9 months old!!!

Avery Madison, you're 9 months old! We've had a BIG month!

We moved to a new house! Your room is bigger and has 2 beautiful windows but is decorated fairly the same. You are enjoying the playroom and know where your things are but choose to play with your brother's cars and trains instead. 

Speaking of your room.... we've started putting you to sleep in your crib. You aren't a fan but we're working on it! I've sang "You are my Sunshine" Over and Over and Over because that song, paired with your pink blanket and patting you on the back is the only thing that calms you down in your crib right now. We're working on you getting yourself to sleep but we're making good strides to being a big girl that sleeps alone!

You went to the doctor yesterday for your 9 month well check and just as I suspected, you haven't grown much. You weigh 17 lbs 7oz which is the 25% for weight. You're SO mobile that you're just not putting on much weight. You are in the 65% for height and your head is still tiny at 25%. The doctor is pleased with your growth and you were even given a shot without a single whimper!

You crawl EVERYWHERE and QUICKLY! You also pull yourself to standing and walk furniture. Just in the past few days you push your doll stroller and walk behind it which is just precious. Changing your diaper is becoming difficult because you flip and crawl! Speaking of diapers, you wear a size 4 now! You also wear mostly size 9 months which is hard to find so most of your clothes are 6-12 months or 12 months if they run small. I still LOVE dressing you!

Parker adores you and asks to hold you a lot! You snuggle with him momentarily and then crawl away. He pats your head and says "awww...." and stares at me because he's looking for praise. :) You babble "babababa" mostly but sometimes "mabamaba." We're working on waiving bye bye and you're so close!

You eat just about anything I put on your plate and then lean over to grab whats left on your brother's plate. Sometimes I think you eat more than he does. You're not a huge fan of baby food and prefer to feed yourself so we've basically moved to solids, softened and cubed. 

We absolutely adore you! You're the happiest baby I've literally EVER seen! I'm so blessed to call you my baby!

8 months old!

Somehow it's the 5th of the next month already and you're 8 months old!

You are majorly on the move this month! Still army crawling but occassionally crawling normally. The biggest thing you've done this month is pull yourself to standing... on EVERYTHING!!!! You really enjoy pulling up on brother's train table and stealing trains. Parker is less than thrilled with this new trick of yours. He usually finds a train he doesn't care too much about and says "Here Avie. You play with (insert train name."

You finally started eating baby food! It's MESSY but you enjoy it and the subsequent bath. You and your brother are both fish! You still love frozen waffles, puffs and graham crackers. 

Lately you've been pulling out your bow. It breaks my heart. I still dress you super girly though so no denying you're a GIRL!

You have 2 teeth now, both on the bottom. You've bit me a few times but I kinda scared you when you did it and you haven't done it in about 2 weeks. 

Your favorite thing to do is make a mad dash for the dog bowls when I'm not looking and splash water everywhere!

This month you got a new "big girl" backwards facing Britax Advocate. You still don't like riding in the car by any means but you hate it a little less now.

Sleep...maybe one day. You're an excellent sleeper in my arms. You'd sleep from 8-8 if I sat in a rocking chair and held you all night but since I can't, you're still a bit of a diva and require lots of night time cuddles.

You weigh 18lbs according to the "weigh myself and then weigh myself holding you" method.

You LOVE to babble, particularly when you're not screaming in the car. "bababababa" is your go to babble but today you adding the "ma" sound into the mix. You're also an expert raspberry blower.

Everyone thinks you are the happiest baby they've ever seen and if you remove car riding from the scenario, I'd have to agree. You are a joy to all who know you and "we love you all the way to God's house and back!""

Clearly, I haven't been too great with pictures this month and most of these are from today (hence the same outfit over and over) but thankfully you were in a FANTASTIC mood today and constantly camera ready! :)

Your 1st Christmas!

We were all surprised how into Christmas you were this year! You checked out each new toy and even assisted in unwrapping some of them! We had to quickly remove all wrapping paper because it went straight into your mouth! I had so much fun dressing you up in whimsical Christmas outfits!

You did this to yourself on Christmas Eve when we opened presents at nana's house

The fastest army crawler I know!

Your night before Christmas jammies

Grammie and grandaddy came to visit on Christmas day

Using the presents as bongos

You were captivated by the shiny wrapping paper grandma used

Eating through the paper is clearly the best option to open it

Eating the bows off the presents

Eating Ariel's foot (are you seeing a theme here? EVERYTHING goes in your mouth!)

Another picture of the bag on your head because we all thought it was hilarious!

You got lots of good presents! Mommy and daddy gave you (really ourselves) a new Britax Advocate car seat. We were hoping this would solve your hate of riding in the car. It seems to have helped a bit but not as much as we were hoping! We also gave you a mermaid doll. You like to chew her hair. You also got a butterfly slumber buddy that puts stars on your ceiling and doubles as a night light.

Nana and poppi gave you a backpack that I monogrammed for church nursery and a few age appropriate toys.

Grandma and Fabio gave you a little tikes cozy coupe shopping cart. It is too cute! They also gave you a baby doll stroller and a baby play kitchen.

Overall, you had a wonderful 1st Christmas!

7 Month Update!

Avery Madison, you are 7 months old! 

You are the FASTEST army crawler I've ever seen! You make a bee line for Parker's Mack Truck, Thomas Trains, shoes, diapers and wipes boxes. Those are your favorites. Why we bother buying you toys is beyond me because you never play with them! You like your brother's things and random objects you shouldn't play with! :)

You have 1 tooth and according to your fevers, crankiness and lack of sleep, I'm assuming #2 is on the way! Your 1st tooth was your right (my left) bottom middle tooth and the one beside it is on its way. You've bit me a few times and one time shocked me so much I yelped and you cried forever about it! You also bit your lip the other day with your one tooth :( You['re not a fan of teething. Frozen eggo waffles and Tylenol seem to be your only source of relief.

You still LOVE to nurse. In fact, you even nurse air in your sleep. You've given up a paci but I sure wish you'd take it back to help you sleep at night! Speaking of sleeping.. you don't. You still wake up 3-5 times a night. It's getting TOUGH. Because you aren't sleeping well at night, you are napping a bit better during the day but I sure wish we could work this out. For example. it's 10pm and I've been unsuccessfully trying to get you to sleep since 7:30. GO TO SLEEP, baby girl!

You've started eating baby food. Your favorite is YoBaby Yogurt but I'm not sure your body likes it very much. We're going to try Soy YoBaby. You also love frozen waffles, puffs and arrowroot cookies.

You've really enjoyed the Christmas lights on the tree and batting the bottom branches this month. When you aren't over tired, you're the happiest, smilest baby! The church nursery workers are smitten with you (and your big bows)! You have quite the Christmas wardrobe and I've really enjoyed dressing you up this month!

We adore you! You are our sunshine!

Your 1st Christmas Card

Holiday Letter Christmas Card

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Your 1st Thanksgiving!

Happy 1st Thanksgiving!

We went for a walk to the park and you LOVED riding in brother's car!

This was your first time really swinging and you had a blast!

Mommy pushing both of you.

You got plenty of kisses and hugs!

and you gave some too!

 

 

You didn't have any turkey or the fixin's but I will attest that they were VERY tasty! Maybe next year, baby girl! This year, we are most thankful for you and your sweet brother!