Monday, March 29, 2010

Random thoughts

This is probably the first time I have blogged without a picture of Avery, but as my friend, Sherri, said yesterday, "I am feeling a bit bloggy."  Ok, that might have been a run-on sentence, but I perfectly placed the commas to make it seem like a good sentence. 

We have been quite busy lately but life is great.  Avery started swimming lessons three weeks ago.  It is a Mommy and Me class, and the first week went great.  She hardly cried...now to Week Two.  She immediately clung to me where her mouth was on my cheek.  It was so precious that I hardly cared if she wanted to swim.  I think she was a little more nervous because she knew what was to come.  Tomorrow is lesson # 3.  I will keep you posted.  I can't wait for Josh to come see how our little fish is doing in the water. 

We had a great weekend starting on Saturday with an Easter Egg Hunt for our church, Sugar Creek Baptist.  Our Sunday school class organized the entire thing and had it near several apartment complexes and neighborhoods.  It was a huge success.  The kids were precious, and I must say I was so honored to be in our class of wonderful servants.  The day was just beautiful and tons of fun.  Josh manned the snack table which was probably the worst place for him since he is a SWEET freak.  Who knows how many cupcakes he sneaked!  I was the photographer and had tons of fun taking pictures of these sweet families.  Josh's parents brought Avery up for a little while, but it was so sunny and we were worried our very fair-skinned child would get sunburned.  I had a face stick of sunscreen in the diaper bag.  I am looking for better ways to apply sunscreen...anyone heard of a wipe sunscreen?  That would be great for the diaper bag. 

We are on a spending freeze, but I did get a few cool things before I had to put a halt on frivolous spending.  Josh has said I work part-time now and spend more.  He comes a few days a week to a fun box on the front door.  Internet shopping is too easy.  I have fallen in love with Etsy If only I could think of something to sell there myself.  Finally, I got a very cool food scale (EatSmart Food Scale) recommended by Amanda from Kevin and Amanda's blog.  You never know when you might want to weigh something.  Josh is probably reading this wondering how he missed the arrival of this very cool tool.  Sorry Babe!

We are very excited for Avery's first Easter this Sunday.  It will be so fun to see her all dolled up for church, but I want to focus on the reason for the holiday.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is more than Easter eggs and bunnies.  I got Avery a book for her basket from Family Christian bookstore, and it had a great way of using bright colors and linking to Jesus.  We are so very thankful for our Savior.  We have been blessed far more than we could have imagined. 

Avery will be 11 months on April 1st.  It is so hard to believe that she will be one year old in a little over a month.  Where has the time gone??  Pics to come from Easter weekend.  Have a wonderful holiday weekend with your family everyone! 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring is here!

Spring is here and we are enjoying every minute.  Avery started swimming lessons this past week.  She did great and only fussed a few times.  I was so proud considering the other little boy had been going three weeks and cried the whole time.  She went under the water several times and didn't mind too much.  We are also trying to get to her used to drinking formula out of a sippy cup.  Whew, what a hard thing to do...any suggestions? 
Chillin' in her high chair tilted back trying to get her to lift the sippy cup back.  Enjoying her teething biscuit. 
Loving that biscuit all smeared on her face.  Still NO teeth at 10.5 months. :)
The first nice day I took her outside to stand by some flowers and she just sat down and started crying.  She doesn't cry all that much.  She was not used to grass.  My girly girl!
Now she is happy looking at the flowers.

Daddy reading to Avery.  One of her favorite books.
First day of swimming lessons.  She was not too happy with me taking pictures so this is best one I got.  She was so cute toodling around in her bathing suit.
Practicing for Avery's first birthday.  I got this cool cupcake tower.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I can't take credit for the cute labels.  I got them from TomKatStudio . I love all of her precious items and occasionally she gives you free labels and calendars. 
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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Something is missing...


Today at Avery's helmet appointment, she finally graduated after a little over five months of wearing the helmet 23 hours a day.  It is so hard to believe! 

