Avery is 8 months!!! (a little late, I know!!)

Each month just gets better and better! She is so much fun and every day she can do more and more. In some ways, it is sad because she is growing up so fast!

Finally she got her bottom tooth! Her sleep got all messed up, she got a runny nose, and she was super fussy. When it finally came through, everything went back to normal. She likes to chew on plastic objects and feel it against her tooth. She makes funny faces while she rubs her tongue against her tooth, too! She is eating a variety of pureed foods (made by Mommy). She enjoys sweet potatoes, prunes, and carrots the best. She likes yellow squash the least (but will still eat it). She likes sweet peas, zucchini, bananas, and peaches. So far, we have gotten everything fresh and made our own food for her. I enjoy doing it and it is so easy! Next I want to try avacados!!

She is still comando crawling on her tummy. She can usually get to where she wants to go with this method and often moves across the room to hang on the plant stand or grab the lamp cords. Time to baby-proof the house! She gets up on all fours but just goes back down onto her tummy.

Sleeping is good. She goes to bed at a consistent time every night and sleeps about 12 hours, waking up 1-2 times. I can totally handle that!

She is playing with a lot of different toys. She enjoys toys that make noises and light up. She likes to look at books. She likes to chew on her rubber ducky in the bath. Um...she still likes our cell phones and remote control.

We took a long vacation in Aug first heading to the mountains of NC to spend a week with the Baldwin Grandparents and then to NY/PA to visit the Stones/Westons. In NC we went hiking at Grayson-Highland State park in VA. Avery got to ride in her fancy new backpack Daddy bought. She liked it a lot and even slept 40 minutes in it. The hike was great, but afterward she got stomach sick and scared me to death! She was Ok, though! We went bike riding down the Virginia Creeper Trail, a 17 mile bike ride with Avery in tow in the little trailer. The trailer was made for kids 12 mo and older so we had to rig her up so she would sit upright. She enjoyed it at first, then hated it, the fell asleep, then hated it again, and then liked it. It took us over 3 hours to complete it. It was alittle much for a 7 month old! But, the trail was beautiful and we will do it again sometime when Avery is older!! Then we were off to NY. We spent time with Grandma/Grandpa Stone, Uncle Luke and Aunt Emillie. Avery enjoyed the new swing hanging in the backyard. We went walking in Otsinengo (?) park. We spent time with Mike, Kathy, Tyler, McKenna. We attempted trout fishing in rural PA. No fish, broken ankle instead! We got to spend time with the Stone family and the Weston family. I was excited to have 4 generations of Stones there!! I really enjoyed getting to meet the rest of the Stone family and for Avery to meet everyone, too. Thanks everyone for making that a great and memorable trip for us!

Highlights from this month:

Avery meeting the Stone and Weston families, esp Great Grandpa and Grandma Stone

Bottom tooth coming in

Getting up on hands/knees

Eating purred veggies and fruits

The VA Creeper Trail!

Too long road trip

Hiking in the mountains, Avery's hiking backpack

Big "blow-outs" at the Creeper trail and at nice restaraunt in Jefferson

Broken ankle

Spending time with the Buck family

Dinner at No. 5 in Binghamton

Starting Avery back to daycare and us back to work

Visit up North to Gma and Gpa Stones

Spending time with Gma on the porch

Swinging at Otsiningo Park in Binghampton, NY

First real time to get her feet in the grass. She was very apprehensive.

Cuddling with Gma.

Mountain Trip

Jeff trout fishing at Big Helton Creek in Ashe County, NC.

Avery was such a trooper on our 17 mile bike ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail. She was too small for the trailer and kept bouncing around! When we finally got her comfortable, she fell asleep. It was a beautiful ride.

Hiking at Grayson-Highland State Park in Virginia. Avery's first time in her backpack. She loved it and eventually fell asleep!

Where have we been??

I cant believe I havent posted anything since she turned 7 months?? And here she is, almost 8 months! Lets see....what all has happened?? Well, Avery FINALLY cut her first tooth! We've been waiting for these little rascals since she was 3 months old! We'll know better next time! It was a rough week or so before the little tooth popped through. She was fussy and wasnt sleeping well. Things got better once it sprouted. Now, I think she is working on the other bottom front tooth. I guess Id better get used to all this, it takes forever for all their teeth to come in.
She has been doing the army crawl for a while now. Now she gets up on all 4s and scoots forward. She cant quite get the coordination to alternate hands and knees, but she's close!
We just returned from a long trip first to the NC mountains with GPa and Gma Baldwin and then to NY/PA to visit Gma and Gpa Stone and Jeff's extended family. We learned many things on this trip. First, 10 days is too long to be away from home. 2) 10 hours is too long with a 7 month old. 3) 17 miles is too long for a bike ride with a 7 month old, but apparently not too long for a 80 yr old man (go dad!!) 4) Trout fishing can be a very dangerous sport!
We had a wonderful time on our trip. Thanks to everyone who entertained us. It was great to meet all of Jeff's Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. It was extra special for Avery to meet her Great Grandparents, too! I will post pics from our trip soon!

7 Months

It is getting increasingly hard to get her to sit still for these pictures. She ended up wrestling with the stuffed animals during this particular photo shoot! Which leads me into what Avery was up to this month. She is not crawling yet, but she is definitely mobile! She does the army crawl and scoots towards things. She is able to turn herself around 360 degrees when she is on her tummy. We have more that once left her somewhere, ran into another room to get something, and come back with her a couple feet away from where we left her, clutching to the legs of a plant stand or wires to our phone chargers! Time to baby proof the house and stop leaving her unattended! FUN!! Imagine when she is actually crawling! In addition to her increased mobility, she continues to enjoy babbling (consonants d, g mostly) and has taken a liking to growling and high pitched sqeeks. She is still working on her bottom teeth, they are giving her much more trouble these days. I am ready for them to break through and maybe give her some relief! Soon, I hope! She is eating oatmeal cereal like a champ and has tried prunes, sweet peas, and yellow squash. She loves the prunes but the peas and squash took a little time. Next veggie is sweet potatoes. I have enjoyed making my own baby food and consider my first attempts a success!

Another big experience we've had this month is Avery attending daycare. She has gone a few days for a few hours and seems to love it. She is happy when I leave her and I even showed up to find her sleeping in her little crib a few times (so sweet). They say she is good and likes to "talk" to the other babies. We are easing her into a full day, she will start that in Aug when I go back to work :(

Avery got to spend some time with my BFF, Amy, and her husband Bayron. They got to practice for their own little bundle they are expecting in Feb. But they really dont need the practice, they are naturals!

Thats about it for now. The months keep flying by....

Highlights

Mobility!!! Army crawling/scooting/rolling

Eating veggies

Teething!!

Visit with Amy and Bayron

Visit with The Steagals

4th of July (Mommy and Daddy got to go out!)

Beach trips (unsuccessful!)

Another ear infection

Happy 4th of July

We cooked out and played with our friends on the 4th. Avery hated the kiddie pool as much as she hated the ocean. She was terrified. Im not sure why she is so afraid, she loves a bath. We hope she overcomes this. I never thought my child would be a scaredy cat!

We celebrated with Erin and her family on Sunday. Avery was quite amused with the watermelon.

Avery preferred to lay out on the towel rather than get in the pool.

Our family photo before Daddy and I went out to celebrate...

We had a great holiday weekend with all our friends. It was great weather and good times.

Happy 4th of July~

Life's a Beach-Part 2

Avery getting her toes in the sand with Erin

Avery is very apprehensive of the water. She gets very nervous and clings to me tightly.

But she sure looks cute in her bathing suit and cover up!