We dragged Daddy off his 'deathbed' to go spend some time with Great Grandma Jenny, GG's mom. She has recently moved from W Hartford to live near GG in a wonderful assisted living apartment. Avery and I got to see her a couple of times, but Jon only managed to get out of bed this day to go see her. He was sick from the night of Libby's party until the day we flew home 5 days later. I will say if he had to be sick, there was no better vacation location than his mom's house. She was a great nurse/mom to him, much better than I would have been if we were in, say, Hawaii. Despite the illnesses (which I somehow escaped, thank goodness), we had a great trip and it was so wonderful for Avery to meet all her great grandmothers. All of my great grandparents were deceased by the time I was born, so I just feel so blessed that she has 3 to enjoy.
I will also mention that flying with a 3 month old was much easier than an 8 month old, but she did well overall and she would try to get anyone and everyone to smile at her by offering up a smile of her own. Such a sweetie.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Avery Meets Great Grandma Jenny
Avery Meets Grandpa Michael
Avery got to spend quality time with all kinds of family on this trip. She got to be with Grandpa Michael and really enjoyed getting to show him all that she is capable of. Smiling, scooting, eating, crying, sleeping, playing, bowling with her new animal bowling pins, but mainly smiling. She also was able to spend time with Great Grandma June, Jon's paternal grandmother. We all went out to eat and spent time at GG's house. Looked through old pictures of Jon as a baby/kid. I definitely see more of Jon in Avery after this trip. I think they have the same hair and similar mouths. Everyone is always saying she looks just like me, but I think she's definitely showing features of both of us.
and Great Grandma June
Avery shows Great Grandma June her favorite toys in the whole world, stacking bath plastic cups. Truly, she needs nothing else to keep her happy. She really enjoyed meeting Great Grandma June, we had 2 nice visits with her and Grandpa Michael while we were at GG's.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
8 months, 4 babies and 90 years
Avery got to spend her 8 month birthday with her precious triplet cousins and her aunts, and Grancy and Libby, among other great aunts, uncle and cousins. Daddy was sick with a fever as we traveled the southeast and miss Av had her worst cough ever, but she was happy to pose for 4 generation pictures at Libby's house the day after Libby's 90th birthday party. Babies are in reverse birth order, Mazie, Elliott, Lucia and Avery. It was such a pleasure to all be together. Just prior to this, Avery stayed at the hotel to catch up on some zzzz's and I had the great pleasure of accompanying auntie's K and B and the triplets to their first restaurant outing at Panera Bread. The babies were great and got lots of attention.
Grancy and Elliott, Libby and Lucia, Auntie K and Mazie.
We stayed down the hall from the triplets at the hotel in Newnan. I think that was smart because Avery did her fair share of crying/coughing in the new environment and the triplets finagled some in the bed sleeping as Lucia and Mazie rejected the Pack and Plays. But I must tell a story of my observation of my sister with her babies. Shortly after they arrived at the hotel and got all their stuff into the hotel room, I went to their room to see them and try to help if I could. I tried to feed Mazie, but she was upset and not interested (it was pretty late and all the babies were tired). I felt a little flustered as she fussed and then the other 2 started to cry and auntie K had all 3 of them lying on the bed and started singing a little song and they ALL stopped crying. It was amazing. I was so nervous when they were all crying but she's got it all figured out. I loved getting to spend whatever time we could get to see what great mom's K&H are both becoming.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Newnan Fam Foto
We all traveled to Newnan, Georgia on Thursday for Libby's birthday party. We have enjoyed getting to see Avery's great aunts and uncle and cousins. Aunties Kate and B arrived Friday and the 4 cousins have enjoyed some bonding floor time together. Promise to take triplet pix tomorrow to post. They are the cutest triplets you ever did see and all have blue eyes, each of a different shade. Lucia is a big cuddle bug with a dimple when she smiles, Elliott took a short time to warm up to us but now offers wide, precious smiles, and Miss Mazie is the little girl with the sweetest toothless smile. Avery adores each of them and enjoyed taking them all in today. We look forward to more bonding tomorrow before they head home and we head to Florida for Avery to meet her grandfather, other 2 great grandmothers and to see GG and Poppy! The above pic is another from Libby's bday celebration. It was so fun to get Avery all dressed up.
Great Grandma Libby is turning 90!!
