Avery 13 Months

So I decided I wasn't going to do "monthly" posts after she turned a year. I wouldn't have monthly pictures to show anymore, and I thought I'd just write when something cool happens. Well then I got the urge to blog on Oct. 7 - right when she turned 13 months. I guess I had conditioned myself? But then I haven't had a chance to actually write until now...

So here's her 13 month update - 

She still weighs right under 20 lbs. She now has two teeth on the bottom and two more that are trying to come through on top. 

She's not walking yet, but loves pulling up. That's almost all she does all day. 

I think I have a picky eater on my hands. I feel bad because I always feed her the same stuff, but it's all she'll eat! I even got some recipes for baby finger food and spent all this time making them and she wouldn't eat a bite. The only things I can count on her to eat are avocado, peaches, and yogurt melts. Then of course she loves the Gerber puffs and crunchies, which I'm sure she'd be fine with me feeding her all the time but I am trying to limit it.

She has also picked up some bad habits while eating. She likes to get her hands super messy and rub them all over her hair. Luckily she doesn't have much hair so it is sort of easy to wipe out.

She also thinks it is super funny to drop things, and the more sternly I tell her "no," the more she laughs. I have started ignoring her and that seems to be working better.

While we were in Wichita Falls, she went to her first wedding. My cousin, Keyton, got married. She actually did great during the ceremony, and it helped that it was super short. Here is a picture of her and my parents before the wedding -

She also had the time of her life hanging out with her BFF, Willie. 

Also during the trip we went to my cousin, Lindsay's, baby shower. Avery was napping when I left to go so she didn't join in that event. 

Here are a few more pictures of her lately. This is us before we went shopping one afternoon-

This is her eating at Gloria's with my mom and me - 

Wichita Falls Trip

Last week Avery and I made a trip to Wichita Falls - my hometown and "God's country" according to my dad.

We go back there about every 6 weeks. Why 6 weeks? Because, yes, I still get my hair done there. I go to the same lady who has done it since early college. Every time I've gotten it done in Dallas, I've paid double and ended up with super short orange hair. But that's not the whole reason. I can't stay away from my family very long, so it also gives me a good excuse to visit. And they like seeing me... or Avery. 

The drive was a little more treacherous than normal. As I left Allen, I noticed my gas tank was about half full. I should have stopped but I thought a half a tank could get me there. More on that later.

I don't go the way most people go from Dallas to WF. Since we are so far north, it is about the same distance for me to go up to Sherman and take 82. There is less traffic and more places for me to pull over with Avery if I need to. Overall I just feel like it's a safer route. I also love feeling like I'm in the country. And I love driving through Nocona. My best friend in high school, Sandy, lived there for a while and I think I spent every weekend of my sophomore year there.

Anyway my gas tank started to dip quicker than expected but it started POURING rain. Who wants to pump gas in the rain?? Plus Avery was asleep and if there's one rule we live by at my house it is NEVER wake the baby!

The rain stopped around Saint Jo (if you recognize any of the towns I have named so far, you are a true Texan), but I guess I zoned out on memories in Nocona because getting gas was the last thing on my mind. Then my gas light came on. If you're familiar with this route, you know there is NOTHING for miles. Yes, there's Ringgold, but there's no gas stations there. 

I've always judged people who ran out of gas. I always wondered how dumb you had to be. I mean do you not see your tank gauge or gas light? I also knew that if I did run out of gas, the person I would be forced to call would be my dad. He thinks his tank is low if it is below 3/4 of a tank. I knew that phone call would not be pretty.

Avery was sound asleep in the backseat as I felt my car start to sputter (is that the right word??). I felt like it was my "Jesus Take the Wheel" moment. I've never had a panic attack but I am certain I did right then. I was sure we were running out of gas. I started breathing really fast and my heart was beating out of my chest. I kept praying for God to get me to Henrietta.

We made it to Henrietta.

I feel like I just wrote a lot of build up for nothing. Anyway lesson learned. I will fill up before leaving town from now on. I didn't even tell my dad when I got to town. I didn't want the lecture, but I'm pretty sure my phone will be ringing any second now...

So while in WF Avery got to see Uncle Colby's new apartment. It's really nice and looks out over Lake Wellington.

She also made her first trip to one of my all-time favorite restaurants - Samurai of Tokyo. We figured the guy making the food would keep her entertained. Well instead he scared her and she started crying at the top of her lungs. Here are a few pictures. My mom's going to kill me for the first one.

We also ate at Jason's Deli. They just got one there and they think it's super awesome. I had my fill of Jason's Deli when I worked at IBM. Angie and I went there every day for lunch. So much so our coworkers asked us if we owned stock. But anyway I think my parents wanted to get the all you can eat ice cream. My PE teacher from elementary school was working the door.

Avery is still obsessed with Willie, and now that she can crawl, he's in trouble.

We had a great time and can't wait to go back... in a few weeks...

Mother's Day 2012

This post is a little late, but at this point, I'm just happy if I ever post anything!

