Since the last post, Avalyn has made some huge progress and done a LOT! Here we go..
Saturday, July 3rd we went out on the boat, as mentioned before. It was just the Rollins launch, so nothing fancy, but fun nonetheless. It was actually quite windy that day, and a storm was approaching, so we had to take a quick cruise around and then head home. Here's a little movie of the video clips!
Later that afternoon we went to my parent's house for a little bar-b-que with the family then headed home.
Sunday was the 4th of July!! We had Diana over for a visit and got some cute pics :)
Nona's in the box?
Wahoo!!! 
Can I go up here Mommy?
Yes? Alright!!
Say WHAT?
No WAY?!!
Getting tickled!
I'm going to get you!!
Happy 4th of July!!Monday, July 5th Brandon had off workbut had to pick up a friend from the airport in the morning. Once he was home we headed out to the Outlets to do a little shopping and of course, to Bass Pro while we were in the area. He still had gift cards from his birthday he needed to spend :) Surprisingly, we found some good deals at Gap Outlet (which is hit or miss these days) and were able to get out of there fairly easily.
Tuesday, July 6th, Avalyn turned 11 months old!!! WHOA!!! We headed over to Amaya Papaya to meet friends and play for a bit in the play lounge. Here's some pics from the day:
The 3 girls playing - Lydia (12 months), Holli (11.5 months) & Avalyn (11 months)
Such a goof - playing with pom-poms
Kissing that pretty girl in the mirror :)
"Hi!!!" (love this pic!!)
Giving herself the "look"
Going up the ramp
Ooohh....And pics from her 11 month photo shoot :)
Avalyn with the duck
Some photoshop fun :)
Wednesday, the 7th, we went to our Gymboree class... Thursday we ran some errands and went to Joann Fabrics, Party City, and Target. We also met Bran at Gymboree for open gym in the afternoon.
Friday we headed over to a Mommy group friend's house to swim in the community pool and play at her house for a little bit. It was super hot out, but the sun and water were great! Avalyn LOVED the splash fountain/waterfall thing and just stood under it, letting the water just run over her! It was so funny to watch! She is becoming quite the fish too and will really kick and move her arms to try to swim! She really does love the water! That night my parents came over to babysit so Bran and I could have a date night out, last minute. We went to the Cheesecake Factory with his hunting buddy, Tony, and his wife Dawn. Afterwards we went to Lil 500 racetrack to go go-karting! It was a fun night out and much needed - thanks mom and dad!
Saturday, the 10th, Avalyn got an early birthday present from her Nona and Nana! We had to go to the Toys 'R Us by the Florida Mall to pick it up, but we got it! Afterwards, we went to the Cheesecake Factory, yet again, for lunch. The good thing is, we definitely didn't eat the same thing, since their menu is seriously 20 something pages long!! Avalyn was a complete nut-ball in our mirror booth. Here's a hilarious video of her looking at herself and freaking out! It's so funny! She was also trying strawberries for the first time - loved them!
We stopped at the Waterford Lake shopping center to drop off my phone for repair - my earpiece speaker was shot - and Diana, Bran, and Nana went to Sweet! for some cupcakes and yogurt. That night, after Avalyn went to bed and while it was cool, Bran and I started the backyard/playground renovation. We had to pull out all the pavers underneath the gazebo, relocate the plants, spray for bugs (cockroaches EVERYWHERE!) and realign the gazebo.
Sunday was swingset put-together day. Since we wanted to assemble the swingset before any mulch went down, and to make sure it fit, today was the day. Bran was outside during the hottest part of the day putting it together, but it had to be done. Here are some pics of the progress....
The "BEFORE" shot, minus our table and chairs set.. notice the plants and pavers under the gazebo and netting..
"DURING" assembly of the swingset. Notice the pavers and netting were removed and plants relocated outside of gazebo area..
Bran assembling the slide area
The "almost finished" product, minus her infant swing and mulch... but it fits perfectly under the gazebo - an absolute necessity in this heat!Interestingly that day, Brandon had been starting to feel somewhat sick, like he got food poisoning or something. I also think he got a little dehydrated and heat exhausted while working on the swingset.. and then combined, made for an ugly afternoon for Bran :( He ran a fever, had the chills, and couldn't keep anything in him! I had to go pick up my phone from the shop and then ran to Walmart to get some essentials, and he wasn't any better when I got home. I put him on the BRAT diet to kill any stomach bug and tried to get some liquids in him slowly to prevent having to get an IV for dehydration!!! Goodness... fortunately he took off work on Monday to recover (as being on the extremely hot tennis courts all day was not going to be helpful for him) and got some needed rest. I went to a Gymboree Music class that afternoon with Avalyn and then had to drop my phone off AGAIN at the shop to get fixed, as the new phone they gave me had a busted speaker!! How frustrating!!
