Avery enjoyed her chili for lunch!

This morning I was playing around with Avery and put that sticker on my forehead. Later on I went into her room and she had it on her forehead.

I just realized that today is the day that 3 years ago I had my fallopian tube rupture from the ectopic pregnancy. It's kind of strange to think that we could have a kid that's almost 2 and a half. It will be neat to go to heaven one day and find out whether I have another daughter or a son :o)

Also, just for the record: I can attest to the fact now, that fallopian tubes rupturing hurts worse than labor. That's for sure.

Avery seems a little off today. I thought she felt a little warm but I took her temp and it said it was 97 something so I'm not sure what it is. She might be tired though from the Benadryl I gave her this morning.

She's been really whiney so today I went to Wal-Mart and bought her some puzzles, a recorder, markers, finger paints, coloring books and a new ball. As with most things I buy her, she wasn't too interested.

Yesterday she was driving me nuts with the whining so David told me to go shopping for some new clothes for her and so I did. It was lovely :o) I love my girl but geez I can only handle so much whining! I had to move his truck since someone keeps parking in front of our house. He had parked behind me in the driveway. I stuck the key in the ignition upside down so we couldn't get it out. David had to take it apart and beat and bang on it. He finally got the key out. I was afraid my pass to go shopping was going to be ruined! It wasn't though and I had a good time.

I'm super happy it's Friday. I love Fridays because you have the whole weekend ahead of you.

Well, we put in for the lottery! hahaha! I hope we win!

Ugh!

I started Avery and I on fermented cod liver oil and cell salts to help our teeth. Well, it looks like now I may be taking her in to the allergist to see if she has a shellfish allergy.

 That won't be that big of a deal since I don't like sea food anyway so we are rarely around any type of shellfish. The most fish we eat really is tilapia or salmon. We rarely eat shrimp, lobster or crab. Stupid allergies.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself but I don't think I am. I knew Avery had the peanut allergy and I was right. I feel the same about the shellfish. I gave her some of the FCLO this morning and she got a rash around her mouth. So I cleaned her face and gave her Benadryl.

 I love that little girl. Even if it means we can't have peanut butter cookies and no bake cookies :)

Changes.

The weather has been so beautiful lately. Thankfully Winter is gone so are the inversions. Salt Lake City is not a place I want to live forever for a few reasons but one of them is the inversions. I can just imagine how much worse it makes our lungs.

Here's Avery in her daddy's new truck. Playing in cars is her new obsession. We sometimes go outside just to play in the car.

I have lettuce growing in my backyard. Behind our garage there is what used to be a garden. It looks like nothing has survived but the lettuce sprouted so I wonder if anything else will.

Ok, I love Avery's circles. Can other kids her age draw circles? Probably but I'm still impressed haha.

Blogger has changed the technical side of this blog and I'm having issues with it.

Avery was 17 months old yesterday! One more short month and she'll be a year and a half! Then she'll be 2! She seems to be experiencing some changes. She's moodier than she was. She's not getting into stuff or throwing tantrums but she kind of whines and wimpers a lot more. Last night she cried when I put her to bed and she NEVER does that. Then she woke crying around 3 this morning. I went in to get her and she was crawling around her crib with her head down and fought me when I tried to get her. Then I sat with her and she was trying to get off my lap. She was really upset. I brought her into the living room and she was still freaking out and trying to get away from me so I let her down. David came in to see what the heck was going on. I told him I thought she was having a night terror. I finally got her settled and David went back to bed. When she seemed good and asleep I tried to put her back in her bed but she didn't like that. So we went back to the rocker. I sat there with her until 5 and then put her back in her bed and she slept until 8. She goes from perfectly fine to whining. I don't know what the deal is. I got online and moms in my birth club said their kiddos are doing the same so I guess it's normal. I joined a mommies club for SLC. I'm ready to get out of this house and meet some mommies. Avery and I both need the socialization. She needs to be around more kids. I used to think I'd put my kid in daycare for socialization but that changed. Hopefully we can attend some play dates here soon. When I typed this I didn't make it one big paragraph but I can't figure out how to get it to not post that way. Changes in Avery and on blogger and I'm not sure I like either.

