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.

Patty Cake Patty Cake

I remember the first time Avery was doing patty cake. LeeJayne has it documented in pictures on her blog here. She looked so confused and really didn't understand what was going on.

As you can see in the video she now instantly knows what we are doing and gets a huge smile on her face. Most of the time she starts to giggle before we even finish and is in a full laugh after we "pitch 'em in the pan." This is a common game when we are on Skype with Aunt LeeJayne, Rubs & B, and Nonnie & Pop (my parent's nicknames).

It is so surprising and exciting what Avery has for us every day. It seems as if her personality grows and she is learning something new constantly. We are truly blessed to have such a happy little girl!

On another note, we are so excited for our great friends Lee & Amy Edmondson in Baytown, TX. They are eagerly anticipating the arrival of their little girl Kendall Marie. We can't wait for the girls to meet and we know that they will be great friends. Good luck to you both and make sure to keep us posted!

Missing in Action

I have been really slacking on Blogging for the past week. I had my 26th birthday, Avery's 6 month doctor appointment, a busy weekend and the two adults in our family with a summer cold so I guess one or some of those may be used as an excuse. But, we have also been doing some really fun and exciting things with Avery, so as bad as I am feeling I still want to share it all.

She has started peas, her second veggie, and she loves them. I never imagined that it would be this easy to switch over to solids. Avery has liked everything we have given her so far and it has been pretty easy getting them to go down. I know we will eventually run across something that she will not like, but for now she is eating everything.

"Feeding of the green slime has commenced"

Avery has officially moved to a high chair. She loved being in her Bumbo to eat but it was getting hard to get up and down off the floor several times a feeding to get a towel, clean something up, get more to eat...you get my drift.

She loves to sit in the high chair while I am working on dinner or cleaning bottles. I usually roll her into the kitchen and she plays with her toys or watches what I am doing. This gives me a chance to interact with her a little more and get some things done at the same time; I am slowly learning the fine art of multitasking!

I had to include this cute picture of her in her high chair; she looks so small in it.

Avery is also learning how to drink from a sippy cup. You may remember when I got her the cute personalized sippy cup and she proceeded to smack herself in the face with it. I learned my lesson with that and bought her a starter cup with a very soft spout. As you can see in the pictures she has the right idea and is getting more out every time she tries.

Other Avery events to let you know about. Avery took her first swim in the pool. Heath and I were a little hesitant about putting her in but she loved it. The turtle float was a hit and she kicked around and played in the water like she had done it a million times before. I am sure we will be going to our community pool a lot this summer to cool down.

I promise to post a video of Avery tomorrow so you can see how big she is getting!