some house updates.

we've gotten a few things done around the house lately.  slowly but surely we're making progress.  i swear that every weekend i have the intention of getting things done and doing something fun and it usually ends up being one or the other.  luckily we seem to be pretty good at alternating weekends that we're productive so we've been able to make a bit of progress while still having some fun.  

we haven't done anything HUGE lately, but we've done things here and there that always seem to make a big difference when you're actually living in the house.  the biggest thing that we've done is to organize the garage.  we moved all of the boxes into storage in the basement, and hung up everything we possibly could in the garage (e.g., bikes, tires, tools, etc.) and we now can finally fit both cars in there.  i can't describe how excited i am to have a two car garage for the winter.  when we first moved to colorado and were renting we were so excited to have an apartment with a garage, since that's pretty much unheard of back in d.c..  and it was pretty amazing, but both of our apartments out here had one car garages so we'd usually end up fighting over who got to park in the garage when it was snowing.  i usually won this one, especially since i was the one going to an office each morning.  but i'm very excited for this winter when both cars can stay warm and dry.  now we just have to worry about shoveling the driveway ...

i got some curtains for the master bedroom.  more sheets that i made into curtains.  i wanted something bright since the room and most of the furniture is dark.  someday i'll replace those blue nightstands.  i'm still not sure what i was thinking the day i painted those.  

we hung actual pictures on the wall and if you look into the bathroom you can see that i got rid of the valance that i hated.  no more brown in the house!  we'll remove that towel rack when we eventually paint the bathroom.  

this is such a small thing but i got baskets for the kitchen island and we finally stopped using it as a place to store our drill.  it's becoming a real kitchen.  

more pictures.  and the chalkboard door gets a lot of use.  

i know i've mentioned a lot that this place doesn't feel like home, but recently i've been feeling more and more like it does.  there's still tons of things that i'd like to do to it but it feels right now.  parking my car in the garage has helped a lot but so has the fact that we've just been here a while now.  we've made memories here and i know we have many more to come.  

books.

one of my favorite things to do with avery is read books.  luckily thanks to the very large collection that we inherited from my parents we have a huge amount of books to choose from.  i'm loving the board books right now because avery loves to grab things and chew on them and the board books can stand up to much more than the regular ones.  her favorite books right now are the ones with the 'peek-a-boo' flaps.  we read this one book every day called where is your nose? which goes through the different parts of your face.  avery knows exactly where each flap is and folds them down as we read through the book.  the last page is a mirror and she always smushes her face against it as soon as we get to that page.  i hope that the more we read during these early days, the more she'll want to read as she grows older.  charlie's not big with books and i'd love to have a good excuse to ready the harry potter and little house on the prairie series again.      

pears and a tooth.

this kid has a tooth!  well it's coming. it broke through on saturday although it's pretty far from being in.  i have to admit i was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to get one, especially because for the past 4 months every time she has a bad sleeping phase or is cranky or clingy i think, 'well she must be teething'.  even though i really have no idea.  

she has a pretty big sweet tooth.  pears are her favorite.  that's what she had just gobbled up here for lunch.  cheese and pears: the lunch of champions.  now if she could just figure out how to walk she'd be one happy lady.    

sleep (or lack thereof).

as a complete generalization when it comes down to charlie and i as parents, i'm the one with more patience.  when avery was but a little baby charlie was the one who would hand her off to me when she was crying and he couldn't get her to sleep. and when she wakes up for the third time in the middle of the night i'm the one who goes to get her, while charlie's putting a pillow over his head and rolling over. however, last night my baby woke up at 11 pm and didn't go back until 4 am.  yes, she was up for 5 straight hours.  i'm positive that she was teething and was just in too much pain to be able to fall back asleep.  i was up with her until 2:30 when charlie came in her room while i was attempting to rock a screaming child and switched with me.  around 3 we brought her back into our bed, charlie put a song on his iPhone (the same one we played over and over at the hospital when she was born) and after a while she finally fell asleep on my chest.  

