Training Wheels

... For walking, that is. Allyson got this stroller for Avery for Christmas. She loves it! I hope it really does help her learn to walk soon.

Watch Out!

She'll steal your pillow!

Avery 10 Months

Ok, I am officially over a week late with this. Sorry!! It has been a crazy few weeks, to say the least. Good thing I had a post-it with a list of things for me to talk about through out the month so that I wouldn't forget anything.
I took Ave's to the doctor for her booster flu shot so she got weighed and measured on the 10th. She is 20 lbs 12 oz and 30 inches long.
She has grown in length but not too much on her weight. Part of that reason is because she refuses to eat solids!!!!!!!! It is so incredibly frustrating and exhausting! She will not eat off a spoon any more. no matter what the food is, she sees that baby spoon come at her and she throws a fit! She will eat finger foods, a few bites anyways, so I think she just wants to feed herself instead of me doing it. That's all I can guess anyways. She loves to eat bananas if I hold it and she can take bites off it; she will not eat it if I chop it up and give her small pieces. (picky picky!!) Likewise, she LOVES french fries and all of those Gerber snacks. If I were to let her she would eat a whole can of the Gerber cheese puff things and yogurt bites. At least they aren't too bad for her. I can get her to nibble on chicken fries and green beans, but those are hit and miss.
Anyways, the doctor said not to worry that she will catch on soon and get hungry enough that she will eat. I just need to be persistent in making 3 sit down meals to give her a routine.

Here's a few things on my list of things I've noticed she has done this month:

-looking under rugs

Why, I have no idea, but she has a fascination with rugs
-spitting
She will literally look at you, stick her tongue out and spit! If you repeat it, she thinks its a game and will keep doing it. It's pretty cute, but I need to get onto her at this point to teach her that's not nice; especially when she does it to me if I get onto her for getting rocks out of the fireplace!
-dancing

Dancing queen!! any sound of music and she is swinging her arms and bouncing up and down. She loves music!
-cuddles

There have been multiple instances when she is tired, she will come crawl into my lap and I will rock her and she just cuddles and coos until she falls asleep. Right now, the rocking chair has been replaced with the Christmas tree, but I am hoping that she keeps doing this. It will make nap time so much easier
-opening doors

Do not leave a door cracked open; she will open it and venture into that area and get into something she's not supposed to.
-stands alone

She is getting very good at standing up. She isn't quite brave enough to take that step, though. I know she can do it since she has before, but she doesnt seem ready to walk yet.
-separation anxiety

Holy Moly does she have separation anxiety!!! She will hang on my legs and pull on my pants (which is very dangerous in pajama pants) to be held constantly.
-gets mad when things are taken from her
-predictable and regular night time sleep
-waves hello and bye bye
-blows bubbles with drool

This is really gross. She makes this sound kinda like "mama" but it sounds a little different. When she is doing that she is letting her drool pour out of her mouth and blows bubbles in it. I get so grossed out when she does it, but I have to say it's pretty talented
-4 teeth

-refuses to hold bottle

This is also frustrating. I have tried numerous sized bottles and types of sippy cups but she refuses to drink by herself. Hopefully she picks up on this one sometime soon.

That's all I can think of right now.

I can't wait to see how she does for her First Christmas!!

New Furniture

I can't tell you how excited I am about this!!
A few months ago I saw this piece in the Potterybarn magazine:

Source
I fell in love with it and thought it would be perfect for in our master bedroom. I would use it to get a lot of our "office" supplies out of our guest bedroom closet now that I have a laptop. The only hitch was that it was $899 for the top and bottom pieces together. That was WAY more than we wanted to spend.

So, I went to my father-in-law. He is an AWESOME carpenter and craftsman so I thought I would see if he could make something similar for cheaper.

Sure enough, he could! Here it is:

Isn't it perfect?! It looks just like the Potterybarn one except we made it about 12" wider and about 12" taller.

It took no time for me to fill it up!

It even goes perfect with the chair that I remodeled that sits in our room!

Thanks again, Ronnie!!!

Fun in the Hotel Room

Congrats to Paige and Michael Evans!

(this is not the greatest picture, but you get the idea...)

I had the honor last weekend to be a bridesmaid in my dear friend Paige's wedding in Midland, Tx. (I sure do miss West Texas!)

It was such a beautiful day! I am so happy for you Paige; I know God is going to bless you and Michael with a long and happy life together!

Unfortunately we were pretty busy all weekend so I didnt get many pictures. I am going to have to steal a few from some other people off Facebook at some point.

Here's a few that I did snap.

Here is what the dry west Texas air did to my child's hair when we got off the plane:

Can we say, STATIC!!

Avery vs. Lucy

Here Kitty Kitty

It seems this black cat has decided to adopt us as it's new owners. He's (or she. I haven't been close enough to it to be able to determine which) been coming around for a while now and more frequently. I think it has an owner cuz it seems pretty young, clean, sweet and well fed. Nonetheless, Avery loves it!