Avolyn Turns ONE!

We had such a fun time last Saturday celebrating the birth of Avolyn. The day was just perfect. We were surrounded by so many of our friends and family that have given us support from day one. It is wonderful to share a happy day with great people. It is amazing to watch our little girl grow up so quickly. She is so fun right now. She is really curious about most everything, loves to play and TALK! Her vocabulary is growing every day. She is walking! Last Saturday (her birthday) she really got the hang of it, and she hasn't looked back since. She wears herself out going from one side of the house to the other.

Here is a fantastic video of her walking and jumping out from the corner. She does this every day for a while, smiling the whole time, and of course watching us, to make sure that we are watching.



Here are the pictures from the fun-filled day! Our friend Adam has an amazing camera and eye for great pictures, these are from him.


And now for Avolyns photo shoot. She was so funny, striking different poses.

Thank you for everyone who sent us best wishes, and all the family and friends that came to our new place to celebrate.

Oh yeah, we also surprised everyone.......
Avolyn is going to be a BIG SISTER!

I am about 8ish weeks. We have our first appointment October 20. So more to come soon about the new little Gonser. We are so excited to expand our family.

Swimming and Cousin Fun!

**FYI- I started this blog before we moved, it is a little out dated, but I still wanted to post it. More new pictures and stories soon***


We have a little blow up swimming pool that we have been anxiously awaiting it to be hot enough to play in. We finally had an opportunity a few weeks ago. Mike was at work so I got Avolyn and the pool all ready so that when Mike came home we could enjoy an afternoon outside. I was yet again reminded that my plans are just fine, but will probably not happen the way that I had visioned. It probably took me longer to get the pool and Avolyn ready then the amount of time Avolyn really wanted to spend in the pool. Here are a few pictures documenting the occasion...

Wating for Dada

She would of rather of been on the dirty nasty deck and NOT the swimming pool.

Avolyn and Harper...Photo shoot #1....
We had a grand time taking pictures of the cutest kids in the world. Many more to come!

Harper and Mike had almost matching shirts.

Big news to come, many things on the front burner....Hope I can catch everyone up soon. Next Saturday AVOLYN TURNS ONE!!! How exciting!

10 Months and Camby-Bound!

Hello faithful readers. Both my babes...well now that I look around alllllll my babes (Mike, Avolyn, Caine, Hunter and Prudence) are napping. I am listening to the newest Iron and Wine 2 disk c.d. (which is a-maz-ing). What a perfect time to blog.

Avolyn is great. What else were you expecting me to write? As she gets older there is more and more that she is experiencing. This month the major 'experience' has been her top teeth. We knew it was going to happen soon and it is still happening. Avolyn is a little dramatic..I wonder where she gets that from? We were outside this morning hanging out, waiting for Mike to come home from work. Every so often she would scream really loud, put her fist into her mouth and shake her whole body. I think the Tylenol was wearing off. What do you think? But for the most part, she is a trooper. We went to the doctors office on Friday (a week after her 9 month check up) and she has bi-lateral ear infections. The N.P. that we saw said that one ear was very bright red with puss starting to form, and the other one was just bright. From our last ear infection (yes...this is AVs 4th ear infection) we know that she is allergic to "Cillins" so we are trying something else and hopefully this will knock the infection right out. The N.P. did say that her stools might be red, and I am thankful that she told us because this morning she had a case of the red stool.Her poor nose just wont stop; she looks so pathetic.

Avolyn in her 10 months of glory has figured out how to get out of her Bumbo. We knew the day would come. It is pretty funny to watch her wiggle out. Perhaps I will get a video of the escape. It is pretty great. She is also using more sounds and cruising around the sofas in record speed. She has continued to enjoy new foods and exploring new textures in her hands. Enjoy this new video of our babbling babe....



We were able to enjoy another afternoon of Harper and Rose's company. This time Avolyn liked Harper a little more, and let Rose touch her. She is at the stage where she really likes her mama and dada the best and only. You are allowed to play and talk to Avolyn but no holding or picking up by anyone else. Rose and I went to the park for a walk with the kiddos. It ended a little short because Harper was not in the mood to walk. I think he was just sleepy and hot. But it was still nice getting out and spending some time with Ro.

Avolyn checking out Harp

This is how our walk started out

It is so nice for Rose and I to see each other often and share the whole mom thing together. It will be nice when we are closer to each other....

Thats right folks the Bloomington Gonsers are moving north and will be known as the Camby Gonsers. It is a bittersweet moment for us. We are wanting to expand our family but our perfectly cute little house just wont allow it. It was time to re-evaluate Bloomington. Mike and I have been here for 6ish years and love love LOVE Bloomington. But being closer to family is one of the major reasons why were are moving.

We are offically done with Bloomington day care! I will spare the details but this is a great thing. We are very thankful for the care that we have recieved here, and I know that there were many good things about the daycare that she was at, but it is time to move on. So this next week Avolyn will be spending the days with Grandma and Pops (Mikes folks) then the next week she will be starting at Bakers Dozen (which I have heard great things about). We are so excited that Mom will be starting to watch AV...and I think that Mom is very excited about it (that is an understatement).

Aug 21, if all goes as planned, we will be signing papers and we will own 2 houses! One is just not enough for our rich taste! We are going to be renting out our house in Bloomington, so if you know anyone please let us know. Mike is going to be transfered to a Kroger closer to Camby and continue his manager positon. I will be commuting to Bloomington for now.

This is the front of our NEW HOUSE! I am not sure what happened to the 2nd shutter. It was there the first time we checked out the house. Hmmm...

