Thanksgiving Weekend

We enjoyed a nice long weekend. I had 5 days off and Gabe took off tomorrow so he had 5 days off as well.

Friday we went to Buffalo for a visit. We haven't been there in about a month so we were due for a visit. We didn't do much at all Friday-just relaxed at my Mom's house. Avery got to wear some new holiday clothes since Thanksgiving was officially over. Her onesie says "Snow much fun":

This is her petting my Aunt's dog:

On Saturday, my Uncle Joe and Aunt Marion stopped by to visit:

Then Gabe and I met my Dad for lunch. Avery was napping so she didn't go with us. We went to Kelly's Korner-awesome roast beef sandwiches and really good wings as well-definitely worth a try if you've never been!
After lunch, we went over to Megan and Todd's house for a visit. Avery and Noah played a little:


A cute one of Noah:

We got the kids on the couch for some photos as well:


This one looks like Avery is pushing him over:


While at my Mom's, she got Avery laughing pretty good! I took a little video of it-it was so cute! She has never laughed that much at one time:

We came home late Saturday. Today I pulled out the Christmas decorations and got a few things put up. I'll finish them during the week sometime. Avery and I did some shopping this afternoon and that's about it! Just getting ready to get back to work tomorrow.

Five Months Old!

Today Avery turned 5 months old! She is getting so big and seems to be changing every day!

In the past 2 weeks she has really gotten to like Jerri the cat. She watches her like a hawk anytime Jerri is in the room. She tries to pet her and gets really excited when she sees her. Jerri is pretty tolerant of her and when she has had enough, she'll walk away.

She's still waking up about twice a night to eat which has been the norm for the past month or so. She has had 2 nights lately where she was awake for 3-4 hours overnight-that was brutal.

She holds her head up very well now and loves to sit up (assisted of course). She babbles quite a bit and blows raspberries a lot now too. She's just too darn cute!
Here are her pics we took today:


This one cracks me up:

Happy 1st Thanksgiving Avery!

Another first holiday for Avery to celebrate-Thanksgiving! Today we were thinking how last Thanksgiving we spilled the news about us expecting a baby! It's amazing to think it was a year ago already!

We typically alternate Thanksgiving between Gabe's family and mine. This year was our year to go to Buffalo, however my Aunt had to work today so it would have just been my Mom, Gabe and I for dinner. So instead, my Mom decided to come out this way and go to my in-laws' house with us.

We got up this morning and had some cinnamon rolls while watching the Macy's parade. My Mom came out around 2:30 to go to Thanksgiving dinner with us. We all went over to my in-laws' house around 3:30. The usual crew was there-Molly, Mark, Owen, Bianca, and Mark's parents, Ela and Richard. We of course had way too much food. We said we set the record this year for the amount of side dishes and desserts! We counted 12 side dishes in addition to the turkey and I think we had 7 desserts! It was a ton of food and it was all very, very good! We stayed until a little before 8pm-it was past Avery's bedtime so she wasn't in the best of moods when we left. Overall it was a very nice day though-and now 3 more days of the weekend to enjoy! Here are a few pictures from today:
Family photo:

Avery in her Santa hat with Mommy:

Avery over at Pa and Grandma's:

Bianca:

Owen and Pa:

Avery getting into her PJs:

Close up!

Big Girl Car Seat

Avery is movin' on up in the world! Over the weekend we got her "big girl" (aka convertible) car seats installed. Her infant carrier only went up to 26" and at her doctors appointment last month she was already 25". I figured by Christmas she would be too tall to stay in the infant carrier.

I called around about installation dates and the place we went last time had one in December, but it's the weekend we'll be in Buffalo. I called another location and they were having one this past weekend. So Gabe and I talked about it-do we do it now or do we wait until January? We decided to bite the bullet and get them done now while the weather is still nice, etc. So Saturday we went to the Brighton Fire House and had them installed.

My Mom got us the Britax Marathon for our shower gift (Thanks Mom!) so that one is in my car. After doing some research, we bought a Recaro Signo for and that one is in Gabe's car. I bought it off of AlbeeBaby and got a really great deal on it.

So far, the convertible seats are somewhat of a hassle. You don't realize how convenient the infant carrier is until you're not using it anymore. Avery isn't sitting up on her own yet, so she can't sit in a shopping cart-so we have to drag along the carrier to use while shopping. We were also using a BundleMe to keep her warm in the infant carrier, which eliminated the use of jackets. Now? We can't do that so we're going to have to start bundling her up just to transport her to/from the car. Plus when you have arms full of things to load/unload into the car, it's much more challenging. It definitely will be an adjustment for awhile-for all of us. Avery's not too fond of the seats yet-she normally would fall asleep in the car, but hasn't in the new seats yet. That scenario is another pitfall-she would fall asleep and we could bring her in the house undisturbed and she would continue napping. Now we can't do that. Like I said, a lot of adjusting for all of us to get used to. But, I guess we'll survive through it!

But doesn't she look cute in her new seat? (And those cheeks! I want to bite them!)

Here's a pic of her playing with Elmo the other day:

And a self portrait of us:

I'm Addicted

My name is Nicole and I am an addict.

