Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn CD Player

Sam got this for Avery's birthday (well I went shopping and labeled it from him). She is in love with this thing and if you have a little gal or guy about Avery's age I highly recommend it. She will sit there and press the buttons to make it play the songs and rock back and forth until the song is over. She will repeat this over and over and over. I think the longest stretch has been about 40 minute, no kidding! I keep waiting for her to get bored of it, but she comes back to it several times a day. I hope it sticks because it makes dinner prep a heck of a lot easier!

Grandpa Smith and Kit!

Tony and Kit are currently visiting and Avery has really taken to Kit! Which is great because last May Avery wouldn't even look at poor Kit without going into a crying fit. Now Avery can't seem to get enough of her. She even has warmed up to Tony! It is actually quite entertaining to see a 50 something year old get on his hands and knees and play chase with Avery. She has been having a great time with them! We are going down to Albuquerque this weekend to see some of the balloon festivities with them as well. It should be fun!
On a total side note...today at the library story time, Avery went over to another mom and gave her the biggest hug. She literally stood hugging this mom for a solid 2 minutes, then she must have noticed me getting a little jealous and came back to me and gave me a great big hug. Such a stinking sweetie.

Avery playing with Kit.


Avery snuggling with Grandpa Smith.

frustration

Mom! Why can't I get to the other side!

it's fall!

The nights are getting cooler and last week the days only made it into the 70's! It was back up to the 80's today, but I am getting a feel of some cooler weather and it is SO NICE! Last week Avery was visited by her Gigi and Grandpa Rick and she had fun window shopping and playing with them. They even joined us at library story time. Fun stuff!

Today, Avery and I packed up and headed southeast to Moriarty to the McCall's Pumpkin Patch! We met the Weston's there and also went with Diana & Johnny and Kristin & Russell. It was fun. It would have been more fun if Avery was not in such a terrible mood as of late. This whole teething thing is out of control! Poor baby only gets a brake about 2 days of every week. Also, Avery has decided to scream when ever she sees or hear Donald. She eventually warms up to him, but every time we see him it is the same thing.

We did enjoy a bit of the corn maze, playing in the corn box, some lunch, farm animals and a hayride. Overall, a nice day. We always LOVE seeing the Westons, even if Avery has some irrational fear of Donald.

Our Big One Year Old!

It seems like yesterday we were just bringing our little princess home. We were feeding her every two hours and in the midst of endless diaper changes!

Now she is toddling and babbling and into everything! She is stubborn and flirtatious and coy and silly. She makes us smile every single day and it is truly hard to imagine our lives before she made her debut.

Happy Birthday baby girl. We love you!

Teething

Lately, teething has turned my once happy baby into a cranky monster. She finally got her first tooth exactly a month ago. Since then 3 more have worked their way through the gums and two more will make their debut in the next week or so. It has been so off and on with her. One day she is a crank pot the next day she is a happy spaz. Not so much fun. Luckily, (knock on wood) night time has not been so bad. There has only been a handful of nights that she has been waking and screaming. Heck, if she keeps up the pace we should be through with teething in a few months. Ha...Right ;)

I have not blogged in a bit. Not much to really talk about. Avery is walking. Not full throttle yet, but she will stand up and walk across the room every now and then.

Avery has had loads of fun lately at the local library times and has started to interact with the other babies. Before she was mostly crawling around and interacting with the other adults and wanted nothing to do with the babies. Russell (18 mo old) also comes over for an hour or two on Friday mornings during the Thal Equine staff meeting. Avery is napping for most of the time, but loves playing with him when she finally wakes up. And soon, I plan on enrolling her in a tumble class at one of the gyms in town, but she really needs to be walking well. That will be on Saturday mornings, whenever she decides walking is her new mode of getting around.

I have started the brutal P90X workouts and my right calf for some reason is not forgiving me. I am limping around like a gimp. But, week 1 is completed...even if I had to take an extra recovery day. So now my 90 day ass kicking session has been extended to 91 days. I think the yoga workout was the hardest. I am not a complete newcomer to yoga, but have never done it regularly. I was surprised at how flexible I still am. I don't think I have properly stretched since the last week of February 2006. The only position I completely failed at was the Crane. It may take me a month before I have the balance and strength for that one!

