Waving

We've been working on waving with Avery for a while and at first she was either just picking up her arm, or just moving her fingers with her arm down. Now she can do both at the same time!!

Visiting Santa

Avery got to visit Santa at the mall over the Thanksgiving weekend. She wasn't too sure what to think at first, but the photographer was able to snap one of her smiling.

Avery has always liked to coo and make noises, but now she has really found her voice and is almost yelling. She's our little drama queen!

Thanksgiving

Avery's first Thanksgiving was filled with a lot of "firsts" for her. We went to Aunt Karen and Uncle David's house for Thanksgiving dinner, and Avery tried her first bite of mashed potatoes, tried to drink from a sippy cup, and got to swing on the swing set. I recently found out I have celiac disease so now I have to be careful about everything I eat. Not only can my food not contain any gluten, it also can't come into contact with any food that does. But thanks to my wonderful mom, I was able to still enjoy a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. She made special stuffing, gravy, greenbean cassarole, pumpkin roll, and I even my got my very own pecan pie!!

Relaxing with Poppa, and hanging out with Grandma Jimmie

Trying out the new shopping cart cover

This is a video of Avery's favorite thing to do. She'll do this even without food in her mouth, but she thinks it's the funniest when she gets food all over the place!

Photo Session

So Avery and I were bored yesterday, and she was just begging me to pull out the sheet and take her picture. Of course I couldn't say no. She is just too adorable!! It was almost impossible to get a smiling picture with the rubber duckies though. Avery was more interested in trying to eat all of them!

No More DOC Band!

On Avery's 5 week visit to Cranial Technologies, we found out that she had outgrown her band and didn't have to wear it any longer! It's so nice to not have to bother with it anymore, and now I can cuddle and kiss her sweet head anytime I want.

No, I didn't set up the decorations just for this picture! They were already there for Tim's B-Day, I just thought it would make a cute picture.

Avery LOVES being the center of attention!

Miss A

Avery is 1/2 a year old!

Avery has been having so much fun in her exersaucer, I had to video a little of it. The first video is just of her laughing. It isn't the cutest laugh she's ever laughed (there's no snorting in this one) but it's still pretty darn cute! In the second video she's just playing and concentrating on the spinning monkeys.

Look What I Can Do!!

After almost 6 months of wanting to make burp cloths for Miss A, I finally pulled out the sewing machine and got started. This was my first ever actual sewing project! (even though I've had my sewing machine for a couple of years)

Wurstfest Trips #4 & #5

Avery can't get enough of Wurstfest! The night got a little cold, but Avery didn't mind. She loved the music while she was awake, and amazingly was able to catch a nap and sleep through all the noise.

In case you've never been to Wurstfest, here is a little video from inside Das Grosse Zelt (The Big Tent).

Sitting Up

Avery can sit up all by herself!

After a while she starts to slump over to one side, but she can sit for a few minutes, and even play with a toy.

I was so excited when I saw this ball in the store and just new Avery was going to go wild over it and love playing with it. I could just imagine how sweet her little laugh was going to sound as she played with it. Avery had different thoughts however. Since she is really into grabbing everything right now, the first time she played with it, she got so mad that she couldn't grab the little animals inside of it. She could see them, she just couldn't get ahold of them. She was grunting and fussing at it and getting so upset that I had to take it away. I think she has finally come to terms with the fact that she won't ever be able to grab the animals, and now just has fun knocking it around!

So Much STUFF!

This is our version of Where's Waldo!! I never thought we would have so much baby stuff, but believe it or not, we do actually use all of these things! In case you are wondering what all is here in our living room, here is a list: car seat, bouncer, Bumbo, swing, exersaucer, play gym, walk-around musical toy, Boppy, and a box of toys and books. Since this picture was taken, I have moved a few things to Avery's room. But it's just easier to keep most of the stuff in living room since that's where we spend most of our time.

Our nightly ritual of bottle washing!

