Hi Up There!

Sorry for the terrible angle, but the pictures were slim pickin's today. It's so funny when she arches her back and looks straight up at you with her pretty little eyes.

Slacking and Spit Up

I'm pretty impressed with myself that I've posted EVERYDAY for almost 2 months straight. I used to post maybe once every 2 months. But I am really trying to make this picture thing a habit. I do have to admit, the last few days I've been tired and 6 or 7pm rolls around and I have no pictures to show for the day. Worse than that, today I didn't even have my camera with me, but luckily my brother had his phone so I could capture today's winner. Thanks bro.

It's extra funny because I was just thinking the other day how glad I am that she's past the spit up phase. Boy was I wrong. haha...glad she spared her cute outfit. Auntie Meggy has good taste!

New Shoes

I guess I could have taken a better picture, like an actual full shot of my loves, but I just had to show you her cute shoes.

I have been looking for a cute pair of shoes everywhere for Avery. There are not very cute options for baby feet, so you'll share my surprise when I stumbled upon these at a thrift store. I'm quite excited that they are baby gap and only cost me 2 bucks! I'm MORE excited that they will actually stay on her feet. We've lost a shoe at church already! The velcro mary-janes just slide right off when she rubs her feet together. But these!! They've got added elastic around the heel of the shoe to keep it snug on her foot. HA! Try rubbing THAT off Avery!

Also worth noting--her left leg is bigger than her right. She has a deeper roll in her left thigh and you can see in the picture that her left foot is chubbier than her right. I'll add that to her short list of abnormalities along with her asymmetrical traguses. Don't worry, I found a picture on google for those of you not up to snuff on your ear anatomy...(like myself.) One of Avery's is round and one is pointy. They are evening out now, but when she was born they were shockingly different.

Funny Faces

Avery makes some pretty funny faces these days. Smiles are hard to come by as she becomes more inquisitive about the world around her. Her face is full of concentration as she examines EV-ER-Y-THING!


This one's my favorite. It just makes me laugh!

Perfect Hostess

So Avery was a great hostess for her friend today. She shared her chair and toys like a pro!

Drum Roll Please....

Drool.....

Check.


Chewing everything in sight.....

Check.


Cranky....

Check.


I think this baby's starting to teethe!


I could be wrong, but all signs point to the expiration of my favorite gummy smile.

Again!?!

I have a bad feeling that Avery does not like Target. *GASP!*...Blasphemy!! One of my favorite stores! Do you know how I know? She signals her hatred by filling her pants to the point of overflowing! Delightful.

This is the second time IN A ROW this has happened to me at Target. The worst part is that I leave her diaper bag in the car and strap her in the Bjorn, grab my wallet and head in. I usually have a basket half-full and don't want to leave it there. So today, I checked out and changed her pants in the car. Bad idea. My seats aren't exactly flat, so I tried to even it out with a blanket, and the sun was in Avery's eyes so I way leaning cock-eyed to keep her from screaming, then she pulled off her sock and started eating it. So, what did I do? I grabbed the camera!

It kinda sounds like I'm complaining...but the situation just made me laugh. It could have been much worse, so I'll count my blessings...and I'll ALWAYS bring her bag in with me to Target.

I want to ride my...

BICYCLE!

The weather's getting so nice again, so I put my bike on its trainer so I can start conditioning myself for some bike riding! Oh, how I've missed my two wheeled Ferrari. When I first upgraded from my Frankenstein bike, I could have sworn this bike pedaled itself! I can't WAIT!! I've been on the hunt for a trailer to tote around my babes, and when I get one, we're hittin' the road!!

Happy Sunday!

Nothing like a lazy Sunday watching Muppets on YouTube with Grandpa.

Garage Sales, Fender Bender, Birthday Party AND....a treasure hunt!

Whew!! What a day! I actually feel like I had a real Saturday full of fun and completely wiped by the end of it. And yes, all those things happened today. Hard to decide what to share, but the most exciting of these was our treasure hunt.
My sister came into town for the day and had just learned about "letter boxing." Check it out here. I'm not very familiar with geo caching, but it sounds similar. With letter boxing, people hide a rubber stamp and a notebook somewhere and post clues or a riddle for you to find their letter box. You bring along your own stamp and notepad to stamp your stamp in their book and their stamp in your book. So after a little while, you'll gather a passport-like book of a bunch of adventures!

