It's Thanksgiving Time...

This year we spent Thanksgiving in the Bronx...

The day before Thanksgiving we headed to the grocery store to pick up some things we forgot to pick up because we had been in D.C. What a madhouse!! The grocery store here is always packed and things are always running out of stock, but this day it was seriously crazy. They were all out of cans of pumpkin and there were only a few cans of apple & cherry pie filling left. Luckily, everything else was in stock and we had gotten our turkey weeks before. While we were in line, a sassy black lady in front of us was checking out & decided she didn't want a turkey so she just set it on the ground. I was concerned that it would thaw out & go bad (don't we have enough starving people that it's ridiculous for a turkey to go bad b/c someone was careless & lazy?!?!?) so I told the lady (nicely) that leaving the turkey there would just cause it to go bad. She told me that "it wasn't her problem" and that if I was so concerned that I should go put it back!! Oh the nerve of this lady! So Aubrey picked it up and when it was our turn she handed it to the cashier and said very loudly, "This lady just left this turkey on the ground and it needs to be put back." The sassy lady was standing there bagging her groceries and started mouthing off about us to her teenage daughter who was with her. She made sure we could hear. The cashier swore under her breath, shut down the lane temporarily, and stomped off with the turkey and another one that someone else had left. She came back and apologized & explained that she heard what the sassy lady said to us but she had to bite her tongue or else she'd just explode. Then we both agreed that karma will come back around and Ms. Sassy Pants will get what she deserves. Oh the adventures in the Bronx...

Anyways, we decided to go all out and make my mom's traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We invited people from the ward over, including the missionaries. Wednesday evening we started making food- I made pies and we did some stuffing & salad prep (laid the bread for the stuffing out to dry, chopped veggies, mixed dry ingredients, etc.) and I also scheduled out food for the next day. We decided to split the dinner making between me, Tyron & Aubrey. Thursday morning I started with butterhorn rolls around 7am. Tyron prepped the turkey and I made stuffing & stuffed the turkey. Tyron was awesome & made the candied yams, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Aubrey made the strawberry jello salad & green bean casserole and opened a can of cranberry jelly. Everything turned out AMAZING! I must admit that it was doable only because 3 of us were making food. I have no idea how my mom did it by herself year after year... so much admiration & respect for my momma!

Here's some fun pics of the day (sorry, we didn't get any of the food- I didn't think about it until after all the food was gone!):

Aubrey, Me, Tyron & Auralia. Guests (left to right): Elder Wilkins, Elder Barfuss, Rachael Tsakpoe, Sister Coleman, Sister Asregado, and Barbara Jean Kaufman. We set our cameras on a timer- took us 4 or so tries to get one that turned out!

The gals on Turkey Day! Mom sent Auralia a cute turkey bib!!

And to finish, I'd like to share with you the "Thanksgiving" song that was stuck in my head that day. It's sung to the Air Supply song that goes "I'm all outta love, I'm so lost without you...":

Will Ferrell: It's Thanksgiving time! It's such a great day now! Turkey and bread and plenty of stuffing!
Chris Kattan: It's Thanksgiving time! It's time for Jell-O! Watch some T.V. maybe have some grape Kool-Aid!
Chris Kattan: Oooooh! I think I dig your stuff!
Will Ferrell: I think I dig your stuff!
Will Ferrell: Well it's Thanksgiving time! I love your new blazer! Your sleeves are pushed up it looks pretty awesome!
Chris Kattan: Well thank you my friend! Your so kind to say so! Your eyes are so blue, I think that I like them!
Will Ferrell: Well it's Thanksgiving time! Let's go get a burger! Maybe some fries! Let's go take a car ride!
Chris Kattan: Go to a motel! Drink a gallon of brandy! Hang out in robes and see what develops!

Auralia rolled over!

