happy two and a half, avery!

at two and a half you ...

... call daddy charlie about 90% of the time.  

...  call me honey about 50% of the time. 

...  you love your little sister and ask to hold her, and play with her, and help her do things.  honestly you're a fabulous sister almost all of the time.  but sometimes you will push her over for no reason and then smile sweetly at me while she cries.  

...  you are still pretty tiny!  some of those 2T pants don't stay up too well on you. 

...  you love to read and are mostly into reading to yourself these days.  you have quite a few books 'memorized'.

...  you want to DO IT YOURSELF.  i get it. 

...  you have informed me that i am your favorite girl, daddy is your favorite daddy, ellie is your favorite sister, and henry and dunkin are your favorite dog.  

...  you love to hear stories and request them all throughout the day.

...  you are independent.  you want to do what you want regardless of what other kids are doing. 

...  you love ice cream and marshmallows and popsicles.  you also love pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, and onions.  

...  purple is your favorite color and you love butterflies.

...  you love to be outside.  

...  you are just starting to walk up and down steps and are very proud of yourself each and every time you do it.  you'll tell me, 'i walked up the stairs ALL BY MYSELF".  and then we high five. 

...  you refuse to wear jeans.  apparently they are "too tight". 

...  you want to help with everything.  and usually you do!

 ...  you play pretend all the time.  you have an amazing imagination and i hope it never goes away.

...  you love the water and fish.  you have a counting book that has 7 fish and one is a shark and you get mad every time we read it: "that's not a fish that's a shark".   

...  it's june but you still talk a lot about christmas.  i cannot imagine how excited you're going to be when it finally comes this year.  we still read christmas books although we've managed to put off your requests to watch the grinch.  

...  you've informed me that ellie is going to be a bear for halloween but you're not sure what you should be.

...  you love to dance and are officially requesting your first country song (yes!), which is "this is how we roll".    

...  you give the best hugs and tell us that you love us for no reason.  when ellie hugs you (i.e. grabs your hair and tries to chew on your face) you tell her "awww, i love you ellie".  

...  you sleep with bunny and tiger.  and are very specific about your bedtime routines.  if charlie is around you want him to put you to sleep.

you are so.much.fun.  i love this age you are at even though sometimes you are not very logical, i suppose that's to be expected.  but you are still the sweetest and i cannot believe that you're already two and a half, halfway to five!! crazy.  love you, little a.   

       

10 months!

firsts:

crawling

pulling up on furniture

saying "cat" and "uh-oh" and "hi"

waving hi and bye-bye

you can point to my eyes, ears, and nose

plane ride

pumpkin patch

trip to maryland, the atlantic ocean

two top teeth

loves:

ollie of course

walks in the stroller

hanging out with your grandparents

dropping things and saying 'uh-oh'

reading books

playing with the dogs

meatballs, cheese, yogurt, and bananas

10 months you silly girl!  this month has been big for you as you've really figured out how to move.  the day of your 9 month 'birthday' you started crawling and you've only gotten better and faster in the past month.  when you first figured out how to move you were doing a weird 'crab crawl' as your dad called it.  now you're crawling 'normally' on all fours unless you want to get somewhere fast and then you revert back to your old ways.  you are getting really fast!  and you love to make a beeline for things that we don't want you to get into like the dogs' water and the dvds.  you've also started pulling yourself up on things and if you weren't so happy crawling i would think you wouldn't be too far from walking. however, i think you're still content to crawl anywhere you want to go.  as much as we've had a busy month with baby proofing and rearranging the office i'm so happy that you've figured all of this out because you are so much happier now that you can get where you want to go.  you were pretty frustrated for a few months there when you wanted to go and do things on your own but couldn't quite figure out how to do that.

i feel like your understanding of language has also exploded this month.  you're still saying cat and ollie is a favorite but you've also started saying 'uh-oh' and i think this might be your new favorite.  your dad taught you how to drop things and then say 'uh-oh' and you now do this on purpose.  food off of your highchair, books off of the couch, and my phone whenever you can get ahold of it.

