Avery is 18 months!

Our little baby girl is 18 months old today.... not so much of a baby anymore. It truly is bitter-sweet. Every day I look at her and am completely amazed at how big she is getting. In many ways I'm sad that she is a year and a half already and that the baby stage flew by so fast. On the other hand, I am LOVING this stage of new developments. Avery is the smartest little girl and so loving and compassionate. She is my best friend and makes me laugh every day. :)

Avery at 18 months:

-practically running every where (she's always on the move)
-has entered the climbing phase... thankfully she hasn't attempted to climb out of her crib (yet), but everything else is fair game!
-is becoming very independent. She climbs into the car and into her carseat all by herself.
-signs "please", "thank you", "more" and "all done" (of course she thinks that just because she says please she will get whatever it is she wants! haha!)
-is getting excited about potty training and loves to sit on the big potty even though she doesn't actually do anything yet. (Getting excited about it is the first step, though!!) She also points to her diaper when she is going and or needs a new diaper. I'm getting my hopes up that she is going to be an early and easy potty trainer....
-has 12 teeth!
-still doesn't say much, but understands everything! (just one example; If we ask her to put something into the trash, she will)  She is great at communicating, even without using words.
- says "mama", "dada", "dog", "uh-oh!"
-loves to dance and will bust a move as soon as she hears music.
-a helper
-loves to read books
-enjoys watching videos, only if someone sits and watches it with her.... if I put a video in while cooking dinner, she will not watch it.
-she likes to be in the same room as her mommy- even when all of her toys are in the playroom, she would rather be in the next room with me.
-Loves to be chased and when her daddy tickles her.
-HATES having her teeth brushed. She used to love it, but over the past 2 months she has really started hating it. We literally have to trap her down and pry her mouth open to brush those pearly whites, now.... if only she knew how much easier this daily task could be....

Avery is growing up way too fast.... Again, I still cannot believe she is 18 months old already. This past year and a half have been filled with so much joy and we are blessed beyond measure with our sweet little girl. I wish I could freeze time for a just a little while and enjoy this sweet stage of life with our precious little girl. I'm afraid to blink because I know that if I do she will no longer be a little toddler running around our house anymore.....

Happy 18 months, precious Avery! We love you and are enjoying this time with you more than you will ever know.

The Bump at 30 weeks

I am 30 weeks and 3 days today and feeling great. Yes, I'm starting to feel the 3rd trimester fatigue but I'm still feeling good. I'm not yet in the uncomfortable stage and I'm definitely not sick anymore. I love this stage of pregnancy. Feeling baby girl move around is my favorite part of pregnancy. It's one of the things I missed the most after having Avery. Over the past week I haven't been sleeping well, but it's just all in preparation for my many sleepless nights ahead. 

Last week, Chris and I had the 4D ultrasound and baby K did not cooperate at all. Avery gave us a hard time during her 4D u/s, but baby K was even worse. I think we got 2 good pictures of her face and that is it. She was quite comfortable down in my hip using the placenta as a pillow and covering the other half of her face with her arm and hand. After several attempts at trying to move her, the sonographer finally suggested that I get up and go to the bathroom and jump around in hopes of moving her into a better position. So, I did just that; went to the bathroom, did some jumping jacks and wished that she would move so we could get a better glimpse of our little girl. Well, she moved alright! She completely flipped over so that all we could see was her spine! Silly little girl already showing us her attitude.... 

Thankfully, our sonographer is so sweet and suggested that we try again at my next appointment. We were so grateful because this is an elective ultrasound that we had to pay for and were slightly disappointed when we didn't get a good shot of her. So, hopefully next week I'll have some great 4D pics of our little girl. :) 

I'm still working out, though I've had to back off some and modify a lot of the moves in my classes. I've dropped down to only two classes a week- body rip and strengthening. The other days I stick to cardio whether its on the eliptical, walking or jogging. 

I've gained about 23 pounds so far. With Avery I gained exactly 30. I'll probably pass that mark this go around, but that's alright! 

30 weeks 3 days:

Baby K's crib

Well, most of you know that we live in a 2 bedroom house, which means that our girls will be sharing a room! Avery is not quite old enough to be in a big girl bed yet, so that means having to put a second crib in the nursery. Two weeks ago our new crib came in and we were expecting a house full the very next day. We weren't sure where we were going to store the HUGE box while housing 4 extra adults and another toddler for a long weekend, so we decided to just put the crib together that night! Chris did a great job (as always) and put the crib together in no time. This time we went with a white crib because we didn't want the room to be too dark, and didn't really need the big 4-way convertible crib like Avery has.

Here is the room before Avery was born.... The book shelf is now in her play room and the new crib has taken it's place.

Daddy's little helper

The finished product!!! Avery is testing it out for baby K. 

It's hard to believe that our sweet little girl will be here in 10 weeks!!

Easter 2012

We had a wonderful Easter this year. We started our morning at Church and heard a great message from our senior pastor. My parents and in-laws joined us as well! After church we came back to our house and took a few family pictures before lunch. Chris and I really enjoy hosting for the holidays... Christmas was the first time we hosted a big family event and this Easter we did the same. After lunch, Avery opened her Easter basket and then had a little Easter Egg Hunt. I wasn't too sure how she would do, but she surprised me and knew exactly what to do and LOVED it!!! The Ireland's left right after the egg hunt and then Avery opened her basket from my parents. They left a few minutes later so that Avery could take a nap. Chris and I enjoyed the rest of the afternoon watching the Masters. It was nice to have a relaxing and quiet afternoon after having a house full of family from Wednesday to Sunday. (that post will come soon!!) 

Ready for church

Avery and Grandmommy

I love my family!

Avery and her grandparents!!

Bailey had to help, too!

Crawling under the chair to get the last egg!

she got it!

Aunt Amanda and Brock got to watch Avery open her basket and hunt for eggs via FaceTime

Avery's Easter goodies from Mimi and Granddaddy

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter, too and I pray we all remember what Jesus did for us and why we celebrate Easter. It sure is easy to get wrapped up in all of the candy!

Baltimore- March 2012

Back in March the entire Ireland family went up to Baltimore to visit Chris' grandmother, Nanna. We flew up and Avery did a fantastic job. She is such a great traveler!  I think this was her 4th trip to fly somewhere and she isn't even a year and a half yet! My goodness! While we were there we had a memorial service for Chris' grandfather, Poppop, who passed away the first week of December 2011. The service was absolutely beautiful and his family said some wonderful things about him. Poppop was such an incredible man and we will all miss him very much. It was important for all of us to have this service and to have the closure that we all needed. I think Nanna needed it more than she realized, too.  

Chris' cousins, Aunt and Uncle were there also- but I don't have any pictures of anyone other than the babies and Nanna! I'll have to get some from my father-in-law! 

Flowers that my parents sent to Nanna on the day of the service. 

Sweet Micah

Nanna and her two Great-Granddaughters, Avery and baby K.
This was the closest Avery would get to Nanna.... She had some major attachment issues that weekend. 

It was a great weekend and of course, it went by way too fast.