First Trip to the Dentist!

Avery had her first dental check up today! 18 months seems early, but she has had a mouth full of chompers for awhile now. Josh and I are also cavity prone, so I wanted to get her in and used to the dentist at a young age. Here she is ready to go for her check-up.

We went to Dr. Brasuell, he is a pediatric dentist, and I had read really good things about him and the office. She made friends with a little girl in the waiting room right off the bat. When we got into the exam area she laid back on the chair and let the hygienist brush MOST of her teeth. Then I kept her busy before the dentist got there looking at the animal murals on the walls, and playing with the Elmo stickers that the hygienist gave her. When Dr. Brasuell came to examine her she laid back down on the chair and let him look at all of her teeth, he checked out the alignment of her bite and brushed on a fluoride treatment. Avery did great! She did not fuss of squirm or anything. We are so proud of her! We will continue to brush regularly ,and he said he was fine with the pacifier till about 3 years old, but I would definitely like to have her off of it before then! All in all Avery's first dentist visit went great!

Summer days make me feel fine!

This Summer if FLYING by! We have had a pretty great July though so far. Josh and I spent the first weekend of July in Biloxi at the IP casino and resort. We were celebrating our 5 year anniversary! It was a great, much needed, getaway! We spent Friday afternoon lounging out by the pool. Then we ate our weight in snow crab at the buffet. After dinner we watched the Molly Ringwalds" perform. They are an awesome 8o's cover band. Josh didn't think he would enjoy them very much, but ended up loving them!

We got back Sunday around noon, and we went to Ashley and Ben's for their 2nd annual 4th of July party. We had an awesome time, but Monday we were ready to get our baby back! She had a great weekend with her Mimi, Papa, Grandma and Uncle Ric! Since it was officially the 4th of July we got a few sparklers to burn with her. She wasn't too sure about them though!

It has also been VERY hot the past few weeks so our water baby has been enjoying some time in her little pool.

This Friday we got together with All American Dr's and the wives for a date night. Ashley planned the whole thing out for us. She got us a private Salsa dance class! We had a great time learning how to dance and watching each other try to master the steps. It was a great night! We also celebrated all our summer birthday's. Josh, Ashley S., Tanya and Ben all have birthday within a few weeks of each other. We had a blast and enjoyed spending some quality time with our friends.

I am going to try to do an iPhone picture post soon. I have so many cute pics of Avery on my phone but can't figure out how to get them on the computer to put on the blog. So that is my next project. Enjoy :)

Remember me?

Whew, sorry it has been so long. I have been so busy being a mommy, that I have NOT been updating our blog! Soooo, here it goes. I am going to try to catch up on the past 5 months!

February

It seems like we were super busy every weekend in February. We watched the Superbowl, celebrated Ben and Ashley's couple's shower, then Ashley's bachelorette party. During the weeks however I was soaking up time with my baby girl. Here was one of our mommy/daughter days. We started off with lunch at Chik fil a.
Then we played at the park.

Then Avery helped me cook dinner :)

March

Avery celebrated her first Mardi Gras as a Louisianian in March. Unfortunately the Luling parade was cancelled due to bad weather, but we made it out to Metairie on Mardi Gras day for the festivities. Avery loved it! She figured out quickly how to wave to the floats to get goodies and she was even dancing with the bands. Not to mention she also enjoyed all the good food!

March 11th, Avery took her first steps! And on the 20th she had her first stomach bug! It was crazy though, almost EVERYONE in Josh's family ended up with this awful bug. I have never seen a virus spread so quickly. Thankfully she got over it within 24 hours, but she was pitiful while it lasted!

The next weekend, Josh and I took Avery to the zoo. She LOVES the fish is her PaPa and Grandpa's fishtanks so we knew she would have a blast.

She always does the cutest fish mouth whenever she sees fish. So her little lips were busy this day!

She also enjoyed playing on all the toys.

After taking a few steps here and there earlier in the month, on the 28th, she decided to become a full time walker. It was so cute, we were having Ashley and Ben over for dinner, and she was trying to keep up with their son Drake. So Miss Thing just took off walking like she had been doing it her whole life! And she has NOT stopped since!

April

April was a very busy month for us. We were lucky enough to have Josh in from Virginia for a week and Drew and Meredith in from Germany. We took that opportunity to get all of the families together for a trip to the zoo.

These pictures were no easy feat with 5 kids under the age of 4!

Avery had a great time at the zoo. We were at the raccoon exhibit in this picture and she kept fussing at them for fighting with each other :) The following 2 weekends we had weddings. Here we are at Ashley and Ben's wedding, it was so beautiful! Except the fact that Josh ate too many crawfish while the guys were getting ready. He ended up broken out in major hives. After 2 benadryls his face was clear, but he was majorly loopy!

The following weekend was Nathan and Lynn's wedding. We had a great time hanging out with all of the Luling friends that we went to high school with. We kept talking about how funny it was that we used to party all the time and talk about going out and hooking up, now we are all married, settled down and having kids. Man we are getting old!

We celebrated Easter at the end of April. Avery had a great time dyeing eggs.

She loved all of her goodies from the Easter Bunny. And we had a great day at Mom's house. Here is the crew playing games on their phone.

Since we were all dressed up, I decided to try and get a few family pictures.

The kids had a great time searching for Easter eggs and playing in the new pool.