you had your first trip to the pumpkin patch, first plane ride, trip to maryland, and first beach visit this month.  you're definitely a serious baby when you're in new situations.  i think you like to sit back and take it all in before deciding if you want to play or if someone new is okay to smile at.  i like that you're a little cautious and i hope you manage to keep this quality as you get older.  you loved the ocean and were quite happy to watch the waves but you also loved playing in the sand and even ate a few mouthfuls just to see what they tasted like.  you also had your first train ride at cabin john park and carousel ride at the carousel on the national mall in d.c..  i think you liked them both although you were still pretty serious about it all as usual.  you were great during our trip with meeting new people and staying new places, although i think we were all happy to return to our own beds and get some better sleep when the trip was over.

your dad says all the time that you're the cutest and you really do get more and more fun the older you get.  you had a rough time with sleeping this month when your top two teeth came in, one right after the other, but even on those nights when you didn't sleep much you were a pretty happy baby during the day.  i cannot believe that you're almost a year already!  i'm not ready for that quite yet and i still look back at pictures of you from a few months ago and wonder where my chubby baby went.  love you baby girl.

9 months.

loves: 
ollie

walking while we hold your hands

napping on momma

walks in the stroller

hiking in the ergo

feeding yourself

cheese

reading books

firsts:

meat

clapping for yourself

going from laying down to sitting

grabbing my nose and ear and knowing the difference between the cats and the dogs

trying to say cat whenever you see them.  

hike to the top in your backpack

trip  to 12,000 feet and above treeline

happy hour in boulder

you can crawl/scoot yourself to things you want

figuring out how to activate siri on the iphone

9 months avery girl!  this was a big month for you as far as figuring things out in your world.  you seem so much more aware of what's going on and are really starting to recognize certain words and piece things together.  it has been so fun to teach you things this month.  you will grab my nose and ear if i ask you where they are, you know which animals are cats and which are dogs, and you know that 'yay' means clap your hands.  you love to clap for yourself when you do something you think is praise-worthy.  this month you learned how to go from laying down to sitting and each time you would do it i would say 'yay, good job' which inspired you to clap for yourself.  now any time you sit up you immediately start clapping for yourself and look at me like 'mom! hello!' if i don't join in.  you love, love, love ollie.  he is still a strong favorite and when i ask you where the cat is you'll look around for him.  once you spot him you start trying to say cat.  you've got the sounds down but haven't yet put them together.  i have a feeling it won't be long before you do and i'm guessing that cat will be your first word.  you know who the dogs are, too, but get less excited about them.  henry has been oh so patient with you and lets you climb all over him, grab his ears and tail, and even look inside his mouth.  he is one good dog.  dunkin is less excited about your antics and usually gets up pretty quickly if you try and play with him.  

you want to be on the move pretty badly and both walking and crawling.  

8 months.

(forgot to post a bunch of these.  be prepared for a few 'avery grows up' posts)

oh wow, i'm not sure if i'm ready for this one yet kid.  8 months seems awfully close to 1 year.  but you're so much fun to watch and play with that i'll try and forgive you for growing up so fast.

you haven't hit any huge milestones yet this month and yet somehow you seem much more older and aware of things.  you've been pretty frustrated this month and i think a lot of that comes from the fact that you can't get yourself from where you are to where you want to be.  walking and crawling are both on your mind but you can't seem to figure them out.  you have greatly increased your range of motion which means that we have to put things we don't want you to get much further away from you now.  you can spin 360 degrees around on your belly and if you're sitting you can lunge forward to grab things, your current favorites are the cat's tail and our phones.  you love to stand although you can't really get yourself there yet.  if we put you sitting up in your crib you can pull yourself to standing although this is the only place you've figured out how to do that.  mostly you use us to stand up and get you where you want to go, but i can tell you're over asking for help.  i have a feeling that once you figure things out everything will come at once for you.  this may be the last month i can say we have a non-mobile baby.  if not i have a feeling you'll be really frustrated by month 9.

as far as eating goes you've gotten much better about eating solids this month.  you typically will take a few bites of my yogurt in the morning, eat some fruit for lunch, and then some veggies for dinner.  you're pretty independent and like to feed yourself.  i keep seeing other babies who are so neat and clean when they're eating, but not you.  you have to grab the spoon yourself for every bite which involves food all over your hands and face.  you're still nursing as often as you were before, which means you're pretty much eating all day long.  it can be a challenge to squeeze in other things.   