Yesterday we were sitting watching the John Adams mini-series and Auralia was on her back on her playmat. She was teetering on her side like she's been doing a lot lately, but then she gave it some more "umph" and rolled from back to front! Then after a minute, she realized that she doesn't like being on her stomach and she flipped back over!

We're going to have to buy some rugs because my baby can roll!!! :)

5 months!

5 month photo!

Another month gone by... hard to believe. So what is cutie pie up to these days? Well, she's...

• officially found her feet and loves pulling off her socks. We'll find her socks all over the house from where she's secretly pulled them of and dropped them. She hasn't become much of a toe sucker though... yet
• experimented with sucking her thumb and I think she's decided that she likes it

• now a city baby! My sister has been here for 2 weeks visiting and after struggling in the city with a huge stroller (had to folded up on buses, had to be carried up lots of stairs on the subway, got stuck in the subway entrance, weighs 60 or so pounds plus Auralia), we desperately went to Babies R' Us and bought a smaller lightweight stroller, a winter bodysuit, a rain/weather shield for the stroller, and a stroller blanker (bundleme) 

Ready to go into the city!

You can see the rain cover here although it's not folded down over the stroller

What??? You think I'm cute? I can't quite hear you say it :)

 

• started having rice cereal! It's often just a tablespoon diluted in a bottle before bed and a few times has been actually made up as a thicker mush and given to her by spoon. She seems to really like it! We plan on starting her on solids next week when my mom gets here!

• been going to bed around 8 or 8:30 and if we can feed her right before she goes to sleep, she only wakes up once during the night to eat. So we're making progress...
• quite a napper! Usually naps for an hour in the morning, then 2 hours in the early afternoon, and another hour in the late afternoon before sleeping for 10 hours at night! Takes after her dad :)

• gotten so close to rolling over. She'll teeter on her side, but can't quite make the roll
• big on standing- she'd rather stand than sit
• experienced NYC's crazy freak weather- earthquake, hurricane, earliest reported snow dump in October, and the rainiest year (70 inches so far!)
• been to so many places already- Canada, NYC many times, and Washington D.C. (more trip pics to come!)

 

Here you can see the plastic rain cover! Oh, and Abraham Lincoln :)

OTHER FUN PICS!

Helping dad make some rolls

Sometimes she gives us this look like we're crazy...

Big eyes and a sweet smile...melts my heart!

Okay this is honestly the funniest picture ever! Remember how I said we would get a picture posted of her bones outfit glowing in the dark? Well, we went to take a picture in the dark and the flash went off (so we weren't able to get a glow-in-the-dark one) but we did get this sweet picture of her totally freaked out by the flash!

The Many Halloween Faces of Auralia

I love Halloween! Mostly because I love the fall, but I love Halloween parties, decorations, costumes, etc. I am a little sad that Auralia isn't old enough to take trick-or-treating and we won't get any trick-or-treaters and we don't know enough people to have a Halloween party and we didn't dress up this year... but at least Auralia rocked the costumes & Halloween "spirit" :) *Note to reader: tonight we'll be going out for sushi with some friends and then coming home to watch Hocus Pocus & enjoying some mini candy bars my mom sent. Okay, confession, the candy bars are already gone. But Tyron's mom mailed us some Canadian candy bars & I bought myself a snickers bar today!

Miss Auralia is sporting the classic look- a pumpkin beanie & pants from the clothes swap, and a onesie from G-ma Dedrickson.

Here our cutie has stepped it up a notch with a very adorable glow-in-the-dark bodysuit from G-ma Dedrickson. Glow-in-the-dark pictures to soon follow...

Our cute, little sack of bones at the unusual ward party... didn't stay long there!

Not a great picture, but going the extra mile with a pumpkin bib from Nana Jensen!

"Tired to the bone" (pahaha) from all the Halloween candy & scaring the Jews in the elevator. Just kidding- I didn't give her candy or let her scare the Jews :)

Thanks goes out to all of the wonderful costume contributions from my mom & Tyron's mom! Thanks so much!!! Love you both!!