Oh Man.

Avery is um...going through some changes lately. She's definintely getting closer to those terrible twos! I'm going to call them terrific twos so that nothing terrible will come true :0)

Think it will work?

She's been whiney lately. Ugh. Yesterday she was in a horrible mood off and on. We were all outside so I could help David with his new truck. He put new carpet it in it and was cleaning it up and putting a seat cover on etc. Anywho, Avery was a nut! That was the 2nd day we were outside and she was just not listening at all so we'd end up having to come back inside.

We left and while she was in her carseat she'd get all attitudey when you looked at her. Then we ate Sonic and she had a reaction to something. Not a bad one thankfully but she got her first dose of Benadryl last night. :(

She also got her first taste of strawberry milk and to say she loved it would be an understatement.

Today she is back to herself and in a good mood. Thank goodness. She was such a mess yesterday. She's also about to reach the 2 hour mark for her nap today! Usually it's an hour and a half or less. I love 2 hour nap days! :D

Oops, spoke too soon. She's up. An hour and 45 minutes...not bad.

Videos & Pictures

Avery's talking on the phone to her grandma. She loves talking on the phone!

She mainly loves to write on the dry erase board on this cube.

She loves her some popcorn!

I've got two new videos up. This stupid Mac won't upload videos right now so I did it with my laptop.

My landlord is showing the basement today. That's a major bummer for us but good for him.

David got a new truck last night! It's a 1988 Dodge Dakota. Nothing fancy but it runs and it's not all beat up. This is awesome because Avery and I have been stuck at home every day so we are finally free!!! It's also great because it will drop my car insurance back down!

Nothing else going on around here. Avery's starting to exhibit some unwanted behavior haha! Trying to nip this stuff in the bud :)

Locked Out

I forgot to record Avery locking us out of the car this weekend.

We all packed up Friday and went and got some Frosty's and then we went to the store to get some diapers (and other things). David put Avery in her carseat and I unloaded a few bags into the trunk. As I was closing the trunk, David took the cart to the corral. On his way he says "Avery has the keys."

I walk around to the passenger side and try to open my door and it's locked. I look in the windows at all the doors and they're all locked. I look over at David who's at the nearby corral and say "we're locked out!" David can't believe it so he comes back over and sure enough...we are locked out and Avery is strapped into her carseat.

Avery's was pushing the buttons on the key pad thing and popped the gas door and the trunk but of course, never unlocked the doors. So I get on the phone with roadside assistance but had to go through a lot of menus and stuff so it took a minute. I told David too bad her carseat is in front of that opening to the backseat. Well, David was able to squeeze his arm into it despite the carseat being in the way.

So he's got his arm in there trying to find her hands. I'm standing at the window shouting for her to give the keys to daddy. She's instead holding them out to me. She's chewing on them and playing with them. Every time David got close to the keys she would switch hands. It was funny because since he couldn't see what he was doing his hand was just kind of flailing around trying to find the keys.

She even started pushing on the seat squishing his arm but he was finally able to snatch the keys out of her hand. Then he almost dropped them hahaha! Glad he didn't! Just as he grabbed the keys, a human answered the phone so I told her nevermind. Thankfully the weather was nice and Avery wasn't scared.

It was pretty funny.

Some Pictures

I was looking at some old pictures today.

2006

Half Moon Bay 2006

My friend Karen and I 2002

My friend Meagan and I 2002

Child labor

I thought Avery would like riding around on this skateboard...not so much.

That was pretty much the only time she got on it. I also bought her a giraffe riding toy and she doesn't care about it either. She pushes it more than rides it. Right now, I'm using it as a foot stool.

