In Other News...

Although maybe not as exciting as setting a new personal best, like yesterday, we do have other news to share with you all.

Last week was Kevin's "almost milestone" birthday. To celebrate, Kevin took the day off work and we spent the day together as a family in Kansas City. After breakfast in bed and lunch at a steakhouse, we visited his workplace to introduce his co-workers to Avery. While in Kansas City, we found a grill shop that sells all things grill, smoking, and accessory related. Kevin got a few new grill items. Then on Saturday, he bought a huge prime rib roast and a pork tenderloin and invited a bunch of friends over to enjoy his new talent on the grill. It was a big hit! He did a great job.

As for the rest of us, Avery is doing great. She is growing a lot. The best part is that she is starting to fit into her "cute" clothes. I plan on photographing each new cute outfit that she wears and posting them here (okay, yes, make the comments about the first baby getting over photoed). She is becoming coordinated enough to suck on her hands quite a bit. She hasn't chosen one finger or thumb over the other yet, but I think she will soon.

She is still a big eater and always seems to surprise us with how hungry she is. But really I guess we don't have any point of reference on that. For the most part she is sleeping 4-5 hours at night which is wonderful. There are the off nights (like last night) when she doesn't sleep more than 1-3 hours, but those are not too often.

The next challenge is to move her from sleeping in our room in her car seat, to sleeping in her own room in her crib. That may be more of my resistance than hers, but we will see.

Ok, 2 posts in 2 days, I am out of words! Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Tonya

Personal Best!

In honor of the recently ended Olympics, Avery would like to share with you her new personal best record... Granted, this may not be a gold, silver, or even bronze on the world stage, but for her, it is still impressive.

This morning after waking up in just a diaper and a blanket, she just wouldn't be calm until she had on a onesie. Being her coach and sponsor in this event, I supported her by fitting her with an adorable one piece in teal. Within the first 10 minutes of sporting the teal number, we were in full training mode. The burp that emerged from within brought with it the entire contents of the recently ingested bottle. This was an impressive feat, requiring the first change of the morning. It also required a change of clothes for Coach Mom who really should have changed PJ's earlier in the day, but was waiting for the right incentive.

The second number of the day was a soothing white onesie, adorned with powder pink hearts. Within 10 minutes of sporting this epitome of Gerber design, we were in the races again. This time Avery was inspired to make her mark on this outfit from below. Unfortunately, the diaper that we all relied on to support us in this endeavor, failed in it's debut performance. This prompted yet another change of attire.

Finally, after a long 30 minutes of costume changes, Coach Mom finally found the right match. The striped number in purple and green was just the right thing. After this exhausting personal best of 3 outfits in 30 minutes, Olympian Avery Ann Dodd needed a well deserved break. She is currently sleeping off the effects of this tremendous effort. We would like to thank our fans and supporters during this time of exciting growth.


Until next time... Avery and Coach Mom

More visitors

This past weekend my sister, Amber, and my friend, Jenise, came up to visit (one of the perks of working for Southwest Airlines). We had a lot of fun passing Avery around and eating stuffed hamburgers. It was great to visit and catch up with them.

Avery is doing well. She is becoming more and more interactive, but I am still looking forward to those smiles and especially giggles to become more frequent. She is starting to search out eyes and look at people for longer amounts of time. Especially if they are making crazy faces or singing silly songs.

We are trying to figure out the balance of how much sleep to get during the day and still sleep well at night. She seems to fight bedtime, but once she gets there she can sleep almost 6 hours sometimes!

She is still (and probably always will be) a fantastically precious baby and is winning her mom and dad's hearts over more and more each day.

As far as Kevin and I, we are adjusting to this new role a bit better everyday. There are hard days and there are easier days, but we are at least not as new as we were 7 weeks ago!

Enjoy the pictures (especially Gamma and Nana)!

Tonya

Keep on Growing!

Can you believe we have already hit the 6 week mark! It is amazing how time can go so fast and so slow all at once.

Avery and I are now on our own during the days. My parents left in early August to return to Texas. The weekend after they left, Kevin's parents came to visit, this next weekend, my sister and my friend come up to visit. So we are not exactly in a normal pattern yet, but we are getting there quickly. We had a good visit with Kevin's parents and really enjoyed introducing them to their newest grandaughter. They brought with them Avery's cousin Mackenzie. They had a great time getting to know one another.

Today we had our 6 week check up. Avery is 22.5 inches long and 9 lbs 11 oz! No one can say she is not growing well. She ought to be growing like a weed though, she is a big eater. We are still nursing and bottle feeding both. It has become less stressful for me, especially being able to share the feeding duties with other people, like her dad and grandparents. Besides, it is what is best for her and I am glad that we have this option for her.

Last week we got to see her first responsive smile. Kevin was the proud recipient of that first one. Luckily, I got to see it as well. What a beauty! I am looking forward to seeing more of that. This picture is not the first smile, but I was impressed to catch one on camera just a couple days ago.

That is all for now, Love to all,

Tonya, Kevin, and Avery