Ryleigh's First Cold

Unfortunately, I am writing about Ryleigh's first cold. It's something I was hoping to avoid within her first year, but here we are. Most likely she caught it from Aubrey.  Ryleigh has started breathing treatments, which are no fun. Seven minutes sure do go slow! Ryleigh cries and squirms through most of it, but I am hoping that gets easier.  I have had lots of tears over this. It has brought me back to the reality that Ryleigh is a preemie, and we have to be extremely careful with her surroundings. Now that I see what a cold looks like on Ryleigh, I am even more anxious as we head into cold/ flu season. I am hoping we can get Ryleigh healthy soon. I feel so bad for her! Most likely we will be continuing the treatments through the winter. I know this is just a small set back, but she is going to be okay. Please be praying for a full recovery soon!
   Aubrey brings us some comic relief during the treatments. She sits right next to us and watches and claps when Ryleigh finishes. She will say,"Yay, tap Ryleigh, tap!" She tries to make Ryleigh clap her hands. Ryleigh isn't too fond of it.  
   We had made the big step of moving Ryleigh out of our room, and into her crib. Now that she is sick, she is back in our room again. Poor girl! 

After her first night in the crib

Seriously, do not put that mask on me!

This is just to lighten the mood, but they opened a Dairy Queen over by my house this week. It truly made my day to get a blizzard today. I think Aubrey and I ate it in like 2 minutes!

Lots to Blog About

For starters, Ryleigh is 7 Months Old! Go Ryleigh! I think she is going to out grow her little bassinet soon, which makes me sad. We really would like to move her to her crib soon, but  we haven't bought an extra monitor yet. Ryleigh is so much fun. She laughs when we bounce her on the bed. She smiles often, even when she is hungry. She is getting better and better with her neck control. When she wakes up from a nap, I can see her head peeking up above the bassinet as she tries to look around. I have been impressed with that. We are still not sitting up on our yet, but that is okay. She hates tummy time. It often just turns into her sleeping on her tummy. 
  Aubrey is no longer sleeping in her crib! We are so proud of her! She is actually taking longer naps, and sleeping later now. Aubrey makes us laugh all the time. Sometimes when she hugs us, she will say, "Ahh cute." I guess we say that a lot. She will actually tell us now when she doesn't like something by simply saying, "I don't like it." I guess that can be good and bad. She is definitely at that stage of repeating things over and over. For example, if we are going to see Kate she will say over and over, "Going to Kate's house." Then she will go through everyone's name, Kate, Carly, Dixie, Aunt Tam, Zack. She will say it over and over. If I don't respond by saying something like, "Yes, we are going to see Kate." She gets louder and louder.  She is also very into doing everything herself. She is great at putting things exactly where they go. I love that about her.
  We took our first trip to Longview with Ryleigh. It was really a lot of fun. I love Longview. We had such a great time with family, and Aubrey even got to have her first Butcher Shop burger. I seriously think they have the best burgers in the world. It was wonderful getting to take her to church at Alpine for the first time too. There have been many people there who have reached out to us, encouraged us, and prayed for us.  Aubrey loved spending time with her Mimi and Papi, and her Auntie and Tido(Aunt Candice and Uncle Jose).  We had some great food while we were there!
  We also had a fun weekend in Grapevine while the boys went hunting. It was nice spending a couple of days at home. My mom cooked us up some great meals.  Kate and Aubrey had a lot of play time together. Tam and I got to spend time with my mom and sisters. It was nice getting to take her to church in Grapevine too. She has had a lot of people praying for her there as well. We felt very loved.
   Enjoy the pics!

I couldn't resist posting this pic! Aubrey loves Maggie!

Aubrey thought Ryleigh was in need of company

She wanted to take a picture too

This was on the way to Longview. Aubrey got real happy when she realized Maggie was behind her.

Aubrey loves her bear

Mimi made Candice's old room into a fun room for Aubrey

It didn't take Aubrey long to find the stroller and baby doll

Ryleigh and Mimi

Isn't the view amazing? Maggie loves her Mimi too!

I love this pic of Granny Cox with the Girls

Tido was great and pushed Aubrey as long as she wanted

Auntie and Tido were great playmates over the weekend

This was Aubrey saying "Cheese"

Aubrey never gets tired of swinging!