The hardest part was deciding which stamp to buy to make my mark. My sister convinced me it would be funny to leave "cooties" in all these peoples books!


The crew on our quest...getting ready to "head left past the birdhouses."



So, if all went according to plan, the next picture should be of the letterbox we found with the cool stamp in our books. Sadly, NO BOX WAS FOUND! I think we were a little excited to test it out and should have realized the rain we just had would make it a little interesting. Plus, a small shovel would have been much better to dig with than the sandwich bag the kids had their fruit loops in. Between the mud, and the overgrowth, and the MOUSE...(eww..it just made me shiver again!) we decided we'd come back another day with some better equiptment.

We kept walking on the path because it was such a pretty place and did find a treasure of a park for the kids...I'm sure the playground was just as cool as finding a stamp in the dirt.



I am hooked into the letter boxing thing. We may have to go for a nice Sunday walk tomorrow and if I happen to kick around a little dirt and perhaps uncover a fantastic jewel of a stamp, so be it. (Don't worry Mom, I won't do any sweating so as not to break the Sabbath. heh!)

VICTORY!!

Okay, Avery is asleep in her own crib and I DID NOT ROCK HER!! Usually we hop on the magic ball after I've fed her and bounce her to sleep before putting her down. Tonight, I swaddled her, then gave her her pacifier and sang her songs for like 15 minutes and she's OUT! We'll see how the rest of the night goes, but this is a FIRST! She's been in a cradle in our room since she moved out of the bouncer, but a friend suggested we'd both sleep better with a little more distance between us. So, keep your fingers crossed. We're gonna try the 'no-cry sleep solution' and see how it goes. We finally have enough sleep under our belts that our patience has built back up, only to be worn down by a little sleep training.

Anyway, I stopped by my parent's tonight and Avery was being so funny! Well, Grandpa was being funny and Avery was just dead-pan. It was hilarious! My dad was bouncing around singing a song and she just stared. She followed his every move, but just stared. Like this:


So, after my dad got tired and gave up, Uncle Austin gave a crack at it and INSTANT smiles! I think they're buddies.

Beep Beep!

So I ran to our little corner Walgreens tonight to get milk. I think I'm going to buy stock in that company because it's the closest thing to all these houses out here and gets tons of business! Anyway, I took Brian's car and it started beeping at me! Then, about a block down the road, MORE beeping and a flashing light that said "BRAKE!" Was I supposed to hit the brakes? Were the brakes failing? The parking brake's not on!?! Anyway, I made it there and back just fine, but looking at the dash I had to laugh at all the warning lights.

Apparently Brian's been driving the car like this for awhile...he says it's just sensors. The passenger airbag light is on and that's what the initial beeping is, followed by the flashing brake light and more beeping. His check engine light is also on and the new one he says is his ABS light. It's a little unnerving to say the least. Who knows when it's kicking the bucket...but it's getting there. Any suggestions for a replacement?

-----

Avery has radar for technology. If she spots my phone, my ipod or the computer, NONE of her toys can distract her. I think babies must be born with that instinct to survive in this tech world. So, I set her down next to me while I check e-mail or blog and she's happy to tap on the edge.



haha...her face looks like she's been caught doing something she's not supposed to! I'm sure I'll see that face often in my future. Oh the joy to look forward to.

My little Monkey

Well, more like a gorilla I guess. She's getting the hang of this sitting up thing pretty good now and has learned to crashland sideways instead of straight back. But, after awhile, she gets a little tired and leans forward to rest on her hands like a little monkey.

Chillaxing

I learned a new word the other day.

Chillax

Definition: Combination of the words chill and relax.

In case you're still confused, here's a visual:

And for Austin I'll use it in a sentence so I can use it playing boggle. (which we need to play by the way).

Avery enjoys chillaxing while I play the piano.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

What a great day!! Yes we had left overs for dinner. Yes it rained. Yes I'm sore from only 10 minutes of 30 day shred...(pathetic). BUT, my day was full of love!


LOVE my Dad who sent this to my doorstep this morning! Waaaay better than the box of diapers I ordered from Amazon.

LOVE the family I married into and that they LOVE me! LOVE their visit today and that they always bring Avery the cutest things! LOVE that she loves them as much as I do.



LOVING my new job. It's taken me awhile to like being a mom, but I think I've finally got enough confidence taking care of a baby 24/7 that I can LOVE it...most of the time.


LOVE that Avery can put her pacifier back in her mouth now...sort of.

