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I'm always looking for good books to read with Avery. I LOVE all of the books I've read by Sandra Boynton. They are simple, well illustrated, and even funny for adults! Avery now laughs at the pages that I laugh at! Great to check out from your library or to give as baby/birthday/holiday gifts!

One Year Old!

We have internet at home and I can get back to blogging! Avery is walking everywhere and is a busy, busy bee!

What's new: Avery is making a lot of new sounds. Her only words are baby and dada, but lately I've noticed her trying out many different noises. She makes the following animal noises and is learning new sounds daily: moo, meow, baa, neigh, bzzz, hoot, pants like a dog, quack, and does hand signs for monkey and seal. She can point out: nose, eyes, ear, hand, toes, head, tongue. I am amazed at how quickly she picks up things and I can't wait to hear some more words from her!

Thankful for: Friends and family who either travelled a long way to visit us or even just thought of us to say happy birthday to Avery. Reminds me that we are not alone out here and have many people who love us more than we know. Trust me, the feeling is mutual!

Wondering about: How long can we keep this lifestyle of Kyle working seven days a week, 12-14 hour days. I want a parenting partner and I don't know if this is the profession for that. He does love the job and maybe in time it will get easier and he will be able to spend less time doing the same amount of work.

Loving: My new sweats. $6 sweats from Target. Of course they are so soft before washing and then once washed, never the same! And having internet to blog!

Beach!

Spent the morning at the beach! What a blast!

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!