My BIG Girl

My little girl isn't so little any more.  I know what you're all thinking...she never was that little.  Well, despite her size relative to others her age, she was little to me (once).  At night while she's sleeping or during her naps, I sneak into her room to just watch her sleep (and to satisfy my neuroses and make sure that she's still breathing).  The last few days when I've gone in there, I've just been amazed at how big she is.  So, I decided to take a stab at a sleeping picture and managed to pull off two of them on different nights.  You can see that she has little room to move around in her bed...crazy!

Just for comparison, here's Avery at about 5 weeks old.  She still had the bumper in her bed, but she could still fit perpendicular.  Big difference now!

Here's another cute one of her recently.  She was just in such a weird position.  I'm afraid we may be on the verge of needing a bigger bed...*tear.

Labor Day Weekend

We went to the lake again this weekend.  It's so amazing how much Avery has changed in just the few short months since we were last at the lake...she's so much more comfortable, not just here but everywhere.  

She definitely liked the boat ride more this time around.

We also visited the baby pool and the spray park again.

Party Girl!

This weekend was Nicole and Ray's wedding, and we had a great time! Avery was so excited to be around all the other little kids, so it was really hard to get her to hold still long enough for a picture.  That always seems to be the case whenever she is dressed up and looking really cute.  Here are a few of the pictures we did manage to get...nothing super great.

She loved having everyone smell my bouquet of flowers...so cute!!

Annoying...

Avery loves her swing set in the back yard, and it's so convenient to just go to the backyard for her to have so much fun.  However, as you'll see in the video clip, there is a slight annoyance every time we go out to play...

EVERY TIME we go out to play on the swings, TJ wants to come, and Avery wants him to come (they're best friends).  That wasn't a problem until this started happening when Avery swings, which, of course, is her favorite thing to do!

Pool Time!

There are several aspects of summer that we really enjoy, and one of them is the water.  There is a special pool just for little kids here in Columbia that we have visited before.  We decided to go back today because it was closing for the season after today.  The pool is so nice because it's really shallow in the entire thing and still big and interesting for Avery.  She loves to just walk around in the water and go down the water slides. 

Here she is coming down one of the slides.  She could do this all day long if we would let her.  We had a great day and were glad that Nicole, Ray, Dylan, Mackenna, and Ethan were able to come and play with us.  We also had a visit from Jackie and Jason and were thrilled to see them too. 

Cats and Dogs!!

Avery is not really one of those kids that will sit down in front of the television.  Sometimes Jeremy and I wish that it would entertain her for a little while, like when we're in the car.  However, the majority of the time, we are grateful that we have an active little girl who likes to do all kinds of activities.  With that in mind, there is one thing that gets her attention on TV...a preview for the movie Cats and Dogs.  (She is going through a phase where she is completely enamored with animals, constantly wanting to touch ours and making animal sounds.)  Avery's grandpa decided to take advantage of this point in her life and take her to her first movie...

We didn't really have high hopes for her to last through the movie, but we still wanted her to have the experience and document it.

We came prepared with blankie and plenty of snacks...here goes nothing!

The movie was actually in 3D, a perk if you are older than 16 months old and will leave the glasses on, but a slight annoyance for Avery.  She only left her glasses on long enough for me to take a couple of pictures, but the movies was still pretty good without the glasses.

This was also Avery's first experience with movie theater popcorn...I think this is the part Jeremy was most excited about.  She absolutely loved the popcorn and ate so much that she didn't eat dinner at all that night, which is definitely not a common occurrence.  She actually sat there for the entire movie until the last 10 minutes.  She probably would have made it through the entire thing, but I knew that she still had a 2 hour car ride home, so I let her walk around in the halls for the last little bit.  We had such a great time, and she really liked the movie! 

Baby Showers

Avery and I went to a couple of baby showers for her Aunt Brooke over the last couple of weeks.  We're getting excited to meet Jack.  One of the showers was in Clinton, where Avery was the star of the show!  She had so much fun around all of the people, showing off how much she's grown.  I know that the shower was for Brooke and Jack, but somehow I only managed to get pictures of Avery (that seems to be pretty common for me...I'm not sure why-it's not like she's cute or anything!). 

Avery had so much fun crossing the little bridge.  It always amazes me how much fun she can have with the simplest things.  I could just watch her forever playing on these things...so cute!

A special thank you to Aunt Brooke for giving Avery a big treat from one of the showers...a giant marshmallow lollipop.  Avery was so funny trying to figure out how to eat it.

Quite the Little Reader

Avery has turned out to be a real book-lover.  She will read the same books over and over all day long.  It's so great to see her get excited about books.  Jeremy and I really wanted her to like to read, so we've been reading to her from day one.  I guess it's working.  We have read ever book that she owns many times over.  Right now her favorite ones are the ones with animal pictures in them, especially realistic animals.  She can imitate many of the sounds they make too, which is so cute.  I would love to get it on video to post...I'll see what I can do.

More reading...this time with Grandpa.  Thanks for giving me a break from those animal books Grandpa.  We loved having you visit...come again soon!

A quick break for a kiss, then back to the books.

Long Time...

So, it's been a long time since there have been any updates here.  I'd like to be able to come up with some sort of noble or inspirational excuse.  The truth, however, is not very inspiring at all...we've have been battling the internet company.  With a little hard work (and a change in internet company), I'm glad to report that I'm officially back...thank you to those of you who have continued to come back in the hopes of catching a little glimpse of this cute little girl.  Well, since it's been so long since the last post, I'm doing a comprehensive review of all that's been missed.  So, make a trip to the bathroom and grab a soda because this is going to take a while!! Enjoy!

