A Difficult Night

Hey, little man.  Dad here.  Let me tell you a little story of how tonight has gone for us.

When I got home from work around 4:00, you were still napping.  Mom left to go to work, I had some leftovers for lunch, and you woke up around the time I was done.  I gave you a snack of Cinnamon Cheerios and bacon, and then we made our way to the living room.  

I turned on some Christmas cartoons for you, put some of your toys conveniently nearby, and I sat down with my keyboard and mouse to get some work done.  Apparently my work looked like more fun than your toys and cartoons (trust me, it wasn't), and you immediately came over to play along.  You grabbed my keyboard by the corner with the PC shutdown button, shutting my computer down and my productivity right along with it.

While my computer was rebooting, you headed for the Christmas tree and started tugging on the lights.  I scolded, "Avery, no."  You looked at me, hesitated a moment, and went for them again.  Again, I said, "Avery, no."  So you gave up on the lights and started pulling ornaments off instead.  Fragile ornaments.  Expensive ornaments.  Ornaments with sharp, dangerous hooks.  "Avery, no!" I shouted and pulled you away from the tree.  I sat you down gently back in front of the TV with your bottle of juice and bowl of Cheerios.  This seemed acceptable for the moment, but as soon as I sat back down with my keyboard, you were back to pound on the keys again.  

As I was gently moving you away from the keyboard, I smelled the familiar aroma of a poopy diaper.  So I carried you to your room to freshen you up.  This diaper change went well.  No major problems whatsoever...unlike one that came later.

When we returned to the living room, I knew I wasn't going to get anything done until you went to bed or Mom got home, whichever came first.  So I just held you on my lap and we relaxed and watched cartoons together for awhile until I started getting hungry for dinner.  Knowing that I couldn't leave you unsupervised around my computer and the Christmas tree, I took you to the kitchen with me.  Besides, I figured you'd want to share some rice with me.  (You really, really love rice in just about any form or flavor.)

Dinner with you was fun as usual.  We ate and played and made funny noises and faces at each other like we always do.  The rice apparently made you really thirsty though, because you finished off your juice and then went through a full, tall bottle of water.  Quickly.  

When we had finished eating, I took you from your high chair to discover that your pants were soaked with pee.  So we went straight upstairs to do another diaper change and get you some clean pants.  Clean baby, new diaper, fresh pants -- all was good.  You seemed to really want to stay in your room to play with your books, so I let you, since there's nothing dangerous in your room and I would easily be able to keep an eye on your door from the bottom of the stairs.

I went back downstairs to try again to work, and then remembered that I needed to wash my hands after that gross experience, so I went to the kitchen sink for what must have been less than 10 seconds.  When I returned, you had somehow made it down two stairs.  You were sitting comfortably on the second stair from the top, smiling and patting your hand on the railing.  I have no idea how you did that, especially so quickly.

As I started up the stairs to get you, you turned and crawled up to the top, then stood up by supporting yourself with the railing.  When I reached you, there was the poopy diaper scent again.  Yes, not even five minutes from the last diaper change, you needed another.

This is where the real fun began.  You didn't want another diaper change and you fought it.  As soon as I had you wiped off, you went crawling away, your naked butt wiggling as you went.  I grabbed you by the waist to keep you from fleeing, but this just angered you.  I covered your butt with the diaper and started to attach the fasteners when you broke away, ripping the fastener off of the diaper as you bolted for the door.

Normally I close your door at diaper time because you like to escape before the job is finished, but this time I didn't.  You were out the door and heading down the hall to the bathroom.  I grabbed a new diaper, powdered it quickly, and then pursued you.

I was too late.  You had stopped just inside the bathroom door, on your hands and knees, and made a huge pee puddle right there on the floor.  "Aw, Avery!" I whined, but you just crawled over to the tub, stood up, and then did it again.  You made sounds as if you were very pleased with yourself as you watched your pee stream splatter against the side of the tub and soak into the bath mat below.  While you were distracted, I threw the new diaper around you and fastened it, then grabbed a hand towel to dry you off, and then soaked up the floor puddle.

Exhausted now, I just held you on my lap again as we sat on the couch and watched TV until Mom came home.  By then, it was nearly your bedtime.  Thank goodness!

