Introducing...

Vesper Mae Desroches

She is finally here and already a week old!  I was lucky enough that she showed up only one day passed her due date.  I don't know how much longer I would have lasted.  She was born on the 17th at 4:04pm.  She was 7 lbs 11oz and was 20.5 ins long.  We only had to stay in the hospital for 24 hrs then we got to head home as a family of 4 (or 6 if you count the Grandparents that are visiting.)

She has fallen right in with the family.  It is as if she has always been here.  We have had wonderful help since she has arrived.  Grampy D has been cooking up a storm; feeding us wonderful gourmet meals and Grammy T has been so helpful taking care of Aubrie, allowing us to care for Vesper.

Aubrie has been a great big sister so far.  She first asked for a bigger sister but since then tells everyone that it is HER sister.  She has been very gentle and will randomly ask to hold her or give her a kiss and hug.  We will see how it goes once we are on our own and my attention has to be divided between the two.

That is all for now.  Sorry it has been so long since I have updated this blog.  I am going to try to be better about it.

Christmas Morning

Christmas is a lot of fun with a 2 year old!  At first she was very excited and wanted to open them all herself.  Once we got into the swing of things she was really good about handing out presents.  Lesson learned though: parents don't need to buy more than three gifts.  She received so many gifts from the extended family that by the end she was over it and just wanted to play.  Just watch the video at the bottom and you will know what I mean.  We saved our big present for the end which was our mistake.  Also, a two year old doesn't like to be told to stop playing and open more presents.  All in all we had a lot of fun watching her open presents and get excited for what she found in each box.  By far two of her favorites Christmas morning were the apron from her Uncle Bob and Aunt Lee and the slipper clogs from my parents.  We couldn't get her to take them off.  She wore them for the next few days and the slippers are still a big hit.  Hope you all had a great holiday season and are enjoying the new year.  Next up: our year in review.

Uncle Ant Visits

We had a lot of fun with Uncle Anthony during his visit.  We had all sorts of Christmas activities planned as well as a few extras to show him what life is like in the dessert.  We took him climbing; which was very entertaining.  Aubrie tried to show Uncle Ant up but by the end he had figured it out.  We also took a trip to the San Diego Zoo and a tour of this brewery.  We played lots of board games and Gil and I were lucky enough to use Anthony as a babysitter so we could get out to the movies.  Gil and Anthony also took a one night trip to Vegas.  Aubrie loved having Uncle Ant around.  It was a nice break for Gil and I as well.  

Lastly a small video of Aubrie playing with Uncle Ant in the car.

Happy Birthday, Gil...

For Gil's birthday I surprised him with a weekend camping trip with some friends at the local national park.  Turned out to be the worst weekend to camp.  He had just come out of the field (having spend a nice out in the cold rain) and then we had a severe weather warning the weekend of our camping trip.  We decided to brave it anyways.  We ended up not getting any snow just a few sprinkles late at night.  It was definitely the coldest weekend we have had all winter.  We survived with lots of hot chocolate and a lot of hanging around the camp fire.  Our first and only full day turned out to be pretty nice.  Nice enough for the guys to do some rock climbing.  Most of the weekend, Gil just kept telling me 'Wait till your next birthday!'  Even though it was cold, we all had a great time.  

O' Christmas tree, O' Christmas tree!

December has been jam packed with activities thanks to our advent calendar.  So to recap some of our activities I have decided to do so through photos.   

Aubrie was very helpful this year with picking out and decorating our tree.  

Some of our other activities included; chocolate croissants for breakfast, picnic dinner by the tree, making paper snowflakes, and going on a Christmas hike (which Aubrie fell asleep during.)

 I hope you all had an enjoyable December and there will be more post to come about our visit from Uncle Anthony and Christmas Day.

Gobble Gobble

Just in the time before November is over, here is a little bit about our Thanksgiving in Big Bear.  

Some friends of ours invited us to Big Bear along with their family.  They rented a nice open cabin just down the street from the ski slopes (which surprisingly had one slope open.)  Luckily our dogs get along so we were able to bring Kai along for the trip, which was nice.  

I was really excited when we arrived to find out they are holiday puzzlers as well.  We normally just do a Christmas one so I was excited to do one before December came.  We collaborated on the meal and personally I think it turned out really well.  Aubrie made some new friends while we were there and quickly went around hugging everyone and the dogs.  

We only spent one night but the day we were set to leave we took a quick trip to the local zoo.  We were pleasantly surprised.  We thought there were only 10 exhibits but it was packed full of animals (wolves, bears, tons of birds, pigs & deer.)  Aubrie really enjoyed the zoo; made me think it was time to take her back to the San Diego Zoo now that she shows a little more interest.  All in all I am really glad we joined them for Thanksgiving and we had a really great trip with the whole family. 

New Addition

We found out in late September that we are expecting baby #2.  We are all very excited and can't wait to find out if Aubrie will have a baby brother or sister.  My gut is leaning towards boy but I have also had several dreams that it is twins which we know it isn't...so who knows how much truth there is to my gut instinct.  Our little bundle will be arriving in May 2012 and we are excited for the next few months to prepare Aubrie to be a big sister and to see how great she will be with her little sibling come May.  This time around Gil is home for the pregnancy as well as the first 7 months so it will be different and very exciting for all of us to experience all of this together as a family in the same country, state, house!