June 9, 2009
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve updated. Guess I don’t get as much done when I’m pregnant. Baby number two is due ANY DAY! If he doesn’t come naturally this week, I’m getting induced on Sunday the 14th. After an ultrasound last Friday, the doctor said he was already 8 ½ lbs and that he didn’t suggest going to 40 weeks! I’m very excited to get this baby out as I’m extremely uncomfortable; not to mention huge!
Avery is super excited to meet her brother. She talks about him all the time, sings songs to him (see video), kisses my belly, and shares what she plans on teaching him. I think she’s really going to be a great big sister. She adores babies!
Avery is of course getting so big, having celebrated her third birthday in April. She’s as active as ever. She can read about 25 words, still has a memory of steel, is starting to trace letters, loves to sing, dress up, play princess or anything Little Mermaid, and is a happy, exuberant little girl!
Brian is working a new job at a company called Inogen. He is doing inside sales selling a state of the art oxygen machine that replaces bulky tanks. He’s been there almost two weeks but is already enjoying himself. This job is a huge blessing as the past 9 months have been extremely financially difficult. He was working 70 hrs a week at two jobs for a long time; waiting tables and temping at a financial office. He still waits tables occasionally but hopefully as this new job ramps up he won’t have to work at night at all anymore.
I have mostly just been taking care of Avery, trying to prepare for the new addition and keep my energy up. Most of the pregnancy has been good until the last month or so. Lately I’ve been so exhausted and uncomfortable that I can’t do much. I look forward to being able to really play with Avery again instead of having to sit around all day!
February 2, 2009
If you haven’t heard, this year blue is the new pink. That’s right, we’re having a BOY! I’m still a little in shock about it, even though I’ve been guessing it was a boy the whole time due to the vast differences in pregnancies (this one has been TONS easier). The doctor said he’s healthy and already in the 97th percentile for size. Yikes! While trying to adjust to the idea of being a mother to a son, I’m desperately scouring every book and webpage for a good name. We’re open to suggestions since we’re fairly clueless. I’m not a fan of really popular names, but when it comes to boy names, I don’t like the really traditional ones, either!
Lots and not much has happened since the last update in October. The “lots” part is I made it through the first trimester, not too much worse for wear. I was a little nauseous, but compared to last time it was a breeze. Christmas was great and we were very blessed with lots of beautiful gifts from grandparents. On January 12th, my dad moved back to Georgia. It was very sad to see him go. We were hoping (both originally when we moved him out here and recently) that he would chose to stay here once he moved out of our house, but he felt it was too hard to make ends meet. Avery definitely misses him and makes comments about “when grandpa gets back…” We’re hoping that he does make it back some day to visit.
The “not much” part of what has been happening is mostly just with daily life and Brian’s work situation. He is still temping at a financial company and working weekend nights at a Moroccan restaurant. It’s been very, very difficult for all of us for him to be gone 65-70 hours a week; probably one of the most challenging times in our lives together (besides those first few weeks of parenthood). We are desperately praying that this time can come quickly to an end. The job market in CA is one of the worst in the country, and Santa Barbara feels even worse. His daytime temp job will be over in March, so we’re constantly on the lookout for another good opportunity that will hopefully enable him to quit or cut back on his waiter job.
Avery continues to delight and amaze us. Most recently she’s taken a great interested in spelling and learning to read. She is starting to frequently ask what letter certain words start with. If she has an alphabet in front of her (like a puzzle, etc) she can spell simple words like Dog and Cat. It’s amazing and fun! I started home preschool with her twice a week and we’re focusing on tracing letters, shapes, and numbers. She really loves it and I’m enjoying it, too.
Avery has vacillated between wanting a brother and a sister, and unfortunately decided a sister was her heart’s desire just a few weeks before we found out it was a boy. So now we’re working on convincing her that a brother will be great. She’s very excited to have a sibling and is always talking about how she will teach them this, or share that with them. It’s very cute and I know she’ll be a great helper.
I’m attempting to start filming my first in four years (and possibly last for awhile) Sims 2 movie before the baby is born. Brian and I have been writing the script for a year and have just finished it. Filming can be a VERY long, arduous process, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish in four months or not. I’m hoping I can because I know now that once I have another one, there’s no way it will ever get finished!
So that’s about it for now. I’ll try and not wait so long between updates this time! Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Valentine’s Day, and all that good stuff.
October 18, 2008
The news has finally arrived: we’re pregnant! Estimated due date is June 25th, so I’m about 4 weeks right now. We’re very excited and Avery has already made it clear that she wants a brother. We told her to take that up with God. :) I’m not really looking forward to the pregnancy part of the process, especially the ten month dry spell of no wine! Help!
Brian still hasn’t found permanent work, but has taken a long-term temp job at a hedge fund company. He’ll be there for six months and the timing was perfect because without that job, we wouldn’t have made enough money to qualify for the maternity insurance we’re getting. So we’re thankful for that!
We finally finished our landscaping project! It only took four months! Haha I (April) planted all 71 hedge plants herself and in the process, injured the tendon in my ankle. I was a complete invalid for two days, and after visiting the doctor and wearing a brace, it’s much better now! It gave me a whole new appreciate for working legs and feet! Most of our plants (and the hedges) are bare root, so it doesn’t look very pretty yet, but by next summer I’m sure everything will be growing and blooming. The grass in coming in nicely, but not without a TON of weeds, much to my dismay.
