this is what i was trying to tell you....

we have tried to explain to some of you very recently aubrey's new found fascination with puzzles. whether it's the pictures or the idea of shapes inside shapes we are not sure. however we figure that by presenting her with puzzles, a task which is a little beyond her right now, she will at least have the opportunity to excel. (after all we would hate to one day hear her say " well i could have found the cure for cancer, or mathematically explained time travel but i just was never given that sort of opportunity in early childhood")

therefore, we'd like to make reference to the fact that we have been "scaffolding" our child.

(the instructional strategy "scaffolding" requires the teacher to provide students the opportunity to extend their current skills and knowledge...developed by Jerome Bruner, a cognitive psychologist of the 1950s -- one of the many, i mean only things i remember from the education courses i took in college.)

the tricky part is to present them with something that is challenging and a little beyond them without leaving the child completely frustrated.

anyway.... while aubrey is not showing frustration with puzzles, i still don't think she's quite getting the concept.

p.s. yes that is a puzzle piece... no it's not a pacifier.

HAPPY BLOG-AVERSARY!

today marks the one year anniversary of our first blog entry.
just wanted to give you a little "then" and "now" experience.

"then"

"now"

for those of you who have been in a cave for the last year or so you may notice that there is a little person in our lives "now" who was not previously (fully) there "then". to recap her name is aubrey elizabeth o'malley... she likes to bite things (not unlike sunny baudelaire) and speaks a sort of broken english/gibberish which we as parents now understand. our newest lesson as parents has been that "no one ever told us that being a parent involved the handling of fecal matter on a daily basis" which knowing what we know now having weighed all the benefits and the aforementioned downside to parenting we must admit that there are times when we are not sure that we would have signed up for it... however ultimately the benefits far out way any of the minor drawbacks and we would still do it all over again! crazy how that works. never in my youth would you have been able to convince me that I would be dangling a child by the ankles to keep her little poop covered body from escaping while groping for diapers and wipes and all with a smile on my face! oh the joys of parenting... right?

a little bit of wisdom

on december 8th i became a "mom". now many of you looked upon your brand new baby with tears in your eyes and say something beautiful and sentimental like "happy birthday little one". my first sentence (and this was actually caught on video) was the beginning of the sentence "and i can't give her back". nice way to start, huh? i didn't really mean it the way it came out.... what i meant was, when you are holding someone else's baby and they start to cry or need something, there is someone else to give it to....the expert on this child. i was definitely no expert. total parenting novice right here. just tonight, i finally came to the realization that my 11 month old had been trying to tell me something for an entire week and i just wasn't getting it. each night at dinner, as she would start to get bored she would smoosh her hands all over her face, mumble something sing-songy and then pull her hand off her face and put them in her hair. and EVERY time that she did this all i kept thinking was, oh goodness, i am going to give this kid a bath, i will never be able to get such-and-such out of her hair. tonight i watched her do this and something clicked. i said "where's aubrey?" she pulled her hand off her face and with the biggest smile i had ever seen she smashed her dirty hands into her hair. "there she is!" she looked at me with her beautiful eyes as if to say "you got it mom!" we were both so happy...
i guess i tell you all this because.... i am thankful for my little girl. sure the hours are long and i am only paid in hugs and sloppy kisses. but i wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. i am so lucky to get to be a part of this little girls life. i don't know why God picked me for this job, most of the time i feel inadequate, tired, run-down, guilty and well, just an overall failure. but that is when God gives me a little bit of wisdom and a toddler let's me know "you got it mom."

aubrey's new tooth-brush

once again our blog is reduced to just how ridiculously adorable our child is... that's right she's cute. i just had to share these shots of aubrey with her new tooth-brush (which by the way she absolutely loves. we had to pry it out of her hands to get her pj's on and she nearly threw a fit) now all she needs is some more new teeth!

she must be advanced.

Last night I snuck into Aubrey's room while she slept. I couldn't resist the urge to pick her up. I just wanted to rock her, just for a minute. She looked up at me groggily for a second and then laid her head on my shoulder. Then she started to pat me on the arm. Her way of saying "Hi, Mommy" without saying anything at all.

She is getting so big. I cannot believe in just a couple of weeks that she will be a one year old. Where did the time go? I cannot remember what life was like before she was here. She makes me smile everyday.

She is walking steadily around furniture. Still to cautious to let go yet, but that is ok. She can get up and down quickly and has a tendancy to stand on one leg if she is trying to climb up and reach something. Pretty good gross motor skills if I do say so myself.

She says "Moo" when you ask "What does the cow say?" The tractor says, "Rrrahh, Rrrahh, Rrrahh." She just added "Baa" for the sheep in the last few days and has surprised us with a loud "Baabee" (Baby) and a pointing finger for any child, baby or doll.

