Little Laughs

She is starting to laugh a little more each day.  They start off as laughs then she will stick her tongue out and make noises like she is trying to not laugh.  Or stick her hand in her mouth to keep from laughing.

This is our daily routine of playing on the bed trying to get a solid laugh before she plays with Charger (who captures all of her attention)

Pool Time

I think it has been well documented how much we enjoy taking Avery down to the pool.  I think she enjoys it as well.  However, her enjoyment isn't always translated into my cell phone camera compared to the big camera.  This past weekend when we took her to the pool and tossed her in her float, she has started to figure out that if she kicks her legs it moves the float.  She had a great time kicking and floating along beside daddy in the water.

Showing off her new Puma  bathing suit with sleeves.  This caused her to be called a boy by some old man walking by.  I told him he need to refresh his prescription.

Avery being distracted by something awesome happening off to her left.  

Random Pictures from the week

This is a few random pictures from the last week or so.  I didn't have much to blog about this weekend, as we finally had a weekend at home.  Laura had some friends over Saturday, so I got to babysit.  And when you are the sole person watching the baby you don't get to take many pictures.  But we took a few.

This is from the lake......She seems to enjoy playing

 She takes her exersaucer time pretty seriously.  Unless you get her attention with the camera and she will give you a big ol smile like this or a goofy face.

 Mommy reading a book not written by an idiot.

 Making funny faces for the camera.

Avery and Harpo

This past weekend at the lake Avery got to play with two dogs running around chasing each other.  Stephanie brought her poodle Harpo who is a bit crazy, but is very friendly with Avery.  Charger on the other hand just ignores Avery.  Harpo enjoyed coming up by Avery and making her laugh.  These are some pictures that I got of them playing together.  Some of them are pretty blurry but you can see how super happy Avery is around dogs.

Lake Stuff Part 1

This past weekend we headed up to the lake for some much need vacation.  We decided to have Laura's family up there as well because it isn't vacation unless you can convince someone to cook for you and to watch your kid.

We left Charlotte at 730 so that Avery could sleep all the way up there.  That was an awesome idea because she did.  On the way home we had to stop twice.  Once for a diaper and once to feed her.  For some reason she cannot sleep for 3 hours strapped up in a confined space unless it is night time......I guess you learn something about kids everyday.

So about the lake.....

Avery had a blast hanging out with everyone.  Everytime someone walked by her, looked in her direction, or made a noise, she would burst out into a big smile.

Hanging with Granddaddy Gibson on the dock

Family picture time in the lake.

Avery really enjoyed swinging in the hammock with her Granddad.

Avery was spoiled by her aunt Stephanie pretty good as well.

Her grandmother had a good time holding her, although we didn't ever get a picture of them together.  Mostly because we always took the time to eat, shower, etc when Grandma had her.

Avery has a pair of sunglasses.  They strap onto her head so that Laura cannot drop them in a river, Grandma Gibson cannot break them, and Stephanie cannot lose them in the lake

Lake Preview

Guess who had an awesome time at the lake......

More details, pictures, artwork, stories, anecdotes, riddles, etc coming soon.

Vacation / Funny Faces

I am taking my second day of vacation for the year tomorrow (if you don't count the 12 weeks I was off after Avery's birth, which my company does not), so I am pretty excited about that.  Looking forward to driving another 3 hour drive with an infant in the car.  We are planning on leaving at 8pm to hope that we can make it up to the lake without stopping to change a diaper.  Which means Laura, Avery, and Charger will be sleeping while Dad drives.

So here is a couple funny looking faces from Miss Avery to prove she doesn't smile all the time.

Big Girl Bed

So to celebrate Avery's 5th month birthday, we finally moved her up to her crib upstairs.  We did however hook up some night vision camera to keep an eye on her.  It doesn't seem like she minds the big bed.

Happy 5 Months

Pool Party

This weekend we got to go to the Gentry family pool party and show off miss Avery.  She was of course as cute as can be.

Hanging with Mommy.

 Meeting a new dog friend also named boogie.  She loves watching dogs and animals.  Charger is in for some trouble once she is able to move around.

 Chillin in the pool.

More Eatin

This is more eating video.....you can see her fascination with Charger. She is watching him eat his dinner the entire time she is eating hers.

