Avery: 20 months

A little over a week ago, Avery turned 20 months old. Seriously, time is flying by. Every month I am amazed at how much she seems to "grow up." This past month she started trying to put on her own clothes. At any moment in the day, she will go to her drawer and pull out ALL of her shorts and shirts. Then, she will try them on. One day she did get her shirt on right all by herself the right way. 

I decided one night that I would let Avery help us make a pizza. Here she is "helping" her dad put on the spinach. She is such a good little helper.

When we went to Northwest Arkansas to visit her Bibi and Pop, we went to a splash park in Bentonville. She wasn't a huge fan at all. However, she did enjoy sitting on Bibi and Pop's deck and listening to the birds say "tu tweet." 

Avery got some really great hand-me-down toys from her cousin Kylie. One of her favorites is the baby doll and baby bed. Every night Avery likes to put the doll in the bed, cover its face with the blanket, and say "shhhhhhh" while she rocks the baby to sleep. She gives the baby kisses and then is usually ready for bed herself. I guess I need to teach her that putting a blanket over the baby's face could hurt the baby. Ha! She also loves this little DOLL swing. Don't you just love her expression in this picture?

Avery loves to help me do laundry too. I get a good arm workout by lifting her up as she puts each piece of clothing into the washer. It does take longer, but she just loves to help me do chores. When we are done, she insists on carrying this basket back to its "home" all by herself. 

It is such a blessing to be home with her these days. We go to the park a lot, have been to the zoo, hang out with friends, go to story time at the library, play, and run errands. Even though I love a schedule and to-do list, this more relaxed schedule just fits our family right now. 

Avery 19 Months Old

Our little girl keeps growing up! She is 19 months old today. I took her last week to her 18 month well visit and she now weighs 21 lb. 10 oz.


We have stayed busy this month! Avery loves playing at her friend, Molly Cate's house. Although she was a little apprehensive of the water table at first, she decided that she loved it.

Another of Avery's friends, Gabby, came to play at our house last week. Avery calls her "Babby."

Avery likes to be in the swing for about 30 seconds, then she is ready to get out.

Avery finally decided she kind of likes to play in a baby pool. When she sees one on TV, she calls it by name.

Avery really loved when Pop and Bibi came to spend the day with her. She had a lot of fun!

Avery celebrated her 2nd 4th of July at Molly Cate's house. As you can tell, she also really loves stickers this month. She loves to cover her legs with them. 

Here is Avery playing in the cars at Monkey Joe's. We were there celebrating her friend Mason's 4th birthday.

Avery loves to pretend. She pretends that she is cooking in her kitchen all of the time. She is always making me something good to eat.

She also has NO fear. She has found that climbing up the slide and jumping and running on the couch are more exciting than sliding down the slide or sitting on the couch. 

She loves to go places. We went to story time with her friend Gabby today at the downtown Nashville library.

Avery is a funny girl. She is always doing something these days to make us laugh. Just take a look at this video. Ignore the fact that she is in her diaper and also ignore my silly reading of "Eight Little Monkeys." It is just too cute not to share.

Our Little ABC Project

Avery and I started working on a little "ABC Book" project this week. Since I am staying home with her, it is my attempt at being intentional in the time I spend with her. So, this week we started with the letter A. It was super easy and fun for her because she got to paint.

I just put a little yellow washable paint on a paper plate. I cut a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in half. Then, I drew an uppercase A with a pencil.

Avery helped me paint the letter A.

I taped a picture of her on the first page of our "ABC Book." I am thinking that for the letter B we will cut out a picture of a ball from a magazine or maybe even put a picture of her Bibi (grandmother). For now, it is hanging on our refrigerator. When she sees it, she says "A." It served its purpose, and it was fun too.

Avery even got to paint on a piece of construction paper I had laying around. She was so careful and didn't make a mess at all. Just look at the girl's concentration!

