A Full Heart

Ok, so having a newborn baby is nice, and a 6 month old is cute and cuddly, but I have to say that I've never had more fun than I'm having with this one year old little girl. All of a sudden I find myself, not with a baby anymore, but with a child who is curious, affectionate, mischievous, and who amazes me pretty much every minute of the day. You can see the wheels turning in this kid's brain.  She can effectively communicate what she wants to do and what she does NOT want to do. She can organize/sort her farm animals, puzzle pieces, tupperware, blocks, q-tips, stuffed animals, bottle parts, baby dolls, clean laundry, etc. for seemingly hours on end. I will turn on her video monitor at night after we've put her to bed to see her reading her books aloud, patiently, enthusiastically in the dark. To see her jiggle her shoulders and shake her booty to music, whether it be from the stereo, the Happy Monster Band, or her Fisher Price Ipod, will inspire joy and laughter even after the longest, most tiresome day at work. How can she pick out Dora the Explorer so quickly on coupons, Blockbuster display racks, and Yoplait yogurt? She can find your nose, blow a kiss, sign a "touchdown", and even tickle you under your neck just when you think she's falling asleep. A hug or a kiss (she gives both) from Avery fills my heart with love so far up to the very brim that nothing else matters in the world. I feel blessed to have her in my life and just wanted to post about how I am so simultaneously filled with love and worry about her that, when not working, I spend my days either playing, cuddling, or shielding from danger. I'll keep you all updated, don't worry, but with this super fun, attention seeking, trouble finding, non-consistent napper, I don't have as much time to blog anymore =) 

Not much new to report this week. Today is Dave's Birthday!! Happy 31st! He's in Chicago at a conference and hopefully having a wonderful evening. Here are some pictures of Avery from today:

She could literally stay outside 24/7, running, exploring, and finding leaves. 

I love this picture even though it's fuzzy.

Here she found some leaves and is bringing them to me. 

"Here Mom, more leaves!!" I have a hundred pictures like this. 

Ok, so I hate to spoil the surprise, but Avery's Halloween costume came in the mail today- she's going to be Dawkins and she's the cutest darn kitty I've even seen. She wasn't too keen on the hat until she looked in the mirror and exclaimed "Kitty!!"

Still Here

Ok, I KNOW I haven't updated the blog much recently and I'm sorry! We're super busy at work this time of year, so basically any nap or after bed time has to be used for work. And Avery's lifestyle these days (constantly on the move, searching out danger) isn't exactly conducive to blogging. I don't know much news- things have been pretty uneventful around here lately, which is nice after our busy summer.

I did find a babysitter last week- woo hoo! Whenever any of our parents are here, we usually go out to eat or to the movies, but we haven't left Avery with any official babysitters ever. I tried to get recommendations from friends, but didn't have much luck... then I saw a flyer on the light post in our neighboorhood: "Need a Babysitter? Call Madeleine!" I met with Maddie last week to see if we bonded, and we did! She's a super nice junior in high school who supposedly loves kids and is an experienced babysitter. She lives less than a mile from our house and is eager to work, so I think she'll work great. I had a Junior League meeting this past Tuesday, so she came to sit with Avery for a few hours before Dave got home from work. Things went fine, so I'm looking forward to going out to the movies soon! I wanted to take her picture with Avery for the blog, but Dave said that might be a bit much for this point in our relationship =)

See below some pictures from our adventures this week:

Here we are at the park last weekend... she likes the park activities just ok. She is really into the mulch.
She's on a swing strike right now, but she stood it for a minute. She used to LOVE swinging and now she doesn't like it! Maybe she feels too strapped down when there's mulch to dig in =)

Every night after dinner we go play in the street and wait for Daddy to get home. (Don't worry, we live in VERY low traffic cul-de-sac)
I think she could push the corn popper around for 3 hours straight. She LOVES it! She also loves the fisher price car that Nana got her for her birthday. I can't bring both of them down to the street at the same time anymore because she insists on pushing them both together and she keeps scraping up her knees/elbows!
On Friday, we had a super-fun play date with Jess and Kaitlyn. We went to the Hands On Children's Museum here in Ann Arbor. The girls had so much fun playing with all the toys. Kaitlyn has started to walk too, so it's nice to just let them run around the room wherever they want. They both especially liked the playground that was just their size. They wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a good picture!



OH! I forgot the really exciting news this week: Katie Fraumann had her baby!! Thomas Keatley Fraumann was born on Sept 10- a couple of weeks early, but still 8lbs 12 oz. He's a doll and we're so happy that he's here and healthy. Congrats Bob and Katie!

Thomas made his grand debut last night at Bob's birthday party (yes, they threw a party the same week they had a baby)

Here are Dave and Avery at the party- having fun as usual!

TN- Here we come =)

Yep- that's right, Dave accepted the job in Nashville.  Whoo hoo! It feels good to have made a decision, but it's bittersweet since it's sinking in that our life here in Michigan is officially coming to an end. We're excited to be moving closer to family and many friends, so start planning to visit us- you won't be able to use the "cold" excuse any longer =) 

The group is Urology Associates and Dave will be working mainly in their Hendersonville and Gallatin offices, both suburbs about 20/30 minutes north of Nashville. We'll be living up there and are excited about being in a growing area so close to Nashville without having to live downtown in a big city. Dave will be starting the new job next August. 

Avery is also very excited about the decision, her school spirit is already shining through. 

Here she is with her newly minted "touchdown" motion. (she really does it, I need to capture it on video for yall)

Hopefully she'll be able to "touchdown" a few more times during the next TN game than she did this past weekend =) It looks like we may need to get the poor child a Vanderbilt cheerleading uniform- the (so far undefeated) school where her parents actually attended. HEE HEE.

Not much else to report... Dave is the chief resident at the University Hospital (as opposed to the private hospital or the VA) during Sept and Oct, so we're unfortunately seeing less and less of him. It's not exactly like they show on Grey's Anatomy... but I would enjoy going to watch Dave in action to see if he has any Nazi-esque tendencies =)

Something I've learned this week:

When your daughter's favorite activity is to empty all the books off of a shelf, it isn't exactly wise to bring her to the library.

One way Avery has amazed me this week:

When she walked up to the sprinkler nozzle laying on the deck, picked it up, and proceeded to go around to all of my potted plants pretending like she was watering them, all the while smiling triumphantly at me.