you're a vocal little lady, always talking to yourself.  you're actually pretty hilarious and keep your dad and i entertained just by watching you.  you're still babbling dada a lot although you've added a lot of other sounds.  still no mama and you still love to scream.  you're pretty good at letting us know what you're not happy with something.  in fact despite the fact that you're pretty happy and easy there are quite a few things that you don't like.  you hate when we take things away from you, when i leave the room, when we change your diaper, take you out of the bathtub or try to dress you in clothes.  you also do not like to fall asleep on your own but i'm resisting the topic of sleep because i could write an entire novel on that alone.  i suppose it's good that you know what you like.  we definitely try hard not to give into your demands, like returning the iphone we just took away, and luckily you haven't yet figured out that things exist once you can't see them which means you get over things pretty quickly.

you still don't have any teeth yet.  people, including me, have been saying that you've been teething for 3 months.  usually that's in reference to how terrible your sleep is. although we've made progress towards the end of this month.  i just hope that we keep moving forward in that area.

you love being outside, hanging out with the dogs, seeing us for the first time in the morning, sharing food with me, going for walks in the stroller, and running errands with me.  we still use the ergo when we're out shopping but you run out of patience if we're not constantly moving.  one of the reasons that i say that you've grown up so much is that i think you just 'get' things more.  we read this book usually once a day called 'where is your nose' that has those peek-a-boo flaps in it.  you love opening the flaps and know exactly which way to pull each of them.  it's pretty cute to watch you figure everything out.  you also love turning the pages to board books, sometimes a little too quickly, but since we read these books so often i pretty much have them memorized so it hasn't been too much of a problem.  you love playing with your daddy and peek-a-boo is still a favorite.  saying 'avery, avery where are you?' can snap you out of a bad mood pretty quickly.  

you had your first serious tumble this month.  it was hard for your dad and i too, both seeing you hurt (i think i may have relieved that moment for days and i can still see it happening if i close my eyes), and trying to make the best decisions for you.  thankfully you weren't seriously hurt.  i'm glad i trusted my gut on that one and didn't subject you to any testing just for my own peace of mind.  you slept with us for a few nights after this, or rather you slept and i watched you all night long, which made getting you back in your crib a little difficult although it didn't matter at all at the time.  you were a trooper during the whole thing and it definitely was a reminder about how tough you are.  

you still love the animals and i think the dogs have gotten more popular this month.  your dad is still worried that you might be a cat person since you love petting ollie.  i think the fact that he's so patient and tolerant with you has helped with this, too.  we took a video of you playing with him this month and you're grabbing his tail and shaking it all around and he's laying on the bed purring.  he seems to like all the attention and still jumps up to sit in your lap even though you pull his ears.  you like to climb on the dogs a bit and henry is much more patient than dunkin.  dunkin still makes me nervous as i can see him getting annoyed with the attention but henry could care less.  you lean on his back and smack his belly (i really think he likes this) and are happily entertained by his tail for 10 minutes at a time.  i think he secretly loves the attention.

i think we may be at the beginning stages of separation anxiety as you're starting to show a preference for having me hold you and be in the room with you at all times.  i'm sure this is partly due to the fact that we're almost never apart.  luckily your dad is pretty good at distracting you from the fact that i'm gone and once you've forgotten about me you have so much fun playing with him.  although you tolerate it, you look at strangers pretty funny when they try and touch you.  i do too, though.

avery, i say this every month but you are just so much fun.  i feel so blessed to have you in our lives and i'm thankful each and every day that you're a happy healthy baby girl.  i can't wait to watch you continue to grow throughout the years.  thanks for being such a wonderful part of our family.

firsts

drinking from a straw

taking steps with mom and dad

cheese

turning the pages in your board books

mimicing us: clapping hands, making indian sounds, sticking your tongue out.
trip to the reservoir

loves

ollie.  this is pretty standard.

standing.

walks in the stroller.

falling asleep while being held.

feeding yourself.

playing silly games with your dad.

peek a boo.

being with mom all the time.

sharing yogurt in the morning.

reading books.

watching other kids.

the where is your nose book

17 months.

remember when i blogged?  me neither.  but avery has been growing like crazy and i feel sort of guilty for not keeping track of all of it.  so i'm going to try.  also charlie apparently likes to have some sort of a record of our lives.  

