Roll Over

Avery is changing so fast! She is eating a ton lately and hasn't been napping so well. I'd heard that a change in sleep patterns might indicate a build up to a milestone. Sure enough, she rolled over ... deliberately ... and then righted herself! She did a 360! After that, I grabbed the camera, D got home from work at that exact moment, and we capture one of her first belly to back roll overs. I consider this a milestone as much for me as for her. I'm so not good at getting the camera out to capture stuff like this. The snag is that she was not wearing any clothes or diaper at the time of the roll over (she gets so happy when she's not clothed and I thought that make it easier for her to roll over), so we can't post that video. However, we do have the video of Daddy making her giggle. As you know, I love giggles! This best giggle is at the very end of the video.



She and I have found that the hip carry suits her much more for sling wear than the newborn cradle position. I like the material of the mesh sling, too. I've also ordered a few more slings that will hopefully be the sling perfection for which I search.

Today we went out for lunch and then a walk through the park. Avery much preferred to be in the sling vs her stroller, so that is a nice development.

Drool has arrived!

The joys of blogging. I just wrote a fairly long post, but then something went horribly awry and I lost most of the text when I imported the pictures. So, I will do a recap with bullet points.

Colorado Trip

• D came home on Sunday; Avery and I flew back on Wednesday, after moving our flight up two days when I got sick in Colorado.
  
• Flying solo with Avery was easier than I expected, but we were still exhausted when we got home.
  

Avery Developments

• Avery is now shoving everything within hands reach into her mouth. She grabs a toy with such gusto and then attempts to shove the entire thing into her mouth, sometimes squeaking in frustration when it won't fit.
  
• She is learning that shoving her thumb too far into her mouth will result in her gagging. I hope she learns this lesson soon, since it can be a messy one to clean up depending upon when she last ate.
  
• Drool is now omnipresent on her face.
  
• She is very interested in watching us drink, and sometimes eat. When I was drinking water from a glass in Colorado she reached up her hands to the glass and tried to pull it towards her. I tipped a bit into her mouth, but she didn't seem to know what to do with it, so most of it spilled out. I love to watch her watch us drink. It's fascinating.
  
• She now weighs 13.6 lb and is going through a growth spurt, eating way more than usual.
  
• The giggles are becoming less rare, but still not frequent. Giggles are simply the best.
  
• Avery is much better in the car now. Crying is certainly very possible - I doubt car rides will ever soothe her as I hear they do for many other babies - but it is no longer guaranteed.
  

Pictures!
We took the following series of three shots. You can just see how she loves the camera once she realizes her picture is being taken.

Colorado Visit

We've arrived in Colorado for our visit with Mom during her Spring Break. Damian leaves tonight, but Avery and I will stay through Friday. The flight out here was excellent. Avery slept through boarding, take-off, the entire flight, and landing. She's getting to be a pro at this flying thing!


We've been busy introducing Avery to various friends and family in the past few days. Friday, we went over to Mom's school (after the kids had left - I didn't exactly want a swarm of fourth graders descending upon the adorable Avery with their germiness). Avery got to meet several of Mom's friends and colleagues. We went to dinner that night and happened to run into another set of her colleagues, so Avery has met many people in her short stay here.


Yesterday was Avery's introduction to Uncle Collin and Aunt Denise at their home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Aunt Denise will deliver Avery's cousin, to be named Dylan, sometime in June, making him about 6 months younger than Avery. The whole family is looking forward to introducing the two cousins at our annual family reunion at Labor Day in September.

Aunt Denise & Uncle Collin with Avery and Winston the Bulldog

Uncle Collin with Avery

Avery eats while Ardie the Great Pyrenees lounges on his couch

Damian in Mom's yard with Avery

First Visit with BF

We had our first visit with Avery's birth family post-placement (hi guys!) In attendance:

• Birth parents: Nikki & Mike
• Brother: Garrett, who is 14 months
• Maternal Grandmother & Grandfather: Janet (Grandma J from here on out) & Paul
• Nikki's best friend: Ashley
  

The visit went very well and we were so happy to finally get our schedules coordinated to make this visit happen. It was also so great that Avery got to meet Grandma J and Grandpa Paul. We discovered that the little sweep that Avery's hairline does comes from Mike, whose hair does the same thing. It was fascinating to watch Avery watch Garrett. She definitely watched him way more than she does other babies/kids. We compared notes on differences and similarities between Avery and Garrett. It'll be both fascinating and wonderful to see the two of them interact on future visits. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but we did get this really cute one of Avery with Nikki & Mike.


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Today, we are celebrating Easter with the G's and a mini version of their fabulous Easter brunch. While RG was busy slaving away in the kitchen, JG captured a family portrait of the three of us. Avery is wearing one of the adorable sweaters knitted by Grandma Rosie.


