Books!

I got Avery some new board books today!  I bought an Earl Carle book set and a couple of his other board books as well.  His original books (as well as co-authored books) are very colorful and educational.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how Avery likes them.  :) 

Right now, we have reading time where she'll be interested as long as I'm making completely ridiculous noises.  It's actually interesting to try and make a noise for every single adjective and/or noun.  And, it seems that she likes more volume than not.  So, yeah, it's embarrassing for any self respecting adult to watch.  But, that's okay because as one of my favorite memes go (warning: language) : "It doesn't matter how old or badass you are, if a toddler hands you a toy phone...you answer that shit."  Except in this case it's a book, not a phone...and you're reading the book in such a manner that would make even a crazy monkey on crack look like he/she's more under control. 

Books are actually very fun to get involved in though.  And, we'd love it if she grew up to really appreciate them, specifically Harry Potter.  Like everyone, I spent sleepless nights reading those books until I could no longer keep my eyes open.  And, it was worth every single hour. 

Justin and I both love reading.  Justin hopes that Avery will end up reading under a blanket with a flash light at night and I hope that she'll love writing her own stories.  There's seriously nothing better than a story written by a young child.  Their stories generally involve a large panorama of colorful ideas with magical components and many, many very serious claims and dire consequences while only lasting four or five sentences.  If that's not entertaining, I don't know what is. 

Well, we'll see how it goes.  Until then, she enjoys books when they're read with completely insane noises and movements; we're happy. :)

Nibbler for Halloween..

Halloween is great.  We not only dressed Avery up in her Nibbler costume four or five times this year (for different parties and contests) but we actually got candy for the trick-or-treaters.  We haven't needed to do that since we got married.  And, apparently the first rule of thumb when giving candy to the trick o' treaters is to not leave the bowl outside for the first group to completely annihilate.  We actually got a second group to ring our doorbell and we're pretty sure they were just going to ask where the candy was.  We didn't answer because we suck at this game and were in bed already.  Plus, it would have been a really awkward conversation.  Somewhat like this...

"Trick-or-treat!"

I stick my head out and look at the empty bowl and then at them as they look at me impatiently.

"Uh, sorry.  We don't have any more candy left.  I could give you guys a bag of popcorn?" 

The say okay as politely as they can except they probably were thinking..."This sucks.  Popcorn sucks.".  And, they'd all have to share the popcorn bag.  Hopefully they all lived in the same house because it also needed to be popped in their microwave. 

Anyway, Avery was fun and happy during her Halloween outings.  We went to a carnival where many people shouted (or loudly exclaimed to each other), "That's Nibbler from Futurama!!".  And, for some reason, at all of the other parties we went to there were very few people that knew who she was dressed as.  And then we lost a little faith in humanity.  :(  Watch Futurama, people!

Here we have pictures of Avery.  She's really a very, very cute Nibbler.

Here without her Nibbler hat, but she was smiling AND looking at the camera.

Here she looks like Nibbler itself! :)

So, needless to say our Halloween was very good this year.  And, now we have a $50 costume hat that will last us the next few Halloween's!

We hope you all had a great Halloween as well! 

Carseats and Two Little Teeth

Here is our little Avery, with not only her first two teeth visible in some photos but having fun in her car seat:

She apparently has a "crazy face" face.  :)

Her first two teeth are visible here!

These next photos are of her making humming noises with her mouth.  She loves to try and make raspberry's (or this is what we think she's trying to do anyway).  

Here she's deciding how to get out... which happened to be rolling out gracefully yet very quickly.

Just before she rolled out she gave me one of her silly grins. :P

So, anyway, she's growing up fast as you can see.  She loves climbing stairs now and can climb any flight of stairs you have her climb.. as long as they're carpeted.   She also has been making lots of friends her age and having fun playing with mommy and daddy all day.  Love from the Aikens!

We caught a monkey! :)

 Hello!

I know the title is deceiving but there is no other way to put it; we caught ourselves a little monkey. 

She was sitting up, holding onto the hamper when all of the sudden she lost balance and fell back (onto the bed) while still holding onto the hamper and trapped herself.  For the next 5 minutes she looked at me through the holes, and realizing this was how her childhood was going to go: Mommy taking pictures while Avery gets herself in compromising situations. 

1 minute after capture..

2 minutes after capture..

3 minutes after capture...

4 minutes after capture...

4 1/2 minutes after capture...

5 minutes after capture...

As you can tell... she's just wondering how much longer I'm going to look at her through the slats.  :P 

FREE AT LAST!

And, now our monkey gets to play in the hamper!

So, anyway, :) we are back from our trip up north and we'd like to share the photos if you want to see them.  Please just email me at sammie.aiken@gmail.com if you'd like to see the pictures from our trip! :)  Love from the Aikens!

Northern Utah, here we come! :D

Hi guys!

So, I know I missed a week.  It's turning out to be kind of a habit for me and I apologize.  But, here's some updates on Avery I think you'll enjoy.

