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Monday, May 13, 2013

Mother's Day 2013

Even though this was technically my second Mother's Day, it really felt like my first considering last year Avery was 5 days old, and I was a deer in the headlights!  We had a wonderful day as a family of 3, spending time in worship together, eating out for lunch, taking naps :)  As an aside: living here in Houston has been challenging at times with no family around, especially when we need a babysitter every now and again, but being 700 miles away from the closest family has really made us cherish our time as our own little family. And I can honestly say I wouldn't have changed this past year for anything... That being said, we are SO glad we will be closer to family in 1 week!

Our joint Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts to one another was going to The Killers concert this week!  IT. WAS. AWESOME!  It's rare that I go to a concert where I know every word to every song, but I can definitely say that applies here.  Usually at a concert there is a song or two that you don't truly care about, where you want to sit down, etc... Not the case here.  M and I have been saying all week that we hope they add a tour date in Atlanta for later in the summer, we will definitely pay to go again!


Brandon Flowers... M and I both have musical crushes on you!

Here are the pictures from actual Mother's Day.  Feel so blessed to be this baby girl's Mommy!






The card says it all...
At least he makes me laugh! :)





















Also, M surprised me with a new Kindle Fire that will be coming in the mail at the end of this week.  I literally think we might be the last people I know that don't have a tablet of some kind.  I'm very excited!  And it will allow Avery and me to talk to Daddy whenever we are apart!

Pumped!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all Moms, to those who have lost their Mothers, women who are surrogate Mother's, husbands who support their wives to be great Moms, and those who one day hope to be Mothers!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

12 Months! 1 WHOLE YEAR!




Our precious Avery Grace is 1!  One year ago yesterday at 9:34 AM our sweet baby girl came into this world.  What a year of blessings.


Avery here are your stats at 12 Months:

Height: 29.5 inches (75th Percentile)

Weight: 19 pounds 2 ounces (not quite 25th Percentile)  The doc mentioned today how you are always a lot longer than you weigh.  I asked him to make sure you were not too skinny and he said, "No, she's absolutely fine"...And then he chuckled and said, "Maybe she will be a model."  To which Mommy replied.. or an athlete instead!

Sleep: 6:30 PM- 7:30 AM most days.  You are still taking 2 naps a day most days.  If you happen to sleep later in the morning you may only take 1.

Likes: Swinging at the park, playing with Lexi, wearing your sunglasses (everywhere!), reading books, listening to music, your baby pool, and your new favorite thing is getting into the kitchen cabinets (we will be installing safety latches in our new house!)

Dislikes: You now despise your car seat and riding in your stroller.  Makes it hard for Mommy to get out and exercise!

Diaper Size: 3

Clothes Size: 12 months

Feeding:  You basically weaned yourself from nursing about 2 weeks ago.  Thankfully because you did it yourself it didn't make Mommy too sad, although she did cry a little :)  Now you are drinking whole milk out of sippy cups, no bottles!  You LOVE to eat.

Favorite Food: You especially love turkey, bananas, avocados, blueberries, muffins, green beans, and your favorite food is probably cheese.  The only thing I have found that you haven't liked is greek yogurt.

Favorite Book: "Is Your Mama a Llama?" and "Peter Rabbit, Show Me Your Ears!"

Words:  You now have 4 words.  "Mama", "Dada", "Nana" (for banana), and your word for Lexi has somehow ended up sounding more like "DeDi"

Milestones:  You will give a high five and blow kisses now.  You can point to Mommy and Daddy's mouth, toes, eyes, ears, and nose.  You can say that a cow says, "Moo!".  You will use the sign language for "All Done" when you are ready to stop eating or get out of the bath.  You have taken one step unassisted, but I still think we are a little ways off from walking.  You just crawl so dang fast!

Personality:  You are so sweet.  You love to give hugs and kisses.  Whenever you are tired you just lay your little head down on one of us :)  Along with being really sweet, you are extra sassy.  You definitely don't like being told "no" and will most of the time ignore us :)  You love to talk and will babble away all day long.  You are like you Mommy and like everything in it's place.  When you eat, you always want your milk in the little cup holder on the high chair... If we place it down anywhere else you will move it :)

Avery Grace, we love you more now than the day we first laid eyes on you.  You are a precious child of God, and we pray that you will continue to grow in His favor.  We are so blessed by your sweet smile and contagious laugh.  You are a beautiful little girl, and we are so very thankful that God has placed you in our care. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly Lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" James 1:17 We love you little Nug!

On The Day You Were Born:


All 8 pounds 4 ounces of you! 21.5 inches long.




And now.. at 1 year!



We took you to a birthday lunch at Central Market yesterday.

This was you giving Daddy kisses and a hug

More kisses
Round 2 of trying cake.  We got you a raspberry cupcake.  You seemed to be a little more interested this go around.
Not too sure.  You took a few bites and then wanted to feed Daddy the rest.
Buster and Avery... So dang cute.


You LOVE to swing.

I did great at my 12 month appointment today!  Shots and all :(

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Avery's First Birthday Party- "April Showers Bring May Flowers"


We celebrated our little Nug's 1st birthday this past weekend at Honey and Granddaddy's house in Nashville.  I had been in party planning mode for months... and I mean months!  I am not generally a very creative person.  I don't just come up with ideas at the drop of a hat, so I knew I needed time to do it right!  As far as the theme... our precious Aves was born in May, and I wanted something feminine and sweet, so "April Showers Bring May Flowers" seemed to be perfect!

Menu:  Beef and Blue Cheese Sandwiches, Chicken and Biscuits (with my Mom's homemade biscuits!), turkey and cheese sandwiches for the kids, Southwestern Spinach Dip, French Onion Dip, Chips, Rainbow Fruit, Cloud Cream, and Cupcakes!

It was a wonderful party.  So many close friends and family came to celebrate our sweet baby girl with us.  Thank you to all of our precious friends for taking the time out of your Saturday to come.  Thanks for family members who drove a long way to be there.  And a HUGE thanks to my parents for hosting, my dad for cleaning up the yard and restoring our old swing set for Avery to use, Ashley for running countless errands, little Matthew for being my craft slave for 2 days, big Matthew for helping me plan all of this out for months, and my Mom for planning, cooking, cleaning, catering, etc....  I owe you BIG time! I cannot believe our baby girl will be 1 tomorrow!







Our party favors were homemade "Cloud Cookies" :)



The place mats were handmade to look like flowers... Don't ask me how long it took me to make 35 of them.  Let's just say next year it will be a little more low key ;)


"Rose Garden Cupcakes" made by our favorite Brooke O'Dell..

Smash Cake.. Not much smashing involved unfortunately.











She was not too sure about it.  Didn't like it at all.  Totally surprised us considering there isn't anything this child won't eat!

Thanks to the Hardison fam for coming from KY and AL for the party!  We missed you Benj!

Best friends since middle school.  All of us have girls!