14 Months

Avery keeps growing and growing ... maybe not so much in weight but certainly cognitively and in personality. Maybe it's because I am not around her all the time, but I am constantly surprised by things she does and knows.

This past month, on Super Bowl Sunday, Avery began to walk. The Super Bowl Sunday part will be important to me later when I actually have the time to sit down and fill out her baby book. Before that she had taken a few steps, but that day she just took off. I was SO glad that it happened on the weekend.

Avery went through a period of really disliking her bath. But now if we say, "Avery it's time for a bath," she will toddle to the bathroom and whine until we come in there and start filling up the tub.

She knows a few body parts (head, nose, hands). Every time I ask her where her nose is she points to it and then sticks her little finger right inside. I am NOT sure who taught her this. I know it wasn't me. Ha! I guess kids just pick up on these things and it makes her want to do it even more when I say, "Avery, don't pick your nose." She just laughs and continues to do it.

Just so you know, Avery is NOT a perfect angel. I think she is going to be one of those kids that is perfect other places. At daycare they say she NEVER fusses and is such a joy to be around. I agree, she is so fun to be around. However, at home she throws her food on the floor, makes dents in our table with her sippy cup, and sometimes throws little fits.

From the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed at night, the girl just does not stop. I think she is like me in that way. She is constantly on the move and will not sit still for anything (except when she is strapped in to her highchair or car seat).

Her favorite toy is definitely her walker/stroller toy. She is FAST! She puts her doll inside and takes it back and forth, back and forth, back and forth down the hall. Her favorite bedtime snacks are prunes and milk. Yes, you heard that right! It is now part of our bedtime routine.

Here is a little video of our little walker.

13 Months

Well ... almost. Avery will be 13 months on Wednesday, but since I am off today I decided I would take some pictures and write a little about her recent development.

The little one started getting her two front teeth right after Christmas. Just a little too late to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." One tooth is in and the other is just breaking through. I had NO IDEA that teething was such serious stuff. The girl was in SERIOUS pain. So, when all is said and done she will have a total of four teeth!

Avery is still crawling, and at full speed ahead might I add. She is standing for short periods of time by herself too. But, she has yet to walk without help. I am not is a huge hurry, because little Miss has already demonstrated that she is finding her independence. I am not sure I am ready for the chasing that will come with walking.

She has completely mastered using a sippy cup. It actually wasn't a huge deal at all weaning her from the bottle or getting her to drink whole milk. When we were at my parents house for Christmas, my mom had bought her two sippy cups. (We had already experimented with a few different kinds.) She took to them immediately and has not used a bottle since.

She loves playing and reading books. She has learned to give hugs to her stuffed animal "bear." She gives him hugs every night before bed. It is ADORABLE!

Avery has also become quite the talker. She babbles a lot. Sometimes I feel like we are carrying on a conversation, but I don't know what we are really talking about. She clearly says mama and dada and has for quite some time. When she is trying to get my attention, she yells MAMA!

She is still an amazing sleeper. Really it is a blessing, and I am NOT counting on our next child being the same way. Every night at 7:00 p.m. she lets us know she is ready for bed. We brush her teeth, give her a bath, put her PJs on, say night-night, lay her in the crib, and she rolls over and is OUT! She usually sleeps until 6:30 the next morning unless we need to wake her earlier. I wonder how much of this is attributed to the "schedule" we so faithfully worked on when she was a baby.

Here are a few pictures I took today. I am trying to learn to actually use all the settings on my camera. I just realized too that if you turn off the flash, the pictures turn out MUCH better. Who knew?! Enjoy!

Trying to put her sock back on.

Birthday Fun and Lots of Pictures

I mentioned in my last post that I would share more about Avery's birthday party later. Well, here it is with LOTS of pictures! For the first year of Avery's life, the sweet and talented Laurel at Eilas Photography has captured Avery's 1st year. When she mentioned doing a photo shoot at Avery's 1st birthday party, I was beyond excited. Thanks for capturing great moments of Avery's first year Laurel!

