Ellie Abigail: 5 months

Ellie Bo Belly,
Where have these last 5 months gone?  This month has by far been our favorite month!  You are really starting to grow and get a personality.  We love seeing it come out!

At 5 months you:

• are FINALLY in cloth diapers! You have been in them for exactly a week and they are working out great.

• wear size 1 shoes and get your toes painted regularly.
• wear size some 3-6 and mostly 6-9 month clothes.  I really think the cloth diapers help those 6-9 month clothes fit or otherwise they would fall right off!
• still don't like to be on your tummy.  I'm not sure you'll ever like it.

• love to stand up on your feet.  You have been enjoying your exersaucer more and more everyday and have figured out how to turn around and play with all the toys.
• eat just about 6 ounces every 4 hours.
• are still swaddled at night although we are starting to wean you.  You have been sleeping with one arm out and last night you slept with both arms out. Although you don't seem to be able to settle with both arms out so we are going back to one arm out.
• still wake up around 2 AM for a feeding.  I had hoped that being unswaddled with help you drop this feeding.  Maybe you can find your hands at night!
• are usually in bed by 7:30 PM, 8 PM at the latest.
• start the day around 7 AM.  You wake up talking and happy. 
• starting to figure out how to pick up your paci and put it in your mouth.  Now if you could just do that with your bottle!
• seem to act like you will start sitting up on your own soon.  You can sit for approximately 3.2 seconds before toppling over.
• attended your first birthday party (your sister of course)

• still aren't rolling over from back to tummy but we think it could happen soon. 
• smile at just about anyone that talks to you.  Everyone LOVES those dimples!

• love to look around and are so curious.  You especially love to watch big kids play.
• still give your sister your best laughs.  It melts our hearts to see how much you two love each other!
• reach for all your toys like a pro.
• are so so verbal.  You love to hear yourself talk.  You and Avery will have so much to talk about.  Mommy is a little worried about what this means for the noise level in the house in the future!
• have started really splashing during bath time, one of your favorite times of the day!
• taking 3-4 naps a day between 30 min-1 hour.  Sometimes they are a little longer.

Oh Baby Girl, we can't believe how big your are getting.  You are getting bigger and bigger every day.  Someday you will be as big as your sister and I can't even imagine it! I know next month will bring even more things you will learn how to do! I say it every month...we can't wait! 

Love you little Sweet Pea.

Zoo Tradition

It's always been a tradition to take Avery to the zoo for her birthday.  This year was no exception. It helped that Avery got a zoo pass for her birthday.  I'm sure we will be spending A LOT of time at the zoo this year!

I love our zoo.  It's gotten so much better since I was a kid! I can remember going and it was all concrete and boring animal exhibits.  Now theres lots of shade and vegitation and the exhibits are getting to be really fun and interesting. I think Ellie has a good time too.

We got to the zoo fairly early and it seems that seeing animals at that time is hit or miss but that didn't slow us down!

Avery got tired of me constantly taking pictures of her as evidenced by her very forced smile in the above photo.  This one didn't mind so much.

Getting to hang out as a family was the best part.  Ronnie took a day off work and it was so nice having him around!

Oh, and we did see a few animals.

Avery's favorite exhibit is what she calls the "Spooky House".  It looks like a barn and when you go in its dark.  Inside are bats, owls, and all kinds of creepy animals.  She insisted on going through this twice.  I made Ronnie take her the second time.  Ellie really needed to "eat"...yeah, it was Ellie's fault.

But let's be honest, you don't come to the blog to see pictures of animals so I spared you the best I could.

I love our zoo tradition with Avery!  When did she get to be so big?

This one was taken by the 4 year old herself.  I can't believe my baby girl is 4!  I'll have to do a blog post of Avery from birth to 4.  I may cry! 

More adventures to come!

Exersaucer=Good Times

It's official.  Ellie is now playing in her exersaucer!

Baby Girl loves to stand up so we thought it was high time we put her in it.  So far she hasn't quite figured it out but she seems to enjoy it. 

Avery spent quite a bit of time showing her all the toys and playing with her.  It was just about the cutest thing ever. 

Ellie just keeps getting bigger and bigger.  It's starting to get fun around here!

More adventures to come.

Birthday Party Fun!

We had a birthday party for Avery on Saturday (the day before her actual birthday). Avery wanted to go with a Princess theme- imagine that.  I wanted to keep with the theme but I knew we were getting Avery a special birthday present so I didn't necessarily want to focus the party on Princess.  I think we found a good middle ground.

Because I waited until the last minute I ordered my invitations from an etsy shop.  She actually just designed the invitation and I had them printed at CVS as a photo.  Easy peasy.

I asked my dear, sweet friend John who is an actual photographer to take pictures for me at the party.  He so graciously agreed and I couldn't have been happier! If you need a photographer (or graphic designer) he's your guy! He's worth every penny!

 Beware: the following post has lots of pictures. And this is the narrowed down bunch!

The morning started with some pictures of Avery and the fam (I actually took these).

