Three Months!

I will say this...this last month has been the best yet!  I hope it continues with this pattern!  You are a joy, completely.  We have a routine and you love it.  And when you wake up in the morning, you are so happy and ready for the day.  You love to smile and gurgle and coo at us (or the fan...or the blinds...).

I feel like there are so many milestones that have happened in the last month.  I hope I can capture them all for you....

• You sleep through the night, with just little peeps here and there.  I put you to bed at 7-7:30pm and you get a dream feed (you are barely even awake) at 10-10:30pm and then you sleep until 6:30-7am.  I would prefer that to be 7-7:30am....but I am not complaining!  =)  It took about a week to get you settled into that routine, so by about 10 weeks you were pretty good at it.
• You now are like clockwork for naps too!  We just started this the past week or so.  You wake up and eat and we play together for a while...then by 8am or so, you are ready for a nap already!  You sleep for about an hour and a half and then the cycle repeats!  Except in the late afternoon, you don't nap as much there because we are getting your Sisters, making dinner, etc....but that's okay...we want your Sissy's to see you too!  It's not your most smiley time of the day, but you do okay.
• You LOVE your hands.  You watch them intently, move your fingers and just are intrigued by these things!  I will put up my hand and move my fingers around and you do the same.  I can even (sometimes) get you to mimic me when I put just my pointer finger up.  I can clasp my hands together and you will do that at times too.  You are so much fun.  =)
• You still love to talk to us.  When I am changing your diaper, you will look at me and try and make your lips vibrate together and make a noise because you want me to make that same noise to you.  And then when I do make it, you just smile so big.  And you love making a gurgly, spitty sound in your throat...so we do that back and forth a lot too.  And then you just smile, smile, smile.  
• You love it when your Daddy says "Stinkerbabies!" in that goofy voice of his!  For whatever reason, that is his thing with you and you love it.  You look at him for a second with wide eyes....and then a HUGE smile goes across your face.
• You love your mobiles.  Your doggy one downstairs in your playard is your favorite I think.  When we change your diaper, you are enthralled by the doggies dancing above your head!  Because of this, we thought you would like a playmat and got you a Baby Einstein one with a ton of stuff hanging down for you to play with and look at.  So far though, it's a no go...you don't seem to like it at all!  Hope that changes!
• You LOVE to suck on your hands.  And I thank God for those hands every day because it is part of your sleeping routine.  When I put you down to sleep, you make fuss just a bit, but then you remember those hands of yours and you put them in your mouth.  Before I know it, you are out!  We barely use a pacifier anymore with you (the crib is a no paci-zone!)...so with you loving your hands in your mouth...and taking naps so well and sleeping almost 12 hours at night in crib...there's no time for paci's!  =)

Your Grandma Frances just left and we had a blast with her.  She loved holding you and cooing at you.  And you would love to smile right back at her.  Luckily, she comes back in a couple months so she can hold you again!  I can't even imagine how big you'll be by then!  Here are a couple pics from her being with us....

 It was your Uncle Ray's 40th Birthday while Grandma Frances was here - so we got him some funny "Over the Hill" gifts.  

 All of your cousins!

You two are so cute!

It's crazy how quickly time goes.  The first month with you was kind of surreal and we were in a adrenaline-fed daze.  The second month was when reality all sunk in, you were kind of fussy, and I wasn't sure I would be able to clean the house and cook dinner ever again without being stressed about you crying if I put you down.  Now, the third month was awesome.  You settled into a routine, you are so happy...and we just fall in love with you more everyday.  You recognize me and smile when I come into your view.  I will admit, that is the best thing in the world.  When you are smiley and we are playing, time just flies!  I see you yawn and I think, "Wow, it's nap time already?!".  Sometimes I wish there was a little less nap time!  =)  

You are still breastfeeding like a champ too.  My plan is to breastfeed until six months...then we'll see.  I'd love to say I could go a whole year, but it may stop at six months when we introduce solid foods to you.  We'll see!  Sure can't wait to feed you a jar of smooshed peas and see them all over your face!  =)

Baby girl, you fit so well into our family.  I can't even describe it to you because you just do.  Your Sisters love you to death.  Sometimes I worry that they don't get to see you as much (since they are only with us half the time)...but I'll give that one to God and know that He will take care of that.  Kyndall loves to take you and sing to you....Megan loves to make you smile.  She is still waiting for the day when you are a little bigger and she can really play with you.  They both can't get enough of you.

Each night  before bed while you are eating...I just look at you and soak it all in.  I pray for you to sleep well and have peace...and then I also pray for you and your little heart and that it is filled with love for God.  I love this verse that a friend gave me too...a blessing as a prayer to you before you sleep for the night.

Numbers 6:24-26

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace."

You got a little sick last weekend too.  Probably your first real sickness...hasn't been too bad though and I hope that continues.  There is so much talk about RSV (a nasty lung virus in babies) that I am still keeping an eye out even though you seem better now.  You had one day where you were sleepy and fussy - had a little rattling in your lungs and congested.  You still are congested, but you seem normal otherwise.  This is what you looked like the majority of the day last Sunday.

Oh, and there is a new craze around here...have you heard of it?  It's called, "Daily Avery".  =)  It all started when I would send a picture message to your Pa and Mimi every so often of you and I said something like, "here's your Daily Avery...".  Then, I started posting the pics on Facebook too so that other family could see you (and friends).  I didn't realize I created a frenzy until I didn't post a picture of you one day and a couple people wrote on my Facebook wall wondering where their Daily Avery was!  Now, it's kind of routine, and I rarely miss a day!  If I do...I get hounded.  =)  I love that everyone likes to see you so much.  I can't tell you how many people have said that they check out Facebook to see the Daily Avery.  So cool.

Here are shots of you long the way of Daily Avery....

 4 days old

 3 weeks (your legs are so tiny!)

 5 weeks

 8 weeks

 10 weeks (one of my favs!)

 Couldn't resist - had to throw this one in!  11 weeks....

Another 11 weeker

12 weeks - sitting in your Bumbo - so big! 

Another 12 weeker - found your hands!

 Almost 13 weeks!

Baby Love, Babies, Stinkypants, Sweet Pea, Baby Girl....you are a joy.  I get to wake up everyday and take care of you - I get to do that for my job!  I help you learn new things and make you smile.  I am so blessed to have that job.  I used to work in Corporate America and I cannot even fathom ever doing that again..  You and your Sisters make this all so fun and worth it.  You're my little buddy - it's you and me throughout the day - and you just tag along for the ride.  You were just in my arms after you ate...and you were headed to sleepyland already (because you just played in your crib for your 1st nap!), so your eyes were droopy...and I said softly, "you're so sweet baby girl, you're so sweet....do you know that?".  And you just looked at me with those half-open, sleepy eyes and smiled...and then you closed your eyes for good.  That's what this is all about Baby Girl.  You're my smiley, loving, sweet sidekick...and I love you to pieces!

Sleeping Through The Night

Hi Avery Jo...you are looking so sweet right now in your little lamby seat that you love.  We just got back from church and you wore an adorable outfit from your Aunt Nora and family.  Too cute.

So, the latest with us is that we have been working on sleeping through the night.  We went to your pediatrician appointment a week and a half ago when you turned 2 months (9 weeks) and she gave us a plan for this luxury.  Your Daddy and I were thinking we'd wait until three months with you to have you sleep in your own bedroom and crib, but after this appointment, we were convinced to start now.  First of all, you are a healthy baby.  You weighed in just fine (12 lbs 14 oz) and were growing taller too (24 in).  Also, we have a video baby monitor that makes it much easier on Mommy to have you in the other room!

Up until this point, you were up until 10-11pm and then slept great until 3:30am....and then the last part of the night would be on and off, sleeping/awake, until 7am.  Not too bad, not too good.  =)  The new plan was to have us start a routine with you around 7pm.  Change your diaper, feed you, read a book/sing to you and rock you....then in your crib around 7:30pm.  We would then do a "dream feed" with you at 10-10:30pm.  You are barely awake, but give you some more food and put you back down with the lights off, no talking...just eating and back to sleeping.  Theoretically, you should sleep through the night after that until about 7am.  Of course, the hard part is that middle of the night time you normally woke up and got fed...that now goes away and we have to get you used to just sleeping through that feeding.

To do this, we had to let you cry a few nights...and actually, you still do just a little right around that time.  (For all those that do not like letting your baby cry it out, no opinions or negativity please...this is how we do it in order to get a schedule back to our lives since we have a family of five to take care of!  And...she was comforted and watched over the whole night when she cried...promise!)  The first night was the roughest...you cried for a while...and we went in every 20 or so minutes to rub your belly and let you know that we were there for you, just not in the same room anymore.  After that first night of crying though, you have now just let out a few minutes of crying around 4am...like 5-10 minutes...and you are back to sleep until 6:30 or 7am.