Avery is doing great. So far this year she’s been a lot healthier than last Fall. Only one cold so far; yay! Most of her development is focused on vocabulary and sentence structure. She talks so well now; it amazes us. She can still be hard to understand to the complete stranger, but the thoughts and ideas she communicates seem so complicated to us.
Oh, and the “why?” season has started FULL SWING! I knew it was coming, but man, not to this extreme. It’s constant!! I’m trying to be patient since it’s just started, but it already drives me nuts occasionally. I guess I should be thankful that the questions aren’t that hard yet.
So that’s it for now; mostly wanted to share our good news. If you’re the praying type, you can shoot up a prayer that I won’t be as sick this time around as I was last pregnancy. I’d appreciate it!
September 4, 2008
Although the days are still warm, summer is officially over! As the schools fill up, the fruit supply dwindles away, and the nights get that little chill – I reflect on the fact that this will be the last summer our family is three! No, we’re not pregnant yet, but the time is very close at hand. This has been a very fun summer for us; lots of pool times, beach trips, and general fun in the sun. We took a short vacation up to Shaver Lake in August with Brian’s family, which was nice. It’s been great having my dad here, and the work Brian had over the summer allowed him a flexible schedule. I have to admit I don’t want any of it to change!
But, Fall is a time for change, as the leaves remind us. Brian is looking for a new job, as his last one notified him that his pay would go to commission only with no base pay. That won’t’ work for us at this time, so he’s on the hunt again. I’m getting on and off business with Memories Media, but not enough to be a reliable support. SO…things are a little tight and stressful to say the least! We know God is in control and we are trusting in Him.
Avery continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Her language amazes us daily. The cutest new thing is she is talking with inflection now. So when she asks a question, she’ll make her voice go up at end; but she over accentuates which makes it so adorable. She talks in very long sentences now, and it getting many of the in-between words like ‘in, the, because, of” etc. Some of her expressions that she pulls out of thin air crack us up, too! It’s so fun to communicate with her. She’s definitely pushing the boundaries more and more, but I am still loving this age and stage.
We will be doing preschool at home this year. She was set to go to Little Angels preschool but with the job change, we couldn’t afford the $400 a month. So a good friend of mine shared her preschool curriculum with me, and I’ll be taking on the challenge myself! We’ll see how that goes.
The other main thing that has been going on is we are landscaping our front lawn. Our landlords gave us enough money (barely) to pay for the materials, but not enough to hire help so we are doing all the labor ourselves, as well as enlisting some VERY generous friends that are helping us for free. We ripped up all the old grass, are putting in a sprinkler system, making new flower beds, borders, planting a hedge, and last a new lawn. It’s a LOT of work! I’ll post before and after pics once it’s all done.
So that’s it for us. Hope everyone had a lovely summer and enjoy the coming Autumn.
July 6, 2008
I can’t even begin to express how much I love the age of two! As the time rapidly approaches that Brian and I will begin working on giving Avery a sibling, I’m reminded again and again how I wish I could birth another two year old and skip the whole infant stage!
I honestly don’t know where the phrase “terrible two’s” came from! Yes, Avery says “no” and wants to do most things by herself, and she throws a fit now and then. But on the whole, two years old has been a complete blast! I have never enjoyed parenthood more.
Avery’s talking has improved leaps and bounds. She communicates in multiple sentences now, still missing smaller words, but fully getting her point across. She makes random, unsolicited comments all the time (for example, at her first fireworks show last Friday, she suddenly says, “I can’t believe it!” as she’s jumping up and down with excitement.) It’s so much fun chatting with her all day.
She also loves to sing now, and although her tune is still lacking, she can sing all the words to several songs. So cute.
The biggest news is that we started potty training on June 23rd! She was trained with pee pee the first day, and after about a week, was trained with poopy (she was scared of it for awhile). Now two weeks later, not only is she perfect throughout the day, but as of tonight, has had four nights in a row with no accidents! She’s in a big girl bed, too, which was a very easy transition. It seemed a little hard at the time, but now that it’s done, now it feels like it went so fastt! She was such a trooper!
In family news, Brian is now working at an operations manager for a local plumbing company (left his other job). He actually really enjoys it, which is new for him as of late. He’s good friends with the owner, and is given a lot of freedom and room for creativity. We’re having to really trust the Lord for finances still, but He is good and always provides.
April’s video editing business is going great! (www.memoriesmedia.com) I’ve had several clients, even one from craigslist! I’m just now finishing most of the projects I had, so hopefully the word of mouth will begin to spread.
My dad has been living with us for two and a half months and it’s been fabulous! Avery adores him and the feeling is mutual. It’s so great to have extra hands around the house to help with chores, cooking, and of course, playing with Avery. He’s taking online college at the University of Phoenix as well as volunteering several days a week at our church office. He’s already lost 35 lbs and lowered his blood sugar over 100 points; so he’s doing well! It’s been a blessing all around.
Our vacation this year will be in August. We’re going to Shafer Lake up in No Cal. We’re spending five days in a condo with Brian’s parents and brother, sister-in-law and their two kids. It should be a good time.
So that’s a short update on our lives. We’re enjoying the summer and trying to stay cool. It’s been warmer than usual here this year! We’ll keep you updated as the fall rolls in as we expect to have “news” around that time.
April 20, 2008
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve written an update. March and April (and May) are turning out to be busy months for our family! Here is a quick update of what’s been going on.