Tuesday, the 13th, Avalyn and I met some of our mommy group friends at another community pool to do another pool playdate. Again, Avalyn was a fish and really swam well today. She doesn't mind going under and just kicks her little legs like she's a frog!! So cute! I also got a video of her labeling parts of the bear... too cute!!
Wednesday, the 14th, was a busy day. We had our Gymboree class in the mid afternoon, but had AT&T coming to install our U-verse cable/ internet right after. It was a pretty big fiasco with them here, as they were here from about 2:30 - 8:00pm! I even left at 3:20 to get my hair done in Rockledge and came home to find them still here!! Lots of craziness that I don't even want to get into.. but basically they had to replace all our cable lines inside the house because ours were so old for the latest technology or whatever, plus a lot of drama and BS along the way...
Thursday, the 15th, I went to Amaya Papaya again to meet up with some friends to play, then headed over to Open Gym at Gymboree to meet Bran. Here's a picture of a new crazy "cheese" face she does :)
Friday, the 16th, I was stupid. I arranged an outing to the Central Florida Zoo in the middle of the day. Dumb. While it may have been a nice outing, the heat in FL does not permit you to use "NICE" int he same sentence... IT WAS SOOOOOO HOT!!! There is a lot of shade in the park, but the incredible wall of humidity doesn't keep anything 'cool'... Surprisingly for as hot as it was, Avalyn didn't start complaining until we got in the car to leave and she had to go in her hot carseat! I was impressed with her good behavior :) Here are some pics..
So, she's happy when we first get there :)
In case you didn't know... :)
All the kiddos - Lydia, Holli, Avalyn, and Kenley (a new friend - 3.5 months)
By the elephant - can you see the flushed red face of my baby girl? She's actually just sad that she's not looking at the elephant.. she loved him!
Are you hot Avalyn? No problem! Suck on the ice pack!! :)That night we actually had my parents over again to babysit while we had another date night!! I know - 2 in a row!!! Wahoo! We met up with Drew and Julie downtown to see "Eclipse" at the Plaza Cinema Cafe. As much as I love the books (I've now read them 3 times) the movies are just TERRIBLE! It's kinda like a train wreck though - you have to see them to see the story in action.. but the acting is just so awful, and they cut out so much... you just can't compare. Sad.... it really is a great series.... but since it was an early show (6:00pm) we headed to Wall Street Cantina to grab some drinks and hang out a bit before we retired for the night. It had actually been I think a first that we've EVER gone downtown with Drew and Julie, let alone out by ourselves, outside of our homes, with the two of them in a REALLLYYY long time.. so it was a very nice night out. Thank you again Mom and Dad for coming over and Diana I'm sorry you were on-call and could not come over :(
Saturday, the 17th, we had an AT&T worker come out to look at one of our boxes b/c yes, we were still having issues with them. After he left Bran went to get the mulch for the playground out back. Here's a pic of the almost finished product!
The again, almost finished playground. The rubber edging needs to soften in the sun to lay flat (pavers on top to help), then the mulch can be spread more evenly. Otherwise, finished. Avalyn is enjoying the swing with Daddy!
I ran out to Joann's with Avalyn for some other materials I needed for my new hobby of doing crafty things... you'll all see soon enough what I've been up to, but I don't want to spoil all the fun. I'm making gifts too, so in case they read this, they won't know before they open their gift! Today also marks the day of a very huge milestone for Avalyn!! Bran and I have been practicing letting Avalyn 'walk' in between us, with her taking maybe 2 or 3 steps until she falls into our hands.. nothing big. Well today, we were doing the same thing and then Bran went to get the video camera to see if he could set it up to catch anything good on tape. While he was fiddling with the camera, Avalyn just seriously started walking towards him!! He was at least 8 feet away and I think she made it all the way to him, with me in the background yelling with tears in my eyes "Daddy she's walking! She's walking!!" We were able to capture a lot of it on camera, as we kept spreading out further and further with sunglasses as a motivator to walk (and not crawl).. here's a quick clip of a 10 foot stretch of walking (at least!)
Sunday, the 18th, I had another Mommies-only brunch with some of my girlfriends for some time away from the 'baby'. We went to Dexter's in Lake Mary again - here's a pic.
Melissa, Stacey, Karla, and I at Dexter's. I'm sort of a 'new' member to their group of friends, so it's nice to make new friends!Today, I was silly enough to plan another outing to an outdoor place - Sea World. However, I was a little smarter this time in planning to go in the morning versus the afternoon. We planned to meet right when the park opened, so we could enjoy as much as we could before it became unbearable. I was also a little smarter too in that I brought these little mini-fans I purchased 5 years ago for my wedding. I'm shocked they still work because I've used them so much and they were a DOLLAR from Walmart.. to share with everyone. They have been and were LIFESAVERS today!! Even though we went early, it was still hot. Here is a pic of us in the shop waiting for our friends to arrive (someone else has our group shot on their camera..)
