We've got a walker!

Ave started walking a few days ago!  Here she is making her way down the hallway.

What a big girl!  She is growing up way too fast!

Steph's Baby Shower #1

I helped host a shower for Stephanie a couple of weekends ago.  We cannot wait for baby Sophia to get here, and we were excited to get together in anticipation of her arrival!  The shower was held at Steph's friend, Monique's house.  I think everything went great and Sophia got a lot of great gifts!

The cute cake that matched her invitation

I just love name blocks!

The hostesses + Steph

Sisters!

I could not be more excited about Sophia coming soon!  Ave is going to love having a new playmate!

The 4th

One of my favorite holidays is the 4th of July.  It makes me think of summer fun and good food.  We weren't really able to celebrate last year because we had a two week old so this year I was pumped to be able to get out and do something.  Unfortunately Faithbridge didn't have their usual bash so we decided to have some fun with friends and family. 

 I can't get over how old Ave looks in her dress.  Can this really be my child?

On Sunday afternoon, we headed over to the Arrants' house to celebrate. Dan cooked some AMAZING pulled pork for dinner and we let the kiddos play together.

She's feeling very patriotic

 I just had to put this picture in here.  We were trying to get Avery to smile for a picture and she was over it!  Billy seems pretty happy though!

 Garrett was waving his flag proudly!

 The babies are lucky that they have such great dads to push them around the yard!

Family pic- Ave looks like she is going to fist pump someone!

On Monday, we went over to my parents' house to swim and eat dinner.  I didn't take many pictures because we were in the pool for the majority of the time.  Here's some that I did get-

Ave playing in "her" cabinet

Her favorite spot at my parents' house...by the window looking out at the dogs.

Her other favorite spot- right next to her BFF, Hannah.

An added bonus was that fireworks were banned due to the drought.  Most people were upset by this but it sure makes putting a small child to sleep much easier!

Garrett's B-day Party

The week after Avery's b-day party, we went to her bff, Garrett's birthday party.  They were born two days apart so Lindsay and I were able to go through all of the ups and downs of our pregnancies and their first year together.  I love to watch A and G play together because they are usually doing the same milestones at the same time (clapping, crawling, etc.) Garrett always has a smile on his face and has such a sweet personality.  Celebrating his big day was a lot of fun!

The birthday boy!

Here's a pat on the head for your birthday!

Sweet moment with his mama

Playing in Garrett's cool ball tent

Luke was getting lots of piggy back rides from Lacey

Garrett and Jackson

 The babies all loved G's truck

Somehow Ave ended up in the front seat with Luke

 Then Garrett wanted to come up too!

 1st cupcake

He loves it!

Happy 1st Birthday Garrett! 

My little 1 year old!

My baby is officially one (or she was a couple of weeks ago)!  I know that I've said this a billion times but I just can't believe that she is already a year old!  She is becoming so much more of a little girl than a baby these days.  

On her actual birthday, we got the first good rain that we'd had in months!  

Ah man!  It's raining on my birthday!

Getting ready for her big day.  She loves her Jellies!

Posing with Mama

We met up with some friends at Cafe Express.  She did awesome at lunch.  I think we were there for about 2 hours, and she had a great time.  Maybe it's because she had an unlimited supply of sweet potato fries and breadsticks!  After Bill got home from work, we got some dinner and then came home for a sprinkle cupcake.  Yum!

Tasty!

Playing with Daddy before bedtime

We had a great time on her b-day despite all of the rain.  I had actually forgotten how to take a child in and out of places with weather like that since it had been so long!

 Here's her latest stats...

Weight- 21lbs 3 oz- 51%

Height- 27 in (i think?) which was around the 49%

Head- I have no idea what the measurement was but it was the 48%

Eating- She is so over pureed baby food.  She must think that she is way too grown up for that!  The only baby food that I can get her to eat are veggies- squash and sweet potatoes.  She loves finger foods but is a little picky about what she will eat.  I really hope that this doesn't continue into childhood!  Her favorites these days are watermelon, peaches, pears, plain bread, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese, zucchini (who would have guessed!), yogurt melts, and Cafe Express breadsticks.  She is not a fan of most meats but will eat some sliced turkey and chicken when she feels like it.  Lately, I've been trying to transition her to whole milk but I'm going pretty slowly.  I had a problem with milk as a child so I want to make sure that she doesn't.  

Mmm, watermelon!

Sleeping- This still really varies from day to day and night to night.  Right around a year, Ave decided that she wanted only one nap a day which usually happens from 12:30 to around 2 or 3.  I actually really like her taking one nap because I feel like we have more freedom to do what we need to do or go places.  She still goes to bed around 8 and wakes up anywhere between 5 and 7 to eat then goes back to sleep until roughly 8.  

Favorites-

-Ave loves to point her little finger at anything that goes by.  Hooks airport isn't far from our house, and she loves to play in the backyard and point to all the small planes that fly by.  She also loves to touch pointer fingers to another person.  It's a little strange that this brings so much joy to her but also kind of cute!

-I have started letting her sleep with a little stuffed dog and she loves to snuggle him.

-Touching teeth, eyelashes, eyeballs, really anything on someone's face.  Again, bizarre, I know!

This was taken right after bathtime (before we had her pj's on properly obviously) and she was so intent on inspecting Bill's teeth.  Maybe she wants to be a dentist.

-Talking on anything that resembles a phone

-Giving hugs and kisses

-Getting scared by her Daddy- Bill will jump out from around a corner and yell Boo and she thinks this is hilarious!
-Crawling at the speed of light.  She will take a few steps and fall down but I have a feeling it won't be too long!

-Anything that has to do with water including but not limited to swimming, baths, her sand and water table, sprinklers, and dog bowls.

Ready to go swimming

Some other pics from this month-

Ave's hair is so long that we can make a tall mohawk.  When do girls get their first haircut?

Avery Bieber

I was cleaning out the closet in the toyroom where lots of her baby stuff is stashed and she thought that this was the greatest toy.

 Watching Daddy mow

I was so focused on getting Ave to smile which is so hard these days that Bill's head got cut off.  Oops! At least I got the smile!

Sweet girl

Now that a year has passed, I really cannot remember life before kids.  It is such a special time already filled with so many memories.  Ave is so sweet and affectionate these days, and I just want to freeze time right here!

Baby Landon

 Our good friends, Steven and Chelsea, just had their sweet little baby, Landon John on July 1st!  He is so cute and tiny, and I just love holding him!  They are going to be such great parents to their little boy.  Avery is so excited to have another friend to play with too!

Visiting Landon in the hospital

Lindsay with Landon (you can see his face much better in this one)

I just love newborn babies!  I couldn't help but feel a flood of memories come back when we went to visit Steven, Chels, and Landon.  They were at the same hospital and it feels like just yesterday that we were there with Ave.  My how time flies!