April Showers, Races and Bath Time Fun...

A few weekends ago we had a baby shower for Rose. We had such a fun time celebrating Rose and her baby...
We had some pretty creative people at the shower. We had several activities planned. One was to make a baby out of play-doh, and there were some great babies! The biggest project that we did was made a scrapbook for Rose. Each person decorated a page that had to do with Rose and her baby.


This was the winner...

Rose received some fantastic gifts that will help her along the way...

This is my favorite moment captured at the shower...Rose and several of her friends...



Last weekend we walked in Race for the Cure in memory of our friend Ginny Buehler. Avolyn had a great time hanging out in her stroller and everyone survived the 3 mile walk. This was the 4th or 5th year to participate , and it is always a pretty cool experience to be apart of.


Avolyn has been enjoying her bath time in a more exciting way. We got this duck bath and Avolyn loves to play and splash in it. Her lips start quivering because she is getting cold, but it does not phase her at all. She could probably spend all day in it.

Enjoy the video and Mike saving Avolyn...She kept right on playing...

Aunts, Uncles, Dads, and New Faces...

I guess it was almost a month ago that Billy and Amy came and spent some time in Bloomington. It is never enough time, but it is always so great to visit. It was the first really nice day and we enjoyed being outside for a change. Speaking of change...Amy and Billy recently found out that they were going to have a baby. We are so excited for them, and hope for more great changes in the near future. Amy was probably just a week or so pregnant when they visited. Avolyn had a great time hanging out with her aunt and uncle.


I have so many great pictures of Mike and Avolyn having a great time together. Avolyn has such a pretty smile, but even more so when Mike playing with Avolyn. She has been interested in touching and looking at everything. She still loves to sing with Mike, and the newest game is peek-a-boo. Avolyn will get her legs and arms a-swingin'. It is pretty fantastic.


Avolyn turned 6 months on April 3rd. She had her 6 month check up last week, and everything looks good. Avolyn sat on my lap and just watched the doctor. Our doctor was pleased with AVs progress. She weighs 18 lbs. 14 oz. and is 26.5 inches long. and is developmentally at a 8 month level. She is still doing great rolling. She has just recently figured out how to sit and semi-gracefully go from sitting to rolling, but she has not herself pulled up to sit yet. She is using more consonants. Mama is coming soon, I can feel it. She is exploring more and more foods. Just in the past few days we have been giving her Cherrios. She is slowly getting used to a new textures. She can pick them up, but realizing she can also put them in her mouth is still a mystery to her. Hunter and Prudence have enjoyed the Cherrios...they usually end up with the cereal that gets to the floor. Here are some new 'Faces of Avolyn' for your enjoyment...

Still trying to play Catch-Up

Both Avolyn and Mike are sleep, the dishes are done, and it is to late to start a load of laundry, so I thought I would take advantage of some free time. We, as many of us, are anxiously awaiting some nice weather that is going to stay. I noticed a few lillys and live forevers starting to pop up, so hopefully that is a good sign. A few weekends ago we went to the park to swing and take a walk. It was so much fun to see Avolyn enjoy something new. The only piece of equipment that was 6 month old friendly was the baby swing...and the baby swing was almost to big. Avolyn is such a pork train that we are usually running into the issue of things being to small for her. She really enjoyed swinging and looking at other families. We also went around the parks trail and enjoyed the blue sky. It is exciting to think that when it will be perfect to go to the park Avolyn is going to be the perfect age and size to really start enjoying it.



From the first time Avolyn heard Mike play his guitar at the hospital to the dogs howling with the harmonica to listening to music in the car to a loud drum solo from Uncle Tim in his shack to to the songs I sing Avolyn to sleep with Avolyn loves any and every kind of music. It is so much fun to see Avolyn kick her feet in excitement to the beat of a song. She loves to stare at Mike's left hand as he moves from chord to chord. Many times a week I wake up to Avolyn making up her own song to the morning. As this video shows, she also loves to sing along with Mike...





My beautiful sister is pregnant. Very pregnant. Not only am I lucky to have Rose as a sister, but she is one of my closest friends, and I treasure her love and friendship immensely. She has asked me to experience her first borns birth with her and I am honored and so very excited to coach her along the way. We have been able to share in such a new way with each other. I am thrilled to have her in the moms club now (her initiation will come later). We are having a shower next weekend for her, and then her due date is just around the corner...May 10th will be here before you know it! Here are a few pictures of her in the last few months.



Mike and I are very blessed to have such a happy baby. Avolyn has had 2 rounds of earaches. Even with the aches, she still have been pretty happy. Of course we can tell that she is hurting and is upset, but for the most part she just deals with it. The last round of illness she had ear infections in both ears. She was on amoxicilin and on the 8th day she broke out with hives and was grumpy. We immediately took her off the amoxicillin and gave her a little benadryl and she was a new little babe. Hopefully the ear infections will not continue to be an issue. She has been teething. She officially is budding her first teeth. The bottom front, and you can just see the tips of them. Maybe that has something to do with the ear infections.

