Laugh Attack

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Originally I planned on posting a video of Avery every Friday so that you could see her in action, but after week one I was deviating from the schedule and never seemed to get back on. Now that we are sleeping through the night, Avery is over her double ear infections and can play by herself I plan on getting our house, life and pretty much everything back on track.

Here is a video of the little one. She is sitting up so well and is so interested in everything.

Hope everybody has a great Friday and weekend.

Our Trip To Tennessee - Part One

We loaded up the family two weeks ago and headed to Nashville to meet up with the rest of the Stone family. LeeJayne had recently relocated to Tennessee and we all wanted to see her new place and this gave us a chance to all get together. Roy, Brenda and Mamaw made the long trek from Baytown, TX and we made the shorter trip from South Carolina. I had my worries about the drive, about 7 hours, but we all survived. Actually, Avery did great and slept most of the way there. Heath had a stomach bug the morning that we left that almost stopped us from going but in the end it all worked out. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together with the family and I know Avery had a blast. She was loved on by the whole family and she just ate it up. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

"We meet again Bauer"

"Jammin' On Aunt LeeLee's Piano"

"Taking A Sunday Drive With Rubs"

"Telling Mamaw Secrets"

"Taking A Break With B"

Avery also got to swim a little while she was there and loved it. The frog pool that LeeJayne got her was SO cute. She was splashing, laughing and pouring water all over! Here is a funny picture of her that really shows how much fun she was having. She is such a little ham for the camera.

Avery also had a mini-photo shoot while she was in Tennessee. Aunt LJ coordinated the whole thing and the pictures turned out great. I promise to post some of them soon. There were so many good ones that they really deserved a post all their own. I am looking forward to the weekend as always but even more this weekend because we have a special guest in town. My Mom arrived late last night and is going to spend some quality time with Avery. I am sure she is here to visit us too, but Avery definitely takes precedence over all of us. Stay tuned for Trip Part 2 and some pictures with Nonnie!

Sick Mommy & Giggle Pants

I was out of commission on Friday and most of this weekend from some flu bug. I have not been that sick since my sophomore year of college and I hope that I can avoid being that sick for a long long time. There is no need to share the details but it was bad enough that I had Heath take Avery to school instead of saying home with me on Friday. I was bummed that I was taking a day off that I couldn't spend with the little one, but there was no way that I could have taken care of her. I slept until 2pm and then relocated to the couch for the rest of the day, needless to say I am happy to now be among the living.

On a much better topic I wanted for everybody to see the cuteness that is Avery when she laughs. It is hysterical. The good news is that she thinks most of her body is ticklish so any time you touch her it illictes a giggle. Her tummy is by far her "spot" and we can always get a little laugh or a smile, even when she is in a bad mood. Hope this brightens your Monday. I know it brightens every day for us!

7 Months Old

We are back from out visit to Tennessee where Avery got to see Aunt LJ, Rubs, B and Mamaw. We all had a great time, even the dogs! I will definitely blog more about our trip later but I wanted to post Avery's 7 Month pictures. She is getting so big and her pictures are great.

Avery is moving constantly now. She is rolling all over and doing the bulldozer, as Heath calls it. She puts her chin to her chest, arms down by her side and pushes herself around with her feet. She is pretty effective at moving around like that and I think that crawling is in her future soon. We have not seen any teeth yet but her gums are pretty bumpy and she is chewing on everything! She loves to sit up and take in everything that is going on around her, she is so inquisitive. Yesterday we were unpacking from our trip and Heath was emptying out the cooler while Avery was watching over him, she reached out and grabbed the ice on top of the drinks. I think we both expected her to be shocked but she just scrunched her eyebrows together and then smiled. It's great having such a happy baby.

We took lots of cute pictures of Avery this weekend. A few staged shots and lots of pictures of Avery with the family, but I will save that all for later. Hope this is a good start to your week and that Monday is not too hard on everybody.

15 Pounds & 11 Ounces

Yes, you read it right. That is how much Avery weighed today when we went to the Doctor's office. At her 6 month appointment she was 13 pounds 11 ounces, so she has gained almost 2 full pounds in a month! I knew my arms were getting more of a workout when I carried her around and I knew she was getting bigger but I could never have guessed by this much. I am so happy that she is growing bigger but I definilty miss my little baby.

There were a few small reasons for the Doctor's visit but the main one is that we though Avery had ear infections. I guess parent's intuition is right because she has double ear infections. :( We are starting antibiotics tonight so she will be on the quick road to recovery and we hope she will be much better for our trip to Nashville this weeknd.

I can't write without posting a few cute pictures of Avery. She loved laying in her laundry basket and smiled the whole time as I was carrying her around. She is hilarious! Have a great day.

Happy 4th of July

Here are some pictures of Avery from the past two days. She is a total ham for the camera and loves being in her red, white and blue garb for the holiday. The holiday weekend is much needed and we are all resting up with our time off.

We are all enjoying being home together and it is great to see what Avery can do. She can sit up all by herself and she rarely falls over, she is also rolling all over the place and scooting to wherever she wants to go. It has resulted in a few rug burns on the face but she is loving being able to move around as she pleases. Avery will be 7 months old next week, I can hardly believe that time has gone by this fast. What a wonderful time! Of course we will be taking her monthly picture in her Winnie the Pooh chair so you can see how much she has grown.

Our good friends Lee & Amy Edmondson had their little girl Kendall Marie last Sunday and she is so cute! We are so happy that both Mom and baby are healthy and we can not wait for the little ones to meet. Congratulations guys, we know how excited you both were to finally have her here.

Visitors From Another Planet - Or Tennessee

This past weekend was wonderful and awful all in one.

The Bad Part

Heath and I both had inventory at work which means long hours on Thursday and Friday and potentially working on Saturday. We have to do it two times a year like clockwork and I dread it every time it comes up. The last time we did inventory was the end of January; the exact week I went back to work from being on maternity leave. I was a hormonal mess and was so sad about being away from my baby for so long. Luckily my Mom and Dad were in town and were able to keep her while we both worked. It helped me so much knowing that she was in good hands. This inventory didn't last nearly as long as we expected. We were out of work by 6:30pm on Thursday and by 10:30pm on Friday. Heath had to go in on Saturday for a couple of hours but I was spared.

The Great Part

We were lucky this inventory as well because Aunt LeeJayne came into town to watch Avery for us. She came in late Wednesday evening and was there through Sunday morning. It was great for all of us to spend some time together and I know Avery loved having some alone time with her Aunt LJ. Avery also got to meet Bauer, LJ's big golden retriever, and she loved it. Every time he got close enough she would reach out and try to touch him. You can see here how excited she is that he is close to her

Avery also had her first swim in her own blow up pool, got to ride on Bauer and overall had a great time. Thank you Aunt LJ for watching the little one!

I will leave you with this cute picture of our little one. The darling top is one of many great presents that Aunt LJ brought for Avery while she was here.