Ryleigh's first time in the crib

Aubrey loves Butcher Shop too!

Family Pic (Aubrey was scared the bugs were going to get her)

This was my attempt at getting a pic of Aubrey in Candice's bed

We are finally toddler bed trained!

What? You mean I am not supposed to wear foundation on my lips? These are the kinds of things that happen while I am nursing!

This was a sweet pic of Aubrey and my Mom on her birthday. Happy birthday Mom!

Tummy Time!

While we were in Grapevine, Aubrey and Kate loved sitting at the bar. Aubrey kept going to my old spot, and Kate kept going to Tam's old spot.

Aubrey had lots of fun with the cousins!

Aubrey and Kate love reading books together

This is one of my favorite pictures ever! (Thank you Tam!) These were old chairs of Tam and I's. Donuts always make Aubrey happy!

Aubrey loves the trampoline! It cracks me up that she has a leaf by her mouth.

Nana with the girls!

Another sweet 7 Month pic

She's Gotta Wear Shades

Thanks for the pic Zack!

August Moments with a Toddler and 6 Month Old

This picture is a good representation of what our life is like right now. Crazy! I love this picture of my girls! Aubrey is so much fun, but definitely a two year old. In August we started working on getting her used to her toddler bed. It has been quite interesting. She will start out in her crib, and then say, "In there" and point because she wants to go to her big bed. Often times we move her to her big bed and then 5 minutes later she will say, "In there" again and want to go to the crib. We have had some successful nights in the bed now, but we are not consistent by any means. I think Aubrey likes feeling like she has control over the situation. She is so into jewelry, dress up shoes, and baby dolls. Those are always the toys she gravitates too. She is still a wonderful big sister, she just doesn't quite get the boundaries yet. A few nights ago I told Aubrey I loved her before she went to bed. She opened the door and said, "Love you Ryleigh." It was such a sweet, precious moment. My heart just melted.
   Ryleigh is a little over 6 months now, and doing great. She can roll from her stomach to her back, she can hold her head up well on tummy time, and she giggles and smiles all the time. She was sleeping through the night, but she is back to waking up again. I  think she must be having a growth spurt or something. When we took her to the doctor, she weighed 11 pounds. She is not on the charts at all for a 6 month old, but for a baby at her gestational age she is 25 percent in everything but head circumference.
 I  must say, I am sad to be saying goodbye to the Summer, but I love the Fall too! I love being able to go on cool walks at 1:00 in the afternoon. I love all the fun holidays that come with the Fall, and all the delicious food too! I can't wait for a pumpkin frap from Starbucks! We have had some fun in August, and I have yet to post about it, so I wanted to fill everyone in on the Cox Clan.
  
This is Aubrey on a daily basis!

This is a bad habit I started! I am in love with carmel fraps, and Aubrey always wants a few sips.

Happy Meals have many purposes

This lets me hold onto Aubrey as a baby,

but this is where I want her to sleep!

I was impressed with how well Aubrey bathed her baby doll

Road trips have become easier now that we put the portable dvd player to good use

This is one of Aubrey's buddies that we have had a blast hanging out with this summer. Aubrey also loves Colt's mommy Mitzi!

Tam and I have tried making better use of the free things out there. Her neighborhood library is always pretty bare. Our girls had it practically to themselves.

The Galleria has been a popular spot for Aubrey and Colton ever since they were babies.

This was then .....

This is now....

Jenny and I have added to our families since then! Now we have Sadie and Ryleigh to add to the fun!

Ryleigh in her favorite spot

At least once a year Tam and I get together with some of our old high school buddies, Abbey and April. Our families keep growing, so we have double the fun!

Ryleigh in the crib, although she has yet to sleep there

This is Ryleigh's second favorite spot

One of my favorite pics from August

Aubrey, Kate, Carly and sweet Harper! Harper has to be one of the most easy going kids in the world!

Aubrey LOVES her Daddy!

We have spent many days at Carrie's house this summer! August was no exception. Thank you Carrie for letting us hang out at your pool!  You are a great friend and wonderful nurse!

Ryleigh's first time in the pool! I am not thinking she is going to have my skin tone.

This was the first time for my parents to babysit both girls at our house. Things didn't go according to plan, when Ryleigh decided not to take a bottle. However, we still had a great night with friends.

More fun pics of the girls! Do they look alike to anyone else?