I'm well overdue for Avery's five month post...maybe I can cast some blame on a little thing called sleep deprivation?  Upon Avery's arrival at 4 months, those lovely 5-6 hour sleep at night stretches departed.  It's not a compliant- just an objective statement.  I love being Avery's momma- and if it comes with some sleep deprivation, I'll take that too.  But it does have it's effect on functionality.  And you become a ridiculous analyzer- maybe it was the PJs?  Maybe the temperature, position, bath before bed...the list goes on...And then there's the different sleep philosophies...the cry it out camp (don't mind the folks that live in the apartment next to yours that get to endure this experience with you- I'm sorry neighbor) and the pat and shush camp (often effective...but not a sure thing) and the crawl in the crib with your baby camp...hmmm...I might be the only member of this camp but one late night it seemed like the right thing to do?  My kind mother-in-law reminded me that this is temporary.  Temporary. That helped.  Most 16 year olds sleep through the night right?  Right?  We made it through a rough couple of weeks and thankfully those longer stretches returned for the most part.  On to more fun things....Avery had two holidays first come in this past month- Halloween and Thanksgiving.  We were unexpectedly in San Antonio over Halloween, without her costume, so we had a little Halloween take 2 when we returned home.  She was a cute pumpkin.  Zach's mom and brother came in for Thanksgiving.  We all woke up early and ran (Avery rode comfortably in her stroller) in the Grub Run at the Texas Motor Speedway.  Very fun!  Avery has also gotten to see her friend Luke Hogan a couple of times.  Luke's mom Mary had to work on Thanksgiving so Luke's dad Steven and Luke came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. It's been so fun to see them both grow- and now become much more aware of each other...reaching out to touch each other, babbling to each other...pretty cute.

Here's the rundown of what Avery's been up to:

-Grabbing those sweet feet

-Prop sitting

-Loves looking in the mirror

-LOVES looking at pictures of herself, especially on the iphone

-Still loves kicking in the bath, practically kicks half the water out of her tub

- Favorite song: Turkey Tom- as initially sung by her Gammy...it has become our secret weapon to combat fusses, I have no idea why she has such an affinity for this song...but it works.  Every time. (almost)

-Favorite book: Tails and Whose nose?

-Favorite toy: still loves dolly, owl and blue bug, but also inch worm and an antique silver rattle my mom gave us (that was hers and mine)

-Gives us lots of laughs and smiles

-Verbalizing more and making more babbling sounds- and getting LOUDER

-Loves her tongue (as you'll see in our Christmas card photo)

-Everything is going to her mouth...hands, blankets, toys...

We're still enjoying Fort Worth with walks and runs (I'm trying) along the Trinity trails, seeing friends in DFW, and being a part of Fort Worth Presbyterian.  Zach continues to travel frequently to work in Midland and Andrews.  Construction has started on the practice in Midland- so it's been nice to see some progress.

Good morning!

Sweet pumpkin

Playing with cute Luke at dinner

Grub run on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day with Luke

Hanging out with Uncle Bailey

Loving her tongue

5 months!