Of course, Avery is now two. We had a great Nemo themed birthday party as you can see on the pictures page. She is very proud to be two and says, “Avery two” while holding up two fingers, to everyone she meets. She definitely thinks she’s grown up now and talks frequently about her next birthday when she will be three! I keep telling her growing up is overrated, but she’s not buying it.
As far as development goes, Avery just continues to talk and talk more every day. I think that’s pretty much where all her brain power is going right now because although she’s learning new things (shapes, letters, counting) and becoming more coordinated, most of her focus and energy is put towards learning new words and their correct pronunciations . I feel like she’s come a long way in being understandable, but when someone she doesn’t know talks to her, I realize she’s still pretty hard to understand. All in good time I guess.
Another major development in our lives is we are moving my (April’s) dad out to Santa Barbara. He will be living with us until he is in better health and back on his feet. He’s struggled with a lot of sickness in Georgia and therefore is also struggling to work and earn a living. We are hoping to teach him a new skill so he can change careers from house painting into something a little less physically demanding. We are excited for him to come and Avery is looking forward to meeting her grandpa for the first time. He will be arriving at the end of the month.
April’s brother, Taylor, will be graduating college on May 3rd!! We can hardly believe it! He’s truly had the full “college experience” and has done so well for himself. He plans to be home for the summer and then he’s heading off onto many exciting adventures. More on that as it develops.
Brian has been at his new job for a couple months now. He has good and bad days, but likes it more than his previous position. He’s had a lot of valuable character building experiences, which is always good (in retrospect). :)
April ran into a major snag with her machinima deal when her computer died last month. I finally got a new computer a few weeks ago and have resumed work on that. I also started ANOTHER business, one that we think (and hope) will be the most profitable. It’s called Memories Media (www.memoriesmedia.com). I am taking people’s long, boring home videos they never watch and editing them into fun, watchable movies set to music, with titles screens, effects, etc. I already have two clients and at the end of this month, I’m heading down to a trade show in Orange County to try and generate more business. So wish me luck or say a prayer for me!
So that’s about it for now. It seems like a busy summer is ahead of us so I’ll do my best to keep you updated!
February 24, 2008
This will be short and sweet. Just wanted to write a quick update; say that Avery’s talking is getting better and better. She’s starting to use more and more complicated sentences, she’s learning dozens of new words a day, copying EVERY thing we say and she’s getting good at longer words like Avocado, hamburger, etc (and other people might actually be able to understand her!) It’s so fun.
We started My Gym again this month and moved Avery up to the next age level class (23mo-2.5yr). She’s right up there in coordination with the rest of the class; it’s amazing.
Brian started a new job last week at a company called Telecost. He is selling used Cisco hardware for networking. He enjoyed his first week and can see really large potential for making some great pay! So we’re excited (and in desperate need of) about that.
I (April) recently stumbled upon an amazing opportunity with my Machinima. While looking for tips on writing plots and developing character, I found a website/blog that was offering free plot ideas. It said that the person writing these ideas was a professional writer with more ideas than he had time to do something with, so he was offering them for free to the writing community. He also said if anyone wanted to develop these ideas further, he would be happy to do that.
SO, I wrote him and asked if he would be willing to work on me with MY script (the one Brian and I have been writing the past two months and are now stuck on). Not only did he write back and say he was willing, but he also proposed a business idea as he has been looking for an animator for years! He has a client base that wants promo videos for their business. He has the scripts, but they didn’t have anyone to make the movies (and couldn’t afford normal filming with live actors, etc.) So he asked if I would be interested in partnering with him! So that is currently in the works and a very exciting prospect. More on that as it develops.
That’s about it for now. We have been enjoying the rain but look forward to warmer days so we can play more outside.
p.s. Update from the last post: we went to the allergist, and nothing was conclusive. He doesn't think she really has allergies, but her skin was too sensative to read the results from the skin test they did. He thinks she may have VERY slight asthma that was aggravated by multiple colds. She's been cough free for almost two months now, thankfully, even when she got a little cold last week. So yay! Good news.
January 21, 2008
Now that we’re well into Avery’s 21st month, I’m finally getting some time to update you about her 20th month; which was significant because she started talking up a storm! While she still doesn’t pronounce most words correctly, she is definitely communicating with words 100% of the time, and trying to say everything. Most people couldn’t understand her, but she gets her points across to us just fine! It’s been so fun to watch her develop in that area.
She’s also WELL on her way to turning two. I’m still trying to see them as the “terrific two’s”, but as my friend (who’s son is 5 months older) said, it only gets worse before it gets better! I know it’s true! Her personality and will is becoming more and more pronounced every day. Her favorite word is no, of course, followed closely by “Avery.” She also says “yeah” a lot, which we think is so cute. She’s talking in three word sentences consistently.
She’s learning so fast and becoming more and more coordinated. She can do a full somersault completely by herself. During her 20th month she learned six shapes, three more colors (gray, silver, and gold), and she learned to count to five! I’ve lost track of the letters she knows, but she’s really good at recognizing them in different places (like on clothing or on signs while we drive). She’s getting really good at opposites as well.
“Finding Nemo” is her new passion. She loves the movie and her little bath toys of Nemo and Dori. She basically plays with them all day and can be heard calling out their names at all times. She still loves Elmo, dancing, and playing piano.
