Avery's Month 4 and More Sweet Stuff

On Wednesday, February 29, 2012, we experienced a pretty cool thing ... Leap Day. What's even cooler was my realization that both Ryan and Avery's first February contained Leap Day. Pretty neat that we got to enjoy an extra day during the first year of their precious lives.

The last week has been a lot of fun. Avery is getting more and more playful and social, and she is even eating like a big girl which is a huge improvement from a few weeks ago. We've had one accidental rollover from our tummy to the back that freaked her out this past weekend and made her cry. This afternoon she did it more gracefully, and I even caught it on video! She seems to be tolerating tummy time a little longer too, which is good because I have been awful about doing tummy time with her. We get home from work around 6 p.m. so I'm rushing to get something on the table, wash and make bottles for the next day, feed and bathe Avery while Tim "takes" Ryan a bath (that's how Ryan says it, love it - "Mommy, are you going to take me a bath?"), pull out clothes for the kids for the next day, give Avery her final bottle, and then hit the sack! So, there's little time to torture Avery with tummy time at home. She does get some tummy time at school.



At her 4-month checkup we got the go ahead to feed her baby food. I had Tim pick up rice cereal and applesauce immediately. I had  to feed her that night! As you can see, the rice cereal wasn't a hit ...

January 23, 2012

Yucky!

Ahh, a yummy bottle. This is my new hand-prop I'm trying out.

  

Poor Avery.We gave her a night or two off after our first attempt because she ran fever with her shots. I hated to give her food and not know if she was fussy because of it or the shots. Once her fever went away, we hit her with the applesauce. Surely applesauce will taste better! After a couple of nights of icky faces, I caught these hilarious pictures. Was this too much sweet? 

Why!!???

 After that series of faces, I gave her some time off from applesauce. I thought I would try plain ol' oatmeal thinking the applesauce was too sweet and too shocking for her taste buds. She icked at that too, so it has to be texture, right? I even tried mixing applesauce in with the oatmeal, but I had added a little water instead of formula to thin it out. Bland with a little flavor, maybe? Nope. On Friday, February 24, Tim and I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. When we came back, Nana bragged about how well Avery ate her oatmeal mixed with applesauce and a little bit of formula. I really thought she was feeding us a line or just saying it just to brag, ha ;) So, on Saturday night I gave it a whirl again and she was like a different baby! She had a good time eating like a big girl - it was so sweet! This past week she started helping me. Her legs and arms started to flail with excitement; at first I thought she was fighting it. Avery would basically do a crunch to reach the spoon, but the cutest thing is her grabbing a hold of my hand and hugging it like "don't take that spoon out of my mouth!" It's so cute because she'll latch onto my arm and then suck on that spoon like she would do a bottle. Sweetness!

  

This week has been fun! She is getting a little personality and a half! We'll whine at each other and then giggle. It's our little communication, and I love it! She has been whining if I go in the other room to iron my shirt (I can still see her), so I'll have to go back in there to smile at her and she changes her tone and grins. On Tuesday, I took Ryan to school late because he had been out with a fever. I wanted to make sure he was good to go, so we arrived at school around 11:30 a.m. I had to peek in on my baby girl so I went to her room, got her out of the bouncy seat and loved on her for a few minutes. I placed her back in the bouncy seat, gave her bunny lovie back to her, and when I walked away she cried. I think to myself, Is she really recognizing that I"m leaving her? So I walk over to her and she stops, and walk away and she starts up again. REALLY!? Goodness, I just don't remember when this started with Ryan, but it was so stinkin' cute. I kept walking away and back to her because it was so cute. Maybe it was just a fluke. Nope, she did the same thing Wednesday too, and now it's a common occurrence. I think it's sweet :)

Now that I have written a book, I'll leave on a silly note ... funny quotes from Ryan this week:
February 29:  I have some paper in the floor and he says, "Mommy, you have to throw that paper away. Someone might slip and fall. I stepped on it and almost fell. You have to throw it away because someone can step on it, the paper moves back, and they fall and bust their head. Then they have to go to the hospital. Then they have to get stitches and come home with stitches. Then they have to lay on the couch and get better." Guess who keeps walking on it? ♥

March 1:
March 2: We are home early today because of the possibility of severe weather. Ryan was playing with his Star Wars Lego's when he randomly comes to me and says, "Mommy, we don't even feel the earf [earth] movin'!" I absolutely love how his little mind is processing things.

Happy Days!