Avery: 12 Months Old...

Happy 1st Birthday, Avery Leigh!

It just doesn't seem possible that you are a year old!  I remember the night/early morning you were born like it was yesterday.  You were such a little peanut, but feisty from the get go. 

You are so funny and have so much personality already.  You know how to tease us and know when you're being funny.  You are a spunky little thing and know exactly what you want.  I'm nervous for the day when you actually talk as you already tell us exactly how you feel.  You do the funniest thing when you are frustrated, you clench your fist and teeth (or in your case gums), squint your eyes and make quite the noise as you throw your little fit.  You are "talking" like crazy and seem to have so much to say.  You are trying to repeat things and every once in a while we decipher a similar sound.  You do say "dada" and "mama" and try to say sissy, but it comes out more like "sisss".

You are stubborn and very determined.  You constantly go after "no no's" and no matter how many times we pick you up or redirect you, you always head back for whatever you were going after.  You LOVE to stand!  You do this all day long and are getting really good at standing independently for longer periods of time.   You are also walking behind your push toy or holding our hands and walking.  You took your first independent step on Sunday afternoon during your 1 year pictures and spent all day on your birthday trying to take steps.  You are so determined and we know it won't be long before you are walking!

You still love your big sister and love to be where ever she is.  You especially love to play with whatever she is playing with (which she doesn't necessarily love).  You are starting to "fight" back and tend to pitch a little fit whenever Kensley takes something that you wanted.  You also seem to have an opinion when you want left alone as you will push Kensley away when she tries to hug you or start fussing when she gets too close.
 

You still LOVE to eat!  Seriously, we say this all the time but you love to eat.  You out eat your sister at every meal.  You constantly want to eat whatever we're having, regardless of the fact you just ate (a rather large meal).  You seem to be filling out more and more, but everyone constantly comments on how they can't believe how much you eat for how small you are.  You are still nursing about 3 times a day.  I have no idea how much longer we'll go, but we're already starting to implement whole milk into your diet (you aren't a huge fan of it yet!).

Size wise you are kind of all over the board.  You are still wearing 6 - 12 month clothes, 12 month pj's and you've worn the occasional 12 - 18 month outfit.  You are still in size 3 diapers and I have a feeling you will be for a while.

You are still a mama's girl for the most part, but you tend to want daddy in the evenings when he gets home.  It's funny to see the girls on the weekend as they are often both attached to daddy with him home.  You've started to show a few signs of stranger anxiety and nervousness in new situations.  It typically just takes you a bit to warm up to people, but then you are full of smiles.

You give the best hugs.  It's so sweet as you'll often wrap your arms around our neck when we pick you up and cling on tight as you bounce up and down in our arms....usually while saying "mm-mm-mmm-mmm".  When we ask for a hug, you sweetly lay your head down on our shoulders or chest.  It's so cute!

Right now, you have 1 lone tooth sticking up (bottom left).  You bottom right tooth just popped through.  I can see your top right tooth coming in, so you seem to be getting them all at the same time!

You have a few nicknames and seem to respond to them all: Aves, Peanut, Nutty and Peanutty.  It's so cute to hear big sis refer to you as "the Peanut".  You seem to have changed so much in the past few weeks.  You are really starting to get independent.  You seem to catch onto new things every day and it's so fun to watch you discover and figure out new toys or how things work.

 Happy 1st Birthday, Avery Leigh!  You are growing up way too quickly!  We love you, sweet girl!