Aubrey is only using a sippy cup now, we have been bottle free for almost two weeks. She loves to eat and has yet to turn her nose up and anything besides tuna (which I shouldn't have tried to give her yet anyway).

She loves her green blankie and her little yellow giraffe, which Aunt Lacy got her when she was born. She likes to chew on his face. ;o)

Given a choice of music, she will pick the Jackson 5 over anything else. She bops along to the beat and loves when you pick her up and swirl her around the room.

She can sign "more," "all done" and "go." Although "more" can mean a plethera of things, such as "I want," "I am hungry" and "Yes." We are trying to teach her more words and signs to try and clear this problem up. Lol.

The child is obsessed with books. She will sit and flip pages forever and she is so gentle with them. You can even hand her one with soft pages and know it will be in one piece when she is done. Her favorite book is Brown Bear and if you ask her to, she can find it herself. (Trust me, this has happened.)

Life is going to get really interesting really fast... the kid will all the sudden just come out with something she learned that we didn't know she was learning... for example she has this toy that sort of looks like a phone (buttons, screen, etc.) but it does not light up or make any sounds like most kid toy phones do. In any event she picks it up and puts it to her ear and then holds it out for you. This quickly became a game. Now if the phone is nearby we say "hello?" and she will pick it up and put it to her ear... after a few "hello's" she gives it to us and we have a short conversation which usually ends with "oh you want to talk to Aubrey! Ok here she is... " and then another round of "hello?" As you might guess this goes on for a while.

My point is now we are going to have to start watching what we say around the baby.. she saw us always picking up the phone and saying "hello?" and that's what you do... I just hope she doesn't start yelling stuff like "nice blinker idiot!" when she's in the car.

anyway that's the scoop on the Aubs!


more to follow I'm sure.

how to cure the common cold....

we've been lucky, although aubrey was a winter baby, she's managed to stay fairly healthy this past year. no germies stuck around more then a couple of days. she has finally gotten her first full blown cold. she's had a cough, runny nose and congestion.... she has been this way for about a week. we all know boogies are gross and a toddler freaks when you try to wipe their nose (especially when it hurts), so we are on a mission to try and nip this thing in the bud.
here is what we've tried.....

Gerber "Grins and Giggles" Menthol Vapor Bath

Not sure how much it helped but the bubbles made for adorable pictures.

Keeping her head warm....ok, not really. We just found the hat and thought it was cute. We tricked her into wearing it for about a half hour.

...her NEW Penguin Humidifier

...and last but not least...lots of rest

We are hoping something works....eventually. ;o)

trick or treat...smell my feet

sometimes i wonder where the time went. wasn't it just yesterday that ryan and jen, chris and april and matt and i would hang out late into the evening. not a care in the world. well, maybe a small concern about what time we had to get up for work the next morning (but nothing a little coffee wouldn't fix).

tonight was hilarious ...ryan scouring the house looking for something to give the trick or treaters, he settled on pringles and nutra-grain bars (not as bad as the lady who handed out toothbrushes. NO JOKE!) ...speed pizza eating so we could get out trick or treating ....walking around the mclaughlin's neighborhood trying not to get run over by ninjas, fairies, spider-man and whatever that girl was that i am still trying to figure out ...settling in at ryan and jen's stealing maddie's candy ...watching aubrey eat nerds off the floor and watching logan climb up EVERYTHING.

we sat around for about an hour after the festivities just chatting, marveling at how big the kids were, how much they've grown and how fast it went.

i am happy that we are all still friends... our lives have changed quite a bit in the past few years and i am sure that they are going to change even more. but my hope is this is just the beginning of many fun times to come and i am glad that we get to share the joys of parenting together.

a post from aubrey

look people i don't ask for very much, a warm place to sleep, something to eat now and then, a couple of toys, and a little attention...

but come on! give me a break!.... now you are dressing me up like a chicken and subjecting me to the misery's of pumpkin girl over here. what is that awful noise that she is making...is that crying? do i sound like that? really? wow...sorry about that. anyway, as i was saying, a chicken really? i kind of thought of myself as a ballerina, a princess or perhaps even dare i say a pop star. but a chicken?!? you do realize that i am putting this into the recesses of my mind and intend on bringing it up in a therapy session about 30 years from now.

the little munchkins

obviously i didn't get the memo.... cute, girly disney costumes are the way to go. our little chicken looked adorable anyway. at least we didn't go with our second choice "frankenbaby". that would have been a little awkward.

i am so in love....

my matt.... for some strange reason today i cannot stop thinking about him. now i know the "perfect wife" (whoever she is) probably does not stop thinking about the one she loves, but me, i find myself to busy with all the other things to stop and miss my husband. don't get me wrong i cannot wait until the end of the day when he walks through that door... but mostly i find myself ready to say "here your turn" as i hand off aubrey.