At the time of writing, Avery is healthy – but it’s been a long winter already with lots of sickness for her. She’s had a chronic cough, which finally got the attention of the doctor enough for him to send us to an allergist. We’ll be going to him at the end of this month to see if anything is actually causing this cough besides viruses. I’m looking forward to that.
Brian is currently looking for a new job. He was let go when his company restructured. He’s actually glad and at peace about it, and is looking forward to doing something more interesting and geared towards his skills and interests.
So that’s about it for now. If you haven’t already, go back and check Month 20 in pictures. I added some just today that our friend Zach took of us on the beach last month. He’s a professional photographer so they’re better than your every day pics. Talk to you soon!January 10, 2008
Well, not that anybody checks all the old photos anymore, but I finally got the problem solved. I had to take ALL puncuation out of the titles of each picture, which basically meant I had to redo every single photo album for every single month. Phew! But it's finally done and every picture should work. Please let me know if one of them doesn't. I'm off to take a nap...I'm getting ANOTHER cold. *sigh*
January 8, 2008
I'm so sorry for the delay in updates! My webhost is having major problems and it's taken HOURS of hold time to get through. I've fixed one problem: I can finaly update my site. But now, I'm having problems with my pictures. I'm sure you'll notice that some pictures don't work and give you an internal server error. Not sure what this is from; I've been on hold for an hour and 35 minutes this time. I hope I get through and can fix the problem. If not, I've already found a new host site I will switch to. My current host has gone way down hill lately; it's so dissapointing.
In a VERY short nutshell, we enjoyed the holidays but have been battling a lot of sickness, mostly in Avery's lungs. We're currently set to visit a Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist as well as a Allergy specialist. Avery has had a pretty bad cough for about three months now, so her doctor finally said it was time to look into further. We'll keep you updated.
Thanks for your patience with our website problems. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.
November 17, 2007
A new website for Avery; yay! I decided to put my budding Dreamweaver skills to practice and design something new for her. I hope you enjoy the new look. I tried to keep a lot of it the same so people wouldn’t feel too lost on how to get around.
I also want to add that in the past two weeks, not only has Avery learned four more colors (total of ten colors now), but she has learned the difference between one and two! She can say “two” but doesn’t say “one” so she holds up one finger instead. So when we hold one thing up in front of her and ask how many, she’ll hold up one finger. When we hold up two items, she’ll saw “two” in a whisper. It’s so cute and we’re really amazed that she’s getting the hang of counting already.
She’s also learned a couple more letters: A and I. Now she’ll point out A’s all over the place and when she sees the mouse curser in a word document, she says “I” because it looks like an I! So cute and again; we’re impressed. :-) We have Leap Frog alphabet magnets on the fridge, and those have been incredible at helping her learn her letters. We’d highly recommend it to parents of young children!
Well that’s about it for now; just a short note to brag about our daughter and to welcome you to the new site. Have a great Thanksgiving!November 8, 2007
Wow, it’s been two months since I last wrote! I probably won’t remember everything that’s happened, as it seems like A LOT has been going on, but I’ll do my best.
Guess I’ll start with Avery, as this is her site. She and I have been sick a lot the past two months, which has not been fun. She got her first ear infection, and shortly after that she got a really horrible cold that is currently in her lungs. We had the whole summer sickness free, so it’s been rough adjusting to weeks on end of sickness. Despite that, she has grown and changed so much. She’s talking up a storm, though most words are in her own little language. She says about 10 words correctly, and at least a hundred words that are consistent, but no one else would know what she was talking about.
She knows seven colors really well, can pronounce most of the alphabet (or the sound the letter makes), and even can recognize four or five letters if she sees them or you write them. She knows P, T, O, and sometimes W and M. She’s getting great at puzzles and can do several completely by herself. She has gotten into coloring and can draw circles fairly well. Her favorite thing in life is Elmo – everything is Elmo from her several dolls, to slippers, books, movies, bath toys, etc. She’s particularly attached to one who’s officially become her ‘lovie.’
For play, she really enjoys playing with her stuffed animals right now – especially making them dance together to music. It’s so cute; she’ll grab two of them, smash them together, and hop around with them all over her room. She also makes everything kiss, which is so adorable. She also loves to brush her teeth ALL the time, which is kind of strange. Her favorite place to go is My Gym, which is a gym for kids. She talks about it all week, as we only get to go twice a week. She’s very coordinated and loves to bounce on the trampoline, hang from the bars, balance on the beam, and dive into the big ball bin.
In other family news, we ended up giving the kitty we adopted back. He became a very timid, scared kitty that ran away from us anytime Avery was around. We think he just didn’t like kids, and we felt a different home for him would be better. He’s since been adopted by another kid-less couple. So now we just have our dog, Dublin, who’s a very sweet dog. She’s seven months now and just got spayed.
I’ve been working a lot to learn Dreamweaver CS3 (taking online courses) so I can start building personal websites for people. I have a couple clients lined up. I’ve recently posted my new site. Check it out! www.atlasproductionz.com It’s going to replace my old Atlas Enterprises site. I’m also hoping to do promo videos using Machinima, but that’s still in its infancy.
Brian’s doing well, working hard and long hours at his job. Overtime is a necessity right now financially, so it’s been hard to have him gone so much. He just took a biz trip to New Orleans, which he enjoyed. We plan on spending the Holidays between here and Brian’s parents up north; looking forward to Avery’s first “real” Christmas, as last year we didn’t really celebrate since we were moving.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to write again sooner rather than later.
