8 Months

We are one month closer to Ave's 1st birthday! It is just going too quickly! I feel like things have been falling into place this past month- definitely my favorite so far. Avery is able to do more, is a better sleeper, and is so much fun to be around!

Here's what she's been up to...

Sleeping- Again, we have made some major gains in this department. Before this month, any time that she would cry, I would jump up and go to her room to get her back to sleep. After one or two nights of craziness (she was up for around 2 hours and would not go back to sleep with my help) I decided to let her cry it out a little. This was extremely hard for me but I knew that it would be worse if I went in there. So, she started putting herself back to sleep after about 10-15 minutes. Now she has been sleeping from 8 to 5 with virtually no middle of the night wakeups, feeds, and then sleeps until 8. There have even been a couple of times lately that she hasn't woken up to eat! I hope this will be the new norm! Also, for naps, she will put herself to sleep. I no longer have to rock her to get her to go down. She may cry but it usually is not for more than 3 or 4 minutes.

Eating- I have tried to be a bit more adventurous in this department. Ave has eaten some new things like yogurt and pureed chicken. I still am so confused about when and how much to feed her. I've read that babies are supposed to be eating cheese, meat, veggies, fruit, and grains every day. If I feed her these on top of her nursing sessions, she is going to gain tons of weight and be huge! I feel like it would be easier if I was bottle feeding because I would know exactly what she was getting but I've got no idea how much she gets when she nurses. I know that it's not that big of a deal, and I'm sure that I will look back at this time and laugh at myself for thinking too much into it!

First taste of chicken with sweet potatoes

Crawling- Ave hasn't quite conquered this but she is getting close. She has her own special crawl at this point. Her arms push the top half of her body up. She will get on one of her knees and push off but her lower body goes back to the floor and gets dragged. Then she repeats. It's pretty funny to watch, but hey, she can move around pretty quickly this way. I keep thinking that any day she will figure it out.

Getting close!

Other news- We have been working with Ave to wave. She does it on occasion when she feels like it :). She also started clasping her hands together with her fingers intertwined. For some reason it looks really innocent and sweet. She also likes being rocked with her head on my shoulder now. She never would do this before. I used to rock her horizontally and always secretly wanted her to rest her head on my shoulder and fall asleep. Well, even though she doesn't need to be rocked anymore to sleep, I will do this sometimes just for my own benefit! I keep thinking that she is getting older, and I need to get this in while I still can. I have also been told that my child is very flexible. I thought that all babies were like this but apparently not. She will bend in some crazy ways!

She will play with a toy completely bent over. She also will be sitting up and then just bend her head backward. Maybe she's going to be a ballerina!

Some pictures from this month...

Ave loves anything that is not technically a toy...especially the camera case

Reading an US Weekly... this is a dangerous habit to start!

All the babies at Ash and Kyle's superbowl party. It is very difficult to get a picture of them sitting nicely next to each other!

We all are loving the warmer weather

Love you Avery!

Surfside

This past weekend, we decided to head up to my parent's beach house in Surfside. We have been getting so excited/ready for summer weather, and we thought that a beach trip would be a perfect little getaway. Our good friends, Daniel, Lindsay, and Garrett came too!

When we left Spring, the weather was amazing. It was warm and sunny with no clouds in the sky. I was convinced that my two year no sun streak was over! Well, once we turned off 288 to go to Surfside a huge fog surrounded us. It was crazy! We could hardly see in front of us. I was convinced there was a fire but no- just record breaking fog. It got about 15 degrees cooler as we got close to the water too. So much for summer weather. Oh well, we were not going to let the weather ruin our trip!

Just arrived- ready for some fun!

The babies were incredibly low maintenance. It's amazing how a change of scenery can make a huge difference. Avery will get bored with her same toys at home but she was so interested in playing with them at the beach. Garrett and Ave were just content hanging out on their blanket in the living room!

We decided to take a walk down the jetty that afternoon. It was a little chilly and moist but the babies seemed to enjoy it.

Ave's little spout got curly after the walk

That evening, we grilled some burgers and hot dogs which were delicious. The babies went to sleep around 8. It was wonderful being able to spend some time with just adults after the babies were asleep. We never have been able to accomplish this before. The last time we tried was New Years Eve, and it just didn't happen!

The next morning we took it easy in the morning to wait out the fog.

Ave and Garrett were cracking us up! I don't know what they were doing here but they wanted to get very close to each other.

Check out the fog outside

Eventually it cleared up, and we took the babies to the water for the first time...

Ready!

So fascinated with the water

Mom, you have got to be kidding me!

Checking it out up close

Crazy child

Sweet kiddos!

