*8 months!*

avery is 8 months old today! (in about an hour) she's been growing up tremendously in just the last few days/weeks. we're so proud of all she's accomplishing and learning and doing :)

she looks at us with such a huge grin after she's crawled or clapped or danced her little wiggle dance on the floor. she slaps her hands down hard on her legs or belly when she's really excited to see us. she loves her arrowroot cookies and would eat them all day if we let her. she can't get enough of the dogs paws (though it's certainly getting to be old for them). she lifts her arms up when she wants us or when we say "up up up!" she lays her head down to take a micro-second rest and then flips up her head so her hair flops all around (we call it the fraggle head :)). she still has no teeth, but just tonight we noticed that her bottom gums look swollen. she likes to start out in the rocking chair to have a few ounces of her bottle, then squirms out of control until you lay her down in her crib and feed her the rest of her bottle before bed. she's got an amazing pincer grasp and will pick up things that we wouldn't see in a million years. she gives the best wide-open-mouthed kisses and will try to suck on our faces when she gets really tired :)

we adore her.

recognize this towel? it looks much better on her :)

ps-karen, do you recognize her pjs in the first picture!? i was cleaning out her "too big" clothes bin and thought i'd pull these out for the fall. but they fit her great now! thanks again, we love them!

we're back!

we got to take a special vacation out to kansas to see zane's family! it was a wonderful week filled with lots of friends, family, good food and fun outings. though avery was eventually ready to come back to her bed and her nap routine, she had such a good time while we were away :)

highlights: (in no particular order)

*having grandma kathy and grandpa dan see their girl again after a couple months and seeing through their eyes how much she's changed! we got to do so many fun things with them during the week and thank them so much for their generosity and hospitality. love you! avery misses you both lots :)

*avery clapping and waving on the plane to kansas. not sure how/why both things suddenly became fascinating and the "new" thing to do, but she's now doing both whenever she gets the chance (and since she saw so many people through the week--family, friends, and strangers in the airports, she got lots of practice)

*avery meeting her 2nd cousin andrew (the star of "andrew's room" blog) and aunt jen and uncle nate (and aunt tracey, soon to be uncle chris, cousins madison and claire, and uncle rick! whew, what a crew!)

*going to the zoo and seeing big animals (far away), and the small animals (like meerkats) that were close to the glass so avery could get a better look and be smitten :)

*lunch with grandpa lloyd and grandma nancy! they got to meet avery for the first time and i think there was love all around

*getting to see zane's sister mandy and her son dolan on friday!

*leaving the northeast and having zane finally get some leads on jobs for the fall!
*seeing avery get progressively squirmy throughout the week when she wasn't able to be scooting around on the floor. by the last flight home she was downright annoyed with us that we kept holding her! too cute :)

*i think i can say with some certainty now that avery is crawling. she took her first "steps" last night after we got home and she refused to sleep, then this morning was determined to get to our cell phone on the floor...but it wasn't until she crawled OVER my legs on the rug to get to my cup that i could say that she really is getting around :)

*she also pulled herself up to stand tonight. i caught it on video, but then the battery died and we're waiting on our charger that was left behind in the midwest.

i'm sure i'm forgetting lots that happened, but it's late.

so here's a PHOTO ALBUM from our trip :)

my day in pictures

we've had so many lazy days around here with mom and dad tring to get things unpacked and in their place, i finally convinced them to take me out and do fun summer things!

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first we went to a local resevoir beach that mom used to go to when she was little, then took my dad there when they first started dating and now it was my turn! the water wasn't too cold and i loved feeling the sand all around me.


i even tried eating a few rocks, but dad wouldn't let me. how did he know they would taste so terrible!?

mmm, a baby biscuit. much tastier alternative to the rocks.



being in the sun is hard work. i was exhausted by the time we left and despite mom's efforts to keep me awake until we got home, i passed out in the car. (i guess sunsreen works just as well as any hair styling product to make my 'do just right :))




when we got home and they tried to put me down for a nap, all i wanted to do was show them how i could kneel up in my crib. they said something about needing to lower my mattress so i don't bump my chin when i inevitably fall down. i'll still find a way to make trouble though ;)


mom and dad took me to a local park where they have free concerts on wednesday nights in the summer! i wasn't too interested in the music, but there were tons of kids there for me to watch (and grass for me to pick). gramps and grammy even stopped by the park and we had a blast!

thanks for looking :)

friends. (i'm getting lame with the titles :))

we had a really great weekend filled with seeing friends :)

james and brian came over on saturday, bearing coffee, smiles and love for avery! she returned the smiles and love, left the coffee for me and felt comfortable right away.

