Avery is 8 months!

Just writing that, reminds me that she is hardly a baby anymore. 8 months sounds so OLD, haha! So much has changed in our little munchkin in the last month! Check out her (unofficial) stats and some new pictures.

• Avery weighs 20-something pounds (she doesn't have another well-baby check until 9 months)
• She is wearing 9 month or 6-12 months clothes and size 3 diapers
• She is CRAWLING EVERYWHERE, although it is actually more of an army crawl. She has great upper arm strength because she pulls herself forward on her belly and pushes off with her feet. Not pretty to watch (and gets her outfits dirtier than ever, but my floors are sparkling haha!!)
• She is only happy when she is standing up. She can successfully pull herself up on a few pieces of furniture and mom and dad's legs and she can stand unassisted for a long time. Each time she does it she gets the biggest "look at me!!" grin on her face! So adorable.
• She has a toof! A cute little bottom toof popped through about two weeks ago and she loves to stick her tongue over it repeatedly, so cute. She was extra whiney for 2 days but slept super solid at night and had a crazy runny nose and then, poof! TOOF :) I don't see any more on the horizon but who knows!
• She can give high fives and wave bye bye!
• She is eating like a champ! She eats whatever I make her (spinach, sweet potato, squash, pear, banana, mango, zucchini) and she can feed herself from the Plum Baby Organics Baby Food pouches, which is helpful when we are running errands during lunch time.

8 months old 3-2-11

RIP sign :( I made an 8 out of paper 

and she immediately ripped it in two...so there you go

Cutie

Playing with her buddy Yreva (Avery backwards, get it!?)

You are cute too! Hmmm

But what do you taste like?

Caught being silly

Outfit change

Sunset photo shoot

Exploring the table and chair jungle

Flirting with mama

Made it out!

SNOW!!!

This past weekend, we thought it would be appropriate to drive up to Arrowhead and properly enjoy the "storm" that was predicted to hit southern California. I can now say that I have seen snow fall from the sky 3 times in my life and it has not yet ceased to amaze me. Waking up to a fresh, dusty blanket of sparkling powder all over EVERYTHING is truly a sight to see.  Just beautiful.
Alex was like a kid, waking up early and heading out right away to make a sled run for us to take Avery down. It was so much fun! She has always been our "extreme" baby, immensely enjoying being jostled, surprised and "dropped" and now we can add barreling down an icy path on our laps to that list! She braved the cold well and didn't seem the least bit bothered by it, though we didn't stay outside with her for too long.
All in all, Alex and I enjoyed relaxing by the fire, watching movies and playing Scrabble together and Avery seemed to enjoy crawling all over and trying to stand up on every available piece of furniture! Whew! She is really on the move now (stay tuned for her 8 month update coming in a few days!)
Enjoy the pictures.

Bundled up for a snow day (Friday)

Smiling in the snow

Snow-George and us

Sledding with Dad and Roo

Daddy made her a snow chair!

Saturday morning, woke up to 3 feet of snow! 

Dude, where's our car???

Sledding with Mom

Dad spent 6 hours shoveling our car out 

to move it to covered parking

Bath in the sink!

Cutie!

Taking sledding into her own hands (just kidding!)

Klingensmith Cabin

At the Belgian Waffle House 

Feeding the ducks and posing with Dad

Park Day!

On President's Day, Avery and I met a friend for lunch in Del Mar and then another friend, Sunny, and her 17-month-old daughter Sevon at the Tot Lot at Powerhouse Park in Del Mar. I was excited to put Avery in a swing for the first time and take lots of pics and videos. She seemed to dig the swing but was way too interested in all the kids playing around her to look at me much, though she did giggle a few times when I tickled her feet as she swung toward me. I can't believe my baby is big enough to swing in a real park swing!
Where does the time go??

(Blogger won't let me add any pictures and videos! Not sure what is going on...)

Happy Love Day!

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love, of which I have so much in my life, more than any year previous. But, it all started with just Alex and I falling in love, 5 1/2 years ago. It is crazy to think back at "the way we were" and how far we have come as individuals, a married couple, and now as parents. We have so much to celebrate this year.
This weekend, we went wine tasting in Temecula while Grammy Sol and Grampa Ken (and Uncle Patrick) watched our little lovebug for us. We had so much fun! Thanks to them for giving us a few hours off to spend time alone together.
Avery also had a Valentine's Day photoshoot with a friend, http://www.bayerphoto.blogspot.com/ a few weeks ago, and the pictures turned out great.
Enjoy some pictures of Alex and I from years past, and Avery's Love Day photo shoot!
Happy Valentine's Day to you all! xo

9/20/2008

Bali honeymoon

August 2009

May 2010

Angel Baby

Our little cupid

Me and the light of my life

Cutie in a tutu

Happy Valentine's!

