once sounds asleep again, with fresh blankets and jammies, we crashed on the couch and fell asleep to our movie.

Not too exciting, nothing "hanky panky" about our Valentines day except maybe the brand of my underwear! haha! But we loved it, just being a family :)

Here is the recipe we used for our Lasagna with my alterations :

Valentines Day Lasagna Recipe


Start with the following in a pot:

1 pound (450 g) of ground beef (I used ground Bison meat)
1/2 cup (120 mL) of chopped onions
4 cloves of garlic chopped

Brown the ground beef, onions and garlic in a pot until they start to cook. It takes about 6 to 9 minutes to brown the meat. Drain the meat if you want.

Then add
1 teaspoon (5 mL) fennel seed.
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Italian Seasoning (Or dried oregano and basil)

Stir frequently for about 2 min, [adding spices before the liquids allows all of their flavours to be released.]

Add the following:

1 (28 ounce) (784 g) can of crushed tomatoes
2 (8 ounce) (230 g) cans of tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) (168 g) can of tomato paste


Gently stir this into the cooking meat.
Add the following:

2 tablespoons (30 mL) white sugar
2 teaspoons (10 mL) fresh Basil leaves chopped
1/2 cup (30 mL) fresh Italian parsley chopped
1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) ground pepper
1 cup sliced mushrooms

Gently stir these seasoning into the sauce.

Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes This is the ideal simmer time but not mandatory. If you don’t have time it will still be great after one hour of simmering. (I simmered for only 20-30 minutes).

I will sometimes make this sauce and refrigerate it after it finishes simmering. I will use the meat sauce the next day to put the rest of this recipe together. For some reason Italian meat sauce taste even better the next day. But that’s up to you.

Soak 12 lasagna noodles.

The lasagna noodles need to be soaked in hot tap water for 15 minutes.

While the noodles are soaking you can make the cheese filling.
Put the following in a mixing bowl:

23 ounces (644 g) of ricotta cheese. (I used about 1.5 Cups)
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) fresh grated nutmeg

Grate fresh nutmeg over the Ricotta cheese.
Add the following:

1 egg
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley chopped
1 cup frozen spinach thawed and drained.

Mix these ingredients together with a spoon

Now you are ready to layer!! Sauce, noodles, ricotta & mozzarella , noodles, sauce, noodles, sauce and freshly grated parmesan and mozzarella.

Cover with foil, bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Take off foil and bake another 25-30 minutes until edges are brown and bubbly!

You won't be disappointed!

Now for the funny Daddies Story. While us mommies write long, detailed, emails about the choices we are making for raising our babies, the daddies are actually doing the same. Only in their own special way. The other night I happened to glance over Ben's shoulder while he was checking his emails....and I caught a glimpse of something I think you will all enjoy reading :

And I quote :

ROSS : When should I start to be scared that the little one likes being naked? She will be crying and super pissed - undress her to change diaper and BOOM, I am a happy little girl...

I don't raise stripper babies. How do you best suggest I fix this problem?

MATT : I think we've got at least another couple months to straighten this behavior out. Oddly enough, Joella acts the same way.....great, they can encourage each other in their behavior...

BEN : Must be natural instinct for babies to want to be naked cause Aubrey enjoys it as well. The good thing I've noticed is that when you go to put lotion on her legs she'll try to close them up. While I may not be able to stop the nakedness at least I have a chance at training the legs to be closed.

I do have a plan for the nakedness though and it involves a pole... The north or south pole, an igloo, and some very cold weather. That should do the trick.

Haiti Pics

Picture Descriptions:
1. 1-73rd CAV sign proudly displayed in Haiti
2. This girl was saved from the rubble 8 days after the quake.
3. Our local national drivers felt empowered with us in the vehicle so he decided to go against traffic. Oddly enough I felt very comfortable riding shotgun with my driver Alex. (no he isn't "my" driver)
4. Food distribution line we were responsible for in the early weeks.
5. The cabana on the far end was where I laid my head at night. The pool was a very technical part of our operation... it helped the toilets flush.
6. I needed a picture of me drinking a Panamanian Red Bull in Haiti, courtesy of my DHL hookup. He was an integral part for me in the first week.
7. Hitching a ride with a Navy taxi (a lot of what the Army was able to accomplish the first week was due in part to the tireless effort of Naval Helicopter Pilots)
8/9. Views from one of my helo rides
10. I don't know what this is...

Hey there!

Over a week ago I had just enough time to make one phone call. I called Chelsa and of course it went straight to voicemail... So like I was saying I had just enough time for two phone calls, I called my Dad and told him to call Chelsa to let her know I was coming home. I was minutes away from boarding a Delta flight that could take me as far as Atlanta, free of charge and first class, but would need to find my own way from there.
I'm now safely home in North Carolina getting ready to celebrate a "wintry" Valentine's day and Birthday with Chelsa and Aubrey.

Almost 4 Months Old!!

These photos are for her daddy!! Sitting pretty in her little bumbo :) She is a strong little girl, but still tends to slide around a bit, getting her to look up for a photo is a little work! But oooooh, don't you love those blue eyes? She misses her daddy but is so proud of him!

I submitted this photo to BabyMelons.com and they put her photo on their website! Check it out : http://www.babymelons.com/products/baby-dolce

Mini Snow Sessions

To see more of their photos, check out my photography blog :):

My First Trip to Canada

Here are a few snapshots from Aubrey's first trip up to Canada! We had so much fun relaxing at Nana & Gramps' house...and it was so great to see friends and family. I wish that I had taken more photos of people that she met for the first time! Notice the photo with Nana, she is in the drooly stage that is for sure!