The Tundra

As many of you already know we got ourselves a new vehicle. The "deal" had been: if we move to AK we would downsize to one vehicle and buy a full size pickup because we did not want to deal with getting 2 vehicles up there. Well, Sam started looking for the truck. As it turns out he is pretty particular in what he wanted. When he came across this one up in Colorado Springs he HAD to have it. Aside from Avery, it is now the most awesome thing we posses. A HUGE, HUGE, HUGE thank you to Rick for helping out with the logistics so we could get it purchased quickly and Sam could get back down here for work.

Avery had a lot of fun with her grandparents in the springs...the kid only took one 40 minute nap on Sunday. She was running around like a maniac! She thought it was pretty cool that they had windows @ her level. She danced, she ate and eventually she slept.

It was a pretty exciting weekend for us all! Can't wait for next week...we get to see grandparents again and then it is Christmas!

Oh and last night we figured out the blue tooth system in the truck so we can talk on our phones through the trucks speakers. I am pretty pumped about that!

the many faces of...

Avery. One thing we have noticed is how expressive and aware this little one is. She has been like this for as long as I can remember. She sees all and it is challenging to pull one over on her. She is quite expressive. Here is a selection of some of my favorite Avery faces.

The tongue out face


The very common "blank stare" face


Food coma face


The "irrational fear of men in backwards hats" face. She does the same thing if Sam turns his hat around.


Sweepy face


bored


poop face


happy


the "i don't really like what you are doing so stop before i throw a fit" face


finally, the REALLY pathetic tantrum face

Ho Ho Ho!

I know little Avery pretty well by now and I know that she has a serious case of "stranger danger". I was completely aware that she would scream like a banshee in Santa's lap. Still, I wanted that memory and that picture and it turned out exactly as expected. The minute I let her go, her mouth dropped open and she let out her high pitch shrill. As soon as I picked her back up she stopped, which was a relief because I didn't really want to have to try and settle her down. I am sure there are photos out there of Sam and I doing the exact same thing at her age. Silly kid will flirt and smile at any person, but the minute they enter her bubble she sounds the alarm.

Thanks Frank

Our cat Frankie has to be one of the most tolerant cats I have ever met. And I have met A LOT of cats! Working @ an animal shelter for 4 years gave me the opportunity to meet maybe thousands. Frankie is ridiculous with Avery. She LOVES Avery. Well, more like Frank loves to be touched and pet and she is totally willing to take Avery's abuse and call it good. Frank has never hissed, swatted or growled at this kid and I have even caught Avery trying to drag the cat across the room by her tail. Not only is Frankie absolutely wonderful with Avery, but she has been doing an AWESOME mousing job @ our trailer. I have been aware of 2 mice since we have moved in that have made it inside. The first was back in July and Frankie had it in her mouth one morning and I thought it was dead so I had her drop it...whoops. It was alive, but we caught it in a trap the next morning (thank goodness, because I am pretty sure it was pregnant). The second was last week and I heard Frank chasing it around the house one night and the next day I found she had cornered it in one of Avery's toys. Rather than let Frank have the fun of torturing the poor mouse, I smashed it with a shoe. Totally gross, but what else was I going to do? Set a trap and hope it falls for it? Let Frankie play with the thing until it died a slow death? Catch it, risk it biting me, throw it outside and hope it doesn't find its way back inside? I went with the quick and easy and smashed its skull. Then, I threw it in the trash, washed my hands and sanitized Avery's toy, the floor and the bottom of my shoe. Avery just stared at me like I was crazy the entire time. I just hope Frankie will continue to let me know when we have a mouse before I have to clean up mouse poo all around the house.

sick little monkey

Avery has not been feeling so hot for the last few days. She has been cranky, slight runny nose, a little extra sleepy, has had a loss of appetite and has vomited 4 times in the past week. No fever and no cough. Barfing babies are no fun! There is no warning and then there is just barf everywhere. The hardest part is that she keeps signing food and please and opening the cabinet doors, but she refuses EVERYTHING I offer her. I even bought a bunch of new random foods thinking she was bored with what we had and still nothing. I just wish she would feel better. I always worry when she doesn't eat because she is already so little.

Avery resting and watching a little Jungle Book.

I HATE HIGHCHAIRS

I just want to say that high chairs are, in my opinion, the biggest waste of money! I hate the stupid graco giant POS that took up almost our entire tiny trailer kitchen. I hated cleaning the thing more than the chair itself. There are tons of tiny nooks and cranies that Avery managed to get goo lodged into and I have had it! I am done. So I bought her a booster seat. Why didn't any expirienced moms out there warn me of this. Maybe they did, but no one made me listen! So, for those you who have yet to purchase a high chair...DON'T DO IT! Don't get all baby crap crazy and buy one or register for one. It is a waste of money and they are IMPOSSIBLE to clean. All you need is a booster seat!