I can't believe the girl is 4!

Such sweet sisters!

I love this picture of Avery with her eyes closed.  She just loves her sister so much!

After the photo session the fun really started. The girls go to pick their own princess wand,

decorate their own princess crown,

and even had princess jewels including necklaces, bracelet, earrings, ring and even lip gloss.  All the Princess essentials.

The princesses looked divine!

I won't bore you with the details of the present opening but there were lots of gifts. 



But the best gift we had kept hidden for 2 days!

We have been wanting to get a playset for quite some time.  We wanted one that Avery could enjoy for the next few years and something Ellie would be able to enjoy as she got older as well.  We found the perfect set at Sam's.  We even went to Sam's a few times with Avery to look at it and Avery was dying to play on it.  She would talk about it when we came home and she called it a tree house.  We knew she would LOVE it for her birthday! We did get some help from both our parents and we are so appreciative.

We had the playset put together before her party.  The guy started on Thursday and finished up on Friday.  It wasn't too hard to keep her out of the yard, it was just hard not showing it to her. Ronnie and I were so excited.  But we made the big reveal at her party.

I think it was a hit!

She loved it!  As did all her other friends.

Avery wasn't too happy that I made her come blow out birthday candles and take a family picture right after we let her see her big present. But she cooperated for the most part.  In hindsight, that was pretty mean of me! 

Thats my girl!



I did made Avery's cake. It was a 4 layer white cake with each of the layers a graduated shade of pink (it's hard to tell in the pictures).

And while I was pleased with how it looked, I was not pleased with the texture.  It was way too dry!  That's what I get for trying a new recipe before testing it.  I'm sure no one left the party thinking it was a total failure but the the cake was my first cake fail!

The party was great and we are so thankful to everyone that came out.  Everyone had a great time and we couldn't have been more pleased with how it went!  The next party will be Ellie's 1 year party!  Luckily I have a few more months to recover from this one!

More adventures to come!























Avery Grace- 4 years old

Avery Grace,
You are 4 years old today!  We can't believe how big you are.  You are so sweet and funny and we constantly amazed at how much you know.  You are so smart! We have enjoyed every day of these past 4 years (well, most every day) and can't wait to see what the next year brings. 

At 4 years old you:

•  LOVE the color pink! 
• must wear a skirt.  A pink skirt if possible.  A pink dress will do in a pinch.  You usually even wear a skirt to bed.
• can get dressed all by yourself.
• love to watch Martha Speaks in the morning.
• usually drink chocolate milk and eat a Lucky Charms granola bar for breakfast.
• wear a size 4T clothes and size 9 shoes.
• like to wear headbands and bows.  Lots of them. Sometimes at the same time.
• love to read books.  We go to the library once a week for story time and get new books.
• like to draw pretty pictures.  You usually say you want to "scribble scrabble".
• like to get Strawberry slushes from Sonic.
• love Broozer and Bella.  They love you too because you are usually the only one that pets them.
• LOVE your sister so very much.  You get the most smiles and laughs from Ellie.
• have given up your afternoon nap.  You just did this in the past few weeks.  This makes mommy very sad.
• want to eat Natural Cheetos every day.  Other favorite foods include pepperoni, bacon, grapes, and carrots.
• like to sing songs.  You are very good at making up your own words to songs.  You like to listen to She & Him, the Avett Brothers and the Beatles. This makes daddy very happy.
• usually have a bed time of 8:30ish. 
• go to Children's Day Out twice a week.  Apparently you are "so sweet and so caring" according to your teachers.
• enjoy doing crafty things.  You call them your "projects".
• know how to write your name and you know most of your letters by sight. 
• favorite place to eat is McDonalds for chicken nuggets and french fries.  I think you like to play on the play toy the most.
• can ride your bike a LONG way!
• constantly talk.  All the time.  If you are awake you are talking, singing or making noise. It's cute...most of the time.
• have a huge imagination.  We love spying on you while you are playing by yourself. 
• love going to church and being in Ms. Cleo's Sunday School class. 
• have great friends like Hannah and Chloe and Natalee and Lyla.  You even have friends at school- Hannah, Kennedy & Kassidy, Kennedy R and friends at the library - McKinley and Sibby.  You like to play with your friends.
• Still twirl your hair.  I don't think you will ever stop doing this.
• enjoy playing games on mommy's iphone.  I think you can work it better than me sometimes! 
• can say the Pledge of Allegiance.  It brings a tear to mommy's eyes when you do.
• have trouble saying "th" and usually say "f" instead.  Like funder (thunder), free (three), Marfa (Martha), sompfing (something).  
• have an appointment with Dr. F this week.  We will see how much you've grown this past year!

Avery, you are a joy to us.  We love seeing you grow and learn new things.  You are constantly asking questions and you are so curious. You have such a big personality and we love you so much.  We can't wait until you teach Ellie everything you know.  We know you will be the best and worst of friends.  You are so sweet (and sensitive) and your hugs and kisses melt our heart. We love you baby girl!

We know this next year will be great!