avery just turned 17 months and i have to say i am loving this age.  she's playing by  herself much more these days, which makes working from home so much easier.  the past few months were really tough because she would not entertain herself for more than 5 minutes at a time and there were many days when i thought i was losing my mind.  it wasn't terrible on the days i didn't have to work but it was really hard trying to get work accomplished and keep avery happy.  so i am very thankful for the longer stretches of time that she's occupying her self now.  

she's still not walking, which i admit drives me crazy.  she can walk and will take steps on her own, usually when asked by one of us if she'll walk or if she can stand up.  she's just shown no interest in making walking her main method of getting around.  there's a lot of things that i think she would enjoy a lot more if she could walk instead of crawling, like playing at the park or going to the pool.  but she's determined to keep crawling when she wants to get from one place to the next.  we started taking her to a 'gymnastics' class on saturdays in the hopes that being around walking kids would encourage her to walk but so far no luck.  she's always been very cautious with moving to the next stage so i think part of it is just that she's not that confident in walking yet. someday soon i hope.  

she loves books and we read an uncountable number of books a day.  some of her current favorites are the national geographic pop-up books, good dog, carl, the three little kittens, the jolly postman books, and any animal book.  she'll read to herself now, which i love.  i hope that she continues to enjoy books as she's gotten older.  she's gotten slightly more gentle with books so we're no longer limited to the board books, although we have quite a few crumpled pages from her flipping through her favorites so many times.  

she's really affectionate.  not exactly sure where she got this from, but she gives kisses and hugs unprompted throughout the day.  i have to say i love this and it's nice to see that she actually does love and appreciate us on some level.  she still loves the animals and they all frequently get hugs and kisses, too.  i think she still slightly favors the cats over the dogs and we've been lucky that they've all been really good with her.  

she eats anything and everything and there are times when i'm shocked at how much food a tiny person can eat.  breakfasts and dinners are her biggest meals and sometimes she'll eat almost nothing for lunch, but she's still eating about 3 snacks a day, too.  still chugging water and refusing milk, which i've long given up on.  she just officially weaned herself a day after she turned 17 months.  i'm glad she did it on her own but it was a little bittersweet for me.  i've really enjoyed that relationship.  

she loves kids, animals, books, water, and being outside.  i'm so happy that the weather is finally nice because she loves being outside and will ask to play outside or go for a walk.  we took her to the pool for the first time this year and she loved it.  i thought she might be a bit apprehensive since she didn't go at all this winter but she was in heaven screaming 'play, play' as soon as we got there until we went in the water.  she didn't love those 10 minute adult swims even though she was so cold she was shivering. i'm hoping we get to go a lot this summer and hopefully get her into a few swim lessons.

charlie and i got to put our lifeguard training to use in the past few months when she choked twice in one week.  sort of made all of those early morning CPR classes worthwhile.  luckily she rebounded well from both experiences although i've been cutting her food up a lot smaller.  she's had a lot of molars coming in and i think chewing was painful so she decided to skip that step.  i think they're all almost in, although i think all of that teething was part of the reason why she was so clingy for a while.  in the past 3 months she's gotten 6 new teeth and she's never been a baby who wasn't bothered by teething.  

    

14 months.

avery's growing up so fast.  doesn't every parent say that?  charlie and i are always watching old videos of her and saying 'i don't remember her being like that'.  here are some of the things she's doing at 14 months.  if you're not my mom then feel free to skip this post because i know these are only interesting for parents and grandparents.

... standing! this was probably the most exciting moment of my life thus far.  i thought she was going to be 5 before she started walking but she finally figured out that she can stand on her own and she's so proud of herself.  it probably doesn't hurt that she has a cheering squad every time she does it.

...  mimicking everything that we say and do.  she can make funny sounds and copy hand gestures and facial expressions.

...  the fake laugh.  this comes out any time she hears anyone else laughing. 

... the fake burp.  she does this when she sees a beer.  this is probably not a good sign.  

...  the fake sneeze.  henry sneezes all the time.  i think he's allergic to avery.  she think's it's pretty funny and will start fake sneezing when he walks in the room.

