Avery 18 Months

Even though Avery turned a year and a half (wow) on March 7, she didn't have her check up until March 15 and I wanted to wait until I got her "stats" to write about it. But now I can't find them! (grrr) But I remember they said she is in the 80th percentile for height (still tall) and I think they said 40th for weight.

She has started saying very stinky "no's." I don't know how to explain it, but she says no very angrily. Sometimes she says it when she is frustrated, but she also says it a lot to show off. I know I should be telling her that's not a nice way to talk (which I do a lot) but most times I just try not to laugh.

Anyway the nurse was trying to get her head circumference and she said "do you want to wear my hat?" to try to make it fun. Avery didn't skip a beat and said "no." Then when the doctor was checking her out she started out saying nice no's to him, but he wasn't getting the hint so she gave him a really stinky no! I told him that's what she's started doing, and he said she's getting her little personality. And she sure is!

Now that the weather is nice, we've been going to the park a lot. Thankfully she can do things herself now, which means mom doesn't have to go up and down the stairs and slide every time with her. I used to come home from the park more exhausted than she was. I took a video the other day of her sliding by herself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWSYs8oWkbw

She has also started wanting to feed herself. She loves yogurt so that's usually what she eats with her spoon. I feel like it's a good learning food because she doesn't really have to "catch it," she just puts her spoon in there and it sticks to it. This is usually what she looks like after eating yogurt.

She has been loving playing with the dog Uncle Colby gave her for Christmas and decided he needed a diaper.

She also loves her family, including Uncle Casey -

She has adjusted to her new home really well. It was built by the same builder as our old house, so the downstairs floor plan is about the same. She really likes climbing up the stairs (with mom or dad behind her). I think her favorite part (and mine too) is our huge pantry. You can walk all the way in it and she loves going in there where she can see all the food and tells me what she wants. At first I thought it was not a good idea, but I kind of like it because I don't have to guess what she wants.

She is growing a little more hair. She had a rat's nest in it the other day and wouldn't let me comb it so I had to cut it out.

She is just the cutest little girl and is more and more fun every day!

Lots of Fun in WF

Avery and I went to Wichita Falls this week for a visit and she had tons of fun! She loved seeing Willie as always.

She kept getting on the couch by him and bouncing. I took a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE_hXiw0dMo
And just a reminder, the youtube channel link for all of her videos is http://www.youtube.com/SamRAndrews. I'm also trying to add a few from when she was smaller that I never published.

She was super excited to see Nana and Grandpa (Baboo). In the past, she would cry if Grandpa tried to hold her or if she was left in a room with him, but now she asks for him and wants him to hold her.

She was even ok with Uncle Colby.

I stopped by Sarah's house to visit and Avery had a lot of fun playing with Jackson. Sarah also has a baby, Caleb, and she liked seeing him too.

We went to my grandma's to hang out and Avery, of course, had to get in all of her cousin Aidan's toys which are three sizes too small for her. 

The weather has been so nice here so we decided to go feed the ducks. Avery likes the ducks and quacks at them. First we went to the lake by Colby's apartment, but those ducks weren't that hungry.

So then we went to Sikes Lake by the museum. I remember going there to feed the ducks as a little kid. There were tons of ducks there and Avery had a blast feeding them and running around.

We can't wait for our next trip, but have lots to get back to back home. One of my good friends, Angie, is getting married and I'm excited to be in her House Party! Her shower is this weekend. It's a couple's shower so Rustin is able to go as well (lucky him haha!). It's at a restaurant in Dallas I've never been to - Terellis - and I can't wait to check it out. I'll try to post pictures.

Valentine's Day

So it's been more than a month since Valentine's Day, but better late than never right?

Rustin's mom is our go-to babysitter, but she went to Waco with Randy this Valentine's Day so we took Avery with us to dinner. Rustin said he was getting to take both of his girls out. We went to our favorite restaurant, Gloria's. I think it's Avery's favorite too. I've been taking her there since she was super little.

When she was able to start eating table food, she would always eat a ton at Gloria's. She especially likes the bean dip and rice. Here are some pictures of her daddy feeding her a chip with bean dip on it -

It was the best Valentine's Day dinner yet!

I also took a few pictures of her earlier in the day wearing pink with her pink chair!

A Crazy St. Patty's Day Weekend

In the past if I was to write a post with this title it would include stories of shenanigans at the St. Patty's Day Parade in Dallas and block party on lower Greenville. I think I have made it to that every year since 2005, minus the year we were in Colorado (or just moved back). But this year, sadly, we missed again.

I don't know if this weekend was weird because it's the end of Spring Break or because of St. Patty's Day... or for no reason at all.

It all started on Friday afternoon when Rustin and I decided to try out the park by our new house with Avery. Right when we arrive there are several "big kids" running around everywhere. I walk with Avery to the playground to make sure she doesn't get trampled and one of the kids keeps saying "sh*t" over and over. I swear he couldn't have been older than 3rd grade. The teacher in me (and mom) wanted to say something, but I was in such shock, I didn't know what to say. Looking back at it, it still makes me mad he had the audacity to cuss like that in front of two adults. And I know Avery doesn't understand it right now, but it also made me mad he would talk like that in front of my little girl. But like Rustin said, his parents are more to blame because that's where he's hearing it (but I'm still mad).

Then a girl's dad comes up and gets on his cell phone and starts smoking a cigarette...ugh! There was pizza crust, an empty bag of chips and subway cup on the ground all of which Avery, of course, tries to play with. Overall the people were rude, the park was dirty, and it was just a weird vibe. Luckily our old park is only a mile away, so I will be going to that one from now on. Maybe I'm a "prude" but I feel like I should have a reasonable expectation to be able to take my daughter to a park and her not hear obscenities or smell second hand smoke! 

