Toothless!

 We were sitting in the living room this afternoon and I hear Sugar say,

"I got it!"

She promptly jumped up and ran to the mirror.

 That has to be the best toothless smile I've ever seen!

Graduation 2010!

Reading

My 4 and a half year old is READING!!!!!!!!!!!

I noticed she was trying to sound out words so I got some pre reading books from the library. She has taken on to it very quickly. She is even doing addition. I love that she is soaking all this up.

bye, bye minkmink

It finally happened.

We have said goodbye to her favorite pal.

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

I just didn't give it to her.

She only cried the first night and after that hasn't asked for it.

It was the last baby thing she had,

she really is no longer a baby.

First day of school!

I survived!!!!

Avery was very upset when we dropped

big sister off and she couldn't stay.

That is probably why I didn't cry I was to busy trying to get

my screaming toddler out the door.

Aynslee reported that she loved school and can't wait to go back.

Daddy was able to call home tonight to talk to her.

That made her big day even better!

Happy Birthday, Aynslee!

My oh my how times does fly!

Can you believe this girl is 4 YEARS old today.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl.
I love you!

Avery's stats at 2....

She weighs 26.6 pounds

She is 33 inches tall

Her head is 19 inches

And she is absolutly perfect in every way!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Avery!

Time really does fly the older you get, I will probably say this

every year you have a birthday but I just can't believe it's already your birthday.

This year has been a challenge for us as we get to know you,

you are a very opinionated little girl.

And you let everyone know what you want or what you don't like.

With all of the challenges you still light up a room with that smile,

and your ever so sweet little personality.

The one thing I will always remember about this age is that

you usually are wearing some sort of dress up shoe.

You love shoes!

Unlike your sister you love baby dolls.

I like to watch you play with them.

You will sit down in your little chair and rock your baby.

Then gently lay the baby down in her bed.

You love princesses!

Cinderella is your favorite.

You ask to watch the Rella movie several times throughout the day.

For some reason you love dirt, digging in it, eating it,

anything to do with it you like it.

I guess that's the best part of being a girl you can love dirt and play with baby dolls.

For all the challenges you have thrown our way, I wouldn't change anything.

You are my baby, and daddy's little pumpkin.

We love our sweet girl.

I look so forward to everyday I get to spend with you.

Hearing your sweet laugh and seeing you discover new things.

It brings so much joy to watch you discover every new and exciting thing.

I am beyond blessed to be your mama.

I love you my sweet girl.

love,

mommy

21 months

Where is the time going?

It's hard to believe how fast times goes by the older you get. 

I looked at you the other day and realized that you don't look much like a baby anymore.

My baby is growing up everyday.

You are now singing words to songs.

It's so cute. 

You can get out most of the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Itsy Bitsy Spider. 

I love to listen to you sing. 

It's one of the sweetest sounds for a mommy to hear.

No matter how big you get you'll always be my little baby. 

I love you!

love, 

mommy 

20 months

Avery is now the same age that Aynslee was when we brought Avery home.

It's hard to believe that I had a newborn and a toddler.

Seeing Avery at this age, I think that she is still so much a baby even though

she is becoming more of a little girl every day.

She is talking so much more.

Some new phrases include:

"What Happened?"

"Where are you?"

"Go Away!"

I need to start writing them all down when I hear her say them,

it seems I can never remember them when I go to sit down and post about it.

She is a very active toddler so different from her older sister.

While most days I am so exhausted from just watching her

tear through a room in seconds.

She is such a delightful little girl.

Her smile is so bright and lights up a room there is no way you can stay

upset with her for very long.

She is learning how to sing her ABC's.

Recognizes letters and numbers.

Counts to 2

I can not imagine our family with out her.

She is the sunny face that brightens our days.

She keeps us on our toes.

And with every passing day we love her all the more.....

18 months

Avery @ 18 months

weight: 21.8 pounds

still purely delightful

16 months

Where does the time go? I know one thing for sure it goes by much faster after the first child. It doesn't seem like you should be this old.

