Dear Aver's

Dear Aver's,

Today you are 5 months old!! I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. I have to admit, I hate how fast it is going, but I LOVE this age with you! You are SOOOO much fun. You not only keep your poppa and I entertained, you keep the puppers entertained and you even have started to entertain yourself. Here are some of the milestones you have conquered in the last month:

- You have started solids!!! Mommy begged Dr. Bell because you were getting up 3-4 times a night to eat. You are growing SO fast & I couldn't keep up with your appetite. Plus, you absolutely refuse drinking formula (Grandpa Dale has given it the name Rodney Strong, a cheap wine. He calls your momma's milk Silver Oak, which is a really expensive wine.), which has made things difficult. We had to strategically plan each day. Now that you are on solids, we have maintained your appetite much better and are on a great schedule!

-You started off with banana's. You ARE NOT a fan of them!! You would make the silliest faces and would gag just like Jim Carey in Ace Ventura. It was priceless! I am sorry your poppa and I would laugh everytime you did this. It was too cute not to. You now are eating pears. You love them!! You have them in the afternoon and at night. If I let you, you would polish off a tub of it with no problem! Tomorrow we start peaches. Yummy!

-At first you hated rice cereal. I had to entice you by mixing in applesauce. I slowly weaned you off of that concoction and now you love it with milk! You get so mad when there isn't any more left.

-You are now sleeping 8-10 hours a night. Big WOO HOO!!!!!!! There are some nights that you still get up and want to eat, but they are becoming few and far in between. Mommy owes you a big thank you for this!!! I was getting sooooooo tired and run down. I think you were too.

-You LOVE LOVE LOVE nap time! You take a 10 minute cat nap at day care, then a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Sometimes you even take a 2-1/2 hour nap! You still love a little catnap around 5PM too.

-Your poppa and I get to wake up listening to you coo in the morning through your monitor. Lately, you wake us up by blowing bubbles. It is an awesome way of waking up!!

-You are rolling around EVERYWHERE! You want to be mobile so bad....and now you have figured that you can get to your toys across the room by doing this! It is soooo cute but has made your parents realize that we are not prepared for you to be crawling soon, which will be any day now. We need to get the house prepared NOW!

-You love sitting in your Bumbo chair and playing with your favorite toys, measuring spoons!

-You finished your first 5k with your mommy and Aunt Smash! You did great! You slept the whole time in the jogger, BOB. People were amazed that we were running with a baby who was snoozing the whole time. :)

-You are now in 6 months clothes. Well, mostly. You do wear onesies and pj's in size 9 month. They are a little big, but you will have no problem filling them in soon!

-You still hate shoes. You curl your toesies up until you or I take them off. I wish you like shoes. They are so cute on you!

Well, you are now waking up from your afternoon nap. I just wanted to let you know that you are the most beautiful, talented, special little girl on this world. We are so lucky to have you in our lives. It amazes us how fast you are learning new things. You seem to want to explore the world right now!

We love you Princess!

Love,

Mommy and Poppa (and brother Monte and sisser's Grace!)

***I left my camera cord in Salty, so I can't downlaod any pictures right now. Stay tuned for more updates, pictures and stories!!

Tah Dah!!! We finally have Aver's newborn pic's!

I know. I know. It is LONG overdue! Here are some of our favorites. Thank you to the wonderfully talented Jessi Stringham Photography! Too bad she is moving to Michigan. :-(

Please enjoy!

Momma and her princess!

Isn't my future hubs HANDSOME!

Our future ballerina.

Priceless.

A work of art!

Ave came out scalped from my tail bone. I wanted to capture it so one day she can see.

It's been a BIG week!

Sheesh! It's only Wednesday....but we have had alot going on so far.

On Saturday, we went on an hour and a half walk with our little monkey. It was awesome! We then headed to the Farmer's Market. YES, we are regulars. We are addicted to buying local fresh produce. Plus, it makes for great people watching!!! We bought beets, raspberries, apricots, raw honey, watermelon, green beans (my fave!), and had a delish fruit pie. I love the FM!