An addict? Yeah I might be!

My addiction is not drugs or alcohol or porn or cleanliness or exercise.

My addiction? Peanut butter!

Anyone who knows me knows I love peanut butter. I always have for as long as I can remember. Anytime we go for ice cream-it has to have peanut butter in it. Dessert? If there's a peanut butter option, it's mine. Bananas? With peanut butter. Apples? Sometimes with peanut butter.

I think the addiction is a recent thing though. I've always loved peanut butter, but could go awhile without having it. Now? Not so much.

I think it started when I got pregnant. You're supposed to have a lot of protein while pregnant. I don't eat a lot of protein. Yes I eat meat, but not every day and not every meal. If I have meat, it's only at dinner and like I said, it's not a daily thing. So when I got pregnant I became more conscious about my eating habits and making sure I got enough of what I needed. Protein included. Well of course peanut butter is an option to give you protein. Let's just say that I think I ate it almost every day.

And now? Now I want it every day! It's like an addiction. Some days I'll find myself thinking of how I can incorporate it into my day! Pathetic, I know! Do I want it on toast? A sandwich? On apples? On graham crackers? On ice cream? Popcorn? Pretzels? How about right off of the spoon? Yeah, it's getting bad!

And to top it off, I found something to fuel my addiction. One thing I've always loved is going to an ice cream place and getting a peanut butter sundae-ya know, ice cream with peanut butter sauce, whipped cream, candy, etc? Sounds terrible right? Well, I could never find a peanut butter topping to buy so I could have it at home. I tried numerous times to make one at home, but it never came out tasting the same-the consistency was off, the sweetness wasn't there, etc. Then about 2-3 months ago I found this:

Oh heaven of all heavens! I was killing time at Wegmans (always a bad thing to do) and came across this right near the peanut butter (not near the ice cream toppings like I've always looked!). Of course I had to try it! Let's just say it's amazing! If you don't want to become addicted, DON'T BUY IT! It's that good! I've tried refraining myself and maybe use it 1-2 times a week (but of course eat regular peanut butter almost daily!) and we're finishing our 2nd jar right now so I guess we're doing ok. I will tell you, this will always be in my house-ALWAYS! As long as I'm an addict, it'll have a place in my kitchen cupboard.

Static!

Tonight Gabe and I were playing with Avery and her hair was getting all full of static. So we had some fun with it and had to take some pictures! I think they turned out pretty funny!



These I took of her in her exersaucer yesterday-she's starting to like it more each time we put her in it!

Interesting Night....

We had quite an interesting night last night.

After work, I picked up Avery from my in-laws. They informed me that she hadn't pooped all day-which usually means I'll get a nice blowout poop at some point which results in a ruined outfit or two. I get home and tell Gabe that and he tells me that she didn't poop overnight either. Great-an even bigger one on its way. It was bath night so Gabe went to get her bath water ready as I got her undressed, etc. Still no poop (very unusual for her)! Gabe comes and gets Avery from me to give her her bath. I'm in her room getting clothes out for the next day, etc. I hear Gabe talking to her in the bathroom:

"Oh Avery does the water feel nice and warm? Are you doing whizzers? OH MY GOD-she's pooping! She's pooping! Nik come here!" (Insert a different word for pooping)

So I go in and there's poop floating everywhere in the bath tub! So I scooped her out and we drained the tub and started all over!

We get her to bed and I go to bed around 10. Lately she's been sleeping until around 3-4am before she eats. I wake up to her screaming-look at the clock-11:30pm! Ugh...so I let her cry a few minutes to see if she calms down. Nope-instead she screams harder and harder. All of a sudden it dawns on me-I wonder if she rolled and is stuck on her stomach? I jump out of bed and sure enough, there she is stuck on her tummy! It happened again at 4am as well and when Gabe went in to wake her up she was on her tummy as well! I knew this day would come! Now she needs to learn how to roll from her tummy to her back so she can get herself out of a jam! Hopefully soon!

Happy 2nd Birthday Bianca!

Today is my neice's 2nd birthday so tonight we went to my Sister-in-law's house for her party. We were greeted by my neice and nephew-how cute is her outfit?!

Avery wore one of Bianca's old dresses for the occasion:


We had a very nice dinner then opened gifts. My in-laws even brought a gift for Avery. Gabe opened it and you can see how entranced she was by it:

The gift was a glow worm and so far I think Avery likes it!
My neice is really into the movie "Toy Story" so my in-laws got her some figurines from the movie. This is her opening up Woody:

She also loves dolls and she got a new one tonight:

Gabe and I got her a trunk full of dress up clothes:


Avery was busy eating her glow worm:

And watching it play:

Bianca's Shrek cake that she picked out and couldn't wait to eat!

Lighting the candles-she was so excited!

Owen and Bianca:

Singing "Happy Birthday":

Owen helped blow out the candles:

Avery had a little taste of frosting from Daddy (Mommy wasn't too thrilled about it):

We had a very nice evening at the party-everything was very nice and we all had a good time! Happy Birthday Bianca! We hope you had a wonderful day!

Cute to the Core

Oh yes she is!