Twenty Months Old!

Avery turned 20 months old yesterday! It's hard to believe we'll celebrate another birthday in just a few short months! Where has the time gone?!

Avery is still eating pretty well. Lately her meals are smaller than they were-I don't know if she's just not as hungry or if she's just not interested in food, but they're definitely not the huge meals she used to eat.

Her sleeping has been all over the place. A few weeks ago she was a sleeping machine for a few days-13+hours at night and some days she took a 4 hour nap on top of that!! Then the following week she went to the opposite end of the spectrum-about 10hours overnight and would fight taking a nap. All I know is bedtime has been a struggle lately. She used to go down very easily around 7:30pm and now if we get her down around 8, she'll still play in her crib for an hour (or more!). There have been a few nights where I go to bed and she had just fallen asleep. I think she's becoming a night owl already! Her naps have been pretty good-usually around 2 or 2.5 hours which is great.

She's still sporting the size 3 diapers and size 4's for overnight. Still in 12 or 18month clothes. She's wearing a size 5.5 shoe now.

One milestone this month was getting her first haircut!

I also took her out in the snow for the first time!

We also said goodbye to our daycare provider which was sad for us to do.

Avery has started counting! A few weeks ago she counted to three and just yesterday she counted to five! She also knows a lot of colors (purple, pink, black, white, green, red, blue, yellow, brown, orange)! She also likes to try to pull us up from a seated position to a standing position.

Some new words this month: "pink", "hello", "Jerri" (our cat), "peaches", "backpack", "map", "pull", "yellow", "pizza", "ketchup", "seahorse", "green", "water", "faucet", "rock". You also say some new phrases: "miss Daddy/Mommy", "bye bye _____", "hello ______", "rocka baby", "no Mommy", "Mommy nice". I know she says a lot more, but it's hard to think of things when I have a chance to write them down! She is quite the chatterbox these days!

I remembered to take her pictures just before she went to bed, so she's in her PJ's for this month!


Kisses:

I told her to smile!

My two favorites...

The side eye:

and showing off her teeth!

Happy Birthday Carly!

Yesterday we went to Julie and Richie's house to celebrate Carly's 3rd birthday! It's hard to believe she's 3 already-that just flew by!

Here's her pretty cake (sorry it's turned)...it was a princess themed party: Avery and Daddy (yes she's chewing on a plastic knife):

They had a nice spread of appetizers and food. Then we watched Carly open her gifts....this one was ours:

We were laughing because they have a Bumbo seat. We never bought one and Avery was loving it. She kept trying to get herself in it (the very hard way of standing up in it) and carry the thing around, which is pretty heavy! It was a riot!

Gabe and I got to hold little Brayden...although he's not so little anymore! He looks like he's smiling here!

And Avery gave him tons of kisses which was so adorable!

Then it was time to sing!!

When she blew out her candles, she kept waving her hand around to try and blow them out. It was so funny!

Avery gave Carly a big birthday hug before we left:

Happy Birthday Carly! We had so much fun at your party!!

Fall Softly

Today started like most days do....

Avery woke up, I got dressed and went in to get her. It was snowing really bad out, so we decided to stay in for the day. She had breakfast. We watched Sesame Street, which she loved. Did lots of playing. Then it was time for lunch. After lunch came nap time.

While she napped I got some stuff done around the house. Gabe got out of work early, so he came home shortly after 4. Avery was still asleep (surprisingly) so he went outside to do some shoveling.

It was getting close to 4:30 and I didn't want Avery to sleep ALL day long. So I headed upstairs to get her. Just as I was outside her door, I heard that she was awake. I went in to get her and pretty quickly she started saying "milk". She's pretty impatient so once she started asking, I took off her sleep sack and scooped her up and grabbed her sneakers in my hand. We headed downstairs....

And it happened....

I somehow missed the last step.

It happened so fast.

All I knew was my knees hit the floor hard and I was looking at Avery. Somehow my left hand clasped the side of her head, but it didn't matter.

I heard the thud of her head hitting hardwood floors.

And the scream that came out of her little body.

Again I scooped her up and ran to the front door. All I could hear was coughing and screaming. I flew open the door and banged on it loudly. Gabe came running in and I said, "I fell down the stairs with her."

