My 30th Birthday!

I know, I know, I don't look a day over 29 :) Hard as it is to believe (to me most of all!) I am 30 YEARS OLD! What better way to celebrate the big Three Oh by drinking yummy beer at Stone Brew with 30 of my favorite people on a beautiful day in January!
Huge thanks to my honey Alex for arranging everything and for taking care of my little munchkin so I could spend the day catching up with my friends and not changing diapers or making bottles (Although, I did miss it a little bit, ha! Guess I am old :). As a rule, I am not much of a birthday-party person but he and everyone made it a super fun and special day. I am SO BEYOND lucky to have such an amazing husband and a beautiful and sweet baby and so many people that love me enough to drive to Escondido!
The next day, my wonderful family gathered at Wind N Sea in Dana Point to help me (and Solange, who's birthday is on January 15th!) celebrate with a delicious brunch and yummy cakes provided by my fabulous momma.
Enjoy the pics!

Sneaky honey had a custom menu made for me :)

My baby girl!

3 of my favorite people and their adorable offspring

Happy birthday to ME!

Court and me

Hailey and Brayden with Avery and me

Thanks for rubbing it in, mom :)

The 2 birthday girls and the real star of the show

Great-grandmas love little Avery!

Gymboree Music Class

(I realize I am a little out of order here, the 30th Birthday blog will follow this one!)
I have recently joined a few Meet Up mommy groups in my area and we do lots of free activities around North County. Today, Avery and I went to a free trial for a baby music class at Gymboree in Solana Beach. We both had lots of fun and it was great seeing Avery interact with other babies her age.  She was only one of two girls in the class of 8 kids (and the cutest of both genders, of course) and did a great job interacting with the other babies and paying attention to the instructor. I learned a few new songs to add to my (meager) reptoire and it was a great time!
Enjoy the pictures (from my cell phone, thus the not so great quality)!

She loved to put all the props in her mouth! Thank goodness she is vaccinated!

Avery and the boys

Music class cutie!

Playing the drum

Inspecting the poor Pergo job...nothing gets by this one! Haha!

Little name tag :)

Avery is 6 months!

After Avery's 6 month pediatrician appointment we decided to go ahead with feeding her "real" food (if liquidy, un-seasoned and pretty unappetizing peas and water can even be called food) for the first time. Carrots went over much better the following day. Next is string beans, then sweet potatoes and then we will give peas another shot.

At 6 months, Avery is 19 pounds, 27.5 inches long and is reaching all the developmental milestones right on schedule (rolling both ways, recognizing her name, passing objects from hand to hand, sitting up unassisted, holding her own bottle...)

We went on a bike ride with her new bike seat that fits on my bike, and we had a great time! She spent most of the time reaching for her feet but that might have been because the helmet blocks some of her view. We are looking forward to using it all the time as the weather gets warmer.

True to form, we are moving again, haha! This time last year I was 4 months pregnant so I wasn't able to help very much (which was awesome). We found a big house just up the street from where we have been living in Carlsbad this past year, and we are looking forward to the space and having EVERYONE over soon!

Enjoy some pictures!

Pre-pea excitement

sippy cup attempt #1, didn't really get it!

Cutie in a box

Avery is packed! Let's go!

 Don't forget Roo!!

Little robe

Cutie pie wearing 6-12 months clothes

Family bike ride

Christmas 2010

We had so much fun sharing our Christmas traditions with our sweet baby girl.  Experiencing the holidays with a little one is one of the many things I fantasized about when I was pregnant with Avery. Decorating the tree at home, walking around the neighborhood to see the decorated houses and visiting Santa for the first time, were some of the things I was looking forward to.
Blending mine and Alex's family traditions has been fairly simple and has worked well for us over the years. We spend Christmas Eve at my Oma's house in Carson with my dad's family, then Christmas morning we have breakfast at Alex's parent's house in San Juan and head up to Newport for Christmas dinner with Pat and Al and Ken's family.
Lots of places to go means lots of good food, wine and PRESENTS!!  Avery had a great time being involved in the gift opening and got some really great stuff. We can't wait until next year when she can rip open paper and cause a little bit more trouble :)
Enjoy the pictures!