this morning he crawled back in bed with me just to cuddle (and sleep in a little more, i am sure). he got up before he had to leave for work to change the baby's diaper and lay her back in bed. he took up all the cups and what not upstairs... (this may not seem like a big deal to many people, but it was to me). he kissed me and left to go to work.

i started thinking ...i love the way he always kisses me goodbye in the morning ...the way he doesn't complain when i ask him to fix the blankets, get a glass of water for me and turn out the lights before bed ...i love that he cuddles with me before he falls asleep ...i love that he encourages me to try new things and dotes on me just a little when i complain and say i can't ...i love that he doesn't let me quit ...i love that he is creative and artistic ...i love that he is outdoorsy and adventurous ...i love that people look up to him ...i look up to him ...i love that he can do the thousand things that i wish i could ...i love that he has a quiet spirit and that sometimes he just needs to be alone to recharge ...i love that he loves us so much that he takes the time to recharge ...i love that he is looking toward our future and sees good things for us ...i love that he works hard ...i love that he has made spending time with us a priority ...i love that he desires to grow ...i love that he desires for me to grow ...i love to watch him with aubrey ...to see how much they enjoy eachother ...i love figuring out this parenting thing with him ...i love that he (and i) don't really have it down, but he says that that is ok ...i love that he is patient with us as we figure it out ...i love him "just because".

Camping Cutie

This weekend was our Annual Camping Trip. Each year a group of friends go up to Sullivan County, PA for some biscuits and gravy, beautiful views and fellowship by a campfire. This year the Tudors & the Enns joined us for the first time.

Sad to say, Aubrey didn't make it to the sleeping in the tent part, well, for two reasons...One, it was 37 degrees and two mom accidentally left her bottle back at the cabin. Ooops. So she got to sleep inside a warm cabin with Grammy and Pappy. Funny first time mom and dad have gotten to sleep in and it happens to be curled up in a tent on groundpads.

We did get to take her on a hiking trip to Butternut Run and had the joy of changing the baby in the woods. Nothing like changing a diaper and trying to keep your kid from ingesting leaves and rocks at the same time.

We weren't to successful with the second part, I still had to go fishing in her mouth for choking hazards.

All in all though a wonderful time with friends....

On Fields

On fields o'er which the reaper's hand has pass'd
Lit by the harvest moon and autumn sun,
My thoughts like stubble floating in the wind
And of such fineness as October airs,
There after harvest could I glean my life
A richer harvest reaping without toil,
And weaving gorgeous fancies at my will
In subtler webs than finest summer haze.
Henry David Thoreau

Highland Orchards

Matt, Aubrey and I went to Highland Orchards last weekend (after camping) to go apple picking. The weather was just starting to cool off and I couldn't wait to sink my teeth in to their amazing warm cider doughnuts.....

Aubrey got a chance to pet the goats at the petting zoo....She posed for a picture on top of some precariously placed pumpkins.... She even got to help with picking some apples. Actually, we picked the apples and she snuck some leaves into her mouth when we weren't looking.... Found it stuck to the roof of her mouth.




We spoke to a woman on the ride out to the pumpkin patch and she made some sort of comment along the lines of "we take our kids all these places and they don't even remember." It made me sad for a minute.... but then I thought to myself.... She may not remember being 10 months old and picking apples.... but I will. And it makes my heart smile.




I have come to the realization that home is not a place.... or a building, but the traditions you make, the memories that stay with you and most importantly the people who love you.

Happy Fall!

French Creek Test Run

no this is not a post about some incredibly insane marathon through the muddy woods... this weekend melissa and aubrey and i decided to go for a safe and easy (we could always just drive home) trial camping evening at one of the campsites at french creek state park. we arrived at the campground just as it was getting dark and quickly discovered one of the hardest parts about taking a crawler camping is that they want to crawl around in the dirt and eat everything they shouldn't (dirt, leaves and salamanders)... needless to say the first thing we did was set up the tent and throw some toys in. my biggest fear was that she would cry all night and the "neighboring" campers would gang up on us and throw us in the lake. as it turned out they were louder than we were... college kids and their partying! i disapprove! GRRRMP! (did that sound old and crotchety enough?)... i digress. getting aubrey to go down was the tricky part but it didn't prove to be any harder that some nights at home. so it was a great time. aubrey went to bed and melissa and i got to sit by the fire in the crisp fall air and actually have a romantic cup of coffee and conversation. it was awesome. (by the way my wife is the best ever because it was all HER idea!) our next concern was that aubrey has never really shared a bed with mom and dad and we weren't sure how asleep she would stay once she woke up and saw we were there (which happened a few time during the night). but all was well and it turned out to be a fun night and morning... so for all you who read and have little ones, take them camping!... don't worry, it has been tested and it's worth it.