Halloween and Wurstfest

This Halloween, our friends Rian and Brent hosted a 1920s themed Murder Mystery party. (I was the murderer!) Even though Waylon was dressed to kill, Avery only had eyes for Clayton. I think it was probably because he was as bald as her!

Avery's first Wurstfest was a little hot, but she loved the music!

Our Mermaid

The other day I remembered that my little camera can take video! So here is Avery trying on her Halloween costume, and flapping her fin. (Thanks Mimi for the adorable costume)

Yummy Yummy Cooper's

Cooper's has finally come to New Braunfels!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited Tim is about this! :) If you've never been to Cooper's BBQ before, it has to be placed on your "to do" list next time you are here(or in Llano) The original Cooper's is in Llano, and on a couple of occasions Tim and I have driven there just to eat BBQ. That's how good it is!

Decorating the DOC Band

I finally finished decorating Avery's Band the other day. I put a rhinestone tiara on the front for our princess, and added butterflies and a big flower to the back and sides.

I came across a website that made t-shirts, onesies, and bibs for children with plagiocephaly. These were some of the funny sayings on their clothes:

"Plagio Princess"

"Don't mind me, I'm just reshaping my head"

"It's called plagiocephaly, look it up"

"You should see the other guy"

"I went to the doctor and all I got was this stinkin' helmet!"

Brachycephaly

At her 4 month check-up, Avery's doctor was concernced about the shape of her head, and recommended we get it evaluated at Cranial Technologies. There, they took pictures and measurements of Avery's head and said that she has brachycephaly which is a flattening of her head. The director said that it probably started before she was born and then continued to get worse due her neck muscles being tight which caused her to always lay with head facing to the left. They recommended we get her a DOC Band to correct her head shape. After much deliberation (and a few tears on my part) we finally decided to go ahead with it. We just didn't want to regret not doing it later on since if it is untreated, it could cause a number of health problems. So we took her back in to get the 3D imaging of her head and then she went back the day before her 5 month birthday to get the band. I was really worried about how people were going to react, but so far no one has asked about it. They probably just don't want to be rude since they don't know what it is for. I can still hear people comment on how cute she is, but they don't come up and talk to her like they used to. Oh well, now I can get in and out of the store a lot faster!! And the band doen't bother her at all. She doesn't even act like she knows she has it on. Luckily she should only have to wear it for 6-8 weeks which is a lot less than some kids, and then we'll be back to normal.

Avery's new DOC Band

Avery's new toy she got at TJ's. (It's a drink lid) She had so much fun with that thing. I think she liked the sound it made when she scratched it with her fingers.

Happy Halloween!!!!

More Avery

Avery's first Texas State football game. She didn't have anything maroon and gold, so we went with the closest animal print that she had.

Avery has found her feet!

Tummy time is not so bad anymore. Avery actually tries to reach for things now while on her tummy.

Avery and Steve (a.k.a. The Godfather) at Rian and Brent's wedding

Pretty Girls

Hanging out with Poppa.

Avery always has so much fun hanging out with her cousins.

Avery tried rice cereal for the first time when she was 4 months old. She ate a little bit this first night, but it took a couple of weeks before she really started to enjoy it.

Having fun at the Comal County Fair

I'm back

OK, I'm back! After I started the blog, I started thinking that I wouldn't have the time to keep up with it, so I decided not to do it. Then I started thinking about all the amazing things Avery has been doing in the past months, and I just had to share. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it!

We had our 10 year high school reunion this summer. Avery and I got to meet Carter, Gina and Stephen's son, for the first time. He is one day younger than Avery and is such a cutie!

This is Avery's favorite sleeping position. She loves to lift her legs straight up in the air and then throw them down as hard as she can. Her other favorite trick is when you go to put her pacifier back into her mouth, she picks her legs up and wraps them around your arm trapping you! This really surprised Monica one day when she went to check on Avery.

Avery's pretty church dress Mimi bought her.

Tiny Dancer