Aubrey Meets Her Cousin Norah

That evening Aubrey got to meet baby Norah.  Aubrey was a little bit of a handful before we went to the hospital that evening and even at the hospital, but she was excited to hold the baby nonetheless.

 Aubrey will have to learn to be a little more gentle with babies, but we know this will take some time.  She has proven to be a good little helper so far with Norah and Krystal.

Aubrey already loves her new cousin :)

Norah Hope is Here!!!

We officially welcomed Norah Hope Fox into our family at 1:30am on August 21, 2012 to proud parents, Jon and Krystal.  Weighing in at 8 lbs, 1 oz and 19.5 inches long, this little lady has her mom's long fingers and toes and her daddy's eyes.

The morning started out with Brandon getting ready to leave Utah and Krystal and Jon getting ready to go to the hospital for Krystal to be induced.  Kind of a stressful and emotional morning.

Krystal's bag was broken late morning and the waiting began.  I was able to be in the delivery room for a part of the day while her labor pains increased.  We watched The Proposal and some other cooking shows.  Poor Krystal couldn't eat anything so who knows why we were watching cooking shows to make her even more hungry...even her doctor commented on that sometime during the day :).  When the labor pains started getting more intense I let the two future parents be and I waited with Jon's parents, Bud and Lois, and his brother Joe in the waiting room.  Aubrey was being well taken care of the whole day by Jackie and Nate and loved on once again by all of the Fox kids.  She did awesome at their house and I was so grateful to get to spend as much time as I did with my sister during this time.  It meant so much to me that Jackie was so willing to take on our little girl for the day!  Thank you Jackie!!

As we waited in the waiting room we again, even though we were hungry, we watched Diner, Drive-ins, and Dives, and really that should never be watched at midnight.  You just get too hungry!  The evening was filled with great conversation to calm our anxiousness in anticipation for this little lady's arrival.

At about 1:30 she arrived and we got to meet this little girl about an hour later :)

We are so excited that little Norah is finally here!  We are so proud of my sister during this delivery and  Jon for being such a good coach. We can't wait to see Jon and Krystal raise this little miracle and to share this road of parenthood together.  We can't wait for the memories, to watch Norah grow and change, and for Aubrey to have a cousin to share their own memories with.  We are so thankful for God's little blessings :)

Still Waiting...

...so we decided to spend some time swimming and some time with extended family :)

Sunday evening, since we're still waiting, we decided to take a swim and visit with the Fox family.  Jon's parents were here from Canada awaiting the arrival for a couple of weeks so we had a big group of us together.  It was so fun catching up a little and watching all the kids love on Aubrey. They just love her and after a little time getting used to them, she soaks all the attention in.

Aubrey had a little laugh attack in the evening when her uncle Jon was trying to throw food in his mouth.

Waiting for Our Niece and Cousin to Arrive

So after a 10 hour drive, we made it to Utah on Friday, August 17.  Our little niece's due date was the 11th, so we are waiting for this little girl to arrive anytime now.

Brandon had the weekend off so the three of us drive to Utah together and he will be driving back on Monday.  Hopefully he'll get to meet his niece before he leaves!

While we're waiting for this little one to arrive, we went out to dinners and we went to Discovery Park one night which Aubrey just loved.

Brandon taught Aubrey how to say, "Norah, come here" when she saw Krystal and we thought it was pretty cute.  She kind of says it in a Jersey accent :)

We spent the evening at this park while my poor sister was feeling kind of miserable that this little girl hadn't arrived yet.  We had a fun time together though :)

This is how the brother-in-laws spent their time :)

21 Months

Boy time is going by so fast!!  This little girl is already 21 months and changing everyday.  We are so amazed at how much she is learning, observing and repeating.  It is so much easier to try and explain something to her and she can communicate so much in return.

Her mannerisms just crack us up!!  The things she says and does we find very amusing sometimes :)

She said, "I love you Mommy, I love you Daddy" for the first time in the past three months.  Just about made me cry the first time I heard her say that!!



She loves to look at the fish swimming below the bridge at my parent's house.  She also loves to feed the fish and imitates how they eat every time she feeds them.

This little one is CRAZY about bubbles and just loves to be outside!

She loves her shades and when she is outside or in the car, she says, "Bright" and covers her eyes to let us know she would like her sunglasses.



She is talking a lot and we can't keep up with the new words she is learning.

She can count to five and likes to count the steps up to the slide.  Sometimes she counts to 10, but most of the time skips 6 for some reason.

In spanish when someone sneezes you say, "Salud." Aubrey says, "Salusute."

For the most part is pretty good at saying "please" and "thank you Mommy/Daddy."

She is still very shy with people she doesn't know and still clings to mom. However, when mom was on bed rest she took quite a liking to daddy :)  Whenever she is scared of something or wants out attention she says, "Mommy (Daddy), hold you." 

She's pretty good at putting puzzles together and can do it pretty quickly

 

She loves to lounge.

She is playing so well (most days) with her peers whenever we get to see friends.  We just need to work on the sharing part a little more :). 

She loves having tea parties with mom or dad daily and she always needs to set up her blanket before setting up her tea set.  She also loves to say "cheers" and clank the cups together.

She says "weee" in the car whenever we make a turn, or use the brakes, (and sometimes for no apparent reason).  She also loves her ABC song CD that we play in the car that has a sound and instrument represented by every animal.  She has now began to imitate the sounds :)

She can carry a short conversation on the phone and give one or two word answers.  She does this especially well with her Aunt Krystal.

Knows the name of most of her family members, including aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  She also knows that mommy's name is Evie and daddy's name is Brandon.  When we don't answer to mommy or daddy for some reason she doesn't hesitate to shout out our names to get our attention.  It starts early I guess :)

She knows her full name.

Still at a whopping 21 pounds at 21 months, but every pound of her makes us laugh, smile, and enjoy every little bit of her :)



A Little Getaway

With all the craziness of my health issues and Brandon's schedule, we needed a break!  We planned to go to Tahoe for the weekend to the family cabin and we brought some friends along :)

The Pearsalls: Russell, Ashley and their new daughter Ellie...

and the Purintons; Ashleigh, Clete and Zachary.

We've wanted to have a little getaway with these families for years now and now we finally had an opportunity.

Friday afternoon, we got to the cabin and settled in some.  We all were pretty hungry so we walked down to "West Side Pizza" to pick up some dinner.  We then walked down to the lake and ate dinner on the beach. 

 On the way, these two kiddos were just couldn't keep their hands to themselves...

We stopped by a park while we waited for our pizza order to be ready and had some fun watching the kids play together.

After we ate we had some fun watching the kids enjoy throwing rocks (and none were thrown at eachother!) and watched our crazy guys jump into the ice cold Tahoe water.  Just a nice, relaxing evening overall :)

The new momma looking pretty :)

and new dad cuddling with his girl after the cold dunk.

Saturday was spent quad riding with everyone but Ashley and I.  Everyone had a great time riding and no broken collar bones!!!

We spent some good time in the evening just relaxing :)

Such a great weekend of memories, laughs and encouragement from these dear friends we have gotten to know throughout the past three years!  We'll just have to make another trip again soon :)