Our new house is going to be just great. It is 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. It has a family room, dinning room, huge kitchen, a loft, 2 car garage, an unfinished basement that Mike is pumped about. It has a dishwasher, nice set of washer/dryer. It has a fridge that has an ice AND water machine. It is just going to be perfect. It is in a neighboorhood that I have been told has many parks, 2 pools and a golf course. So hopefully everything will go smoothly from here to closing and we will be closer to a lot of people that we love.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy...


Have a fantastic week. I know we will....

9 Month Post...

I know Avolyn is closer to 10 months than 9 months, but I had to do a 9 month report. We went to the doctor for her 9 month appointment and doc gives the thumbs up! He is very happy with the way that AV is progressing. She is weighing in at 20 lbs. 14 oz; 28 inches long. Developmentally Avolyn is at a 13 to 14 month old.

She is has become a very quick crawler and likes to pull herself up with the couches help and walk around. She does not have any interest in holding our hands and walking. She would rather do it by herself and crawl. She is eating everything that we put in front of her. Avolyn has been talking a lot lately. She has been making new sounds. No "mama" yet...but she has started saying "na-na", so I am sure it will come soon. She also is doing this new thing with her tongue. It is pretty funny, I got it on video, the quality is sort of poor, but you get the point...



Avolyn is working on her first teeth on top. The doctor said that her top gum was pretty swollen. So soon I bet she will have something to show for all that work. It is such a slow process.

Enjoy some pictures from her 9th month...

Avolyn LOVES to watch the cars going past our house.

Who do you think won the staring contest? Avolyn? Prudence?

Avolyn had the best kind of company in the back seat...Harper!

We pick these books up from the floor a million times a day.

Loving some strawberries.

Thanks Granny...

In the mail Avolyn received a package from Granny today, and guess what it was...




Maybe soon Granny will send some hair too!

Dads Day!

I know it is a little late...but how could we forget about Father's Day!?! It also gives me a few minutes to brag about what a great dad Mike is. Avolyn love love love loves her Da-da. Yes, she can say Da-da and loves saying it. It is great to see Mike and Avolyn together. Mike is a great dad and is wonderful with Avolyn. He is able to stay home with AV on Fridays and has enjoyed that time. It makes it hard for me to go to work on Fridays, but I know what a great time Avolyn and Mike have. Here are a few of my favorites of Avolyn and Mike from the past couple of weeks...






I think I have said before, but Avolyn really likes to be around the guitar. She is getting better strumming. I of course didnt get it, but right before this little clip she was strumming by herself. I have more pictures to share soon....

8 Months...

Avolyn Rose is 8 months today. Just in the past few days she has started crawling, which is quite fun to both us and Avolyn. She has already decided that the best place to crawl to is the most sharp sided end table that holds our receiver. Mike lowered her bed yesterday because she is able to pull herself up in bed, so no catastrophes yet.

This month she has really started to enjoy cheerios and sweet potato puffs. This past week we have given her real bananas, cantaloupe, and a few bites of my yogurt. We also bought another sippy cup, and encourage Avolyn to use the cups to drink. She is eating more, and taking less bottles. These week she has had 6 oz in the morning, one in the afternoon and then one before bed. She is eating some type of fruit baby food around 10ish and then a vegetable in the late afternoon. She still is not crazy about plain apples, but she has tolerated apples and cherry's together.

She has really started to enjoy playing with her toys, but right now I would have to say her favorite toy is the plain white plastic holders for the multi-colored rings. We also have a 4 key piano that is in the Jeep that she likes to bang on. She also really likes to look at the bottom of the piano.

Avolyn still enjoys music and loves to listen to us sing and play the guitar. She likes the feel the base of the guitar vibrations and the strings while we strum. She loves to bounce to the beat of the song and loves it when I sing "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" and the "Talking Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues" (Bob Dylan) that Mike does.

More and more sounds come out of Avolyn. It is funny because most of the time she uses her whole body to get a sound out of her mouth. No new teeth yet, she is still hanging with her bottom teeth although I really think that her top teeth are doing something. She is grumpy for no reason sometimes and her nose has been running crazy along with her being a huge slobbery mess.

She HATES to get her nose wiped, and is more and more unhappy when we need to change her just because that means she has to stay still for 2.5, and that is not something she likes to do. She also is not crazy about her car seat all the time. It is tolerated, but not something that is loved.

Playing peek-a-boo, playing with bubbles and being outside and swinging are a few more of her favorites. She loves watching cars going past our house. She loves being around the dogs, and watching their every move. She loves laughing at how weird they are. For some reason Hunter doesn't quite understand the swing outside and usually gets knocked around by Avolyns foot, and well, Avolyn thinks that is really funny.

Loving the new swing from the neighbors

My little Porktrain is growing up. She looks like a TODDLER in this picture!

Checking out the flowers in the garden

I just couldn't resist a naked picture.

This was before the lowering of the bed.

Wearing a shirt of mine when I was a babe.

Grandude decided it was important to cut AVs nails.

This picture is in my top 10 photos ever. These two are why I love the way I do.

We have 100% enjoyed our vacation thus far. It is hard to believe it is half over. We have got a lot done, and had a lot of fun. More to come. Too bad there are bills and a mortgage to pay. I could not work ever again and be alright with it.

Avolyn and I took a nap together today, I woke up right before she did and was just staring at our beautiful babe. She woke up, looked at me, and had a huge smile to melt my heart.

Enjoy the rest of your week to its fullest...