Happy Mother's Day

I have been thinking about the wonderful gift that Aurelia has given me - she made me a mother. But what she could not give me was what it takes to be a good mother. That was a gift I received from my own mother. The best gift she could have given me, besides life itself. I realize now that not everyone has a mother as amazing as I do. How sad.

I cannot imagine a day in this world wondering if my mother loved me, believed in me, or was proud of me. I have known those things every day of my life. I feel them coursing through my veins. They have made me the person I am today. My mother's love, belief and pride are not platitudes. She raised me to be someone that she could be proud of. She taught me to be a person she could believe in. She helped me be someone worthy of her love and the love of my friends and family. Even on days when I don't feel worthy of any of those things, she has let me know that her true feelings about me are unwavering.

I have never known gifts more special or spectacular than the gifts my mother has given me since the day she gave birth to me. I hope that I can do the same for Aurelia. I know that I have the tools and the skills. My mother made sure they are ingrained in the fibers of my being.

Thank you Mom, for being the most amazing mother I could have ever hoped for and for teaching me that I can be like you. You are and will always be my hero.

Happy Mother's Day.

She Cracked Her Smile

Aurelia's big, beautiful, gummy grin finally cracked and thousands of giggles came pouring out. Peals of laughter, squeals of delight and tiny baby guffaws, well, see for yourself . . .

It is easy to see why people say that laughter is the best medicine.

Turning Over A New Leaf

Well friends, our dear little Aurelia is acquiring new skills ever so quickly. Every day brings something new it seems. She has never been a fan of "tummy time" but our efforts to get her acquainted with being on her stomach have paid off in spades. Our girl can turn onto her side!

I think several factors have contributed to her newfound mobility, not the least of which is a change from the strictures of a bulky cloth diaper. She has joined the green revolution in a different way by switching to Gdiapers which are cloth on the outside but have a disposable insert that biodegrades in 50 days! The slimmer diaper has given her legs more room to move. So not only has she perfected the art of turning onto her side, yesterday she rolled onto her stomach and just today she turned over from her stomach to her back under Aunt Whitney's proud gaze. Wow! I will catch it on video soon to share with all of you.

In addition to all of her tossing and turning, Aurelia has begun the beloved baby art of blowing raspberries. And, thanks to the fact that her drooling has ramped up considerably, her raspberries make for slobbery fun!

Here are some fun photos from the past week:

Reli hugging her froggie blanket from the Christensens,

which Aunt Whitney affectionately nicknamed

"Fronket".

Smiling with Becky (and soon to be Baby Wittsche!)

Sitting pretty in her spring clothes:

Hook 'em Horns, Reli style!

To our faithful followers, I realize it has been more than a week since I last posted an update. My apologies. The next video is of Aurelia giving a serious lecture. Perhaps it was directed at me regarding the lack of recent blog posts. Enjoy!

Spring has Sprung

Austin in the spring time, before it gets too blazing hot, is absolutely delightful. There is a beautiful greenbelt that winds through the city, and when we get enough rain, water runs through that lovely greenbelt. Jonathan had never seen anything but a dry craggy creekbed on our walks in the greenbelt, until this past weekend. Honey was in town and after a lovely breakfast at the Ingrams' new picnic table we strapped the girls to us in their baby Bjorns (Thanks Seth, Kari & Eliana!) and set off for the water.

Jonathan captured the beauty of the water in a little video (you can see a camouflaged Reli bird and her momma at the very end). Unfortunately, he also caught poison ivy to which he is highly allergic. Poor Yano!

Reli still adores bath time. We can hardly wait to take a dip with her in some of the city's lovely spring water later this summer. Here she is enjoying the more docile waters of her bathtub.

We also had a great time at the Ingrams', playing on a blanket in the yard. The neighbor kids came over and so did the Christensen family. It was an impromptu party on a Sunday morning. Later that same day we went to a birthday party for Henna. Man, I love this town and this life!

We had an awesome time with Honey this weekend and look forward to many more visits - SOON!

We had our first big playgroup over last week. Aurelia's friends Callum, Elijah, Bode and of course, Koruna came over to play. We had a blast watching the older kids crawl all over the place while little Bode slept and Aurelia just hung out. Here are Callum, Elijah and Koruna playing. Aurelia was so jealous of their skills!

Some of you know that Aunt Whitney and I like to dress Aurelia up for each other. I came home one day last week and here was our little sailor girl!

Mirror, Mirror

Cute cousins:

Just plain adorable:

Story Teller

Aurelia finally got to meet her Gramma-V yesterday and boy did Reli have a lot to tell her. I think it is safe to say that it was love at first sight.

Of course we also got to hang out with the Ingrams, which was awesome. We are so lucky to get to be together as often as we like - and we like to be together a lot!

Here is Aurelia doing her Koruna impression. I think these girls look alike. What do you think?

Tummy time:

Hair update: You can see what it looks like from the front (above). Here is what it looks like from the back. Pretty crazy!

Reli with her Dad:

Peek-a-boo!

You are looking at my chins, aren't you?

Springtime Cuteness

Aurelia is getting much more coordinated. She can grab onto her toys and move them around at will.

This morning she had some fun with her rattles.

We have had some gorgeous weather these last couple of weeks. The other day was so warm Aurelia got to wear some adorable spring clothes she got from Grandma Becky and her hat from my mom's friend Nicki. So cute!

Identical Cousins: We had a surprise birthday party for Ian and Jonathan this past weekend. We checked on the girls via monitor and noticed that they were little mirror images of each other. So precious!

Reli in a cute little sun hat:

Sleeping on her way back from Aunt Berry and Uncle Ian's house:

Aunties Are The Best

Aurelia has the sublime pleasure of spending a great deal of time with her Aunties Whitney and Jeri Lynn. She has stolen their hearts and she is enchanted by them as well. It is a glorious sight to see her face light up when they talk to her. What lucky girls!

Grandma Becky gave Aurelia the ruffliest pink outfit I have ever seen and she is finally big enough to wear it. I had to get some photos of her in all of her ruffled glory. Thank you Grandma Becky!

Cousin toes: "They are so TINY!"

Backyard family picnic:

Sitting pretty: