Monday, November 4, 2013

a nice little catch up

i forgot to blog for 10 months and somehow avery got so old on me! i know i will look back on my current pictures and think that she was so small...but lately she has been seeming like such a big girl! when did she get so old? september?

here's a quick run down.

february:
 march:

april:
 may:
 june:
 july: 
august: 

september:
october:

november:
this little girl just turned 21 months old. she is so much fun (and so frustrating!) and busy and learning new things all the time.  here are a few of my favorite things she's doing right now:
-playing with her babies: feeding, rocking, diaper changing, swaddling, putting them down for naps, giving hugs + kisses
-building tall block towers.  if she can stop knocking them down for a few seconds, she is really good at building them.
-she loves the moon.  loves to look for it outside each night and to point it out in all her books.
-she has really grown lots of hair! no one ever mistakes her for a boy any more.
-we can only put her in zip jammies for night time AND nap time.  because if she ever poops in her crib she gets artsy on me....i won't go into details but let's just say i'm tired of scrubbing and disinfecting each individual slat on the crib.  zip jammies do the trick :) 
-once she got the general idea, she was sooo excited about our halloween costumes.  besides chuck e cheese, halloween was probably the happiest day of her life! 
-pushing the mini carts at kroger.  she is seriously impressive at the wheel! she doesn't crash into anything, can turn like a champ, and even does these tight 180 spins. she does put the most random things in the cart though.
-she is finally branching out in her vocabularly.  her staple words the last few months have been mommy, dada, mo-mo (elmo), wa-wa (water), mo (more), ball, etc.  just little words with not much interest in saying new things.  BUT the last couple weeks she has really been talking a lot more! my favorite words/phrases are...
  • "hereygoooo" (here you go) she says both when she's giving something to me and when she wants me to give something to her :) 
  • "YAY!" she says it in two syllables, and it is the cutest
  • "door door door" is her way of saying "knock knock knock" as she pounds
  • "mana" (nemo- from finding nemo) don't know where she got that one but it's cute and it has stuck.
  • "wabby" is abby cadabby from sesame street. i almost want to name baby #2 abby just to hear her call her wabby all the time.
  • "one, two...." that's as far as she gets, but she's really proud of it.
  • "meeeeennie" (means both mickey and minnie) and she loves her.  
  • "choo choo" the obvious, but she says it cute. and she waves at trains and says "byyye"
  • she calls the alphabet as a whole "B's".  any writing or letters she sees gets her excited and she yells "B's!!!" individually she will say A, B, O, T, Y, and randomly others but B is her old standby.
  • "dido" dinosaur
  • "bzzzz" (sounds very similar to "B's"!) is buzz lightyear. and I think Woody is Bzzz too.
  • "shoe on" another obvious one, but it is exciting to hear her put together 2 word phrases.
  • "mo peeeeeas" more please, she says while simultaneously doing the baby sign with it
  • "eyes" she tells me this while i'm doing my makeup and she wants to pretend to do hers too.
  • "teeeee" when she wants to brush her teeth. she is good at reminding us!
  • "wide" is the slide/park
  • "minnie, mommy, dada, mo-mo, nana, baby" she will sing little lists of all her favorite people.
  • she calls all of my close friends in texas "mommy!" and wants to hug and snuggle them more than she ever wants anything to do with me.  it is funny. 
it is so nice that she is starting to be more verbal. she has been having a tough time dealing with her emotions lately so i'm hoping being able to communicate more will help.  but i love toddler tantrums so no rush avie :) ha ha! 

and i guess i could also mention i'm on week 27/40 with this next baby girl! i think that puts me in official 3rd trimester territory.  everything has been healthy and good so far and i'm feeling lots of kicking all the time. we are excited to get a baby sister around these parts! 




Thursday, February 7, 2013

quick + easy cupcakes for a one year old

the night before avie's birthday party i knew i had to make ~40 cupcakes and i didn't have time to mess up and start over.  so i took the easy way out and used a doctored box cake mix and made a simple frosting.  it turned out fast, easy, and pretty foolproof, so i thought i'd share.

CUPCAKE BATTER: 

yellow box cake mix
3 eggs
1 c. buttermilk*
1/3 c. milk*
1/2 c. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
dash of cinnamon

mix together. follow box instructions for baking time.
*you can mix any ratio of milk to buttermilk that adds up to be 1 1/3 c. 
*i did part melted butter, part melted coconut oil..

MARSHMALLOW BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

1 c. butter, room temperature
2 c. powdered sugar
1 (7 oz)  jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt
optional: food coloring



i doubled both recipes.  the best thing i discovered was putting both the batter and frosting in (separate) large ziplock bags.  i snipped the corner and filled each cupcake liner with batter, which was so much faster than spooning it in.  once they were cooked and cooled, i frosted them by snipping the frosting ziplock and zigzagging it on.  i did it because i was strapped for time but i ended up liking the look too! it was a good frosting that held its shape and didn't get too melty.. oh and the topper idea came from here.

i only ate about a dozen by myself. the rest i shared :)


Saturday, January 26, 2013

play

i love to watch this little girl play.
 watching her concentrate and discover...and completely tune out me and everything else...she is in her own little world.  (getting pictures of her looking at the camera is difficult!) she is kind of determined and a little aggressive. 
 she babbles to herself and plays pretty independently-- as long as she's well fed and rested :)
 i know play is really important for babies and kids.  i can't wait til she is old enough to play pretend and the two of us are making up scenarios and building castles and towers and drawing and painting together...
 but for now watching this is pretty fun too :)  she has her own little drawer in this dresser full of toys that she spreads strategically to every corner of the house.
we had to take the cart out of the living room due to the safety hazard but someday it'll be back. 
this fun little friend is only a month older than avie. his mom and i were pregnant together and it has been so fun to watch them grow up together this past year. 
even though avery is kind of a bully and takes his sippy & binky. he retaliates by taking her headbands and goldfish so they are equal :) 
keep the playdates coming caden :) 