she watched some tv with brian and practiced waving

she ate some bananas and pears with james--though she couldn't quite figure out the airplane noises he was making to entice her (she hasn't needed much coaxing to eat :))

and let us take a picture of the three of them for our friends and family wall of pictures that we're putting together in her sunroom/playroom

she's recently become very interested in seeing pictures of people and we've got boxes and boxes of frames that have no homes yet, so we're making one of the walls in the downstairs sunroom dedicated to pictures of people she knows and

loves (or will one day know and love).

tonight we got to have our second date, just days after our first! we met with phil and jill for a post-wedding/honeymoon celebratory mexican dinner. congrats again guys!! it's so unbelievably nice to be back in the area and know we've got such good friends as "neighbors".

we left avery with grammy and gramps, this time at their house, for some play time, a walk around the neighborhood and finally bedtime. it was uncomfortably warm upstairs where the "grandchild" crib is set up, so my parent's brainstormed and got her comfy on the couch with the a/c near by, where she snuggled into her favorite position and slept soundly. it was quite the sight to come back to :)

(hope people like the new look of the blog. it's still a work in progress and i'm sure it'll change many more times before we settle on something we really like.)

**ps thanks for the comments/suggestions that i've gotten from various sources on avery's crying fits :) we're not doing the crying it out thing yet (there may come a time for it in the future), mostly because there have been so many other things going on that could be contributing to her random fussiness. since we've been back, and since she's gotten back on her nap schedule, she's been back to normal. but thank you again for taking the time to offer help!**

date, henry and swinging

quick post because avery is finally sleeping and i need to clean up :)

updates:

*we had our first date since avery was born (and probably a while before that) last week! zane took me to see 'sex and the city' at the local movie theatre. we thought about doing dinner too, but i had a hard enough time being away for 2 1/2 hours :) i cried through most of the movie (every time a kid was on the screen i lost it), and zane said we could leave at any point, but we stuck it out and had a really good time. thanks gramps and grammy for taking good care of her while we were gone!

*we went to suzanne and jims overnight on thursday and took care of henry. the last time the kids were really together one on one was in february. think they've grown much?! avery was fascinated with henry and wanted to touch his face and would shriek anytime he wasn't paying attention to her :) henry didn't understand why she had to play with his toys, but did an awesome job sharing and being a good cousin.

*while we were there, we played in the backyard a bit on henry's new swingset. avery didn't do much climbing, but she couldn't get enough of the swing! she giggled everytime it went backwards and looked startled when it came towards me, but then the giggling would start again.

and finally...

*suggestions needed for either separation anxiety during bedtime or teething :) i have no idea what to blame her screams on, but it seems to be mostly at night (and sometimes her last nap). she's fine and happy in her crib until whoever is putting her down goes to leave and gets to the door. we've tried letting her cry for a few minutes (but she gets herself so worked up and won't calm down on her won) and we've tried going back in and soothing her without picking her up, but she gets excited to see us and still can't calm down (though this time it's happiness, not tears).

she has been chewing her tongue for the past 2 days now, but still no darn tooth! i dont know, maybe she's overtired...but she's been napping great and once she finally does get to sleep for the night, usually sleeps through til 7am. i guess we'll just keep trying to calm her and let her know we'll be there when she needs us. it's heartbreaking though to hear her scream-and somewhat funny and touching to have her laugh as soon as she sees us again :(

her face

it's pictures like these (and there aren't many) that make me catch my breath because they have captured her face and "her" perfectly. she's usually smiling when the 3 of us are hanging out, but...when she's staring hard at something (she'll win the blinking contest anyday when she's really locked in), when she's trying to figure something out-like how your mouth could move in ways she hasn't tried yet, when you're trying to make her laugh and she's deciding if she wants to give you the satisfaction of your efforts, when her little rosebud mouth forms in a way that is just like when she was minutes old and zane and i first commented on how precious her mouth was, when she's due for a nap and is such a trooper and gazes into the distance instead of fussing, when she's just about to start a shrieking match-either with us or with herself, when she looks up at you while she's eating and you both understand every unspoken thanks and i love you, and when there is dirt on her chin and the scratches under her eye, that's her face. and i'm completely in love with it.

a week later...

i'm having such a hard time getting to the computer these days to blog...which is a shame, b/c while i don't have many pictures of what's going on around here, lots is...

*it's been hotter than heck here for the past few days and we were finally able to get avery into her little pool. she splashed and splashed and at one point tried to climb out :) i did get a little bit of it on video, but didn't even think to get the camera.