Even after all of this, I still love you more than anything in the universe.  Weird, huh?

november begins

jeudi 1 novembre--Today was a good day, though nothing terribly exciting or out of the ordinary to report.  You spent most of the day with me.  Tried to have you nap around 12:30, failed, so we waited and tried again at 2pm, which worked great.  Am thinking that may be your time preference for napping right now...we'll see how it goes, though.  Post-nap, you crawled all over the place, had a great time as always.  Got a video of you giggling, rocking in the recliner in your room.  You had the mac n cheese leftovers for dinner, which you loved just as much as last night.  Dad had you while I worked and said you were happy and energetic for him, too.  When I returned, gave you a bath where you splashed like crazy and loved it (I always get wet, even if I manage to use the curtain to try to guard against it).  You weren't pleased about bedtime, but that's fairly normal unfortunately.  You keep fighting it and end up falling asleep doubled over or in half-crawl position (legs tucked under).  When this happens, you typically wake up an hour or two later and we have to comfort you and reposition you (like tonight).

dimanche 4 novembre--Today we turned the clocks back, but you still got up at what would be your normal time (around 9:30, so today, 8:30).  That was fine, as I needed to be up to get ready for work and daddy to get you ready for traveling.  I would have gone with you tow, but I had lessons, so I stayed behind.  You had a great time with daddy going to Jacksonville, IL for a family event (an anniversary party).  Meanwhile, after I did my lessons, I came home and got my homework for the week done so that dad will be able to do his work during the week.  We are also expecting visitors this week, so I want to keep working on the house, too.  Since you slept in the car, we let you stay up a little tonight, am hoping we can get you back on schedule through the week.

mardi 20 novembre--Well, November is no longer beginning, so I'd better wrap up this post.  I can't possibly include everything that has gone on for the last 15 days, so I will just stick to the few we've just had.  Today was a day of running errands together.  You were super well-behaved as we went everywhere and no surprise, caught a few zzz's in the car, too.  You've been sleeping a bit more these past few days, which we are thinking means you are teething hard again.  I managed to finally get a glimpse of your top 1 year molars; they are not all the way through yet by far, and I can't tell if you've started the bottom ones.  You have been chewing on your fingers quite a lot as well.

Friday (16th), we packed up and went to Nana Linda's for the weekend to celebrate early T-giving with family there.  We had a good trip down, except for when you got mad because the sun kept getting in your eyes (we did our best to keep it out, but it was a tad rough for that hour before sunset!)  You had a bit of a fussy evening, though--think it was because you were not used to being away combined with the teething.
Saturday (17th), we spent the day at Nana's; daddy and uncle Kevin played outside (a ghost hunting game daddy just discovered) because it was super nice weather.  Mommy helped Nana prepare the dinner--we had turkey, ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, and handmade Parker House rolls, with malted milk chocolate mousse for dessert.  You enjoyed sampling all of it, no surprise :)  After dinner, we gave you your first haircut!  It was just a little trim, we gave Nana the honor of performing the job (and she did very well!!)
Sunday (18th), we returned home.  The trip back went well, too, but was a bit longer because we stopped at A&W for dinner (and found out you love their root beer floats!)  It was a bit late when we returned, so we decided to wait until the next morning to return the rental car.

That brings us up to yesterday (19th), which was a fairly uneventful day.  Mommy returned the rental car in the morning and went to workout alone, as you were still sleeping.  Spent most of the day cleaning house and playing with you, then let daddy take over when I went to work.  You have gone back to napping twice a day, it seems, and yesterday your second one was long!

I will do my best to get back to daily snippets after this :)  Love, mommy.

Silly Songs for Avery

Hey, buddy!  It's Dad.  I realized recently that there is one unique aspect to our relationship that I think should be recorded in your blog.  See, I have this little trick that I use to distract you when you're fussy about something, which buys me time to solve the problem and make you happy again.  I just start singing silly words to familiar tunes, sometimes rather loudly in proportion to your volume, that turns our time together into a sort of impromptu musical.

For example, when you first started standing up on your own, some of your larger pants would start to fall off of you.  So I would sing this to the tune of "London Bridge".

Avery's pants are falling down, falling down, falling down.
Avery's pants are falling down, silly baby.

Last night, you were getting hungry.  (I was too, but unlike you, I wasn't fussing about it.)  I had no idea what to give you, so as I was searching the kitchen and you were fussing in the high chair, I was singing this loudly to drown you out.  To the tune of "Frere Jacques":

What to feed you?  What to feed you, Piggy boy, Piggy boy? Always you are hungry. Sometimes makes you angry. Hungry boy. Hungry boy.

This happens all the time, so I'll start posting my dumb, improvised lyrics here as they spew out of me. Who knows what silly thing you'll inspire me to do next?

daily notes part 2

Saturday 27 October--Today you had a very fussy day; we think it is due to you having both a runny nose/cold and trying for those 1 year molars still yet (this part is unconfirmed, as you seem to think me putting my finger in your mouth means I want you to bite it, so we can only suspect based on you chewing your fingers all the time back there).  You were pretty good when Lyn came over for dinner; she is daddy's former boss, still his co-worker, and she has babysat you a few times now.  We made her dinner (thai curry chicken thighs) to thank her for this.  She brought you a present--your first toy truck!  You like it, but don't quite know how to really play with it just yet.

