15 months

Quick update...Isla turned 4 on May 26th! My little baby is a four year old! We had a princess party with two princess cakes. We played drop the cloths pins in the jar which I used to play at my birthdays! We also celebrated Avery's one year baptism anniversary!

Avery's new milestones:

-Lots of copying- filing her nails, washing her hands, putting on lotion...she pretty much will copy anything you do

-Drinking out of a sippy and a glass

-Running

-Putting her arms out to put on jackets and shirts

-Saying Isla, Dada, Hi (she loves dogs and will chase after them saying "hi, hi, hi"

Isla's new milestones:

-writing her name pretty legibly

-singing songs in spanish

-writing the numbers 0,1,2,3 pretty well

-knowing her bday is May 26

-riding her bike with training wheels very well

13 months

The biggest event of Avery's 13th month was her second trip to Florida. She did pretty good on the plane. Lots of walking up and down the aisle. We had a great time in Florida. Lots of time at the pool, one trip to the beach, a trip to the Sarasota children's garden and special time with Papa and Grandma Stapleton. Also got to see her GG Edie and great uncle Ray.

This month Avery also popped her first top tooth through so now there are 3 total. She's getting steadier on her feet. Also learning to fight back a little when her older sister takes something away from her! She makes lots of fun noises and seems to be trying to communicate with those noises. She waves bye bye and gives five. She still takes a bottle before naps and bedtime. Still sleeping like a champ. 2 naps and sleeps at night from 6-6:30. She is doing a baby class with Emily.

Isla is turning into our little girl. She had her first Disney experience in Florida. She wasn't really into going up to the princesses but once she got warmed up she loved the rides. She went on rides pretty much straight from 11-8:30! She even sat alone with us behind her on the Aladdin's carpet ride. She really enjoyed the pool this year and playing with her second cousins Stella and Lauren.

Isla is doing great at "school." She is writing some letters and working on sounds (at Montessori school they don't teach letters just sounds.) She loves art and her dance class. Her first recital is coming up soon! She also started soccer this spring and seems to like it. I do think she will be a performer more than an athlete though.

Avery's 1st birthday!

Avery turned 1 on March 2nd! 

We had a butterfly party and again Grandma Carol and I were up late finishing the cakes (3 different sized butterflies!)

Avery wasn't as interested in the cake as I thought she would be but got a little messy. About the same as Isla when she turned one.

The biggest surprise was that she started walking at her party! What a fun treat! Just a few steps but so exciting! 

Other March events....popped her first two teeth through- not so fun for her =(

11 months

Avery is standing and really cruising everywhere. But no walking yet!
She's also started teething and her first two bottom middle teeth are coming in. Not much fun for her. Lots of drool and some diarrhea.
This month Avery had croup. It started with a cough and then she started having stridor (trouble breathing.) This was pretty scary for us. We took her in and she had to have a chest xray. Mark stayed with her for that part (I guess they pretty much have to tie the baby down =( I'm glad I didn't have to witness it!) They treated her with an oral steroid which she pretty much puked up every time we gave it to her. After a couple of days the breathing got better but it was no fun for her or us. Isla never had croup so this was a new experience.

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!