over the river and through the....commodore barry bridge

to grandmothers house we go. the past couple of days have been eventful. christmas is in full swing and we have begun (as has the rest of the world) the hustle and bustle of holiday traveling. today we had a few errands to run before heading out to my mom's house for brunch (so that we got a chance to see gigi this weekend). between stops i handed aubrey a bag of famous amos oatmeal cookies to entertain her while we drove, fully assuming that she would just crinkle the bag. matt and i continued on our merry way and without a clue that our genius daughter had managed to open the bag and proceeded to chow down on as many cookies as she could before we put two and two together. we should have know from the tell tale humming in that backseat that something was going on. needless to say lunch was a bust, but we did have a good laugh.



in other news..... we received an early christmas present this year from our little girl. last night aubrey took 3 big steps toward mommy! and yes, we have witnesses. FUN! FUN!

have yourself a merry little christmas

i left everything till the last minute. yesterday i was running around like a mad woman trying to finish off the rest of my christmas shopping.... last year, i knew life would be crazy with a new baby in the house so i made sure to have all of my shopping done before thanksgiving. wrapped and everything. this year that was so not the case. i dreaded going out with aubrey and having to drag her in and out of stores. the people in the parking lots are insane and you feel like you are playing russian roulette with SUV's. how i managed to get in and out of parking lots with out a scratch is beyond me.

but thankfully it's almost finished. one more gift and we are all done.

the thing i am most happy about... after matt is done work today, i get to see him for four days in a row. he has been working so much lately. he picked up a second job to help us get into a house soon. the man is running around like crazy. comes in from one job, eats, changes and runs to next job. he doesn't get in until near 11:00 and then gets up at 6:00 AM and it starts all over again. i must say i am so blessed to have such an amazing man for my husband. i mean i knew he was the real thing when i married him.... but i am absolutely floored by his love for us and the way that he is providing for us.

thank you matt, for EVERYTHING that you do for us. Merry Christmas!

while we decorated....

my favorite christmas memories

my absolute favorite part of christmas while growing up was when my dad read us the christmas story on christmas eve. we would gather up every candle that we could find in the house and bring them to our coffee table, placing them around the nativity. my sisters, my mom and i would cuddle up together and listen to my dad read the story of christ's birth from luke 2. as busy as christmas eve was... coming and going from church, getting ready for bed, wrapping the last of the gifts... there was not one year it was missed.

my first christmas with matt i wanted so badly to continue with the tradition that held such a special place in my heart. matt had been laid off from work in september and things were rather tight. i remember coming home one day to a christmas tree standing in the living room of our apartment a week before christmas. matt, knowing how much it meant to me, swallowed his pride and walked onto a tree lot just a few days before the big day. he asked, "how much for a tree?" the man said "$10.00." matt pulled a couple of bills out of his pocket, "i have $8."

christmas eve finally rolled around and we headed out to new jersey to spend it with my folks. we arrived back home late that night, walked into our living room and below our beautifully lit $8 tree there was one gift. i looked at matt and he looked at me. we had no idea what it was. we carefully tore back the wrapping to find a nativity set of our very own. i set it up in the window... and brought as many candles as i could find to the window sill as well. i cuddled up next to matt on the couch and stared at the nativity set with tears in my eyes. he opened the bible to luke 2.

my mother in law, chris had snuck into our apartment while we were out and placed the nativity beneath the tree. she had not just given me the gift that had been enclosed in that box, but she had also made me feel so special, treasured and loved. she had invited me into her family and invited me to share my traditions with her family....

last year aubrey was just about 2 weeks old when christmas came and went. we were a little preoccupied with our precious baby girl. this year matt and i are getting to watch the wonder and awe on our little girls face as she gets to experience the joys of christmas.

i cannot wait until christmas eve...

mom, are you serious?

i think aubrey is getting tired of me sticking a camera in her face all the time.

i used to get all these adorable little faces,

now it seems like she is looking at me and thinking...

"mom, are you serious?"

"this is getting a little out of hand?"

"give me that thing!"

"stop! i mean it lady, knock it off."

today you are one.

Aubrey Elizabeth O'Malley
December 8th, 2005, 11:22 AM

Psalm 139:13-16 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

birthday girl

this past sunday.... we had our 2nd "1st" birthday party for aubrey here at the house. mom-mom, granddad, aunt joanne, uncle charlie, olivia, emily, grammy, pappy, aunt carla and mommy and daddy were all there. it was so much fun. aubrey totally has the whole unwrapping presents thing down. just in time for christmas.

naked, really?

as a mother i must not leave you with the thought that our daughter spent the entirety of her birthday party naked. so i leave you with some cute shots from the gearhart party.

catching up

sorry to not blog in almost a week. we have been house sitting for friends and i thought it might be rude to download our 288 photos from this week on to their computer. right now we are home getting ready for aubrey's 2nd "1st" birthday party of the weekend. i thought i would unload the camera before her party, that way we have a clean slate to work with. anyway... this week. tuesday we arrived at the harlan's house to house/dog-sit for the next two weeks. it has been a lot of fun. what a great opportunity for aubrey to meet and befriend two well behaved, CALM basset hounds "ellie & lacy". she comes downstairs in the morning with me waving her arms and trying to get down so she can pet the puppies. they seem to like her a lot too. mostly because she has the tendency to drop food at a moments notice. friday i had my first "i can't hear her, i wonder what she is up to" experience... i left aubrey in the living room with a couple of cheerios on the coffee table and put the box on a side table out of the way, then went to get some coffee in the other room. when i came back aubrey, ellie and lacy were all huddled in a small space eating as many cheerios as possible. it was adorable....and mischievous...but mostly adorable.yesterday was aubrey's 1st "1st" birthday party with my family and some close family friends in new jersey.... we invented a new 1st birthday party game... we're not sure what the official name for it will be and we are open to suggestions, but for now we will call it "birthday suit bingo".
see aubrey hasn't been feeling well and has a little diaper rash so after changing her we are airing her out a bit.
thus "birthday suit bingo" was born. it's really quite simple. the birthday girl (or boy) get into her birthday suit and then everyone at the party gets a turn to hold her. the result is a sort of modified hot potato/russian roulette game where one lucky guest will eventually be "the winner" when the birthday girl/boy decides to give them their prize.
we played the game for a little while although aubrey never chose the winner. at one point we tried to speed up the game by letting her have some water to drink. eventually we gave up waiting because after all no one really wanted the prize in their lap. ;)