Today was Karen's Grandma Libby's 90th birthday party. She will be 90 on March 25. It was a wonderful party filled with old memories, pictures, good friends and family, good food and a fabulous cake table with 90 little candles in tiny pots lining the table. There were 6 little babies from 2 month old Ja'Mari, to the 6 month old triplets Lucia, Elliott and Mazie, to 8 month old Avery, and 14 month old Drennen. They were all well-behaved. Libby had a great time, as did all her guests. Happy Birthday Grandma/Libby! We love you!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Grancy Love
Dear Grancy,
Thanks for babysitting me so my mommy and daddy could work yesterday.
I had lots of fun with you.
Love, Avery
Monday, February 18, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changin'
Goodbye dream feed, hello xbox?!?
I suppose things are changing when I have to run over and peel the fingers of my almost 7 month old off of the xbox controller cord. (I know you are all thinking, poor Jon, no PS3, well such is the life of new parents). If only we had taken heed of the pediatrician's warning 4 weeks ago to start babyproofing the house... and I just don't understand why she can't just stay on the playmat. What is with this roaming about, here and there and everywhere? I would say, "oh remember the simpler times" but this is so much fun, we'll just continue on this journey awaiting the next time we can say "wow, i never thought she'd be able to do that!"
Last night was our first night without the 10pm dream feed, we've been weaning her off it the past week after giving it to her the past 2 months. She didn't make a peep for nearly 11.5 hrs. Ahhhh!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Puree! Schmuree!
So I consider myself to be well-versed in the fine art of cooking. Really how hard can it be to steam a sweet potato, puree it, throw it in with some cereal and milk and call it a baby meal? And what baby doesn't like sweet potatoes? So I embark on this adventure with full confidence in myself, which I suppose was my first mistake.
Well, truly my worst mistake was presuming that a blender would puree steamed sweet potatoes with the same efficacy as a cuisinart. So I blended and blended, added a little of the cooking liquid (for the vitamins of course) and it looked halfway decent and so i made up a big bowl of mush containing my newly cooked sweet potatoes and Avery would have none of it. Like, anti-swallow response, crying, screaming, tears streaming down the face, oops choking can't breathe for a second or two, more crying. Then I wanted to cry, looking at 1/4 of my potatoes, 2 ounces of breastmilk and some cereal, all destined for disposal.
Well, we'll try again tomorrow. 2nd time goes about as 1st. Then I start to think, maybe I need to puree it a bit more. So I throw the "pureed/blended" potatoes into the cuisinart, let it run for a few seconds, remove the lid and the exact thought in my head is "oh yeah, that's what baby food is supposed to look like", smooth and decadent. How I was unable the day before to recognize "that is not what baby food is supposed to look like" is beyond me.
Anyway, 3rd time's a charm, I vote for Cuisinart all the way. She loves sweet potatoes. Thank goodness.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Family Foto
It's not common these days to be able to get a photo of all 3 of us, so here it is. Thanks Grandpa for taking the photo and thanks to you and NanaLin for hanging out again. Miss Avery is happy as ever. She is so looking forward to trying some veggies soon, like maybe tomorrow if I can make it to Whole Foods to buy some orange/yellow veggie of some sort. Fun!!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Grandpa comes to visit
Thanks to GG for paying the price of stranger anxiety, Grandpa and NanaLin got to overall enjoy smiles from Avery. They even got to babysit while Jon and I went to see a movie. They are now traveling up the coast and we look forward to spending a few days with them again next week when they return.
oh and go Bruins!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Me & My Dad
Since turning six months, many things have changed... I have 2 teeth coming in, I am eating cereal (better and better each day), I sit like a champ, I play peekaboo, my hair seems to be turning red and I can scoot a few inches if something really interests me. But some things have not changed. Like the way my daddy can make me smile and giggle.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Avery, Mom, Dad & GG Beaching it up Venice Style...
We enjoyed the beautiful ocean views on an amazing day in Venice. It started off with a nice walk to the farmers market followed by a leisurely stroll to the beach.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
GG Is Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Right in time for GG to arrive, Avery entered her "stranger anxiety" phase. Basically, if she sees a new face she screams like she has seen the scariest person in the world. She then puts them on trial under the assumption that they are guilty until proven innocent. We are happy to say that after two long days on trial GG has beaten the rap and now Avery has nothing but smiles for her GG.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Early Morning Beach/Tundra-Ready
Thanks to my new winter jacket (thanks Auntie Daynie), I am ready for early morning treks to the beach with Daddy and Quincy. If my Mommy doesn't have to work, she likes to sleep while we go enjoy the morning outing.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
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 :)