*aside from getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth (and usually scooting herself backwards), she can now get from a seated position to on her belly. then if she isn't thrilled with being on her belly, she'll get on her knees, walk her hands towards her legs and get herself BACK to sitting. pretty impressive accomplishments in just 2 days of attempts :) today she *almost* went forward--at least her hands did. her legs didn't know to move so she ended up plopped on her belly. but i think we're getting close.

*a few days ago she was inconsolable whenever we'd put her down to sleep. even when we'd go in to calm her down, she wouldn't stop crying. her cheeks were flushed, she wouldn't let me put my finger in her mouth to feel her gums and she kept chewing her tongue. i thought for sure we'd find a tooth or something in the morning. but so far, nothing. we let her sleep in our bed that night, thinking we'd at least get a little bit more sleep if we weren't constantly running to her room to soothe. here she is after eating one last meal before bed...

she was slowly falling into the mattress, so zane picked her up gently to reposition her. she barely moved the entire time he had her. :( poor thing, she was exhausted.

*we spent the holiday with family and friends. we headed down to carrie and dave's house during the afternoon for a barbeque while it was still open to kids, dogs and parents. from there we stopped at my sister linda's house on our way home and zane had his second meal of the afternoon. avery held up really well for the day, but it was a relief to get home and to bed. (i'm pretty sure we were all in bed/asleep by 8:30 that night. zane got mad when we were woken up by fireworks :))

*meghan and michael returned from their honeymoon and came over for dinner, daiquiries and a riveting game of apples to apples ;) and for the first time, avery never made a hint of a cry around them! meghan loaded her up with gerber puffs (she loves those things and can finally feed herself with precision) and mike held her for a while before she went to sleep. very successful night in all areas :)

*i got word that phil and jill are back from their honeymoon. can't wait to see you guys and hear all about your wedding and trip :)

*we're actually making progress on the house and have an enormous stack of boxes/trash for trash day tomorrow. it's exciting to start feeling like we live here and aren't just in temporary housing :)

hopefully i can get in gear and actually start taking more pictures.

7 months and a wedding

we had an amazing long weekend away for meghan and mike's wedding on the cape! the weather turned out to be the most picture perfect summer day for a wedding (the original forecast was for showers) and nothing could have gone any smoother :) the bride was stunning, the groom was grinning, food was perfect and everyone had a blast! congrats you two! we'll have dinner real soon and you can collect your present :) love you!


2 nights before the wedding we were able to have some dinner with meghan and michael at the hotel (but not IN the bar area, cause children weren't allowed. i can see how that works for older kids, but babies? ah well...) avery's come a long way from screaming her head off if one of them looked in her direction :) by the end of the night she was showing off her "SO big" skills.




since the wedding was on the cape, avery got her first real close up view of the ocean and feel of the sand. she wasn't so sure about the sand at first, and even more unsure of the waves when we put our feet in, but she took it all in stride. aside from having hardly any sleep during the days, she did amazingly well and waited until today to let the sleep deprivation catch up with her. at least she waited until well after the ceremony ;)

so avery is 7 months old today. i've been anticipating the day where she'd be closer to a year old than to her birth. now it's here and i can't believe it. here are a couple of pictures from the last week...

playing with her spaghetti toy from grandma kathy


first time in a pool. it was a heated indoor pool with tons of kids splashing around and she had so much fun



out on the back deck eating hamburgers and hot dogs :)



marley with avery, being so good. know when we plop avery down next to her, she almost immediately rolls over to her back and snuggles up to the baby and lets her pull on her ears and fur :)

lots of firsts

our office is still not up and running (i'm typing this while sitting on the floor), so i haven't had the time to update much. aside from trying to get as much out of boxes as we can, we've been busy.

*henry's 3rd birthday party! the most perfect day with great people, food and entertainment :) (we even scored this life-sized elmo that henry doesn't do much with anymore. avery was thrilled!) happy birthday henry!!!

*dinner with phil and jill...one last time before they're mr. and mrs. :) congrats guys!!

*she's officially unswaddled for all sleeping!! we do put her in one of those newborn gowns that have the flaps that fold over her hands...that'll be the next thing to phase out. for now, she loves sleeping on her side and kicking the bumper while shrieking (or yelling, or 'dadadadadededed'ing or blowing out little puffs of air) :) i adore her sounds.

*finally got the dogs out for a walk and ended up at a nearby park so avery could try out the swings for the first time. she LOVED it!