Eating

Chillin Outside

The weekend is finally here, so these are a few pictures from last weekend hanging out in the back yard.  I am pretty sure laying out is her favorite thing in the world (other than watching charger) to do just like her mother.

Feeding

Look who figured out how to feed themselves.  This raising kids thing is going way easier than I expected.  I can't wait until she figures out how to change her own diaper/the oil of the car.  Either one would work for me.

Football

Someone is excited about her football tickets that came yesterday!

Karen Katz is an Idiot

I don't know what qualifies you to write a children's book.  It isn't like you have to have a way with words.  You have to be able to rhyme things like blue and glue.  You have to have basic spelling skills to be able write pages like "Now we can paint the wood.  Where is my paintbrush?"

However, basic carpentry is not a required skill.  The idiom of "Measure Twice, Cut Once" doesn't apply in the world of children's books.  In the world of children's books the idiom is "Cut first, measure second."

Page One

 Page Two

Do you know how difficult it is to explain to an infant that we start the book on page 2 because the author is an idiot?  Every time Laura or myself pick up this book, we cannot believe that someone would publish something like this.  If you need any reason why China is going to out-engineer the US, look no further than the works of Karen Katz.


Here are two pictures of Avery enjoying a book not written by an idiot.

 "Daddy, I can follow along with this story because it wasn't written by an idiot."

My Best Friend Charger

Over the past few weeks Avery has started to notice Charger more and more.  Whenever he walks by, Avery stops whatever she was doing (I don't think she will ever finish painting that end table) and follows him with her eyes around the room.  More recently she gets really excited when he walks close by or shakes.  So in the afternoons when we all get home from work and school, Avery has the best time watching Charger play fetch with Laura or me.  She has to be standing up and will stomp her feet like a horse when she gets wound up watching him.  She does make the cutest smiles.....so the pictures are narrated in her voice....

OMG....Do you see that dog?

 That dog is sooooooo cool.

 Charger you are so funny when you shake your toy!

 Daddy, Charger is coming this way.

Tummy Time

Avery has been working on her tummy time for a while now and does a good job of holding her head up, but just can't figure out how to roll over in either direction.  She gets pretty close then swings back on her back, knocking her toys and smacking anything nearby.......it is getting close to time to start baby proofing and getting some furniture with less sharp things on it.

Her hair is starting to look pretty blonde in most of the pictures now....

 Playing with the toys that are on the mat....

 Then this morning (Wednesday) we woke up to find that Avery was sleeping on her tummy, 180 degrees in both directions from where she was laid down.  How can you go 180 degrees in two directions you ask?  Well she started on her back at with her head in the 12 oclock position and was found on her belly with her head at the 6 oclock position.  So there you go.

Rice Cereal

So apparently you are supposed to feed your children things other than bottles and bacon.  We started this weekend trying to feed Avery rice cereal (it isn't like rice krispie treats at all) mixed with formula.  It really isn't cereal at all.  It is like chunky milk, which you should not feed your baby as a substitute for rice cereal.  It is also a way to get them used to eating out of a spoon.  I am not looking forward to that feeding period at all until they can feed themselves.  At least with a bottle you can do something else while feeding.

This is Avery before it all went down telling Mommy to bring it on.

 First bite.....

 Second bite was a little bit better but not much.........

All in all we can get her to eat about 3 spoons worth before quitting and throwing a fit.  This is going to be fun.    I am not allowed to be around and watch while Mommy feeds her, because Avery will look at me and the camera and goof off rather than focus on her mother and the spoon.  Yay for me!

Giorgi Baby

This past weekend we went to the Giorgi house for a baby reveal party as Mary and Jimmy are going to be having a baby this December.

Jimmy getting some practice in.

 Jimmy's mom, Jamie getting a refresher course.  Not pictured Tom and Susanne fighting over holding Avery and making faces, noises etc to make her smile.

 Avery getting ready to get her cake on.

 So the premise of the idea is that when they went for their baby sonogram, the doctor would write the sex of the baby in an envelope.  The Giorgi's then took this envelope to a baker who baked the inside of the cake the color of the sex of the baby.  You then have a party for people to come over and see what the baby is going to be.  Jimmy cooked us up some food, we played some cornhole, and had general fun.

The cake.....

 Mary and Jimmy finding out......

 Another Giorgi boy!!!