Doesn't she look so sick in her poor little eyes...


In the past few months we have also been introducing baby food to Avolyn. She has really enjoyed eating new foods (surprise, surprise). She started with sweet potatoes, carrots and squash then she tried sweet peas and green beans. She has also tried apricots, bananas, blueberries with apples, and I know I am forgetting a few. She really likes sweet potatoes and her least favorite are foods that have apples in them. I think they are to sour for her liking right now. She eats them, but not as fast as the others. We now are cutting the food with rice. I gave her a piece of celery a weekend or two ago and she did not like that. I thought that maybe the hardness she would like against her budding teeth, but she eventually threw it on the floor. The face that she made when she put the celery in her mouth was priceless. Here are a few pictures of Avolyn eating baby food for the first time.

We have started using bibs.

There's still more. But for tonight, that will have to do.
Enjoy your day to the fullest...

It's about time...

Due to technical difficulties you may have noticed a lack of posts. Good news, we are back in full force. I will try my best to recap the highlights of the past few months. Avolyn has continued to make us laugh... she is doing a lot more than just sleeping and eating now. And slowly she is getting more hair. very slowly. When we last left off Avolyn was just figuring out to roll. Let me tell you, she is a world class roller now. This is a video of one of the first rolls of Avolyn...



She has enjoyed laying on her belly more and more. Even enough to roll around at night and find a position on her belly to sleep on. You never know where she is going to be in her crib when you wake up. She is all over the place. When she first started rolling it was hard for her to sleep because she was getting her pleasantly plum legs stuck. She would wake up and not be able to move. This was when she was first rolling and could only roll one way. So we just turned her the other way, she would roll next to the wall and not be able to get her legs stuck, and now she will sleep completely through the night.

This next video is from March 14th. We were visiting Plainfield and she had a lot of room to roll around.




Avolyn is up and I need to be with her now. I promise more updates to come soon...

A Snowy Day Home...

Avolyns daycare was closed today because of the weather. So Avolyn and I have had an extra day together this week. I guess we have about a foot of snow down here. We have had a fantastic day. Avolyn is taking a nap so I thought I would take advantage of some alone time. Among many projects today I took a couple of pictures. I sometimes freak out because of the snow and living in the country. But days like today remind me more why I love living in the country. I couldn't think of anywhere else that I would rather be. I just wish Mike was here and could enjoy the day with us. Enjoy the pictures from our snowy morning...




This is what it looks like out Avolyns windows...



The video is from a few nights ago. Mike went to pick Avolyn up from daycare and the ladies said Avolyn was blowing raspberries all day long. It is so fun to see Avolyn become so expressive and into anything that is around her.

C is for Cookie....

Well, not cookies just quite yet, but Avolyn experienced food for the first time tonight...if you consider rice cereal food. She just was not quite sure what to think about this whole food business. For her first experience I think she did pretty good. For every bite she spit out most of it and she choked and gaged a few times, but I think with a little practice this babe with be eating 4 course meals in no time. Enjoy the pictures and video documenting this experience...

3Months...

Our little Avolyn Rose is growing like a weed. Each day she seems to get smarter and prettier. We have had such a great time watching her grow and enjoy new experiences. She has found her hands and feet. She also has found her ears and tongue. She likes to stick out her tongue to anyone and everyone that looks at her.

She also likes to chew on her tongue. She is smiling more and more and can focus on toys and people for a lot longer. For Christmas Uncle Jordan (who was the first visitor to hold Avolyn at the hospital...he has wanted me to add that for awhile) and Aunt Elizabeth got Avolyn a Bumbo and she likes it pretty well. We have been told it is great for building back and neck muscles. She also has a tray that she likes to play with her toys on. She gets pretty tired sitting in the Bumbo, but can handle it for about 20 minutes or so. When she first sat in the seat her head was just not used to this new experience. So my family suggested to put my shoe on the back of her head to help support, so we had to try it out but kind of goes against the whole building muscles.

Avolyn is a very focused little girl. She is noticing the dogs more and more and follows them with her eyes until out of sight. She is also very serious when looking at toys and getting her brain and hands to work together. She loves to watch Daddy play the guitar and has her favorite songs. She smiles great big when we sing and enjoys: Crawdad Song, Polly Wolly Doodle, SkinnyMerinkyDinkyDink, Oh Suzanna, I've Been Working on the Railroad and Car Song. Avolyn has also found her voice and likes to tell us lots of stories. The daycare ladies say that she just talks and talks all day long there. She will be laying in her crib and they think she is upset crying, but no, it is just Avolyn talking louder just to make sure they remember she is in there. As soon as she wakes up in the morning she is telling me all about everything. It is a great way to start our morning. Here is a video of her rambles....



And we were able to take some 3 month pictures. I think I had the most fun with these pictures and I have a wonderful husband and great daughter to go along with my crazy ideas. I am so lucky to have such a happy baby. She makes us laugh and happy every single day and it is something else to see Mike and Avolyn together. I fall more and more in love with both of them every day.

Hopefully soon I can post about our Christmas....better late than never!