Avery can say her name!

I guess that doesn't sound like a big deal and maybe it isn't, but I was shocked to learn that my own child possessed this skill the other day! We went to an OB appt to check on baby sister and the receptionist was chatting with Avery while I was checking out. She leans over the counter and asks Avery, "What is your name?" And clear as day without missing a beat, she replied, "Av-eee!" My jaw dropped!  I swear, literally every day something new pops out of her mouth and it is so exciting to us. It makes us feel so proud (and a little nervous, time to watch our language!) She needs to stop growing up so fast, boo hoo.
Anyway, she is a little shy with this new skill but Alex managed to get her saying a few choice words on video, so enjoy!

Kisses Video

This is one of the many moments of being a mother that makes all the tough ones SOOO worth it!!

Harper's Nursery PART 2

Ok, so we have made some progress!! The painting of the room went very well over all. We have 3 light blue walls and one pink wall. The stenciling project turned out to be a doozie, which I had sort of anticipated but didn't really grasp the full scope of.
First of all, not that this is new information to anyone, but painting is a pain in the BUTT. You have to block off hours of uninterrupted time, change your clothes and have necessary supplies like water and good music on hand. All of these things become MUCH more challenging when you have a toddler running around. Needless to say, the stenciling ended up taking me close to 2 weeks since I only had 2 hours or so a day during Avery's nap to commit to it (by the time she goes to bed I am WAY too pooped to go through all of that again and I have studying to do for my classes). We got half-way done with the wall when we decided to make a slight design change and add a chair rail so the stencil wouldn't have to be continued to the floor (yipee!) and it turned out great!

Here are the painted walls and the stencil is up and ready to go.

We did a lighter shade of the same pink color as the wall, and I used the same blue on the other walls to accent part of the design.

I learned many things: definitely use spray adhesive on the back of the stencil before placing on the wall to get a tight fit so paint doesn't seep under and blur the edges of the design (put a piece of cardboard under before spraying); go slowly and use very little paint even if it is tempting to rush it; don't leave the stencil on the wall too long after finishing the stencil (the spray adhesive ripped some paint off the wall, boo)...

Here is a few repeats of the pattern. It looks awesome! The stencil has very easy to follow directions (read them FIRST!!) and has many "windows" of design that overlap with what you have already done so you are sure you have aligned it right before starting the next one. The amount of paint used is so minimal it dries as you go so I never had any problem with smudging.

And after many touch-ups, here is the finished product in the light of day!

Another shot with the blue walls in the pic.

I am VERY pleased with the way it has all turned out so far. Shout out to Alex for doing the chair rail perfectly and helping A LOT with the solid walls (and not at all with the stencil, but that is 100% due to my control issues not his lack of offering!) Now I have a few more elements to add (wall letters, mobile, glider, rug, etc) and then all we need is a sweet little BABY whose face I cannot wait to see and kiss! Eek! 14 weeks (or less, hopefully less haha) to go!

Harper's Nursery PART 1

Today I am 24 weeks (6 months) pregnant and we are finally ready to get started on this baby girl's nursery! For those that know me, I am very "project oriented" and love to plan things so this is pretty exciting for me at the moment!

We found a great deal on a hand-me-down American Baby crib and dresser/changer set, and we have decided on the color scheme and bedding pattern we are going to go with. The fabric for the bumper that my handy dandy mom is going to sew for me looks like this:

As soon as it arrives (3 weeks, argh!) we will go to Joanns and shop for complimentary fabric for the other side of the bumper and the ties, cording, etc. The tutorial we are planning to use to make it is this:

http://sew4home.com/projects/pillows-cushions/356-stylish-baby-nursery-crib-bumpers and maybe there will be enough fabric to make a changing pad cover and pillow as well.

Here is the room as it currently looks:

If that isn't a blank canvas, I don't know what is! The furniture is an ecru, off-white color while everything else is various shades of white. We DEFINITELY need some color in there!