Monday 29 October--You seem to be feeling better today, as do all of us (we have all had a bit of your runny nose stuff), though not so much first thing this morning--that was still rough/fussy time.  You woke up around 7:40 and took a while to get calmed down.  Once you did, the whole day started going better.  Normally, I would have had you go back to bed, as we don't get up that early, but today was professional pictures day for turning 1 year old (which is now 13 months).  Got you ready and out the door nearly on time (just 4 minutes later than was planning), and you promptly fell asleep as soon as car was in motion.  Traffic was a bit heavy, so both the photographer and I were late, coincidentally arriving at the same time, so it all worked out :)  We had your pictures done outside at St. James' Farm Forest Preserve--it was a little chilly, not too bad, though, and plenty of sunshine, so we stayed warm enough (well-dressed helped, of course).  You did a super job of being cooperative--insisted on having your blankie with you, which I think will just make the pix cuter.  Anyhow, after that, came back home, got you some more food, daddy left for work, then we went to the gym.  You were great there, too--just got upset right at the end when I came because one of the ladies was telling the other kid "NO" (she was trying to kick a little while near you) and think you thought she was getting on to you, thus very upset until mommy consoled you.  We came back home, I showered, then it was off to Costco.  You were asleep once again as soon as car was going, literally (Costco is around 5 minutes from the house, even less if all green lights).  Really didn't want to wake you, so left you in seat and put in cart, covered up by my red cloth jacket.  Amazingly, even with the wind, you only batted your eyes a bit once we got in the store and then it was right back to napping as I shopped.  Since you were sleeping so well, I had lunch there (pizza, of course), then returned home.  You were still sleeping, so I left you in seat and brought you in that way.  Sat you in kitchen, where you snored away the next hour and a half or so as mommy made chocolate chip cookies lol.  You woke up not long before daddy came home.  Tried to give you a little bit of cookie, but you were only interested in your bottle.  Daddy took over while mommy went out to work.  My lessons went well, picked up some dinner at Steak n Shake on way home, then got the report from dad about the evening.  All went well, you both played a lot; he did have to chase you around mid-diaper change, though, as you did not want to have one on at all once you got the other off.  Told me you crawled right out your door bare butt wiggling away lol.  Finally got you diapered when you got cornered at end of hall.  You finally ate the cookie I had tried to give you and really liked it (yay!).  You also wanted to eat our dinners--kept crawling all over and lunging at us (we were in living room floor, and yes, we shared with you, you just wanted more and more!)  Read you a bedtime story (which ended up being a weird/creepy book if you ask me; we'll see what you think when you are older--"The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin") and you did not really fuss as you got put down for sleep.  Hope tomorrow will be just as nice or better for you :)

Wednesday 31 October--Happy 2nd Halloween!  Today started with taking you to the gym with me, which went well, then back home to clean up, have lunch and get you to take a nap.  Oh how you fought it today!  About the time you got up, it was time for the trick-or-treaters to start coming (hours are 3-7pm here).  Yet none came until just over an hour into it.  A bunch came at once, one of the little girls said you were cute :)  You were obsessed with the Milk Duds boxes, had to try to keep you from eating them lol.  We ended up with 17 total kids coming by, so there was quite a bit of candy left.  Daddy came home near the end of the hours and brought a little pumpkin plus some cake, which you were nearly attacking him to get.  We went out to Half Price Books, got a couple things there, then to Houlihan's because they were having a super special (buy one get one dinner free).  We got you mac n cheese and mashed potatoes, which you loved, no surprise.  You also sort of drank from a cup--think we may get lucky enough for you to skip a sippy (*fingers crossed*).  It was a great Halloween :)

little daily notes

Thursday 11 October--I didn't get to write the last two days; there wasn't much to report anyhow, apart from cleaning up the basement last night so you would have a better place to play down there, too.
Today was a pretty typical fall day--nice temps and sunshine, but windy like crazy!  Today you got to go to the bank and a store with me.  At the store, you were humming at me and I hummed back; I think we had a conversation this way, but no idea what it was about lol.  You got mad when I wouldn't let you grab things off the shelves, so we didn't stay in the store long (I didn't need much anyhow).  Tonight, I apologize, but I fed you the stinkiest baby food I have come across: broccoli and carrots with cheese.  You ate it just fine and seemed ok with it, which mainly proves what a good eater you are.  I will not be buying that food again, though, as I fear what the output from it will be like (plus I don't want to smell it again as input, either).  I took a video of you playing with your blanket and squealing.