Cute

The ever-changing Missouri weather keeps us guessing as to whether or not we can be outside.  We try to let Avery play outside as much as possible, but the alternating heat and rain can make that difficult.  When we are able to make it outside, we like to try different activities.  We managed to make it to a little botanical park here in town for a picnic.  Jeremy and Avery did some exploring, so I decided to snap a few shots of the two of them.  I just really like this picture and wanted to share it.  They are so cute together!

Another First...

I'm so proud of most of Avery's firsts...first time she rolled over, first word, first step.  However, there are also some firsts that I'm not so proud of, including this one.  I'm afraid that Avery has experienced her first scrape.  Most kids get a scrape on their knee, their elbow, or even their hand, but not Avery.  She managed to get her first scrape on her head of all places.  I felt so badly for her...scrapes are kind of like paper cuts, the amount of pain for the actual injury is disproportionate.  I'm happy to report that she is recovering well from her injury though. 

Spray Parks

After the huge success of the spray park at the lake on Memorial weekend, we decided to give the ones in Columbia a try.  It was no surprise that Avery had a blast.  She has gotten really good about her sunscreen, hat, and glasses routine that we have to go through in order for her to play outside.

It's so much fun to just watch her play.  She has a blast in the water.

We All Scream for Ice Cream

We gave Avery her first ice cream cone, and she loved it.  Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for her), we only had chocolate ice cream.  Who likes vanilla anyway?  She made quite a mess, as you can tell.  At one point, she turned the cone upside down and used it as a "crayon" to draw on her high chair tray, so funny!

The Little Gym

Avery and I have been taking a class at the Little Gym once a week.  It's a parent-child class with 5 or 6 little kids around Avery's age.  It is amazing the things that they can get these little babies to do...flips, balance beams, bars (all with spotting of course).  It has been so good for Avery to have the interaction with other kids and fun for me too.  We had our last class of the semester, and other people were invited to see how much the kids had accomplished in the class.  Jeremy was able to come for the morning so Avery could show off.  There are several cute pictures from the morning...take a look.

Avery's New Swing Set

Avery's Nana and Papa got her a swing set for Christmas.  It has taken us a while, but we've finally got it all put together and ready to break in.  Jeremy and I spent nap time and evenings for about two weeks putting it together.  Then Nana and Papa came up to help us put on the finishing touches and test it out.  Avery absolutely loves it...she is so adventurous, swinging, sliding, and climbing like crazy.

Memorial Weekend

This was Avery's first trip to the lake for the summer, and we had such a fun time.  Jeremy and I found a really cute life jacket for Avery that provided the much needed safety as well as fashion.  Here she is just taking in the scenery in a little pint-sized chair. Isn't she cute?

We took a boat ride over to the Club House for Avery to play in the water fountains and pool.  She didn't really notice the boat at all last summer, other than the fact that she had to wear that big, uncomfortable life jacket.  This time, however, she took notice.  The problem is that on such a busy weekend, the water is so rough.  I'm sure that my apprehension didn't help her out at all.  In fact, shortly after this picture was taken, she wanted to go sit with Jeremy...he likes boats just a little bit more than I do.

The much anticipated water fountains were quite a hit.  Avery and Grandpa both had such a great time playing in the water, so much so that we actually missed nap time (a rare occurrence for Avery). 

Avery was so exhausted on the way back to the house that she fell asleep with her hand in the "cookie jar" (OK, it was a bag of Goldfish, but you get the idea).

Staying Cool

Considering all of the heat these days, we've been trying new ways to keep cool.  Swimming pools are nice, but aren't really something we can go to every day, so Avery and I have come up with a solution of our own...the hose.  Check out this cute video of her playing in the hose in the yard.

Funnel Cake and Cotton Candy

OK, so there technically wasn't funnel cake or cotton candy, but it was still a great carnival.  Parents As Teachers put on a little carnival for all of their participants.  There were several different activities for all ages.  Avery really had a good time.  The incessant rain forced the carnival to be held on a high school practice field, which was AstroTurf.  While some might have thought that was not a good thing, Avery was thrilled to try it out. 

The obstacle course was one of Avery's favorites.  She went across the balance beam (above), through the tunnel (below), and around some cones.

Surf's up!!

The track was also a big hit! 

Our Second Mother's Day

We spent Mother's Day weekend in Kansas City with our great friends...Travis, Melissa, Ashton, and new baby Olivia.  We had such a great time.  The weekend was packed full of fun, new things for Avery to experience.  She had her first trip to the zoo on Saturday.  She had such a great time.  We were a little apprehensive about being out all day long (meaning no nap for the baby), but she was a champ!  A special thank you to Great Grandma Mary Beth for the wagon.  Avery just loves being in that thing...the canopy keeps her shaded and the second seat is easily turned into a little dining tray for Avery to eat off.  We all know how important snacks are to her (just another trait she gets from her dad). 

Avery really liked all of the monkey exhibits.  I'm not exactly sure which species of primate she's looking at here, but we told her they were all monkeys.  I think she liked them so much because she could see them easily and they made faces at us.

In addition to the Rickford family joining us at the zoo, Avery's Uncle Nic, Aunt Brooke, soon to be cousin Jack, and Nana also came along for the fun!

Just when I thought I had Avery convinced that her chubby face is so cute and that she'll grow out of it before she gets much older, I find a picture like this...maybe that round little face is here for good, thanks to the Cover genes!!

After such an active day, Avery barely made it to her car seat before she fell asleep.  She was exhausted!

After all the fun on Saturday, we went to have brunch at Powell Gardens.  Happy Mother's Day to all!