Daydreamer

I began daydreaming of camping today. Looks like Avery has too. That's a flashlight!

Avery has NOT been going to bed easily lately. Does a lot of screaming. Last week, doc said it looked like she was on the mend from a ear infection. I guess I just thought she had been teething. I speculate every time she screams now. However, if she's fine staying up with mom and dad, but screams in the crib, I don't think she's in pain. Do you? First time mom here. Speaking of her appointment, at one year she is:

Height: 30.25 inches (75-90%)

Weight: 20 lbs. 5 oz. (25-50%)

Head: 43 cm. (5%)

I guess she's not our chunky little baby anymore! She's tall though. Skinny head as always. I checked toddler's bike helmets and they go as low as 44 cm. At least she's practically there! Here's a pic of us playing at bedtime. I'd do anything I could to get her to go to sleep without screaming, but last night she just had to scream it out. Sorry, baby. Gotta learn.

Blockbuster, Rolls & The talk

Some things on my mind lately...

Blockbuster. We've been making daily runs to Blockbuster (we have a free month's rentals) to watch the complete Bones series so far. We are now on season 3. It's been lots of fun.

Rolls. I made a couple batches of honey-wheat rolls to freeze. I like cooking and making delicious food! I think I'm starting to grow a big head about it.

The Talk. "Uh-Oh:" Avery's second word (after "baby"). Yesterday she started repeating Uh-Oh like crazy. She is so funny! She'd shove her sippy off the table and "uh-oh." She has also tried mimicking the word, "one," with a "w" sound. And when her toy said "bye-bye" just now, she began to wave. She's really catching on! So much fun to be a part of and listen to her conversations.

The Walk. Avery loves to walk around in the grass and at the playground (with my help). She is growing less and less dependent on me and wants to go faster each time. It will be so fun to see her toddle around on her own when the time is right.

Coughs & Colds. No, we don't have any, I don't think. But at the playground yesterday, we were being friendly with another kid there and I didn't notice until we were up close that he had a hugely runny nose and then coughed on Avery a couple times before I realized what was going on. Oh! I wish that kid's mother would have said something or done something before we got too friendly. Oh bother. I guess all of us mothers are guilty at one point or another of allowing our kids to play when they seem to have a harmless or never-ending runny nose or cough. At this age, it's hard to keep a kid from wanting to explore the other children around, and by all means, it's good for them to discover. I just hope Avery doesn't get sick. :(

Summer. I can't get it off my mind! I want to go PLAY! :)

A picture to complete my post:

Watch me GROW!

One day

Two weeks

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

One YEAR!

Wow, looking back it's hard to see the transitions. Somehow she went from tiny baby to toddler. Poof! Now here she is. She's a very good and sweet girl. Here is a list of fun things about Avery that have characterized her this first year (in order):

- "Dough girl"

- "Cabbage Pack kid"

- Solid

- Chunk

- Rocket Pooper

- Snorter (when she cries)

- Eyes smile

- Happy girl / Smiles a lot

- Likes to stand on legs and boogie too

- Asian or Latino ?

- Olive skin

- Baldee

- Long eye lashes

- Lots of rolls

- Good baby / not fussy

- Not picky eater

- Jumper!

- Big tears

- DANCER (likes to move her upper body to music)

- Head butt (that's her loves)

- Contemplative / Observant

- Fine motor skills

- High five, point

- Curly hair

- Possesive of Crackers

- Big steps

Little Birthday Girl

Ah, the first birthday. My baby girl is ONE. Not sure what to think about it yet! We got to celebrate 3 times...

An early birthday celebration in Idaho. Cake for the first time. It was far from a cake mutilation ceremony. I don't think she's much of a mess maker. No problem! She enjoyed the browned butter icing the best.

The day of her birthday (Friday, Feb. 19), we had a glorified play group party with muffins and bow making. Avery took an unexpected morning nap and slept through half of it, but not a problem. It was fun having all the kids (and girl friends) over. Avery took a while to soak in all the kids; she felt most comfortable with just a couple around at the end.

The pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins were delicious! Avery was a big fan.

Slow-cooker birthday cake at Louis' house (my brother). She had a good time with her cousins and aunts/uncles! (Not such a good time staying up until 11 p.m. though. We're not such nice parents!)