You look less like a little baby and more like a toddler. You are so indenpendant and on the go type of girl.

IT takes you less than 5 seconds to completely destroy a room. Your in and out before anyone knows it and it looks like a cyclone has it the room. (the cyclone would be you)

You love your "bink bink" and blanket. You will grab your blanket and sqeeze it and then give me a big smile. I can tell the adoration you have for it.

Words you are saying at 16 months:

Rory

mommy

dadee

Papa

Sassy (Cassie)

Aynslee(but only once)

go

bink bink

no

yes

out

up

cake

stop

star

apple

baby

Babe (Gabe)

done

cup

Did I mention you bable all the time? with your beloved "bink bink" in your mouth.

Food, while you are still a much better eater than Aynslee was at this age. You don't have a wide variety. Chicken nuggets, the only kind of animal protein I can get you to eat, grill cheese sandwiches, sunbutter and honey sandwiches, any kind of fruit that doesn't eat you first, rice, pasta, mac and cheese, cheese pizza, waffles, yogurt, cereal bars,butternut squash, sweet potato and of course the french fry. I know this all a good list for tot your age but I wish you'd at least try some steak or hamburger. But you throw it down as soon as we give you a piece. Definitly didn't take after daddy on that one. I predict you just might become a chickentarian.

Although I don't enjoy the new phase you have entered, screaming for everything at the top of your lungs no matter where we are. You are the sweetest little thing. I love your snuggles and kisses. And the wonderful spirit you bring into our home.

I love you my little pea,

love, mommy

Happy Birthday, Aynslee!

Another year has flown by, I can hardly believe you are already three years old. Before I know it, I'll be saying the same thing when you are graduating from college.

You are quite the independent little girl. Always wanting to do things on your own with little help. I am not sure if it's the right of passage as the oldest child or the fact you are a girl but you sure are a bossy one. It reminds me a lot of me when I was little always telling others how to do things the "right way" according to you.

You are a great big sister and tell daddy and I often that your little sister is your best friend.

I love watching the two of you play together.

You love to make her laugh.
When the two of you are playing and laughing together

it fills our home with a certain kind of music only children can bring.

Lately one of your favorite things is musical instruments.

You pretend and make things into your instruments.

From trombones to xylophones you name it and you imagine it.

It's wonderful to see you use your imagination.

That sweet little smile brightens our days.

The melody of your voice fills our home with a joy I never could have imagined.

Happy Birthday to our sweet little girl.

We love you, mommy & daddy

Happy 1st Birthday, Avery!!!!

I can hardly believe it's been a year. I have found myself recalling the events of this day last year very often through out the day. What we were doing at this time? How happy and over joyed we were when you finally decided it was time to meet us? Getting to hold you and see who you look like. All of those things a mommy and daddy look forward to in the anticipation of meeting their little baby.

Watching you grow and change is a bittersweet feeling for me. I love watching you discover new things but it all goes by ever to quickly and I want to remember all of it to savor every new discovery and smile. You have been such a joy to have in our family, your pleasant, happy personality, your smiling face and contagious giggle.

You are learning to take up for yourself a little and let your sister know when she has done something she shouldn't have to you. You scream and then wave your hand at her in protest. I am sure things are going to get more interesting around here soon.

Walking, just isn't something you are that interested in at the moment. I have given you a week. So you had better heed mommies warning and get to it.

I love having you in our family you have added a sense of joy and happiness that is indescribable. I love getting to watch you change and grow into this little person. There are just not enough words to tell you how much I love you.

Happy 1st birthday my little lovey,

love,

mommy

a year in pictures..............

Here she is........Avery Lynn

a few days old............

4 weeks

2 months

3 months

4 months

sitting up at 5 months

6 months

all smiles at 7 months

standing like a big girl at 8 months

1st Christmas at 9 months

eating table food at 10 months

pretty girl at 11 months

a pure delight at 12 months

The Cake!

