16 months

Our little tornado just had her 16 month unbirthday!  She sure is growing up fast and changing every day!  Here is a little video of her latest words.


One thing that cracks me up about Avery is how meticulous that she is. When she gets something out, she has to put it back exactly where she got it and how she got it out.  She has a mild case of OCD already.  She is also obsessed with shoes!  She loves having them on and when she sees them they have to be on.

She has completely become a little toddler in every sense of the word.  She loves to do things on her own and has a bit of defiance in her when she wants to.  She sure has a mind of her own which is a good thing but at times it can be challenging.

Avery still is on the two nap schedule and I am not sure when that will change.  The last week or so I have had to wake her up from her afternoon nap at 5:30 as she is still knocked out then.  I love that when I go in to wake her up, she wakes up happy.  She makes the world a better place!  I can not imagine life without her.  She adds so much joy to our lives!

As I am writing this, Ben and I are sitting in the airport in Miami waiting to leave for the Bahamas for his brothers wedding.  We will be gone for 10 days which is by far the longest that we have been away.  We are going to miss her like crazy but she is in great hands with Nana.  Thank God for Grandparents.  What would we do without them!  I will post some pictures throughout the week if we have time.

Here are some pics from the week!

15 month check up!

Avery had her 15 month check up last week and I am happy to report that she continues to thrive and be a healthy baby/toddler.
Weight - 25.2
Height - 32.5
Head - 18.25
She got three shots and it really is quite interesting how much more aware she is not because as soon as the nurse comes in with the tray she freaks out and starts crying. I had to hold down her arms and the nurse held down her legs and when she was done, the nurse said "she is stronger than some 4 year olds that I give shots to." Yes, that's our little tornado!

One thing that we are really working on is limiting our use of the word "no" since Avery loves to say it now. At first it was cute, and in fact it still is, but it is going to get old really fast. She says it like this "nononononon" in her little voice. She also likes to shake her finger no at you but mainly that was taught that so that she could tell Sophey not to lick her!

We are also working sharing. Many times she will walk right up to a kid and take a toy out of their hands or get mad if someone else is doing something that she wants to do. I know this is just the age but boy, it can be challenging! I guess this is where the tough parenting starts and it only gets harder from here. When she is bossy or gets mad we try to redirect that to have her be nice and give love and most of the time she leans in for a hug or kiss so I know she gets it, she just has to be obedient now!

We had a nice mothers day with Ben's parents and sister and nephew.  I have learned to take my Ipad places so that she can stay entertained a bit longer in restaurants.  What would we do without technology!

The weather is getting nice so we are spending quite some time outside...

Aves schedule has stayed the same for some time now as she goes to bed at 8 and wakes up around 7.  She is still taking 2 naps a day around 10 and 3.  I think she is close to moving to one nap but for now we are still at two!  She loves her sleep and loves her crib, blanket, and bunny!

Here are some other pics from the week!

15 months

What a busy last few weeks.  We have had our hands full with visitors, travel, sickness, Easter, and a very busy little toddler! 

I have sat down to write this post a few times but it seems like there is something that always pulls me away before I am finished.  So, needless to say it is time to play a little catch up.

About two weeks ago, my parents and my Dad’s two friends came out to Vegas to go to a shooting camp in Pahrump which is about 30 miles past our house.  Since all of the hotels were sold out, everyone stayed at our house.  We had a pretty packed house for about 5 days but it worked our just fine.  Luckily Ben had his brothers bachelor party that same weekend so there was one less person in the house.

Right before my parents came out, Avery got her first bout of sickness.  We have been so lucky that she has never been sick other than a little cough or runny nose here and there.  Well she has officially been sick now.  It started out as a little cough which then turned in to a runny nose and a fever.  Tuesday of that week she got a fever which we kept down by medicine.  That night she woke up in the middle of the night just crying and moaning and I got her up and she was burning up.  It was the first time since she was just about a few months old that she has woken up in the middle of the night so I knew it was pretty bad.  I took off her pj’s and put her in a tshirt, gave her some meds, and she went back to sleep. 

Over the next few days, she had a plethora of tests done on her from strep test to chest xrays to looking for an ear infection.  At the end of it all, she ended up having a viral infection on her chest which heals itself without a prescription.  They did put her on a nebulizer to help break up the chest congestion.  When we first did it, she hated it which was not surprising since she does not sit still.  By the third time, she learned to tolerate it quite well and was such a trooper.  I think she realized that it helped her quite a bit.  We did end up having to take her to the ER on the last day of her being sick for what we think was a febrile seizure.  Thank God my mom was home with her and was there to know what it was and what to do.  What would we do without our moms?  Our little trooper is back to her normal crazy self.  I did like the extra loves and cuddles I got while she was under the weather but I am glad that she is back to normal.

Aves and I flew to SD the week of Easter to spend a few days and to spend Easter there.  I actually went to a bachelorette party in Palms Springs for my bestie Jamie and left Aves in SD with my mom.  I got lots of updates and pics while I was gone.  Ben had a baseball tournament that weekend so he was not able to come.  We had a good time in Palm Springs and I came back first thing on Easter to spend the day with my family.  Avery got a Easter basket from Aunt Christi and Uncle Grant and an Elmo Easter basked from Aunt Beckie.  We did an Easter egg hunt and she caught on pretty quick.  I think she just liked getting the MM’s out of the eggs! 

Late that night, I took the red eye to Boston and have actually been here all week.  I actually don’t come home until Monday as I am headed to Nashville to run in the half marathon there.  I am meeting my friend Tara from Atlanta and my soon to be sister in law there and we are planning on a fun filled weekend.  I do miss Aves like crazy as this is the longest I have been away from her.  I also have not seen Sophey in almost two weeks and miss her like crazy too!

As far as Avery updates go, she still is a little turbo machine.  She still sleeps like a champ and for the most part takes two naps a day still.  I think that every day she says a new word.  Her new one is to say no no and shake her head.  At least she can tell us what she doesn’t want now.  She still loves to “try” to jump although it looks like a monkey flapping its arms.  One of these days she will get air. 

We have found some new things that she eats which has expanded her menu so that’s good.  She loves to be outside and go to the park and play with her water table.  She loves to smell flowers and put rocks in her mouth.  She has a new little friend in the neighborhood that likes to come play with her and she sure has a good time with Olivia!