Friday 12 October--Today you got to go out twice; once in the late morning to the mall--mommy needed a haircut (had not had one since long before you were born!!) and just wanted to shop a bit, too.  You and daddy had fun at the playland area while I was getting my haircut.  I got a foot cut off and it's still long, which I'm sure you will know from pictures.  After that, it was time to come back home for a bit so you could nap. Later on, after mommy got back home from working, you got to go out with us a second time for a trip to make a bank deposit, shop at Kmart and Target, and dinner at Steak N Shake.  You enjoyed sharing some of our fries and my grilled cheese there :)

Saturday 13 October--Today you and daddy went to Toys R Us and came back with balls to make your pack n play into a ball pit!  You weren't too sure about it at first, but as you got used to it, you seemed to like it.  When I got home from tutoring, you did something a bit gross, though--you messed yourself while playing in the ball pit and thus mommy and daddy had quite the cleanup job.  All this after daddy had just given you a bath, no less lol!  Oh, well, that's just the way it goes sometimes :)  For dinner, we had penne pasta with prego sauce--you loved this a lot, think you would have made yourself sick on it if we'd have let you.  You seem to be fussing less when we put you down for bed now; hope this continues...

Sunday 14 October--Not too much to report today, as you spent the entire day at home with daddy.  He took a cute short video of you having hiccups (which he of course posted to Facebook and received lots of "likes").  At dinner, you got to try Parmesan couscous, which you enjoyed, no surprise.  You played really hard, fell asleep very quickly.  I bought baby-proofing supplies at the store today.

Wednesday 17 October--It's the last two weeks of the school term, which means mommy and daddy are getting super busy; my apologies in advance for the more sporadic posts.  Today's highlight was going out for dinner as a family.  We went to one of our very favorite restaurants, Villa Verone in Geneva.  They were offering a special and I got lucky enough to only have one lesson to do, so we decided to go out before conquering the end of our courses.  There, we got lucky enough to have the entire upstairs to ourselves with two people waiting on us, plus other helpers--most excellent service!  Mommy had the special, tortellacci (big tortellini stuffed with osso buco) in a brandy and sage cream sauce (majorly awesome) and daddy had chicken marsala with rigatoni; you got to have a lot of his pasta noodles (you love these).  A guy playing music came up just for us and you seemed to like what he played, but you didn't smile, just stared him down lol.  It was a great night out as a family.

Thursday 18 October--Today you stood up in the pack n play in the basement all on your own while daddy was watching you this evening :)

Sunday 21 October--Today you went to the park with dad while mom worked way too much (and too early!)  In the evening, you managed to put a quarter in your bus bank without help after seeing dad do it (after several times of us telling you 'no' when you wanted to eat the quarter instead), plus just before bed you crawled up a step on your own for the first time.  You are completely fascinated lately with balancing objects on top of one another.

Wednesday 24 October--Happy 13 months! You celebrated by crawling all the way up the stairs.  You now want to do it all the time, like everything else you learn.  Time to figure out how to block it with the baby gate...

Thursday 25 October--Mommy finished her final paper for class yesterday, so we got to actually have a more relaxing/fun day today.  I took you to the gym with me, where you had fun as usual with the other kids there as I worked out.  After we cleaned up at home, we went out shopping to Kohl's (got you some cute clothes), Target, and Ultra Foods.  You napped in the car both ways.  Then it was off to DeVry so I could teach math review; daddy kept you in his cubicle (or tried to do so anyway--you crawled off all over the place and made him chase after).  After that was done, we went to dinner at Olive Garden, where we ordered a 'kids meal' for you for the first time--penne pasta with red sauce and mashed potatoes.  You happy had a good amount of both, plus about 2/3 of a breadstick!