I made her cake myself and decorated it. I am sure you can tell. I ran out of frosting for the edge and had a little trouble with the letters.

blowing out the candle with daddy

not sure if she likes it.

Ok, she likes it.

I think she LOVED it

Mmmmmmmm, good!

10 months

Ten months already. Where is the time going?



In the last week you have started to sign more. This is so amazing to me to watch you. You can sign, dog, please, milk, eat, mama and dada.



You are going to be the little comedian in our house. You copy anyone if they cough or burp you will do it just to see what they will do. If we laugh you laugh. The more we laugh the more you laugh. It's the cutest thing, EVER.



One of my favorite things to watch you do is pretend to eat. If someone else is eating you will put your hand to your little mouth then start to chew. But the look on your face while you are doing this is priceless. I can't help but grin when I am watching you do this.



You were sitting in the exersaucer one afternoon and I had given you a book. You had it open looking at what was on the pages and then started to nod your head like you were reading it and understood every word.



Recently we moved your bed out of our room. This was a big step for mommy. You seem to like being in the room with your big sister. I laid you down in your bed one afternoon for a nap and you smiled. I guess you like being in the room with your sister.

Every day with you in our family is so full and joyful.

I love you!

love,

mommy

30 months

Oh how you are growing. My eyes and ears can hardly believe all the things you are doing. We actually have conversations now. It's so much fun to hear what you have to say, most of the time.



Your imagination is incredable. Sometimes you are a dog, cat, bunny, lion, frog or monkey. Daddy's favorite thing to do is to play along with you and feed you a banana or a dog treat. You just love it.

You are so funny. The things you do or say keep us laughing all the time. You were on the phone with your Papa the other night. I can't even remember what we said but you moved your hair and put the phone right up to your ear so you could hear better. We just laughed.

You finally discovered that your little sister is fun to play with and excitedly asked me the other day if you could play with her in your room. It is just so cute to watch the two of you play together. The sharing thing we still need to work on but I can tell you love her. You tell me that she is your best friend.

Every day is another adventure with you and I love every minute of it.

I love you, my little doodlebug.

love,

mommy

9 months

Where is the time going? My little baby is growing so fast.

You are doing so many new things from crawling all over the house to standing up on things and scaling the furniture. It won't be long and you will be walking. You don't like sitting in one place for very long. You love to be on the go and playing with your big sister.

Your other favorite person to play with now is Rory. I find you crawling all over her and petting her. She loves it and will lay on the floor and let you pull her ears.

You started saying, dada first then said, mama maybe once but you have developed your own word for me. Mmmmmmmmm when you want me that is what you will say. IT took us a little bit to figure it out. I find it very cute. Really I am not picky as to what you call me right now as long as you do call for me and not dada all the time.

We are still working on some sign language with you. You can sign dog and milk so far. Oh, yes and even say, Dog. Aynslee signs to you a lot. It makes your daddy and I happy that we can teach this to you and you seem to be picking it up easily.

Dancing is something you like now. If there is any kind of music on you are dancing. Right now your dancing is sitting on the floor and bouncing up and down. It's one of the cutest things I have ever seen. (I say one because I see a lot of cute things every day that you do) I think we have a bright future ahead of us as a dancer and attending many recitals.

I let you try some pieces of a banana the other day. When you ate them all you looked at me with questioning eyes, Where's the rest? I can even begin to put into words the excitment it brings to daddy and I to see you love food. Not only food but good food, vegetables and fruit.

I am amazed at you every day. Also very thankful to a loving Heavenly Father for sending you to our family. You bring sunshine to our home.

I love you,

mommy

her 1st tooth

Well, Avery has gotten her first tooth. I noticed it yesterday afternoon. The lightbulb finally went off as to why she might be so fussy and having such a hard time sleeping lately. Sure enough a little tooth has broken through on the bottom left side. She's also been sticking her tougue out more to feel it.

It made me sad. I am not worried about her biting like Aynslee did. She is far to busy for that she eats and runs.

I just love her gummy smile.