Anyways, we have some events finally cropping in to view and helping us stay positive. Paige and Rick are visiting for Avery's 1st Birthday next weekend! Tony is coming a few days after they leave and hopefully we make it out to see some of the hot air balloon festival. Then, mid October it is off to Fort Collins! Only for 4 days, but it will be worth it. We get to see LOTS of friends and we are attending the Homecoming football game. I am not even dreading the packing of our shed (we left a shed full of our crap in Fort Collins, CO) and hauling it down to Santa Fe.

No photos today...I don't feel like dealing with our slow internet to get them up. But, I did go and buy film and batteries for my camera and I am going to attempt to get some good shot of Avery for her 1 year. The photographer I found (that I like) is absurdly priced and not worth it and I want something different than the Sear's Portrait Studio can offer. Maybe I will get lucky and the shots will turn out great. I bought 8 rolls....so I am bound to get at least one great shot.

Hangin w/ The Westons!

I was going to hang out in Albuquerque for a couple days because Sarah is visiting, but Sarah went and got sick (a nasty stomach flu bug) and now poor Olivia and Jan are sick too. We did hang out yesterday and I am afraid Avery and I might be doomed for the same fate. I am hoping it is the same bug we had a couple months ago and it is just circulating through Albuquerque. I really don't want to do that again any time soon! While we were there we went to the mall and Jan introduced us to this weird smoothie/tea concoction with giant tapioca balls in it. It is called Boba Tea or bubble tea. It was really good. We then went to Babies R Us and I was able to get Avery 2 more of her favorite blankies and some new shoes (she is outgrowing her size 2's). Sarah also got Avery an awesome birthday present which she cannot have until Sept. 19th, but Thank You Sarah!
Then Sarah got sick so we headed back to the Weston house. Avery and Olivia went to the park to swing and play in the grass. I got some great photos of the girls.
Other than that nothing is happening other than I am 1 year closer to 30 today and Sam worked all weekend yet again.

11 Months Old!

In just one short month our little baby is going to be 1 year old! Lately, Sam and I have found ourselves talking about how little she used to be and when she couldn't do anything for herself. Now she is self feeding, on the move and has quite the attitude!

Current Accomplishments:

• Her first tooth broke through the gum two days ago. It is her bottom right incisor. You can see her bottom left under the gums. Teething diapers have been pretty gnarly.
• She is able to stand up without pulling herself up.
• We are sure she is saying "dog", but it sounds more like "dah".
• She is a waving pro and waves hello and bye bye to just about anyone who comes or goes.
• I would not say she is walking, but I have coaxed a baby step here and there out of her. The most I have been able to get out of her has been 3 before she launches herself at me (kind of a full body thrust....we are going to have a little dare devil)

On a total side note, we leave for AK in T-minus 5 months for an entire MONTH! Avery is going to have so much fun hanging with her Grandpa and her Kooka, not to even mention cousins Evan and Lillian and Aunt Amanda and Uncle Sonny. It will be nice to home, maybe we will even get lucky and see some Northern Lights. It has been years since I have witnessed a good show. Sam is hoping to get up there for at least a week so he can hang out with the folks at this practice he has been looking into. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

August Already!

Sorry for the lack of blogging, but there really has not been much to blog about. Sam has been keeping busy with work and Avery and I have just been chilling. She has been beyond cranky lately and I am ready for a darn tooth to pop through already. She has dropped all but her morning bottle so we have started introducing whole milk with her meals. She isn't really digging it. I have tried adding Ovaltine, but she is not fooled. She has also figured out the act of throwing and enjoys throwing food across the table. Real nice when we are out at a restaurant. Other than that not much is going on.

Below are a few cute photos of Avery from the Millhouse/Tschacher wedding!

I will try to get Avery's new silly laugh on video soon. It is really silly!