Christmas Marathon Part 4

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So the final stop on our Marathon was a visit to Great Grandma Marshall's.  This was at the end of a long day so we didn't take very many pictures, as Avery had about enough of being tossed around the room and finally gave up for the day about 6pm.

New Baby Doll!

 Reading the instructions to her new baby doll.

Christmas Marathon Part 3

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So Christmas morning we loaded up the car again and head to Taylorsville for a double helping of great-grandparents, large amounts of food, and lots of wrapping paper for Avery to tear up.

Getting spoiled by her Great Aunt Dee.

 Teaching Uncle David how to play with her blocks having shed her Christmas dress.

 Having fun opening things wrapped in tissue paper.

 Daddy dressing her up like a nut.

Hanging out with her Nanny.

Christmas Day Outfit

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Christmas Marathon Part 2

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So on the morning of the 24th we packed up the car again and headed to Greensboro to spend the day with my parents, brother, brother-in-law, and sister.  A relatively short drive where Avery slept the entire way once again.  

The first gift that she got to open was a talking pot so she can practice her "cooking skills."  However the toy comes with only veggies and expects you to boil your cheese, so I am not really sure I want to eat what she is making.

"Look! I got pants!"

Best Christmas Stocking ever.

 This toy probably ended up being her favorite although it is plain weird.  It is a robot dinosaur with an NC State helmet that plays a line from an obscure Aqua song.  The lyric that it plays is "Little by Little it's the finest meal; It's the appetite for hope."  So it is a techno playing dancing dinosaur that has an NC State helmet on.  Makes no sense, but Avery stops dead when I turn it on.  I did have to take it apart to put some tape on the speaker, because that thing was loud enough to fill up the entire house.  Later on during the trip she would start swaying back and forth like she was dancing when we would turn this on, mimicking the motions of the dinosaur.  We have some of it on video that we will put up later.

 Being spoiled by her Aunt Sara.

Christmas Marathon Part 1

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So the first part of the Christmas Marathon began at the Gibson's house on the 23rd.  There was a side trip to a farm on that I will cover in a later post.

Her shirt says "What Santa doesn't bring me Grandma will".

She did have a good time with the Christmas tree trying to take ornaments down and putting bows onto it.

 Of course the paper and bows were way more fun than the actual presents.

As you might tell this is a fast motion shot of her waving paper around.

 Look what I got from Aunt Stephanie!

 She did get in the present opening mood.  Mostly just taking the bows off of them, but she did enjoy it.  You can see in the foreground the drum that her grandmother gibson got for her.  Yay! (sarcasm)

 Once again, the ribbons were her favorite thing about the entire day.

 Reaching to bring down Christmas ornaments.

Christmas Marathon

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The Christmas Marathon has come to a close.  3 cities plus home, 4 Christmases, 7 hours of driving, 326 pictures taken, a lot of noise making toys given to Avery, untold amounts of diapers, and a partridge in a pear tree.  I have plenty of great pictures to post over the next few days, but I think I am going to take Avery's lead. Thanks to all of our family for spoiling our little bundle of smile and putting up with her when she wasn't so smiley.

Throwback Thursday vol 3

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Best Naps ever.  I miss those early days when she would sleep on our chests.

Just a picture

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This is just a cute picture.

Gibson Family Christmas Part 2

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This is a followup to yesterday's post.  Jonathan and Ashley stopped by with Harper and Graysen.  Avery and Harper were born a few weeks apart so they had a good time playing with each other.  Harper tried out some of Avery's toys with mixed results.

Playing with the blocks that BP's mom got us.  They are probably Avery's favorite toy.  However, the babies did not want to look at the camera together at any point in time.

Avery reading the blocks out to Harper and teaching her how to play with them.

 Harper enjoying them as well.

 Harper tasting Avery's toys.  I think this one is lime-dog slobber flavored.

Gibson Family Christmas

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The Gibson family was at our house this past weekend to have the annual christmas get together.  For the first time since I have known Laura it wasn't at her grandmother's house.

I got to fry a turkey so it wasn't all bad.  Mmmmmm fried turkey.

But reads this to hear what I did.  It is all about Avery's first Christmas.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are 6 pictures.

Avery starting to get the hang of opening presents.

 She had a good time opening the presents if you started it off for her and found an edge on the paper.  I would have taken a video but if you know the Gibsons, you wouldn't have been able to hear anything.

 Oh.....clothes.

 She seemed to enjoy diving right into the gift bags with the tissue paper.

 Ignoring the clothes that she was given and enjoying playing with the box.

 Enjoying opening presents.

Throwback Thursday vol 2

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The ol Baby Burrito.  The fond days of laying her down in one place and her waking up in the same place.

Goof balls

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After holding the cardboard box during her entire meal, she decided to make it a hat.  Seems pretty proud of herself.

Christmas Card

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So we finally picked the pictures that are going to be on our first family Christmas card.  Most of you that read this probably should have received it by now.  If not, blame it on the mailman or I didn't have your address.  If you want one, just leave a comment.

I don't think we could have gotten a bigger smile out of her.

 Holding one of Great-Grandma Marshall's homemade ornaments.

 And thanks to support from Facebook, this one made the cut.  I think it is a hilarious picture. I love the determination in her eyes.  She doesn't usually put things straight in her mouth, but for some reason she was curious about Great-Grandma Marshall's Christmas ornaments.

p.s. They taste like cinnamon apples.

Wal-Mart

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So Laura took Avery to walmart on Sunday while I recovered from the fever and cold that Avery passed on to me.  Laura so far has been luck and avoided it.  I guess that is what I get for being the stay at home dad when Avery is sick.

I was pretty cold this weekend so Laura put on Avery's bunny hat.  It was also Avery's first time riding in the top of of the buggy.  Apparently she had a great time looking around and helping Laura shop as well as meeting all the random people that love to introduce themselves to your baby.....as if the baby is going to remember who you are later.

Paper

Paper.  The most amazing toy for a little baby.  Or at least our little baby.  You have seen the wreckage she has done at the doctors office here and here playing with the paper they put down on the tables.  

When we pick her up from daycare they give us a sheet everyday telling us when she ate, what she did, and how many poops she had.  Key vitals to raising a kid I guess.  I had the paper to Avery as soon as I get it.  She will study it to see if the teacher tattled on her then wave it to the teacher as we leave.  As soon as she can get 2 hands she begins to rip it up.  

She thinks it is pretty funny.  Not as much as in this famous video, but still funny.  Even more recently she has learned that the more she strains and efforts she puts into it, the better her success is.  So she has started "Hulking Up" and making grunting noises that you can hear in the second video (along with me grunting to encourage her).  Sometimes she will hulk up just for fun and try to pull one hand off of her arm with the other one.  Or she will be sitting in the high chair just ball up her fists, grunt, and flex every muscle in her body (not making a poop).  I can't wait to capture this on video.

Throwback Thursday

I am going to start to try and grab an old picture that may or may not have been on the blog and put one up every Thursday.  Key word try.

One of the first smiles we caught on camera.

Bestest Friends Part 28

Guess who is just out of frame of this shot?

 The very next shot.

 Charger is learning to play with Avery.

And Avery is learning not to grab Charger.