We sat on the couch for what felt like an eternity....me rubbing her head and kissing her repeatedly. I kept checking to make sure she was ok-can she move her hands? Move her legs? Is she bleeding from anywhere?

She cried. I cried.

I have always feared falling with her, especially outside when it's icy. That's the one thing I'm terrified of. Never did I think it would happen in our house. Something so silly. I go up and down those steps numerous times a day without thinking. I can navigate them in pitch dark and do that everyday I get ready for work. How did I miss a step?!

Thankfully she is fine. After she got the crying out of her system, she carried on like normal. I don't know what was worse-her hitting her head or how much it just freaked her out. I feel terrible about it.

Parents are supposed to protect their kids, not be the ones who harm them. I know it was an accident, but I still feel horrible. I'm just glad we're both ok....it could have been a lot worse.

So if you fall this weekend, may you fall softly....

Fun in the Snow!

Today we had absolutely nothing planned. I wanted to get out of the house in some way, otherwise it makes for a long day of being inside.

Avery's "old" daycare buddy, Amelia, was nice enough to lend us some snowpants (to take to her new daycare which basically requires them). I saw the sun shining outside and asked Avery if she wanted to go play in the snow. She of course said "Yesh!"

Now let me start by saying that we didn't buy her snowpants this year. We really had no intentions of her playing outside...mainly because we didn't want to be out there freezing with her! Yes, bad parents...shame, shame! I was going to buy them for her next year when she might be more into sledding, etc. But this year I knew she'd just be walking and that's it, so we didn't bother. And when we take Avery outside, we typically carry her from the door to the car. She really hasn't experienced snow much to our knowledge.

So, it was time to get her all geared up.... And out in the snow!! Here are her first few steps, checking things out!

Squinting from the sun!

At first she was hesitant and wanted to be carried a bit. The funny thing was that like 2 minutes after we came outside, so did our neighbors who have a 14mo. old! Didn't plan it or anything and the girls had a blast! As soon as they came out, Avery was all about walking around and exploring! Here she is walking up the neighbors driveway:

And running down it:

Going into a mound of snow:

Taking a seat:

I made her a few snowballs and she was in heaven! She kept asking for more!

We stayed out for over an hour. Near the end, she pulled her gloves off and was still touching the snow, so after a few minutes I took her inside. I didn't want her hands numb from the cold! Of course when we had to go in, she wasn't very happy! It was the perfect day to go out though-even though it was cold, the sun warmed things up and it was enjoyable!

End of Another Weekend

We had another very busy weekend!

On Friday, Avery and I went to the library for story time...only to find out that it was cancelled. We ended up staying for over an hour and played in the play room. She still had a good time! After her nap, while playing, she decided to lie down for a bit-she would pretend to snore like she was asleep! It was so cute!

And she was having fun poking her head out of her tent and yelling, "Boo!"

Friday night I went to our cousin's house for a wine tasting party which was a lot of fun! It was good to have a girls night and get out of the house for a bit!

Saturday we went to Buffalo for the day. I met my friend Megan at Condrell's for ice cream (YUM) for a bit. It was nice visiting with her for awhile! Then Gabe and I celebrated Valentine's Day a little late...we went to Left Bank for dinner while my Mom and Aunt babysat for us. It was another delicious meal there. I don't think I've had a bad one yet! Definitely one of my favorite restaurants to go to!

This morning we had a playdate with Avery's old daycare crew. We got together and had breakfast and let the kids play. It was a lot of fun!

Here's Avery sitting at the kids table:

Avery and Josie (they'll be going to the new daycare together):

Amelia, Avery and Josie coloring on the windows:
Dance party time!

When Avery napped, I went grocery shopping. Then when she woke up, we all took a trip to Sam's Club. And now we're just winding down before bedtime and the start of another week!

What's Next?!

I'm starting to think that someone doesn't want us to sell our house. Or better yet, they want both Gabe and I to have a breakdown of some sort while doing it.

Everyone knows when you sell your house you have a lot to do to get it ready to sell. Decluttering, packing, and any other things that need fixing along the way.

We have a decent amount of painting to do-kitchen, sun room, hall going upstairs, our bedroom and the trim in all of those places. We also have to tackle our backyard and have a TON of landscaping done back there. This stuff we expected.

It seems like every week, something is happening to our house to create more work for us....like I said, leading us to a breakdown soon!