It is so much easier to clean and takes up no more space than a chair at the table. You can even put it in the dishwasher! Then, when the babies are tall enough to reach the table you can stop using the tray and the back is even removable. It also folds up nicely so you can take it with you if you needed it.

Why did we fall into the highchair trap? I don't know! Live and learn.

Avery's First Bling

It was 1 year ago today that my mom and I took Avery to Body Piercing Unlimited in Anchorage, AK and subjected Avery to her first piercings. We actually had to talk the piercer into doing it. I really wanted it done by a piercer rather than take her to a jewelry store and have her ears pierced with a piercing gun. The piercer did a wonderful job and I absolutely love her gold hoops that were put in. Avery is terrible at the doctors office because of shots, so you can only imagine how traumatic this event was. I think she stopped screaming about 10 minutes after the gal was done and I managed to keep it together. They healed so fast, she has never messed with them and she gets compliments all the time on her earrings. I will totally do it again if we have another girl and can find a place that will do it, but maybe next time my mom can take her to get them done while I wait in the car ;)

what i have tried to get Avery to eat today...

• cinnamon raisin english muffin
• cup of milk
• chocolate milk
  
• juice box
• blueberries
• raspberries
• melon
• cream cheese danish
• craisins
• raisins
• corn chex
• chicken nuggets
• french fries
• string cheese
• granola bar
• nutragrain bar
• cheese its
• cashews
• pretzel
• some veggies (peas, corn and carrots)
• a banana
  

All she has actually eaten has been a handful of blueberries, about 2 oz of milk, a juice box, a couple of craisins, 2 chicken nuggets and 1 fry. This has been going on for a few days now and is really tiring! I am trying spaghetti o's for dinner. Hopefully, she does not throw them in my face. I am really tired of having food thrown at me that then quickly escalates to a toddler throwing a tantrum. I know...IT'S A PHASE, but in Sam's words, "How long does this phase last?"

Avery enjoying some Thanksgiving dinner. The sparkling apple cider and cornbread were her favorites.

If you are wondering what I have been up too, I have been baking. 'Tis the season", right? Not all have been a success. First, I made brownies last week and forgot to add the water. Totally my fault, but sometimes it is hard to concentrate when you have a 2 1/4 foot tall little monster following you around and screaming at you for attention. Real fun! So yeah, I forgot the water and they were DRY! So dry that it hurt your jaw to chew them! Don't worry though, we made sure to eat all of them. Round # 2 of the brownie adventure was much better. Then, I tried fudge. I bought regular condensed milk rather than sweetened condensed milk. I thought, "oh no big deal". It is a big deal! Now I have a ton of chocolate goo that is not setting 24 hours later. BOO! But, the toffee I made is EXCELLENT! It sounds a little complicated, but really is easy and I did not use a candy thermometer.

White Chocolate Almond Toffee

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut up
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 12 ounces white chocolate chips
  

1. Line a 15x10x1" jelly-roll pan with non-stick foil,or spray regular foil with non-stick spray. In medium saucepan; heat butter, sugar, corn syrup, and 2 tbsp water. Heat over medium heat to melt butter. Increase heat to med-high and insert candy thermometer.
2. Cook mixture about 12 minutes until golden brown and temp reaches 300°F DO NOT STIR. Remove from heat and remove thermometer. Carefully stir in 1c. chopped almonds.
3. Quickly pour toffee onto prepared pan and spread to edges. Let stand in pan on a wire rack for 30mins.
4. Melt half of the chocolate in microwave on High for 45 seconds. Stir to smooth. Spread over top of cooled toffee. Refrigerate 20 minutes until firm.
5. Once bar is firm, flip over onto a piece of wax paper; remove foil. Microwave remaining chocolate on High 45 seconds and stir to smooth. Spread over toffee bar; sprinkle with remaining 1/4c. almonds. Use wax paper to slide toffee bar back onto baking pan. Refrigerate 20 more minutes.
6. Once chocolate is firm, break bar into 2.5" pieces. Store airtight at room temperature up to 1 month.

Our mini table top tree. Aka The Trailer Tree.

We tried to go see Santa yesterday, but Avery projectile vomited all over a restaurant and herself right before we had been planning on going. She was not sick, but kinda choked and had some OJ for the first time. Oooops. It smelt pretty horrible, but she is fine. She has been EXTRA grumpy lately. She cut tooth # 11. She has a total of 9 more teeth until she is completely finished teething. 1 incisor, 4 canines and 4 2 year molars. She has also come up with some new dance moves. I have been trying to get a video uploaded to FB, but our internet connection is VERY slow. We do not have much planned for the holidays as Sam is on call through Christmas. Sam's Mom and Step Dad are coming to visit for a couple days near Christmas and we are going to dinner Christmas day with some friends, but that is about it. The countdown to our Alaska trip has begun. T-48 days!