She Makes Me Smile

Just a few cute pics of my sweet girl.

I Have My Reasons

I realize that Avery turned 13 months today, and I haven't posted her birthday pics, but I have some good excuses. Right after her party, she got a bad cold and was sick for a week. It was no fun that she wasn't feeling very good, but I did get to stay home with her 3 days that week and all she wanted to do was cuddle! That doesn't happen very often these days! After she was well, we went to Dallas for the week of Thanksgiving. We had a great time, but back in Houston our house got robbed - not once, twice - so we have been dealing with that. Now, we have no computer to upload pictures or to blog, so I have had to wait for Jenn's pics and some free time at work to finally get this together.

Having said that, Avery's party was lots of fun. It was just family but it was so great to celebrate Avery's first year and the blessing she has been in our lives. She is such a sweet girl, and it is hard to remember life without her. She is walking now, so she is constantly on the move. She LOVES to be outside, so we spend a lot of time exploring the yard and picking up leaves on the ground. She talks non-stop, although most of it is incomprehensible. Her favorite word is "uh-oh" which is so cute. She says it every time she drops (or throws) something on the ground or every time she falls. Those two things seem to happen a lot at our house. She is still on the higher end in weight (65th percentile) and height (75th percentile), but she doesn't seem to be growing much these days.

Every month is more fun than before, and we can't wait to see what she will do next!

Here are some pictures from her birthday (she didn't like the cake) and a couple we took at Thanksgiving with the fam.

Halloween and Other Fun Things

It is hard to believe that we just celebrated Avery's last "first" holiday on Sunday. I remember how big I was last year at this time (so big that Josh put a pumpkin up his shirt at a party last year so we could be twins!), but this year has flown by so fast. I can't believe that our little angel will be one next week. This post, however, is not about that. It is about Halloween and other fun things we have been up to the past couple weeks!

Avery and I took another trip to Midland. This was her second time to see everyone and made me realize how I wish we lived closer! I LOVE going to Midland, always have, and I hope Avery does as she grows up. I only took a few pictures, and I am so mad at myself for it. I was planning on taking many more, but I did get a really cute one of Avery playing in the front yard with my Mir and Grandad. I am so thankful that Avery has four great-grandparents that love and spoil her!



Last weekend was Halloween, and we had a little costume fiasco. Let me preface this by saying - I don't really care about Halloween. I really never have. Of course as a kid I loved the candy, but I don't remember ever caring about dressing up. You just had to dress up because that was how you got the candy. Well, I got all excited about dressing Avery up. I think as a parent you have all these expectations of how things will be with your kids; however, I am finding out that those expectations are rarely met but always exceeded in other ways you never thought. I was such a good mom and got Avery's costume 4 weeks before Halloween. For me, that was pretty darn good. I found the cutest bumblebee costume for her. I was so excited about - she was going to be the cutest bumblebee ever, and of course she would have been EXCEPT the week before Halloween I discover this costume is missing wings. Please don't ask me how I didn't realize that a bee should have wings, but I didn't. Long story short, I got very upset, Josh calmed me down, and Avery had to settle for the leftover costumes that are only available the week before, so she was a pink bunny. Oh, how she was the cutest bunny ever!! I ended up really liking the costume; she was really adorable. We went to our church's Fall Festival and let her walk around. It was a bit warm (thank you Houston), but there weren't many things for her to do anyway so we just stayed a few minutes. It ended up being a great Halloween, but I learned an important lesson - costumes are not important; my child is going to be the cutest in the world no matter what she wears!









Other than that, we have just been playing and having fun. She is still on the brink of walking; I really don't think it will be long. She can walk holding just one of our hands but then she gets scared and sits down. I think she would be walking if she thought she could. She likes to "read" which means turn the pages in one book while Josh or I read from another. She also LOVES her swing in the front yard and likes daddy to throw her up in the air so she can fly.









I will post her official "1 year old" post next week; I just wanted to give an update. We are having her party on the 13th, so I am sure I will have lots of pictures of that as well. It is just going to be family, but I am still busy trying to get all the details together. We love our Avery and can't believe she has been blessing us with her presence for almost an entire year!

Eleven Month Update

Saturday was Avery's 11 month birthday! Oh how the time has flown! I think she has grown and changed more over the last month than any before. She is becoming more and more like a little girl and less like a baby. I love it and hate it, if that is possible. It is so fun getting to see her experience and learn about the world. You can tell she is constantly trying to figure things out. It really is amazing to see how much a child can absorb in such a short period of time.

Avery is crawling and pulling up on EVERYTHING now. I predict that she will be walking by her first birthday, but I don't really know how fast all these things play out so I could be way off. Her favorite thing to do is walk around the house holding mine and/or Josh's hands.





She loves playing with anything that has something in it, i.e., mommy's purse. She would sit there all day and take stuff out of my purse. She is starting to put stuff back, but she would much rather make the mess than clean it up. I have high aspirations of teaching her that when you take something out, you put it back; however that might not sink in for a few more years.



She loves to laugh at her daddy. As I have said before, she is a daddy's girl big time and thinks he is the bee's knees. He can just look at her and she will laugh. It is so funny. We have caught a few of her laughing fits on video or recorded on our phones. When she gets going, she can hardly catch her breath. It's the most wonderful sound in the world.

She still hasn't said her first word. She is babbling more and more these days, so I think it is just a matter of time before she makes the connection between what she is babbling and the thing she thinks she is talking about. We'll see.

Her eating habits are about the same. She is either a picky eater, or she just doesn't like to try new things because she has a few staple foods that she will eat consistently, but other than that it is hit or miss. A new favorite we discovered - black beans.

She can drink from a sippy cup all by herself now, so we are about ready to make the transition from formula in a bottle to milk in a sippy cup. Our doctor told us we could do the transition at 11 months, but I am a little hesitant. Don't get me wrong, I will LOVE not buying formula and not washing bottles all the time, but that will officially mean she is not a baby anymore and I am not quite ready for that.

Avery is such a sweet girl, and I love getting to watch her personality continue to grow. I love this little girl more than I ever thought I could. What a wonderful blessing she has been to our life!

Showing off our pearly whites & our cheesy side


Chillin in the stroller at the County Fair


Playing in the grass



Family picture after church



With Grandma at the County Fair



With Grandpa at the County Fair

Pumpkin Patch

We took Avery to the pumpkin patch on Saturday. I found one online that was close to our house, so we thought we would give it a try. It wasn't the greatest, but thankfully we didn't have to pay and we know not to go back there next year. I had these visions of getting all these great pictures of Avery with all the pumpkins around her like you see in magazines; however that didn't quite happen. We did get some cute pictures, just not one that makes you say, "Wow, what a great picture of a cute baby in a pumpkin patch." Instead we got a lot that make you say, "What an adorable baby who doesn't want to smile in an OK pumpkin patch with not a lot of pumpkins around." Either way, here are some pictures of our day!

Tractor ride to get back to the pumpkins


Not sure what to do with all these pumpkins










Good try mom - I don't' want to wear a bow!


Family picture to commemorate the occasion


There were pony rides and a petting zoo there as well. We didn't go behind the fence, but surprisingly, Avery really liked the animals. Maybe we have a farm girl on our hands!