... calling the cats, the dogs, and charlie.  this all started with the cats but now she uses it when she wants anyone to come to her.  clicking her tongue and patting her knee is her way of saying 'get over here'.

...  she's really into any lift the flap book, the "one thumb, two thumb" book, and her book of animals.  she likes being read to regardless but those are her favorites and after 4 reads i usually have to hide the book.  

... stacking blocks.  we're up to 5 and just like with standing she's quite impressed with herself.

...  toys.  she loves shape sorters, her play kitchen, and anything with lids.

...  she loves her stuffed bunny.  this bunny sleeps with her every night and gets dragged throughout the house.  in the morning when she wakes up i always find her standing in her crib and holding tight to him.

...  words:  thank you, gentle, cat, doggie, mama, dada, hot, owl, bird, baa baa, duck, book, ball, rooster, paw, ear, tail ... and i'm probably forgetting a bunch. 

...  dancing is still a favorite activity and she has quite a few moves that are pretty funny.  i have no idea where she figures these things out.

...  she is terrible at napping and only falls asleep in someones arms, the car, or the stroller.  it sucks.

... she still nursing 3-4 times a day.

... she loves blueberries, strawberries, hot dogs, bananas, yogurt, hummus, peas, and pretty much any meat.  she's a pretty good eater and usually eats 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.  she insists on eating whatever we are and will refuse dinner if it's different from what we're eating.

...  she gives kisses to the animals on the regular and charlie and i receive them less frequently.  

... she hates being alone although she's happy to play with her toys as long as i'm no more than 3 inches away from her.  she prefers to sit in my lap while playing, though.

...  she loves the snow, looking for birds in the sky, pointing out dogs on walks, running errands, baths, and weekends when she gets as much attention as she wants.

...  she loves fish and any aquarium.  i'm excited to take her to the baltimore aquarium and some museums when we go back to maryland this summer.  i'm thinking the natural history and the air and space since they've got some great kid stuff and they also happen to be my favorites.

14 months is pretty cool.  although i look at her baby pictures and think 'where did all of your chunky rolls go?' it's so fun to have an interactive baby and it's really fun to see her figure things out for herself these days. 

a 12 month old or an introduction to toddlerhood.

i'm sort of hesitant to call avery a toddler yet.  i mean she's not walking so i figure i can at least hold off until that happens before i'm forced to make this transition.  but despite the fact that she acts like walking is for her servants and would prefer to be carried wherever she needs to go, i can't deny that she's acting more and more like a toddler every day.  for starters, she throws tantrums.  they are awesome.  kidding.  they're still not earth-shattering yet but lots of screaming with the occasional head slam against the ground.  she also hit me for the first time the other day.  and all i could think was, here we go.  i was holding her and plopped her down on the floor immediately and then 'boom': head smack against the floor.  maybe we'll make her wear a helmet.  

she gets more and more demanding by the day.  she knows quite a few words but her preferred method of communication is the point and grunt.  she uses this when she wants me to carry her somewhere, when she wants something i'm eating, when she wants her water, or when she wants to listen to music. sigh.  why couldn't please or thank you have been one of her first words? 

she is also a terrible napper.  as in will not nap unless  it's in my arms.  for a few days i was putting her down for a nap like i was putting her to sleep at night and she would cry for a bit and then take an actual nap, but after about three days that went out the window and she would scream and scream and scream and not sleep.  so awesome.  there are lots of days now where she doesn't nap much.  

but there are some pretty cool things, too.  her vocabulary is growing like crazy and it's so fun to hear her say new words and really understand what they mean.  she's known hot for a while but i'm sort of amazed at how she's really able to apply it to all things that are hot.  it started with my coffee cup and she's applied it to candles, boiling water, tea, the dryer, and my beer.  okay, no one said she was perfect.  

she's really into figuring out how things fit together and loves putting the lids on containers, stacking blocks, her shape sorter, and putting small things inside bigger containers.  we have two sets of nesting blocks which are a big hit.  and she's into reading books on her own now.  she has no patience for me reading to her these days unless it's a lift the flap book but will sit and flip through books herself for a while.  

