10 months

New Year's Day!

Happy New Year 2013! And Avery is 10 months. She is just an amazing baby. She is so happy and when you go in to get her from her crib she has this amazing smile and laugh that just melts your heart. I could stare at her all day long. I so cherish my Monday's off and all the extra time I get with her.

Avery is so close to standing on her own and walking. She is much more motor advanced that Isla was. I think she is trying to keep up with her big sis. She loves to be where Isla is even though Isla is constantly saying "Avery that's mine!" We are trying to teach Isla that if you take something from her you have to give her something else to play with. Soon enough Avery will be fighting to get that toy back! But for now she is content just to follow Isla around like a little puppy dog.

We went sledding today and Avery loved it. So easy going.

Isla Overview 2012

I feel that I am leaving out updates on my first born who is the most beautiful, smart, sassy whippersnapper daughter in the whole world! Isla cracks me up each and every day. Of course there are also times every day that I want to scream and lay down and kick my legs just like her because she can be so stubborn and frustrating but overall she is so loving and really hilarious!

Some recent Isla firsts!

- First time sitting though mass without us having to bring her out of the worship area (Christmas Eve)

- First swimming lessons (with Mr. Greg at Foss)

- First drawing faces and attempting to write her name (she spells it ESLA no matter how many times you tell her ISLA)

- First time peeing and pooping in the potty all by herself without even being reminded (Dec. 2012)

- First time coloring in the lines (almost!)

- First microphone (she could sing and dance to Gagnam Style a million times and not get sick of it!!!)

- First babysitting job (it is so nice to be in the kitchen and know that Isla will tell me if Avery is getting into something she shouldn't)

- First time singing on a stage (Step by Step Holiday Program)

- First Elf at our house (Isla named her elf on the shelf Louie)

- First imaginary friends (Ricey and Lettler...don't ask)

- First time sleeping in big girl bed (oh my this took a long time...for one month 1/29 to 2/24/12 I kept a sleep journal in my phone about her progress....possibly one of the most stressful times of my life, granted I was 8 months pregnant)

- First Christmas in our REAL house!!!!

- First time being a BIG SISTER!!!!

Avery's First Christmas

Christmas celebration for 2012 started a few weeks before Christmas. Since Megan and her family were traveling to Ireland for xmas this year we did an early Chicago celebration. What a fun time the girls had with their cousins. We even did a trip into downtown Chicago which was extra special. Isla loved the Macy's window displays and the street performers playing drums. The girls did a great job in the car even when we hit a major snow storm on the way back which added an extra 4 hours to the already long (7 hour) trip!

The next part of Christmas 2012 was the Mendekota Santa Brunch. Avery loved Santa! She grabbed on to his beard and didn't want to let go! Isla also did better this year and actually sat NEXT to Santa but not on his lap. She really enjoyed the puppet show and life sized gingerbread house.

Finally Christmas week arrived! Laura and Jon flew in from New Jersey and then we were off to Moorhead. We were able to celebrate with "GG" Ruth and had a wonderful time with Nancy and Loren at their lake home. Also got to see Beth and Dale on the ranch. Back to Minneapolis and it was Christmas Eve! We went to mass and then had a wonderful Italian dinner. Gifts followed and Avery had fun playing with the wrapping. Isla set out milk and cookies for Santa. The next morning everyone was up before Isla so we all got to watch her come down the stairs to see what Santa had left. Isla got a Dora set and guitar and Avery got some bath toys and a rattle! The Stapleton's including John, Saori and Ken came over for a wonderful Christmas meal! What an amazing first Christmas Avery had in our first house!

9 months

Standing!

 At her nine month check (done when she was actually nine months!) Avery was 28 inches for length (53%), 19 pounds 6 oz (66%) for weight and 17.5 in for head (61%.) Big news this month is that Avery is pulling up to standing and cruising around the furniture a little bit. She has learned to climb the stairs so all the gates are up. She is also babbling when she is happy and rested. She eats like a champ! Lots of baby food and formula. I'm still nursing morning and night when I can. Mostly for bonding. I know she's not getting a ton of milk anymore from me but it seems to help her wind down.