Since we are renting and we can't wall paper or build any wainscoting or chair rails (which I would REALLY love to do) we have decided we are going to use a faux-wall paper affect and stencil the crib wall with this stencil, in a light pink on pink tone with accents of the blue, using this blog as a technique guide:



We intend to add some other design elements like the letters of her name on the wall, but done a bit differently than how we did Avery's (hanging from ribbons):

I plan to put the letters on the non-stenciled wall above the changing table. All the other walls will be in a shade of blue/green like this, but a few shades lighter:

In addition to the crib and dresser, we will have another dresser in the closet (this girl has SO SO SO MANY clothes already! Sheesh!) and we intend to get a corner piece to go in between the crib and changer for the monitor camera and books, and a low storage bench of some kind under the window. We also want to get a glider like this one for the corner where the swing currently sits in the pic (that will move into our room so Mama can take a shower!):

 and maybe a rug like this:  

or this:

I love DIY projects, so I plan to try and make a mobile somehow along the lines of this, centered on the ceiling above the crib with a ceiling medallion surrounding the hook:

 or this:

And I also plan to make some decorative flower balls to hang at various heights above the glider like this:

I am so excited to get started! I will keep everyone posted on here (as most of my FB community couldn't care less about this, haha!) as we get going on it.

Thanks for reading!

It Keeps Happening...My Birthday

So I am 31. Get over it. I am! Getting older sucks just as much as it does rock (at this stage, at least!) so I am just going to see the glass (of non-alcoholic wine, ugh) half-full and be happy about where my life is at this age, and for all the amazing people I have in it! That is what it is all about, right?
My fantastic husband out-did himself this year! He took Avery downstairs as soon as she woke up so I could sleep in a little bit, then they both came up with home-made french toast on a tray! After my delish breakfast in bed and a few wonderful gifts, I was told to go enjoy myself for a few hours. So after my OB appt (not necessarily my choice but enjoyable none the less) I went and got a shellack mani which turned out really good. Then, we went and picked up Alex's cousin Jessalyn, and Uncle Gus from the airport as they were staying with us for the weekend from Utah. They babysat Avery for us so Alex and I could enjoy a great dinner at Jake's Del Mar. I really felt special all day.
On Sunday, my dad, step mother and Oma came down to take us out to brunch and for a visit. In the afternoon, we had family over for a joint birthday BBQ for myself and Alex's mom whose birthday is on January 15th. Alex took care of everything and the food was delicious and the company was fabulous.
It was a really great day and I am thrilled to be who I am, where I am, and at the age I am. If I wasn't 31, I wouldn't be living in this amazing house in Carlsbad with a sweet baby girl in my arms and another in my belly, with my best friend of all time. LIFE IS GOOD!

Breakfast in bed by Chef Boyar-hubby

Gifties from momma and flowers from Court :)

Dinner with my love and a Hula Pie, what more could a girl ask for??

Happy Birthday to ME!

 (Umm, I want that corner piece with LOTS of frosting ;)

This family loves to take big pictures (Avery was napping)

Road Trip 2011

I had written a very extensive post about our trip complete with day-by-day timelines and pics for each stop...but my computer erased every word. SO here is the abbreviated version (maybe it is better this way, says Alex)
After am ultrasound in which we got to see our healthy baby girl, we hit the road stopping first in Morro Bay for a night. After our 7 hour drive, we had a delicious home-cooked dinner with our friend Tracy's parents and then passed out!
The next day, we had breakfast in Cayucos and headed on to Carmel, stopping in Paso Robles at Peachy Canyon winery. We were so fortunate to have great weather and the windswept beaches of Carmel were well worth the many hours spent in the car.
We spent 2 nights there before heading up to San Francisco. We were able to see JP's new apartment and borrow Solange to babysit Avery so we could go out to dinner with Staci and Jason.
The next day we had breakfast and did a little shopping in Union Square, then headed across the bay to Lafayette and our friends Ali and Nick. We spent NYE eating and drinking, and watching the kids play and then (after they went to bed) watching the ball drop on TV (yes, we made it until after midnight!) After a gorgeous walk around the reservoir, we got back in the car and drove down the 5 to Valencia to visit with my brother and sis-in-law. At this point we were pretty much ready to just be home, so we had a mellow evening with TV and pizza and headed home the next morning after breakfast in Valencia with friends.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip with great memories made! Avery was a trooper through it all even though she didn't sleep that well and must have watched Tangled and Toy Story about 5 times each at least. We love to travel and we are so happy to be able to share this with our daughter.
Until next year, enjoy the pics and HAPPY 2012!!

can't wait to drink these wines...in May!

Happy to be out of the car :)

Gorgeous day in Carmel

Runs straight for the water EVERY time!

Hamming it up in Carmel

Hanging out with dada

Climbing in Carmel

Monterey Aquarium!!

Kelp Forest

Sevengill shark, we got to watch them feed them salmon steaks! So cool!

Bat rays. I touched them, slimy!

Avery LOVED the wave room!

Our little fam of 3.5 ;)

Touching seaweed and starfish

Splashing in the puddles in SF with her new rainboots

Fun at the Yerba Buena playground in SF!

