Our little pumpkin!

How time flies....I can remember thinking when I was pregnant how much fun it would be to dress Avery up for Halloween and it seemed like it was forever away. Well, her first Halloween has come and gone and our little pumpkin got dressed like a pumpkin. We got her the 6-9 month sized costume, and wow, uh, it barely fit her! She's growing like a weed!! But she was so cute and didn't seem to mind it too much.

My dad came to visit for a week and the two of them had a great time getting to know each other. It was so much fun watching my dad with his new grandbaby! Just smiles and love and cuddles abound! We had tons of snow while he was here so lots of quality time while we were stuck in the house. The house is quiet now, but we'll be ramping up with family over for Thanksgiving and then Ben's parents and Ben's brother's family out for Christmas. Enjoy the photos of Avery!

Playing with my keys...I love my keys! I'll whack you with my keys....after I whack myself with my keys!

Our Little Pumpkin

With Auntie Kari...

...and Grandma...

...and Grandpa...

...and Mom and Dad!

I really like these sack things, they are comfy!

Hmmm...not sure about this one. Ben and I aren't sure if she's milk drunk or just really tired. But it's cute anyway.

Lovin' g'pa time!

Daddy's photo studio

The first bite of real food....pretty anti-climactic. She never seemed into it at all! Just kinda pushed it around on the spoon and never took a real bite, no matter how hard we tried! Fun to watch though.

Cereal aftermath

Watching Lion King on You Tube. She loved it!

Long delayed post....

Well, we moved! Finally! So that's why no post in so long. The last month was gone so fast....I am still turned around a bit. We are in Parker, not Highlands Ranch, but everything happens for a reason, and I truly believe we were meant to find this house. Tons more room than the other one, space to grow into, yard, park, pool, etc.! So far it's been great and the commute into Denver hasn't been terrible. I guess we'll see with snow how it really is?!?!

Avery is growing and changing so much. I'll just post a ton of photos and let you all gander at her cuteness! She's on the verge of rolling over, laughs and giggles, smiles constantly, sleeps good, eats good, and really is just a joy to be around. We really cannot imagine life without her. She checked in at her four month dr. appt. at 15 lb. 5 oz, 97th percentile for height (can't recall exactly what the measurement was to be honest...) - but she's definitely tall! Overall, healthy as can be. One cold that stuck around for a while, nothing major, and we just had our first battle with pink eye. She starts home day care on Monday, so we are hoping that she is able to avoid the swine flu (and regular flu for that matter) until she's old enough for her vaccines. Keep your fingers crossed! Enjoy the photos, especially the video at the end! Love to all, and I will try to post more often. How time flies these days!

First, our new house. These are photos from the week we moved in - we've managed to get furniture arranged by now!

Ben's pumpkin made the trip

Front of the house

Back of the house

Avery's room

Living room (furniture is now arranged)

Family room

And now our little star!

Waking up from a nap

Getting ready for bed

Smile!

Cheering on daddy's team!

Hanging out with mommy while she works from home (I had pink eye!)

Hanging with my doggie

Cuddles from Grandpa Lowe

Mommy's favorite hat

Gonna roll over soon!

Kisses!

Love my jumper

And the best for last - my first laugh, real laugh, caught on film! I haven't done this since, so enjoy it while you can!

House update (different house) and new photos and video

Well, the Highlands Ranch house didn't work out (too long of a story to get into...), but we have moved on to a different house in Parker. We are hoping to close this Thursday and maybe move by a week from today. It's definitely a house we can grow into. We love the neighborhood, there is a park a block away, a pool...and friends closeby. It'll be good for us, so keep your fingers and toes crossed!

Avery went to her first CU game last weekend. Ben couldn't have been more excited to show her off and show her around. It was so much fun to watch him with her. She's kinda stopped her "talking" phase, but we've moved on....to BUBBLES. She blows bubbles with her drool, and even though we aren't on solids yet, she is playing with her food - she blows bubbles with formula. YUM! Below are the most recent photos and a couple of videos, one of her "talking" and one where she's blowing bubbles.

Auntie Kari made me some super cute bows!

Always happy!