and i have to admit that he was the calm and patient one last night.  after 3 and a half hours of missed sleep i had lost all of my patience and he was the calm one.  thanks charlie.  thanks for being calm and rational because by 3 am all i wanted was sleep.  

i know that these days won't last forever.  and i know that as much as i would love to fast forward to the nights when she's sleeping through the night, there's so many other things that i'll miss about this phase she's in.  i love those snuggles (when she finally does fall asleep), and the way she immediately rolls over on her stomach when i put her down in the crib and shoves her hands under her so that she sleeps in the fetal position.  i love how she reaches for my hands when she's playing on the floor because she wants to stand up and practice walking and how she claps her hands when i say 'yay'.  i love watching her screech with delight when she sees charlie for the first time in the morning and the way she starts looking around when i ask her where the cat is.  reading books with her and watching her turn pages and flip flaps is still pretty amazing as is the way she scrunches her nose up when she thinks something's really funny.  i know the sleep will come one day (soon, hopefully) but i don't want to wish everything away too fast because before we know it she'll be asking to borrow the car for a date and we'll be forced to explain to her that she won't be dating or driving until she's 25.   

life update.

and then avery got bopped in the face.  she thought it was hilarious.

the title of this post is a bit dramatic but the bottom line is that we survived last week.  it was one of those weeks that feel like they're going to last forever, like you're stuck in a series of wednesdays with no hope for a friday in sight.  things with work were really busy for me. i put in a lot of extra hours and a significant amount of those were in the office, which meant i missed avery like crazy when i was gone.  i swear some days i don't know how work-away-from-home mom's do it.  when i'm gone all day the precious hour or two that i have when i get home from work before avery goes to bed is reserved for hanging out with her and doing absolutely nothing productive whatsoever.  we've been pretty behind on the grocery shopping and cleaning the house front.  we even ran out of dog food thursday night and were forced to feed henry milkbones for breakfast on friday (not that he minded).  all i had in mind for this weekend was putting the house back in some sort of normal order, restocking the fridge so that scrambled eggs weren't our only option for dinner and maybe watching a movie with charlie.  we crashed pretty hard on friday night.  i think both charlie and i were asleep by 9.    anyway, i'm hoping we have a bit more balance this coming week and maybe a home cooked meal or two that doesn't involve eggs.  

it's weeks like this that i'm very, very grateful for my current work situation.  i definitely do not take the time i have with my daughter for granted but i think sometimes i forget just how much i miss her face when i'm away from her all day.  thankfully those days are pretty few and when they do come up i know she and charlie are getting some good time together.  i even get the occasional picture and video sent my way, which always makes my day.   

"and though she be but little, she is fierce"

- shakespeare.

i love this quote so much i'm framing it in her room.  

almost home.

it's funny how it's the simplest things make this little girl happy.  

mostly it's things like being held constantly and never being left alone (heaven forbid i should walk out of the room for a nanosecond) but occasionally it's things like playing with a stuffed toy and then figuring out that she can slip and slide all over the hardwood floors.  she amused herself for quite some time with that one today.  silly girl.  

one day that wall will have board and batten on it, but for now it's a blank canvas and just another to do project on our list.  we keep getting distracted with things like watching avery discover how to clap and stick her tongue out.  apparently it's the simplest things that make us happy, too. 

today was monday.  my third favorite day of the week after saturday and sunday of course.  i had huge plans to get things done but somehow at the end of the day all i managed to do was to make some baby food, cook some dinner, do a load of laundry, and keep this kid (mostly) happy.  it's funny how that's really enough.  the board and batten will come someday and i know we'll love it.  but this place will be a home long before we get everything done on our list.  today it smelled like garlic and apples, which made it one step closer to really feeling like home.        

