If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...

I would have never believed it. Aubrey fractured... Or bruised... Or chipped... Mike's nose. I definitely heard contact, but not a breaking sound so who knows what really happened, but... One things for sure, that kid's head needs to be registered as a lethal weapon!

Aubrey and I frequently wake Mike up on the weekends. After we finish breakfast we head on up the stairs and climb into bed with daddy. Aubrey sheepishly makes her way over to him and will push or pull at him until his eyes open. Then Mike springs into daddy zone and plays peek a boo or pretends to be asleep and attacks when she gets close enough. It is a really sweet time for them and fun to watch.

Well, Aubrey was playing her favorite game of collapsing on the soft mattress only to sit up and collapse in another direction. Mike was playing his pretending to be asleep game, and... Well... Their games collided unexpectedly. Mike laid there for a few minutes as little birdies circled his head. I, in a panicked but loving manner, asked if he needed anything. I even got him some Kleenex, just in case. I held out as long as I could, maybe a a solid minute before the giggles kicked in. I really wasn't laughing because he got hurt, it was more of a situational laugh. Here I am, still with a bruised bridge of my own and now Mike has become the second victim of Aubrey's crime wave. Mike understood and didn't even get mad at the laughter. We headed down to ice his nose and enjoy our weekend. Mike was struck directly on the bulb and his pain goes down onto his two front teeth. Ouch! Needless to say, Mike was left alone the rest of the weekend while he was sleeping!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a delightful day and evening and are enjoying a little couch time currently. Yes, football is on, so I am enjoying a little computer time too! We already enjoyed our pumpkin pie! Yum!!! I think I really just like cool whip and crust to be honest, but I can tolerate a little pumpkin for the surrounding layers.

Here's our table all ready to go, except for the turkey of course. It was too big and waited patiently on the counter for us to consume it. Yes, I burnt the rolls, but just the top so they still tasted good. That's what I get for using the toaster oven as a second oven! And don't worry, I wasn't drinking wine, just sparkling cider.

Aubrey's wondering where the rest of her meal is. She started a few minutes before us and had to wait for a few items. I think she only has stuffing and potatoes here. Her favorite Thanksgiving food was jellied cranberries. She had three slices and wanted more. We cut her off, because she hasn't had them before and we don't know how they will react with her. As you can tell by her rosie cheeks, she has very sensitive skin and often has a reaction to acidic fruits.
The counter is actually full of the clean dishes! We had a bit of a mess left at the end of all things and used about the same amount of time cleaning up as we did eating. Mike and I really worked well together today and were a great team. We were either cooking together or keeping Aubrey out of the kitchen so the meal could get prepared. I think the quality time we spent together was my favorite part of the day. I hope your day left you splendid too!

Christmas came early!

For Aubrey anyway. Mike stopped at Costco yesterday and restocked our battery drawer. Today I went through the toy box and re-energized Aubrey's cell phone, ipod, car keys, giggle me elmo, and the thing that you push buttons and the heads pop up. She was thrilled and laid on her stomach pushing all the buttons for the better part of the morning. She was laughing and uhing away. What an easy way to bring a smile to a kid's face! Why the toy manufacturers lock in the battery compartment with tiny little screws I'll never know, but besides that it was pretty effortless. O kay, I'm off to make my pumpkin pie!

Are you thirsty?

This picture was taken a year ago today. It was Thanksgiving! What a sweet little Munch!

Aubrey and I are beginning to verbally communicate with each other. I was putting away dishes this morning when she saw her sippy cup.

Aubrey "Uhhh..."

Rachel "Are you thirsty?"

Aubrey "Yeah"

Rachel "Okay, mommy will get you some water." (filling up her cup)

Aubrey (pointing to the top shelf) "juice"

Rachel "No Aubrey, this is water, not juice."

Aubrey (pushing her cup away and pointing to the top shelf again) "juice"

So... Aubrey got a cup of juice and muttered something that I can only hope was thank you. Two weeks ago, that encounter would have gone much differently. I would have handed her her water, she would have ran around crying and thrashing into the floor. I would have placed her water cup on the floor of the kitchen and walked away. Now she can at least begin to tell me what she wants without all the hysterics. I am sure there will be more thrashing to come when she gets a "no" back, but for today, juice was a fine alternative.

Raw Pizza, the Pink Panther, and Phase Ten!

Over the weekend my cousin Kaleigh flew out to visit with us from Dana Point. What a treat! It isn't everyday I get to hang out with a sixteen year old. Speaking of sixteen year olds, they have a lot of homework. She must have some crazy teachers, because they piled it on for the four day weekend. She even had an oral report that she needed to do her first day back, in costume! The poor girl spent a lot of Saturday hitting the books as Mike and I watched What Not to Wear with our own running commentary! Here are some of the high and low lights of her weekend in Colorado.