Busting at the Seams

This post is dedicated to our food storage. I'm happy to say that we've been doing really well gradually accumulating a 3-month supply. In fact, I think we've actually reached it... or at least reached our capacity. Besides the normal places we've stored food (like big buckets of flour and rice in the closet), here are the other sneaky spots we hide them:

Under the couch (I love cereal sales)

Above the cabinets (not so sneaky)

Above the fridge (these shelves are twice as deep as they look)

Last of all, the freezer! It's stuffed to the ceiling! I had to take out the ice trays to fit more food. Hey- what do you do when there's a sweet sale on bulk cheese, raw shrimp ($3/lb), and top sirloin steaks ($3/lb!) ... not to mention all the other stuff we already had.

No Title

Loved Ones

It's Valentine's Day and we couldn't help but get all matched up! Too fun. :)

As cute as this looks, it was right after church and Avery was beyond tired and grumpy from missing her nap. I'm surprised we got this giggle out of her... and yet, it's Avery, so I guess it's not too surprising. Sweet gal.

Oh no! The Cheerios are gone... better lick out the crumbs! This is the only thing that kept her sane during church. Thank you, Cheerios.

Oh yes, and....

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

What do we do all day??

It's winter time and what do we do all day? Take a look...

exercise

make music

play ball

sort movies

fix dinner

eat dinner

cause mischief

conk out

Avery's Indian Name

"Big Tears"

And, in this case, "Big Runs" from the nose. Avery has always had notably big tears. It's actually really cute how they burst from her eyes and run straight down her cheeks and off her chin when she's experienced something terribly tragic. This picture was taken after she calmed down but you can still see those last tears sitting under her eyes. I didn't want to show you the picture that had her screaming and red-faced. It was too sad!

See & Do

Avery's creeping up on that "see & do" stage.

She looked interested while I made hair bows, so I braved letting her look through my small sewing tid-bits and play with bobbins of thread, etc. She did marvelously well! She likes her fine motor skills.

Impersonating mom trying to open a jar of baby food. Love it.

Here are a couple photos from our latest trip to Idaho!:

Loungin' with cousin Carson

Thrilled to explore the kitchen set with cousin Briley.

Boat without a rudder

This is me.

In the car, Brian and I were discussing some characteristics I have (that some of my siblings also have), and looking at them objectively. (I find this sort of thing helpful and enlightening.)

I am like a boat without a rudder. I am swayed by the winds, shifted by the currents that would most strongly guide me.

I am very impressionable.

Take that for throwing myself out on the line! Now, there are good and bad things to this. First, the good: impressionable means pliable, malleable, trusting, innocent, wide-eyed, gullible. I'm proud to say I carry these traits. Malleable means teachable to me. Wide-eyed reminds me of my enthusiasm and awe (however gullible it may be at times).

And the bad: impressionable means persuadable, naive, and "easily influenced because of lack of critical ability." What does that mean? Critical ability is expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments (I definitely lack that ability!). This makes perfect sense.

What can I learn from this? For starters, I know that it is difficult for me to oppose someone's opinion or judgment, especially if they seem to have greater knowledge than me. I am a humble individual and often see others with greater knowledge -or greater whatever- than I have. Sometimes the peacemaker in me will esteem someone to be greater than me just because they have a stronger personality and I wouldn't want to oppose them, so I go with the flow (hence the boat).

This presents a predicament. I need to have more confidence in myself to make my own decisions and know when it's better to trust myself and not rely on someone else's judgment (Lately this has just applied to petty things, but just imagine if it were more). I've been extremely fortunate throughout my life to have great parents, family, peers, friends, and leaders to be that strong current in my life. I truly feed off of them. They have helped me become a good person. I'm also blessed with a very strong husband who is good and true. I often ask myself if I would have still been in this position in my life on my own accord. Were it not for these good and strong influences, where would I be? I'd like to be a little more strong willed (like my husband :)

I've seen what impressionability has done to some of my loved ones. It's not a bad characteristic altogether. Really. But there are dangers to look out for. I've realized that for a person like me, it is of utmost importance to surround myself with GOOD people and influences. Because I've always been blessed with this, I never realized the significance of it. I'm starting to now!