it's september! yay :)

here's an album from this weekend

we had a ton of fun bottling our beer (there are no pictures of that), cleaning up around the house, avoiding getting drenched by hanna, sleeping through the night--well, avery slept completely through, but i was up about 3 times checking on her to make sure everything was ok :), watching the chiefs and patriots with phil and jill, going to our neighborhood block party (well, that wasn't so much fun) and now are getting ready for the week ahead. zane's into his second week at work (with the kids there) and i'm getting back into my routine with avery. i'll try to post more tomorrow...

blanket love

finally caught her screams

9 month checkup

no pictures yet, cause the little one is fast asleep :)

we had her 9 month appointment today. we saw her new dr. and we're very happy with the practice! he's pretty soft spoken and gentle and after a few minutes of her looking at him skeptically, she was herself and babbling and screeching :) (side note: i should really get her screeching on video. i know i mention it a lot on here and once you hear her, you'll know why...)

she's doing great! i had some questions about feeding her, because lately she seems to want more and more "people" food and less baby food or formula (and i can only give her so much broccoli in one sitting!). he told me that unless its a choking hazard (or fish, pb or strawberries) she can basically eat from our plates. zane is going to be thrilled! every night he asks if we can give her some of what we're eating, and i always say no, just because i wasn't sure. but now we've got the go ahead. :)

current weight: 25 lbs. 2 oz.
length: 30 1/4 inches.
(i always forget the head circ.)

no shots at this appointment, so that made the morning even better!

her blanket

just wanted to post a little picture of avery with her favorite blanket :) we started putting it in her crib when we thought she was going through her "lonely cause mom and dad aren't still in the room when she goes to sleep" phase, and she's run with it :) it's a loosely knit blanket that a women zane used to work with made. now when avery sees it (we've been bringing it to the rocking chair when we feed her before she sleeps) she starts to giggle and rub it all over her face. definitely one of the cutest things i've ever seen :)

(excuse the grainy-ness of the picture...i didn't want the flash to wake her up :))

AND...i think tooth #1 is going to be joined with a partner very soon. the second one on the bottom is still visible under the gums, just hasn't broken through yet !

9 months!

there's some part of me that feels sad that avery 's first home (me) is becoming a distant memory and her new home (the world) is about to have had her longer. but it's a fleeting thought when she grins at us and holds up her arms for us to pick her up :) she gets more lovable and squishable everyday and we are so fortunate to be part of her world!

*going to get her from naps is becoming some of my favorite times of the day. she's usually sitting in a corner of her crib playing with her blanket, talking to herself. we walk into the room and she starts wiggling back and forth in excitement, then either stands up to greet us or shoots her arms in the air for us to come get her :)

*her love of food is so fun and her ability to tell us (as much as she can) what she wants or doesn't want is amazing to me. the other day i was at my parent's house for a little visit and it was time to go home and eat some lunch. before i packed her into the stroller, she looked up at me and signed "eat". i knew she was probably hungry before she told me, but SHE knew she was uncomfortable/hungry and that eating would help that. we weren't at home, doing our normal routine, where eating would naturally follow what as happening. we got home, she had a few spoonfuls of yogurt and smiled at me, a very nice "thank you".

*her favorite foods (more for my records than for anything else): yogurt (peach, pear, blueberry), turkey, melon, peaches, broccoli, roast beef, bananas, french fry bits, cheerios, fruit puffs, mac and cheese (baby style), chicken noodle dinner (baby style), rice cereal with apples and bananas, and her sippy cup with water.

*she adores bath time. she splashes, she screams, she loves to have water poured over her as she tries to catch it. if anyone could just give me hints at how to get her to stay sitting while she's there, that would be great :)

*she is so content to be in her fenced in area in the living room and just stand. she's not anxious to get anywhere yet (by walking at least) and that's fine by me. i've finally learned to slow down and enjoy the phase she's in, not try to rush on to the next thing.

*a small list of dislikes: not a huge fan of getting her diaper changed anymore, occassionally new people, not being able to rip zane's glasses off his face, hunger-that really ticks her off (after being pregnant with her and needing to eat every 1/2 hour, i can really appreciate that one) :) that's all i can really think of right now.

