4.11.12 - 15 months!

I know I say it every time I do an update post about Aurora, but I honestly cannot believe how fast time flies and that our baby girl is 15 (almost 16) months old!  Where does the time go???

Our sweet Aurora Nicole is such a joy to be around.  She is truly the light of our lives, and I love that she can make anyone smile--even strangers, at the drop of a hat.  She's always making us laugh with the cute things she does.  I can't get enough of her beautiful smile, darling little voice, adorable laugh, and irresistible kisses!!

Rori's 15 month stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 9 oz (13%)

Length: 31 in (61%) [growth spurt!!]

Head: 44cm (10%)

Pictures from the last month

Silly girl fell asleep sitting up in her crib at nap time 

She's figured out how to open our TV stand and play with the DVDs

She loves sitting in her laundry basket to watch TV

She's been falling asleep in funny positions lately

 

She fell asleep in her exersaucer one morning while I was getting ready

 

Enjoying some black bean soup a Sister in our ward brought over after we lost Nastassia

 

At 15 months:
-She's a good little pretender--I love watching her play with her dish set or baby dolls and watching her mimic the things we do, but in her own little way.
-She likes to play dress-up already.  She uses anything she can as a phone, and will make anything she can into a purse she carries on her arms around the house.  She loves lotion and chap-stick.  She's DEFINITELY a girly-girl!
-She loves when we give kisses on her back when she's getting dressed in the morning or PJs on at night.
-She's starting to throw temper tantrums.  Who says it's terrible two's?  I think it starts at one!
-She loves to flush the toilet, and she tells me after she's pooped.  Good start, right?
-She loves to help with the laundry and the dishes (when I let her).
-She not only walks, but is starting to run!  She loves following the "big" kids around and trying to do what they do.
-She likes to be chased.
-She is a FISH and LOVES water!
-She's pretty gutsy--she'll do big kid slides at the park all by herself!
-She's really getting into starting to tell stories.  We have no idea what she's saying for 98% of it, except when she throws in a word we can recognize, and she laughs, and will slap her leg at the funny parts and everything.  It is hil-air-e-ous!
-She likes to copy me and the ladies I exercise with when we're doing some of our moves, and she LOVES when we do Zumba--she dances with us for part of the time most weeks.
-She is SUPER friendly, and will say hi to random people where ever we are.  She's always making people smile and laugh.
-She loves for us to read and sing to her.
-She has a pair of sunglasses that she likes to wear and keeps on really well!
-She's picking up on new words and signs all the time.  We LOVE that she communicates really well with us.
-She loves her blankie-blankie and her binky still.
-She doesn't give open-mouthed kisses any more.  Now she puckers right up for a smooch. I LOVE her pucker-lip smooches!!

Words Aurora can say

Mom

Dad

Bottle: Baba

Hi

Bye

No

Cousins

Minnie: In-Nay or Nay-Nay

Amen

Banana: Nanas

Fishes: Dee-dee's

More: Mo - by far the word she says most, besides Mom, probably.

Drink: Gock

Poop: Poo

Cheese: Eese

Cracker & Cookie: Ca-ca
Tickle: Tikay-tikay-tikay
Eyes

Names Aurora can say

Aurora

Jesus

Tyson

Acee (Tracee)

Nenn (Jenn) 

Lila (Delilah)

 Signs Aurora knows

More

Please

Eat

All Done

Baby

Flower

Pretty

Thank You

Cheese
Cookie

Milk

Shoes
Music

Animal sounds Aurora can make

Dog: Oof-oof!

Cat: Mow

Cow: Moo!

Horse: Eeeeee

Duck: Cack-Cack!

Bee: Bzzz

Bridal Veil Falls

Last Saturday was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!   We took advantage of the nice weather (after Dar got home from a camp-out with the scouts) and ventured up to Bridal Veil Falls with our Aussies.  It's seriously been like 4 years since I've been there, and we live close.  Weird. It was worth the short drive through, and I'm glad we did it.  I'm so glad that the weather has been (mostly) nice--it's done wonders on helping my heart to heal.

Dar said the water was cold enough that it made his feet hurt, but that didn't stop Aurora from having fun!  I'm posting lots of pictures so you can see the progression of her water fun :)

Testing out the water with her feet

Rolling up the shorts to prevent them from getting wet

Shorts are rolled, but still getting wet

Shorts are off, shirt is coming off too

Now she's having fun :)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she wanted to drink that dirty water.  Yuck!

In the water up to her armpits.  She was seriously the only baby wanting to be in the water this far.  Crazy girl :)

Dar had had enough of being in the water, so he let her play in some slime.  Her soggy diaper was pretty awesome too, I must say!

My babes chillin' on the rocks

Beautiful Bridal Veil Falls

 

Tracee and Mr. P

 

I wasn't ready for the shot, but Aurora and Darwin look good in this one :)

My beautiful family

Back in warm, dry, clothes on the way back down the trail--I love this little lady's spunky personality.  She constantly makes me smile :)

We weren't done being outside yet, so we went and got slurpees from 7eleven and then went to a park down the street from the first apartment Dar and I lived in when we were newlyweds.

Aurora's first slurpee experience :)

Having fun playing with the aerobie (flashback to the 80s anyone?)

Our BFFs - Love you guys!

Aurora seriously amazes me--she was totally doing a BIG KID slide all on her own.  Way to go, baby girl!

