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.