Avery 10 Months

Wow! I can't believe she's 10 months! I always felt like her turning a year old was an eternity away, but now that she's 10 months, it hit me that it's only 2 months away!! And I also realized that I have done zero to prepare for her first birthday. Luckily I'm planning on doing something low-key. Around Dallas it seems people go all out and stop just short of having Katy Perry as the live entertainment. Not here. It will be something simple with just family and close friends.

Here are pictures from her monthly photo shoot -

This month has been pretty crazy. I didn't want to admit this in her 9 month post, but things were pretty easy back then. She couldn't crawl and had grown out of her colic (or whatever she had) so life was a breeze. I could put her on her quilt and she would quietly play with her toys (not going anywhere) while I washed dishes or made bottles or whatever.

...Then she started crawling. I guess that was her "present" to me, because the first time she crawled was on my birthday. She has not slowed down since, and my life has drastically changed. I've heard this forever, but now I know the meaning of "you have to watch her every second." I turn my head to look at something and turn it back and she's somehow doing something she's not supposed to.

Case in point - our dog has this annoying habit where he drops a couple pieces of food on the carpet. Anyway I saw the piece of food earlier and meant to pick it up but didn't. Well I put Avery on the floor and went to get her bottle. When I came back, she was in the spot where the food was. She was chewing something with a strange look on her face. Yeah. Gross.

I am OCD clean and I have been going insane since she started crawling. It doesn't help that we have a horse-size dog that I swear loses half his body weight in hair in the summer. The vacuum and I have had daily meetings.

She has had a lot of "firsts" this month. Of course crawling -

Her favorite place to crawl is all the way to the end of the hall where her daddy is working in the office. It's quite the hike for such a little girl, but she loves visiting him!

If you're interested, I posted a couple of crawling videos on her YouTube channel. There's nothing in them that's going to make them go viral or anything, but I thought it would be fun for out-of-town family to get to see her crawl. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/samrandrews

Then Rustin's grandma, Joy, came for a visit. This is the first time she has met any of her great-grandparents on Rustin's side.

And she celebrated her first 4th of July!

Let's see - she weighs about 18 pounds. She still is not a huge fan of solids, but we keep trying. She likes finger foods better than me feeding her anything.

She FINALLY (at 9.5 months) started taking longer naps. The Healthy Sleep Habits book said they should start napping "by the clock" with two naps at around 9am and 1pm that last at least an hour at about 5 months. Ha! I guess she's just a late bloomer, but it did eventually happen.

And no she still does not have any signs of teeth!

I seriously love her so much. I wonder what I did with my life before she came along!

When I was 17...

I don't know what's got me thinking about this lately. I didn't think I cared about turning 30. But this last week I've been a little depressed about it.

I've been listening to Eric Church's song, Springsteen, a lot because I love it! If you like country music, check it out. But in the song he talks about being 17, and it's got me thinking about when I was 17. And then I did the math - that was 13 years ago - almost half my life!

When I was 17, "parents" were in their own category. I mean you would ask your friends if parents were going to be there when you were coming over. It was so much more fun if they weren't. You never wanted parents to listen in on your phone calls (we didn't text back then) because they wouldn't get it. And God forbid anyone call either of your parents "hot." Gross! Parents were NOT hot.

Parents went to bed at 9pm, and even when they didn't have to, they still woke up before 7am. They watched boring stuff like the news and acted appalled when you listened to whatever song was popular at the time. They also did not get your fashion choices, even though looking back, I see why.

But it hit me this past week. I am now a parent. I am in that category. Lord help me, I do go to bed at 9pm and wake up before 7am (although at this point that is still not by choice).

I will never be that high school kid again. The kid who could stay up all hours of the night and still make it to school on time (granted in high school, I slept through a lot of classes). I can't do dumb stuff anymore and people say "oh she's just a kid." No, I HAVE a kid now. I'll never again live those days where I had no responsibility, no one depending on me, no one looking up to me.

What's ironic is I've spent the better part of my adult life wanting to be where I am now. I'm that person who has wanted to get married pretty much since I graduated high school. I've never been that into a career because my dream was to be a stay at home mom. And now I have it. I have it all, and what am I thinking about? High school. The place I couldn't wait to get out of.

I know when Avery graduates, I will be watching and crying because I will remember when she was a little baby and only wanted her mommy and would let me rock her before bed while we read books and I kissed her fuzzy head. I know I will miss these days much more than I am missing high school right now.

