A look back

I really can't believe the '00s are almost over. The last 10 years have without a doubt been the most amazing of my life. Since it's the end of the year and the end of the decade, lots of people are being reflective of the past, so I thought I'd join in.

So, here's a look at my last 10 years.

2000-junior/senior in college, in long-term relationship, moved back home with the 'rents

2001-completed internship, graduated from ECU, started grad school at UNCC, started dancing again, 9/11

2002-grad school, working, moved out on my own for the first time in my life to my grandparents' old house, my parents separated, first dance recital in 5 years

2003-my Granny passed away, year-long internship, finished grad school, got my first "real" job

2004-lots of working and paying bills, got my first dog, ended long-term relationship after 6 years

2005-started dating again, changed jobs, got my 2nd dog, met Todd and started dating, bought my first car on my own, got my CCAS/LCAS, went to Washington, DC

2006-moved in with Todd, got engaged, lots of wedding planning, got my LPC

2007-sold house in Mooresville, moved to Huntersville, got my first new car, got married, went on honeymoon

2008-changed to my current job, became an aunt, got pregnant, went to Las Vegas, turned 30

2009-delivered Aubrey, watched my sister-in-law get married, enjoyed the first year as a parent

I can only hope the next 10 years will be as amazing at the last 10.

Happy New Year to everyone!

11 months

Wow, the last 26th that I can say Aubrey is just __ months old has passed. I can't believe in less than 30 days I will have a 1-year old. Over Christmas, I was remembering how miserable I was last Christmas and it seemed to hard to believe that was a year ago. Sigh....

Milestones from the past month
*Crawling like a speed demon
*Clapping (which is beyond cute, by the way)
*Discovered her 5th and 6th teeth have broken the skin
*Started crawling over anything that gets in her way
*Is no longer content to just sit. She insists on pulling herself to stand on whatever is close. Including her crib, which is how she greets when she wakes up
*Started cruising on furniture
*First Christmas
*First taste of the Pearce annual barbeque
*Got into her first "fight" at school--she wanted another baby's toy so they played tug-o-war and Aubrey won--until the other little girl got mad and sat on Aubrey. I wish I could have seen this go down. I bet it was funny!
*She fits in a few 12-month things, but mostly wears 6-12 months and 9-month stuff

The best I could do for this month's shot.
She spent the rest of the time doing this...

First Christmas

Due to the joys of holiday travels, Aubrey's first Christmas started last Sunday with G-ma and G-pa. Of course she has no clue what gifts are but she loved all the attention that came along with people watching her open presents. After presents, we went to to visit Santa. Or, let me rephrase, attempted to visit Santa. I looked up his scheduled ahead of time and he was supposed to be available until 5:00 and then he would be back at 6:00. So, we got to the mall at 4:15 thinking we would have plenty of time. When we went to get in line the gentleman in front of us said he was waiting on the 6:00 visit. WHAT?! I was not standing in line with my 10-month old for an hour an a half to wait on some expensive pictures of her crying in the big man's lap. So, we nixed that idea and moved on with some shopping. We then had a nice meal with G-ma and G-pa and called it a day.

The next part of Christmas started on Wednesday when we made the annual trek to Raleigh to hang out with Todd's extended family. Wednesday was a long day of riding in the car and visiting, but not a bad day. But the night was a different story. We always stay with Todd's cousin Diana because she lets us bring the dogs. The only problem with staying with her is the guest room is upstairs and does not have heat running to it. Usually, Todd and I plan for this, bring warm jammies, and snuggle up to sleep. We put Aubrey to bed, but she woke up about 2 hours later and WOULD NOT go back to sleep. I think she got too cold, which made me feel bad for her so I decided to sleep on the floor with her so she could snuggle with me. Yeah, she's not much of a snuggler, so that was out. About 12:30 when I was hitting exhaustion and frustration, I grabbed an extra blanket and wrapped the base of the pack 'n play in it, but another layer of clothes on Aubrey and put her back to bed. She finally went back to sleep, but then she started coughing. ALL NIGHT LONG. So, neither Todd nor I got much sleep so we were beat on Thursday. Aubrey somehow got some sleep and seemed all happy, fortunately. We took her to Todd's aunt and uncles house for Christmas Eve breakfast, which was fabulous as always. The rest of the day was just spent visiting with friends and family. At 5:00, Santa came to visit the little kids and I've never seen so many excited kids. We usually leave before this happens, but since Aubrey needed the requisite visit with Santa, we stayed. We did get some pics with her and Santa before quickly scooting out the door for our 3 hour ride home.


Santa came to visit Aubrey and I woke up before she did because I was excited for her. Of course, she demanded breakfast before toys (I am sure I will miss that in a few years when she refuses to eat because she wants to play). After a good bottle, she discovered the joy of Santa and new toys and it was so much fun to watch. We spent the rest of the day playing with her toys or watching Christmas movies on tv.

In her Christmas jammies playing with her favorite present

Christmas dinner was spent with my family at my house. This was our first time hosting Christmas dinner and I was pretty excited. I even used my wedding china and silver for the first time in the 2 years I've had it! We had a great meal together and then enjoyed watching (or in Aubrey's case, helping) the little ones open presents.

My brother playing with my nephew Dameon and Aubrey

It's so much fun to have a little one during this time of year. I know Aubrey will never remember this Christmas, but to Todd and I it was pretty special. For the last 2 Christmases we have been waiting to share it with a little one so for it to finally happen was so exciting. I can't wait until Aubrey can understand the meaning behind Christmas and gets excited about all of it. So much fun!

Completely Done

Even when I went to almost exclusive pumping, I still nursed Aubrey 1 time a day. That was our special time together. But, for the last few weeks, she was pretty much avoiding nursing. She'd go for about 5 minutes and then pull off and not re-latch. I knew some of it was teething pain, but I figured if she was hungry, she would eat. But, unfortunately, she was never a good nurser and when her gums hurt, she was even worse. I am pretty sure my milk supply was almost gone since she hadn't been nursing well for over a week. So, I made the decision to go ahead and completely wean her. I was so sad that last morning I attempted to nurse. I just kept remembering how much we struggled with it those first few months and how proud of myself I was for making it even when I wanted to quit so badly. Fortunately, I still have enough milk in the freezer that she can get an extra bottle in the morning.

She had no problems not nursing, but why would she? She got it dumped down her throat from a bottle instead of working for it through nursing. I figured I would be hurting physically after a while, but really I have had no problems. So, all in all, it was an easy transition. I am glad to get the extra sleep during the week but I do miss the quiet time together on the weekends. It is weird to think for the first time in 19 months my body is just mine again. I am not physically nourishing a child anymore. Very sad and amazing at the same time.