I am actually a bit amazed that this little plan works so well.  You sometimes cry a little when I put you down at 7:30pm...but sometimes you just play with your monkey mobile a little and crash too.  Eventually the "dream feed" session will go away (I think around 12 weeks or so we can start trying this) and you will/should sleep around 10-12 hours.  You are already pretty darn good at it...so keep it up!  The time after 7:30pm is nice for your Mommy to have with your Sisters and Daddy...and make sure they feel our love too.  That time is actually more spent making sure homework is done and we are all ready to go for the next day at school!  But, that's showing love too.  =)

Some people have a hard time putting a baby on a schedule...and I learned that the hard way on a baby website that I am a part of.  Someone wanted to know what nighttime schedules looked like for those on the website with 2-month olds.  So, I shared what I said above....and all hell broke loose.  I was called an abuser, neglectful and horrible.  Letting you cry a little to get to sleep was compared to leaving a baby in a car and going shopping or shaking a baby.  And someone even said the police should be called on me.  Yep.  This was a little hard to take, to be honest.  But these women are the ones that let their babies rule their lives.  And you ruled our lives for the first two months (and still do, to be honest), but there just came a time where I didn't want to neglect your Daddy or Sisters...we had to balance things out again....and this really helps with that a lot.  Trust me though....you still rule this house and will for a while yet.  =)  Your Daddy and I's stance is that we want to raise you to be as healthy as possible...and that starts with him and I being healthy with our relationship so that you grow up and know what a healthy relationship looks like.  You need this as a fundamental piece to you...and only him and I can provide that.  And yes, you sleeping through the night definitely helps keep us healthy and helps your Sisters feel like they are still an important piece to our family too.

Other news...your Grandma is here!  And is she ever loving on you?!  You have won her heart!  She loves to hold you and coo at you.  I don't think there is anything better for her!  She keeps saying how much she is going to miss you.  It's great to have her here!  Here are some pictures of you and your Grandma...and then some of your cousins when they were over on Super Bowl Sunday last week.

You and your Grandma!

That's your little spot!

Your cousin Nate - holding you during the Super Bowl 

Nate was making you laugh - you were better company than even the Super Bowl!

Cousin Jenni and you - she LOVED holding you!

Your cousin Keely and you - you were a hot commodity!

Even your cousin Tyler made sure he got some time with you (I think he even got to hold you twice!  Shhhh...don't tell your other cousins!)

I can't believe you are pushing three months now!  And you are already out of your 0-3 month clothes.  You probably were done with those a week or so ago - around 9 weeks.  I have already cleaned out your dresser a couple times to get rid of all your newborn and 0-3 month stuff.  This is happening waaaay too fast!  You need to slow down missy!  You haven't even worn all the things we had for you - and boom!  You are too big!  Oh well baby girl....I love you so much...just know that.  You are so much fun.  And like your Daddy always says, you're just so beautiful.  =)

Two Months Baby Girl!

Dear Baby Girl,

We have hit the two month mark!  Yes...already!  In many ways it feels like you have been a part of our lives for so much longer than that....and then other times it feels crazy that it has been two months...where has time gone?

There are so many things at two months that you are doing that I never expected.  I never expected that you would be so interactive and smiley!  Everything that we do (stick our tongues out, smile, say "ooooh", open our eyes up wide), you try to do right back at us.  And then you give us that big ol' smile of yours after you do something that we did, like you are so proud.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE my morning times with you.  After a good night's sleep (that's key!), you are the most fun in the mornings.  We just lay around and jibber jabber, coo, smile and just "talk" back and forth.  I usually have a few things that I want to get done, but that all gets shoved aside once you start smiling at your Mama!  I love those times when you are entirely focused on me and are in love with your Mama.  Then, there are the times where I wish you were focused on me, but you are busy smiling at the ceiling fan and window blinds, and no matter what I do, you are locked on to those things!  You love ceiling fans! And I have just started to notice a little dimple on the right side of your chin when you make certain faces.

You can hold your head up pretty well on your own, but you still look like a drunken sailor sometimes, bobbing all around.  You love things touching your face (my hand, arm, blanket) and sometimes sleep so hard that even a bath doesn't wake you up!  You have found your hands and are learning to suck on your knuckles as we speak!  I can't wait until you are officially sucking a finger or a thumb.  Some parents may think I am crazy, but that will be so nice to have a self-soothing item attached to you.  =)

Your Pa and MiMi just left after being here two weeks.  Uncle Dan, Aunt Marjie, Grandma Betty, Uncle Clyde and Uncle Sam were all here too.  We had two full weeks with them!  Pa and Mimi miss you tons already...they loved holding you and just laying on the bed with you and playing.  They watched you for an entire night one time so that your Mommy and Daddy could get a full night's sleep!  And as great as that was, I missed you the minute we drove away.  And it was your smell that I missed the most!

