My First Chistmas

While Mommy worked on Christmas morning, Daddy and Avery had fun posing her with gifts under the tree. Jon called me at work to tell me to look at the blog and I cried (not an unusual occurrence since Avery arrived) when I saw her all dressed up under the tree and me not there with them. It made me work even faster to be out by 230 pm to get home to the family for an afternoon of gift unwrapping and enjoying and napping and frozen soup unthawing. All in all it was a beautiful first Christmas for Avery Mae and next year there will be no working for Mommy whilst Avery enjoys her 2nd Christmas.

Charlotte - A New Friend

Avery has a new friend, adorable, sweet Charlotte, born 12/21. She is 1 day old in this picture. Deirdre looks amazing for having just given birth the morning before! We are so excited that mom and baby are healthy and happy. Avery also has 2 other new friends, Maddie, born 11/24, whom she got to meet a couple of weeks ago and Riana, also born 12/21 in Bangalore. She hopes to meet Riana sometime soon! So many babies to be loved.

Sleepy Jogger

It's a miracle! After 9 long (but ever improving) nights of sleep training, Avery slept through the whole night 12/21!!! We are so thrilled. To celebrate, we went for a nice jog (mommy's first since bedrest a long, long time ago) along venice and santa monica beach in our fabulous baby jogger. Avery wore her sweet little hat from Miss Mary, which keeps her nice and warm (and cute). She slept the whole way. Here's hoping for another full night's sleep for all :)

Holiday Happiness

After being a great sport for holiday pictures, Avery still has the patience for one last smile with Daddy.

Discovering Quincy

It only took 5 months for Avery to start really seeing Quincy. She has recently started to reach out and grab handfuls of fur. Despite his issues with jealousy, Quincy is very tolerant of her "affection" and always sweet to her. Sometimes when I come home with Avery, I can almost hear him say "oh I was hoping she might stay away so I can go back to being the center of this universe". Poor Quincy! Once Avery starts eating and dropping half of it on the floor, we are sure they will become best of friends! Until then, he will keep stealing her socks, pacifiers and washcloths, out of love, of course.

Holiday Card

If I had found the time to make a family holiday card to send out, it would have looked a lot like this. And it would have said something like "May your family experience all the joys of the holiday season". Maybe it would have been a little clearer somehow that she is holding a stocking and a dreidel. But this pretty much captures my vision. Maybe I shouldn't publish this, because next year I could actually make it happen.

Who do we look like?

Picture this: Avery snuggled under Daddy's jacket, walking the streets of Venice with Quincy our yellow lab pulling them along. As many of you know there are many "interesting" characters in Venice and now Jon who looks like Barney in his purple parka and Avery who looks like a fraggle in her adorable new hand-knit red hat (thanks Nerissa) add nicely to the local flavor. And they say Venice has freaks, surely they aren't talking about our family!!

5 months and sleeping

Cozy PJ's help in our recent pursuit of sleep. For Avery and for us. We started "sleep training" a few nights ago and Avery is being a good sport, following the books. She is so very close to sleeping through the night! She goes to sleep around 7 and wakes up around 6 or 7. She only cries a little in the middle of the night and it is less and less each night. And thank goodness, she is just as smiley as ever, apparently unscathed by this process.

Exersaucer Heaven

Thanks GG and Poppy for the coolest new toy in town. Avery can spend lots of time exploring each of the 50 toys attached to the exersaucer. She especially likes the cell phone, which scares us a lot. She also loves to bite the chair edge, we think she is very advanced :) It is so fun to watch her explore and learn and grow. It is hard to believe she is almost 5 months old.

Baby's First Hanukah

Avery enjoyed her first night of Hanukah.
GG called just as we were about to light the menorah and so she said the prayer and was able to share in Avery's first Hanukah celebration. Avery got a really cool new stroller. Mommy is working on learning the prayers and Daddy is working on refreshing his memory as Hebrew school was quite a while ago.

Cozy morning

Granted Los Angeles mornings are not as cold as elsewhere across the country but it still gets a little chilly in Avery's room. So to warm up those little hands (extra cold after being sucked on all night long) we welcomed her into bed to get all cozy under the (non-SIDS proof) down comforter. She remains smiley every morning and most of the day. Her eyes have gone from grey to brown and her smiles and giggles still warm our hearts.