Learning Tower

I would love to get one of these learning towers for Avery but they're $200. I'm thinking I'm going to see if David can make one this summer. It would be so neat for Avery to be able to stand at the counter while I'm cooking. She could learn a lot that way. I think for these you can buy an easel attachment to make it more versatile but still, the price is a little steep.

It has an adjustable platform. I just think this thing is so cool. I think I need one for Avery :0)

Now, to convince David...

Yesterday after dinner, Avery was at the table with David and we look over and she was drinking out of a water bottle. She didn't even spill it. She drank it like a big girl. Then she held it upside down and dumped it all over the table. Today she pushed a kitchen chair up to the counter. My baby is growing up!!! Ahhh!!!

Beautiful Weather

Avery either won't look at me when I try to take her picture or she'll make silly faces like the second one below.


The weather this week has been awesome. We played outside this morning. These bigger kids were here and Avery thought they were pretty cool.

It's Friday Eve :0)

I like this little poem:

Oh give the patience when wee hands

Tug at me with their small demands.

And give me gentle and smiling eyes

Keep my lips from hasty replies.

And let not weariness, confusion or noise

Obscure my vision of life's fleeting joys.

So when in years to come my house is still

No bitter memories its rooms may fill.

--Unknown

Markers

Avery loves to color on the white board. She ends up getting it all over herself. That's why I took her pants off because she's already ruined a few shirts. Dry erase marker is not easy to get out of clothes. Today I went into the kitchen and came back out to her sitting on the couch with a huge scribble mess on the cushion, her face and her leg. Thankfully I got it out of the couch.

This is classic Avery. Thumb in mouth.

In the above picture I was trying to see if she'd keep the headband on. It didn't stay on long.

I guess I have nothing to report. Work is blah and so is school. Changes may be on the horizon. Who knows?

Motherhood

If a woman chooses to stay at home with her children, she has the opportunity of nursing her baby in the peacefulness of her own home, caressing her precious little one, singing sweet lullabies to comfort and please the child’s deepest emotional desires. She can offer them the restfulness of long, quiet naps in their own bedrooms. She has time to enrich the home environment with beautiful sights and smells-from the aromas of homemade soup bubbling on the stove to beautiful pictures in books-and arrange outings that foster budding intellects and awaken curiosity. And she has the flexibility to change her schedule to respond to teachable moments-those times when children’s natural curiosity leads them to question and learn.

Best of all, when a mother chooses to stay at home, she has the time and opportunity to craft the kind of relationship with her young children that only extended time together can foster. And from such a relationship she has a better chance of building a strong moral and spiritual foundation in the heart of her young child, teaching a system of truth and values without the constant challenge of authorities and peers whose lives are totally different. When these advantages are taken away from a child, how can we not count them as a loss to a whole generation of children who are hungry for direction, love, stability, and individual attention?

"Someone needs to take responsibility for their nurture, protection, nourishment, intellectual development, manners, recreation, personal needs, and spiritual development. Someone needs to commit time and energy into staying close to them as they grow, encouraging and correcting and teaching." --Sally Clarkson

I am so thankful that I have the privilege of staying home with my baby. I am so glad I'm not missing a moment with her.

I sometimes still can't believe that I am someone's mom. It's funny how as I've gotten older, I've started to view my parents in a different way. I have realized that they're regular people too haha! I guess when you're younger you don't realize that your parents deal with problems or just life in general...that they're the same people as before you existed with the same fears, desires, dreams or whatever. Since I've become a mom I've realized that maybe my mom was a person too and not just a mom. Interesting how perspectives change.

I'm in awe of the love that a mother feels for her baby. I know dad's feel it too. I know that David loves Avery with every fiber of his being, just as I do. Lately I have fleeting thoughts of sadness that there is no person in this world that loves me in a way that only a mother can. That's a downer huh? I am thankful though that I get to experience the other side of it.

I've got major baby fever...well I have ever since I had Avery. We went to the grocery store on Saturday and there were babies EVERYWHERE! I need another baby. My girl is such a big girl now.

I think she's all better!