September 9, 2007
Well, as you can see if you’ve checked the picture page, we got a new kitten! Are we insane? Probably. But, we wanted our puppy to grow up with cats, and we have really missed having a kitty since ours died, so after a lot of looking, we adopted this little guy from an amazing place in town called Resqcats. He is VERY sweet, purrs like a Harley, and has gorgeous markings and huge ears. We named him Casper for his beautiful, white coat (and cause he's so friendly!) Apparently, he grew up with dogs and kids, though he’s still a little hesitant of both at this point. He’ll grow into his ears, and his sandy brown markings on his face, ears, paws, and tail will darken with age. We’re so excited to welcome him into our family.
We’ve been busy lately adjusting to new animals. Avery got her first cold all summer this past week, so that wasn’t fun. She’s on the mend now. Not much else new. Oh, check out the new video of Avery’s wacky summer! It’s a fun one. (it’s a bigger file so if it seems to stall when it’s loading, just be patient!)
I’ll write again soon.
August 12th, 2007
Well, it’s been awhile! Things have been busy in the Hoffmann household – some good, some sad.
The sad news is that our kitty was attacked by a dog a couple weeks ago. He sustained pretty major internal injuries and even with surgery and a week of hospitalization, we weren’t able to save him. He was a wonderful cat and we’ll miss him very much. Thankfully, the owners of the dog responsible offered to pay our vet bill, or we wouldn’t have been able to give him so much care.
While on the subject of pets, the good news is that we’ve added a member to our family, a 17-week-old female Boxer. We did months of research on what type of dog would fit our family best, and decided that a Boxer fit the bill. Then we did hours and hours of more research to find a breeder. During that search we found Dublin, who was a little older than the traditional adoptable puppy, but who had most of her shots, was already trained to sit, and was partially potty trained! Because she was four months instead of two, she was also less expensive than normal boxer puppies. This all was a good combination for us, and after lots of deliberation, we decided to go for it!
She’s truly a precious dog so far. The first night (last night) she never whined or barked once. She slept all night in her crate in the kitchen (with the crate open), and never peed or pooped on the floor. She loves to sleep being cradled, she doesn’t lick hardly at all, is very gentle, calm, and QUITE (at least so far). It will be interesting to see how her personality develops as she gets more comfortable here. So far, though, she’s been a champ! Her formal registered name is Guinness of Dublin cause she’s the color of a Guinness (both the black and the white). We’ll call her Dublin.
Avery seems very excited to have a dog ("DAH dee" as she pronounces it). She’s still a little timid with the licks, but she’ll get used to it. At 16 months, she’s definitely starting to talk more. Most of what she says it "technically" wrong, but she’s trying to say things, which is what counts. Off the top of my head, her words are the following: mama, dada, grandma, Tay, papa, more, milk, water, banana, doggie, kitty, sister, baby, bicycle, button, and probably a few more. Of course, none of them are pronounced correctly. :) Interestingly, many of her first words were words she signed, and now she no longer uses signs for those words. I had heard from people who don't believe in signing that the words kids know in sign they won't use in speech at first. Not so for her.
She’s a very coordinated little girl; can run, climb, jump, hang, twirl, almost summersault, stand on her toes, dance, slide down a slide by herself multiple ways, and catch herself almost always when she falls – no matter which way she falls. She loves to play “boo” (which is more like chase and tickle, but it’s what she calls it). She loves to read books, play in the water, play with dolls, or little plastic animals, or Elmo; she loves to listen to music and dance, wrestle, watch movies, play in the ocean, burry her feet in the sand, play in her jumper, take showers, take walks, and she hates bugs!
She continues to amaze and delight us. Her hair is SO curly; we can’t figure it out. She handles pain well, and oh! she has ALL her teeth now except her last four second molars! Amazing. Glad that’s over for now.
Well, that’s it for now. I’m sure I forgot a bunch of stuff so I’ll try and write more again soon!
June 12, 2007
Thought we would add the rest of the signs Avery has learned over the past couple months. Her total is up to 42 signs now! These are in addition to the 20 listed a few updates down:
Swing
Plane
Hot
Cold
Baby
Fishy
Outside
Grandma
Help
Toothbrush
I love you
Teddy bear
Phone
Flower
Up
Down
Help
Yes (nod)
No
Walk
Rain
Wind
June 7, 2007
Our little doll is almost 14th months! We can't believe it. Now that her "1st Year Calander" is over, I'm keeping tabs on her developement in a Word document (with plans to print them out and stick them in her baby book). But because I have a whole month of all the things she's done and learned, I'm going to be lazy and just post them here instead of typing out another update! I won't make a habit of it, I promise!
May 20, 2007
Our little baby angel is quickly turning into a toddler! I’ve read about the “Ornery One’s” before, and though they usually start closer to 15 or 16 months, Avery is pushing the limits once again. In the past week, the strong will, tantrums, and defiance has gone up a several notches, leaving Brian and I a little worried what the future will bring. Avery is definitely figuring out what she wants, when she wants it, and how long she wants it for! The baby who once listened the first time when we said no, now has to make sure we mean it (several times). We knew this one coming, but I guess a first-time parent can never truly be prepared for the change! :)
Other than that challenge, we are continually amazed at how much she understands and how well she communicates. She has been following two-part commands for over a month or more; things like “go get your soccer ball and put it in your pool” or “go find your shoes and bring them to mommy.” She actually does these things! She also continues to use her signs (close to 30 now), but is starting to babble in a much more complicated way. She learned how to say her “T’s” (for her uncle Taylor), has figured out that I’m mamma and Brian is dada, and when we ask her to say something now, instead of using a sign like she used to, she’ll try and say it (though it usually sounds like da da).
