Consonant Sounds and the 6 Month Mark

Since my last post Avery has added green beans, and a necessary trial of prunes, to her diet.  I can say that the prunes work very well.  She was making some pretty good effort to get the nuggets out prior.  They weren't hard, but they remained balled up in her tiny crack.  After the prunes however a little bit of effort managed to get it all out... and up her back and on the (new) couch and on Daddy's hoodie.  This happened after her bath, so bonus.

This past Thursday, February 22nd marked 26 weeks for Avery, but Saturday was the 6 month mark if you go by the date on the calendar.  Either way, my baby is a half a year old already!  She's already knocking out the 6 month milestones as I've heard b-, d-, and p- sounds from her.  We joked that one comment from her was "I pooped".  Of course with the d- sound coming already I'm trying to prepare myself that "Mom" won't be the first word, but who knows - I think I'm still in the running.

Barley, Carrots, and tears - oh my

Since I last checked in we tried barley.  This way I can send the container of oatmeal into daycare with her (tomorrow - early for her 6 month birthday - so she can start having sit down meals 2x a day) and still have something bland and grain here.  I guess at some point we need to also do rice, maybe one of the mixed grain containers would work.

Last night we also tried carrots and from her first bite the girl looked like she was in love.  Quite convenient since I got several jars of carrots for free!  It started with a smile and she sat there eager, like a little bird with her mouth open and I couldn't get the carrots in fast enough.  Despite having eaten a bit of oatmeal prior to the carrots she finished the whole small jar!

Have I mentioned what an awesome and patient little girl I have?  Well even that has its limits.  The weather was so nice yesterday and I was off for a holiday, so we headed out and shopped our little hearts out.  She napped a little, but not like she normally would at home (not that those naps are long by any stretch).  Well she ended up pretty wiped out.  After her carrots and a bath she went down hard for a nap.  When she woke up an hour later screaming... like teenager meltdown screaming at top of her lungs w/ her little eyes clenched shut, face red and tears streaming.  It took me a while to get her calmed back down (she wiped back out).

So this morning she woke up with her eyes crusted shut.  After some time with a warm wash cloth she was able to open them but she still looked a little glassy and puffy.  I'm hoping it was from the crying jag (we've all been there the morning after a mega cry, right?) and not an allergy or something else.  I did check in with the doctor's office.  I also read a lot online.  Yes, with the few drops of breastmilk I am still able to produce I do plan on putting a few drops in her eyes.

Just Peachy

Next up... peaches.  Still was still making little sour faces while she ate and these were not tart!  In order to not waste the rest of the container, since we were eating straight from it and you cannot store them away after doing so, we made a peach smoothie for her with her formula to get the rest down.  I'm pretty sure she won't let me trick her for too long, this girl is too smart.

Baby's First Bank Account

It's official, Avery finally has her own first savings account opened.  I admit I'm behind on this, I was thinking about what to do before she was born.  The 529 information felt overwhelming and left me uncertain.  With the gifts once again showered upon her for her Baptism, it was finally time, as I needed somewhere separate and distinct to put that money.

I also need to start back filling as I had intended to put something away for her each paycheck.  I guess it's good this is open now rather than later as I'm sure she would charge me interest.

Avery's Baptism and Sleeping in the Crib

On Sunday, February 11th we celebrated Avery's Baptism.  The weather warmed up enough that despite some rain there was safe travels and we were blessed with several people coming in from afar.  As with any of these events I wish there was more time to sit and get to talk to every single person, but it was still good to get to see everyone.

For her own record I want to note that her Nonna and Nonni were here along with her Great Aunt Karla, Great Aunt Lori, Great Aunt Dawn and Great Uncle Greg with cousins Morgan and Maddie, Great Aunt Donna with cousins Kimberly, Isabella, and Levi, Brian and Angela L, Jay and Jen L, Lori L, Brian, Amy, Erin, and Fae M, and of course Aunt Jackie, her Daddy, and I.  Great Aunt Diane, Nichole, and Melissa were also at the church but couldn't come to the house.  It was a full one!

I'm so grateful to have had my sister here to help, there is no way I could have pulled all of that off here at the house without her.  She made some amazing grub, helped me get the house ready, and did most of the cleaning up after while guests still lingered.

Avery is such a happy girl and she doesn't mind getting passed around and loved on by everyone.  She definitely made her rounds.  You'd think she would have been extra tired as a result, but dang if she wasn't up a half an hour before the alarm this morning and flipped over in her crib.

Yep, I said it - in her crib.  I put her in there to sleep on Friday night and we survived it, so that was night number three.  The first night I flipped on the monitor quite a few times and saw how she shifted.  I'm glad I looked at 3am that night and saw her scooted down, because by 5am she wasn't in the view of the video camera and I found her rotated 180 degrees and half way across the bed.  Saturday morning after she woke I brought her back to my room and we cuddled for a while.  I'll miss being able to just reach over and love on my wee one, but here she is already working on her independence and self-confidence.

Visiting with Aunt Jackie

Kiddo returned to the doctor last night for a few more shots (it seems like there is an endless list of them).  Since we were already there I did ask them to have the doctor come in to peek in her ears and listen to the rattly breaths.  All seemed fine to the doctor.

Today Avery stayed home from daycare to hang out with Aunt Jackie, as she will a few days during her visit.  This will give us more opportunities for her to nap in her crib and to get her eating off of a spoon.  This week we have an avocado ready to mash up for her.  Late last week she got through a small container of apples.