Avery is 9 months!

Avery has now been living in the outside world as long as she was in the womb. I have definitely enjoyed the months that she has been out much more than the months that she was in! She is such a joy. She continues to be active, determined, independent and enthusiastic about life. She is extremely busy. She has been crawling for over a month now and is getting fast. Today she got half way up the flight of stairs before I could catch her! She is also pulling herself to a standing position on everything. She even thinks that she should be able to climb up on top of the couch. She keeps lifting her knees once she is standing as if that is where she is going.  I don't think that she will master that one for awhile (fingers crossed). Recently she also started chewing on the ends of her crib. We have plastic on the sides, but the way it is made doesn't allow for plastic covers on the ends, and of course that is where she is choosing to go to town!

Avery's current sleeping schedule is to wake up at 6:00 am, take a 45 min. nap at 9:00 am, a 90 min. or longer nap at 2:00 pm and go to bed for the night at 7:00 or 7:30 pm. She falls asleep on her own at night like a champ! She even smiles about it.  I sing her "Twinkle, twinkle little star", lay her down and put her blankie on her, and she clutches it up by her face and smiles at me while I leave. We are working on getting to that point with her naps. Right now she takes forever to put herself to sleep for her afternoon nap, so it is painful, but she does it.  She still nurses to sleep for her morning nap. Teaching her to go to sleep on her own has been a long and imperfect process for both of us, but I think we are both getting better at it.

Avery is less and less interested in nursing.  After she was sick and had lost weight, and was too distracted to nurse as much as she needed to, I started supplementing with formula. She was really enjoying being able to be semi- in control of her drinking while we were using a bottle. She would "help" me hold it up etc. And Andrea gave me a bunch of her extra frozen bags of breast-milk so that I wouldn't have to keep giving her formula which was so incredibly nice of her! My pump is lame, so pumping my own milk is extremely time-consuming, so this was so awesome. But Avery stopped taking bottles a couple of days later. All she wants to do is eat whatever I am eating and drink my water from my glass cup. Do you have any idea how much a baby backwashes when she drinks from a cup? Ha ha! It is pretty gross. And literally she will yell at me until I give it to her if I eat or drink in front of her. If she thinks it is mommy's and that mommy likes it, she will eat anything.  Seriously. By giving in I have created quite the demanding little monster albiet a very cute one (even when she is yelling).

Some of my favorite things that Avery does lately:

• When she wants me to pick her up, she crawls over to me and starts banging her head against my legs
• She yells when she wants something. It is not crying, but yelling. It is hilarious!
• She is so dainty with her chubby fingers. 
• She will take cute little bites of crackers or apple. She makes good use of those teeth!
• She has become even more effective at splashing in the bath. She can get rid of half of the water in her tub before you know it!
• She claps all the time. She claps when she is excited, when she is trying to entertain herself because she is bored, when she is telling me good job.
• She loves to turn the pages when we are reading. That is the only purpose of books for her.
• She gets upset when Brad leaves for work and is overjoyed when he comes home.
• She initiates peekaboo. Tonight she pulled something over her face and didn't come out till we said, "Where's Avery?"
• Understands what I am trying to communicate.
• Showing empathy.
• Loves "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".
• Her favorite books are "Goodnight Moon" and her "Peekaboo!" book.
• Her favorite foods are apples, cheerios, peas and tilapia.
• Her laugh is amazingly adorable!

Stats:

18 lbs. 13 oz. - 43rd percentile

28"in height - 57th percentile

17" head circumference - 21st percentile

Love you baby!

Zebra Photoshoot

I love how Brad and I often end up looking at pictures of Avery once she is in bed. It doesn't take long to start missing this face! (Thanks for the outfit Ama!)

Eczema

Man this stuff itches. I didn't realize I had it until I saw patches on Avery's skin.  Once I realized Avery had eczema, it dawned on me that I have had it too. I break out in itchiness and random bumps on my thighs every winter. It has gotten a ton worse since I started wearing garments. It is amazing that it took me this long to realize it! You'd think that I would know that there was a name for whatever was making me freak out every night because my legs were itching so bad and there was a way to treat it.

So now we are a cotton-wearing, Cetaphil and mild-laundry-detergent-using, humidifier-running household. And the good news is all of it is helping.  If any of my readers have unexplained itching hopefully this will help you.  And for you moms or moms-to-be, just know that a lot of people in the eczema world think that you can prevent your baby from ever experiencing eczema by using thick non-fragrant creams like Cetaphil or Aquafor instead of lotion on them from day one. It is not quite as fun as using the traditional baby lotion that gives them that awesome baby smell, but it is probably a lot better for them since like 20% of all babies get eczema. And as an additional fyi, the National Eczema Association's website definitely has the best information on what to do about eczema.

70+ Date Ideas

Maggie & Taralynn, here are the date ideas that we chose from! Also here is a link that I saw on pinterest of ideas (there is a little overlap). The first 35 below are the stay-at-home dates. And sorry that some of these are specific to Salt Lake. Miss you guys!

Take a virtual tour of a museum

Make a music video

Make dessert together

Play indoor tag

Make a fort and tell scary stories in it

Order in and have a candlelight dinner somewhere in your house where you wouldn't normally eat

Play a game of indoor basketball horse but up with creative and romantic things you can do each time you miss a shot and get a letter

Plan your dream vacation together

Decide on a political issue to write to your local representatives about

Do a service project date for each other

Watch old home videos

Plan an indoor herb garden

Bubble bath for two with candles and music

Do a home improvement project together

Play video games together

Write favorite memories in a journal together

Have a themed night: fondue, French movie, and French-kissing!

Write and illustrate a children’s book together for our kids

Rent a dramatic movie, watch on mute, and narrate what they are saying

Sculpt some ice cream

Play Twister in lingerie 

Roast marshmallows over a candle in the living room

Work on our bucket lists

Research companies and invest in one

Make a collaborative painting

Play a board game

Have an indoor beach party

Research parenting techniques

Pick a family scripture

Make family rules for our kids in the future

Play with silly string in the backyard

Go see a live band at a local bar or coffee shop

Go clubbing

Go to the dollar store and buy each other gifts

Go to an arcade

Go to a play

Visit a nursing home and hand out flowers to everyone

Take a walk

Go to a festival

Try a new type of cuisine

Go to a farmer’s market

Attend a class together – pottery, painting, etc.

Go antiquing

Go ice-skating

Go hiking

Ride go-carts at the speedway

Go to an art gallery

Attend a soccer game (Rio Tinto!)

Volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen

Mountain biking

Bowling

Walk through the Red Butte Gardens

The Tracy Aviary

Clark planetarium

Go to a fun convention

Go to the antique auto museum

Hill Airforce base

Go out to dinner

Drive to a secluded spot to make-out

Go to Lagoon and hold hands in line and kiss on the Ferris wheel

See some improve or stand-up

Be a secret helper to a neighbor

Doorbell ditch someone with treats

Go ice blocking

Have a bonfire with friends

Race toy boats down a river

Go shooting

Play red-neck/white-trash bingo at Walmart