We have a border in the kitchen that needs to come down and according to my Mom, must have been put up with super glue. She said she has never seen a border so hard to take down. She's already spent about two hours on it and maybe got 2feet of it down. Not fun. And how is this creating more work? Well, it's taking down chunks of our wall with it. Yeah, nice.

A few weeks ago we came home and noticed a funny colored mark on our wall going up our stairs. Over about 5 days, this mark grew to an enormous size. Yep, we're getting water behind the wall. So, not only does that wall need painting, but now it probably needs to be torn down and completely redone.

Our dishwasher shit the bed last week so now that has to be replaced. And let me tell you that life without a dishwasher SUCKS! God bless people that don't have them!

Then there's the latest.....yesterday we come home to find a huge gutter hanging off the back of our house. And it looks like it took some siding down along with it.

Do you see where the breakdown is about to happen?!

And did I mention our house is supposed to go up for sale in about....oh....2 months?!

How the hell are we going to get this all done?!

God give us strength....

Some Cousin Time

Today we got together with my Sister-in-Law and my neice for some fun! We haven't gotten together with them in awhile on our days off, but we got it to work this week. We decided to take the girls to The Sandbox. I took Avery once awhile ago (I think around her birthday) and I honestly don't even remember if she was walking when we went. So I knew today would be a new experience for her.

We started our morning with some breakfast. Avery tried one of the banana muffins I made and devoured it!

Then I ate something real quick and we were out the door! I think her and Bianca had a really good time running around and trying everything out.

Avery is a fan of slides, but only went down this one twice today for some reason. I think it was hard for her to get up the stairs (they were steep) so she avoided it.

They have two big bounce houses-one is a house, one is a slide. Avery wanted to go down the slide so bad, but adults can't go on it. There's a pretty tall ladder to climb up, then they have to sit down to go down the slide. I just couldn't see her doing it all by herself. Believe me, I would have joined her if I could-it looks like so much fun! So, we just had to enjoy watching Bianca go down instead!

Avery tried out the little crazy coup cars too! She still doesn't understand that she has to push with her feet though.

They played for quite awhile in the "sand" area-Avery loved it! I bet she was in there at least a half hour!

And for the first time, I let Avery go in the bounce house. I only did when there were no other kids in there and let me tell you, she LOVED it! The kid had a smile plastered on her face the entire time! I think she went in 3 different times and had a blast!

After all that playing, we all sat down and had lunch, although Avery wasn't all that interested in eating...she wanted to keep playing!! We stayed probably two hours or so and it was a lot of fun. And I'm happy to say that it wore her out and she took a nice nap this afternoon too (Molly, I hope Bianca did the same!).

Sleep

One thing I've learned as a Mom....

Just when you think you know your child's sleeping pattern, they change it on you. You can count on it!

The past few months, Avery has been sleeping about 12 hours overnight with one afternoon nap that varies in length from 1.5-3 hours.

When Avery was sick a few weeks ago, she still slept great overnight-we didn't have to go in to her at all, and she was taking longer naps, which I'm sure she needed.

Last week, she was a sleeping machine. Most nights last week she was sleeping 13 (or more) hours overnight (some mornings we actually woke her up!) and she was taking monster naps....like 3-4 hours long! Some of those we woke her up as well.

This week has been a different story. I can't remember early in the week, but definitely the past 3-4 days she's been sleeping only about 10 hours overnight and her naps have been about 2 hours long.

The thing with the past few days is that it's taking her FOREVER to fall asleep. When we put her down for nap/bedtime, you can tell she's tired. She seems calm when you rock and sing to her. But then when she hits the crib, all of a sudden she's "wired" and ready to go....she'll play, talk, sing for over an hour sometimes. So, that has made her nap later (she'll go down around 1, but not fall asleep until 2 or later) and her bedtime later (she'll go down by 8, but not fall asleep until 9:30 or later!). Unfortunately, she's also waking up earlier in the morning too, which isn't fun, especially on the weekends!

I have no idea what's going on with her, but I'd prefer my 12 hour sleeper to return. Let's see, it's about 9:45pm right now and she's still awake up there playing away. It's almost my bedtime and she's still not asleep.

(Sigh)

Ladies and Gentlemen....

....we have a daycare!!

After our weeks of searching and panicking, I think we found her new "home" away from home!

