Tuesday, May 24, 2011

11 Months

My baby girl is no longer a little baby! She is 11 months old and has been acting like such a big girl lately. I constantly am thinking about how great this stage is. She is so much fun and is seriously cracking us up on a daily basis.

This is the best picture I could get this month sitting. Yes, that is Tylenol in her hand- she is teething!

Sleeping- About the same. She still wakes up once around 6ish to eat in the morning and takes 2 naps during the day. There was a solid week this month that Ave slept from 8 pm to 8:30 am with awesome naps. Now she has another tooth coming in so of course this is changed up a bit.

Eating- Avery is officially no longer nursing as of a couple days ago. I weaned her extremely slowly over the past month so it really wasn't too difficult. The hardest part about bottle feeding is the early morning feed. I hate making a bottle when I am so groggy. It was nice to literally walk into the room with my eyes half open, feed her, and then return to bed. Hopefully she won't need to eat at this time for too much longer. Her feeding schedule is this- bottle around 6am, one at 8am followed by some breakfast, another bottle at 12pm followed by some lunch, a bottle at 3:30pm right before her nap, dinner around 6:30 and then a bottle at bedtime. I do miss nursing her but I am happy that we made it to 11 months. I would have nursed her up to her first birthday but we are jet setting off to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in 1 1/2 weeks!

What's new? - A LOT! My child has become extremely interested in EVERYTHING! This means that I will find her in random places that she should really not be in. My first thought is not to immediately remove her from the situation. Nope, it is to go and grab my camera.

Nothing going on here, Mom!
(She is obsessed with unrolling toilet paper)

I can't unload the dishwasher if she is anywhere near or this is what happens.

She grabbed that juice right from the shelf

Right after this picture was taken, she turned, tried to grab the camera, and ate it big time on the tile (head first). It left a little goose egg on her forehead. I hate when she gets hurt!

Life has definitely gotten more interesting! If I open any cabinets, doors, fridge, etc., she makes a beeline for them as fast as possible! Our kitchen cabinet doors now have locks on them to keep Ave out.

New "tricks"-

-Avery's clapping has returned. She started to clap several months ago for about a month, it disappeared, and now is back full force.

Showing off her clapping skills

- She loves to wave at people. When she does this her thumb is tucked into her hand so it is really cute to watch.
-She has started to dance to music. When I say dance, this consists of taking one arm, extending it out, and moving it left to right. This slightly resembles "the sprinkler." Her mouth is open the entire time doing facials also.
-I put my makeup on while sitting on the ground with her because she is fascinated with my makeup bag. She has even started to take the blush brush and rub it on her face (really it only gets her neck but close enough!) This has slightly started to scare me and Bill that she has an interest in makeup already but it's kind of cute too!
-She is still obsessed with dogs.

Performing some CPR on my parents' dog, Hannah

...and poking her eye out. Sorry Hannah. You sure are a good sport!

-Ave is now into sorting and organizing. Where she learned this, I don't have a clue!

One day at lunch, she was finished with her grilled cheese so she proceeded to sort it into three piles- left cupholder, right cupholder, and the ground.

A couple of nights ago before she went to bed, she grabbed this pile of clothes (that are too small for her now) down onto the ground. In this picture she is taking each item on the left side and placing it on the right side of her. When she had successfully made one pile, then she would get up and start all over again.

Here she was taking everything out of the drawer. When she finished, she put it all back in.
Hopefully this means that she will be a tidy little girl and will help her mama with the cleaning since I never seem to be able to keep up with it!

Here are some other pictures from this month-

This is her "purse" that occupies her time when I get ready. It really is a pedicure set in the shape of a purse that has had its contents removed.

Peaking out the window

A play date with Miss Claire, one of Ave's only girlfriends!

Model pose

Checking out the aquarium/tv with Samantha at Steph and Scott's house

I really can't believe that we are one month away from her big birthday! I just love everyday with Avery and her craziness!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Mother's Day

Sunday was my first Mother's Day to a child outside of the womb. Last year I remember kind of feeling like a mother since I could feel Ave swimming around inside of me, but it didn't quite feel real yet. Well, this year it definitely feels real!