Physically she also wows us: just today she fell backwards off of one step on our patio, and she put both arms behind her, caught herself and held her head up from banging the concrete. Her grandma and I were so amazed we just stood there a couple seconds before we reacted!
Her favorite things right now are playing outside – that’s ALL she asks for all day. She still loves music and dancing, movies (Baby Einstein), dolls, and brushing her teeth of all things! The cutest new thing is she loves to give kisses, and has learned to make the sound. She kisses everything; pictures in her books, the cat, her dolls and stuffed animals, and most preciously, her whole family many times a day! She’ll run up and plant one on us, which of course melts our hearts.
I’ll miss the “sweeter” days of infanthood, but I look forward to her growing and developing her little self in this new stage as well. She’s such a wonderful, smart girl; truly the sunshine of our lives. What did we do without her?
April 22, 2007
Well, it’s a little after the fact but Avery is now a big one year old! We were so blessed on her birthday. So many friends and family members remembered her and sent cards or gifts. It was so fun! We celebrated on Easter (April 8th) with the family and Brian’s parents. Then on April 14th we had a birthday party with some of her friends from my PEP (mom’s) group. There were about 15 people in all, so it was a nice size. It was a beach ball theme and we were supposed to play in the kiddie pool, but the weather was cold so we just let the babies play in an empty pool. They didn’t know the difference and everyone had a great time. Avery did wonderfully and was never overwhelmed.
We’ve been to several other birthday parties this month as well since all the babies in my mom’s group are turning one. It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached this milestone!
While on the subject of birthdays, Taylor (my brother) and I had a joint party last night celebrating his 21st and my 30th! Ahhh! I feel old! We had a black and white “drama mask” theme, happy for him and sad for me. The party was a blast and it seemed like everyone had a great time. As for me, I’m OVER parties for a while. Too much planning and work!
Avery continues to grow smarter and more aware by the day. She learns signs now after only showing her once or twice. We’re not showing her as many so that she’ll start using her words a little more. She’s definitely saying all the syllables, but no actual words yet besides mamma and dada. She definitely can communicate with us though, and does so constantly during the day. Her favorite things to do right now are go outside, watch movies, slide, swing, wrestle, chase – anything active, and play with her dolls. She puts her dolls to sleep, feeds them milk, rocks them, makes them clap, dance, etc. It’s so adorable.
She’s definitely getting more and more affectionate and will often run up to offer a hug, a kiss, or just a little wrestle. She still prefers to always be with mom, but we’re starting to notice a tinge more independence with play and other people. We hope it increases!
That’s it for now. Check out the new pics and hopefully I’ll get a new video up soon.
March 12, 2007
We have a full-blown walker! She started two weeks ago and is now basically done with crawling; we can’t believe it! It’s so adorable and fun to watch her waddle around. She’s getting to the point already where she gets frustrated if she falls too much. She already wants to run!
On a less fun note, Avery got Roseola last week; had a 103 degree temp for five days! (and that was with Motrin!) It was so sad. Then she broke out in the classic rash. We were assured it’s a very normal, common virus that over 90% of kids under three get. Fortunately, once you have it you’re immuned forever. So we’re glad that’s over with.
Avery also just got in her first (and hopefully last) car accident yesterday. We had to stop suddenly because a bus was pulling out in front of us and the car behind us didn’t stop in time. Everyone was fine; Avery only cried cause mommy got really upset and let out a yell.
It’s been VERY hot the past few days; in the upper 90s. We’ve had fun playing in a little kiddie pool for the first time, as well as splashing in the sprinklers and the hose. Check out the new pics.
I’m also already beginning to plan her first birthday party; it's hard to believe! It will be a beach ball theme, since that is currently her favorite toy.
Also, just cause it's fun and we're so proud, here is a list of signs that Avery can currently do:
Eat
Milk
Water
More
All done
Sleep
Change
Bath
Play
Open
Again
Book
Doggie
Kitty
Bird
Movie
Hat
Music
Listen/hear
Hi
Bye
Feb 14, 2007
Avery took five steps a few days ago (and just took about five more as I was typing that sentence!), so we’re guessing that walking is close at hand. She loves to walk around the house (or outside, or down and up stairs) holding our hands. Needless to say our backs are sore these days. It’s so cute to watch her become more and more mobile.
She’s also doing excellent with her signs. She must know at least 15 by now…we’re sort of losing count! The other morning after her milk, she sat up in my lap and looked at the window and waved (we usually open her mini blinds and wave to the sunshine). Her blinds were closed at this point, so after waving at them she then patted her leg for the “dog” sign. I took this to mean that she wanted me to open her blinds so she could look outside for doggies! (which we do often) It’s amazing to watch the understanding and comprehension of a 10 month old and also think that if she didn’t know signs, how much she’d want to say and not be able to! She seems to be ahead of her ability to sign, in that she’ll ask for things to change, but she only knows how to do this by saying “all done.” For example, if you hand her a cell phone closed, she’ll look at it, hand it back to you and say, “all done.” If you keep it, she’ll reach for it and fuss for it back. But once she has it (if it’s still closed), she’ll repeat the same thing. Finally we open it, and only then she sits happily pushing the buttons! Amazing!