Avery fell asleep like this. It was so funny!

After, Nick went on a Harley ride while I went to a baby shower. That night we met up with some family and friends at The Wing Company for some much needed relaxation. It was TOO much fun. ;)



On Sunday, Nick and I re-adopted my old dog Meika! She is back with us for a while. She was going to be sold to a stranger, so we bought her back and now are adopting her out to a friend of ours. We have a friend named Leroy who rescues bulldogs. Well, his two bullies just passed away and is heart broken. We know he will take REALLY good care of Meika Jayne. He owns a barber shop in downtown Salt Lake City and will be a great owner. I will be heartbroken once we adopt her out. But atleast I know where she is going and I can go visit her whenever I would like.

Our bulldog colony.

(Monte, Meika and Grace.)

Miss Meika Jayne. Her birthday is August 25th. She'll be 5 years old!!

I am staying in Salt Lake City for two weeks to spend some quality time with her and our other two furry children. The town home in Logan would freak if they knew we had another bullie, so I am braving being alone for a bit.


We have had ALOT of fun so far. Meika and Grace are best of friends. In fact, we think they are in love. They won't stop humping each other. I have to spank them to get them to stop. It is disturbing! Monte has been great and just leaves her alone.

"LOVERS!!!"

On Monday, we had Avery's FOUR MONTH check up. We have a four month old? How? When? Where did that time go?

She weighed in at 14 pounds on the dot which put her at 60% and she is 25" long, which puts her at 77%. He said she is also a REALLY advanced baby. I am having a REALLY hard time keeping her full and BEGGED for her to be put on cereal. The doc granted my wish. So now, we are giving her cereal once a day for two weeks....then we will do twice a day for two weeks. Then, we get to start green veggies! It is so weird knowing our baby is now going to be eating BIG GIRL food.

Avery refuses to eat any form of formula. She gets that stubborness from her daddy!!! ;) But, the doc says I need to supplement her bottles with 3/4 breast milk and 1/4 formula. Wish us luck!! (Our pediatrician is such a doll. He forgot to give us samples of formula at the office and came by our house and dropped some off on our front porch! Totally awesome!)

Avery did pretty well with her shots. She was super happy right before. She even rolled in front of her doc to show off. She cried for about 10 minutes after the shots, then took an hour nap. BUT, that night and the next morning she was a fuss monster. Thank goodness for infant tylenol which helps the pain. I was told baby motrin works and lasts longer. I have not tried it quite yet.

Poor Baby Girls was NOT happy!

Then she saw the camera and was fine!

As for her first experience with rice cereal....she ROCKED!!! She almost ate the entire bowl and she seemed to be having fun with it. That night she slept from 9-5:30. AWESOME! But, on Tuesday she did not want any part of it and awoke twice to eat in the middle of the night. Tonight (Wednesday, she ate a little cereal. I'll let you know how she fairs as for sleeping.)

*** On Wednesday, she did not want any part of it. So, on Thursday...I added a little applesauce and she seemed to enjoy it a little more!

First time eating rice cereal!!

Second time eating rice cereal. Yummy!

On Tuesday, we packed our things and headed to Salty. I hate being away from Nick, but this will give me a few extra days to work on the wedding. (Which BTW is less than 6 weeks away. Holy Cow!!)

On Wednesday, I headed out to Ikea and grabbed some items for our home. I was also looking for cheap flower vases for our table decorations. Can I tell you how much I love their frozen yogurt? I secretly may drive out there tomorrow and grab another cone!!! (It's no secret now!) It is DELISH.


I have not been able to go to the gym with everything that has been going on....but am trying to still walk 3 miles a day. Hopefully I will still have the guts to sign up for the 5k which is on the 22nd!! Avery will be my partner since Nick has a golf tourney that day!


Anywho, it now seems like I have not been up to that much...but man, I feel like I have been run over by a semi a few times. I am exhausted!


Until the next post, have a great rest of the week!!