Bill had been asking me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. My response was this- Number 1- have a girl's night out and Number 2- go somewhere fun as a family of 3 on Sunday. Sooo, on Saturday night, Bill had his family over to celebrate Mother's Day and I went out for a night out on the town (a.k.a dinner and a movie). Sadly, I have not done this since before Ave was born...way too long! Ash, Linds, and I went to BJ's for some amazingly tasty Parmesian Crusted Chicken followed by the movie, Something Borrowed. I was thrilled for two reasons- Emily Giffin is one of my favorite authors. I first started reading her books right after I got married and immediately passed them on to everyone I knew. Also, there is something so magical about sitting in a dark movie theater for two hours with an icee in hand. I guess it is because I don't get to do it very often anymore. Something Borrowed was everything that I had hoped for. Jim from The Office really made the movie. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

After a fabulous night, Avery slept in on Sunday until 8:30 then we went to church. After church and a nap for Ave, we headed to the Aquarium. I had a coupon for buy one All day adventure pass, get one free (a $15.99 value!). Anyone that knows me, knows that I live for good deals! Even the guy that we bought the tickets from was impressed by this coupon (score!). Avery was free too! Our passes got us into the aquarium, the carousel, the shark voyage, and the ferris wheel.

Avery loves fish so she was in heaven as we went through the aquarium. She literally didn't make a peep the entire time. She just was so mesmerized by it all. The one downside to the day was that I forgot my camera...again! I was so angry with myself and even checked the gift shop for a disposable one. I guess they don't make those anymore because they definitely didn't have them! We did take a few pictures on Billy's IPhone that came out ok.

Checking out some fish


Not great quality but the only one that I got with my girl all day

The Carousel- Avery didn't quite know what to think. She loves to watch them but had never been on one.


The Shark Voyage ride- you can see a shark's head in the background

Completely passed out of the way home with her hand still in the snack catcher

We had such a fun time at the Aquarium. We got a snow cone on the way home- my favorite! For dinner we went to Spring Creek BBQ- another favorite. Bill even got me a ring that I had talked to him about years ago. It was a complete surprise and so sweet and thoughtful! He really made my 1st Mother's Day great!

I truly think that being a mother is the greatest job in the world. I love being able to stay at home with Avery every day. She has blessed our lives in so many ways, and I'm so thankful that she made a mama!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Easter Day

Easter Sunday was kind of a crazy day for us. Bill and I went to Austin on Saturday for our friend from high school, Pam's wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, and it was so relaxing to get away for a night. We drove back to Houston first thing Sunday morning so that we could make it to the 12:00 service at Faithbridge. Ben Stuart was speaking and as always, he did an amazing job.

After church, we went over to see Bill's family for a little while. Unfortunately, I completely forgot my camera so I don't have many pictures. I hate forgetting my camera and not having those memories on film. Laura sent me a couple taken on their camera so at least there are some.

Bill's Grandma and Aunt Mary Lou

Ave's twin, Auntie Laura

Afterwards, we came home and Ave checked out her Easter basket. She got some goldfish, new pj's, a swim shirt, and a watering can from the Easter bunny!





Her favorite part of the basket


Such a big girl!

After the mini photo shoot, we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house. My cousin, Samantha, is about a year and a half so Ave had a lot of fun playing with her. Here are some pictures...

Ave had so much fun on Samantha's car. She would put her hands on the wheel just like she was driving.


Steph, baby Sophia, Ave, and me
I can't wait for next Easter when Sophia will be here to play with the girls!



Ave's 1st Easter was really special and a lot of fun to celebrate. We are so thankful to have all of our family nearby so that we can share these holidays with them!

Monday, May 2, 2011

What a difference 9 months makes!

1 Month

10 months

Easter Bunny Photo Shoot

Ash, Luke, Avery, and I went to the Woodlands Mall to try to get some pics taken with the Easter Bunny. It was a bit of a disaster- the Easter Bunny gets a lunch break which causes the line to get atrocious! Long story short, there were way to many people in line to get pictures taken so we did a little impromptu photo shoot near the Easter Bunny area. I'm pretty sure people thought we were crazy but oh well! Here's what we got...


We're here- What now?

Playing with the "grass"

And she's off

Luke said he was over the pictures. He would much rather run around!

Finally, a decent one although it has nothing to do with Easter. Oh well!