Avery on the move!

Finally have a few days of decent internet at my parent's house. Here is a video of Avery crawling. She is literally all over the place. As soon as we got to my parents house, we had to do some quicky baby proofing. Literally everything within reach of crawling or standing is fair game for her. She is having a blast here, especially chasing after three dogs! She is also getting a mind of her own, and does NOT like to be told 'no'. Uh, oh for me! Our days are so fun, filled with her learning and exploring and at the end of the day we are both completely exhausted! Naps are still a struggle, way too many fun things to do everyday besides sleep :) Looking forward to a few days with Kyle and then headed out to Salinas for a wedding. Dreading the plan rides by myself, we change three times! Praying for a good day out of Avery, although best case scenario we just make it through the day in one piece!

Where we are

I have figured out how to post from my phone but still can't upload pics unless I can get wifi on my laptop. I have to say that after four years of struggling financially because of one of us being in grad school, it is frustrating to still be struggling. Kyle continues to work very hard, long hours and we are nonetheless happy where we are.

Now for some Avery updates!
Nine and a half months, crawling everywhere, standing up, cruising on furniture. Loves going to the library for story time, baths, pulling out the dvds from our movie drawer, playing with balloons and balls, and chasing Peyton. Dislikes getting changed, being in her stroller, and being left alone for even a second!

We are looking forward to upcoming trips to Charleston and Salinas, can't wait to show off our girl! She seems to charm the socks off anyone she meets, hopefully our travels go well!

Bath time

Another video of av enjoying life (and shouting at her toys!)

New Things!

It's been a while since I've been able to update the blog. We don't have internet at our house right now, so I have to make a trip to Starbucks to bum wifi. Our new townhouse is awesome, but it stretching our budget so cable/internet is on hold right now. I'm sure once college football season rolls around we won't be able to hold off anymore and that will drive us to get back into modern civilization:) Since I only have a few minutes due to Avery thinking sitting in her carrier in Starbucks is super boring here is a quick update on our lives: Kyle likes his job, he works at least 12 hours a day and then comes home and is on his phone responding to emails for another two! So we don't see a lot of him, but when we do he seems to like things. Love our house and the space that comes with it. Having a basement that is set up to be a gym has really helped my workouts. I have been working out every morning and I'm starting to feel like myself again. Avery is so busy! She is now pulling herself to standing (this totally came out of nowhere!), not crawling but scooting herself on her belly wherever she wants to go, babbles all day and is very serious about it!, has eight teeth, is outgrowing everything but it's so hot she spends a lot of time just in a diapers, her favorite part of the day is bath time, went to the community pool and loved "swimming", and went to her first story time at the library in our neighborhood! She is taking two or three naps a day, at least one hour each and is still nursing with the addition of baby food and cereal. She was eating some finger foods, but we had a couple of choking scares and I completely backed off the finger foods for a while. All in all, life is good for an almost nine month baby girl! I do miss Austin, even more than I expected. I miss our grocery stores and our coffee shop and our friends. It takes time to get used to a new place and I'm working on it. Making friends will surely be the most difficult part, as staying home with Avery doesn't offer a lot of social interaction with others! I've been trying to get out of the house and go places where there will be other moms. So far I haven't met any other mom's that are friend potential, but I still hold out hope!! Here are a few videos of the girl :) xo until next time in case it is a while!

Moving on

Reflecting on our time in Austin has been tough to do since we've had the major task of moving with about ten days notice. We are so lucky and so excited to get to Maryland, but i feel like I need to describe what I gained from Austin and the things that i will miss while I am still here.

When I think of our two years here it has been a serious adventure that has flown by. Obviously my favorite thing about Austin is that it brought us Avery. When we first arrived here, I got a job that I ended up loving but I was truly unhappy. I loved living in Charleston and somewhere in transition I lost my joy. I think that is one reason we decided to have Avery, both Kyle and I felt that something was missing in our lives. We wanted excitement, a purpose, something bigger than ourselves. We wanted, we were blessed, she came, we all go.