Avery - 18 Months

Yesterday Avery turned 18 months old. It was her half birthday yesterday.

Avery has been learning a lot and seems to be getting bigger every day.

This was Avery's favorite toy at daycare.

She really looks like a toddler now and no longer a baby.

Eating a Snack

I love spending my days with her. She LOVES bubbles. It truly is her new favorite thing.

Playing with Bubbles

She also loves wipes and has to get a new one every time I change her diaper. She walks around "cleaning" things with it. I think she is going to be a GREAT helper one day.

She got her hair cut for the first time just yesterday. It wasn't really a memorable experience. I think I could have done a much better job myself. She wasn't even squirming.

Avery's 1st Haircut

She loves to play outside. However, she dislikes grass. Funny huh?! Matt says that we need to do something to change that for sure.

Matt and Avery

Avery has been "babbling" sentences a lot lately. I have NO idea what she is saying, but she is absolutely confident in her "babbling." She also uses/repeats a lot of words that we say. Her other favorites are "eat" and "bubbles."

Pretty Girl

She loves and uses the word no a lot lately. Someone I know suggested that we catch her on video and pull it out one day when she is a teenager. "Avery, do you want a car?" "No."  "Avery, do you want to date boys until you are 25?" "No." Ha! I really should do that now.

Avery loves to be on the go. She really doesn't love staying at home. I have to think of errands to run every day just to keep her happy. When we arrive at our destination, she usually yells "YAY!"

We have a little touch and feel book with Bible stories that Matt and I love to read to her. She always points to Noah and calls him "daddy." Do you see the resemblance?

Matt and Avery

Since I have been home with Avery over the last month, we have had some really fun times with friends. I can't wait to make more memories! I just love our sweet little girl.

Avery and Molly Cate 

Avery: The 16th and 17th Months

Today, Avery is 17 months old! We love her more and more everyday. She is in the phase where she repeats a lot of what we say. She has learned the word pretty, box, water, baby, please and thank you, and more.

She loves to laugh and be silly with mom and dad. She has recently begun to say hi and bye to everyone she sees.

Avery loves to take things out of boxes (like band-aids) and put them back in. At daycare, she usually helps clean up toys before she leaves and helps find missing shoes. She is very alert and always seems to know what is going on around her.

Here is Avery on Easter Sunday. She looks so tall in this picture! 

Avery and her dad went to paint a piece of pottery for me as a mother's day gift. What a sweet idea! Matt was so brave to do this with a toddler. 

I look forward to the next months of her growth and development as I will be staying home with Avery full time. I will share more about that in my next post!

Avery's New Words

What a week! I had lots of plans for my spring break week that didn't happen. I attribute it all to the awful little stomach bug that Avery picked up somewhere and then passed on to me. Matt went crazy cleaning yesterday and doing all he could to avoid getting it too. I don't blame him one bit!

On to better news. Since she got tubes in her ears and can hear, Avery has been saying a lot of words. Here a just a few that we have heard in the last few weeks: up, hi, bye da-da, poop, water (wa-wa). She has also been singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" (Wo, Wo, Wo). She tries to repeat a lot of what we say.

I think I even heard her try to repeat her name today. She really is full of personality! She likes to laugh and make us laugh. Sweet girl!

A Fun-Filled Weekend

We had a great weekend with family and friends. Avery loved that her Mimi and Pappy came to visit. We all went to the zoo on Saturday morning.

It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. She loves falling asleep in her stroller.

Matt and I went to my friend Stacy's wedding that afternoon. It was a late afternoon wedding and absolutely beautiful. When we left the wedding, Matt and I decided that we would take advantage of free babysitting and go to a movie and out for dinner. We stayed out until 10:00! Sounds funny right, but I honestly can't remember the last time we went to a movie together OR stayed out late. We definitely need to do it more often.

Today we met up with some friends and their kiddos for an Easter egg hunt in Cool Springs. It was Avery's first! It was a good weekend.