More Kindermusik, Playdates, Visitors, Crying, Science Center, Pillow :)

Ok, can the title can any longer? I just didn't know how to sum up the last week! Maybe just, "Week 45" would have been better! This is a long one.. we've done a lot in 1 week!

Tuesday, the 22nd, Avalyn and I attended another Kindermusik playdate. Here's a video of some of the things that happen at a 'playdate' with Kindermusik.



We went to the park that afternoon on a walk...

Cool girl on the swing!

I had to go to work Wednesday and Thursday of that week. We introduced Avalyn to Eggplant on Thursday. She was also 46 weeks old this week! My goodness.. it has been 46 weeks already! And for some strange reason, Avalyn has been crying really hard when going down for naps and bed! She started this on Saturday at her Nona's house, but we figured it was because she was with a 'new' person and not in her own crib. She didn't start it up again till Wednesday with Nana, and then never stopped! She was fine until we put her down in her crib and she immediately would flip over and start crying and crawling to the rails and stand up to be picked back up! We tried to break her of this, knowing that it was just an attachment thing (since she stopped instantaneously when she was in your arms) but she just wouldn't stop! So, then we figured it was her teeth coming in, so we gave some Tylenol. I mean, she eventually fell asleep and took naps and slept at night.. but it took us going in and out and rubbing her back, giving her a hug/comfort, and then letting her cry a bit. We couldn't figure it out...

Friday, Avalyn and I went to my friend, Gillian's house for a "Gold" party. It was pretty much just a playdate, and I fished out some old jewelry that was broken or just sitting in my 'box' collecting dust. I made $32 on 3 different pieces! Here's a pic of Avalyn playing with Camden, and some videos..

Camden & Avalyn - just 5 days apart!

Later on the evening we went over to my parent's house for a swim and some dinner. Here's a video of her in the pool with Daddy.

Since Avalyn hasn't been going 'down' very well, we left in time to get her 'down' at our house...

Saturday we went to Home Depot and bought a new grill, watched the World Cup USA game, and then had Drew and Julie over for dinner!

The new grill.. a Weber!

Go Team USA!

Sunday, the 27th, we had a nice family breakfast at the table. Here's a video of Avalyn trying some eggs and eating pancakes and bananas at the table with us :) (kinda long video.. almost boring)...

I also received a visit from Mother Nature today, who was on a 21 month vacation... (aka, I got my period). It had been a LONG time since my last one, October 26, 2008, so I almost didn't know what to do! Haha.. you don't forget, but I did need to go get some 'supplies'... But now at least I have something to base my body on again.. it was weird not knowing if all my womanly parts were up and working again. Later that afternoon, Deirdre was in town for a bit and came over for a quick visit before having to pick up her parents from the airport.

Brandon took some pics of her after Deirdre left..

An ultra-cheese smile

No wait, here's the ultra-cheese!

I actually got called into work on Monday, to cover for our other psychologist who had to tend to her ill son. Not a problem for me, since I love what I do, and it's only extra money for us! So, I went into work on Monday and Nana got to spend another day with Avalyn :) I stopped by a local kids resale shop and picked up a couple of toys for her... that night, the crying continues and she actually was very restless from 10pm-1am.. crying for a couple of mins every hour. At 1am she continued crying and I went in to comfort her and gave her tylenol because I figured her teeth were bothering her (no teeth yet!), and it took awhile for her to get back to sleep...

Tuesday, the 29th, I had a large Mommy-and-me group meeting at the Orlando Science Center!! We were originally supposed to go on Monday, but since I got called into work, we rescheduled it. It actually worked out better for most people though and a lot were now able to go! Avalyn had her first morning nap, and continued to cry when going down, so I tried something crazy... I GAVE HER A PILLOW!! The little firm, flat pillow my mom made her with her name on it.. since she's been interested in pillows these days.. and let me tell you.. IT WORKED!!! Avalyn is now OBSESSED with her pillow and loves to lay on it and go to sleep on her pillow! Not a single tear has been shed since the pillow has been put in her crib! IT WAS THAT EASY! I'm just glad we found something that worked, because the crying was getting out of control! Just so unlike her.. I guess it was an attachment thing, and the pillow offered some comfort and 'security' I guess! Whatever works!!  Here is a pic of her sleeping on it through the monitor..

Sleeping with her mouth open on the pillow - too cute!

She's looking away from the camera now, but head on the pillow

After she woke up for her quick nap, we met our friends at noon at the Science Center. Here are some pics from the trip...

