Avery: 23 months old...

We are now less than 1 month away from Avery turning 2!  It's so hard to believe that this little peanut is almost 2.  She is acting older every day and continues to surprise us with how much she can do and say.

 

She is so funny and keeps us all laughing.  She makes the funniest faces and has this hilarious "fake laugh" that she'll often do on command.  She is a sneaky little thing and usually tries to charm her way out of things with a sweet look or a silly smile.

 

Avery continues to be our daredevil jumping off of whatever she is standing on.  She will usually lunge or jump towards whoever is in front of her without warning...just trusting that the person will catch her.  It's scary at times and we always have to be in guard.

 

Some of Avery's favorite things include: her papi's (paci's), blankey, baby dolls, playing outside, talking on Facetime, dancing and doing whatever her big sis is doing.  She is very particular about what all she has in bed with her (paci's - she hands us the ones she doesn't want, blankets, baby doll with hat, books, etc.) and usually takes inventory when we lay her down.  If we are missing something, she usually requests it and sends us on a hunt to track it down.

 

Here are a few pictures that I took for her birthday party invitations.  I was a little disappointed that I didn't get any of her "real" smiles, but I definitely got several of her true personality.

 

Her classic smirk.

Squinty eye, cheese smile

Another silly face

I'm not sure what this one was.

 Happy 23 month birthday, Avery Leigh!  We can't wait to celebrate your birthday with you next month!



April Birthdays...

So this post is a little delayed, but part of that reason is because the month of April is filled with family birthdays.  Between 3 family members with birthdays in the span of 7 days, it gets a little crazy scheduling celebrations, surprises, etc.

Ashley's birthday comes first on the 18th of April and I think her celebration this year was pretty low-key.  She'll make up for it next year though with the big 3-0.

Jeremy's is the day after on the 19th of April.  This year we celebrated with the girls the night before and had our own little party at home.  Kensley of course loved decorating and preparing for the party.  The girls helped me make a cake, decorate with balloons, etc.  The night of Jeremy's birthday we went out for dinner at Ocean Prime and enjoyed a quiet, leisurely dinner while Grammy and Grampy babysat.

Kens was adamant that daddy wore the party hat.

On Saturday, the 20th we surprised Nana for her birthday by spending the weekend together and staying in a hotel in Indy.  I use the word "surprise" loosely as it's tough to have too many surprises when you have two three year olds in the mix that like to talk a lot.  This was a milestone birthday for Nana and we were instructed often that there was to be no big surprise party.  So we figured what better way for her to spend her birthday than with her favorite grandkids! :)

 

The kids did lots of swimming at the hotel in addition to running the halls.  We had a little birthday party for Nana complete with pizza, party hats, noise makers and cake.  The kids loved opening her presents and I'm pretty sure everything was opened in less than a minute with all her helpers!

 

The big girls got to have a slumber party in Nana and Papa's room and they actually slept pretty well on Saturday night.  Sunday morning we had donuts at the hotel and then it was back down to the pool to do more swimming.  We managed to squeeze in lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, despite having exhausted kids, before everyone left to go home.

 

Unfortunately pictures were limited, so here is one of Nana with the kids.

 



Baby #3: 28 weeks...

As I expected, I've been awful at documenting this pregnancy.  In fact this is the first picture I've taken of my actual belly this time around and it took me until the 3rd trimester to do so!

28 weeks with Baby #3

So far, everything seems to be going ok.  I'm seeing a new doctor with this pregnancy as my other OB is doing missions work in Africa for 5 years.  I'm liking the new doctor and new practice, it's just different getting used to new things.

 

As with the other two pregnancies, this one seems to be completely different (well outside of the morning sickness, heartburn and tiredness, that is) and with it's own challenges.  We've had numerous ultrasounds with this pregnancy for one reason or another.  Baby girl seems to be measuring on the smaller side (and after a few ultrasounds), they don't seem to be too concerned.  We're told this isn't abnormal and her small size could just be genetics so they aren't too surprised.  She is moving around like crazy and is pretty active throughout the day.

 

Other than the pregnancy, we're getting closer to being ready for baby girl.  Her room is pretty much done now and clothes are almost all washed and put away.  We're pretty sure we have a name...still up in the air about middle name.  It's been much more difficult this time around choosing a name as we feel like we exhausted all lists with the first two!

Kensley is getting more and more excited about the baby.  She tells us daily what all she is going to do to help take care of her.  She also is really concerned about me often asking lots of questions when she finds out I am going to the doctor.  And seems to get really weepy when I get hurt (I cut my thumb a few weeks ago and she was pretty upset about it.).  So I already anticipate the hospital stay not being the easiest for her.

Avery is still pretty oblivious, but she'll often request to "see" the baby (meaning she wants me to lift up my shirt).  She gets lots of instructions from big sis on how she's going to have to be careful with the baby, etc. and she usually just agrees whenever Kens tells her something.  We know these girls are going to be great big sisters!

We can't believe baby girl will be here in a few short months!


Avery: 22 Months Old

So we're a little behind with Avery's 22 month post.  I'm having a hard time keeping up as this little one seems to be growing fast!

 

She continues to be our little firecracker and let's us know her opinion daily.  She has definitely reached the stage where she wants to do everything by herself.  She watches big sis do something and she immediately wants to do the same on her own (with no help).  She usually screams "ME!" whenever we try to help her and often gets frustrated when she can't do it on her own.

