14 months!!!

Now, when they tell you, that kids grow fast, believe them, they do! Our little baby girl is more than a year old!!! We moved this May and Aubrey got to celebrate her 1st birthday in our first house! She had her firends over for the party at the Lembi Park. Well, her mommie's friends to be exact:) Both grandma Julie and grandma Sofiya were there for her very first birthday! A couple of days prior to her birthday, Aubrey took her very own couple of steps and now at the age of 14 moths, runs like the wind and does not wish to stand still for a second!!

AUBREY WITH A PRESENT FROM AUNT ANETTE AND UNCLE STEVE.

She says the word "dai", which in Russian means "give me" and also yells out"DA" , when her daddy comes from work.  Taco is labeled ''dada":) Nobody knows why, but every time she sees a doggy, it is "dada".

Aubrey loves all the play grounds that are so close to our house. We go outside every day. She enjoys the swing and climbs on everything!! She is particularly fascinated by curbs, stairs and book shelves.

Aubrey with mommie and grandma Sofiya

Dad takes Aubrey to swim classes and she loves them so much! At the end of the lesson, it is imossible to get her out of the warm pool. She wants to keep jumping in. She also prefers warm water to cold in the pool, just like daddy. We went to the hotel swimming pool today and Aubrey did not like it at all. However, when I put her in a hot tub with very warm water, she wanted to stay there for a very long time.

Aubrey and dad, swim class in August 2011

My baby girl plays Russian patty cake, when you start rhyming. She also will take my hand and put in on an object that she wants me to do something with. It is pretty cute. At first, she asks, then, if I don't react, she reaches for my hand and "asks" that way. She is very stubborn and will not get distracted from what she wants.

 She enjoys the walker that her grandma Sofiya bought her when she came and is also warming up to a horse that her grandma Julie got her for the her BIG ONE:)

10 months and 2 days!

             Here we go, another month flew by! Aubrey is now crawling like a pro. She learned to crawl at 9 moths and 10 days or so. Mom called grandma Julie to tell her the exciting news right away.  A couple of days later, Aubrey started to try to prop herself up and stand up. Now at 10 months, she is a pro cruiser and props herself up really quick. Today she even tried to stand up for a few seconds without holding on to anything!

             Aubrey quickly realized that crawling is so much fun! She chases Taco, when the dog tries to grab some of her things ( usually socks or shoes) and laughs every time, Taco runs away from her. She also just now realized how much stuff is laying around with nobody to protect it. She can crawl to Taco's food and water faster than a race car. She just started checking out the shelves with Blu-Rays and DVDs which made dad not so happy:) and "helped" mom unload ALL the spoons and forks out of the dishwasher.

             She can find daddy and Taco with her eyes when asked and still does not even want to look in mom's direction when asked by dad :" Where is mom?"


             At the end of the 9th month, Aubrey decided to add to her collection of teeth and started to pop out 3 top teeth one after another. She is still teething and I think, there is a 4th top tooth on the way.

            Aubrey now likes to eat herself, which results in feeding her nose, cheeks, kitchen walls and carpet. So much fun and such a mess for mommy. She has tried a lot of foods and sometimes eats real food with mom and dad.  Her favorite drink is soda:), as she tirelessly tries to grab a bottle of can every time she sees one:)
           

           As for toys, she loves to clean out mommy's purse and play with car keys. She is also very affectionate towards Taco's leash. Her real toys are of little interest to her. She, however, is very interested in company. As she tried to crawl away from mommy in Children's Orchard Store to "go and talk" to a 2 year old. Mommy had to catch her and hold her while shopping. As soon as mommy put Aubrey down again, she tried to crawl to another baby in the toy section and "grab" onto her face.

Aubrey's vocal talents.

Aubrey was always a vocal person, but lately she learned how to scream so it hurts your ears. She demonstrated how much she perfected her skill when we went to the mall the day after Xmas. People would look at me and George and think, that we are secretly slapping our baby, when nobody is watching! I had to run through the store, grabbing everything I liked and paying for it without trying it on! We had to leave right away, before CPS came after us!:)

Aubrey practiced screaming and shrieking for a long while...

Here is one moment, that I thought was so cute, that happened right around her "sreaming" age. On December 28th, Aubrey woke up about an hour and a half after going to bed for the night and breastfed. She fell asleep in my arms and I found her laughing in her dream for the 1st time! It was beyond adorable!

Aubrey is almost 9 months!!

Sometimes, I think time drags... Especially, when it is rainy of cold outside or when I am sick! More often though, I find myself saying: "Where did the time go?"

At 6,5 months, Aubrey cut two bottom teeth! Grandma Julie and uncle Gary were visiting from Chicago the week of January 7th, so they were the first hand witnesses of such an important occasion and as a bonus, were rewarded with Aubrey in a crappy mood. Cutting teeth is no fun business!!

Shorty after, she learned to sit up all by herself and now refuses to play laying down. Most kids learn to sit up after they learn to crawl, Aubrey, on the other hand, now does not see the necessity in crawling, as she can reach a lot while sitting up:)



At around 7 months, she started to roll from her back to her tummy and now enjoys it immensely:) Especially, when she protests mom putting her to bed. She quickly turns on her belly as if stating : "Now what? I can't sleep on my tummy!"

Aubrey is extremely talkative. She babbles "baba" and "dada" all the time, but with no intention to babble anything that sounds like "mom" quite yet..

As for food preferences, she likes green beans, avocado, asparagus, bread and cheese.  Her and mom went to wal mart, and they had samples of cheese. Mom decided to give Aubrey a small piece to try. The lady who was giving out samples, charmed by Aubrey's cuteness, offered to cut her a bigger piece.  So she did. Mom tried to give Aubrey that bigger piece, but there was no way Aubrey was going to give up the piece she already had been given! In the end, she got two pieces of  cheese!

At almost nine months, mommy won a new car seat for Aubrey. She is going to look so cute in it and be very safe:) Here is the winning picture!