1. It was her first time flying alone and she did great!
2. Until she landed in Denver and couldn't find the train. Two cell phone calls later and a nice security guard finally united us right outside carousel 14!
3. The day before she arrived it was 80 degrees, and all time high.
4. It never reached 60 the entire trip and the wind made that feel a lot closer to freezing.
5. Aubrey cried a lot in the car on the way to Garden of the Gods
6. The sun went behind a mountain before we got there and it felt really chilly so we walked it pretty fast.
7. We hit a lot of traffic on the way home and overshot Aubrey's dinner by an hour, I didn't pack snacks.
8. We stopped and bought a take and bake pizza on our way home.
9. It would not cook through! It was a stuffed pizza and the top crust remained raw no matter what we did.
10. So we scrapped it off and ate the pizza anyway. We were hungry!
11. I finally had someone to watch One Tree Hill with me!
12. Kaleigh never aligned with my ultra-controlled eating blocks of 7, 11, and 5. So she either has no appetite or was starving the entire trip.
13. She would have breakfast around 10:30, lunch around 4, if at all, and pick at her dinner since she just ate.
14. Until we had hotdogs and macaroni and cheese. Mike egged her on and she managed to eat two hotdogs and a huge serving of mac and cheese. It was hilarious. She was obviously full, but kept at it inspite of the taunting. Needless to say, no dessert that night!
15. We watched The Pink Panther and Mike would be laughing out of control and have to go back to see it again. The second time around Kaleigh would get it and join in. I just laughed at them, it wasn't my kind of humor.
16. We went for a walk down a usually beautiful path. It was a wind tunnel and we headed back very quickly again. Aubrey ran the whole thing just to keep warm.
17. We played three rounds of Phase Ten.
18. Mike dominated.
19. Kaleigh improved with each round.
20. I sucked! Those of you that have played cards with me know how out of character that is!
21. Aubrey ran into Kaleigh's arms and gave her many hugs and high fives.
22. It snowed the last morning she was here.
23. Kaleigh had never seen it snow before.
24. She also say a fox in our neighbor's backyard.
25. Our drive to the airport started with snow, went to sunshine, and finally to rain.
26. I was able to take her all the way to the terminal.
27. Security is a lot easier without luggage and a baby.
28. I then had to figure out how to get back to my car.
29. When I got home all the snow had melted.
30. And football was still on.

It was a fun four days and I only wish we had better weather. It was a bit too cold to even walk around downtown so we mostly kept to the house. It's much warmer inside! So we can now add Kaleigh to our ever growing list of visitors. Are you on that list? If you come after April a baby will most certainly wake you up several times during the night so you may want to make plans for sooner!!!

Mom's Best Sweet Potato Casserole

Here's that sweet potato recipe I was talking about. I found it through a Kraft Foods email that I receive once a week. This recipe serves 10 with a .5 cup serving size. I'd do a half recipe myself, but I thought I would put it out there in case anyone wants to be adventurous with me. One comment did read that they would use more cinnamon next time. I firmly believe you can never have too much cinnamon or marshmallows or brownies, but don't put brownies in there, you need to make and eat them separately!!!

3 lb. sweet potatoes (about 5 large)
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 cups POST SELECTS CRANBERRY ALMOND CRUNCH Cereal, crushed
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1-1/2 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows

PREHEAT oven to 325°F. Place sweet potatoes on microwaveable plate. Microwave on HIGH 8 min. Turn potatoes over; continue microwaving 9 to 10 min. or until very tender. Let stand 5 min. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Scoop pulp into large bowl; discard skins.
ADD cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to potato pulp. Mash with potato masher to desired consistency. Spoon into 9-inch square glass baking dish.
MIX cereal and butter in medium bowl until well blended. Stir in marshmallows. Sprinkle evenly over potato mixture.
BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until topping is golden brown and mixture is heated through.

I think I can, I think I can!

Despite an invitation to spend Thanksgiving with some friends here in Colorado, we decided to give it a try ourselves. So I am going to attempt to make a turkey. This is huge, because I haven't even made a whole chicken before. I tend to buy my poultry already cut up since cooking food that looks like the animal I am about to eat really grosses me out. I am also not loving the idea of reaching onto the cavity to get the giblets and that bag of stuff. So far on the menu we have Turkey, stuffing, gravy, rolls, green bean casserole, and cranberries (the jellied kind) I am still debating between mashed potatoes and this recipe I found for sweet potatoes creamed together with cream cheese and topped with brown sugar and marshmallows. I also don't know if I want to make an apple pie or a pumpkin pie. I have never made a pumpkin pie before and would hate to ruin our only dessert. Am I missing any key Turkey Day foods? And which potatoes and pie should I make? Oh, and if you want to fly out to Colorado and join us let me know and we will eat in the dining room!

Nose Picture

I tried to get some good pictures, but our camera doesn't have a high enough resolution to pick up the bruising that close up. So here's the one we took. You can tell the bridge is swollen. I still have some minor swelling and bruising on the middle and right hand side. I forget that it is hurt and play around with Aubrey like normal only to be quickly reminded that my nose isn't in the condition that it once was.

