Birthday Photos and Casserole

This afternoon we met with photographer Richelle Dante in Laguna Canyon to take Avery's one year photos.  Of course we always try to prevent Avery from getting hurt, but this week we have been extra careful not to let Avery fall and bump her head or scratch her face in anticipation of the photos.  So naturally when I went to get her out of bed this morning, I found her in her crib with a giant scratch on her cheek. 

No idea how it got there.   

We had a fun time doing the pictures, but it was super duper cold. The high for today in Laguna was 60 degrees... So I was pretty bummed out because most of the outfits I had picked out for Avery to wear were short sleeved.  We ended up having to put a sweater on her for the majority of the pictures (and she was still cold, her little nose was red and her legs were splotchy looking. I felt like such a bad mom.  But I kept telling myself, 10 minutes of cold will be worth it for pictures we will cherish forever............Right?)

Here is the sneak peek photo Richelle sent me. She should have more up on her blog by the end of the week.  She titled it, "A Princess and Her Puppy."

When we got home I decided to try making a casserole.  (Wow, I never thought I would say that.  Ever.  I feel so old). I don't normally cook. I don't know a lot about cooking, I can't really improvise or make things from scratch, and to be honest, it doesn't really interest me all that much, so I've never bothered to learn.  (Don't worry, I gave Josh the disclaimer of "I don't cook" before we even got engaged, so he knew what he was getting himself into).  

Lately I have been feeling like maybe I should try to at least learn some cooking basics since Avery will soon be eating meals with us, and I want her to eat something healthier than a bowl of popcorn or a microwaved quesadilla.  (At this point she is still on breastmilk, formula, and baby food. We have added in a few solids like Gerber puffs, teething biscuits, saltines, and graham crackers.  Fresh fruits and vegetables get spit out immediately, but we keep trying).  A friend of mine gave me an easy recipe for a chicken & rice casserole, so I substituted some of the ingredients and made a rice/cheese/vegetable casserole. It actually turned out okay. Josh even had seconds.  I was eating on the floor near where Avery was playing, when she came over and was interested in my bowl.  So I gave her a bite and she kept coming back for more!  I was so excited that it passed the test of the picky eater.   Looks like we will be eating a lot more casserole around here.

Box Canyon

Today Mom/Grandma came over and we decided to try out a new park. This park, Box Canyon Park, is about 5 minutes from our house and burned down in the 2008 fires.  The park has been entirely rebuilt and has pirate ship and castle play structures, swings, basketball courts, and fields. Avery had such a blast climbing around that she went to sleep at 7:30 tonight. I am thinking maybe we should take a trip to the park tomorrow too.....

Thanksgiving Fun

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving, and a video of Avery's first piano solo.

Dinner with Mommy:

Playing with Autumn:

Patty Cake with Great Grandma:



Tantrums and piano time with Daddy:

Click here to watch Avery's first piano performance:

Avery's First Solo



Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to believe that a year ago on this day I was very big and miserable! We were celebrating my 30th birthday early since we didn't know when Avery was going to make her appearance.  I was really hoping for a Thanksgiving baby because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Family, food, and a 4-day weekend to relax. 

But Avery decided to stay warm and cozy for another 2 weeks. 

So today marks the last of Avery's "first" holidays (aside from her birthday).

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In the past couple of weeks, Avery has decided to discard her entire vocabulary, and replace all the words she was once able to say with "Neh-neh."

Old List:

Mama

Dada

Bah (ball)

Baba

Bubble

Uh-oh

Eekee (Kitty)

Hi

Cookie

Lamp

Naner (Tanner)

New List:

Neh-Neh

I have talked to some other mothers who said that their kids went through similar phases. It's frustrating because she used to sound so advanced, and now our progress seems to be going backwards!  Our conversations sound a lot like this now:

Kristen: Avery, say "mama."

Avery: Neh-neh.

Kristen: Ma....ma.....

Avery: Neh-neh.

Kristen: Can you say "Dada"?

Avery: Neh-neh.

Oh well. Hopefully we will be back on track soon.  At least I finally got a picture of that first (and second) tooth.  If you click on this photo, it should open in a larger window and if you look closely you can see those two little bottom chompers coming in.

My other goal this week was to get a video of Avery doing her "Eyeshadow Monster" routine.  She loves to get into the cabinets under the bathroom sink, and she especially loves my little eyeshadow containers because they fit perfectly in her mouth.  If you take one away, she will dig in the cabinet and find another one.  (For the video we just gave her all of them in a basket instead of making her find them so that the video wouldn't end up being 20 minutes long).  To see the video, click here:

Eyeshadow Monster

More pictures to follow after Avery samples her first Thanksgiving feast...

Avery & Tanner

Since Avery's first tooth made it's appearance a few weeks ago, she has still been somewhat fussy, and we realized this week that she is cutting FOUR additional teeth, all at the same time.  Needless to say, she has been intermittently cranky and has even woken up crying in the middle of the night a few times.  So there has been less fun and more Tylenol at our house. And she doesn't like me poking my finger around in her mouth or trying to take pictures of her teeth. So I'm still working on a picture to fill the "My First Tooth" frame in her baby book.

Tonight, our good friends Nikki and Dustin invited us over for dinner.  Avery had a fun time crawling around in a new environment, and was very interested in whatever their 5 year old son Tanner was doing. She watched him and followed him around for a good part of the evening.  Nikki had instructed Tanner to cover up all his toys with a big blanket, since many of his Star Wars figurines have small pieces that Avery could choke on.  At one point, Tanner was sitting on the blanket, and Avery crawled over and made herself comfortable on his lap (No we did not pose any of these pictures. She got into this position all by herself). The blanket made a cute backdrop too, so I ran for my camera and started snapping away...

When we got back home, I asked Josh if he could rock her to sleep so I could get her clothes and food packed for tomorrow.  I ran down to the garage to put some things away, and when I came back upstairs, I found THIS. 

She was so wound up that she did not go to sleep until 9:45 (she is typically asleep by 8:30).  Thank you Josh the comedian.

One For Good Measure

Amazing to see how much she has grown....

January 1, 2010:

November 14, 2010:

Latest Shenanigans Part II

Oops... Forgot the link! Click HERE!

Latest Shenanigans

That mean Mister First Tooth finally poked through the surface on Thursday. Since then, Avery has been a little less cranky, but no less eager to make mischief all over the house.

Sun, Sweat, and Swings

Yesterday Anaheim was the hottest city in the nation at 102 degrees. Today wasn't much cooler, as it was about 98 when I left work, so I decided to take Avery to one of the parks by our house to enjoy the fading sun. 

Luckily they had bucket swings. She has never been on the swings before (besides her infant swing), so I was anxious to see her reaction.

At first she wasn't too thrilled about the idea.

But after a few good pushes, she decided it was alright.