The whole group of us, in age order left to right (almost 11 months to 13.5 months)

Watch out - Crazy driver at the wheel!!

Avalyn with her boyfriend Camden :) just 5 days apart!

Playing with the baby in the mirror :)

I asked her to "give the baby a kiss" and she did!

Our little book worm.. of all the toys around, she goes for the books!

Want a pepper Mom?

It was a busy afternoon, but she got a catnap in the car on the way home and felt refreshed I guess! Here's some videos of her starting to take some steps independently!!





I've been trying to get out and go for walks with Avalyn and the dogs in the morning, so Wednesday morning I started this new routine. Basically I do 2 laps around the neighborhood for now - 1 lap with each dog (I can't take them at the same time or we'd be flying down the street!). Each lap is .7 miles, so I do about 1.5 miles at a quick pace. I'm definitely sweating by the end of it, but more due to the humidity than me 'working out'. I've been going at 7:30am, right after she's up and had her milk... and yes, it's that hot! But if I go any other time, I'm dying from heat exhaustion after 5 mins!! So, we'll see how long I can keep this up.

Skye and Avalyn on our walk :)

That afternoon we went to a Gymboree preview class. Bran did some work at his school for a bit then met us there in time for class! I ended up signing her up for this class, which also allows us to do other age-appropriate classes for free during July! So, we'll be busy with their classes and Open Gym time to move around! Basically, it's a lot of obstacle-type stuff, with mats on the ground, slides, parachute play, things like that.. she really enjoyed it! I'll try to get some pics of her when we go today for Open Gym time.

Milestones: Other than the same, she's really starting to seem like a little person rather than a baby. She talks all the time and has a lot of words: hi, belle-belle, home, Dad, Mom, dog, ball, done (sometimes ALL done), du (for duck), mo (for more), no-no (and shakes her head from side to side), Nana,  pu (for her Pooh bear in her room), and some approximation for her pillow that I haven't deciphered yet.  She can't quite say the "p" sound too well, so it comes out funny... she says "dum" a lot too, but for everything else she doesn't have a word for yet :) It's kinda cute. She signs more, eat, milk, all done... so she really started using the "eat" sign now and actually signs "eat more" at times. She's close to walking and getting very experimental with her balance and movement. She crawls VERY fast around the house and LOVES the kitchen. She loves looking at herself in the oven door (while it's not hot of course) and the dishwasher. I put letter magnets on the fridge and she loves to play with those and crawl around with the letters. She's just so happy, esp. now with her pillow, you can tell she has a really great personality and temperament. She's very chill at times, plays really well with others, and isn't too clingy. I give her time every morning and sometimes afternoon to play independently (without me in sight) so she can learn to play by herself and not require an adult for entertainment. She still points at things and looks at you to see what it is. She imitates speech sounds a lot to try to say the word. She receptively knows how to: find your belly button (she LOVES belly buttons!), give you a hug, give a kiss, blow a kiss (well, she kisses her hand and is working on blowing it to you), touch someone/thing's eyes, nose, sometimes she gives "hi fives", waves hi and bye, and identifies familiar objects in a group (i.e., "give me the frog" "look at your book" "where's the duck" when there are other objects next to that object).  She's doing well with eating finger foods and chunkier textures and will even "let me see" inside her mouth if I ask her that, to see if she has any chunks of food in there! She's doing well with drinking water/juice from her sippy cup, but doesn't really like to drink milk from it. This is now hard to practice since she doesn't get milk from anywhere but me when I'm around.. and I'm around all summer! But, whatever... she'll figure it out when I stop breastfeeding her after her birthday! I'm SO done with pumping and feeding... I'm proud for keeping it up for this long and her not having a drop of formula!! Go me!

As for her schedule, she still gets 4 feedings of milk a day (7, 11, 3, 7ish), 3 meals a day (8ish, noonish, 6:30), takes 2 naps (9:30-11/11:30 & 1:30/2:00-3:00)... this is often adjusted based on what we're doing that day, but it's basically the same. As long as she gets a good morning nap, her day is usually ok if we miss that second nap because of activities. I think she'll keep up this 2 nap thing till about 14 months or so.. we'll see..

In my down time I've been trying to organize activities, plan stuff for her birthday party, keep the house tidy, and shower. That's my day... I definitely am not bored this summer!! Which is GOOD - I sometimes hate the summers because I usually get so lazy.. but not anymore!! I will never be able to say I'm bored again.. I think I'll actually be begging for boredome someday, especially when she gets older :)  Here's to keeping myself busy!! Cheers!