You have already been to your two-month check up at the pediatrician.  You weighed in at 12 lbs. and 14.5 oz and were 24 inches.  Your weight was in the 93rd percentile and your height was in the 95th percentile.  You are a bigger baby, but you are exceptionally long too.  You are almost completely out of your 0-3 month clothes already!  I just bagged up half of your dresser's clothes the other day because they are too small already!  It was a little sad how time flies!  And sad how so many of those cute clothes are already over and done with!

Back to your appointment - you got your first shots - one orally (mmmm....grape!) and four shots in your legs.  Poor thing.  You screamed, of course, but were pretty easy to calm down. You were a little cranky that night and then slept like a log the next day.  Other than that, you were a-okay!  It didn't kill me as much as I thought it would.  The nice doctor also talked to us about starting to get you to sleep through the night in your own room (as you well know).  You can blame her, she's the one that gave us this crazy idea.  =)   She let us know that starting this now, at two months will shorten the "training" period, as opposed to waiting until four months or so.  You aren't as accustomed to eating in the middle of the night yet, so she thinks it should take less than a week to get you sleeping eight hours or so right away...and then 10-12 hours on a regular basis.  This would have you sleep from 7:30pm to 7:30am (ideally) eventually.  Last night was the first night of the "training" and it was great until 2:30am when you normally would get fed again.  the next three hours were tough - lots of crying for you.  Daddy kept the monitor by him and not by me, because it's hard for me to hear you scream and cry.  I could still hear you though...every half hour of crying we go in and touch your belly and talk to you to let you know we haven't abandoned you.  That happened a few times....so we were up a lot after the 2:30am mark.  We are just starting night #2, so I'll have to update you in a week or so to see how this goes.  =)

UPDATE:  Night #2 you slept from 8pm - 7am with just about 15 minutes of crying at the beginning and then 15 minutes around 2am.  Woohoo!  Let's keep up the trend!

I will never forget last night though, when we first started this new routine.  We had our neighborhood group (from church) over and it's a family group so there are a bunch of kids here too.  I had to leave in the middle and feed you and put you to bed.  We have a video monitor for you, so I grabbed that when I left and rejoined the group about 30 minutes later.  Well, you...of course...started crying right when I put you in your crib and you could hear you a little from where we were all sitting downstairs.  All the little girls (that love you to death, by the way) heard you and looked at me, very concerned and said, "Dani, Baby Avery is crying!".  I just said, "I know.", as my heart is already hurting for you.  They were so sad for you!  It was cute.  Shortly after that, the group time ended, and they all ran over to me to look at you on the video monitor (still crying, with this horrible sad face!).  There were three of them saying, "Poor Baby Avery...she is soooo sad....poor Baby Avery!".  I just had to laugh, kind of.  It figures, the first night I have to put you in your crib and walk away with you crying, which was hard enough....and I had all these little girls fighting for your crying cause, trying to convince me that you need to be held instead of crying. I tried to explain to them that you needed to start sleeping on your own and this was the way to do that, and tears had to be shed in order to accomplish it.  But, they just couldn't understand why I would intentionally let you cry and not hold you instead!  Eventually you stopped after about 30 minutes and were sound asleep after that....so I made sure and showed them you sleeping on the monitor after that to prove that you were happy after all!

Next on the visitor list?  Grandma Frances is headed to see you tomorrow!  She is here for three weeks, so you will get lots of love from her, I'm sure!  It will be so great to have both sides of our families here...and have held you and loved on you!

Next up for us?  We are going to work on rolling from your belly to your side/back next....and to get your neck a little stronger to hold up your head a little better.  Girlfriend, you are going to be crawling before we know it...and that makes me sad already just thinking about it!

I'll be back soon with more updates...in the meantime, here are some pictures that I took of you yesterday for your two month milestone.  You were groggy from your shots, so you let me mess with you a lot.  =)  Also, I'm putting in some pics from when the family was here!  Enjoy baby girl...and sweet, sweet dreams!

Here's some family pics...I found some with Kiara too when they were here.

Grandma loved to hold you! 

Always a game of Euchre happening.... 

MiMi had a bad eye and Uncle Sam was hooking her up with some eye drops!

Big sissy holding you!

Having a pajama party, watching American Idol. 

Uncle Sam and you

All of us - saying our goodbyes

Video of Smiles!

Hi baby girl...your Daddy and I captured this video of you the other day and wanted to share...how cute are you?

I've been slacking! You are already 7 1/2 weeks old!