Her most favorite thing right now besides walking is music. She asks for it (with a sign) multiple times a day, and I have to say watching her dance it probably my favorite thing to do. She really shakes her little booty and twists her upper body back and forth. It’s hilarious and I’m desperately trying to catch it on film, but it never seems to work!
She adores books and asks to be read to ALL the time. She’s also getting to the stage where she wants to read the book over and over and over…she asks for this by turning the book back to the beginning (once it’s finished) and tapping it twice with her fist. Daddy showed her this as the “again” sign since the real “again” sign is pretty advanced. It’s so cute that you just have to read it again (and again and again)…
Eating solids has been challenging, as she seems to like adult food (like Indian and Mexican) but wants nothing to do with traditional baby food, even if I make it! I would say she’s still pretty picky, and very much enjoys telling us she’s ALL DONE with just about everything we try and feed her. Meal times stretch out long as I keep trying to find what she wants to eat this time. She loves Cheerios the most and would probably eat them every waking moment if I let her!
She has her first real nose cold right now, which has been rough on her sleep. If only I could teach her to blow her nose at this age! Other than that, things have been great. We’re finally all moved in and settled (except the garage) and Brian started a new job today! More on that later…
Happy Valentine’s Day!
January 15, 2006
“Why is she so fussy?” Brian asked me yesterday afternoon.
“I don’t know…it’s not her nap time for another 45 minutes,” I replied.
After a few more failed attempts to give Avery some more food, Brian took her out of her high chair and put her on his lap. Right then, her little hand went up to her cheek and she leaned her head onto her palm. We both looked at each other in amazement.
“Do you want to go sleepy time, Avery?” Brian asked.
Again, up came her hand to her cheek. My nine month old is asking to go down for a nap? I thought to myself in disbelief. So I asked her again, just to be sure.
“Avery, do you want sleepy time?”
Again, the hand. We couldn’t believe it! Still disbelieving, I took her in her room, changed her diaper, pulled the shades, and put her in her crib. She lay right down and never made a peep. She slept an hour and a half.
Needless to say, Avery is REALLY picking up on sign language! It’s SO much fun! She’s grasping the concept now of asking for things, and seeing the response. She now can sign, “All done”, “More”, “Milk”, “Eat”, “Change” (as in diaper), and “Sleepy time”. She also loves to wave hi and bye. The only two signs we’ve shown her that she hasn’t done yet are ‘water’ and ‘book’. Guess it’s time to add some more!
Avery started “cruising” (walking along furniture) on January 1st. She’s also standing for longer and longer periods on her own, so we’re thinking that it won’t be long until she takes her first solo step! She caught her first cold last week, which both mommy and daddy also got. She has learned to use her pincer grasp (with some coaching) and now her favorite thing to do is eat little cereal bites one by one. It’s so adorable to watch her put them in her mouth, and occasionally miss and get confused as to why nothing is in there for her to chew!
Brian is currently unemployed and looking for a new career, after his last company made some changes and let him go. He’s excited to find something he enjoys more.
We are ‘almost’ moved in. April just finished painting the kitchen and once the floor is laid, it’s only a matter of organizing a few more things, hanging those last pictures, etc. We are all looking forward to this process being over!
Avery is growing so fast and continually amazes us with her perception, energy, and persistence. We continue to fall more and more in love with her every day. Thank you God for such an incredible gift!
December 26, 2006
The eighth month marker was a big one for Avery. It seemed that she “grew up” all at once on her eighth month birthday! On that day, she learned to pull herself up, stand in her crib, point, and the next day she started clapping as well! An old veteran at crawling, she’s now days away from “cruising”; walking around furniture. She’s also getting very good at sign language. She can do all done, milk, change, and is just learning more. She does the signs at the right times, but also at the wrong times, so her understanding of what they mean is still developing. It’s cute to see her sign, though!
She’s also really imitating sounds now; mostly growling at the kitty (thanks to dad), and she copied our horsy sound. She holds her own sippy cup, and is interested in holding her spoon, but has no ability to actually get anything in her mouth! She’s also just learning to give kisses – SO cute! She still loves talking walks with dad, splashing in the bath, growling at the cat (and most other things), reading books (with kitties), and dancing!
We moved the 15th of this month into the main house on our property. It’s been chaotic and exhausting. It was a big adjustment for Avery because she not only moved to a new room, but also got a new crib and had to learn to nap with daylight (her old room had no windows). She didn’t nap well for about a week and cried at bedtime, but now she’s going to sleep like her old self again. It’s so fun to have her own room with all her toys and we are VERY much enjoying the extra space!
We didn’t really celebrate Christmas this year because of the move. Brian’s parents came down for a day and a half and we had a Christmas Eve meal. They blessed us with several gifts and we also received an anonymous gift basket on our porch Christmas morning, which was a lovely blessing. If whoever dropped it off ever reads this, THANK YOU! :)
Have a Happy New Year!
November 3, 2006
Another two months have passed, and what a lot of changes they have brought! The first one worth mentioning is a fabulous one: after lots of hard work (and money), Avery is now sleeping 12 hours straight through the night!! She weaned herself from the night feeding during our trip to Colorado (more on that later) a few weeks ago. Her naps are also 95% consistent and she’s always a breeze to put down. YAY!! I can say I’m enjoying motherhood much more now that this battle has ended (for now…). :-)
We visited some friends in Colorado in October and had a fabulous time. We missed the snow by one day, but it was fun to see everyone and explore their respective cities. Avery did fantastic with all aspects of travel. I think she thrived on the constant stimulation and changing scenery. She also loved to watch all the little kids that were around; we realized up to that point she’d only ever seen babies her age!