Seems my baby is feeling better. She was up a lot last night but I gave her Tylenol and that helped. She's getting teeth again. We have been soooooo blessed that she hasn't ever had a hard time cutting teeth. Ever. But these teeth, I think it's her canines are bothering her. She's been chewing on her fingers and she never does that.

I was right on my Roseola guess for Avery's fever. She woke up this morning with a rash on her belly and neck. Yesterday she was acting like herself so thankfully we made it past this virus!

I haven't really posted much about this on here but I'm worried about her lack of words. I've read that kids her age should be saying words and she's not. She babbles a lot but all she says is uh oh and taint too (thank you). She won't repeat anything at all. Doesn't say mama and never has. Sometimes she'll say bye but very rarely. On one hand, I know all kids are different and do things at their own pace but on the other hand I feel like she should be saying more, at least repeating words. Do I only feel that way because I "feel" like something might be wrong or do I "feel" that way because I know other kids her age are saying words? I know that I could have her seen by Early Intervention but I don't know...

I've read that some speech therapist people say at her age she should have a minimum of 5 words. She totally doesn't. Where is my parenting manual? Someone forgot to give me one.

I still think she's absolutely perfect though.

She is seriously so much fun. I noticed something strange the other day when I was coloring with her. I opened one of her coloring books and realized she had colored on everyone's face. I don't know what's normal for her age as far as coloring goes but I, being her mother (haha not that I'm biased or anything) think it's pretty cool that she does that. I've noticed she will scribble on like a star or something that's in the picture instead of just scribbling all over the whole page. Like she's actually trying to color it. Doesn't take much to impress this mama :0)

I'm seriously amazed every day when I watch her use a spoon or fork. She can scoop and stab her food and get it in her mouth so easily now. She's a pro. This in particular makes me feel like my baby's gone. I don't know why. That and her walking down our steps on her own, which I've already mentioned.

Well, she's wandering around aimlessly and whining at me so I better go!

Sick

My poor honey girl has been sick. We have been blessed in that Avery has barely been sick. She started running a fever Sunday evening and it was still going strong by Tuesday evening so we took her to the doctor. I'd say we've been pretty darn lucky that she's 16 months and this was our first real bout with a fever. As of this morning she seems to be fever free but I thought she was doing better yesterday morning too. We'll see how the day progresses.

It's tough having a sick baby. Especially when mama doesn't handle sickness well. The doctor last night had to make a comment that Avery might have some other illness since she's not vaccinated. I knew the day would come that a doctor would throw it back in my face but somehow, I feel that she doesn't have anything serious. That sounds pretty crazy I guess but I just don't have it in my gut that anything is seriously wrong. I hope I'm right! I dealt with doctors saying things like that after I had Avery...when Dr. Beckstead asked if the midwife left a dirty rag inside of me when I had the infection after she was born. Whatever. I'll just carry on doing my thing.

I've mentioned before that Avery likes to play with my Nook. On the app that has the animal sounds, there is a wolf. Avery now howls with it. It's cute, she'll throw her head back and howl.

Nothing much is going on around here. I think I'll be planning some summer trips soon. Hoping to do some Utah sight seeing!! Love me a road trip :0)

It's almost the weekend...my favorite part of the week! Peace out :)

Well, I just logged on and blogger has deleted my blogs I'm following. Nice.

Yesterday I took the rocking chair out of Avery's room and put her changing table in our room. I'm using it as a dresser :0) Sad, I know.

Her room isn't looking like a baby's room anymore. I re-arranged it and it has more room for her to play.

I'm happy it's the weekend. I love spending the time with my little family. I love my little family.

Not a Baby

My girl is growing up. She walks down the front steps by herself and can now control a fork really well. Here she is eating her sandwich with a fork :)

Today we were playing in her room and she just up and left. I came into the living room and she was lounging in the chair. Guess she needed a break.

Look what I found my sweet girl doing. She thought it was pretty darn funny too.

She's the cutest thing ever. I am in love with her pig tails. She looks so stinkin' cute in them!