Hope your day was great and full of love!

Day of Rest

I don't think Avery's grasped this whole, "Day of Rest" business about the sabbath day. She woke up at 6:30 and then finally took a nap at noon...only to wake up 20 minutes later. There's just too much action for her to rest, and so many people at church. In fact, they split our ward today. It's a happy/sad thing for me. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all the people I didn't know. I think we've got close to 200 primary kids now. It's outrageous. It'll be a little sad next week though missing so many familiar faces. I decided I'm going to make more of an effort to get to know the people I don't. (Definitely not in my comfort zone, but totally worth it once I put myself out there.) Anyway, our day of rest began once we got home after Avery took a good nap and then we just chilled at home and played. I do love a good lazy Sunday.

Avery chillin' on the couch. I'm in love with these knit capri's she's got on. Her chubby legs are so stinkin' cute! Added bonus: Avery loves her bare skin!

She's obsessed with her pacifier now. Not to suck on it...but to PLAY with it! I usually only use it when she's grumpy, but she snatches that thing out of her mouth so fast. Then she wants it back in her mouth but can't get it in the right way so she cries and won't relax into dreamland. I've started letting her play with her pacifier often so she can master the skill of getting it back in.

Brian also got the mail last night when we got home and there was a package from Great-Grandma Barbara. Avery's so lucky to have 4 Great-Grandparents alive! Next time we see each of them, I'll remember to get pictures. Inside was an early birthday card for Brian and a valentine gift for Avery! SOOO cute Barbara!! Thanks!

I think she likes it!!


Here's another fun video. She loves her bouncer now. And loves to squeal. At first I loved to hear her squeal, but during our first hour at church Avery was belting out her own song, showing off for all the kids around her. Hard to shush a baby...Anyway, enjoy.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

ROAD TRIP!!

So my niece had a birthday party out of town that we wanted to go to and see my sister and her fun family, so we strategically woke Avery up this morning to plan for her nap at the time we'd drive down and it worked like a charm! (and yes, I'm very aware that that is a hideous run-on sentence.) Here are her super tired eyes.

She sat in her car seat so calm, and fell asleep in less than 5 minutes. She started squirming just as we got to the party 2 hours later. That's the longest we've traveled with her so far and she was such a perfect little girl. (I'm serious. She really is a great baby. I should be counting my blessings.) The car ride back was a little rougher...so we stopped a few times and took our time coming home. She must have known mommy wanted to shop because she pitched a fit right as we were coming up on the outlets. Good girl Avery.

Anyway, it was so much fun and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Sunny, but not hot and not cold at all. Ahh...I NEEDED the sunshine. A few pictures from the day...(I may steal a few more when my sis updates her blog with photos since I was a little too busy enjoying myself to keep the camera out.)

The birthday girl in pink and her pirate brother! So fun.

More scallywags running around having a ball.

Brian tried to coral the pirates with a Lego pirate game. What's better then the combo of pirates and Legos to a 4-year-old? Not much. Heck, it's still fun for a 34 year old. (okay, not 34 till next month. Crazy...34.)


The after party consisted of skate-boards and long-boards and gas-powered boards and an empty parking lot.


You can see Avery and me in the shadows watching Brian try and figure out a skate board after 20 years. heh

Thanks for such a fun time!!

R.I.P.

Well...rest in pieces I guess, because my FAVORITE mixing bowl has finally cracked all the way down the side. I went to make some muddy buddies tonight to take to my niece's birthday tomorrow,(sorry, they might not make it, they're quite delicious.) and when I pulled the bowl out of the cupboard, this is what I found:


It has lasted a long time, so I can't be too upset. We got this as part of a set for our wedding but this particular one is the best size for everything! I've made many batches of perfect cookies and other goodies. In fact, I feel like my bowl is the secret to why they turn out so well. It sounds crazy, but when I use other bowls, they just don't turn out the same. My baking mojo has died with this bowl. It's been like a member of the family, sniff..sniff..okay so not really, but I am going to miss it....A LOT! (Those of you who enjoy my cookies should be mourning the loss as well.) It's a sad sad day.

Alright, but seriously, muddy buddies are the perfect way to drown any sorrow. Regardless of the bowl they're mixed in. mmmmm




And, for your daily dose of Avery...her pre-bath WAAAY excited because she's nude face! It's so funny, she pants and squeals and flails her arms in the air. It'll be so fun to take her in the pool when they start heating it this summer.