Paddy Cake Giving the Baker a High Five

Our latest food list now includes strawberries and spinach!  I have also tried to evolve Avery's love of clapping into a high 5, or at least paddy-cake.  Her aim is pretty true with that left hand.  We also had a nice session of call and response last night where I repeated after her and we kept going back and forth with "Aaah".

Golf clap

Avery has mastered the perfect golf clap last weekend.  My understanding is that she took every opportunity to demonstrate it this week at daycare.

Something not about her

So this post isn't all about me I'll note that we've added cherries and corn to our food repertoire!

It's time I post something about me and how my body is doing post-baby.  The hair falling out has slowed down, thank goodness.  I'll be getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow in the hopes that I'll feel more human.  All I've been doing is pulling my hair back all the time which leaves me feeling like a frumpy mess.  I guess the fact that I still need to get on top of loosing more weight doesn't help there either.  When the weather gets consistent it will be so much easier to at least get some walks in, since Avery does seem to enjoy a post daycare stroll.

I guess the biggest thing about how I'm physically doing since baby is probably the biggest TMI.  You've been warned to click away now, should you choose.  My period first returned in January and waited until early March to come back, but then it reappeared a few days ago (that's two in March).  So it looks like I'm going to be wacky again.  I'm starting to think one ovary mis-fires.  I wonder if I tracked every other month if that has a more distinct pattern.

Regardless, the other change of note here is the lack of coverage when trying to use products to deal with said period.  Let's be blunt - things are different down there.  As a result, I'm having some leaking around tampons and such.  I know it will get better, but no one talks about it.  The other factor is - today I can't always drop everything and run into the bathroom like I could in the days before I'm often feeding/holding/rocking/burping/entertaining a baby.

Just the two of us

What a great weekend.  Avery and I went to the kids fest that was going on at a local mall on Saturday.  The event itself was little more than an overcrowded mess, but we did leave there w/ another single pass for the swim school and both a $10 gift certificate and a pre-sale pass for the next big consignor event.  Sunday after church we headed north to the mall to do a little wandering about.  I really feel like we got to hang out and enjoy each other this weekend.

She has begun bouncing at every chance she gets, and just when you don't think it's possible - yes, I think she got even cuter.  She is getting so big.

Since last report Avery also has tried apricots (as part of a blended food).

Cute Personality

This girl.  I wanted to document some of the cuteness before I forget the time frame in which it all happened, so here you go...  I need to get video of these, but it's hard to do without an extra hand and some way to keep her from spotting the phone/camera.

For a while now, Avery gets excited when she notices you have a drink.  She makes a big O with her mouth, clenches her hands, and vibrates.  That's in addition to when she spots her bottle and starts reaching for it excitedly.

Last night while sitting on my knee she also started bouncing trying to get me to bounce her more.  It was only two or three days ago that she realized the Exersaucer allows her to bounce too and she loves it.

Last night when I turned on her show before bed (we've been watching and loving Word Party), she started to turn to look at the TV right at the start of the intro music.

Since my last post, I also need to report that we've tried pears.

Also, while we put her down for the night on her back she is on her belly every morning.  The crib was dropped down lower too just in case the first time she decided to pull herself up to standing was in the crib.

Finally, I want to note that her Easter Basket arrived and is absolutely beautiful.  I went with the handwoven oval pink/purple/white one from AmishBaskets.com.  I had them do a purple liner and a brass name plate that reads "1 Corinthians 13:13 God bless Avery Violet".

Bunny Teeth

This past weekend was hopping.  Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke.  Saturday we noticed not one, but two teeth broke through on the bottom!  If they were on top Avery would have looked just like the Easter Bunny, whom she got to visit on Sunday at our consignment store.

Our consignment place does their own Easter Bunny and a visit is free with any purchase.  This was tremendously time and stress saving over going up to the mall in Upper St Clair.  You also can take your one photos, so I got several of her staring curiously up at the big rabbit.  You'd think they'd get along well what with her favorite food being carrots and all.

My purchase was of another stroller (rather than an article of clothing).  Yes, why do we need three right?  Well the umbrella stroller (IMHO) is more for a toddler and will not provide enough sun coverage on vacation whereas the big SUV stroller is just that - huge and space consuming.  I love the SUV one for walks in the neighborhood but getting out and about is a challenge with it, so I knew taking it on vacation would also be painful, never mind how much space it would hog up in our room.  This stroller also will allow her carseat to lock in, so that was a bonus as well.

This weekend we also introduced Avery to blueberries using the ones we froze up in little ice cubes.  It was convenient to pop one out, and one day to also pop out a banana cube to mix them together.  She seemed to enjoy the blueberries and I think her clothing made it through relatively unscathed.

She remembers.

Last night Avery returned to the doctor, this time for her 6 month visit and two more shots.  She looked at the doctor a bit skeptical during her exam.  While we waited for the nurse to return we giggled and played peek-a-boo.  All of those giggles came abruptly to an end when the shots came.  This time there was screaming.  I picked her up and she would not take her eyes off of the nurse.  I'm pretty sure she was burning this lady's face into her brain.  She also cried most of the ride home and was a bit cranky this morning.  Poor girl.

Yesterday we weighed in at 16lbs 15oz, putting her I believe they said at the 75th percentile for weight; 26" I believe was 50th percentile, and a big ol noggin at the 90th percentile.

The only other food addition since my last post was whole wheat (cereal) as to give us a little more mixing variety.  Tonight we're ready to add something else to the list - what will it be?  I'm thinking maybe mango or pears, although I'd like to get the blueberries sampled as well.

More veggies

Last night we took on butternut squash and it also went very well.  The girl just loves her veggies, which is a wonderful thing.  It was nice to get to sit at home with her last night after two evenings on the move.

I'm also slowly starting to get a bit of a pre-bed routine started with her.  Often it includes watching an episode of the show I found that holds her attention (and I also enjoy) - Word Party.  We also take a minute to read a book and then to read a page from her prayer book before I rock her for a few minutes and put her down.

I've also realized that when she fusses a bit around 5 if I go and put a paci back in her mouth it buys more time than if I allow her to just fall back asleep on her own.  But even if I am too lazy to get up and re-deploy the paci the good news is she is pretty good about putting herself back to sleep after a few seconds of noise.