I loved that I'd put her at the top of the slide and she could scoot her bum enough to get her going, and then she'd stiffen up to keep her balance.  She was totally having a blast :)

We couldn't resist spending as much time outside as we could to enjoy the beautiful weather, so we went back to McSweeney's and had grilled hotdogs for dinner out on the deck to top off the evening. 

Thanks for another fun adventure outside, McSweeney's!  Let's do it again sometime, eh?

Spring Break in St. George

Just warning you this us a long post with lots of pictures :)

Dar had spring break the week after Easter, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect for us.  With losing our little Nastassia the day before Easter, we decided we really needed to take our planned trip to St. George even more than we needed it before.  I'm SO glad we still decided to go.  It was great therapy for all of us to go be in the sun (although I wish the weather had been warmer for us!) and spend time together as a family and with our BFFs, the McSweeney's.  It was so nice that they were able to come down for the majority of the time we were there too.

While Darwin and I were getting the last of our stuff packed up to leave, Aurora decided to play with the toilet paper.  Awesome.

Once we got to the condo (thanks again, Spencers!! It was GREAT!) Aurora was a little overwhelmed with all of the new things to explore and see.  Her reaction to all the new stuff was pretty hilarious.

 

 

 

We had the first evening there to ourselves, and took advantage of the beautiful weather to eat dinner out on the porch.  It was SO NICE!!!

 

 Messy baby :)

Our Aussies came down the same night we did, but didn't get to the condo until around midnight.  Tuesday was really the only day that was warm enough to go swimming, so that's what we did!  But before we got to the pool, everyone had to check out the big bathtub.  Good times :)

 

The "babies" could only swim in the kiddie pool, but it turned out to be okay.  It's only 2 feet deep, and Aurora LOVED being able to walk around on her own (with Darwin always right behind her), and she LOVED splashing everyone too.  This baby girl LOVES water!  Maybe she is half-fish, as Tracee put it :)

Hanging out in the chilly, shaded kiddie pool in the morning

 Splashing Mr. P

I love this picture!

Doing what she does best in a swimming pool :)

 

 We went back out to the pool after nap time, and it was a lot warmer and sunnier!

 

 

 Rori looking a little water-logged :)

 I couldn't get in the pool, but I got to bask in the sunshine at least!

Dar's best friend from growing up, Bard, and his family live in St. George and we were lucky enough to spend some time with them while we were down there.  My brother and his girlfriend came up from Las Vegas one night too.  It was so nice to see all those people we love but don't get to see often enough.  We miss you guys!!

With Bard and Kerri

 

 The kiddos playing in the tub after lots of swimming in the pool, so we could go into town.

 

 

While waiting for everyone to be ready to go, Aurora and Mr. P thought it was pretty cool that they could see the laundry spinning around in the washing machine.  Great entertainment!

 

We went into town to visit the St. George LDS temple and Visitors Center.  With all the times I've been down to St. George, this was actually the first time I was able to visit the temple.  It's so beautiful, and the evening was perfect!

Us and our Aussies :)

 

 

 My new favorite picture of me and the hubs

 

 We were trying to get another family picture, but Aurora was getting cranky, and this was the only way Darwin could get her to smile for the picture :)

 

Cool night shot Dar got of the temple with Venus shining up by the steeple

Rori and R all tuckered out back at the condo after a long day of fun!

We played at the park for the condo we stayed in...they had really great amenities for everyone.

She would have been perfectly content to play in the sand all day :)

 

Sliding with Uncle Jared

 

 My babes.  Love this picture!

 Us :)

 Aurora got to practice putting sunscreen on herself.  She's pretty awesome.

 

Love the spikey hair!

 

Two of her favorite things: Tracee, and being allowed to play with the electronics

Bard and Kerri introduced us to some new apps, so we spent some time playing our new games.  It was pretty fun for us, although Jared didn't find it very amusing that we were all in the same room, playing games with each other on our phones :)

 

We went back into town one day and the kids got to play at this cool little city center water park thing.  Luckily the sun came out and the wind died down long enough for the kiddies to have a little bit of fun in the water.

 Like I said before, my baby LOVES the water!

 

 Doesn't this pose remind you of that famous Big Foot/Sasquatch photo?

Completely sitting in the chilly water.  Silly girl!

 Dad and baby shadows :)

 At the very end of her fun in the water, Rori got her first big scrapes on her knees. Ouchie!

 We also rode on the St. George Carousal.  Aurora's first merry-go-round ride!

 Jared, P, and R

One of the last things we did was visit the Dinosaur Discovery at Johnson Farm museum in St. George.  It was pretty cool to the rest of us, but it was totally Darwin's forte.  He LOVED it :)

Mud cracks cemented in history

 
This picture shows a skin impression from the dinosaur's footprint.  You can see that it is rough, similar to a dogs paw.

Smoochin' my babs in front of a slab of rock covered in dino footprints

You probably can't tell, but that's a dino butt print, where a dinosaur sat in the mud and it eventually hardened.  There are only 5 prints like this found in the world, and one was in Utah.  How 'bout them apples?

 Tadpole "nests" fossils

Maybe she's going to be a paleontologist when she grows up?

 It really was such a wonderful and much needed, trip.  I'm so glad we were able to go and that the McSweeney's were able to come with us.  We had a blast, and hope we can do another fun vacation soon!  Bring on SUMMER VACATION!!