Little Mermaid

We let Avery watch the Little Mermaid this week, and she's already a big fan. There is a music video at the end of it that she loves to dance to- thought you might enjoy. Not sure you can hear her, but at one point she says "Look at me, I'm dancing!" and then at the end she proclaims "That's a good song!" Ha.

Visiting the Parkers

Friday night, we went down to Nashville to visit our dear friends Morgan and Katy Parker and their 18 month old son Elliott. Morgan and Katy went to Vandy too, Morgan was a few years ahead of Dave at Vandy med school, and then Morgan also did residency in Ann Arbor. We became close friends while we lived in Michigan, and it's so fun that we're all in Nashville together now, with kids essentially the same age. Avery and Elliott had tons of fun chasing each other all around the house, yard, and playing with Elliott's toys. I thought this video was pretty funny- here is Morgan leading the kids in a Richard Simmons-ish dance party. Ha!

Rest of the Beach, Birthday

We had a blast on the rest of our beach trip! Lots of swimming, playing in the sand, shopping, playgrounds, eating out, etc. Here is one last video of Avery in the sand- her new favorite movie is Finding Nemo so she always sang "just keep swimming just keep swimming" like Dory does in the movie.

We also celebrated an early birthday for Avery since several of her grandparents were around. She loved her Dora cake and was thrilled with the birthday hats, singing, blowing out the candles, and generally being the center of attention. Here are some pics!

Avery in the Sand

Swimming with Mimi and G-Da

Settling In

We continue to settle in here in Nashville! Dave took the urology board exam last week, so that is a big relief for him to be finished with that. Nancy and Jim came to help us with house projects, so they babysat that night so we could go out and celebrate downtown at the restaurant Lime. With their help, we're getting things installed, cleaned out, unpacked, etc. Dave and Jim built shelves for the storage room, organizers in the garage, a baby gate upstairs, put in light fixtures, and pruned all of our trees- whoo hoo! Nancy babysat Avery so I could work, took her to music class, cleaned the house, cleaned out my car, cooked dinner, and generally got us on the right track for getting even more settled in. Thank you so much Nana and Daddy Jim!

In other news, Dave and I are slowly but surely meeting people around town. Our neighbors hosted a lovely welcome party for us to meet new friends on our street. I've also met a really nice group of ladies, and Avery and I have even had a few play dates! I believe we have found a church, and we're checking out the restaurants in town. We're especially excited for all the yummy mexican and the Sonic slushes which were nonexistent up in Michigan. Although, now that we've been here several weeks, it is finally sinking in that we actually moved (denial is over?) and I am missing my girl friends more than ever =( I know Dave is missing his sports buddies too!

We've also started Avery on potty training. She's doing SO well so far! She doesn't really ask me to use the potty, but if I propose it, she almost always pee pees. Good job Avery! She's so proud of herself and loves flushing her pee pees and washing her hands. I will keep you updated on her progress =)

Friday, Mimi and Granddaddy came down and Saturday we left for Destin! Here's a pic of Avery on the car ride down. She was SUCH a good girl- watched her movies, ate her Cheerios and was quite patient the whole time, singing songs about going to the beach.

Here are a few pictures of Avery on the beach once we finally made it. She was thrilled to run in the sand and stick her hands in the water. I know she'll be a beach pro by the time we leave.