"the less you care, the happier you will be." 

a perfect saturday.

yesterday was the perfect saturday.  

i got some things done in the morning.  charlie even took avery with him when he ran some errands (a first!) so i had 45 minutes of uninterrupted cleaning time.  it is amazing the things i can get done when there's no baby in my arms or napping in her crib so i feel like i have to tiptoe around the house.  

we then met some friends at the reservoir which we hadn't been to all summer long.  considering we went just about every week last summer the dogs were much overdue for a trip.  they had a blast swimming and torturing anyone they could find with a tennis ball.  avery dipped her toes in the reservoir and spent some time hanging out with charlie on the tube.  and then she ate and passed out in my arms for a two hour nap.  when she woke up everyone slowly started to leave but we outlasted everyone.  the weather was absolutely perfect.  warm enough for a day in the water but cool enough that you felt like fall might be coming soon.  

we finally left so that we could make it home in time to feed avery, give her a bath, and put her to bed.  she was in the best mood ever.  i almost didn't want to interrupt her playing time to feed her.  charlie cooked some steaks while i put avery to sleep and then we opened a bottle of wine, ate dinner, and watched the broncos play.  

oh, and avery got to experience sand for the first time.  she was fine with standing on it but was not at all into grabbing it like the rest of the kids.  charlie said 'ugh, please don't be that kind of girl' but i'd be happy to have a clean girl who's not interested in shoving sand in her mouth. 

it's the little things ...

hahaha.

...  the way that avery wiggles her toes when she's in the stroller.

...  when the cats are in for the night before it gets dark.

...  getting texts and pictures from my dad.  getting an iphone was the best decision ever. :)

... when i'm at work and charlie sends me a picture of avery.

...  when avery wakes up only once in the middle of the night.

...  hanging out on the deck on a friday night as a family.

...  walks with my three (sometimes four) favorite people/animals.

...  taking a shower without a screaming baby in the bathroom.

...  when i leave the room and avery doesn't scream bloody murder.

... 2 hour naps.  

...  making a new dinner and actually having it be something good.

...  grilling out 90% of our meals.

...  grocery shopping with charlie.  and avery too, of course.

...  facetime.

...  watching avery eat cheese. so  cute.

... and drink out of a straw for the first time.

...  when she get's in her really happy moods and laughs at everything and screams for no reason at all.

...  how good ollie is with her.

...  and dunkin and henry, too.  toby's learned to run away.

...  watching an entire movie.

...  when charlie comes home and i wasn't expecting to see him.

...  going to the pool.  i never thought i would say that.

...  a clean house.

...  when all the diapers are clean.

...  cool mornings.

...  opening the windows.

...  holding a sleeping baby.

...  when the sleeping baby stays asleep as i put her down and leave the room.

...  when charlie puts avery to sleep.

...  getting sleep myself.  sleep is a very big thing around here.

...  emails. non-work related.

"the way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice."

- peggy o'mara.

time is moving too quickly!

i swear the time is flying by.  i live my weeks in chunks of 3 and 4.  days i am off and days that i work. and they seem to be flying by.  charlie's been around lately, which is nice, and i always feel like i blog less when he's around because i want to spend my evenings with him.  but he's at a baseball game tonight so i'm going to try and catch up a bit.  

as usual avery's been growing like crazy.   she's about to hit 8 months next week, which is sort of mind blowing because didn't she just turn 6 months? i don't think she's hit any major milestones this month but yet she just seems so much older.  i can definitely see her moving away from the baby stage and onto the toddler stage.  not quite yet, thank goodness, but i can see the shift happening.  of course this excludes sleep which for the past month and a half has been worse than when she was just born.  i think we may be starting to turn a corner but it's going to take some time.  i've started drinking caffeine again this month.  something i said i wouldn't do because i absoluately hate being dependent on it and can't stand how crappy i feel when i'm trying to get off of it, but i've needed it quite a few days this month just to make it through the day.  i've also stolen a few naps here and there, which are fabulous but i'm sort of ready to get my sleep at night.  right avery?

love when she sleeps in the fetal position.

we've had a few cooler days.  and by cooler i mean in the low eighties and high seventies.  it's made me realize that avery has zero fall clothes and i should probably get some of those for her.  i know fall is still a while a way but september always seems to bring a cooler day here and there and the mornings can be a bit cooler.  i seriously have 2 pairs of pants and 1 long sleeved shirt and zero socks.

eating cheese.  she loves feeding herself.

we've been reading a lot more books lately.  something we've always tried to do but lately she's become a bit more tolerant of it all.  it's probably my favorite thing to do with her and i hope she grows to love reading even more as she gets older. 

