Easter 2008

We headed down to spend Easter with Mimi and Abuelo in Mt. Pleasant this year. We stopped in Summerville on the way down for lunch with Mimi, Aunt Suz and Bryan. It just so happened that Clemson was playing in the NCAA tournament that night so I had dressed Avery accordingly. I guess Mimi and Susan had the same idea.....

And she's off!

Somehow we talked Abuelo into letting the "kids" pick out a new TV before the Clemson game as the old one was on the fritz. So we headed to Circuit City and picked up a new 50 inch plasma! So much more fun to shop when it's not your money being spent! Haha! Uncle Alan came down late Friday night and on Saturday he bought Rockband. Now, Rockband is similar to Guitar Hero except there is a guitar, drums and a mic. Oh my it was hilarious! I must say that I think I'm a natural on the drums!

Here's a cool picture of 4 generations of hands. (Avery, Daddy, Mimi and Granny)

Went to church EARLY Sunday morning, home for a nap, then to a brunch. The food was wonderful, but Avery was not in the mood apparently b/c she was not a happy camper. I'm guessing it is because it was a beautiful day and we were sitting at a table outside and she didn't like not being able to run around. So, Louis took her to play in the grass and when I finished eating I took over so he could eat. Normally we would not have let her act out and then get her way, but since it was Easter and it was not just Louis and I whose meal was being affected by her crankiness we had to do what was in the best interest of the group. Other than her crankiness at lunch she did great! She still doesn't really like others to hold her, but heck.....she doesn't even like me to hold her! She's got things to do and places to go!!

The Easter Bunny brought Avery lots of goodies. She had a Boz DVD, touch and feel animal flashcards, a new book, a new hairbow, bubbles and a few plastic eggs with animal cookies inside. Here are some pictures from Easter......the rabbit is Rufus (Uncle Alan's pet). Enjoy!

Craft time!

Friday night, my mom (Grandma) came over and we had some fun with arts and crafts! We started on a few new hairbows for Avery, but our main project was this.....







It's hung on the inside of Avery's closet door since it does not match her room. I think it turned out great! Now we have room for all the new hairbows we're making!

Ladies and Gentleman....

We have a new word!

"nana" = banana

(and she LOVES her "nana"!!)

2 P's

....Park and Playdate that is!

I decided I wanted to take Avery to the park f0r the first time Tuesday so I called up some other Mommy friends and was able to make a playdate with Andrew and his mommy Amanda at the park. I spent most of my time following Avery around as she was having a blast exploring. Most of my pictures look like this as a result....

Asked her to stop and look at Mommy.....

How dare I slow her down!

....and she's off again!

We went down the slide a few times but other than that we pretty much just walked and walked and walked around. She loves being outside and prefers to walk/run around rather than swing for now. I'm sure the new will wear off of walking outside and she'll be back to loving her swing soon!


After the park we headed back to Andrew's house to hang out while Amanda ran some errands. I put Avery down for her nap in their pack-n-play and she went right to sleep. (We had brought along her noise machine) Of course, Avery slept the entire time Amanda was gone so it was just me and Andrew hanging out. (Andrew is about 3 months younger than Avery) She woke up about 5 min before Amanda got back so we let the kids play for a bit then headed to Target for some shopping. The guys met us for dinner and my diet was broken REALLY good by some YUMMY Mexican! I couldn't resist.


It was a long, busy, but fun day!

Little Tiger

On Sunday we took Avery to her first Clemson basketball game. She did great and really seemed to enjoy it! I was a bit worried b/c naptime is normally around 2pm and the game didn't start until 1:30pm but she did great! She was fascinated by all the sights and sounds and would clap and dance to Tiger Rag. We've trained her well!

Avery and I left the game at halftime and headed back to Gville. She slept about 30 min in the car and that was the extent of her afternoon nap. Oh my. Since she was awake by the time we got to Greenville we made a pitstop at Ulta and then headed home. I decided to put her in her crib to see if she would sleep anymore. Well, our child LOVES....and I mean LOVES her crib. She never did go back to sleep but happily (and mostly quietly other than some talking with night night bear) stayed in the crib for an hour. I figured quiet time was better than nothing!

That night we were having our Lifegroup end-of-the-season dinner so Avery and I went to that. Louis had to stay for a baby shower after the Clemson game so he didn't get to go. Avery did so great going on such little sleep. We pretty much had to eat and run, though to get her to bed but it was still a great time of fellowship!

Mimi had come up to visit Saturday from Mt. Pleasant. Uncle Alan came from Rock Hill to visit. Aunt Suz and Bryan came from Easley to visit. Avery had a fun-filled family weekend! Mom and Dad had a great time, too!

The Resurrection of our blog

So, obviously the blog took a backseat for quite a while. BUT....it's back now and better than ever! Instead of going back and trying to "catch up" let's just suffice it to say that instead of a passive, quiet baby....






I now have a running, rambling toddler!






AND I LOVE IT!!!

So what's going on with Avery now? Well, she's still a great eater. She has 12 teeth.....maybe more than that but checking without getting bit is pretty difficult now! Still a great sleeper. 12 hours at night and currently a short morning nap and long afternoon nap. I wake her from her morning nap after 45 minutes so that she will take a long afternoon nap. I follow her cues as to when I need to tweak her schedule and it's been working great! I'm nervous about the 2 to 1 nap transition, though. I hope she keeps 2 naps for a long time!

She's talking a LOT! Mostly gibberish but it is non-stop. She does say mama and dada and "nie nie" (for her night night bear). Everything else is anybody's guess.

Since moving Avery into her convertible car seat at 8 months old I've become quite obsessive about child passenger safety. Avery is still rear-facing at 14 months old and will continue to be until she is at least 2 years old. I found a wonderful message board and have learned so much on the topic of extended rear facing. I encourage everyone to check out http://www.car-seat.org/ for tons of information regarding child passenger safety.

I'll finish this post with some pictures of Avery's first set of pigtails (or alien antennae as I call them). She just gets cuter every day! I wouldn't change a thing or go back in time b/c every single day her personality grows and she just becomes so much more fun!