Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday, Levi and I joined Avery and her class at Jack O'Lantern Lane. We had a blast and I am already looking forward to next year!

We were really surprised at how much there was to do. I had pictured just a hayride to the field to pick out a pumpkin...but they had inflatable games, and once out in the field up close and personal interaction with bunnies, a calf, a goat, horses, and chickens. Avery also loved sitting on the tractor.

Levi's Aunt Johanna and Uncle Keith gave us these Auburn overalls as one of our first gifts when we found out we were expecting. They said we could use them regardless of if we had a boy or girl. Let me just tell you that Levi and I both think Avery looks just precious in them.

Avery loved all of the animals, but to say that she loved the bunnies would be an understatement. I will let the pictures tell the story...

She is such a little dare devil. She wanted to look over the side of the trailor on the way to the patch and then wanted to stand at the front where the gate was on the ride back. I keep telling Levi that he is going to finally have a roller coaster buddy, since I am scared to death to ride them. I love seeing them together! We had a great time and feel so blessed to compile such great faimily memories!

It's Great to Be An Auburn Tiger!

Avery says: It is nice to go to sleep with a W...even it if was closer than it should have been :) War Eagle...6 & 0!

Avery's First Birthday Party!

We had a blast celebrating Avery's first year with lots of friends and family in town for the event. The theme was just all around summer fun and included hand made pin wheels (Avery sends a big thanks to MeMe and Daddy for those), a hand made birthday banner (thanks Grandmommy) sand toys, hotdogs, hamburgers, and all the fixings, plus super yummy cupcakes from sweet Tiffany. As a special touch, each cupcake had a miniature pinwheel on top for decoration.Avery was fabulous! The party started with her taking a short siesta. All of the adults took this time to relax and reflect on how wonderful this past year has been with her in our lives. When she woke up, the food was served and Avery ate her very first cheeseburger (cut in very small pieces). It was then time for cake! Boy did she love digging in. Avery is not shy when it comes to food. She will try almost anything without hesitation. Gourmet Tiger did a great job and it truly was delicious.
After Avery filled up on cake, we moved to the presents. I wasn't sure how she would react to opening gifts, but she loved it! She liked the gift bags better than wrapped presents and never tired of pulling paper out to find the gift. She took her time with each present and oohed and aahhed over what she found inside. Her cute little self even took time to look at the cards first. She was an absolute doll! One of her presents was orange and blue fabric for game day outfits from Grandmommy...she was just as excited about the fabric as she was any of her toys!
After opening presents, it was time to try a few out. She loved her cell phone, swing, and book the most. Her first party was a huge success. I tried very hard not to be stressed and to take each moment in to its fullest. Avery...Levi and I love being your Mommy and Daddy and we look very forward to many more birthday celebrations in the future! Happy first birthday to our sweet, smart, beautiful little girl!

525,600 Minutes

How do you measure a year in a life? It came so much quicker than I could have ever imagined. Our baby girl, who it seems we just held for the very first time, turned 1 year old. Time is so funny to me. When you are in the midst of sleepless nights, tiny clothes, a baby who snuggles with you, it seems those times will last forever. But time is tricky like that, it passes ever so slowly throughout a week and then before you know it a year has passed! My mom reminds me, "just wait till you see her holding her baby, then you can really talk about how time has gone by":)

All I have ever wanted, was to be a mother. I love that I have the opportunity, along with her Daddy, to really mold and shape the woman she will one day become. To say that raising a child is a huge responsibility does not nearly describe the monumental duty we have as parents to instill confidence, compassion, independence, and an unwaivering faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, into our children. I know that being a great mom can only come from being completely open to God's will for Avery's life.

The past year has been incredible. Avery is so much more than our hearts or minds could have conceived she would be. She is beautiful and unbelievably smart. She has her momma's independent streak and lack of patience, and her Daddy's kind heart. We have loved watching her grow, learn, and change. Ours hearts are full of unconditional love for this little one who God so graciously gave us. There have been times of frustration and exhaustion, but oh how they were outweighed by the times of joy, fun, and excitement of this year.

Happy Birthday sweet Avery! We can hardly wait for the adventures that lie ahead in your life. Always know that you are loved by so many people, but especially your Mom, Dad, and heavenly Father. We are so thankful that He picked us to be you parents!

10 & 11 Months!

Avery is so active, that I am having to cover two months in one! We have been having tons of fun with our little munchkin! Over the past two months, she has mastered waving bye, signing milk, clapping, and of course the biggest mile stone of all WALKING! She took her first steps at 10 months and was practically running by 10.5. She sometimes gets a little ahead of herself and stumbles, but she is an awesome walker. I love when she reaches up to grab my hand before walking down a step. Her little toothy smile just melts my heart!

Speaking of teeth, she has one more on top and another coming in. That makes a total of four. She doesn't really say words, although she jabbers all the time. She says "Doh" as in "Here you go" whenever she wants to hand you something. She has actually pretty much stopped saying Mama and Daddy. I think that she is so focused on how mobile she is, that she doesn't thinking about talking. She moved to a big girl car seat (still rear facing until she is closer to 30 lbs.) and loves being able to see out of the window on car rides.

She runs circles around our kitchen and dining room, under our table, and stops occasionally to climb into into my pots and pans cabinet. She can stand completely up in it and thinks it is hilarious. You can't tell by the pictures, but she is actually pretty tiny and short for her age. At 10 months she weighed 19.2 and at 11 months 19.14. We are constantly having people ask if she is 8 months old (they are amazed at first to see her walking since she is so small). One of the first things that Dr. Smith said after she was born was that she had really small feet (she takes this from her Mama...size 5.5). Well he was absolutely correct. She is still in a size 1, which is for 3-6 months! Her toes do not even come to the edge yet :) It is hard to believe her tiny feet can hold her up to walk!