She takes two naps a day for an hour or two each. She loves her sleep just like her daddy. She sleeps between 12-14 hours a night! This month we did let her cry it out. She was waking up a few times a night to nurse/pacify herself so I finally let her cry. It took two nights for her to start sleeping through. The first night she cried about 45 minutes and second night only about 20 minutes. She was good from then on out! I tell everyone that she is an angel baby. She really never cries unless her sister is hugging/squeezing her too tight or she is tired.

Avery loves the bath! She likes to splash and play with the toys in the water. She loves following her sister around. When she is hungry she puts her open mouth on my jaw and starts gnawing away. She responds to her name. My favorite game is chasing her around by crawling after her on the ground. She'll get away and then stop and look back and then start crawling again. So cute!

Still no teeth! Lots of drooling but no teeth. Also not much hair but it's starting to grow behind the ears a bit!

Avery's 1st Thanksgiving!

Avery's 1st Thanksgiving celebration started the weekend before Thanksgiving with all of her Johnson 2nd cousins. Jessica hosted a little get together and it was great to see Erica and Eve who we don't see that often.

Thanksgiving day celebration was at Barb and Marty's with all of Barb's siblings and Avery's Lynch 2nd cousins. The kids had fun dancing Gagnam Style (Isla's favorite song!) Both Megan and John's families were also in town so we had them over on Saturday and I cooked pot roast (with Emily's generous help!)

As you can see in the pictures the xmas trees are up. Mark insisted that as soon as Thanksgiving was over the trees should go up. We did two trees in our new home this year! Actually this was our very first xmas in our first actual house which was so fun!

8 months

This is what happens with your poor second child. They have their 6 month check up when they are eight months. Bad mommy! So at 8 months Avery was 27 inches long (49%), 18 pounds 2 oz (61%) and 17 inches for head (64%).  Apparently the clinic changed their growth charts because she was 97% for weight at her 4 month check. I guess kids are getting bigger these days!
Big news for this month was that Avery got a new nanny. Emily is awesome- we love her and so do the girls!

Boston

Avery took her third flight last month out to Boston to see her godmother Laura. She did an amazing on the flight and just had a little trouble with the descent and some ear pain. In Boston we played with Emmitt, went shopping on Newbury street and played with second cousin Rachal. It was so good to see Auntie Lou and spend some time in Boston since her and Jon are moving to Jersey soon!

Halloween 2012

This year Isla was a princess (after weeks of wanting to be a llama!!) and Avery was of course a lobster! I promise that I will not make her wear a hand me down costume every year! Actually it is a good thing I didn't buy her a brand new costume this year because she went to bed at 4:30 on Halloween!! She was so tired and I just couldn't bear to keep her up for something she wouldn't even remember. So we put her to bed and took Isla out for a little trick or treating. It all went well until we went up to a house that had some monsters jumping out from behind tombstones! I think we made it to 7 houses total. Plenty enough for me! She also had fun handing out candy to people and set up post in the hallway with the front door open.

Crawling

At 7 months and 3 weeks Avery Ruth started crawling. It began with her arms moving forward and her butt hopping along but now she is full steam ahead. The temporary gates are up but the permanent ones need to be ordered! She is also doing some sort of move that looks like downward dog (yoga pose) where she puts her butt up in the air! So cute! She pulls up onto the couch or a stair onto her haunches but not all the way up to her feet yet. She is now mobile!!

7 months

Time continues to fly and Avery is 7 months old now! The biggest change is that she is moving around now and is able to roll/wiggle her way across the room. She will also get up on her hands and knees and do a little wiggling dance....just a week or two away from crawling I'm sure. I think she'll probably be quicker to move than Isla since she has to keep up with her big sister. Isla loves to take Avery's hands and dance with her (or drag her across the room.) Isla is Avery's favorite person to watch. Her face lights up when Isla walks in the room. Constant entertainment with her singing and dancing.
Avery is eating more too! Three meals a day of baby food and rice cereal. She is also able to grab food off of her high chair tray and put it in her mouth. She loves rice cakes and baby puffs. She still loves bananas too. She was spitting food at us for awhile which was quite entertaining but she is doing that less now.
Avery goes to sleep between 5-6pm! She was only getting up once a night but she has been sick this week with a cold and so is up every 3-4 hours. I did lower her crib yesterday because she was getting on her hands and knees in the crib and will probably pull up on the side very soon!