For me, it is just a reminder to be thankful for where you are because you will never be here again. This stage in your life, no matter the difficulties that come with it, will never be repeated. And believe it or not, you will more than likely nostalgically look back on it one day wishing you could be here again.

I know Avery will be grown up in the blink of an eye, and I pray I enjoy each minute of it.

I don't know if any of my high school friends read my blog. But if you are, I had a great time with you back then and still think of you. Thanks to Facebook I can stalk you and see what's going on in your lives :)

I thought I'd post a few pictures of back in the day (I can't believe I'm posting some of these). Most of my pictures must be at my parents' house because I couldn't find many.

First off, who remembers the Probe?? And yes, my parents still live at that house in the background.

When I moved to Dallas, people were shocked to learn I used to ride horses. Well one horse, my beloved Amigo.

And friends...

Thanks for letting me reminisce...

30th Birthday

That's right - I turned 30. I usually don't really care too much about my birthday. I think after 18, it just became another year passing. But I was excited about this one because, selfishly, I was looking forward to kicking back and relaxing and not feeling guilty about it!

The celebration really started on Thursday. My mom was still in town so she watched Avery that morning while I went to Starbucks and got my favorite breakfast - chai tea latte and cranberry orange scone. Then I went and got a pedicure! I thoroughly enjoy my pedicures because I really only splurge on them twice a year. (Don't worry I don't let my toenails grow three feet the rest of the year - I just do it myself.)

Friday night we went to the Downtown Square in McKinney. It is one of my favorite places to go. Casey was in town so he came with us and two of my friends who live in McKinney - Natalie and Michelle - met us.  

On Saturday, Rustin woke up with Avery so I could sleep in. While I was sleeping they went to get me Starbucks and donuts. He also gave me a gift certificate for a manicure/pedicure at this spa in an old house in downtown Allen I've been wanting to try forever.

I know some people plan huge celebrations for their 30th, but I just didn't want that. When I thought of having something big, it stressed me out. So we stayed in town and did something small. 

I LOVE staying at hotels. Eventually I want to stay just one night at each of the "fancy" hotels in Dallas. So Andrea booked the Mansion on Turtle Creek for a few of us girls.

During the day we hung out by the pool. The only picture I got was at night - 

After the pool, we got ready for dinner. When I came out of the shower the girls had decorated the hotel room!

That night we went to dinner at Nick and Sam's Grill. They even gave us a champagne toast!

The next day we went to brunch at Oddfellows, which is this place in the Bishop Arts District that I've wanted to try for a while. The coffee there is supposed to be amazing and it did not disappoint in that area. It was the best chai latte I've ever tasted.

I'm very thankful for all my family and friends who made my 30th very special. Avery even had a surprise for me that day, but I'll save that for another post...

Father's Day Weekend

We had an action packed weekend! Avery was invited to a little girl's first birthday on Saturday. She is Neeraj, Rustin's former co-worker's, daughter. Rustin is learning to use his new camera so he took a few action shots -

Then for Father's Day we went to church and Avery went to the nursery for the second time. They said she did ok but I could tell she'd been crying when we went to get her. I think she was hungry but she has a hard time eating in those situations because she's too distracted by everything.

After church we went to Rustin's parents' house for lunch (another action shot) -

After lunch we went swimming! It was Avery's first time in the pool. I assumed she would like it since she loves her baths so much and I wasn't wrong. Rustin's parents got her a nice float with a shaded top. We put a few toys in there with her (we joked they looked like her cell phone and a wine glass - after her mom's own heart!)  and she was happy as she could be!

Then she had another "first" this week - library time! I've been wanting to take her to Baby and Me story time and just hadn't had a chance. Well my mom was here this week so we took her and met my friend, Natalie, and her baby who is about the same age as Avery. It was so funny to see them interact. Sophia kept crawling towards Avery and Avery would squeal and laugh at her. They both had their hands out touching each other at one point, but of course I couldn't catch a picture of it. This is the best I could do -

Avery 9 Months

Avery turned 9 months on June 7. She had her check up with the doctor on the 11th and she weighed 17 pounds, 13.5oz and was 27.25 inches long.