She loves her shape sorter and does a great job making each piece fit in its designated spot! Right now she is really good at the circle type pieces, but is getting better with the heart, plus sign and star. Each time one sinks into the middle we say "Yea Avery" and she claps her hands and giggles. She like playing chase with Daddy and also loves to dance. Boy can this little girl bust a move! It is absolutely hilarious. I am so glad we have a video camera to catch her gettin down!

I stopped pumping at 11 months at which time she started full time on organic whole milk. As I mentioned in the last post, at 10 months we started mixing whole milk with my milk. By 10.5 months we were at 1/2 and 1/2 and by 11 months she was only on whole milk. The transition has been really easy and I do not miss being tied down with pumping at all. She still nurses at night before bed and I love this time we have together. Nursing has been one of the best experiences of being a mom. I am so thankful that I was blessed with the opportunity to have that bond with Avery.

She is slowly but surely growing more hair, but it is going to be a long time before we can use bows! She still loves being outside and touching the leaves and grass. She enjoys reading books in short bursts and loves looking at her clothes hanging in the closet! I know I have mentioned it before, but I love the way she crosses her feet. I think it is my favorite thing she does.

She has learned what giving love to her dolls and teddy bears means. You can say "Give her love" and she will automatically take the doll and hug it tightly with both arms and start patting it on the back. It is so sweet! I love having a little girl!

Avery, your Mommy and Daddy (and everyone else in your life) love you sooooo much! You are definitely the best thing that has ever happened to us. I cannot believe it has been a year since we first met you! We are looking forward to making many sweet memories in the years to come!

Country Road...Part II

So after we returned from our early morning walk the second day, Levi's parents were waiting on us at his house on the front porch. Here are some of the highlights from the memories we made that morning on the porch! For the first time in a while, leaving to come back to Auburn without the family we love and miss so much was really hard. I know Avery has lots of fun times ahead of her back in our hometown :)

My embrace the camera picture! Early morning, no makeup, just simply me with my sweet little girl!

Avery loving on Grandmommy's turtle!

Walking with Granddaddy
Touching the Banana Tree leaf
Peeking through the railing
Waving to me

Country Road Take Me Home...Part I

This year we spent the Fourth of July weekend with our families in North Alabama. We took Friday off and were also off on Monday, so it was a nice relaxing break. Both Saturday and Sunday morning, Avery woke up at the bright and early time of 6:00. I think that being away from her crib caused her to arouse long before her normal wake time of around 7:15. So, Levi and I took the opportunity to take her on a stroll down the county road he grew up on.
On a side note, I am originally from Natural Bridge and he is from Delmar. NB is officially the smallest town in Alabama, with a population of 28 in the 2000 census. Since that time, myself and three of my family members have moved to Auburn. So, that at least puts it now at 25, with still more than half being members of my family! Levi's hometown Delmar is not much bigger. We graduated from the town of Haleyville, which is around 5,000 and is the largest city in Winston County.
When people say they are from a small town, usually it does not compare to how small my home town is. I loved growing up there. Riding four wheelers, shooting guns, learning to drive at 9, and catching lightning bugs under acres and acres of star lit sky is an awesome way to spend your childhood. Levi and I both agree that there are aspects of it which we hate Avery will miss, but we love it here too! I say all of this to explain how tranquil it is to walk down this country road in the early morning hours. No traffic, only the sound of your footsteps!
I thought to take my camera along and snapped several pictures of the "Country" landscape. In addition, we were able to capture Avery meeting her first shetland pony! I think we will be back to visit him next time we are home. We look forward to many more sweet moments with Avery in our country hometown!

9 Months!

She loves Graham Crackers!

Life is just so full right now! Avery is so much fun and we are loving watching her grow. She started taking steps right after she turned 10 months, so before long I am not going to be able to keep up with her!

Here are the highlights from her 9th month:

• Weight: 18. 10, Height 26 in. This puts her in about the 45th percentile. So at 3 months she was in the 85th and now we are small for our age!

• We are finished with the bottle! At 9 months 2 weeks, we went cold turkey to the sippy cup and she is doing great! She turns it up like a champ. I wanted to take the bottle before it became a comfort item and before I stopped nursing. I am so glad I did this. Side note: a great way to make sure they take whole milk from the sippy cup is to mix it with breastmilk, starting with 3/4 BM and 1/4 WM. Gradually it flip flops until they are drinking all whole milk! This has worked great for Avery.

• In addition to oatmeal and most baby food, she loves graham crackers, cheese, and tortilla chips.
• When sitting on the floor, she uses her legs to spin herself around in circles (this is really cute!)
• Waves bye sometimes, but mainly points at everyone and everything
• LOVES being outside. Gets excited when you are going and upset when you are coming back in.

• Cruising around furniture, doors, drawers, and anything else she can hold on to.
  
• Walks like a champ using her wide base push toy. You can tell she thinks she is such a big girl. I actually cried the first time she used it. It was like nothing to her and all I could think was wow she is growing too fast!
• Hates slowing down for anything, especially having her diaper changed.

• Still enjoys her bath and loves the pool.

• When I wake her up in the morning, together we let the dogs outside for the day. She loves this and smiles as we walk toward the bathroom where they sleep. I say, "where are the puppies" and she smiles and beats the door.
  
• For kissing, she opens her whole mouth and covers you with slobber.
• Talks and jabbers all the time to herself.
• She became quite the momma's girl this month. Didn't like when I left the room and wanted me to hold her more. Definitely more wary of people she doesn't know.
  
• At night she and I laugh and play in our bedroom. I lay her down and as I call it "get her belly." She is so ticklish and laughs so hard. This is my favorite time of the day!