Trop occupée

Yes, it has been what seems like forever now since I last blogged here.  I apologize once again; it's not that I don't want to do so, it is simply that time management got more complicated because mommy decided to start her Master's degree in Education.  It's not the ideal time to do so, but all factors considered, there really isn't going to be an 'ideal' time anyway, so best do it now.  It's going well so far, just eats up nearly all my spare time.  I'm going to do my best to squeeze in as much blogging as I can for you, though :)
Enough about me, let's talk about you, as that is far more interesting.  You now have 8 teeth--yes, 8!!  The last four came in a couple months ago within just a couple weeks of each other.  This made you a bit on the fussy and sleepy side, as you might imagine.  And last week you TURNED 1 YEAR OLD!!!  We had your party at Grandma Judy's place with many relatives, including Uncle Kevin, Nana Linda and Pa-Pa Junior.  I made you a Bubble Guppies themed cake, which you were not much in to destroying like most babies do.  You were slow to dive in to it at all, and you seemed to like the frosting more than anything else.
This event came at the end of spending a week chez Grandma Judy without us, as mommy was spending 5 days at the sleep lab (as a paid medical 'guinea pig'), which left us in need of a babysitter, and of course Grandma was happy to take you :)  While there, you finally got the hang of moving/walking forward in your walker (you had only gone backwards chez nous) and tried tons of foods.  You still love to eat, even more so I would say since you got all those teeth.
You sleep through the night pretty much all the time now, with rare exceptions.  In fact, it happened the first night when we came to join you at Grandma's.  We figured out why, too: you are scared of being in a totally dark room!  Makes sense, being that you have slept with a nightlight pretty much since you were born.  Grandma had you in her room when we weren't there, which gets moonlight/is not pitch black.  The bedroom where we stay is, however.  Luckily, there is a nightlight in there, and as soon as we put it on for you the second night, you had no trouble sleeping.  You don't like to go to sleep, though--you fight it every single time, sometimes quite a bit (like last night when we tried to have you nap prior to math review session--did not happen, but you drew the attention of several people in rooms nearby and dad had to take you off campus for a bit).
Let's jump up to today (Saturday 6 October) now.  My new goal is to write at least one thing you do each day, even if it is just ordinary/usual stuff.  You spent the morning with dad while I went to the gym and then taught a lesson.  When I returned, it was nap time for you while dad ran out to check on the game jam at campus.  Once he was back, we waited until you woke up and then it was time to head downtown to meet up with Dan and his friend Larry.  They come here every year for a convention around this time and we try to get together (Dan is one of daddy's friends from St. Louis and was a groomsman at our wedding).  We ate at Exchequer, sans surprise.  This time, you got to snack on some fries and pizza crust, which you loved.  We stopped by the grocery store on the way home, then Dan and Larry came over for a little bit to visit some more.  Dan brought you gifts--a Fisher Price shovel (gotta gt you ready for winter, he said lol), a snowman ornament with your name engraved on it, and a set of Sesame Street board books.  As we sat around chatting, you were playing with all of this and entertaining us all quite well.  Mommy was putting her recipe pages she had constructed into page protectors; these were in a nice, neatly stacked pile until you spotted them and decided they should not be so neat, and certainly not organized.  They ended up covering half the living room!  In the middle of all this, you decided to hit a milestone--you crawled forward a few feet!  Up until now, you have been mainly getting on your hands and knees, yet the moment you started to move forward, you let your knees give out and collapse out to the sides.  This has not prevented you from getting around, though; you have been scooting and twisting about in very inefficient ways that have yielded some distance, just not a lot.  Seems that now we have to get on top of that baby-proofing...
Sunday 7 October--Once again the day started for you with dad; I was already gone for tutoring appointments before you woke up (it was 8:30 when I left!!)  When I returned in the afternoon, you were napping and dad had taken a video of you crawling for a few feet once again.  I worked on the house and decorated (finally) for Halloween.  When I had the big storage box in the living room, you started trying to pull yourself up on it.  This prompted daddy and I to do that which we have been saying since the day we found you sitting up in your crib--lower the mattress setting.  (BTW, you have only done that one time, despite being able to go from lying down to sitting up on your own for quite some time now.)  It was a bit of work, but it's done!  You took another nap, I went to the store, then it was dinner time for you when I got back.  Post-dinner, I was cleaning up from making brownies when dad left you for just a moment--you decided to take advantage and pull his computer down on top of you (from the floor desk).  This scared you more than anything else--made a tiny bump on your forehead, nothing to worry about.  To calm you down, gave you a bath, which worked very well :)  Then it was bedtime!
Monday 8 October--Today we all started the day together, gave you some breakfast, then let you play while I went to go workout, leaving daddy to watch you.  When I returned, cleaned up and then daddy went to work and we went to shop at TJ Maxx for some stuff for you and my Secret Sister.  You were pretty tired, so we hurried up and returned home; you napped without much fight at all until dad came back and then I left for work.  He told me that you had a great time playing in the basement as he did work.  When I came home, we all had dinner together; you particularly enjoyed having egg noodles lol.