i am loving the board books since they're much more indestructable than paper pages.  we've read the dr. seuss abc book so many times i have it memorized.  

we recently started going back to the playground.  when we walk we usually go in the opposite direction of the playgrounds with the baby swings and anyway she's usually asleep in the stroller by the time that we get there, but this week i've tried to take her there a few days since i know she loves the swings.  

ugh.  she's so cute.

she's standing whenever she gets the chance.  she's still only pulling up on her crib, which she's pretty much mastered, although she'll stand and hold on to just about anything if you help her up.  she definitely has more interest in walking than crawling.

sometimes i wonder how i got this lucky to be able to spend all the time that i do with her.  regardless of how crazy it can get at times i really wouldn't trade it for anything and i swear that she helps me stay calm and keep things in perspective.  a crazy busy day with a baby around seems to be much less stressful than a crazy busy day at the office when she's not around.  i seriously cannot get enough of her and find myself holding her just a few minutes longer sometimes after she's fallen asleep and i know i should put her in her crib but i just want to hold her a little longer.  maybe some of that is because i can see her changing so fast and i'm not quite ready for my baby to be all grown up.  i have enjoyed seeing her grow and i love how fun she is right now.  i love playing with her and watching her and charlie play together.  it's definitely one of my favorite things and probably the reason the house isn't a little cleaner.

oh and i can't forget henry.  he's amazing with avery.  but is still having weird attachment issues.  the other day i was working and he literally climbed into my lap.  the poor guy.  i've tried to give him more love and attention but it's pretty strange because he'll be fine the one minute and a mess the next.  

a 65 pound dog in my lap.

letting avery climb all over him.  

oh and toby caught another rabbit and left this one dead on our front porch.  this brings his total rabbit count (that he's brought back to the house) to 3.  i'm sort of impressed because these are not baby bunnies they're HUGE at least half of the size of him if not more.  however, i'm sick of cleaning up dead rabbits so i'm looking forward to winter when that will be put on hold since toby hates cold weather. 

and then my husband came home ...

charlie was gone all last week and when he got home on friday i was so, so happy to see him.  

i think i sometimes take for granted all of the things he does around here, even the little things like running to get a towel when i'm giving avery a bath and i forgot to grab one.  anyway, whenever he returns from a trip it's always a nice reminder of how nice it is just having him here.  i have gotten really spoiled with the both of us working mostly from home.  on the days when i go into the office or he's gone all day i really miss him.  we've been trying to mix our weekends with both fun things and house things so that we don't go crazy.  last weekend we took a trip up to a splash pool with some friends and avery had a blast in the pool.  this weekend we spent hours shopping at the mall for work cloths for charlie which is never really that fun, but it's so much better when you don't have to do it alone. 

1.  having a good time on night after dinner.

2.  we got a couch for the living room!

3.  driving home through 'the country'.

4.  looking to dunkin for crawling advice.

1.  oh, the eyes.

2.  charlie brought home presents. 

3.  morning snuggles with ollie.  these never last long.

4.  overalls. :)

1.  cornfields always make me miss md. 

2.  the grumpy face.

3.  yogurt is delicious.

4.  a nap!

1.  hanging out on a friday night. i love hanging out with my two favorite people.

2.  amazing filets and avery's first taste of meat.  she loved it.

3.  a sink bath.

4.  she turns the pages now!

1.  pictures that are actually facing the right direction.  at least one wall has something on it.

2.  avery on the 'reading couch'.

3.  love her.

4.  waiting for dad to come home on the front porch.

1.  in the middle of a bunch of animals.  i think she likes it.

2.  playing ball with dunking one evening.  she thought it was hysterical when i kicked the ball to him and laughed for about 20 minutes straight. 

