Hearts Knit Together

So, John got a job in San Antonio, TX. Which was awesome, because our alternate plan involved parents' basements and selling all of our stuff. It was a pretty rough year, so we were really looking forward to a fresh start. But it was really sad leaving all of our good friends. As the time came for us to leave Alexandria, I realized how many dear friends we had and how much they had helped us over our time in Alexandria and especially the last year.

It reminded me of a verse in the Book of Mormon. In Mosiah 18 Alma is teaching people in secret and they are getting ready to be baptized. In verse 21, he commands them to have "their hearts knit together in unity and in love towards one another." That is exactly how I have felt for the past year with our ward and with my girlfriends.

When I first moved to Alexandria I was in a book club with a bunch of really cool girls. Over the years people came and went, but we always supported each other. When Aubrey was still in the hospital, these amazing girls had a party for me, which was exactly the thing that I needed. I had so many visits and calls and favors from these friends. I often felt alone, but these friends would remind me how loved I am.

We had a good group of friends in our ward before the babies came. In our time of need they went above and beyond. We had more food than we knew what to do with. For the first couple of weeks after I came home from the hospital, I wasn't allowed to drive. I had a ride to the hospital every day I needed it. Our dear home teachers took our second crib back to Ikea...IKEA! No one likes going to Ikea. One dear friend made sure that we had a meaningful way to remember Baby Rachel, which meant everything to us. I could never list all of the kindnesses that came to us here. But I will never forget the love that I felt. I wondered many times if God had forgotten us. But after all of those people that opened their hearts to our family, I could never doubt that God was taking care of us.

We know that San Antonio is where we are meant to be right now. We really like our new ward and are starting to make some new friends. But we still miss all of our friends in Alexandria.

Aubrey Updates

In December, we found out that Aubrey needed glasses. It was a bit of an ordeal finding some frames that would work for her, but we did. I even decided to get pink, so people would stop thinking she's a boy. It's kind of working. 

 

Aubrey also got a high chair for Christmas and eats all her meals in it. She has started working on drinking from a cup.

She watched her first Super Bowl.

She had her first Valentine cookie.

She finally wore the sweet sweater Aunt Jamie made her.

She learned how to giggle.

And she learned how to crawl and climb.

Aubrey is keeping us busy and we are all looking forward to her 1st birthday!

Merry Christmas

I know this is really late, but I have a lot of good excuses. We had a great Christmas with Aubrey this year. We went to Calgary and stayed with my parents for a week. Here we are in front of their tree.

Aubs didn't really get the presents, but she really loves paper, so that worked out. 

I got a super cool Kindle for Christmas (Thanks, parents!) so please give me your book suggestions. I've actually been reading! John got a lot of cool camera stuff. Aubrey got a lot of good Uncle time. 

Which she really did like, though it's not really showing in the picture. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. Aubrey had a lot of fun with at card that Grandma Janis sent her.

I know it might not look like she's having fun, but she really was! 

We had a great thanksgiving. We cooked the turkey for a get together with four other couples. It was really fun and it turned out delicious. We brined the turkey, which we had never done before. But it was pretty easy and made the turkey so juicy and flavorful. It was awesome. 

We were going to take a family trip to Williamsburg, but Aubrey has gotten a little cold and it kind of miserable. Plus I'm really nervous with her sick and don't want it to get any worse. So we didn't take our trip. We worked on Christmas presents and decorating instead. It has been a nice weekend hanging out as a family. 

Smiles

So, a little while ago I was looking through this blog and realized that there are no pictures of Aubrey smiling. So I wanted to post a picture of her darling smile, lest you think we are no fun. I couldn't really catch a picture, so I had to get a video. This video is also apt since Aubs is usually smiling when she eats. She loves her food now! She eats baby food for three meals a day with bottles in between.

Aubrey: Home for 5 months

Aubrey's Aerobics

Aubrey is rolling all over and moving a lot. She is working really hard to try to get up on all fours. Sometimes this gets her stuck, particularly in her crib:

So far, she hasn't been upset by getting her legs stuck. John had to wake her up from a nap the other day. She had been laying with her face on her hands and found her like this:

She didn't seem really upset by that either. The cranky face is because she got woken up from her nap. 

We look forward to the time when she can get wherever she wants...