Uncle Kevin to the rescue

I guess there is no sense in apologizing, as this posting once a month has become a bad habit at this point.  I assure you once again that it is due to lack of time, not interest.  Anyhow, I hope that now that the school year is winding down, I will be able to get on here more often.
The biggest news right now is that uncle Kevin is staying with us until daddy graduates, which is in just 9 days!  He came to stay a couple of weeks ago, as he knew that daddy was getting very stressed out trying to juggle everything (they gave him a horrible schedule for this session at work).  We picked him up during a road trip to St. Louis for my first mother's day; we met up him as well as nana Linda and pa-pa Junior, for a brunch at Amici's, the restaurant where mommy and daddy had their wedding reception.
We love having uncle Kevin here and you do, too!  You smile when you see him, you love when he plays with you (which he does often) and he does a great job of babysitting you when we need it.  To visit for this long, he brought his dog with him, which you seem to find fascinating, but perhaps do not really understand (you jumped the first time you heard her bark).  We are SOOOO thankful he is around and helping--don't know how we would have gotten through this patch without him, honestly.
This week, we had your eight month pictures done--EIGHT!!  Wow!  Despite having a good sleep and being well-fed in advance of this, you were once again super serious with the camera around--had to tickle you to get   a quick couple of smiles, which the photographer thankfully captured.  Your bottom teeth are visible in a few of them, but the top two that you have coming in are not in far enough to be seen except in rare instances (they have barely broken the skin--can feel them very well, though!)
A couple of weeks ago, we (including uncle Kevin) went on a road trip to attend (daddy's) cousin Kristen's wedding.  Mommy got to drive a minivan for the first time (it was the rental we ended up having because they were out of the one I had reserved).  The wedding was outdoors, beautiful park, very warm and humid weather, and a few drop of rain just before the ceremony.  You behaved very well; you sat with grandpa Kerry through it.  The reception was at a casino/hotel; we sat with grandma Judy, grandpa Roger, and (daddy's) cousin Jake.  There was very tasty food; your favorite part, however, was the dancing and lights for the dance floor.  You even danced with the bride :)  But after a little while, all the day's excitement took its toll on you and thus we left after just a few songs.  We stayed at grandma Judy's new house out in the countryside; it was a bit crowded because your uncle (daddy's brother) Shaun, two of his friends, his dog, cousin Jake and his brother were all staying there as well.  Thankfully, it's a huge place, so it really wasn't a problem.
That weekend, I bought you a walker.  We set it up as soon as we got home--that is, after mommy 'a fait une bêtise'--I left my purse in the rental minivan, locked it, turned in the key and realized it just moments later (thus defeating the purpose of turning it in that night).  Anyway, you LOVE the walker!  You haven't quite figured out how to get around very well--you mainly enjoy the toys on it (we have LOTS of pix of this)--am sure you will get it moving more soon.  I also got you an inflatable cylindrical toy that is supposed to help encourage you to crawl; you still haven't quite figured out how to coordinate all the movements, but you are trying more and harder each day it seems.  You don't 'floor swim' as much as you used to do; instead, you now grab and rub your hands on the carpet, and push your rear up sometimes while you make forward motions like crazy.  The problem is, you have not yet realized that you need to lift that belly and use your arms to push up, not out.
A couple of days before the wedding road trip, mommy had a car accident while she was on her way to a tutoring appointment.  Fortunately, it was not my fault--the other car rear-ended me when I was stopped at traffic light.  I'm very thankful that no one was hurt, but more so that you were not in the vehicle at the time.  Today I got my vehicle back, looking and running better than ever.
Back to your growth and progress--you went for about a week straight of sleeping through the night, and now do so about every other night, sometimes two or three in a row.  I've tried to figure out what the magic formula is to make this happen all the time and thus far, there doesn't seem to be one.
As you are now getting top teeth as well, I've been trying to get you interested in trainer/sippy cups to start breaking you of the bottle.  So far, there has been much failure in this category; you only want to chew on the spouts and/or play with the cup.  I've tried 4 different models so far--am guessing I'll just have to keep trying and we'll get there eventually.
As far as talking goes, you are as chatty as ever, with your favorite sequence being 'dadadada...'.  You have figured out how to click your tongue and seem impressed with yourself every time you do it.  You really like doing this when you are in the middle of being fed.  And on that topic, your current favorite food is when I mix in fruit purée with your oatmeal.  This week, you got to discover watermelon via the mesh feeder--oh how you LOVE this!  (And oh how messy you are with it lol!)
This past week, I finally got your clothes switched out to the 12months size and did a nice, thorough cleaning on your room.  You may not know the difference, but it makes me happier :)
We went to the park a couple times this past week; you seemed to like the swing much better this time (your second time doing it so far in your little life).  You went to the Cosley Zoo a couple of days ago, which was also your second time and you seemed to like better this round.
That's all I can think of for now.  I love you lots and hope you know it ~ mommy

Too long again!