Here are pictures from her 9 month photo shoot. It's getting harder and harder to take these because she is now aware of her bow and sticker and tries to pull them both off. I know it will only get more difficult once she becomes mobile!

She has started making this face that seems like she's thinking "what are you doing??" -

Here is what has been going on...

Bottles: She drinks four 6oz bottles a day, but she drinks them in little bits. This used to stress me out because I read books that warned against "snacking" but that is just how she eats. Even when she wakes up from sleeping 11 hours at night she only eats 3oz. The doctor told me that was good for her though because of her reflux. Both Rustin and I like to eat little bits throughout the day rather than large meals, so she may just take after us!

Solids: She has a love/hate relationship with solids. Sometimes she gets super happy while eating and eats a ton, other days (most days) I can barely get her to eat anything and she fusses the whole time. But she does love her puffs! And to her Daddy's dismay, I gave her a taste of the pineapple sherbet I was eating and she loved it! She kept opening her mouth and fussing for me to give her more.

Milestones: Nope - still no teeth and she's not crawling either. I would worry, but I've finally realized that babies are so different and do everything at a different pace. I feel like she's a few months behind when they say she "should" do things, so I'm sure crawling is no different. She gets up on her hands and knees and wiggles back and forth so it's just a matter of time. But she has learned how to sit up by herself in her crib.

Nicknames: A-Shae and LP. Her dad made both of them up. LP stands for Little Princess. I thought that was cute :)

Sleep: Her naps are still short. She just loves the 45 minute nap. Every now and then she sleeps longer. Most babies her age are down to two naps, but she still takes three naps - I guess because they're so short. Sometimes she doesn't want to take her third one even though she's really tired. I used to take her walking during that time, but now it's too hot so we run errands or just go driving and she always passes out in the car.
She's been sleeping through the night for several months now. She usually goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up at 6:30am. I love our time before I put her down to sleep. I call it our "cuddle time." I hold her facing me and she talks to me and plays with my hair, nose, shirt or anything else she can grab.

Her favorite toy by far is her paci. We have the wubbanub kind with an animal attached to it. Sometimes when I look at her at night, she's not sucking on the paci but just holding and rubbing the animal part.

She loves animals, especially my parents' cat Willie. Whenever she sees him she squeals really loud. If he walks by, she tries to grab him. She likes our dog, Baloo, too but only sometimes. She will see him all day and not pay attention, but then she'll randomly get really excited about him. Here are some pics of her and her furry friends -

When she gets a toy in her hands, she gets excited and moves her arms up and down. She also has been making a funny noise like she's trying to whistle. She really likes it if you try to make the noise too.

I'll close with a few more pictures of her -

Broken Bow Trip

Last weekend we went on a girls trip to Broken Bow, OK to celebrate Annette's 30th birthday. Several months before, I kept going back and forth on whether or not I should go. Of course I wanted to, but the thought of leaving Avery for so long stressed me out (Friday night - Sunday afternoon). But in the end I figured she'd be ok with her Daddy and decided to go.

We joked and said we were "glamping." If you know me, you know this is the only way I prefer to camp :) Our "cabin" was huge (two stories) and super nice. It even had a hot tub outside! Here are a few pictures -

Us hanging out the night we got there -

The next day Sherrie cooked a delicious breakfast and we packed our lunches and headed to canoe. I've only gone canoeing three times in my life. The first time I was sick and my canoe capsized the moment we got in the river and all our stuff went floating downstream. I refused to canoe again, but when we went to Broken Bow for Andrea's 30th, I did (she should feel special) and it was a lot of fun so I wasn't too worried this time. We saw a lot of wildlife - fish, turtles, snakes, and more bugs than necessary.

That night we got cleaned up and went to the winery in town - Girls Gone Wine. I love that place! They offer free tastings and have great wines. All profits from one of their wines - Bark - benefits the local animal shelter, which I thought was really cool. We had a great time there as usual.

That night we went back to the cabin and Sherrie cooked another delicious meal then we got in the hot tub. They all stayed up later, but I went to bed. I was just so excited to get some sleep!

Then the next day we headed home. I was sad to leave but couldn't wait to see Rustin and Avery. As we were leaving the cabin, a cat came up to us. He was so sweet but didn't have a collar and looked really skinny. I was riding with Andrea and she wouldn't let me take him, but if I had my own car you can bet we would be cat owners! (I'm sure Rustin is thankful for Andrea's decision.)