she's a dancing queen.  ha.  and loves to dance.  she knows that charlie's iphone has all the good music. she's been blowing kisses for a while and does like to blow herself kisses in the mirror.  she's started kissing me unprompted, which is the sweetest thing ever.  especially when she grabs my face with both hands and kisses me 4 times in a row.  avery, i'd like to remember more of those moments and less of the head banging ones. 

she still love, love, loves the animals.  the cats still may be a slight favorite but it's hard to tell.  henry is completely over her and will get up and run away when he sees her coming.  dunkin is a lot more patient these days.  she's started using him to pull up on (the poor dog) but really does love him.  the other day she grabbed handfulls of his fur and stood up and then planted a kiss on his chest.  if he's sitting and she's standing she fits just under his chin.  she loves pointing out his body parts and eye is a favorite.  she pokes him in the eye and then says "eye".  she does the same with ear and paw and knows tail but can't say it yet.  she's gotten pretty rough with the animals so we're trying to introduce the concept of "gentle".  it's not going well.

i can tell we have a lot of fun things headed our way as she gets older & probably some frustrating ones too.  i try to remember that it's probably pretty difficult for her sometimes, when she wants something and can't figure out how to tell me.  but mostly it's fun to see her try and figure out her world and makes up for the chunky baby rolls that she's losing by the day now.

one.

this baby girl turned one just a few days ago and there aren't a lot of words to describe how i feel about all of it.  this year has been both the longest, shortest & best of my life.  i'm so grateful that this little lady showed up a year ago and made us a family.  she's the best.

7 months.

i feel like this past month was a HUGE one for development.  you're changing really quickly and now that i think about everything that you've been doing it sort of makes sense that it would line up with terrible night time sleep.  we'll go with that excuse anyway.

i said that my goal this month was to soak in every moment and i really think i did just that.  it definitely helped that i had a week off this month to spend with family.  

this month has been a big one for babbling.  you've started saying consonants and your favorite is 'dada', go figure.  after all the hours i've spent with you over the past 7 months you'd think you could throw a measly 'mama' in my direction but apparently i'll have to hold out a bit longer for that one.  charlie tried to talk me into thinking that maybe you were saying 'dan' but i think he was grasping at straws with that one.  i've heard some ga's and ba's and mmmms in there, too which is a big change from previous months where all you would do is scream 'aaaaaaa' and blow raspberries.  you're still doing both of those although the 'dada dada' has become a favorite as well.  

you also drank out of a cup for the first time!

the biggest change this month has been introducing solids.  we've mostly done baby led weaning and mixed in some purees but you're a fan of doing things herself, which i've tried to let you do.  so far this month you've had apples, avocados, peaches, pears, sweat potatoes, plums, grapes, strawberries, and bananas.  i have not followed the 3 day rule at all as i really don't have the patience for that.  some of your favorites have been avocados, apple slices, and strawberries.  you've learned how to bite and chew and while the process has been a little scary at times, i think you've really enjoyed experimenting with different foods.  i made some pear, apple, and sweet potato purees and you have tried those as well, although i think you like the larger chunks of food better.  

you shows no signs of crawling and i sometimes wonder if you'll be one of those babies that goes straight to walking.  i still think we're pretty far from all of that but you are starting to lose patience with sitting in one place and the amount of time you'll happily sit and play at once is getting shorter.  you also pulled yourself up from sitting to standing for the first time just yesterday.  i think our days of a non-mobile baby are numbered.  

you still love being held although you're a squirmy baby when your in my arms.  you love to turn around and around, especially if you're sitting down.  

you did great when traveling in telluride, further proving my point that 2 of your favorite things are being within a foot of me at all times and seeing new places and things.  i also think you really enjoyed the time she had with your grandparents this month and it was a shock to us all when we had to go back to work and you didn't have someone to entertain you 24 hours a day.  

sleep is still our biggest challenge.  your naps are still completely inconsistent and i never know when i put you down for a nap if it's going to be 20 minutes long or an hour.  we really started to work on a nap routine and putting you down without nursing, which was getting better and then we went to telluride and regressed a lot in regards to naps.  you took all of your naps that trip in the ergo which made napping in her crib nearly impossible when we got back.  nighttime sleep has also gotten a lot worse.  where you were consistently waking up once a night to nurse and then going right back to sleep, you're now waking up 3-4 times a night.  i think it's a combination of growth (you really are eating more), teething, and wanting to sleep snuggled next to me.  as much as i love those nighttime snuggles i love sleep and i'm hoping you'll work this out soon so we don't have to look into sleep training. 