Although the weather didn't always cooperate, we had a great time. There is something about just getting away from home that is so relaxing. The babies did awesome, and it made me excited for more trips in the future!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Crazy Sleeper

Avery usually falls asleep while nursing at bedtime. I just gently put her in the crib, and she is out for the night. Well, a couple of nights ago, Avery was ready to party after I nursed her. I rocked her for a while but she was flinging her pacifier around, making all of the sounds that she knew, and giggling at me. The rocking was obviously not working! I put her in her crib and left. Usually, she cries for a while and then goes to sleep. I turned on my video monitor and watched her playing for about 5 minutes. Then I looked again, and this is what I saw.

She had fallen asleep just like this. Very unusual since she usually sleeps right in the middle of the crib and doesn't move much in the night.

A couple of minutes later, I saw her like this-

Thank goodness for breathable bumpers! What a crazy girl!

Winter Storm 2011

When I first heard about the possibility of snow, I was very skeptical. It seams like every year they tell us there is a possibility of snow but it rarely ever happens. Well, after hearing about it over and over and over again on the news, I got really excited and immediately started thinking of all the great pictures that I would get of Avery in snow. I checked outside about 30 times before I went to bed on Thursday night and checked again at 4am when I fed Ave. No snow! We had a lot of ice but absolutely no snow. Oh well, work was cancelled for Bill so we had a fun day anyway.

First touch of ice

I copied the cheesy news reporter- this is ice off one of the leaves in our backyard

Cracked ice on our chair outside

Ave watching in the warmth of the house

Maybe next year!

7 Months

I know that I am a little late posting this but there is no time like the present! Avery is now seven (and almost a half) months old! Here's the latest-

Sleeping- We have made MAJOR progress in this department. My new year's resolution was to finally get Avery out of her swaddle. Well, around the 2nd of January, I found Avery sleeping on her belly in her swaddle. She did not wake up during the night so I was really worried that I would go in her room to find her not breathing but luckily she still was (obviously :)). This is one of my irrational fears that I will find her lifeless in her crib. Morbid- yes, I know but I just can't help it! Anyway, I knew that it was time to end her swaddle days. I have been so so nervous about what my sleep would be like once we stopped using the blanket but I was happily surprised to find that she slept amazingly without it! I decided to put her on her stomach since she had rolled that way on her own the night before. The transition was not a big deal at all. She had been waking up a lot before because she would bust out of her swaddle. Now this was not an issue! Next major accomplishment- naps out of the swing. About two weeks ago, I bit the bullet and started putting Avery in her crib for naps. A couple naps were only 30 minutes but eventually she started taking 1 1/2 hour naps in the morning. It is a little trickier to get her to sleep but it's great not having to rely on a swing to get her to sleep. This all seems so trivial in the grand scheme of life but it is a big weight off of my shoulders now that we have conquered this!

Eating- Here is a normal day- 5ish in the morning- nurse, 8- fruit baby food and then nurse, 12ish- nurse sometimes with a veggie added, 3:30- nurse, 6-oatmeal, 8 nurse. This is the most confusing area of raising a child for me. I just feel a little clueless still about how often I should be feeding her, how much baby food she should eat, how much real food she should eat, etc. I don't want to feed her too much but I don't want her to go starving either. I guess there is really no right or wrong way to do it but I always wonder if I am doing it right. Oh, the joys of being a first time mom!

Diapers- Size 3- we switched to Luvs because of the price but still throw Pampers in here and there.

Loves- showing off her belly, ripping up paper, eating puffs, watching the dogs, making shrieking noises, smiling at daddy when he gets home, cell phones, remote controls, leaning her head backwards to see people upside down, jumping on my lap, being tickled, and grabbing at anything and everything.

Dislikes- getting her nose suctioned, being hungry- she will scream the most deafening high pitched scream when she's hungry, getting frustrated that she can't crawl yet- she will try so hard to push up off her belly and then get angry and tired that she can't do it, riding in the car at night without a light on, and being left at her high chair alone even for a very short period of time.

Here are some pictures from this month-

Sweet girl

Avery's first friend's birthday party- Happy birthday Jackson! Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of the big birthday boy.

Torturing my child at the party

Ave's new favorite toy- the tambourine party favor

First car trip with a friend. Avery looks a bit like an old woman but it was extremely cold outside. We went to Chick-fil-A and had two major meltdowns on the way home. They just fed off of each other's craziness! Ash and I just laughed because there really was nothing else we could do!

She loves watching fish- we need to get her to an aquarium!

She has a new fascination with her tongue. I took about 15 pictures on this particular night and every single one had her tongue out like this.

Imagine a high pitched shrieking noise coming from her mouth. This is the face that she makes when she does that.

So proud

Finally I got a normal shot

Happy 7 months baby girl!