Happy Anniversary, Gigi and Skip!

It's a day early, but I work tomorrow, so there is no telling what I will remember to do!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, GIGI AND SKIP!

Sagging

There comes a point at the end of the day when the diaper is full but bath time is only 45 minutes away....thus the dilemma: to change the diaper now and potentially waste a diaper or to leave it on and get a new one after bath time. Here's what happened tonight when we took off her bloomers to get ready for bath. Yes, we opted to leave on the diaper and just get a new one after bath time. Props to Pampers for leak protection and capacity containment!

Matt is trying to keep it from sliding completely off. Wow.

I Love My Bath!!

We have mentioned this many times before, but Avery loves her bath. Her favorite part is at the end when we just let her kick and play. It's pretty funny. See for yourself....

A Brand New Toy!

Originally, we weren't sure if we would get one of these, but after seeing Avery's reaction to the mobiles in the church nursery, I knew we had to get one. It arrived yesterday, and we all love it! I was a little skeptical at first because it came with a remote control (which I thought was absurd), but it really is a nice feature. If she gets a little fussy or wakes up early from a nap, I can stand in the doorway and turn it on and she settles down or goes back to sleep. I put it on her crib last night after she went to bed, so this morning was her first experience with it. We played with it as soon as she woke up, and she LOVED it!

In case you were wondering if she liked it.....

My Cousins

Here are pictures of Avery, Isabel, and Will all at 3 months with their hands in their mouths. Can you tell that they are related?

Avery
Isabel

Will

Happy Girl

Avery is a very happy baby. She cries when she is hungry or overly tired. She will sit and smile and "talk" to you for as long as you want. It is so sweet. Here are some pictures of Avery from this morning (I liked her outfit, so I took a couple).

This is Avery's classic "I'm concentrating on something" face. She does this face when she is watching Sesame Street, playing with her toys, or reading a book.

Another classic. This is her wide-mouthed, one eyed smile. There is usually a little shrill or coo when this smile happens.

Starting to topple over....she tries so hard not to go over, but sometimes gravity is too strong.

Can you tell that she's 3 months old? She has started eating her hands. She loves them. Here are a few pictures of hand-eating. I took a lot of these because I am so proud that she seems to be on track with the milestones. Since she was early, the doctor warned us that she might not catch up until she was around 18 months old. She was a little late on smiling and cooing, but she was perfect with hand-finding!

Who Does Avery Look Like??

Which one of us does Avery look the most like? We get asked that a lot. See what you think...

This Lauren at age 3 months (notice the safe-looking carseat from back in the 80s)

This is Matt at age 3 months (quite hefty, isn't he?)
Here is Avery at age 3 months

And one of her smiling at age 3 months

3 Months Old!! Part Two

Like I said, I would do another post after Avery woke up from her nap (I ended up waking her up after she had been asleep for 3 hours). I weighed her, and she now weighs over 12 pounds! She has grown so much from her little 5 pound 2 ounce discharge weight! Here are some more pictures from today....

Sometimes she goes cross-eyed looking at her toys.
Sitting up on the sofa watching the TV.

Pretty girl. She really does love to sit up.

Again, watching TV. Sesame Street can be so mesmerizing!

3 Months Old!

Avery turned 13 weeks old today. She is officially 3 months old today as well. So hard to believe. We had a photo session this morning with our photographer. When the proofs are ready, I will post a link. We have been taking a picture with the same stuffed animal every time, and this time, Avery made the little lamb look small (the lamb has been the same size as her in prior pictures). We went on a walk today with some friends, Aby and Parker. Even though it was hot, it was not as hot as it has been. Thank goodness for cooler weather (while it lasts)! Avery is napping right now. When she wakes up, I'll weigh her and do another posting. She has been a good little sleeper here recently. She pretty much sleeps through the night. She takes quick naps in the morning and evening and long nap in the afternoon. Sometimes she will sleep 2-3 hours during her afternoon nap. Her morning and evening naps are about 45mins-1hr. No complaining here!!
Good morning!!

Taking her morning nap.

Sweet little shoes that Beth Gregory so graciously gave to Avery. They are so precious. And, they finally fit!

Sittin' Pretty

Avery really enjoys sitting (or being propped up) these days. I took some pictures from this morning as we were going to church.