3.  so happy when we're not working. :)

4.  she wants to crawl so bad!

oh henry.

my poor sweet dog.  henry's been having some issues lately. charlie thinks that he hates this house or is scared of something here.  basically, he goes through these phases where he starts to freak out and follows us so closely around the house so that he's not happy unless he's physically touching us.  if you're standing in the kitchen he either wants to be standing between your legs or smashed against you.  it's the strangest thing because some day's he's his usual lazy, lounge around the house and sleep all day self and then other times it's like he can't just chill out.  i've wondered if it has something to do with the afternoon thunderstorms that we've had, because they haven't been all that crazy this year but he seems pretty sensitive to the change in pressure.  but sometimes he'll be freaking out even when there's no real change in the weather.  i've also wondered if he just feels a little jealous sometimes, because he definitely get's fewer belly rubs than he did before avery came along.  but i really don't think that's it either.  walks seem to help him and there are some days when he's completely fine and then other's when he just wants to be extra close to us.  he's an odd dog.  i've been walking a bit more lately and trying to find more time to pet him, even if it's when i'm playing with avery on the floor.

feel better soon henry.  and thanks for still being so sweet while you're freaking out.

lately ...

charlie's been out of town this week but thankfully things have gone better than the last time he left.  i haven't cooked any meals but the house isn't a huge disaster, i've been walking every afternoon, and we're all still alive.  i consider this a success.  

1.  haha.  the eyes kill me in this picture.

2.  a very hot walk.

3.  an ice cream stealing baby.

4.  oh hi ma! i read books.

5.  i take back what i said about her skipping crawling.  i now think she'll do it.

6.  standing up!

7.  we do silly things.

8.  henry on rabbit lookout and toby making good use of the only curtains in the house.

9.  more book reading.

10.  oh wait, MORE book reading.

11.  she can hold her own bottle!  (apparently she's been doing this for a while but still, this shocks me)

12.  give me food now!

13.  hobby lobby 50% off glass sale!

14.  putting that glass to good use = organizing baby food.

15.  the day after a smashed face.  still smiling.  

16.  up, up,  up!

17.  lounging with the dog.

18.  a beer! (this one is so old)

19.  hanging out with dunks.  how many animals do you spy?

20.  i thought i saw a tooth in this one.  i didn't.  

21.  i made her wear my headband after she kept trying to eat it.  

22.  okay maybe she doesn't read the books.

23.  upside down avery.

24.  sigh.  she's getting so big.  

dog + baby.

i'm not sure yet what this equals but for right now they're slightly more than tolerating each other's existance.  i was a little worried about how henry would do with a baby.  he loves kids but he can get a little excited and rough when he wants to play.  also, i've seen him with puppies and he just about bites their heads off because he has no tolerance for their puppy antics.  but honestly, he's been amazing.  he's patient, beyond tolerant, and oh so gentle.  and avery loves him.  he's the only animal that sleeps in our room and in the mornings when avery wakes up and starts to hear him get up she'll start looking around for him.  and she LOVES when he sniffs her.  weird but true.  i hope they continue to love each other, especially as she gets older and starts to move around more.  i also hope we're able to teach her some boundaries so that he doesn't feel like a jungle gym.

thanks for being so good to my baby, henry.  

peek-a-boo

avery's just getting to the age where she can start to play some games.  charlie's especially good at making up games with her and she catches on pretty quick and finds them hysterical.  if i leave them alone for any period of time the chances are they're either playing one of their 'old' games or making up a new one.  

peek-a-boo has been a favorite for a while.  her favorite way to play it is if you move out of her sight and then call her name, she'll start to look for you, and then when you pop back to wherever she can see you she starts laughing.  she also likes the 'where's avery?' game (em, sorta like: where's the baby from ice age but she doesn't get scared).  if you cover her with a pillow or a blanket and then say 'avery, where are you?' she'll pull off the blanket or the pillow so you can 'find' her.  i swear we're not suffocating her.  she also loves if you smell her feet and then say "pee-ew".  

she also loves looking at herself in mirrors.  every since she we took this mirror off of her play mat she's loved playing with it.  she'll smash her face right up against it then pull back and do it all again, sort of like she's playing peek-a-boo with herself.  she's at such a fun age right now, i just can't but help loving all of the time i get to spend with her.  i feel so lucky to be able to see all of these little moments and stages that she's cruising through so quickly these days.