We started our morning off by seeing the Blue Horizons show, which is an overstimulating dolphin, bird, diving, music show, and honestly quite nice. Avalyn LOVED it and was SOO into it the whole time! At one point (of course when it was really quiet) she started screeching at the top of her lungs and seriously, everyone in a 20 row radius turned to look at her.. it was so funny! We then saw the penguins, ate lunch, saw the fish and sharks, and then went to Wild Arctic to see the Polar Bears, walrusus, and beluga whales. She LOVED standing on the ledge of the viewing glass and banging on the glass and screeching at the top of her lungs! She's like a crazy lady - soooo funny!! She has quite the personality these days!! So, we had a lot of fun and Avalyn did REALLY great for having NO NAP until the last 20 mins of our car ride home. I, however, had to rush once we got home because I had a dermatologist appointment to get to, and had to shower real quick, let the dogs out, then get to Rollins to drop off Avalyn and get to my appointment. Bran took her swimming in the Rollins pool for a little bit and then met me home at the same time once I was finished. She was exhausted, and I think a little delirious tonight, but actually had a hard time going to sleep. I think she was just a little overtired and needed some extra lovin' from her Daddy :) After he rocked her for a bit, she was fine!
Milestones: Well again, the obvious: she is on her way to walking! Now that we know what she's capable of, we practice with her each day, with distances of at least 6-10 feet apart, if not just a free-for-all.. Sometimes she's really unsteady and falls immediately to a crawl, and other times she wobbles, catches herself, rebalances, and walks a long way! Its cool to watch and I know it's only going to get better and better and soon I'll be wishing she was still not moving/crawling/walking at all! She knows that when she looks in a mirror, that she sees HERSELF. When she sees she has a bow in her hair, she immediately reaches to pull it out, identifing that she is who she's looking at! She also does this when she sees herself in pictures with a bow in her hair - she reaches for her head to find her bow! She says "hair" and "bow" now too... to add to her growing list of words: mama, dad/dada, ball, dog, duck, bear, hi, bye-bye, eye, no-no, nana (for Nana and banana), ear, no (for nose), mmm (for mouth), Belle-Belle, belly-button (sounds kinda like belle-belle, but def 2 syllables if not more), home, ow, uh-oh, ooh (for shoe), sss (for sock), ba-ba (for bottle, as in water bottle), all done, du (for drink), and probably some others I'm forgetting. It is truly AMAZING to see how much language she understands and can actually express through words or signs! She signs: help, more, eat, milk, all done...still same schedule with eating and napping. She LOVES balls and can now throw them kinda in your direction, but can play a reciprocal ball rolling/throwing game for a couple of turn-taking exchanges.. She tries to share with everyone, but often won't let you have it if you actually take what she offers. She loves to slide and can wiggle down to slide on her own if you let her. She loves to play peek-a-boo and chase around the house, hiding behind corners and then once you 'find' her she scurries off in a crawl or wall shuffle to avoid being 'caught'... it's sooooo cute! I love it when she slowly peeks around the corners of the walls to see you... priceless! She can point to all the parts of your face: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and even hair now. She also can do "toes" and has recently become obsessed with anyone's toes! How weird! She can also kiss you/something and give you/something a hug.. but she loves kissing and hugging my belly-button, stuffed animals, and especially pillows!! She is such a sweetheart! She has found her screaming voice though and seems to greet you with a loud scream instead of the simple "HI" she used to give.. it varies, but it's a new thing she does.
I just love her so much. Can you tell? I'm going crazy to contain myself with her party.. I want it to be so special for her, and for us (as it's our first child's first birthday... it won't happen again!) but I know I need to take it easy. I just have so many ideas running around my head but little time to actually implement them, since a lot of it involves me making stuff.... more time I don't have these days.
Another busy week and weekend coming up though. Tomorrow we're getting our new A/C installed and my friend Stacey and her son, Brayden, are coming for a visit. We have Delia's wedding this weekend in Largo, so another mini-getaway to the beach... but then here come the birthday parties! Holli's is on Sunday, then Jackson's is next Saturday and Camden's is next Sunday!!! Yikes! To have friends with birthdays all within a month of each other is cool, but sometimes not cool :) So, the next post might be awhile again.... hopefully not too long, because then I start to forget stuff!! Good thing I have a calendar to write it all down to jog my memory..
No comments:
Post a Comment