Then we went to Kroger to pick up a few things and there were three teenagers standing beside a truck and one of them was peeing...in broad daylight...at Kroger. For some reason Rustin honked at them, and I start freaking out thinking they're going to get mad and key our car, but they just started laughing.

Then today I went to Hobby Lobby to get some fabric. The lady who works there is really nice and since I go there all the time for my Etsy shop, I see her a lot. Today she started talking to me about her friend's baby and how she is not on any type of schedule - she eats when she wants and goes to bed when she wants, etc. Since Avery was with me, I was assuming her friend's baby was about the same age as Avery, or maybe even an older toddler, and I could see why she was concerned. I mean a two year old picking their own bed time would definitely be a disaster!

She goes on to tell me how she told her friend she NEEDS to get her baby on a schedule because that's how they learn discipline and if she doesn't put her on a schedule, she'll be undisciplined. I finally asked her how old the baby is and she said..... TWO months!! 

I couldn't believe it. It was like the kid cussing at the playground - the times I want to say something the most are the times I freeze up. I simply told her that it took me a long time to get Avery on schedule, but she eventually did.

If someone would have told me what that woman is telling her friend when Avery was two months old, I probably would have cried and had a breakdown. As well documented in many other posts, even though I tried my best, I couldn't get Avery on a schedule until about 8 months.

I believe she just had a different temperament (along with reflux, milk allergy, etc.) and just wasn't the schedule type and it took her a little longer. She eventually got on a routine and is doing fine. I don't believe in ANY WAY that whether or not a baby is on a schedule at that young of an age is any type of indicator of whether or not that child will be disciplined! I just think it's sad that people make other people feel like they're setting their kids up for failure for the rest of their lives because they don't fit into a certain mold when they're not even a year old yet! I guess I'm biased, but that really bothered me. 

Ok I'm done ranting. For the first time in years, I have to say that I'm ready for Spring Break to be over.

No Bath!

So Avery has loved taking baths for a while now, but the last few months she hasn't been a big fan. I'm not sure why. So what I have been doing lately to lure her in the bathroom is to ask if she wants to brush her teeth. Since she's obsessed with that (as I mentioned in the last post) she excitedly comes. Then once I have her in there, I shut the door and put her in the bath. (After I let her brush her teeth of course.)

I know she can sometimes open doors, but she's not very good at it and doesn't do it too often. Well the other night I did the routine (brush teeth, shut door) and started to run her bath water.  As I turned around to put her in, I saw her running out the door. Yep, she opened it.

She thought this was hilarious, and had a blast running around in her diaper. 

I took this picture: 

And this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEm5oYi_izs

Even though she's stopped liking the real bath tub, she spotted her baby bath tub in the closet while playing with Lolly. 

Now it's her favorite reading spot. 

And yes, that's a random pair of pj's draped over her shoulders. Don't ask. 

Teeth, No Sleep and More Talking

This month has been a bit crazy. As I said in a previous post, we're moving. We are fixing up the house a little so Rustin has been juggling several contractors along with his normal job. And we have been packing up our current house in the meantime, so there's boxes everywhere. But the movers come on Saturday. I am so looking forward to this process being over and not being in a state of limbo anymore!

To add to the moving stress, Avery went through about a month or so of waking up super early and taking very short naps. I thought "early" meant 5:15-5:30, which was hard for me, but then she went through almost two weeks of waking up at 4:40...every day...on the dot. It was exhausting. I thought maybe the reason for it was that she was ready to move to only one nap. The problem was, my saving grace was napping with her during her first nap. I decided to suck it up for a few days and stay up - and keep her up - during the morning nap in hopes of her sleeping in. During those two days, she took one 2-hour (or less) nap and still woke up at 4:40 the next morning.

I finally came to grips with the fact that maybe this is my lot right now and I might as well take advantage of the morning nap if she wasn't going to sleep any later. Thankfully my mom was here during part of that time so I was able to go back to sleep when she got up.

The last few mornings she has been sleeping in to around 6. I never thought I would consider 6am sleeping in, but it has been great! I feel so refreshed!

I think part of the reason for her not sleeping is that she is getting a ton of teeth. She went from 3 teeth to almost all of them seemingly overnight. So I decided it was time to get a toothbrush.

I know... I probably should have done it earlier but I was putting it off. I just figured it would be one more thing that she would hate and would be a battle. Boy was I wrong. She LOVES brushing her teeth! Whenever she sees her toothbrush (or randomly) she says "teeth" and wants to brush them. We brush teeth about three times a day.

She is also talking a TON! One of the cutest things she says a lot is "I know." She doesn't really know how to use it in context which makes it more hilarious. Her manners are good (haha sometimes) because she says please and thank you. She has thank you down better, but has to be reminded to say please instead of grunt when she wants something.

She loves saying all of her family members. Several times a day we go through all of them - Daddy, Baloo, Lolly, Pops, Casey, Nana, Baboo (which is how she says Grandpa), Willie, Lyle. She is still working on saying Colby. She can also say her own name.

She also has her animal sounds down pat. When I read to her sometimes I don't even think about it but there will be an animal on the page and she makes the sound super loud.

And she knows how to say "paci." It sounds like poppy though when she says it. And she asks for it by name. A lot. Which makes me even more nervous about weaning her when the time comes.

Rustin's mom is watching her tomorrow while I clean the new house and move some things over (hopefully if the contractors aren't still there). Then my mom is coming Wed.-Fri. and Avery is going home with her until Monday. My mom stayed with her at our house when we went to Cozumel and she stayed in WF with my parents when we went to the Wichita Mountains for two nights, but those are the only times we've left her. I'm going to miss her a ton, but I know she will have fun. And when she comes back, hopefully we will be all settled into her new home!