Only to add more drama to my life, I got a head cold over the weekend. So between sneezing, coughing, and blowing, I am very aware that my nose is not back to 100 percent.

about 45 minutes ago

Aubrey broke my nose! No, I'm not being dramatic, she broke it. We were playing on the bed in the guest bedroom and having a peachy time. She was rocking back and forth until she had enough momentum to fall backwards. She was also jumping while sitting on her knees. I was just laying there laughing and telling her how much I loved her. I remember asking for a hug, and she didn't give me one. Next thing I knew, I heard a crack sound and the back of Aubrey's skull was bouncing off my face. Aubrey immediately started crying and I was trying to console her as I felt the blood pouring down my throat. I decided she would have to fend for herself and made a run for it. I haven't been back upstairs yet, but I am pretty sure it looks like we were filming a low budget horror movie. After I got the bleeding some what under control I went back and rescued Aubrey. I then processed what had happened and began to cry. This doesn't help stop bleeding by the way! I managed to get Aubrey in her crib for her nap and kinda cleaned up my mess, called Mike, cried some more, iced my nose, called my mom, called my doctor (who was at lunch), and talked to Mike again who had read up on my situation on Web MD and gave me some pointers.

Turns out I have to sleep with my head elevated. That should be fun since I still have a bruised and bumpy skull from my Walmart trip. Luckily I have three more weeks in my pregnancy before laying on my back is a no no! I also need to ice it off and on for next few days. Luckily she hit me dead on so I don't think I will have to have it set. It should heal nicely on its own. My appearance is a little late for Halloween however. Gosh, a week earlier and I wouldn't even have needed a costume.

Did I mention that Aubrey hit me in the head with a stack of plastic cups the other day too. She was spinning in circles and before she fell, the hard plastic toy in her hand was launched in my direction from a foot away. So half of my forehead is swollen too. So now I have a swollen noise forehead and back of my head. Plus my arms look like I've been abused. What a week! Tara, I know you want a picture, but you will have to wait until I have a camera person handy :)

My Little Ladybug!

Here's Aubrey all dressed up for the big night. It was freezing outside, literally (in the 20's)! So we only went as far as two houses, and in our neighborhood that is still a bit of a walk. Aubrey brought in a nice booty of tattoos, spider rings, smarties, sour sticks, a peanut butter cup, and a snickers bar! I wish these were my neighbors when I was growing up. We only gave one piece per kid and we didn't even let them pick! Of course our average age of trick or treaters was about three! We did give a few boisterous groups of older kids two pieces each. It was cold outside and they had big pillow cases to fill.
We did encounter a bit of a wardrobe malfunction. I bought this costume on clearance after last Halloween for 75% Off! WOOHOO! I believe it started at $15 so it cost less than a white chocolate mocha when all was said and done. The size was ages 1-2. I was afraid it would be too big for Aubrey since she isn't even 1.5 yet. Nope. It was about three inches too short and really tugged between her legs. Darn 90th percentile!!! I had planned on adding some material to the length, but after my Walmart trip, I decided I wanted to stay close to home. I don't think there is a fabric store here in town and Walmart isn't carrying fabric anymore. I have a feeling Aubrey may have an opinion next year in regard to her costume, so resisted the urge to buy the "Unique-wah from the Backyardigans" costume that I saw at Target yesterday for half price. I did get two fabric trick or treat baskets though. It's hard to pass up a good deal!

Let it snow

This is how we spent last Saturday morning. It was very warm outside (mid-sixties in the shade) and a good day to play in the white stuff. We all started bundled, but ended up in shirt sleeves. Aubrey ate the snow, luckily it wasn't yellow!
Mike built a 5 foot 5 inch snowman. He played in the snow a lot longer than Aubrey and me. We went in after about a half hour. Mike was out there at least another 45 minutes!
Here's the final product! Good work Mikey. Maybe next time Aubrey and I can join in on the fun! I still don't have water proof gloves, so I just look at the snow!!! Aubrey uses her gloves as a spoon and sucks them clean! We are one strange family! FYI, our patio is very slippery when it is wet. So Aubrey was sliding all over the place out there!

16 weeks and growing

Blogger is driving me crazy and not downloading my pictures of the snow! Grrr... So I will just give an update on my health/pregnancy. I am 16 weeks pregnant and had a great check up yesterday. Everything is in working order and progressing well. I have been having some digestive issues and my doctor was very receptive to me taking over the counter medication to alleviate some of the discomfort. She also wasn't concerned about my episode on Sunday. She said you are allowed to pass out once, but if it happens again we need to talk more about it as I may need restrictions on my driving. Sounds good to me. I have no intention of passing out again anyway! I also got a flu shot so I can take care of my family as they will all most certainly get sick this winter. My arm was really sore latter in the day. Now I know how Aubrey feels after she gets her shots. I have been devouring the left over Halloween candy so I guess my food aversions are gone too!

As far as the aftermath of my fall, my head still has a bump, but I can apply pressure to it now without too much pain. My arm is still very sensitive as it is one big swollwn bruise. My pride is doing better too, as I have been assured it wasn't anything I did to bring it on. I do have to be more aware of my fluid intake, because dehydration is a bigger concern than food intake according to my OB. So those our my stats in a nutshell! Why blogger allowed this picture to download is beyond me!