My big girl Bumbo chair


Another one of Auntie Kari's cute bows

After we left the CU game, still smiling even past my bedtime!

Watching the game from Daddy's lap

Proud PAPA!!!

Smiling as Daddy sings to me at Home Depot

My talking video:

My bubbles video:

Another house update, more photos and a cute video

We finally got the second appraisal finished on the house and the number came back right where we wanted it. We will hopefully get final approval from our lender this week and maybe even close by Friday. If there are any hold ups we'll not be able to close until next week sometime and move on the 10th or 11th, so we shall see how things fall into place.

We haven't been doing too much outside of the house, but here are some more recent photos of Avery.

Really, just looking cute

My first sesame street experience

Cuddling with Daddy

Hugs from Mommy

Dancing with Daddy

Smile!

Kisses from Daddy

My cute hat that finally fits!

And finally, a really cute video. Avery really does like Daddy's kisses, but her new thing is to act like she's going to bite him when he kisses her. Very funny!

House update and loads of photos

We are moving forward with the house purchase, but hit a snag with our appraisal. The house was a fix and flip, so the seller bought it for about $80K less than what he's selling it to us for. It is, however, priced right in line with the neighborhood. Of course, the lender thinks it strange that there is such a jump in price in less that 6 months, so they are requiring a second appraisal. Our closing date has been moved out at least 1 week, but thankfully the couple we found to move in to our house and assume are lease are willing to wait until the 15th of September for us to vacate. Otherwise, it would have been Ben, Avery and I (plus the dog and two cats) moving in with my mom and Kari (plus her two cats) in a two bedroom condo!!! So that's where we are on the house - we'll update once we know anything but it'll be a while since our lender's corporate office has to review and approve the second appraisal. Cross your fingers!!

The backyard at the house we are trying to buy needs some work, but thankfully Tanner will have a friend (yes, that is a rabbit!!):

Here's a plethora of recent photos for you to enjoy!

I am on my way to being a thumb sucker...

Lookin' stylish!

Tummy time with Mommy and Tanner

Hanging out with Daddy

Tough girl!

Waitin' for Daddy to get home from work

Watching Sesame Street

I am just ridiculously cute in this one

Best place to take a snooze!

Mini-update

Well, it's been harder than I thought to keep this updated. Amazing how much time it takes to look after a little one! Once I was back to work the evenings just started to fly by, so taking photos and updating the blog have fallen to the low priority list, my apologies. One of these days we'll be back at it! I only have some photos taken with my Iphone available to upload now (my birthday present!!), so hopefully the quality is OK.

Avery is just a super baby, we truly are so fortunate - she sleeps and eats well, is hardly fussy, and is all SMILES!!! I can't get enough of them. She's done excellent at daycare, and yes, I totally cried the first two days I left her there. Ben doesn't read this blog so I can tell you all this, but he was a bit teary eyed as well.....I was shocked...somewhat...maybe not so much....We just love her and want the best for her. Which is why....we are trying to buy a house. It's so stressful, but we are working thru it and have a closing date of August 27. We can't wait for Ben's dad to come out in September once we get moved in (he can't wait to meet his first grand baby), and then hosting Christmas for Ben's family like we did last year. As for my mom's family, I think we might see about hosting Thanksgiving. We'll see how the place turns out and how the space works for a big dinner.

Between going back to work, looking for a house, finding movers, "thinking" about packing, and just enjoying our family, life has been hectic, but oh, so good!!! Hugs from Avery!

Super cute, sleepy smiler!

Avery was just waking up from a nap, which one of my favorite times to capture her smiles. Enjoy!

My Girl...

Let me just tell you...It is the sweetest thing when you are upstairs going through your closet trying to find work clothes for your first day back, and you hear your husband singing "My Girl" to your new baby girl! That just made my night last night!

Avery had her two month check up yesterday (along with some shots). She is in the 70th percentile for both weight and head circumference, and 85th percentile for height. I still hope she gets some height from daddy! She weighed 11 lb. 7.5 oz, was 23.25 inches long, and her noggin is 15.5 inches around. She did relatively well with her shots. She cried for maybe 60 seconds and then calmed down - she really is a mellow, good baby! She's been sleepy since then, but not terribly fussy. She slept last night from about 9:30 to about 8 this morning!