Happy Halloween Y'all!

Somebody is 4 months old...

Stats from her 4 month appointment: 12lbs 11oz and 24 3/4 inches. 

 4th month pic

So what's new with Auralia?

1) She's sleeping in her crib in her own room!! And it's awesome! Now we can read in bed with the light on before bed! We also got her a mobile and she loves it. She never cries when we put her in her crib, and if she is a little fussy she just stares at the mobile and listens to the music and is out within minutes!

2) She's on a schedule- wahoo!! She goes down around the same time (7pm) and wakes up around the same time (7am). She's had some early wake up times lately (around 6am) so we're trying to slowing push her bedtime back. She also naps 3 times a day for an hour +. This has allowed me so much time to exercise, shower, clean, and get in an occasional nap :)

3) She's laughing! It's not often, but she does and it's so so so cute! Last week Tyron got her to laugh and she started laughing which made him laugh hard which made her laugh hard which made him laugh harder which made her laugh harder... you get the point! They were both laughing, her body was moving with laughter! It was so heart warming to watch :)  I wish I could have recorded it, but by the time we tried, she had stopped and we couldn't get her to start. I'll try and get something up soon...

4) She loves momma & daddy. She definitely did before, but now she recognizes us and smiles at us and will even cry if we leave the room. Being loved & needed by a child was something that I really looked forward to when we were trying to get pregnant. When we were with our friends and their children, it was nice having their kids come sit in our lap and want us to read them a book, but when it was time to cuddle up or if they had a boo boo and wanted to feel safe they went to mom or dad.


To sum it up, she's changing and growing- happy and healthy. Being a mom in a new place (and NYC of all places) without family or many friends to help and working part-time has been incredibly challenging, but I can keep going because I love my daughter with every fiber of my being! And I love my hubby!! He helps out all the time. I take the midnight and 4am feedings and he takes the 7am one and then stays up with her, letting me sleep in until about 9:30am. So nice! He does so much else to help too- changing diapers, putting her to bed, feeding her, cleaning bottles, etc. I love my little family!

Other fun pics of Auralia:

 Thumbs up- so excited!

A little too excited!

Loves sucking on her 2 fingers

Can totally see the Jensen in her in this pic!

"I can't believe you're making me do tummy time, and then taking pictures of it"

 

 

And a favorite- playing butt grab with sock monkey!

A Day at the Zoo

So Tyron had off for a Jewish holiday- gotta love them Jews and their many many holidays!- so we headed to the Bronx Zoo! It's supposed to be one of the biggest and greatest in the country. I told myself it was a no stress day- oh well if we missed the bus, no worry about lugging the stroller around. I wanted to soak in every moment of the beautiful fall day that I was spending with my 2 favorite people in a fun place. {Note to reader: in stressful situations I tend to shut off all emotion and go into survival mode. Unfortunately, I've been doing that since we moved here and it was starting to take its toll. Hence the forcing myself to be happy & soak in the fun day!} It turned out to be a lot of fun- lots to see and do, not to mention a great source of exercise!! It is a beautiful & enormous zoo with lots of trees and forested areas- what I imagine New York would look like if there weren't a gazillion people here.  Here's some highlights from the outing:

Me in my mommy shorts and white mommy sneakers ready to take on the zoo with a baby!

So there were peacocks running around in the outdoor eating area...ya, it kind of freaked me out. Just wasn't sure what it was doing behind my back.

Looking a little grumpy...

Got her to smile

Saved Tyron's favorite picture for last! He laughs everytime he sees it.

Milk Drunk

I first heard the term "milk drunk" from my friend Dani and have loved it ever since. It does a great job of explaining what Auralia looks like during feeding sometimes. She goes limp and rolls her head back, her eyes staring at nothing and her mouth hanging open- no sucking, just hanging open. It's hilarious and so cute. I've captured a couple pictures of it :)

She actually fell asleep here...

She fell asleep and continued to suck like a zombie :)