Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Happy Birthday Avery Grace!

Happy 12 months!
Our sweet baby Grace is one year old today!  She actually gave me a great present by sleeping through the night again ( 4th consecutive night...record setting).  And this was the happy sight when I walked in to get her this morning...


 We went to music class, the fabulous Midland mall, and then home for a 3 HOUR nap!- who knew the girl had that kind of napping in her???  Zach came home from working in Andrews and we took Avery to get her first ice cream (frozen yogurt).  It went a little something like this...

Pre-ice cream






Post ice cream
Post ice cream swim

So I think she had a great first birthday.  It's been a good day for Zach and I to think back on this past year and on this day a year ago when we first met our girl.  I went back and read my journal from one year ago...I had written on June 25th, 2012- which I had labeled post due date day 9.  In this entry I wrote, "we're hopeful tomorrow will be Avery's birthday- and that we will hold our answer to prayer in our arms."  And we did get to hold her that next day, the answer to so many prayers,- and praise God for his grace abundant- we've held her every day since.

We're looking forward to celebrating her birthday a little more with family and friends over the next week.

Here's what she's been up to over this past month:

Crawling, crawling. crawling

Pulling up to stand lots

Mama is still her favorite babble, sometimes directed at me...more often directed at the iphone

Loves her new trick of taking off her bib

Really enjoys using her shaker and music sticks she got from her music class

Has been sleeper better at night...yay!

Buddy bear

Some good quality Lego time with her daddy on Father's Day

Celebrating Tenley's frist birthday in Abilene



Bear had been surprisingly sweet to her...or maybe just tolerant

My helper



A good reading place

A good relaxing place


New instruments from music class

Let the curls begin....

Trying out her standing legs

Beating the west Texas heat!











Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Home Sweet Midland

Keeping with tradition, I am again late on posting.  This past month has been busy, busy in several ways.  We kicked off Avery's 10th month by moving to our new home here in Midland.  Zach continues to work in Fort Worth for part of every week so he is busy traveling back and forth.  The construction of the his new office in Midland continues- we're told it will be done the end of July.  We hope so.  I've been trying to get us unpacked and settled in the new house.  I've had requests for photos and when it's photo ready I will post some.  Right now, it is far, far from it.  The busiest of all has been Miss Avery.  Shortly after we moved to Midland, she started crawling.  I've been a touch anxious about her lack of crawling (the PT side of me...even though I know it's still within a normal time frame).
Once she started though, it hasn't taken her long to get the hang of this whole crawling thing.  And she is busy.  Now there are all sort of things to get into.  All sorts.

Here's what else she's been up to:

20 lbs!

CRAWLING!

Pointing- one hand, both hands, she is constantly pointing at something

Babbling, has just started with mama- at me!- at dogs, at the HEB cashier, at large trucks driving by...

Loves looking at books and turning pages.  Favorite books right now are First 100 words, Easter book with flaps, Eric Carle book with sound buttons

We made our first craft together- little water bottles filled with pom poms, large beads and sequins.  These have become some of her favorite toys- the more beads, and the louder, the better.

Hugs- Avery is a hugger.  She gives us sweet hugs- and also hugs her stuffed animals.  Her favorites continue to be Lenny the Lamb and her pink puppy.

SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT 8PM-7:30AM!- Amazing.  Now this happens on average 1-2 nights/wk, but it is delightful when it does.

Sippy cup- she's got the hang out it.

Sign language- Avery's definitely got "more" down.  I'm fearing this might become an issue in the future.  "All done" is coming along.


Midland.  As we anticipated- Midland is dusty.  And windy.  And flat.  But it we've also spent the most time outside in the evenings of any place that we've lived.  The majority of evenings here are lovely. Little to no humidity, pretty sunsets, light breezes.  Zach and I sit out on our front porch, often with a little wine...or ice cream...or both.  We've really been enjoying that time.  Zach's practice here is going well, considering only being here 2 days a week.  We're encouraged by the growth out here and are really looking forward to moving into the new building.  We've been visiting churches quite a bit.  It's been a little challenging, especially since we moved from a church we really loved.  We're excited though to get plugged in and be apart of Christ's body in Midland.






Happy 11 months!

Telling this baby all about it

First swim!

Homemade shakers

Hugs for Lenny the lamb


Having fun at Luke's 1st birthday party!





Relaxing


Playing with the birthday boy









my sous chef




Hugging pink puppy

Exploring at Janey and Greg's in Waco

"Bumping heads" with Grandma Dot



Fun Memorial Day get away with Gammy at the Gaylord Texan









Gaylord Texan waterpark!











More fun at the Gaylord Texan