I think Mother's Day sort of snuck up on us. I didn't really think about the fact that I am a mother now so that day was also for me! My mom told me they were having a cookout at my Grandma's. But I had just been to Wichita Falls and my mom had just been here, and I knew Rustin wouldn't really want to make the "long" trip.

But Rustin's mom was in Seattle so we didn't have anything planned here, and I didn't want to spend my first Mother's Day sitting around the house. So I convinced Rustin to go to Wichita Falls.

I'm so glad we did. Almost my entire family was there, which was the first time we have been all together since my grandad's funeral, and we had a great time.

We were also able to meet my cousin Kenzie's husband, Eric Ward. He plays football for Tech and since Rustin went to school there (and is a huge Tech football fan), he was happy to meet him. I teased Rustin that he had a man crush on him haha. Here is the whole clan:

We wanted to get another picture with my grandma and her great grandbabies. We thought it would be best to hold them since last time when she tried to they were both crying! Soon we will have a third grandbaby!  My cousin, Lindsay, is pregnant with a little boy.

Avery is still a little wary of strangers - especially men. Uncle Bruce made her cry a few times. Then we tried to get her and Jayric to play. They were both sitting there all sweet so I decided to get a picture. The moment I got the camera, Avery started crying!

And then we had to do another four generations picture.

We had a great time! I was so glad we made the trip!

Valentine's Day

Rustin took me to eat at III Forks for dinner for Valentine's Day. I've wanted to go there for years. When we were in college this guy took Andrea on a date there and she came back telling me how awesome it was, so I've always wanted to try it. We went the week before Valentine's because they were doing a free wine tasting and we wanted to avoid the crowds. (Does that make us old??) Rustin also had a coupon for free dessert so we enjoyed some key lime pie with our steak :) It was really good, but for our 1st anniversary we went to Fearings and we both agree that place is still the best!

We usually don't really exchange gifts but Rustin snuck out in the morning and got me a Starbucks drink (my fave!) and these pretty flowers! I definitely needed the Starbucks because Avery woke up for the day at 5:40 am! 

I guess Avery couldn't sleep later because she was excited for her first Valentine's Day. She got cards from her grandparents and great grandparents. She also had a cute outfit Andrea gave her. Here are a few pictures-

My mom was here that week, and we had a lot of fun! I never want her to leave. I felt like I didn't have any good pictures of Avery and I since I dyed my hair so I made my mom do a "photo shoot" of us. (I know - I'm a dork.) Our neighborhood has a cool walking trail and a little pier, so that's where we went to get a few pictures.

Speaking of my hair, I'm going to Wichita Falls next week and have a hair appointment. I'm still torn on whether or not to keep it dark. I like it better highlighted but get tired of the upkeep. But I have seriously found tons of gray hairs recently, so it looks like I'm going to have to color it no matter what! Either way I'm looking forward to going there... I haven't been since Christmas.

Avery's First Christmas

I'm not sure where to even start with this Christmas. It was wonderful because it's the first one I got to spend with my little girl. I didn't find out I was pregnant with her until early January, so last year at Christmas I was praying so hard for her. Now I am so blessed and happy she is here. But it was also an incredibly sad Christmas because my Grandad passed away on the 20th. I think it would just be too hard to try to write one post and combine such opposing emotions, so for this post I am just going to focus on the good parts of this Christmas and write a separate post about my Grandad later.

Avery started off the holidays with a new trick - the night before we left for Wichita Falls (the 18th) she rolled over for the first time! I thought it might be a fluke so I put her back on her tummy to see if she'd do it again and she did, but she hasn't done it since, so I'm not sure what to make of that. I guess she'll do it again when she's ready.

Avery and I left for Wichita Falls on Dec. 19. I was going to spend the week before Christmas with my family since it was Rustin's parents' turn to get us for Christmas this year. I had a hair appointment scheduled on the 20th to dye my hair back to its natural color, and much to my surprise (and I think everyone else's) I actually went through with it... and even like it! I just wanted a change and since my hair is so dark naturally, I felt like I had noticeable roots two weeks after getting my hair highlighted. Plus, it's expensive! Here is a picture of the new look...

We tried to do a photo shoot of Avery in her "First Christmas" outfit my grandma gave her but it didn't go too well because she wouldn't look at the camera and kept making faces like this...



And this...

Also the outfit was very close to being too small, and to make matters worse (or more funny) she kept grabbing her shirt and lifting it up to reveal her poochy little tummy.

We went over to my grandma's and had Christmas lunch and decided to take a few more pictures of Avery with the family.



After lunch we came home and opened presents. I think Avery got the most! She even got a cute little dress all the way from Virginia from Aunt Holly and Uncle Greg!

My grandma and aunt came by a lot that week to visit with Avery and she liked chatting with them. Here is a picture of her doing what she loves - holding her hands and laughing.