*Sigh*  I apologize AGAIN for the lack of entries here!  It's seriously frustrating to me that even on vacation, I did not manage to fit in time to do this.  Anyhow, you are doing great, as expected.  Right now, daddy is sick with Influenza type A, also known as "bird flu".  You and I, however, are taking Tamiflu in the hopes of it protecting us from contracting it (so far, so good *knock on wood*).  Let's see if I can do a quick summary of the last *gulp* six weeks...
After mommy was sick, daddy got it a few days later.  It was horrible and I hope you never have to experience such a sickness as long as you live.  Luckily, we were both better by Easter, which we spent in Iowa.  Love doing this; everyone was excited to see you as always, commented on how big you had gotten, etc (turns out I measured you correctly--you were 20lbs 9 oz and 29 3/4 in at your 6 month checkup).  Cousins Roman and Malorie enjoyed doing the Easter egg hunt, while you got to sit in grass for the first time!
You're doing much better at sitting up, you still love to eat (you've tried a bunch more fruits and veggies now, still hate peaches and not terribly fond of bananas), and you do not yet sleep through the night consistently--you do about half the nights of the week, it seems.
Last week, we went on vacation; we were going to take you with us, but Nana Linda wanted to keep you for the week instead, so we let her :)  You did great, except for a bad teething pain episode.  It appears that you may get more bottom teeth before the top ones; for your sake, I wish they'd pop through already!  Meanwhile, we went to New Mexico and Arizona, thought of you the whole time!  Brought you back a t-shirt as a souvenir (you'll have to wait a while before it will fit), Skyped with you and Nana almost every day, can't wait until you are old enough to enjoy the places we went, especially White Sands National Monument.  We'll take you there as soon as you are ready, promise!
On the way back home, we met up with Grandma Judy in Springfield, IL to have a late lunch at Cheddar's.  You had mangoes there for the first time and loved them.  We went to Michael's (craft store) after that and wouldn't you know it, Grandma Judy bought you a toy that you adore.  It's a small wand that has a big clear faceted plastic ball at the tip where different colors of light shine through and make patterns on the surfaces they hit.  You played with this a lot on the way home, at least the parts where you were awake (you still sleep on trips, just not as much as before).
You are now in size 3 diapers and 7 months old!   You try to get around by 'snaking' around as you lie on your back--not terribly efficient, but you do get a few feet around wherever we put you down.  In the last couple of days, you have started flipping over again from back to front, and it still makes you mad as soon as you realize you haven't figured out how to get your belly off the ground to go places (you end up swimming in place on the floor instead).  New food this week: orange-banana medley mixed in with oatmeal.  You really like this A LOT--you may have eaten a bit too much of it today, as daddy reported you had spit up twice while I was out for tutoring appointments this evening (very not like you--spit up has been a rarity).
Well, time for me to get to bed.  I should have been asleep already, but I wanted desperately to get in another entry.  Love you lots, mommy.

More foods and milestones!

I started this entry a MONTH ago--oh là là!  I will be glad when summer gets here and I can get around to this more often.  Today I am on it not only because I have been dying to write here for a whole month, but also because I am home for the day--mommy is sick :(  It was a very rough night for me, but the day is a bit better so far.  Funny enough (and very fortunately!), you slept 8 hours straight last night for the first time in a long time!  I am guessing this may be because you chose to stay up later than usual.  At any rate, I hope you'll continue the trend.
Back in time:  On Monday the 21st of February, I placed you in the crib on your tummy and you surprised me by turning over onto your back!  I got so excited that I think I scared you (because you cried a minute later--that may have been due to your sleepiness or hunger, though).  Yet, since then, you have not repeated the action.  You act like you want to do so--you stretch and turn on your side a lot, but never all the way over.  You want to be mobile so very much, just not wanting to make any big efforts for it.  I'm sure you will get there soon enough.
Daddy has been super busy trying to get his masters' degree wrapped up--graduation in June!  Even though he has been busy like that, he still makes time for you every day, too.  You guys spend a lot of time together, in fact, when I go out for my job appointments.  Right now tutoring is in full swing--my schedule is bursting at the seams!  Good to be so wanted and make the money, but bad because I'd rather be home with you and dad.  Summer should be lighter; I'm looking forward to it :)
You've now tried just about every food that comes in stage one jars (I will go back to making food for you when summer hits and stock up): pears, prunes, green beans, bananas, peaches, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, and a beef purée.  Your favorites are pears and green beans.  You also really like oatmeal, we discovered.  Soon we will go for carrots and the turkey purée.  Your least favorite so far was peaches and the beef purée.  I'm still pumping milk for you, though I think I will stop that next month sometime (we'll see what the doctor says next week).
Speaking of that, you will be 6 months this coming Saturday!  Unreal!  You are super long--you wiggle a lot, so my measurement may not be correct--29 inches.  You wear 6-9 month clothes.  Lately, you have not gained much weight--still around 20-21 lbs, if the scale is functioning correctly.
We went on two weekend getaways (one last weekend, not yesterday, and the other the week before).  The first one was to Nana Linda and Papa Junior's.  Uncle Kevin came over to visit and it was a great time.  We celebrated dad's birthday early so that Nana could give him presents.  She gave you an awesome Easter basket, too!  It is in a frog shape--love it!  There was a book, "The Night Before Easter", a food pouch thing for when you are a little older, and a trainer cup/bottle.  You like the trainer cup and we will soon read the story together (the bedtime story lately has been "Coco Fait le Tour du Monde").  Nana spotted your tooth buds, so it was no surprise that the following weekend, we discovered your first TWO bottom teeth had broken through!  This was during our trip to Grandma Judy and Grandpa Roger's.  It was also a great visit; like the weekend before, we were celebrating daddy's birthday early, and Grandma Judy gave you a singing, dancing Easter bunny stuffed animal (yes, you liked it right away).  I haven't been able to get a good picture of the teeth yet, as you tend to stick your tongue over them when I try lol.
You've been getting very talkative, so much so that we can't keep you in the room during the math reviews anymore (that's ok, you and daddy go hang out in another room waiting for me instead :) )  You still love cartoons--you and daddy often watch 'Bubble Guppies' together, along with some French cartoons as well (and others).  We play together, too--you love 'helicopter rides' (me or dad raising you above us and letting you pretend to fly).
Right now you are in the crib because this is your normal nap time; I am in the recliner next to it, listening to you thump your legs on the mattress and scratch your nails on the headboard, while chatting a bit of nonsense (you like to make growl like sounds a lot).  I think this is long enough for now; fingers crossed that I can find more time to write in it often, soon (without having to be sick to do so!).  I love you very, very , very much!!! ~~mommy