I will mostly miss the wonderful friendships I've made here in Austin. Truly some of the most generous and kind people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. The hard part is that it is really hard for me (and keeps getting harder) to meet people, form great friendships, knowing that I will have to say goodbye at some point. That is the nature of Kyle's work and to look at it positively, I meet wonderful people along our travels who truly help make me a better person in so many ways.

I will also miss football seasons, wearing burnt orange, Torchy's tacos, Central Market, walks to our park, Avery's awesome doctors, and Quack's coffee.

I will not miss Austin summers, Austin traffic, Austin roads and lights, our current apartment, and distance from either coast.

So looking forward to Kyle finally being able to do what he loves and is really good at, being so close to DC, Baltimore, Annapolis, and NYC, four true seasons (white christmas!), and Maryland sports! This will be a new phase of life for us with so much to look forward to.

I have a feeling we have not seen the last of Austin, but until then, Maryland here we come!

Catching up or falling behind....?

It's been a while since I've posted and that is because we have been exceptionally busy in the last three weeks. The end of the semester came, Kyle's parents were in town to celebrate graduation, two days after they left we went to Charleston for a week to visit my parents. A day after we got back we flew to Kentucky (up and back in the same day) for a job interview and now we are leaving on Sunday for Maryland so that Kyle can interview for another job. This is getting crazy. The picture above just about sums up our last 10 days.

We are all ridiculously tired and seriously ready to make some decisions so that we can get on with our life. On the bright side, we are extremely lucky that Kyle has options and whether we end up in Kentucky or Maryland we will be very happy.

It's time to move on from this phase of our life. Temporary, graduate student living has been great, but it's time to move on. Should be exciting stuff happening in the next few weeks! Here are a few updates on Avery and some things I've learned from taking eight flights in 10 days!

*Avery turned seven months old, she is sitting really well on her own, she is pushing up and wants to crawl badly but is not quite there, she has seven teeth (they all just sprouted at once!!), she is babbling with lots of bah bah bahs and mah, mah, mahs, which is so fun to hear her voice!

*Changing a diaper of a squirmy baby in an airplane bathroom is really hard!

*The ground in the airport is dirty, but sometimes a baby needs to play. This is why you bring blankets and ignore the looks of disgust on other mother's faces.

*Workers at the Nashville airport were the friendliest people I've ever met at an airport.

*Random grandmotherly women will want to hold your baby...I usually said yes and stood right by their side.

*It's amazing how long a water bottle can distract a baby, easily buys you 10 minutes!

*I'm still trying to find a comfortable way to sleep while sitting up in the plane. Anybody have suggestions?

Also, we go to the hip doctor today for a checkup. Praying that all goes well!

I'll hopefully get to update this blog with definitive info on where we will be moving to by the end of next week. Until then we will be jetsetting and trying to make good decisions as a family :)

Mother's Day

Yesterday, I celebrated my first Mother's Day on the "mother" side of things. It was amazing! Of course Kyle had a special day planned. I woke with orders to stay in bed with Avery while he made breakfast. Avery and I lounged in bed and played with toys. We got dressed and by then we were ready for the day. Shayla was already gone, I assume to set up some sort of surprise. Kyle, Avery, and I drove to Quack's (our favorite coffee shop) and got lattes. Then we drove to our park (I call it "our" park because we walk there almost daily with Peyton). Shayla had already set up presents and flowers at a picnic table. Shayla got Avery a bunch of really cute 24 month clothes and Breanna got me a gift certificate for a pedicure (much needed and appreciated!). Kyle did the most amazing thing and paid off mine and Avery's hospital bill which we have been making payments on (and were supposed to be paying off until October), so now we officially own Avery :) He also got me the most perfect charm necklace with Avery's name engraved, a charm with little baby feet, and her birthstone. I love it so much and he as usual knows exactly how to make my heart melt! We then enjoyed our delicious bagel sandwiches and lattes!

Later, we went to the Austin Zoo. It's a rehab zoo and on the outskirts of Austin. Avery loved it and the adults might have loved it even more! Fun to get out of the city and enjoy some wildlife. I could see us visiting the zoo quite often with Avery if we stay here.

We watched Avatar last night, I wasn't too excited but now I am in love with it! Can I have one of those whispering trees?!!

Great day, reminds me how much I love my life and that I have SO much to be thankful for!!!