I'll end with an update on Avery's sleep habits (my main concern). She is still doing the same thing - only taking 20 minute naps during the day and not going to sleep until around 10 at night. I've tried everything to get her to nap longer and go to bed earlier and nothing works. I guess the only thing I haven't tried is cry it out. I just don't know if I can do it. Part of me thinks that it would be cruel to let her cry like that, but then the other part of me knows that sometimes as a parent you have to do hard things for the benefit of your child. I want her to have healthy sleep habits and for our whole family to be rested, but how? I think I've driven myself crazy reading all the books and their opposing points of view and still feel just as lost. If any moms have any advice on what they did to sleep train their babies, I would love to hear it. I want to do what is best for her, but I just don't know what that is. But I do know that what I'm doing right now is not working and she's not sleeping enough.

Thanksgiving & Avery 3 Months

I can't believe it - Avery turned three months old on Dec. 7. She is getting so funny and showing her little personality. She has discovered her hands and just loves them. When she catches them in her line of sight, she gets very excited. She also loves it when they accidentally make it into her mouth. She used to only suck on her hands when she was hungry but now she does it for fun!

She's going to hate me for talking about this when she's older (and this may be TMI) but when she goes to the bathroom, it is SO loud! That is what usually wakes me up in the morning on the monitor. Seriously sometimes when Rustin's holding her, I ask if that was her or him. We took her to home group the other night for the first time and it was a real quiet, serious part and she started in. No one dared look. I'm sure they thought it was an adult and were embarassed for them.

Anyway here is her little 3 month picture. The colors don't really go, but she just had to wear her Christmas bow!

We haven't really done much this month. We're still trying to figure out this whole "life with a baby" thing, but we did go to Wichita Falls for Thanksgiving. We switch back and forth between my parents and Rustin's parents for holidays. We had a lot of fun seeing my family and Avery finally got to meet her Uncle Colby...

She also got to meet her cousin. Well I guess he's her cousin...or maybe second cousin? Anyway she got to meet Jayric - my cousin Kenzie's little boy. I don't have the picture but my grandma really wanted a picture of her with both of them, and they both were screaming crying haha!

We also did Take 2 of the four generations picture. None of us liked the other one, and I still looked pregnant. Although we can always find something wrong with pictures, we all approved of this one.

And we had to get a family picture...

My worry this month has been Avery's sleep schedule (or lack thereof). I have worn myself out researching sleep strategies. Right now, we have a routine, but just no schedule. I think it's hard for people who don't have a colicky baby to understand how much harder it is. I really have to put her down for a nap within two hours of being awake or she gets overtired and then it's a mess. Because of that, it's really hard for me to take her anywhere. Even though I put her down for naps a lot, she doesn't stay asleep long so I hardly have any time during the day to get anything done (including brushing my teeth and eating). I shouldn't complain because she sleeps through the night, she just doesn't sleep much at all during the day. Thankfully Rustin's parents live here now and his sweet mom watches her a lot for me. We take turns with them on Sundays going to church. My mom also comes down for several days at least once a month, which is a huge help too. 

This is sometimes how we nap. Some of the books say not to, but I don't care! There will come a day when she will be too big to nap with her mommy. 

Hopefully I will update again before another month goes by!

Keeping Up

I find it ironic that I created this blog to keep everyone updated on Avery, but since she's been born I haven't had any time to blog! I'm hoping to have a little more time when she's a little older and on a better schedule. I really want to keep up with it because I want to be able to look back on what was going on during each of her stages. I also want it to be something for her to read when she's older.  

She turned two months old on the 7th. I bought stickers off Etsy for each month and you just stick them on a onesie. I wrongly assumed I could use the same onesie that I used for her one month pictures. There was no way I was getting it buttoned! I figured I'd just put it on since I didn't have time to go get a new one and crop the picture. Here is a picture that shows how small it was.

And here is the cropped picture, which looks much better :) Guess I'll have to go shopping before she turns 3 months!

She has started sleeping through the night most nights (11pm-6am) which is wonderful! She also started smiling and has found her tongue. She sticks it out and also puts it behind her bottom lip. When she does, she looks like Bubba on Forrest Gump haha. 

At 6-7 weeks she started getting really fussy. I went to Wichita Falls during that time which was good since I had help, but was also stressful. She cried in the car most of the way there and back. I wanted to see a lot of people, but it was so hard to leave her. But my grandma, aunt and cousin all came over to see her. Sandy also came to meet her, and I got to see all three of her kiddos. Here is a picture of her meeting Aunt Trudy.

I wanted to get a few pictures of her in a pumpkin patch, so my mom and I hurried over to Smith's one day when she was happy. We managed to get a few shots before she started crying.

I didn't dress her up for Halloween. I figured she was too little, but then I saw pictures of friends who had babies around the same time as me, and they dressed their little ones up. I guess I should have. Oh well, there's always next year! But my mom did buy her this cute outfit.

She loves laying flat on her changing table and bassinet, so I usually take the opportunity to get a few photos :)

She was supposed to have her two month check up today and get her immunizations, but something was wrong with the insurance and I had to reschedule for Monday.

Hopefully I will be able to post more updates soon!