 

She loves her big sis and wants to be near her and doing whatever she's doing.  Kens is usually the first person Avery asks for in the mornings or after naps.  She always says "Sissy" when we come in to get her.

 

Avery is starting to catch onto the idea of a new baby.  She points to my stomach and says "baby" and it's usually followed by "see" (meaning she wants to lift up my shirt so she can "see" her). 

 

We've started to introduce the idea of the "big girl potty" to Avery, however she doesn't seem anywhere near ready to potty train.  We let her sit on the potty whenever she asks and Jeremy usually puts her on the potty before bathtime so she can "go" just like big sister.  We've yet to have a successful attempt and it's usually guaranteed that Avery will pee in the tub as soon as she gets in.  I'm sure we'll hold off on full fledged potty training until after the baby gets here and we all adjust.

 

Avery is talking more and more these days and attempts lots of new words.  She usually knows exactly what she is trying to say and repeats it over and over until we finally catch on.  She now counts "four, five, six" instead of one, two, three.  It's funny as we'll tell her to count and that's always where she starts.

 



This girl LOVES donuts!

Shoving donuts into her mouth during a morning donut picnic.

Trying on her new swimsuit

Playing hide and go seek...she was counting with daddy while Kensley hid.

Playing with sissy.  I think it was "nap time" here.  She is usually really good about playing whatever big sis wants.

  Happy 22 months, Avery Leigh!

Easter 2013...

We spent Easter up at Nana and Papa Brauchler's this year.  The girls did lots of playing outside, playing with the cousins, swimming in the hot tub and had an Easter egg hunt.

We went to Nana and Papa's church on Sunday and then had lunch at their house after with Grandma and Grandpa Zurcher and Aunt Carla.  The girls had a blast playing all weekend and were definitely exhausted by the time we made it home.

Ready for the Easter egg hunt

Checking out her goodies with Uncle Scott

Hula hoops were "hidden" among the eggs this year

These girls are best friends.  Kens even cried when Elli left to go home.

This is as good as it gets as far as pictures of the two girls this year.  And yes, they both have candy in their mouths (before 9 am).  We go to great lengths to get pictures.

The cousins

 

She's a Wild One, with an Angel's Face

Our sweet little Avery, is a wild one. 

 

Here are two brief videos that depict her personality pretty well right now.  These also show her scrunched nose, mischievous smile that I have a hard time catching on camera.

 

We were at Jason's Deli after church last Sunday and fortunately we were there early enough that there weren't too many other people there yet. 

 

 

 



Avery: 21 Months Old...

Our feisty, little girl is now 21 months old.  Avery is strong-willed and seems to get more opinionated by the day.  This girl knows exactly what she wants and lets you know it.

 

Avery is saying lots more these days and getting much better at communicating.  She seems to understand pretty much everything we tell her or ask her to do.  It's really just a matter of whether she wants to follow instruction.  Meal times (specifically dinner time) has proven to be a battle of wills here lately and is wearing us out.  Kensley is eating much better these days, but Avery is boycotting eating most days.

Despite not being a great eater, Avery still loves soda and begs for a drink of ours whenever we have one. She also usually wants to try whatever we are eating and prefers to eat from our plate rather than her own. She isn't much of a veggie eater so we usually struggle to get her to eat much.  She does know what "treat" means and requests one often.

She threw a fit until we let her hold her own ice cream cone.

 Lately Avery has been obsessed with Tinkerbell or "Bell" as she calls her.  She asks multiple times a day to watch "Bell" on TV.  She has grown accustom to our nightly routine of baths, pj's and watching Tinkerbell before bed.  She comes down the stairs every night saying "Bell, Bell, Bell".

 

We ended up turning Avery's carseat around this past month.  We know we're a few months away from the recommended time frame to turn her around, but car rides with her were getting rough.  She loves facing forward and being able to watch movies in the car with big sis.  She's our little backseat driver and can often be heard telling us to "go, go, go" whenever we're stopped at a stoplight, etc.

First ride facing forward

Aves still loves playing with big sis and wants to do everything like her.  We can almost guarantee whenever Kens does something, Avery will follow suit.  We plan accordingly for gifts, food, etc. and usually buy in two's. 

Playing doctor

Avery loves playing with her babies and tells us multiple times a day that they "poop".  She also enjoys playing kitchen, dress up and with her little people.  She still loves to dance and sing.  Avery loves to FaceTime and doesn't understand why we can't "see" everyone we talk to on the phone.  She requests often (usually daily) to call Papa or Ashy by bringing me the phone and saying their name.  Avery also enjoys going to her class at church and says over and over on Sunday mornings "church, church, church".  Aves is still also very attached to her paci's...dare I say more so than Kens was at this age??  She can often be found sneaking her paci's out of her crib and big sis is usually assisting her.  Whenever she snags one, she is quick to come show us...saying "ook, ook" with a paci in her mouth.

Hiding in the bathroom...doing her business.

Avery is still our snuggly little girl.  She often requests "ole me" whenever she wants held.  She gives the best hugs and is pretty attached to us most mornings.  She is especially snuggly whenever she gets in trouble...thinking she can charm her way out of it, she gives us a sweet look and a big hug (this is typically what happens right after she gets scolded for hitting us).

Me with the princesses...these dresses are usually worn at least once a day.

Happy 21 month birthday, sweet Avery!