It was a good day

Last night I slept good. Better than I have in several nights. Avery is teething, so she has been waking up several times (like 5-7 times!) at night. She just cries and cries and tosses and turns. She starts off in the crib, but I always end up bringing her to bed with me. Anyway, last night she slept until 3am! Glory be, I slept four hours straight! I haven't done that in months. After that, she woke at 5 and then at 7. So she only woke three times! It was great.

So we were all in a pretty good mood today. Emily and Avery played together. It was so fun to watch them. Especially since I thought Emily would hate Avery forever. Emily was playing on her slide and Avery was underneath it and Emily would peek over the edge or through the steps and say, "Boo!" and Avery would scream with glee! So fun. And Emily was so happy that she was making Avery happy.

While I was on the floor changing Avery's diaper, Emily exclaimed, "Momma! There's a booger on your computer!" I asked her, "How'd it get there?" and she said, "I put it there." At least she's honest.

The Mouths of Babes

I absolutely love watching my girls' mouths when they're concentrating. Their lips pucker and move and smirk. I could watch their mouths all day long.

I bought Emily a puzzle that helps with spelling. You put the picture together and the letters on each piece spell out what the picture is. Emily LOVES puzzles, so I thought this would be a fun way for her to learn about spelling. She's even learning about lower-case letters, that they're different than upper-case letters, something I hadn't talked to her about yet. Anyway, she'll put the picture together and then spell the word out, "C-A-R! That spells car!" She had the fox picture put together and she spelled it out: "F-O-X! That spells coyote!" I guess the fox looked like a coyote...

My Avery

Avery sucks her thumb. I like this. I like this because it means she's pacifying herself! I love this. I love this because I don't have to constantly shove her pacifier in her mouth to shut her up stop her crying. And most of all, I love this because she's not using ME as her pacifier.
Ahhh, so nice.

I sucked my thumb as a baby. I was a good baby, right Mom? And I needed a good baby. Oh man, I needed a good baby! Not that Emily was bad. She was/is just loud and cried/cries a lot.

I love how Avery is crossing her ankles in this photo. She crosses them all the time, like she's just chillin' out, relaxin', takin' in the sights.

Pictures

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted photos!

Avery turned three months old! She's a cutie! She smiles so much now. She is improving on tummy time and is even grabbing at her toys.

Emily got her hair cut! Her ends (where all the curl was) were dry and splitting.

My friend, Pea, cut her hair. She did a great job and Emily's hair is healthier looking now. I was sad to see the curls go. I saved a lock!

Awww, I love these daddy/daughter moments...

There is a bird in our neighbor's window that I think is a momma. There is a nest and I'm hoping there are egg babies! Emily named the bird "Flowette." Sweet. I hope we can keep an eye on them and watch the family grow! This is a picture of the happy couple.

Avery loves the Bumbo! She loves the vantage point.

Look at her cute socks!

Oh, and big news over at the Big Steps blog. This is a private blog, so if you'd like to read about our potty training efforts, leave me your email in the comments section. (If you don't want it published, leave it in a separate comment and I won't publish it!)

Sisters

I had a really good little photo session with the girls the other day. I was trying to get Emily playing the guitar for a photo idea I had. Avery had a good time watching...
She absolutely LOVES to watch Emily, whatever she may be doing.

And even though Emily avoids Avery as much as she can, she has moments like this where she'll give her a kiss or a hug, but only if someone else comes up with the idea.

Tent

Emily made a tent out of a couple of blankets and the coffee table the other day. In a rare moment of generosity, she invited Avery into her tent to play, too! Daddy and I were SHOCKED!!! I mean, Emily barely acknowledges Avery, much less goes near her. So when she invited her to play with her, it was a great moment!
And then Avery touched Emily hair. Heaven forbid!

"She's pulling my hair!"

2 Months Old!!!

So, it's been a couple of weeks since her 2nd monthday. She weighed 12 pounds on her monthday. She also was 23 inches. And then a week later we took her for her well check and shots (wah!) and she weighed 13 pounds. She is in the 95th percentile for her weight and 75th for her height. (The pedi says Avery is short for her weight, ha!) And her head is in the 25th percentile. She has a tiny head (for her BODY!!!).

She's doing great! She smiles so readily now and she is SO close to laughing. I mean, really, who can NOT laugh at me, right? I'm freakin' hilarious.

She's still not a huge fan of tummy time, but she's getting better at it.

No, no, really! Tell us what you really think of Tummy Time, Miss Avery!

Avery

Little Miss Avery enjoyed some conversation with Nana last weekend.

I think this is the first actual smile I've captured! She usually stops smiling by the time I stop making googley eyes and silly noises and point the camera at her.

Awww, tiny little mouth!

How CUTE are those cheeks??? They are kissably soft. YUM!

I Forgot!!!

I forgot to post about Avery's one-month appointment! She did great! She got her second Hep B shot and she only cried for about three seconds. It broke my heart because when she is really upset, her bottom lip comes out. So cute (for now). She is a chunk! She weighed 10 lbs, 11 oz and measured 21.5 inches.

Avery's Bear and Emily's Gingerbread House

Avery is ONE MONTH OLD!!! I cannot believe a month has gone by. It really doesn't seem like it. Her cord fell off about two weeks ago, but there was a tiny scab left behind that actually fell off yesterday.

My scar is healing great, in spite of a small infection that cleared up quickly with antibiotics. I've been cleared to lift now. I can lift Emily again. I'm able to give her a proper hug now!
Avery is a sweet baby. She cries a lot, so this sweetness is hard to see, but I see it. She tries very hard to smile, and has given a real smile two or three times now. Her eyes light up when you talk to her and you can tell she wants to talk back really badly. I imagine she'll be a big talker like Emily is. Lovely.

Emily and her daddy put together a gingerbread house the other day. She was very excited to put the candy on.

Although it looks like she's contemplating taking a taste, she had already snuck a taste just before I took the picture. She said it was good, but when I tasted it, it tasted yucky. Like glue with some sugar added. And the candy wasn't so great either. But it turned out cute and Emily is very proud of it!

Pink Overload, But I'm Okay With That

If you had asked me five years ago what my least favorite color was, I probably would have said pink. Or purple. But now, I'm surrounded by these colors every day and I kinda like it.

Can You Feel the Love?

I found these cute "Sisters" t-shirts just after I found out we were having another girl. I thought it'd be SO cute to have the girls together with these matching shirts on and take a picture. Our photo session was a disaster. Emily didn't want to be near Avery, and certainly didn't want to hold her or even touch her. Avery began crying (because she's so good at it) and that made Emily cry.

"No touch Avery!"
"Waaaa!"

"Waaaa!"

"WAAAAAAAAAA!"

pictures

Grandma and Grandpa Hill came over with Kyla and TJ to see Avery. And Emily, of course. Kyla was scared to hold Avery, but she finally agreed to hold her. She did just fine! No dropping of any babies!
Aww, hugs from Grandma!

TJ really didn't want me taking his picture. I can't get over how big he's getting!

Grandpa took lots of pictures! I don't think he held Avery this time. I guess you'll just have to come back and hold her!I love Avery's profile. She has such a pretty head. I love her lips and her chins.

I love these PJs. The reason I love them is because they have a zipper instead of snaps up the front. SO much easier than snaps when you've got a squirmy, wormy baby!

Aren't the feet on these PJs cute? They're little bears.

The other day Avery smiled a little. WAY more enjoyable than her crying. Way.