*she's just such a happy little girl! i love watching her explore her surroundings and take in everything and come back to us when she's excited or unsure. she's a pure delight :)

this is the best i could do to try and see the tooth--if you enlarge it, you might be able to see the white on her bottom gums :)

u2 in the park

last night we went out and enjoyed the last free concert of the summer at a park near our house. and uncle james came too! there was a u2 cover band playing, who actually weren't that bad. avery practiced standing on her own (she can last anywhere from 3 seconds to a minute)

she even got a free balloon to play with! i'm not sure if i've mentioned it before, but she is obsessed with balloons. anytime we go to the grocery store, she screams and shrieks when we turn a corner and she sees the balloons by the flower arrangements. we bought her a small balloon once, but after only a few minutes of her playing with it (licking it), it looked like some of the coloring they use to decorate it was coming off. she's had to settle for just looking at them up until last night :)

it was great to have james there and to catch up--we were sorry brian couldn't make it (ahem, old man), but there'll be a next time. we're looking forward to dinners and road trips to western mass and everything in between!

zanes been working all week and avery and i have been keeping ourselves busy in hopes that we don't have time to notice how much we miss him. it's been really nice though to spend the evenings as a family and really appreciate the time we get to spend together!

in the next day or two i'll probably be able to get a picture of avery's first tooth! it hasn't broken through her gums yet, but it's so close. we've been noticing some white spots for a few days now and just yesterday, one side was even more noticable. maybe she'll celebrate 9 months with a tooth!? :)

for the love of broccoli!

a video of avery enjoying (to say the least) her broccoli...and signing in the process...

our baby's ready for kindergarten :)

we were going out to dinner last night for my parent's 44th anniversary (congrats!!!!) and avery was dressed for the occassion. she looked so grown up in her little outfit (she did have a jean skirt on that you can't see very well in the picture...it kept riding up to her armpits :))

we had a great dinner and kept avery entertained with bits of chicken, spaghetti, cheerios and napkins. we've added "eat" to her list of signs, which is pretty cute b/c her version of it includes sticking her pointer finger just inside her mouth and staring at you. (i think this morning we also figured out her sign for "all done"--raising both arms high, then crashing them down...not too far off from our putting our arms across our body and sweeping them out to the sides)

once we got home, insanity followed...avery was up WAY past her bedtime, couldn't figure out if she wanted to eat or sleep, it was disgustingly hot upstairs in the house, she's suddenly against getting her diaper changed and is trying to flip herself off the changing table, we can't find cleo-she's trapped in our neighbors yard and can't figure out how to jump the fence, i leave the gate open while i'm out looking for her, the dogs run away (of course we had already taken their collars off for the night), avery's upstairs wailing and i'm on the verge of a breakdown. :)

in the end: dogs didn't go far and zane brought them home, avery finally ate a bunch and went to sleep after i stripped her of all pj's, we gave up on cleo and let her spend the night outside (she's in now, sleeping soundly on the couch).

and.....

zane starts work on monday (YAY! and booooo! :() it's going to be nice having an income again, but reeeeally sad to see our summer of all being together 24 hours a day come to an end. we'll fall into a new schedule pretty quickly though, and that always helps us both. we've planned a good amount of last minute projects (that we've been hoping to get done all summer) for the next 2 days--one of those being a video walk through of the house--hopefully we'll get the job(s) done :)

i'm going to try and load some picturs onto kodak and get a little album up here soon... did it

the good and the bad

i'm going to start with the bad, even though i don't know how to or if i want to...in the last couple of weeks we've had two family tragedies that are heartbreaking and world crushing. in one, zane's cousin chris was involved in a terrible car accident, walking away the only survivor. he lost his girlfriend in the accident and our hearts, prayers, support and love hopefully reach him and everyone else close to this hurt. in the other, my cousin paul died suddenly of a heart attack. i'm so thankful that we got to see him last fall, he was such an amazing part of our family...but it'll never be enough. our thoughts and love and strength reach out to all of paul's family and friends who are sharing in this devastating loss. i don't even know what else to write. none of what i've had to write in this entire paragraph makes any sense to me. maybe i'll come back to it someday, maybe not. i hope that anyone who reads this and is hurting right now because of these events aren't upset at what i wrote or that i wrote...if you are, please please let me know and i'll gladly take it down.

trying to move on to the good...

over the weekend, we had zane's nephew tony come visit! it was a good weekend for he and zane to reconnect (it's been a while since they last saw each other) and for us to get some help with yardwork and beer making :) the yardwork is not quite finished and we forgot a step in the beer making process, so we'll see how our attempt paid off...

hopefully tony will make it back here before too long :) he'll be in the northeast until next spring and i know isn't wild about spending a winter around here! if you're reading tony, know that you're welcome here anytime you have off. avery would love to read the paper with you again :)

avery still has no teeth. coming up on 9 months and nothing! (though i'm told i didn't have any until 9 1/2 months) she's been gumming everything (food) so well for a while though that i've been more comfortable letting her try some of our "table" foods. yesterday she had some turkey for lunch. after the first little chunk, she grinned like a fool and clapped an enthusiastic "more". for an after dinner treat she had some cheerios-also a huge hit. it's so fun to sit and eat as a family, with her enjoying food and feeding herself as much as we do!