JP's sweet studio in SF!

Avery and Tyler playing in Lafayette

Happy 2012!!

 Pit stop at a park before starting the long drive home.

Can't wait to take our family of 4 on the road next year!!

Avery is 18 months!

We officially have a "year and a half" year old, though I don't like saying that. It sounds so old! (Don't even ask how I feel about turning 31 ah hem, 29 in less than 2 weeks.)
Anyway, we had her appointment today with her pediatrician, Dr Forbes, whom I LOVE and was temporarily unavailable while she had twins. So glad she's back, though I didn't like a few things she had to say...

Avery weighs 31 lbs and is 34 inches long, which puts her in the 98th percentile for both height and weight. Dr Forbes said that at her 2 year appointment, they will start to consider the BMI (body mass index) rating as well and that she is projected to stay on the same track, which she has been on since she was a newborn (well-above average). They will likely rate her "high" on the BMI scale and she will be officially considered obese. She said we will discuss this more when the time comes, but to start thinking about it now. She asked if she drinks juice. I said no, only water and milk. She said that is good as juice is unnecessary nutritionally, which I already knew. She said she should be consuming about 16-24 oz of milk a day and when I told her that she only drinks about 8 oz, to continue feeding her yogurt and cheese daily to make up for the lack of milk.

Avery doesn't really like plain milk so we have been giving her Horizon Organic Vanilla Milk and she sucks those down (8oz each) in a few minutes but I think I am going to have to switch her to plain to cut out the added sugar. She eats plain yogurt (no flavors or sugars added) and reduced fat string cheese, limited to one stick a day. She NEVER eats chips or crackers or sweets, but she does eat a lot of fruit and applesauce. I know we need to add in more veggies but she doesn't love them and is sort of finicky about them. I need to be more diligent about offering them to her in a variety of ways and trying new ones to see what she likes. I am going to have to be creative to find more healthy options for her and limiting our go-to meals, pastas and tortilla wraps to once a week if that.

Avery also cried hysterically throughout the appointment. As soon as the door shut in the room, she cried and didn't let up until we walked down the hall again. She cried through being measured, weighed, having her tummy, ears and teeth checked, and of course through her Hep A vaccine shot. We discovered she had a mild ear infection in both ears but with all the crying, we forgot to order her antibiotics! (I will go back for them tomorrow.)

She is developmentally advanced as she can say/sign more than 25 words, and she is running, pointing, identifying things in books and parts of her body, shows interest in other kids and can use a spoon and fork. She said a sippy/straw cup is still fine and not to worry about introducing an open cup.

Dr Forbes also said that we should be brushing her teeth morning AND night, not just night as we have been doing since she was 12 months. She also said a dentist wasn't necessary yet as they basically just get them used to the office/doc and count teeth. Judging by her level of hysteria during a simple doc appointment where nothing was done to her until the very end, she said it would be more traumatic than useful and to revisit the idea at 2 or even 3.

The doctor also said those dreaded words I was afraid to hear: Get rid of the paci. She recommends it being gone ideally at 12 months with bottles, and absolutely by 15 months as studies show it causes the palate to be affected and the teeth to be pushed forward. She said it was great that I limit paci use to bedtime (mostly, ugh) but I should get rid of them all together, well before baby sister arrives. OH NO!!!!!!!! I knew that was the case but I really really don't want to get rid of them. She advised to do it cold-turkey on trash day so Avery can see me put ALL the pacis in the trash and watch the trash man take them away and to prepare for a horrible week but not to break down or buy more. Sounds TERRIBLE to me! Not sure what I am going to do on this one...stay tuned!

On a better note, Avery is just the most precocious and adorable little girl. She loves to play in the park and with her new trike and with Roo when he lets her. She loves to give big bear hugs while patting your back which is so funny! If she sees you have a boo boo, she will give it a kiss. She is VERY talkative and loves saying Hi and Bye to every car, plane, person and animal she sees. She is going through a "dada" phase right now where he is just the apple of her eye, it is so sweet. We are starting a month of Mommy and Me swim lessons at the YMCA today and I am really looking forward to it! If all goes well, we will continue with the lessons for several months.

I am looking into a few mommy and me preschool programs to get her involved in, where we can eventually turn it into a drop-off situation for her after the little one arrives. This way she has a routine and also a place to go where there is no baby and she can play with her friends while I nurse/change/sleep with the new baby.

So excited for 2012!! Thanks for reading this LONG post!