Helping daddy decorate her first Christmas tree

First custom-made stocking from Nana Candy (yeah, she decided she is Nana now)

Awesome ATW Radio Flyer from Grampa John

Loves all her new toys!

Second-cousins Steven, Hailey and Anthony

Me and Avery at Oma's Christmas Eve

Avery and Uncle Joe at the Klingensmith's Christmas morning

Being silly at Christmas dinner in Newport 

Great-Grandparents Pat and Al got us a 

Wee Ride bike seat for Avery and appropriate safety gear! Can't wait to try it out!!

Avery's Baptism

On Sunday, December 5th, Avery Patricia was baptised at St Edwards Catholic Church where Alex and I were married. We were touched by how many of our family and friends (we had the largest group at the church, took up 5 pews!!) drove from near and far to attend the ceremony and to help us celebrate.
The ceremony was lovely and fairly quick, as Avery was baptised with 8 other children. We were last to go to the font, and she was such a patient and sweet girl (not surprisingly) while she was passed around. Mom and Dad were a little less patient, taking pictures and uploading them to Facebook during the ceremony, haha! She looked absolutely delicious in her gown that we bought in San Juan a few days before (had to make sure she fit into it!) and she was silent when the water was being poured on her head, she even smiled at the priest the third and final pour! The aromatic oil they poured on her head made her hair stick up, and invited everyone to give her noggin a sniff.
The group went back to Ken and Solange's house for snacks and drinks, and to shower Avery with kisses and generous gifts. All in all it was a very memorable day, and Alex and I could not be more grateful for the people in our lives that love Avery as much as we do. She is fortunate to be raised amongst so much love and support.
Thank you ALL!!! As always, enjoy the pictures :)

Getting dressed (at the very last minute to keep the dress white!)

This was a 2 person job

Our Holy Cupcake, haha

Passed out under her name

Grammy Candy and Godfather Corey

Grammy Solange

Godmother Jessalyn and Godfather Corey

Getting (warm) water poured on her head

Oil

Made her hair stick up like a mohawk!

Godparents Corey and Jessalyn, Alex, Avery and I and the priest

Outfit change at home

Jess and Avery

Lauren, Avery and Corey

Tuckered out, what a day!

Avery is 5 months!

Avery is growing and developing new skills every day.  It is getting hard to remember what it was like before she first joined our family 5 months ago. She is wearing size 3 diapers, 6 month clothing and must weigh at least 18 pounds! She is out-growing clothes and toys faster than we can replace them, but I enjoy shopping with her so it is more a pleasure than a problem.
She has been eating rice cereal at dinner time for a few weeks now, and we recently started replacing a late morning meal with the stuff as well. Avery seems to be teething (everything goes into her mouth, drooling uncontrollably) but nothing has broken through yet (thank goodness! I hope those pearly whites wait a few more months until we wean from nursing!)
She is rolling over from her tummy to her back easily now, and can roll the other way when she is motivated. She can sit up on her own with a little support and reaches for toys in front of her. She sits in the "big girl" side of her bath tub (not reclined) and plays with bath toys. She really enjoys checking things out and LOVES other kids and dogs.
Avery continues to be an absolute joy in our lives and we are especially excited for sharing this holiday season with our little girl.
Enjoy the pictures!
(for a kick, look back to my post on August 2 when she was 1 month old!)

Denim diapers!

The infamous sign...

Happy, drooly girl

Sitting up on her own (kind of)

Then my sign becomes lunch

Super cute outfit from Tio Chuca and Tia Fly

Avery shares her toys with Roo

Tuckered out after the shoot

(check out the bite marks in my sign! It's like a shark got to it, haha!

Imagine when there are teeth in that mouth, yikes!)