she's also just beginning to get the whole "cruising" thing. she knows her legs and feet have to move, and sometimes she's successful, sometimes she stands and yells for whatever object is out of her reach :) she's getting to be so funny, with her sounds and her babbles and her dances when she hears music. and she loves it when we play the harmonica for her :)

oh i almost forgot! whenever she's done eating or getting changed, zane and i tell her (and sign to her) it's time to "play". (it's basically your thumb and pinky finger stretched out on both hands with the other 3 fingers tucked in, wiggling your hands back and forth). the other day i was sitting with her at her high chair and she kept flapping her hand around and wasn't interested in more food. i finally caught on and thought she might be trying to sign "play"(even though we had never done hand over hand to show her). sure enough, i said "more" and she signed "more" and then i said "play" and she flapped her little hand! very proud moment :)

someone slow it down...

in a matter of days, avery went from just figuring out she could hoist herself up in her crib with the bars to attempting to pull herself up on most anything and stand on her own for a few seconds. (meghan and michael came by last weekend and as meghan was playing with her, avery stood on her own for a good 3 seconds. i think that was the start of it all! :))
sleep has been disrupted to say the least...we hear her hollering, peak into the room and she's standing almost every single time. (she does know how to get back down though)

yesterday i was in the "fenced" area on the rug with her and instead of army crawling over my legs like she usually does, she realized that she could use me (my leg) to help her stand herself up. zane saw it the first time it happened (she stood alone for a few seconds) and after the cheering died down said "she won't do that again for a while". but then, minutes later, she did it again, and again and again. i think she was so excited and bonkers about her new trick that she hardly settled down to sleep (despite our best efforts) until close to 8:30.

the other day zane and i were driving into cambridge to buy our first ingrediants for homebrewing! (the brew kit he bought me 2 christmas' ago is finally going to be used, yay!). i was in the backseat feeding avery since the traffic was horrendous and we were stopped dead. she finished her bottle and i started giving her high fives when she'd reach her hand out to me. she caught on and got excited to put her hand out. after a while i took a little break and heard her start yelling. i looked over at her as she started to lean forward and put out her hand, still yelling. since i wasn't responding correctly, she leaned back in her seat, put her hands together for "more" and smiled. we continued on with the game promptly :)

and...this is the shirt zane bought for "piggy" mother's day 2007. we've put it on her a couple times before, but finally got a picture of then and now :)

it's going to be november before we know it.... :(

more please!

we've been working on teaching sign to avery, starting with "more". after a few days of frustration, i think we've got it down! here's the proof. excuse my shouting. i was excited :)

and in case you haven't gotten enough of elmo...

and ps, the kitchen isn't that messy (if you look at the other video on youtube)...we let her pull some cookbooks and boxes to play with :)

the love affair continues...

no...not with chewing on things, though that's still high on her list (darn teeth, or lack there of)

elmo. i don't know what it is about this little red guy (lady? are monsters gendered???) but she is smitten still! we see a book in the store with elmo on it and she lights up. sesame street is on and she doesn't pay too much attention until elmo's segments. since she can crawl and poke around different parts of the house, she found the life-sized elmo hanging out near her other toys and has since reclaimed him as one of her favorites.

hanging out in her play yard. they make a very cute couple :)

and leaning in for the kiss :)

not only is avery sharing love with elmo, but she's been letting the kiss FLY with zane and i. there is nothing better than a hugely sloppy open baby mouth coming at you with love. she'll bow her head down to our foreheads and then pull back to give it to us :)

some other new things...

-she's hardly "crawling" anymore. it's more of a speed race to get to where she wants to be...so much so that its hard to remember when she wasn't this mobile.

-she's babbling a ton more. in addition to all her 'dadadadada's', she has her "yayayiyayiyiyi" yell down and makes random new sounds each day (they don't usually get repeated more than once a week though!)

-similar to how she didn't know how (or that she had the ability) to move her legs when she first started getting on her hands and knees, now when she's standing holding onto something (we're usually the ones to get her into standing position) , you can tell she wants to cruise, but hasn't figured out that she needs to move her legs and feet to go anywhere. i'm sure it'll happen soon enough and then she'll really take off!

-we're all settling into a really nice routine at home and it's going to be heartbreaking when zane goes back to work in the fall (but hopefully by the end of this week he'll know where that'll be). it really has been wonderful to have him home to not only share the house chores with but more importantly for him to see so many of avery's daily changes up close!

some videos

a fun video of avery pulling herself up

and a shot of her crawling :)

Professional pictures...

while we were in kansas, we took avery to get her pictures taken...finally. we tried getting them done when she was 3 weeks old, but places were booked and haven't attempted it since :) i wish we had though...i wasn't very impressed with the girl who took them (she didn't have much of a repetoire for getting babies to smile and she didn't do much to tell us how we could help the process) and avery definitely wasn't in her smiliest of moods (she was due for a nap), but i really love the end result in a bunch of the pictures (especially her scraggle hairs that capture "her" so well :)). the pictures are available to view and order from smilesbywire, so if you'd like to see all of them, email me (thewalshaz@yahoo.com) and i'll give you the info needed to log on.