Captured by Kim Photography: Avery at 4 months ~ February, 2012

Captured by Kim Photography: Avery at 4 months ~ February, 2012: I had a fun time taking Avery's pictures, but he was not too impressed w/ me. ;) Despite his boredom, he took some cute pictures. :) Enjoy ...

4 months, 1 week

Let's see, what has been going on this past week?  Still can't believe you are 4 months old now!  Besides that, we started a big milestone: first solid foods :) I'm not counting the rice cereal, as that isn't the same to me as this. Your first "food"? Sweet peas.  I tried making a mash/purée of them (bought frozen ones and microwave-steamed them) using the food mill, which sort of worked, but not as well as I'd hoped.  I had enough to serve you, though, and you seemed to like them, even if you got a bit impatient with us trying to feed you half the time lol.  A few days later, you got to try your second "food": Fuji apple.  This one was much easier to prepare and you liked it rather well, too.
You are getting really good at grasping and holding things.  Dad got pix of you holding your bottle and even putting it in your mouth!  We love watching you play with your rattles and other toys.  You now grab the toys above you on the play mat.
One of my favorite things that you do now is the 'tickle-giggle'.  I hope I can get a video clip of it because it is too adorable, really.  When you are on the changing table, I tickle the sides of your neck and you giggle in a way that just melts my heart <3  I also love listening to you talk to yourself--you do this almost every morning while I am pumping milk.
This past weekend, you went with us in the car; daddy went to his meetup, we went to Tuesday Morning and Buy Buy Baby.  After that, we went out for dinner at Toscana; you slept through this and as we left, a couple sitting nearby admired and complimented you on being such a good baby :)
For some reason, you now really like baths but hate when I take you out.  I thought it might be the temperature change, but even with the space heater right near, you still become unhappy.  You also dislike changing out of your day clothes into pyjamas, as well as being put in the crib to go to sleep (you are happy after you get your pacifier and the lights go out).  You still aren't sleeping as long as you once did, but we'll settle for the 5-6 hour stretches you go.
You are doing much better about tummy time, though it's still far from a favorite activity.  You do like your new Bumbo seat, though, which will help a lot.
And last, you are now more smiley for the camera, though it continues to be a challenge to capture.  Thus, I am looking into getting professional pix taken soon (even if daddy thinks it's unnecessary ;) )  Love you always~mommy
bumbo seat/better at tummy time

4 months!!!

Wow, just wow.  You are 4 months old today (ok, technically yesterday, since it is 12:30am on the 25th now).  I have been wanting to write in your blog and simply not been able to find much time--mommy is one busy woman, let me tell you!  Gotta work a lot so I can afford you lol ;)  Honestly, one my resolutions for the year is to make sure I blog here more often than I have been.  Please forgive me for my slacking and know that it is not because of lack of interest in doing so.
You are still a "big boy"--at today's doctor appointment, you weighed 18lbs 10oz and were 28 inches long!  This put you at the 100th percentile for both categories.  Your head circumference was in the 95th percentile (think it was 17.5 inches).  You now wear 6-9month size clothing.  Since around Christmas time or so, you decided you needed to be fed during the night again.  This makes mommy and daddy very tired, but we are surviving :)  Today the doctor said if we start you on solids, you will most likely stay full longer and go back to sleeping through the night; we have our fingers crossed for this.  We tried giving you a tiny bit rice cereal a couple of times in the past couple of weeks; first time was rough, second time went pretty well, but third was rough again.  I think you may like it better if we mix it with some veggies or fruits, so we will try that tomorrow; would have done it today, but you were a bit fussy from the shots, so we thought it best to wait a day.
Well, I know it was a short update, but it's better than not writing at all.  Mommy is quite tired and needs to go to bed now.  Love you lots and hope you wake feeling better tomorrow!  ~ta mère