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

party planner

i keep telling people "oh i'm sure we'll do something small" when they ask if we're doing a party for avie's birthday.  well, i started thinking about it and making some plans...

and i can't do something small. ha ha. why go small when i can go big? (besides having a tiny apartment) andrew is in busy season so i have plenty of time after avery goes to bed, i love this kind of thing, and i am a typical obsessed mom of one little spoiled child! a big party it is!

we picked another theme, but here are my runners-up:

all photos from here
the "oh the places she'll go" party.  this is popular right now because it is so cute!  i love maps and it is a sweet sentiment to think about all the things your little one year old will go and do.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
 a circus theme: stripes, cardboard animals, balloons...could be fun. 

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
 or my favorite of these 3.. an outer space party... maybe for her 2nd birthday? rocket ships, constellations, planets, etc. for whatever reason, i'm into it.


more party talk to come. 

Friday, January 11, 2013

toys these days...

when it comes to baby toys... the bright colored plastic, ugly animals, loud noises, the space they take up..well.  let's just say i wouldn't buy them if i didn't have a child :) --although it does make me like them/tolerate them when i see avery laugh and play and love them--


anyway.  i found all of these cute toys the other day online and now i want to buy them all. we didn't get her anything for christmas, so it would be justified right??

lacing blocks -- good to play with now, and good for older kids learning fine motor skills

cute little play circus. 
since i have subconsciously become one of 'those moms' who match their child, avery needs this -- i have the same color kitchen aid. 
someone else in this house should help with the cooking
um... a wooden vespa? avie doesn't ever need to learn how to walk, she can just scoot.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

favorite avery things // 11 months


my favorite things avery does:

-points to things, makes a circle with her lips, and says "oh", "ohhhh"
-i say 'rock-a-bye baby' she does a 'rock' that looks more like jazzercise
-yanks my head/arm/nearest appendage over to her to get my attention
-i say 'night-night', she cocks her head to one side 
-open mouth kisses-- she is stingy but they are the cutest
-when she plays peekaboo as i change her diaper
-she holds her bottle with one hand, throws her head back, and downs it
-learning to stand, walking with her walker
-she has learned to make the funniest scowl
-starts the music on her toy car, and bounces up and down in a dance
-carries things in her mouth as she crawls
-mimics everything we do, when she's in the right mood 
-playing chase with her
-she feeds her doll pretzels

my not favorite things she does: 

-screams when she hears me start the bathtub, screams all during the bath, screams after the bath
-waking up in the night with hour long night terrors (so sad)
-kicking off her shoes in public, going on scavenger hunts for those shoes
-pooping and rolling around in it in another kid's bed. ha ha

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

2012


2012 brought childbirth classes, andrew's first busy season, a 3rd member of our family, an oklahoma camping trip, a few welcome visitors, a 22nd birthday, new friends, new callings, a few trips to utah (4! yikes) a 27th birthday, a trip to lake powell, a third anniversary, 2 trips to the ER, 14 trips to the dentist, a few miles run, 75+ baby items sewn, a baby bird + bird watchers at halloween, trips to california and houston for females only, 2 new pickup cousins, 12 golf games played, a pickup thanksgiving, a bonham christmas, and a 5th new year's celebrated together at a pizza place.  

it was a big growing year for us and also a blessed year where i felt so watched over and embraced by our heavenly father.  we had a few trials and lots of errors but wouldn't trade any of it.  

in 2013 my goals are mostly habits that i want to develop, which in my opinion are the hardest kind of goals. but i am excited for this year and what it will bring. and so happy i have my babbling bundle-of-personality sidekick to spend my days with. oh and her dad, too.

in pictures: 

JANUARY
 pregnant // birth // meeting our daughter
first few days // welcome to the world

FEBRUARY
larken visited
avery did a lot of sleeping..

MARCH
avery's first ER trip // malinda visits
ave's baby blessing // cameron visits

APRIL
avery's first easter egg hunt // first camping trip
trip to utah: nate's graduation // playing catan with goecks // family pics // meeting up with friends for dinner // meeting uncle "bone" // seeing the webers

MAY

enjoyed having andrew home after busy season ended

JUNE

stayed a night in dallas 

JULY

4th of july breakfast // how many people can we pack into 800 sq ft??

fireworks with some little people

AUGUST
went to lake powell // playing with seable cousins at grandpa's pool

chaperoned avie's first date // got an iphone and took millions more pictures

had more playdates with her best friend
made lots of baby food 

SEPTEMBER
took avery to a local carnival

OCTOBER

halloween
playing at the new/rebuilt park in coppell
made avie pants in every color on the spectrum :)

NOVEMBER
brynne, avery and i visited larken in san luis obispo // we got in the ice cold ocean to swim and it was so much fun!
girls trip to houston // tortured avery/got her ears pierced // nothing milk can't fix!
avery exhibits more personality

DECEMBER
errand days=best days // grapefruit obsession // christmas crafting
 best new christmas toy from pickup grandparents
day to day
christmas // read about it here and here

t minus 3 weeks until her first birthday.