My Review of Safety 1st Prism Color Video Camera

Originally submitted at Toys R Us

Expand your existing Prism Video Monitoring System with an additional camera! Watch your little one in the nursery and living room without having to move the camera units around or even watch two children in different rooms at the same time. This add-on camera allows you to see it all from one conv...

Safety 1st Prism Color Video Camera

WASTE OF $$$$$$$$$

By CALI NEW MOM from CARLSBAD ,CA on 2/10/2011

 

1out of 5

Pros: Clear Signal, Simple, User Friendly

Cons: Glitchy, Parent unit stops working, Poor Battery Life, Bad Range

Describe Yourself: First Time Parent

Not only has my monitor completely stopped working TWICE in less than 6 months of ownership, but both times I called to notify customer service, I was treated as if I was inconveniencing the people I was speaking to. NOT ONCE was I apologized to for the fact that I had no way of monitoring my baby sleeping for almost 2 weeks while waiting for paperwork and a new unit being shipped to me. No one said, "Sorry your monitor broke after only owning it for 2 months" This complete and utter lack of customer service coupled with the fact that this product is not worth even half what I paid for it, I am asking for a refund and taking my business elsewhere. Do not make the mistake I did in purchasing a Safety First Prism Color Video monitor.

(legalese)

My Baby Girl is 7 Months!!

Hard to believe it has been more than half a year since our little girl joined the world. Every month just gets better and better as we share things with Avery and watch her grow and change. Here are her stats as of February 2, 2011:

• Avery weighs 20 lbs, 5 oz and is 28 inches long (she has come a long way from her 7lb 7oz birth weight!)
• She is wearing size 3 diapers and is in 6-12 month and 9 month clothes.
• We are upgrading her car seat to a *convertible one this month, her little feet hang off the infant seat and she is too heavy to carry in it anyway! She will have this car seat until she is 65 pounds!
• Avery is rolling allllll over the house! She will scoot on her belly by pushing her feet into the carpet and then when she really wants to move, she will just roll over and over to get where she wants to go. We think she will officially crawl this month!
• She loves to sit on the floor and play with toys in front of her, especially ones that make noise
• Avery LOVES music and singing! A sure-fire way to get her to smile at you is to sing Wheels on the Bus, Ants Marching or Hush Little Baby
• She is an eating machine! She gobbles down sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, apples, pears and bananas. I made some baby food for her and she isn't a fan, but I am going to keep trying!
• Avery is getting the hang of her sippy cup, and we keep giving it to her to practice with
• We took her to the beach last week, and she took a nap most of the time. I am going to have to get over my intense dislike of sand pretty soon...
• Avery is still getting over her first cold and ear infection, poor baby
• She says "mama" "dada" and "baba" pretty regularly but doesn't seem to be associating them with me, Alex or her bottle yet.

Enjoy the pictures!
*The convertible car seat we chose (after MUCH research and mommy-friend advice, is the Britax Boulevard CS

The sign is back!

Happy cutie

A is for Avery

Pretty in pink

Yum, teething toy

Losing her patience with mama

All smiles!

Cute poser

We have MOVED (again)!

Alex and I moved to Carlsbad from San Juan Capistrano last February when I was a few months pregnant, and we have never looked back! We love the community, weather, people, convenience, schools, EVERYTHING about Carlsbad. We have definitely found the city we would be so fortunate enough to raise our family in.
But, we were in a little condo for the last year and quickly outgrew the space with all the baby stuff that Avery came along with. So we upgraded!
We found an amazing house in a community directly behind where we were already living, talk about an easy move! We are finally settled in and are definitely in love with this house and hope we can stay here for a long long time. Come visit us anytime! We have 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2900 sq feet and an ocean view from the yard and master bedroom! The gorgeous sunsets flood our kitchen and living area every evening and I feel like I am making dinner on a tropical island. We feel like we are kids playing house, as neither of us have lived in a house since we were home with our parents! So fun :)
Enjoy some pictures of our pad (from my cell, poor quality), more to come as we (slowly) unpack.

Peekaboo! One of the best parts about moving is I get to do Avery's nusery all over again!

She got new bedding and we are going to paint a new tree! Stay tuned for pics of that

Toasting in our new backyard

Best. Sunsets. Ever.

Huge palms in our backyard!

Kitchen

Living room (attached to kitchen)

Sitting area and (empty) formal dining from top of stairs