10 Months Old

At 10 months old, Avery is into everything. I recently busied myself with something in the kitchen only to turn around to find her like this. She was happy as a clam until she figured out she was stuck!

Avery can now "drink" out of a sippy cup. Mostly she just raises it up and down from her mouth, but she does take a few sips. She can also hold her own bottle now, though she prefers to go the lazy route and have it held for her. She loves feeding herself so I give her as many finger foods as possible. Her favorites are cheese and mandarin oranges.

Avery is such a little sponge; it seems like she learns something new everyday. She can now wave bye-bye and pull herself up to do one of her two favorite things: play on her Leapfrog table or pull all the books and magazines she can reach off the coffee table. Avery also says several words. Besides mama and dada, she says hi, uh-oh and doggie,. One of her favorite games is to say "uh-oh" then toss a toy or a bit of food on the floor. The dogs really have made themselves useful lately!

We're heading to Meme and Grandpas to celebrate Thanksgiving. I hope Meme is busy baby-proofing!

Target Portraits

Avery modeled both her Tar Heel cheerleader outfit (thanks Angela B!) and her Halloween costume at the Target Portrait Studio a few weeks ago. We had a great experience there and got some cute photos!

Leaves, leaves, leaves!

Last weekend, we took Avery hiking at the Pine Log Creek Trail near our house. She loves being outside in nature, so really enjoyed our trek. She, however, did not like being in the back pack carrier, and tolerated it for maybe 1/2 of the over 3 miles we hiked. She preferred to ride on Daddy's hip, though I did take a turn carrying her. In my defense, last time we went to Pine Log, I was 7 or 8 months pregnant with her, so technically, I took my turn carrying her on a hike!

Avery likes to explore new textures. She thought tree bark was especially interesting.

Avery loves leaves. Loves them. She is infatuated with them. She's especially curious about how they taste. I'm constantly fishing leaves from her mouth when we are outside. Yuck!

She how much joy simply holding this leaf brings Avery? Forget the leapfrog learning table and bring on a pile of leaves.

Avery carried a leaf in each hand almost the entire hike. She was sad to part with them at the parking area, but I knew the minute I took my eyes off her, these would go in her mouth!

We are looking for a new backpack child carrier that Avery would be more comfortable in since she enjoyed our outing so much. Anyone have any suggestions? Avery will write a letter to Santa...but the first item on her list is leaves!

Avery's 1st Halloween

Avery had a very fun 1st Halloween dressed as a flower. She was very tolerant of her costume and even allowed me to take her to the Target Portrait Studio for pictures. She wouldn't smile, but she didn't cry. Oh well! We still got some cute pictures and had a really fun day!

No Bakarella, but...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Last night, Avery and I made witch cupcakes. Okay, I made witch cupcakes while she played with the tea towels and magnets on the fridge, then went to bed. But one day, I do hope baking is something we will enjoy together.

Since I've become a mom, I feel as if I have a responsibility to hone my baking skills in preparation for all the treats I'll need to bake when Avery is old enough to enjoy them herself, need them for school bake sales, and have them at birthday parties. But the problem is, while I can successfully cook just about anything, I just don't have the knack for baking. Greg can tell you some tales about hair brownies, burnt cookies, and cakes that bake up through the racks in my oven. By instead of getting discouraged and giving up, I've been inspired by Bakarella's website and a cupcake decorating book I recently purchased, "Hello, Cupcake." So, I'm giving it the old college try and gave decorating some Halloween cupcakes a whirl. I happen to think they were cute enough to eat. What do you think? Am I a hopeless cause? Do I need to run to the nearest Michael's and beg for admittance to their Wilton class? Or should I go on to decorate another day? Or should I just save you a cupcake?

We made it!

Greg got back Saturday with the dogs from two weeks of upland bird hunting in Wisconsin, Michigan and South Dakota. For two weeks, it was just Avery and mommy, with the exception of a weekend visit from Meme and Grandpa! They had recently returned from an Alaskan cruise and brought back some very thoughtful gifts for Avery. Below, she is enjoying her stuffed Husky puppy that Grandpa got for her. She was so tickled with it that she shrieked with delight!

Avery has become so agile in her mobility. She is a very advanced crawler!

Avery is eagerly anticipating Halloween. She can't wait to dress up on Saturday and go to the Great Pumpkin Festival in downtown Canton!

With so many toys that light up, play music, and make interesting noises, Avery sometimes just prefers to play with tupperware. Maybe the appeal is the thrill of her thinking she's doing something she's not supposed to! As you can see below, the tupperware sure tickled her!

Aside from Avery turning into quite the early riser while Daddy was gone, we got along very well. Not so well that Greg will be able to go on another lengthy hunting trip soon, but you get the picture! We'll be back soon with Halloween costume photos!

9 Months Old

It's hard for me to believe that Avery is nine months old! Despite keeping me very busy, Avery is at a very fun age. I took her outside today to enjoy a brief respite of sunshine and to enjoy the fall weather. I staged a "photo session" which was pretty shortlived. I found it too difficult to both snap pictures and keep Avery from eating leaves. As a side note, I spend a good bit of my weekend fishing things from her mouth aside from leaves, including a pebble, thread, and dog hair. The latter, the dog hair, was a casualty. It was down the hatch before I even had a chance. Yum.

I do love these two of her concentrating on the treasure she's found!

Here she is modeling her one-of-a-kind baby hat crocheted by a friend of a friend. She is so stylish!

And though you can't see the evidence in these photos, Avery is indeed getting her first tooth. I can see (and feel!) the pearly white crown of it just cresting over her gum line. Maybe there is hope for Cherrios in her future after all!