OK, on to Avery's birthday fun. Here is a picture of the birthday girl.

Here is the birthday girl and her little friend, Myla.

We had the party at Inside Out Play Park. It is a new play place in Franklin. Since it was new, I got a really great deal AND the people were so great and easy to work with. It was a great place for Avery's party. We were so glad to have family in town and a few of Avery's little friends there to celebrate.

I had so much fun planning and maybe went a little overboard. But I made Avery this little pink tutu for her special day.

Avery really enjoyed playing in the soft play area.

She very carefully explored her cake. She wasn't so sure about it and licked just a tiny bit of the icing off her fingers. Hopefully we have trained her well to eat her veggies. (One can wish, right?!) I just hope she doesn't love sweets as much as her mom and dad.

I think her favorite part was the birthday surprise. At Inside Out, they let the birthday girl/boy ride the 4-wheeler through the "park." She L.O.V.E.D it! As long as she keeps her girlie side, she can play outside with her dad.

I do NOT consider myself crafty, but I sure can borrow other crafty people's ideas. I found the cute Milk and Cookies theme idea at The Tom Kat Studio. Melinda, a crafty friend of mine, helped me brainstorm and stage this sweet 1st birthday party. I did make this burlap banner with some brown paint and stencils. It was easy. And if it was easy for me, you can do it too!

I also created the cake topper. You should have been a fly on the wall in Archivers when I walked in. Talk about feeling out-of-place. That was me. I am not a scrap booker either and was in there F.O.R.E.V.E.R just trying to figure out the perfect way to make the cake topper.

... and lots of Frappacino bottles later, we had a great place to put the milk. Thank you Matt!

Overall, we had a very fun celebration!

The Sweetest 1

Today was sweet little Avery's birthday. Look at this picture of her only a year ago. She was a tiny little one weighing in at only 5 lb. 13 oz.

Now look at her! She has grown so much over this last year.

We love her so much and can't imagine this past year without her. And, we are excited to see her grow and change over this next year. We had a fun celebration yesterday with our family and friends. I can't wait to share more about her birthday party later.

Uh - Uh - Oh

Here is a sweet little video Avery's Bibi captured this week.

Avery - 11 months

Our sweet Avery is 11 months old! She was quite the traveler this week as we drove to see both sets of grandparents. I think we drove a total of 1,400 miles, and she did very well for a girl who cries the whole way from daycare home each day.

Hopefully soon I will post some videos/more pictures of her latest milestones. Last week she began walking while holding our hands. She wants to walk a lot back and forth.

She is also becoming quite the talker, saying ma-ma and da-da and uh-uh-oh when she drops a toy.

Let me just say that it is much cuter in person than me typing it on the blog.

Avery: 10 Month Pictures

We just got Avery's pictures! I love them! They turned out great thanks to Laurel at Eilas Photography. She always does a fantastic job. Avery, as I have said before, LOVES to stand and pull up. Isn't she a doll? She is getting SO big SO fast.

I am pretty sure she ate a flower or leaf while taking these shots. The girl LOVES to eat these days. We have to literally stop giving her food. She is eating LOTS of finger foods now. Her favorites are wheat pasta, steamed carrots and cinnamon, cheese, green beans, black beans, blueberries ... well, like I said the girl just likes food.













This is possibly my favorite picture ever of us! I don't get enough time with Avery, but the time I do get is precious. When I get home at night, she is always very playful. She crawls, I chase her, and she laughs and laughs and laughs.













This is a sweet picture of Avery and Matt. Just look at that face. She loves her daddy for sure. She has a special game she plays with him at night too. He puts her on the couch; she rolls around and then off. Good thing dad is always there to catch her. I believe we may have a little "fearless" one on our hands. She and her cousin, Kylie, are going to be GREAT friends!