Here are some photos of the garden. We ate the first tomato yesterday with dinner and it was so good! We both agreed it was much sweeter than mass produced ones. Our pumpkins are still growing massive vines! Daddy loves to walk Avery around the garden telling her how he has developed a green thumb!

Avery's newest pictures are below, along with a video of me trying to capture a big smile. It wasn't so successful, but we'll get one captured soon!

Avery is two months old today!

Can you believe it, 8 weeks has flown by! We have settled into life with a baby and couldn't be happier to have her as part of our family. Mom has one more week at home with her and then it's back to work :( - but the show must go on right! I told Ben tonight to be prepared for some major waterworks next Sunday! He just kinda rolled his eyes, but I can guarantee they will come. Monday won't be so bad since my mom will be here, but Tuesday when I take her to daycare....Let's just say, I have an image in my head and it isn't pretty. I can imagine the director of the daycare having to walk me out, consoling me, letting me just bawl on her shoulder. I show up at work a wreck and just shut my door for the whole day! Yep, that's what's in my head....I'll keep you posted on that.

Tanner was the ultimate rock star tonight - Avery was sitting in her car seat on the porch while Ben was unlocking the door and Tanner walked right by at eye level to her. Ben and I both were watching to make sure he didn't like her face or anything, but once she saw him, she gave the biggest smile. Totally cute! And he did it again, walked by, and she smiled huge again! They are going to be great buds once she's able to start grabbing on him and climbing all over him - we can't wait to see it!

Ben's got a major garden growing in our backyard. He's got way more of a green thumb than I do! He's growing corn, tomatoes, strawberries and pumpkins. Our pumpkins are totally kicking a$$ and we finally got some flowers on them. I'll try to get some pictures of the vines that are basically taking over the garden. We'll see what, if anything we get. I know we'll get some tomatoes, one is already turning red, so we're excited to eat that and see how it is. Ben also discovered a new little garden friend - some ugly spider which built a web in the door leading to the garage. Needless to say, with my HUGE fear of spiders, I will be avoiding the garage from now on....

Here are the latest pictures, enjoy!

Playtime with mommy. We work on tummy time, which strengthens her neck, back, arms, etc., which will help her to roll over and start crawling one of these days. She does great most of the time, until she gets tired and either tries to eat the pillow, as evidenced below, or starts to cry. I also got another cute smile picture, but it's a tad fuzzy - you can still see a good smile though. There is another photo which does good job of showing how blue her eyes are - we'll see if they stay blue or not.

Here she is making her cooing face - she makes the cutest cooing noise when she does this face!
Blue, blue eyes!
Smiley!
Ben's pumpkin flower and his new spider friend.

Here's a video during playtime. Aunt Kari buys the cutest toys - this one giggles. I think she's trying to figure out what it is. It's best if you pause the blog music before playing.

More photos for y'all

Here are Avery's most recent photos. She met Adam (Ben's best friend from college), Mommy finally got some smile picutres on film, and we had our first playdate at the park today with 4 of my friends from high school and their kids. It was awesome!! Today was a major reason I'd want to be a stay at home mom, but I gotta tell you, I am kinda looking forward to some adult interaction! One more week at home, then I'll go thru some serious crying episodes leaving her with my mom and/or daycare, until I've eventually re-adjusted to adult life at work.....

Happy weekend!

Aubrey (my friend Jen's daughter) just LOVES Avery. Cannot kiss, hug, touch, rub her enough. It's too cute. She's getting good practice with baby, which is good, since Jen is due with her second in January!

Jen and Shaleigh's oldest (Aubrey and Kendall) checking out the newest babies. The babies were all born within 12 days of each other one way or another. Avery (left) was born first, followed by Amelia next (middle) and then Cooper (right) was born 12 days after Amelia. It was fun lining them all up!

Avery and Amelia hit it off right away - holding hands!

Shaleigh's little peanut, Kendall. She calls her little brother Pooper (instead of Cooper). It's too funny to hear her say it.