5 Months

Wow, it is so hard to believe that Avery turned 5 months old today! She is growing so much and seems to change everyday. She is full of smiles and beginning to turn into the Micheline baby...not joking, the child has some serious rolls on her legs. I am probably going to have to give in and eat them any day now.



She started sleeping in her crib this weekend and is doing really well! Better than I am, at least. She has also made a new discovery...her feet! Why is it just so darn cute when babies hold their feet in the air while flashing their diaper-padded booties to the world?!?



She has also entered the world of foods. We started out with cereal and have now progressed to oatmeal. It only took a few days for her to get the hang of it. It is quite humorous to watch. She eagerly opens her mouth when you hold up her spoon and when she has a bite she makes an "mmm" sound. And if you can't give it to her fast enough, she will let you know.

She loves to stand up. We're thinking she may just skip the crawling and go straight to walking because she prefers to be standing all the time. We bought her a jumparoo and she loves it. She's still a little too small, since her feet don't quite touch the floor yet. But it keeps her from sitting which equals a very happy Avery. She also seems to find it rather tasty....







One thing is for sure...she definitely gets cuter and cuter everday!

My newest obsession

I love to shop online.....correction: I love to "window shop" online (since I rarely ever actually buy anything). I recently discovered this fabulous website and I'm sure I'm one of the last people to know about it, but I just can't get enough of it. It's called Etsy and it's basically like E-bay except it's all handmade items. You can pretty much find anything on there like jewelry, housewares, clothing, etc., but of course my obsession is all the cutesy baby stuff. You can also buy patterns, fabrics and supplies for things like scrapbooking. If anything, it's a great place to get good ideas if you're a crafty person. And if you're super crafty, you can sell your own stuff on there. Check it out! www.etsy.com

Pictures

We recently had Avery's pictures made and it was quite the experience! We were fortunate to have not one, but two offers to take Avery's pictures as a gift. Our friends Jacob & Colleen gave us a free portrait session with Colleen's friend who did their wedding pictures, which were amazing. Me being the picture-obsessed person that I am was super excited but couldn't decide when to have them done. In the meantime, a lady who sings in my dad's choir also wanted to take Avery's pictures. We decided to go ahead and let her do them sort of as a "trial run," since I was a little unfamiliar with her work.

We went to her house in Junaluska Highlands, which isn't far from where my parents live, to have them made. We had seen an example of a "naked baby with roses" picture that she had done and really wanted to try it. This turned out to be slightly challenging...okay, very challenging. Lets just say that the ones that actually turned out good should be blown up and plastered all over our walls as a reminder of a victorious moment in our lives. Anyways, to do the naked baby pictures we had to take off Avery's diaper ahead of time to get rid of the diaper lines on her skin. This resulted in one wet outfit, wet pants for Shayne and roses that were watered in an unconventional kind of way. While actually taking the pictures, we had to strategically place one or two roses in order to cover her lady parts. As if trying to keep the roses in place wasn't enough of a challenge, we had the chewing of the hands to deal with. Avery, being your typical baby, loves to eat her hands. And at this particular moment in time, she found her hands to be especially delectable. So here we are...naked Avery, mommy the rose placer and daddy the hand remover. 3,479 pictures later (not really, but seemed that way) we decided we may possibly have gotten at least a few good ones. Needless to say, Avery's first picture session was a memorable experience...and we have some pretty good pictures as a reminder.

Alex's party

Last Sunday we had yet another birthday party to attend! Our niece, Alex, had her 7th birthday party at the Waynesville Rec. playground. It was great to get together with family and celebrate. Avery had a great time too, as she loves to be outside. She especially enjoyed having the chance to sport her cool pink shades!






Avery is now in her "grab anything I can get my hands on" stage...this time, it was Pawpaw's mouth


The birthday girl

Free books!

My wonderful mother-in-law informed me of this great website that I just had to share. It is book program created by Dolly Parton for children under the age of 5. If your community participates in the program, then you can register your child and they will receive a free age-appropriate book every month until they turn 5. That's a lot of free books! I know that Haywood County is an affiliate, as I was able to register Avery. Once you sign up, you will receive an e-mail stating that they are reviewing your registration to make sure your child is eligible...then you receive an e-mail confirming the eligibility. More info. is available on the website. Check it out at: www.imaginationlibrary.com

4 months

We took Avery to the doctor for her 4 month checkup on Monday. She now weighs 13 lbs. 6 oz. It is truly amazing how fast these little beings grow! Just this morning I was watching her sleep when I realized that she is close to the entire length of her little co-sleeper bed...in the back of mind I'm thinking, "this just can't be right!" She is beginning to do so much now. Her coos and squeals are very close to turning into babblings (is that a word?!?). She is starting to reach out and grab toys to play with too. Just yesterday, I rolled her over on her tummy to play and she rolled over onto her back all by herself! And really by herself, not like the time I helped her and claimed she did it on her own (which Shayne was quick to correct me on). To me this a big accomplishment considering she's not on her tummy much. This is quite sad, really...my job is all about helping kids reach developmental milestones and there have been many times I have had to put babies on their tummies despite their protesting. Now my own daughter, who does not like tummy time AT ALL, somehow easily gets out of doing this important playtime ritual. Funny how things change when you're wearing the "mommy hat," huh? It's sad to see our little one get bigger, but exciting to watch her learn and accomplish new things!