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On the developmental front, Avery has discovered her inner squeaker. She can now squeak and squeal with the best of them! She uses the squeak when she is annoyed with being dressed too slowly (bad mommy!) and to express delight and sometimes for no reason whatsoever - at least that I can tell.

She has also discovered her feet in the past week or so. She can successfully grab both of them and seems quite content to lay on the floor rolling from side to side with feet firmly in hand.

No more giggles since those first few. I keep trying, but apparently I'm not funny enough.

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Later this week, we are off to Colorado to visit Nain, Uncle Collin, and Aunt Denise. Another post will come after that visit.

Birth Announcement

We finally got around to sending out a birth announcement for Avery. The inside of the card explained when we adopted and gave details on her weight, etc. I'd wanted to do a professional picture of Avery, but we just haven't been able to get those scheduled, so we went with an announcement designed on our computer with pictures we've taken. In the end, I think this style of announcement matches our family a bit better than a formal one, so I'm happy with it.

Avery has miraculously managed to avoid getting sick despite being a household of sickos, me included. She had a few sniffles, but no fever and virtually no fussiness. The doctor said she's probably in the clear since it's been over a week.

She's only giggled once more since that first time. I'm so looking forward to it being a regular occurrence. Giggles rock.

Her night sleeping is going fairly well. The good news is she's easy to get to sleep and put down. Most nights she still wakes up twice. Some nights she makes it from 6 PM to 3 AM, for a grand total of one wake up during the night, like last night. The problem is that when she makes it that long, when she does wake up she, as D puts it, "is full of beans." That must be the English way of saying she's a happy, kicky, wide awake baby who wants to play! After about a half hour of playing, she was willing to be re-swaddled and put back down to sleep until 6 AM. I have officially reached the stage of parenthood where 7 AM is considered sleeping in. Anyone who knows me, knows that it's laughable for me to consider 7 AM sleeping in, but I guess your perspective changes with a baby in the picture.

Her daytime naps are starting to consolidate, which is awesome. I have a more reliable chunk of time in the morning during which I can get some things accomplished around the house ... or to blog. :)

We had a St. Patrick's Day party at the house on Friday night for D's work. They requested to use our house since it's big enough to hold everyone (though with the office growing, I'm not sure how much longer that will be true), but I didn't have to do a thing. They brought in all the food and did all set up and clean up. It was a nice change of pace not to be cooking for 40 people. I actually got to mingle and enjoy myself. Avery was a hit, of course. She made an appearance when she just didn't want to go to sleep for her Big Sleep, as we've come to call it.

Sunday we went to brunch after D ran in the Shamrock Run. The good news is that she's doing much better in the car. The key is to have her in it when she is not at all tired because the car doesn't put her to sleep, so if she's tired, she just screams. But if I get her in there when she's just woken up and had something to eat, she's pretty content as long as we're moving. Stop and go traffic is not so good.

We're really looking forward to lunch with her birth family this weekend. Hopefully everyone can still make it!

She Giggled!

Yesterday afternoon, Avery giggled for the first time! She's kind of had the one noise she makes when she's happy, but this time she very clearly giggled. It was hands down the coolest part of being a mother so far. I'm hoping she's got lots more in store for today. It really came at the perfect time as we have a house full of sickos right now, including me. Hearing a baby giggle after a day of taking care of her while I'm sick was just what the doctor ordered. Thankfully, Avery seems to be avoiding the bug all together.

We're hosting Avery's birth mother, father and brother, as well as (hopefully) a few other family members, for a lunch next weekend. D and I are both really looking forward to seeing them again. We haven't been able to connect since Avery's placement. It's amazing how busy life has gotten!

I'll focus on getting some more pictures taken for the next post (no pun intended).

2.5 Months

Avery rolled over again the other day. We think what happens is that she sees something that interests her, gets quite excited, and then the momentum just flips her over. She really hates being stranded on her tummy after a rollover. Fortunately Mommy or Daddy is always there to right her.

We now play a game where we lay next to each other on the floor. I put my legs in the air and then roll to one side. Then, I face her and encourage her to do the same, essentially rolling from her back to her side in my direction. I'd say she's about 25% at doing the same motions and rolling to her side. It's pretty awesome to watch her figure things out.

She's also starting to grab things now and making contact with them. The first time the other day when I had her on my lap and was at my desk. She managed to grab the cord to the camera. Thankfully for the camera, I caught it before it went tumbling off the desk. Today she was grabbing onto toys, which is a first.

We're also making a bit of progress with the car riding. I don't think she gets car sick because it doesn't happen every time we're in the car. My theory now is that she has to be really tired to be able to fall asleep in the car and if she's overtired, then she simply cannot fall asleep in the car, so she cries. Today I ran over to the grocery store and did it right after she woke up from a nap and had a bottle. She was happy the whole way there and most of the way back. Yeah for progress.

Her room is coming along a bit. Very slowly. It's hard to do stuff in there when she's napping and then when she's not napping, we tend to be playing downstairs. We'll get there ... eventually.