The scan on the left was Avery's top of her head on September 17th and the one on the right is the one today.  You can see her how the left side of her forehead was very flat and the back right had issues too.  Her head shape has changed so much!  The scanner is a big black box and Avery hates laying it.  You can see on the right pic my fingers trying to hold her neck straight.  The orthotist thought it was hysterical that I had a death grip on her. 

Five month review of Avery in her pretty helmet.  I painted it, we had it airbrused (no pics for that...it only lasted a few days because she looked like she hit the streets of the Ghetto) and then finally it was just plain pink. 

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  Over the next week, she will wear the helmet just as a crash-test helmet as she will probably have a few bumps and bruises from falling. 

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Sunday, March 7, 2010

Celebrations and lots going on....


I have been so bad about updating you all on what has been going on in our world. We have had a few wonderful celebrations lately. Carson, my nephew, turned two years old. We also just returned from Galveston for Josh's cousin's wedding. Here are a few precious pictures of our girl.

Oh one more thing, we have reason to celebrate because Avery graduated from physical therapy this past week.  She has been attending Pediatric Therapy Center one or two times a week since the end of the August.  We cannot say enough about this wonderful place and our therapist, Jane.  When Avery started she was barely able to turn her head left and had a 40 degree tilt.  She has complete rotation now and has no tilt.  We are so grateful!  Lastly, this week, Avery will be going for her helmet check-up.  We are praying the end of this journey will be here too.  Avery has been in the helmet for a little over five months.  It is so hard to believe it has been this long, but we are ready to see our girl with hair rather than her plastic bonnet as my friend, Holli, calls it. Thank you for all your prayers and concerns for Avery. 

Avery is so mischievous and into everything.  She loves to carry anything in her hand wherever she goes, but she is partial to her favorite puppy and her new teddy bear.  We have slowly started baby-proofing our home, and we are learning all of the areas that need to be proofed.
Avery loves bath-time!  I would love to show you her precious hiney but sorry!!  If you could have seen her right after I took this...she tried to start hiking her leg up like she was going to get into the tub herself.  This was shortly after she turned nine months.  Did I tell you that she was into everything??
Just a precious pic.  She has her squeaking shoes on and loves to look down to find out where the sound is coming from. 





Posted by PicasaDaddy and his number one baby girl!

Avery loves to pick up anything heavy.  Josh got me some true cowgirl boots for Valentine's Day.  I wore them for "Go Texan" day and Avery was lugging them around the house.  She thinks she is a very big girl.
Carson's birthday was tons of fun.  They had it at our church's, Sugar Creek Baptist Church, playscape.  Carson loved it and loved being with his older cousins that live in Dallas. 
Our little family.  Avery has been sick for about two weeks.  She was pretty runny that day and not like her happy self.   
Carson ready to blow out his candle.  One of his cousins, Austin, was his favorite person all weekend. 
Blowing his candle out...this year no hands in the candle fire, whew!
My dad, Pops, was giving Avery a bite of ice cream...she was loving it. 
What love even though Avery's face doesn't show it.  Avery loves to be with Carson.  It is so cute!
My sister and brother-in-law, Kristin and Andrew, with Carson and Avery. 
Avery is getting ready for her first birthday (May 1st).  She was a good helper with the presents. 
Carson got so many fun gifts, but this was by far his favorite from his Aunt Beth and Uncle Ward.  He opened this first and never saw another present.  He is very into dinosaurs and calls them "DinoChi."  It is so cute!
Pretty Girl!  Next year she will go down the slide.
Avery voted!  She was not too happy that mommy forgot she had to go to her designated voting area and went to one other place first.  
In Galveston for Josh's cousin's wedding...Avery loves to chew on her glasses rather than wear them.  
Shopping on the strand!  Avery is ready to go.  
Josh's Family with our newest addition, our sister-in-law, Chrissy...Saturday was Jason and Chrissy's one month anniversary.  Congrats Guys!
Josh's cousin, Kelly David and his new bride, Amy.  It was a gorgeous wedding at the Galvez.