Library books and Pediatricians

Hello! :)

This last week has been a full one.  We celebrated Thanksgiving in Las Vegas with the Aikens and it was fun.  I don't know why but we always have had a hard time remembering to bring our cameras and take pictures on vacations.  We'll definitely have to get better at that.  :)

A little update on Avery: she's been having some complications with pooping.  She has diarrhea a lot and it's really stinky.  We're going to see a specialist on Friday, although I have a feeling it should be just fine.  I think she was having an issue with dairy/soy in her diet and I've cut that out completely.  I think it should be getting better but we'll see.  The specialist is Dr. Kaddu here in St. George and he's very, very good and qualified.  He was actually the pediatrician that first evaluated her when she was born.

So, I'd like to post some videos of her that were taken today.  I hope you guys enjoy them!

Yesterday, I went to the library and picked out some more colorful easy readers for her.  It's probably my favorite thing to do with her; go to the library and read books with her.   I'm hoping we'll make it a weekly thing to go to the library and pick out books.

Well, I hope you all had a fun Thanksgiving and that the food was delicious!

See ya all next week!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

So, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we'll be out of town for the rest of the week.  So, I thought I'd write our weekly blog today.  :) 

This week, there has been a lot of positive, fun changes going on for Avery.  We bought a few new toys to attach to her jungle gym and she loves them.  Her newest one that has a mirror on it is fascinating to her.  We've also been reading her colorful children's books and she seems to like them, or at least she likes hearing silly voices from us.  But, out of all of these new toys and books, her favorite past time is watching this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv_iVQdkuuM

Here are a couple videos of her watching that YouTube video.. you all have to tell me what you think of her hair in the first video. :P

So, she absolutely loves watching it and it's great that she does because I can actually get her to really strengthen her back and neck while she does tummy time because she tries so hard to see the video.  It's interesting and stimulating enough for her to not really mind being on her tummy and stretching/working out her back and neck.  :)

Her jungle gym is really fun.  Okay, it's probably more fun for mommy and daddy than it is for her because we like to interact with her and see her bat the toys around, watching her get excited when she realized she was doing that all by herself. 

Here are some pictures and videos of her batting the toys around:

There were a lot of toys on the gym at this point and she was overwhelmed.  I think she was also afraid of the new mirror, :P. I ended up taking a lot of stuff off and then she enjoyed it more. :)

Avery is doing great as you can tell.  We've recently started to try to help her take naps and sleep better.  That has been a process to say the least.  She is learning though and sleeping better now that we've started to help her learn.  :)  I recently was reading through a test that was made for parents to be.  This last assignment for people who are thinking of becoming parents rings very true in my ears now that I'm a parent trying to help her take naps: 

"Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can improve their child's discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training, and table manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the last time you will have all the answers."

Well, again, as I said in my last blog, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!  See ya next week!

Happy 2 Month Birthday Avery!

So, Wednesday was Avery's two month birthday.  And, I guess we chose to celebrate it by getting her her vaccinations.  It was really, really sad to have her cry from them.  The pediatrician looked her over before the nurse came in and gave the shots.  Avery is a little dancer.  When you set her down on a surface and she's happy she'll dance like crazy.  Her little legs and arms get going and she looks very happy and focused on moving those legs and arms quicker.  And, so while the pediatrician looked her over she was kicking and dancing the whole time. 

Avery has also had a stomach bug as of late.  It's either that or a food aversion of some sort.  She's had a rough week :(.  We went to the emergency room on Sunday because of it.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Aiken for the pizza and for a wonderful time with you all this last weekend!

The nurse who gave the shots was really quick and efficient.  She gave out an immediate cry that was so painful I felt so helpless for her.  But, knowing that this was for her own good I just held her closely and talked to her.  Justin hates shots so it was pretty hard for him to watch them give her shots, he felt so bad for her.  After the shots were done, Justin held her and she calmed down.  Her cries seemed so much like she was telling Daddy what happened and how horrible it was.  Thank goodness we only have to do that one more time in 2 months. 

So I tried to get some videos up of her taking a bath, but they aren't working... so, we'll just have to post some other cute pictures and video of her. :) 

Here's some cute ones that were taken this last week and a video of her dancing a bit.  In the video she doesn't dance nearly as much as usual.:P

She's starting to like batting toys and looking at dangling toys

She has been practicing tummy time... she doesn't enjoy it that much :P

So, I promised to show you our Halloween pictures.  If you haven't seen them on Facebook, here they are! :)  These pictures took a LONG time to upload so I hope you enjoy them! :)

Me, trying to hold her out so we can get a full body picture.. not so successful but it's cute right!?

I love this picture < 3

She's just content to be photographed :)

This is Riley, her new friend

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post.  I started writing it on Wednesday but for some reason I couldn't get my uploads to work..so it took a while to get it finally posted. 

I love you all.  Thanksgiving is next week and I hope everyone enjoys themselves!  We'll be trying to travel up to Vegas to see Justin's family :).  I hope my family back home enjoys their Thanksgiving as well, I'll miss you all!

With Love

Flowers and Grass

Hi guys!

So, it's been about one week and already Avery has changed quite a bit.  She's had some good experiences and bad.  This week she experienced grass for the first time though I know she didn't really learn it's difference from any other surface, it was just fun to stand up for her. 

Here's a video of her first time standing on grass:

Justin and I both think she's going to be a very determined baby, after all she has a Daddy who when he was a baby would cry so much he would pass out if he didn't get what he wanted.  She is also very serious and you can tell she thinks about the things moving around her with wonder and amazement.

Just today I finally figured out how to use my Moby wrap to put her in a cradle hold and she absolutely loves it.  The tummy hold is supposed to be the best for her but she rubs her face constantly on my chest and gets frustrated she can't see anything that's going on.  So, the cradle hold it is for now!  Today, we washed the dishes and cleaned the house and she thoroughly enjoyed watching everything that was going on.  :)  Here are some pics:

These pictures were incredibly hard to take! :P

And so, I end this post with a quick comment on how wonderful my husband is.  I know, cheesy right?!  But, really he is very sweet.  Look at these flowers: <3 br="br">

Our anniversary is coming up soon and I have something very special planned!  And not just because he gave me these flowers :P. 

Well I love you all!  Have a great week!

- The Aikens