She likes sitting in her swing. She will sit there for the longest time. So happy.


And then all of a sudden, not so happy....

Her favorite way to sit is being propped up in the corner of her crib or packnplay or on the sofa. You can tell that she thinks she is big stuff.

Fun with Photo Editing

This feature called Focal B&W is my favorite right now. I use it a lot. Here is a recent example.

Lazy Saturday

We have had a good end to the week! Yesterday (Friday) we went to follow up with Avery's orthopedic surgeon, and she said that her hips looked great and were growing and healing properly. Avery had to get two xrays so that we could tell what her little joints looked like, and she looked so small laying on the xray table. We don't have to go back and see that doctor again until November 13!! This is very exciting news!

Today (Saturday) was when Titan's tickets went on sale online to the public. We were online ready to strike while the iron was hot. I think we did pretty good! It was fun to sit around the computer together as a family, constantly hitting the refresh button, and then smelling sweet victory when we were able to snag some tickets to the Colts game, the Cardinals game, and the Chargers game.

Today was also our Costco shopping day. On the way to Costco, we stopped at a little restaurant called The Depot in Helena. It is very quaint. It's in the old train depot on the river. We sat out on the back porch, listened to the water coming over the dam, and enjoyed an unseasonably cool breeze while we ate. We both decided that we would like to live on the coast at some point. That would be nice.

Today marked a big day in Avery's wardrobe. She is finally big enough to start wearing some of the stuff that I had monogrammed for her. I LOVE this onesie---so cute! I think she likes it, too.
This is Avery while we were buying Titan's tickets online. She was sitting in her seat, minding her own business, playing with her toys, when a big black dog named Jackson decided to give her a kiss right on her little head. As you can see, he "fixed" her hair for her. It was pretty funny.
A little bit closer of the "Jackson Hair-Do."

After-The-Bath Video

Here's the video. I couldn't get the one that I wanted to work, so this will have to do :)

Bath Time

It's been a while since we took pictures of Avery during bath time, so we decided to update tonight. She LOVES her bath now and is getting much better about getting out. She is very talkative after her baths---it is too sweet! Below are some pictures from tonight's bath. I am going to attempt to upload a video as well....we'll see how that goes :) Enjoy!

12 Weeks Old!

Avery turned 12 weeks old today. She will turn 3 months old next Tuesday!! According to our home scales, she now weighs 11 1/2 pounds! She is smiling A LOT and has started cooing and almost laughing. She is very interested in her toys and books now. She can also "roll" from her back to her side. She is very content on her side, so there is absolutely no effort to keep going once she gets on her side. She is getting very good at sleeping during the night....not every night, but most nights. Most of the time, she goes to bed at 9pm, wakes up around 5:30am and eats and goes right back to sleep until around 8:30am. However, this morning, she slept until 10am!! Crazy girl! She obviously knew we needed to be somewhere....

We went to the zoo today with the youth group. She slept in her stroller for most of her first zoo trip, but when she was awake, she was taking it all in. All in all, I think that it was a good day and that she had a good time. We are definitely going back---maybe we'll wait for the weather to cool down a bit though!

This is Avery this morning in her bouncy seat. She has gotten really good at sitting in her bouncy seat while I get ready. She LOVES the hair dryer.

At the zoo in her stroller. Taking in all of the sites...and smells. It was pretty hot (notice her glistening little face). She was a trooper.

Here she is with the pelicans. All of the water at the zoo was that horrid green because of an algae infestation.

Here's Avery with a close encounter with a goat. There is another picture of this, and the goat is nibbling on the stroller, but it is a little over-exposed. I have posted it below this one because her face says it all.

Again, sorry for the over-exposure, but when you zoom in on her little face, it is hilarious, and I wasn't sure if you'd be able to tell.

A Good Little Shopper

Avery is a very good shopper. She really likes looking at all of the lights on the ceiling and seeing all of the colors in the aisles. This is Avery in her carseat this morning when she found out that we were going shopping. So excited.

During shopping....concentrating on all of the items around her.

At the end of our shopping day...."Mom, can we please go home??"
Little story about the little blue outfit....it was mine when I was little. Here is Avery at almost 12 weeks in my outfit. It was a little big, but not too much.

This is me at approximately 8 months wearing the same little blue outfit. The size of the outfit is 3-6 months according to the tag.