6 months.

woah kid, half a year! 

as much as i can't believe you've been a part of our lives for 6 months i have to admit that i've been waiting and waiting for this milestone.   

when i was pregnant with you i used to imagine this summer:  a 6 month old baby and my favorite season.  i'm happy to say it's been just as wonderful as i thought it would be. 

you've loved the pool and will splash around for as long as we let you in there.  we've taken you a few times this month as it's the perfect place to entertain you on a hot day.  i love those sweet, sweaty naps that you take on me when we sit in the shade after playing awhile.  you inherited your dad's fair skin (although he would argue that he's not fair) so we've been slathering you with sunscreen and making sure you always have a hat on you.  there's nothing cuter than a baby in a bathing suit and hat smelling of chlorine and sunscreen.

it's been so hot here this summer that i've actually be using the a.c. in the house.  some days i don't bother dressing you in much, just a t-shirt and a diaper, but you don't seem to mind.

you still love your playmat (as long as you are sitting up) and we finally unpacked all of our toys and got you a few others so you have toys in both the office and the family room.  you'll entertain yourself pretty well but get a little bored towards the end of the day.  you still love walks in your stroller and now we stop at the playground so you can swing on the swings.  i usually let you swing on the baby swings for a bit and then put you on my lap and we swing together for awhile.  the dogs stay right by your side, running back and forth with us.  

you definitely like to get out of the house and i try to make sure we do that at least once a day, even if it's just a walk to the playground or a trip to the grocery store.  you also had your first trip to the library this month but were pretty unimpressed as you slept the whole time.  speaking of sleeping you are not a fan of naps.  you still nap best when you're in the car, the stroller, the ergo, or my arms but i'm working hard at trying to get you to nap in your crib.

at your 6 month checkup you were 24 inches long and 14 pounds 5 ounces.  still a little thing, between the 10th and 25th percentile.  this was the first time you got to sit up on the scale instead of laying down and you liked that much better.  you got some shots this time around, too and seemed to have a hard time that night.  a few days later you were back to your usual self.

these 6 months have been the best.  i told myself i was really going to savor every day this month and i hope we do.  we have more family visiting to see you and we're taking our first vacation to telluride.  i hope you love it as much as your dad and i do.  it's a pretty magical place. love you, baby girl.

the stars may fall and the rains may pour,

but i will love you evermore. 

you were born to make this right, 

you were born to chase the light.

you were born ...

5 months.

happy 5 months, baby girl!

well kid, this month was a crazy one.  we closed on our house and moved into our new home!  this meant we moved out of your first and only home that you've ever had.  we were really busy this month but you were a total trooper.  you had no problems with being in a new house and act like we've always lived here.  

you have been so.much.fun this month!  you laugh, you play, you love your dad and i and the dogs, and you love to go out and do things.  i love watching you grow and figure more and more things out each day.  it's so fun watching you explore the world.  you love to be sitting and standing and although you can't do either on your own yet you're working really hard at both of them.  you're still waking up once a night and to be honest, i like that you do.  12 hours without snuggling with you is just too long.    

sit on the front porch

kick off your shoes

we don't need nowhere to go

we don't need a tune

singing, hold my loving arms

my loving arms are for you

i said, hold my loving arms

my loving arms are for you

love you, ave.  i'm looking forward to many new adventures with you this month.

4 months.

wow! 4 whole months.



oh baby girl, i have loved these past few months with you.  i say this every month but i can't believe how much you've changed in the past 30 days!  you started off this month pretty sick but recovered after a few weeks.  you also had your last day of daycare bringing your total days at daycare to 4.  not terribly bad.  it's been a challenge for your dad and i to juggle schedules and working while you're awake but it's worth it to have the time with you and know you're getting good care.  sleep was a bit challenging this month between you being sick and going through a phase where you didn't want to sleep anywhere but next to me but towards the end of the month you finally started sleeping well and are now waking up usually once to eat and sleeping for around 12 hours a night.  your dad and i are looking forward to watching you grow up even more in the next month.

i hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow

and each road leads you where you want to go

and if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose

i hope you choose the one that means the most to you.