May

At the beginning of May we celebrated the Jambalya at Josh's grandma's house and Mother's day. I had a fabulous mother's day! We woke up and had breakfast at the Broken Egg. After Avery's nap we went to Luling to eat crawfish with his family, then we went to Jake and Angela's for dessert. Josh had Avery paint me a picture for my gift. You will notice the hand, foot and BUTT prints on the canvas :)

I also got a new purse! Bye Bye diaper bag! Here we are 3 generations, celebrating our 2nd mother's day together.

June

June has been sooo HOT! We have either been trying to keep busy inside or cooling off in the pool outside. Avery is really starting to enjoy arts and crafts. Here she is one morning creating a masterpiece!

June 8-9 Avery and I headed to Destin for an overnight trip to see Leslie and her family at the beach! Avery did so good! She loved the sun, sand and water!

This was her first time at the beach! She loves the water! Weather it is in a pool, hosepipe or raining from the sky. We definitely have a little water baby.

I also enjoyed the trip, it was nice to just lay back and relax a little.

Whew, that about sums up the past 5 months! Sorry I have been slacking, I will definitely try to stay on top of blogging now that I am all caught up. I will leave you with a big CHEESE from our angel before church last week.

Avery's 1st Birthday Party!!!

Whew, we are worn out from a very BUSY weekend! We had 2 BIG birthday parties this weekend. On Saturday Cole celebrated his 2nd birthday party with a petting zoo! It was sooo sweet, there were a bunch of baby goats, chickens and bunnies. They were all so tame and calm. The kids had a blast! Avery even petted a few bunnies and enjoyed her first horseback ride. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so I have NO pictures from it :(

Saturday morning we also got everything ready for Avery's 1st birthday party at the house! Josh was outside doing some yard work and Avery was so cute watching him.

He came up to the window and she gave him kisses.

Later that day she was in a goofy mood and was totally cheesing it up for the camera. Josh got some really cute shots.

Sunday morning we got up bright and early and Avery was ready to celebrate!

We had the whole house decorated. In the living room I set up her cake table with a candy buffet. All the goodies on the table matched the hot pink, black and white Minnie Mouse theme. The candy buffet had hot pink M&M's and Ring Pop's, black Oreo cookies and white yogurt covered raisins. I also put out a bunch of pictures of Avery from the past year.

Here is her cake and smash cake. Albertson's did a great job, I had to call a few days ago to tell them to change the color of the icing on her smash cake. I could just imagine her digging into her cake and being stained hot pink from the frosting. I am sure glad I did because the hot pink did stain!

The birthday girl's special seat.

In the dining room I set up the food table and Avery's birthday banner. Chelsi, Josh's cousin, did a great job on the banner and her invitations. We had lots of good food including jambalaya, muffalettas, homemade finger sandwiches (by Josh), a veggie tray and fruit tray. Ms. Aleta also brought a bruschetta dip and shrimp dip, they were so good!

Avery was definitely spoiled rotten with all these gifts!

We had a great turn out! I was really surprised how many people came to celebrate with us!

The weather was also perfect, almost 60 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We rented a bounce house and the kids (and big kids) had a blast in it. Avery on the other hand did not! Josh put her in it for about 5 minutes and all she did was crawl onto him and start crying, oh well, maybe next year!

The little kids also enjoyed playing with Avery's toys in the house, here is Miss Savanna lounging in Avery's bouncy seat.

Jonnilin and Julian totally surprised me! They had come in to LA for a visit so JuJu got to celebrate his niece's birthday with her. Here he is loving on Grandma with an Oreo :)

Little Miss Avery was fashionable late for her own party! Her party started at 2, so I laid her down for a nap about 1, so she would be well rested when everyone got here. Miss Thang decided to knock out until almost 3 o'clock! I finally had to go in a start getting all of her clothes together to finally wake her up. She was so funny though, I was changing her and getting her all dressed and she was being a fussy butt. She was really starting to get a good cry going when I brought her out into the living room. As soon as she saw everyone here, she got so quiet and just looked around the room. It was almost like a surprise party for her :) Once she got good and awake it was present time!

She was very interested in all her new goodies! She got an umbrella stroller, a wagon, a big girl chair, lots of toys, some books and LOTS of clothes. Miss thing will be very fashionable this year.

After presents it was time for cake! We got a quick family picture in before we stripped her down! Ahhh, we have a 1 year old! Where had the time gone? It seems like only yesterday we were checking out of the hospital on a cold January morning with a tiny little 7 lb infant all bundled up in her car seat. We were so nervous and excited to be parents. We have learned a lot this past year, and Avery has been the BEST baby we could ever pray for. It seems like she has handled all the changes and transitions of the first year so easily. We thank God everyday for the amazing little girl he has blessed us with!

Happy Birthday to you Miss Avery!

We have been working with her on blowing, but she was in no mood to show off, so the big kids helped her to blow out her candles.

Then it was time for her to dig in! She was being so dainty at first, she would only take a little pinch of cake and icing and eat it very ladylike.

Then she figured out it was much more efficient to just take a whole handful of cake and shovel it in! We finally had to take it away from her. I really think she would have tried to eat the whole thing! As it is she made a huge dent in it!

I have said it before and I will say it again, we have been blessed with the best family and friends you could ask for. Avery had such a good turn out and so many gifts! She is truly a loved little girl and I am glad that we could share this momentous occasion with so many of the people who love us.