*we bathed avery in the big bath tub for the first time. not so sure at first, but once she figured out she could splash, it was hard to get her out! wrinkled toes and all, she had a blast :)

*we've tried giving avery strawberries in her mesh feeder--not a big fan--and real peaches--HUGE fan :)

*we even tried pureeing our own nectarines to feed her. bad idea...either the food processor we had is old and dull or the nectarines were too hard and didn't mash up enough. the end result was avery gagging (not too surprising, she usually does when she tastes something new) and then spitting up. :( it was a terrible experience, one i hope to never repeat- for her sake and ours. (we've since gotten a new processor. we'll try again :))

*when we were setting up the dining room we took the tray off avery's chair and pushed it up to the table, so now she's really sitting with us for meals :) the more she does and the more she grows up (she'll be 7 months on sunday!!!!!) the more i'm amazed by her and everything she does and is. she's truly a joy to watch...maybe cliche, but now i know why so many people say that about their children.

tomorrow i hope to get all our pictures onto a kodak album. updates to come :)

moving and father's day...

whew. we are no where near being settled, but it's good to have all our stuff here (even if zane isn't--he's up in nh working this week :() and be getting some idea of what we need to do. the dogs and cats have settled in nicely i think and avery is her usual self and grinning and going with the flow with everything! :) but for now there are clothes to be put away and boxes everywhere and i can hardly think straight, so i'll just leave with a little album of pictures. enjoy!

bunny bear

just a picture of avery with her new favorite friend :) i gave this bear to henry when he was little and now he's letting avery have her turn. thanks henry!!

i'm procrastinating. i need to be packing.

Puppy love, appointment and elmo.

i took this picture yesterday...now that avery is on the floor so much, marley thinks her job is to inspect her and sniff her intermittently. avery LOVES it and giggles when she gets approached.

avery had her 6 month appointment yesterday and did wonderfully! she loved seeing everyone in the dr's office and even reached out for the nurse while we were waiting to get weighed. our dr. made a comment that she hasn't reached the stranger anxiety stage yet...i mentioned that she seemed to already go through that stage and she thought it was possible. we'll see what the next few months hold :)

current weight: 20lbs. 11 oz.

current height: 27 in.

still in the 95-97% for both, but she's been that way since birth, so she's still following her growth curve.

for some reason, she did NOT want to lay down on the table in the drs office--even to play with her toys. she was already crying before she got her shots, but calmed down once i picked her up and started to feed her.

she did so well throughout the evening that we didn't even think to give her more tylenol before she went to bed. she woke up around 10. totally normal- she gets one more bottle before she goes back to sleep. but she was screaming. nothing we were doing would calm her down. she has never cried for more than a few minutes at a time but this time she was inconsolable. we gave her more tylenol and sat down with her elmo book and suddenly, she smiled! elmo is our savior!!! we will never go anywhere without elmo now :)

we put her in bed with us and all fell asleep watching caillou. she slept wonderfully all night- with NO swaddling at all!!) and is now napping peacefully -again, NO swaddle, no arms in her sleep sack, NOTHING. i'm so happy i could BURST :) :)

the dr. said we could start trying some finger foods...cut up banana, baby biscuits, and the gerber fruit puffs. we picked some puffs up on the way home and let avery have at it last night. she loved them--even if she didn't quite manage to get any in her mouth herself :) i have a video that isn't uploaded yet, but i'll try and get to it today.

we move in 2 days.

oy.

i SO wish this picture didn't come out so blurry.

leaps and bounds...

it's been hotter than heck here, definitely didn't get much done this weekend as needed. we caved in and dug out one of our air conditioners to put in our room to make the next few days a bit more bearable before we move. avery slept with us last night on the floor and this morning for her nap. :)

last week, she started to make her first attempts at crawling! she still hasn't gotten herself all the way up on her knees, but she's trying so hard! maybe by the end of the month she'll have figured it out?

over the weekend, we got avery a new toy that she can play with while she's sitting on the floor. it's a little "stage" with a mirror that plays all sorts of sounds and songs when she hits different parts. this morning, she figured out she could see me in the mirror if she leaned to the side. she'd look at me in the mirror and then turn around to check if i was really there :)

we've also been teaching her how to clap, since she's pretty much got waving down. it took a couple of days, but now when we clap and say "yay", she'll bring her hands together (either open or closed fists) and beam with pride. now that she's so interested in what hands can do, our sign language with her might really start to sink in!

dada's the word!

ugh. all three of us are sick. lots of crankiness and crappy sleep on all our parts. BUT...avery's the trooper and is keeping us happy with her new sounds. she started chewing on her tongue tuesday night and realized when she makes sounds while she's doing that, it sounds like 'dadadadada'! last night she put on quite the show grinning and saying "dadadada" over and over. at some point i'll get it on video, hopefully today. :)

this is the sound the pig makes :)

so, the sound that i thought avery would stop making as quickly as she had started, has stuck around. enjoy :)