Last Friday we met with a daycare center nearby that two other girls from her daycare are attending. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of a center, but decided to check it out, as they both loved the place.

And to my surprise?! It really doesn't feel like a center.

We looked at a few centers back when I was pregnant, and didn't care for any of them. They're way too big, too many kids, not personal, didn't have that "homey" feel to it, and are pretty darn expensive.

But this center is different. It's actually held in an old (converted) house. The toddlers (18mos-age 3) have the run of the first floor and the preschoolers (age 3 and up) have the run of the second floor. And they only have 13 kids enrolled total! A typical center has hundreds. So on the days Avery will be there (Monday and Tuesday), there will only be 5 kids in her age group, which is exactly how many were at her in-home daycare. There will be roughly the same amount of preschoolers there as well, so maybe 10-12 kids there (we're told the number varies daily). So I think it'll work out. She won't just be a number in a sea of kids, which is what we like.

I also think she's going to learn so much stuff there. Their day is very structured with circle times, stories, music/movement sessions, indoor/outdoor play, etc.

We all went back there today to get the paperwork and put down a deposit and Avery went right along with the kids and listened to a story and did some exploring of the place. She seemed very content to observe everything and poke around a bit.

The only big changes we have to get used to are making her a lunch (her other place provided lunch) and her nap routine. Since their youngest kids are 18mos, they don't have pack-n-plays for naptime. They only have floormats. I honestly have no idea how she'll sleep on a mat on the floor, but they say it's been done. I'm a little worried that it might mess up her routine at home, but I guess we'll see when we get to that time.

I'll keep you updated on how it goes-her first day will be March 1st!

Allergies?

Are anyone else's allergies really bothering them lately?

For about the past two weeks, my eyes are itching like crazy, the roof of my mouth is itchy, and I have a runny nose and post nasal drip constantly.

What the heck is in the air in February that would make my allergies kick in all of a sudden? I usually don't have them very bad either so this is driving me crazy!

I do take a Loratidine every day too, but it doesn't seem to be doing much at this point. I've used some allergy eye drops a few times as well, which help temporarily.

If they're this bad now, I hope it's not a sign of worse things to come in spring!

Weekend

We had a pretty good weekend.

Friday Avery had an eye appointment to check on the tube in her left eye. It's still in place, which is a good thing, and all looks well. We'll go back in 3 more months for another checkup. After that, we met Gabe at another daycare to check it out. Then Friday night we didn't do much-had dinner and relaxed.

Saturday I went to the gym in the morning, then had to take my car in for an inspection and something that was recalled. After Avery's nap, we took a trip to the huge Wegman's, which we hardly ever go to. While there, Gabe and I picked up some stuff for dinner....he got some sushi and I tried one of their burritos from the burrito bar (highly recommend it!). Then we came home and had dinner. Avery got to try chocolate pudding as a treat for dessert!

Then today we just hung out most of the morning and early afternoon. When Avery napped, I got some things together for the Superbowl. Around dinnertime, Gabe's sister and her family came over for the Superbowl. None of us really cared about the game-we were busy watching the kids and interested more in the commercials. We had some yummy food and just relaxed and visited-it seems like we haven't seen them in such a long time!

Avery was wearing all of her rings as bracelets:

And was loving that her cousins were here (giving hugs):

I actually have off of work tomorrow-Gabe's parents are in Italy so I'm on Avery duty for the day! Hopefully her and I will make a trip to the mall!

Change #1 Still Sucks....

You probably remember my post about our first change of the year.

Well, that change still sucks!

I've spent countless hours searching website upon website.

Calling numerous people and not receiving many calls in return.

I think we met with 4 different providers....and loved one of them.

I stopped looking because I thought "this is it!" We found our other "home" for Avery and we were ready to go. So I called to set things up to get paperwork done and get the ball rolling for her to start.

And....

She tells me she doesn't want any part-time kids.

THANKS!

Thank you for wasting my time. Thank you for lying to me when I asked if you would take her part-time and you said yes. Thank you for getting my hopes up only to crush them to pieces.

To add to this, yesterday was Avery's last day at her current daycare. It was sad picking her up there for the last time. It's sad knowing I won't be going back there again. But we made it through our goodbyes without a tear (somehow) and life will go on.

Avery is supposed to start a new daycare in 6 days.

And I have nowhere for her to go.

Daycare Gods, please send me something!