Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Snowed In

We have been looking forward to my cousin, Jason, his wife, Olivia, and their daughter, Halle visiting us for a couple months now. This past Thursday, Avery and I went to the grocery store after lunch. I was quite surprised to see that not only was just about every parking spot was taken, but there were no carts in sight. I found a nice lady loading her groceries into her car and asked if I could take her cart. She told me it was crazy busy inside because of the upcoming snow storm. Apparently living in the south for 15 years hasn't rubbed off on me, because it never occurred to me to stock up on groceries for a snow storm of less than 12". But Avery and I braved the crowds and loaded up on lots of good food for the weekend. She ended up falling asleep in the cart since the trip took a little longer than normal.


While I was shopping, Jason called me to talk about our weekend plans. They were staying with some family in PA and had planned to drive up to our place on Friday afternoon. But with the snow coming, they were afraid they might not be able to make it up on Friday. I told them they were welcome to come that evening, which they decided to do. Fortunately, Ryan was able to take the afternoon off, and he helped me with a few last minute details around the house before they arrived.

I had originally planned on Ryan and I having leftovers for dinner, so I was thankful that Jason & Olivia are very flexible and were okay with having pancakes that evening. We had the best time catching up with them and watching the girls play together. Although, they mostly just spent the evening yelling across the table at each other.

The next morning, the snow began falling pretty early. So we settled down for a cozy day with cups of hot coffee. When Ryan got home, we took the girls outside to play for a couple minutes. The snow was still coming down very hard, and the wind made it quite cold. But we still had a great time and the girls seemed to enjoy the snow as well.






On Saturday morning, the girls played for a while before we went out to Friendly's for lunch. Jason and Ryan spent about an hour digging out our cars before we left. They decided to leave after lunch and head back to PA for the evening. We are so thankful for a fun and memorable weekend and for having family that loves spending time together!




Monday, February 11, 2013

7 Months Old

We finally made it to the doctor's last week for our "6" month appointment. At 7 months, Avery now weighs 14 lbs (20th percentile) and is 27" (80th percentile). It looks we're going to have a tall, thin little girl on our hands! She has grown and changed so much in these last couple months. We love playing with her and watching her learn new things.



We are especially thankful for the good health God has given her. Other than a brief cold that she had for just a couple days back in September, she has been in perfect health. We just love her sweet, happy personality. She is constantly smiling and laughing at us, at her toys, or just life in general. Avery continues to sleep 12 hours at night (something she has done consistently since she was 12 weeks old). She takes two naps during the day, and is in the process of dropping her third (evening) nap. In the past month or so, she has started talking and giggling to herself in her crib before and after her naps. I love listening to her little conversations and hearing excited squeals coming from her room.

Her favorite time of the day is seeing Daddy walk through the door after work. She gets so excited she can hardly contain it. Daddy gets lots of shrieks and squeals during play time, and then Mommy has to calm her down before bedtime. Avery loves getting a bath each evening before bed. Baths have an amazing ability to stop any fussiness and put her in an instantly good mood. I think some bath toys are going to be on my list to buy her pretty soon!



Avery can say "mama" and "dada" although she doesn't do it on command. "Mama" is usually heard when she is done with her nap. And she says "dada" when Daddy is making her laugh. In the last few weeks, she has started saying "ni-ni" when she is tired and ready for her nap or bed. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence or something I was imagining. But after hearing it consistently for a few days, I started putting her down when she said it, and she would go right to sleep. Sometimes she will lay in her crib saying "ni-ni" over and over to herself as she falls asleep.

She can sit up by herself very well now, and can even go from playing on her stomach to completely sitting up all by herself. She still has not started crawling, although she can scoot anywhere she wants to go. She can push herself up very easily onto her feet and loves climbing on our legs while we are on the floor with her. In the last couple days, she has started pulling herself up while holding onto us. Maybe she will skip crawling and go straight to walking!



We are still in the process of introducing new foods to Avery, but so far she has eaten everything we give her. Peas and applesauce are back on the list of favorites. Sweet potatoes are still her top food, but she'll eat a whole avocado or a banana at one meal as well. Beets and carrots are on the menu for this week! She also  loves drinking water out of her sippy cup (although she only gets a couple ounces of water each day).

Avery is one of the easiest babies to take out in public. She is so interested and curious about everything that is going on around her. She loves sitting in the cart at the grocery store. Although this last trip took a little longer than normal since everyone was stocking up for the snow storm, and she fell asleep. I saw her yawn and the next time I looked at her she was sound asleep.


She loves playing in the nursery and doesn't cry anymore when we hand her over to the workers. She'll smile at almost anyone who talks to her, but she especially loves watching the older children play in the nursery. We gave up on trying to get her to sleep at church because there was too much else going on around her! Thankfully, she is pretty adaptable and can handle missing a nap or two throughout the week.



We love being parents to such a sweet, happy girl!
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