Avery has one bottom tooth, with another one on its heals. She gets up on her hands and knees to rock, but hasn’t started crawling yet – which is fine by us! We won’t be teaching her that one. Her latest favorite thing to do is bounce in her Johnny Jump Up; now she thinks that every time she stands up it’s time to jump! She is starting to say “ba” and we swear she’s picking up on sign language – she does the “all done” sign all the time! It will probably be a couple more months before she really understands what she’s doing, but it’s cute to watch none-the-less.
The other big news is that we are planning to move from the cottage into the main house on the property. The time has come for us to have more space and my mother, having lost her rental due to it selling, needs a place to move – so she will be moving into the cottage! We are excited about the changes and I can’t wait for Avery to have a real bedroom!!
Have a wonderful holiday season!
August 31
Oh, how things improve with time! (and age, and effort) August was an eventful month for our family and in Avery’s life. During her fourth month, Avery went through sleep training, took two trips (8 hrs roundtrip) up North to meet her great-grandmother and then go to her great-grandmother’s funeral; had her four month doctor appointment and shots, celebrated mommy and daddy’s 7th Anniversary and daddy’s 31st birthday, and to top it all off – is learning to sit up already! (see video)
Early this month we hired a sleep consultant to help us with Avery’s sleep. It was expensive and hard work, but worth every penny and minute. Avery now goes to sleep by herself, every night, in under 10 minutes (usually 5). She sleeps from 7pm to 7am and takes two, 2 hour naps a day! If she wakes up at night, she almost always goes back to sleep, and we set an alarm and feed her once at night. We’re ecstatic! A huge improvement from last month when she was taking 3 hrs a night to go to sleep and waking 5 times a night! See our links page for the sleep consultant we used.
Avery now weighs 16lbs and is 25 inches long. That puts her in the 90th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. She’s an old pro at rolling over from her back to her tummy, and is just starting to master sitting up! She’s not independent yet, but if we sit her up she can go close to five minutes without falling over, and with almost no help from us! She’s just now 20 weeks…so we’re a little afraid of what this means in regards to when she will start crawling! She also found her voice this month and loves to experiment with screaming at the top of her lungs!
Brian’s grandmother passed away August 14th, but we know she’s with the Lord so that brings us all comfort. It was good to have the extended family together, and Avery got to meet her cousins Kevin and Rachel (who is only one month younger!)
We’re having so much fun watching Avery grow and learn and explore her environment. She’s such a happy baby; she loves everything and everybody! We are truly blessed.
July 21
The three month mark has finally arrived, and as many people said, it has gotten a lot better and easier! Avery is growing so fast (and so big). Yesterday was a monumental day as she learned to roll from her back to her stomach all by herself! By the end of the day, she rolled from her stomach to her back, but that might have been more of an accident. She rolls over all the time now and is very excited about her accomplishment (see video!).
She's also finally laughing, which has been SO fun. Our new goal in life is to make her giggle. She loves to blow bubbles, read books, and of course suck on her newly found hands. She's getting better and better at reaching for things, but hasn't quite started to hold on to objects intentionally yet. She loves when we sing to her, and already following the footsteps of her 'techie" parents, loves to watch the computer screen.
Mom has been working very hard on her sleep habits, and while she takes good naps, bedtime is still a huge struggle. Once she's asleep, she usually only wakes up once at night, but it's just getting her to sleep that is the issue. You can see from the previous post that we have been struggling with it for quite sometime now. We are currently in the process of consulting with a professional sleep specialist, and hope that after working with her, sleep time will be easier and mommy won't have to be so stressed out about it!
Avery is currently in a growth spurt which means lots of extra eating! She's really long (not sure of the measurement, but she's already outgrowing her 3-6 month onesies!) We weighed her on July 6th, and she weighed just shy of 14lbs. We love our big, growing girl!
June 8
Today was Avery's two month appointment. She was 11 lbs 11 oz and 23 inches long, which puts her in the 75th percentile for both numbers. She also had her first immunizations, which was very traumatic for mom! She screamed harder than I'd ever heard before; so sad! She's had a slight fever since and wants lots of comfort.
At two months, Avery is smiling a lot! She smiles at us, her toys, and most strangers if you give her enough time. Her favorite thing is a toy that hangs above her changing table. We call it the "beebra"; it is a bee with black and white stripes like a zeebra. You can pull on it and it makes a buzzing sound. Her very first (small) giggle was for the beebra! She also likes her bouncer chair and laying under her activity gym - lots of smiles and coos! She loves her baths and most of the times likes going on drives. The one thing she doesn't like it going to bed! (what kid does?)
After 5 weeks of being awake from midnight to 6:00am every single night, she is now sleeping at night! Sometimes all the way through, and sometimes she wakes up 3 times! It's always different. Bedtime is definitely still a struggle and it takes around 2 - 3 hours for her to go to sleep (even though she's exhausted). This is very hard on mom and dad as it takes away all of our evening. We're looking forward to more consistency!
Avery is definitely developing a strong little personality and knows what she wants when she wants it (we won't mention who she takes after). We are enjoying her so much and love her more every day! We're so grateful for a healthy, beautiful little girl.