3 months.

we took these a few days late on account of being sick on her official 3 month birthday.

i'm looking forward to the day when i don't spend the day constantly sucking boogers out of her nose.

nevertheless she's three months and gets more fun by the day!

time is love, gotta run,
love to hang longer but i got someone who waits,
waits for me and right now she's where i need to be.

big decisions were made this month.
this song served as a perfect soundtrack.

1 month!!

i forgot to post this last month but i still wanted to so i'd have all of her months.  

i know a lot of people have done weekly pictures this first year but there's no way i'd be able to stay on track with that.  besides, i figured this way i'll really be able to see the changes from month to month.  i decided to take these pictures on our bed because i'm lazy and it requires no extra effort.  i've seen a lot of people get really creative with these but for me, simpler is better.

i can't believe it's been a whole month since she was born but when i look at pictures of when she was first born compared to now it's crazy to see how much she's changed.  she's definitely chunking up.  the cheeks and thighs are my favorite!  she was one ounce over her birth weight at her 2 week appointment and although she's still in newborn clothes she's filling them out much better than she used to.  

love the chunky cheeks.



my favorite thing to do is hold her and watch her sleep.  i know i should put her down so she gets used to sleeping in other places, but sometimes i just can't help it.  especially at night when she sleeps the longest stretches, i miss holding her (even though i appreciate the sleep).



it's been an amazing first month and i can't wait for the next 11 (although i don't want her to grow up too fast).  i'm looking forward to celebrating all of these holidays again with a one year old next year!  it's going to be a fun holiday season with charlie's birthday, avery's birthday, and christmas all in the same week!


cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'till tomorrow,
for babies grow older we've learned to our sorrow.
so settle down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,
i'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

this month was a whirlwind, but i loved how the world just seemed to slow down and fade away while avery and i got to know each other.  

2 months!!

i cannot believe that she's a whole 2 months old!  

charlie told me that she doesn't look any different than from her 1 month pictures but i think he's crazy.  for a little perspective she was wearing a newborn onesie in her 1 month pictures and is wearing a 0-3 month onesie in these pictures.  

to celebrate turning 2 months, she rolled over! twice!! i'm sure this is a milestone that she won't repeat for a while but i was pretty proud of her.  i was more proud of her than i was of myself when i graduated college.  even though she had no idea what the big deal was all about.

it's hard to get that hand out of her mouth these days.

it's sort of amazing to me how much i love being a mom.  i always knew that i wanted a family but i thought it would be hard for me to deal with the crying, and getting up 4 times a night, and giving up sleeping in on the weekends.  i think part of it was that everyone talks about how hard it is having a baby but they never talk about how fun it is.  i'm sure this would be much harder if she wasn't as good or happy as she is, but i still don't think it would make it less fun.  even when she's crying i want to hold her.  she's made the past two months the happiest of my life.  (i should probably keep this to re-read when she's 16 and screaming that she hates me.)



sleep has gotten better the second half of this month, too.  i took my mom's advice and keep her up until we go to bed, and then feed her and swaddle her.  she's usually semi-awake when i put her down but somehow this routine works better for her and we've eliminated the screaming that used to go with the swaddling.  last night she was wide awake when i put her in the co-sleeper and talked to herself a bit until she fell asleep.  it's definitely working better than having to wait until she was completely asleep before putting her down, which sometimes took an hour or so.  she's also taking a huge morning nap, which has been really helpful in getting things done.  i'm hoping that soon she'll combine all of her afternoon mini-naps into one big afternoon nap, although i don't mind the shorter naps when i'm out running errands or walking the dogs.  i don't feel like i'm ruining a nap by being out.  


feel the touch of the precious child and know a mother's love.
it's funny how it's the little things in life, that mean the most
not where you live what you drive or the price tag on your clothes,
there's no dollar sign on a peace of mind, this i've come to know.

when i've been trying to get avery to nap i've been singing 'chicken fried' and 'forever young' over and over and over to her.  i've always loved 'chicken fried' (it was on my must play list at our wedding) but the lines 'feel the touch of a precious child and know a mother's love' have a new meaning to me.  loving avery happened instantaneously, the second she was born, and i'm constantly amazed at how strong and unconditional it is.