HAPPY EASTER

April 10th - 12th: I hope everyone had a good Easter weekend. My Mom flew in and we headed to the farm. It has become a tradition to spend Easter at the farm with my Grandmom. Avery had a great time and showed off as usual.

Avery and her Great Grandma Broadway. We met them for a late lunch Easter Sunday after we dropped Mom off at the airport. Grandma is teaching her how to count her fingers.

Avery and Mommy all dressed up in our new Easter outfits getting ready to go to church.

Avery and Great Grandma Brooks with one of Avery's Easter baskets.

Avery and her bouncing rabbit that was in one of her baskets. She enjoyed throwing him and kicking him.

We have a long standing tradition of making a bunny cake every Easter. This tradition was started when I was a little girl and I just recently started doing it again with my Grandma. This year Avery got to have a little taste of the icing. Thanks Grandma!!

My Mom got a great shot of Avery's two little teeth.

And for the grand finale....Avery sitting on Great Grandma's new porch in her Easter dress. She didn't know what all the fuss was about.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

April 6th - Avery went to the doctor today because she has a bad cough. Thankfully her lungs sound clear and she didn't cough at all while we were there. BUT, her right ear is infected. She just finished her last round of antibiotics on Sunday. She is on antibiotics AGAIN and has to go back in 10 days to get her ears rechecked. Her appointment to get tubes is on May 1st. I hope this is the last ear infection for a couple of years.

OUR WEEKEND

April 5th - We had a great weekend. It started off at Publix. I never knew I could have so much fun at Publix. A lady was there giving away samples of ham. I gave Avery some and she got so excited. She ate just about the whole piece. We are trying to feed her more "real" food. Sunday we went to eat with my Grandparents and she did really well, though if you looked under her high chair you would wonder what she ate since there was so much food on the floor.

Avery trying to help Mommy empty the dishwasher.

David introduced Avery to water out of a big girl cup and she loved it. We put some in her sippy cup and she curled up with Mommy and drank it.

Avery trying to climb the stairs.

I really needed to get the dishwasher done and Avery was determined to help me. I thought I could give her a pot and spoon to play with so I could get it done. She didn't have any interest in the pot but she did enjoy putting the spoon in her mouth. I tried to get it on tape but as soon as the camera comes out she immediately tries to play with it.

THIS IS NO APRIL FOOL'S JOKE

April 1 - So, we’ve had a child safety gate in our house for about a week now. I am thinking we need to set it up as soon as possible. As Avery and I were playing on the floor, she did her normal routine of crawling to the bottom step and then pulling herself up to a standing position. I glanced away so I could put a coaster back on our coffee table and the next thing I see is that Avery made it up to the third step. I quickly got behind her incase she decided to lean back. I did it quietly so I wouldn’t startle her. She nonchalantly kept climbing up step after step until she was at the midway point. I don’t know if she was tired or scared but she all of a sudden stopped. I picked her up and brought her back down to ground level so she could resume chewing on the television remote control.

WHAT IS THAT I SEE

April 1st - Avery is about to reach a very exciting milestone.....TEETH. When she smiles or laughs you can see two very small white bumps in the bottom front of her gums. You almost do a double take because two teeth are just barley sticking out. But watch out because if you put your finger on her gums you definitely feel them and she will bite down on your finger and you again feel them. It seems each day they stick up a little further, but then again that could be my imagination. I don’t think Avery is acting very fussy due to her new teeth but then again she never really acts upset. We have been giving her some baby Orajel in the morning and before bed to help her deal with any pain she may be feeling. So look out world, here come Avery’s first set of teeth!!

SEPERATED

March 31st - The funny thing about kids is you never know what they are going to do or say and since Avery can't talk, you never know what she is going to do. On Friday I picked her up a little early from fun place. She and Whitley were the only kids remaining. Whitley and Avery are good friends from what I am told. They really enjoy playing together, and from what I’m told that includes wrestling. So on Friday they were playing in different parts of the room. So I said to her teacher: “Why aren’t Avery and Whitley playing together?” Her teacher responded: “I had to separate Avery and Whitley because Avery kept trying to pull out Whitley’s pacifier and throw it away!” I was shocked yet I immediately laughed. That does sound like my daughter. She never took to a pacifier so I’m sure she thought Whitley didn’t need one either. I wonder what she’ll do next!?!?

E N & T

March 30th - Last week Avery went back to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. Her ears showed no signs of improvement and where infected again. The doctor decided it was time for tubes. Everyone keeps telling us it is a simple procedure and painless but to me it is scary. They say the procedure takes no more than 10 minutes but to me that will be an eternity. They say there are no needles involved but to me that is still scary. Did I mention I was scared and worried for Avery? I know this will be much more traumatic on me than her, which does make me feel better. We don't have the procedure schedules yet, I'll let you know when we do. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.