Hi Baby Girl - I've been slacking at this, I know.  I guess I have just been enjoying you too much!  Plus, we've had a lot of family in town lately too!  You are now SEVEN AND A HALF WEEKS OLD!  That is crazy.  Time flies.  And you are getting cuter (and smarter) by the day!  I don't have a ton of time, but thought I would give you a couple of your cute pictures and then a quick update as to how you have been doing!  And what we have been doing too!

See?!  I told you that you were getting cuter and cuter!  Just when I don't think you can get any cuter, there you go and get cuter again!

Okay...so at seven weeks, so much has happened with you!  Here are some highlights:

• You can make the kissy face!  No one really believed me at first, but right around four weeks, I would give  you kisses on your face and you mimicked me.  Now, it's hard to argue with, you pucker up and ask for and give kisses!
• Along with the kisses, I started sticking my tongue out at you.  And you started sticking yours right back at me!  Sometimes it takes you a while to get warmed up and going, but once you do, you keep sticking out over and over again!  In fact, I think I created a monster because sometimes without even being prompted, your tongue starts going just to get our attention!
• You smile - and smile BIG!   You probably had your first real smile at four weeks or so.  And not just in your sleep!  You definitely know how to melt our hearts with those smiles.  Especially in the mornings, that's your favorite time.
• You are talking back to us now (around 7 weeks) - not in the teenager, hormonal way - but trying to mimic what we do.  Lots of  "ooh's" and "aah's".   It's so much fun watching you try and get a sound out.  Your mouth gets scrunched up in the "o" shape and then you startle yourself sometimes when you actually spit the sounds out.  So cute baby girl!
• You've been getting a lot more fussy on certain days.  We are thinking it is a gas issue and have tried several things to help.  Burping more, keeping you uprights, feed out of a bottle, gas drops, gripe water, etc.  I'd say half the days you are "normal" and then the other half you have an hour or two a day that you are screaming and inconsolable.  As much as this kills me, it's kind of in a routine now.  Maybe it's just your "fussy" time that everyone says babies have?  If so,yours seems to be between 5-7pm.
• You sleep fairly well.  You go from 11pm - 3:30/4am, then we eat and you sleep again until 7-8am.  It seems there is no sleeping through the night in sight, but other mommies say it will happen at some point.
• You have found your hands and fingers.  They go to your mouth quite a bit now.  You have yet to actually suck on your thumb or finger exclusively, but you suck on the side of your hand a little.  Everyone else seems to think this is a bad thing, but I look forward to not having to chase the pacifier around (in your mouth, you spit it out, cry a little, I put it back in...repeat).  We'll see!  
• You love hands touching your face.  It puts your right to sleep (usually).
• You have several nicknames - munchkin (Daddy's), baby girl (mine), sweetsies (mine), babies (weird, I know...also mine), pumpkin seed (Pa's and Mimi's), punky brewster (Pa's and Mimi's).

Your Aunt Nikki and Kiara came to visit at the beginning of January.  Kiara was enthralled with you!  She loved to just look at you and hold you too.  Your Aunt Nikki loved your cheeks (knew she would!).  Your sisters and the two of them even watched you for a couple hours so your Daddy and I could go eat dinner for our anniversary together.  We had a blast with them!  And we didn't do much really, just hung around the house, ran errands and enjoyed you!  So sad to see them go.  This is when living in AZ is difficult.

This past week, your Pa and Mimi have been here and they are staying until Saturday.  Also, Grandma Betty, Uncle Sam, Uncle Clyde, Aunt Marjie and Uncle Dan have been here.  Oh...and Susie and Tim from California were here as well as Mac and James!  Lots of people for you to see and meet.  Each and every one of them gushed about how cute you were (and your blue eyes and how much hair you have!).  =)  We have one more week with Pa and Mimi...we are so not looking forward to them leaving again.  We are hoping they come back sooner than later.  Again, this is the hard part about living in AZ.  I'll get some pictures up soon from their trip.

Your sisters are still in love with you.  Megan says (at least once a day...at least), "She's just so cute!".  And Kyndall loves, loves, LOVES to hold you and take care of you.  She is my helper when I need to hop in the shower or get something done...even if you are crabby, she takes care of you so well!  And your Daddy has yet to stop saying how beautiful you are.  That still comes out of his mouth regularly.  =)  He's such a big helper with you too.  Shares the night duty completely with me. 

I just love you so much baby girl!  You are squirming next to me right now...and trying to suck on my leg.  So, I probably need to feed you!  =)  Can't wait to keep finding out more about you!  I love you more every day (every hour?).