She's had some big and small changes the last few weeks.  She's officially started to roll over to her tummy, always going left (not right yet).  It's pretty interesting for her and for us because she rolls over almost every time you put her on her back, but then gets pretty frustrated quickly and upon rolling her back to her back, she almost immediately rolls back over to her tummy.  We let her try and figure it out first before rolling her back, but it's been pretty funny so far.  Here's a video of one of her very first rolls:

Now, she's very fast at rolling over and I think she'll start rolling the other direction soon.


She's also been balancing better while sitting, so we decided to take a video of that, and some pictures:

She has been doing better at balancing, though you can't tell so well in the video. 

Also, we've started some solid food.  For now, every night before bed she gets a small bowl of infant rice cereal.  She absolutely LOVES it.  So, we thought we'd post a video:

 And, just for fun, I thought we'd share some cute pictures from this month:

She is snuggly and warm in this fluffy pink jacket.

She LOVES red solo cups and tries furiously to eat them.

One of her winter hats.

She was mesmerized by the bag of cereal and continued (for about a half hour) to try and eat the whole bag (the outside).

She was waiting for more things to play with.

Her puppy winter hat :)

This next week, we'll be spending the whole week in northern Utah.  Justin will be with Avery and I, Saturday and Sunday.  And, Monday through Friday, Avery and I will be hanging out with my family.  We're really excited and have been starting to try and get a packing list together... WOW, packing for a whole week for a baby is NOT easy.  :P  Love you all!  Pictures from our trip will be posted on the next blog!

New changes for the new year!

Hey Everyone!

I know you've all missed seeing pictures and hearing about Avery.  I'm sorry I'm a slacker sometimes.  She's been doing great though!  The new huge changes include: having more balance while sitting, doing raspberry's every once in a while, rolling over (when she wants to) and learning how to roll back onto her back.  She's also very smiley and loves to babble.

Can I just say though... being a parent of a small 4 month old baby is really difficult!  I never really know if she's completely alright and I have a lot of moments of worry.  True, the joy that you get from having a baby overwhelmingly makes up for it.  But, it's just hard not being positive that she's just fine and healthy.

So, here are some pictures and videos of little Avery:

Her little smile :P

"Not sure what you're doing Mom... but I think I like the attention!"

 So, blogger is having some issues... or I am just inept with it.  Either way, sorry the videos and photos are all jumbled together. 

Well, I hope you guys have had a great start of a New Year.  Thanks for reading!

Christmas 2012

Hi everyone!

So, I hope you all had an awesome Christmas and you all enjoy the gifts you got.  Justin got me a Magic Bullet and the complete set of Calvin and Hobbes as well as a new comforter/sheets.  Avery got lots and lots of toys that she loves already and some cute outfits and some other various, really cute accessories and blankets.  She also got a really cool dog book that she absolutely loves.  Mostly though, her new found all time favorite toy is Christmas lights.  She LOVES them.  Here's a video of her.. eating them.  :P

Justin got a really nice pair of ear phones that connect to a surround sound box.  It's the Astro A40 Audio System if you want to look it up.  He loves them already and it has come in handy while Avery's sleeping.  :)  That was his big present anyway.  I also got him a poster from Community, the TV show.  It's a one of a kind poster though, characterizing his favorite episode. 

So, we had a really good Christmas.  We haven't had any snow yet here in St. George, in fact our landlord just mowed our lawn yesterday.  Today, it's actually pretty warm, not to rub it in to those that have about 10 inches of snow, :P.

So, I thought I'd post a couple videos again.. hope you all like them!

Well, that's it for this week.  See you all next week! :D

P.S. Blogger decided to make the middle paragraphs centered without allowing me to change it, in case you were wondering.

Avery's Laugh

So, I know I missed last week and I'm sorry.  It's been kind of a hectic couple of weeks.  These last two weeks, Avery has started to laugh a little.  She also has been kind of experimenting with rolling over.  I have been desperately trying to get a video of her laughing but I think she knows the camera now and just stares at it wondering why she sees that thing so often in front of her face. :P

This is what happens when I try to take a picture of her laughing:

Avery is doing good though.  We're getting the hang of breastfeeding and I think she's actually going through a growth spurt these last couple of days because she eats a lot. 

Here are some fun pictures I've been taking recently of her:

This is her trying to make some noises while mommy's being silly.

This picture was taken after grandpa Aiken, Tiffany and Kayla left. 
I think she was trying to ask me where they went off to. :P

So, remember when I said I have been trying desperately to get a video of her laughing.  I'm still trying to get a good one, but I did get a little video of her starting to try to laugh.  :) 

Well, this next week is Christmas!  I hope you all have a good one and enjoy yourselves!  :D

Weight Checks and Breastfeeding :)

Hi guys!  I know I'm a little late on this weeks post but I think you'll understand when I explain why. 

So, Avery has been having some weight gain issues as well as some stomach issues.  Apparently, she's allergic to dairy so she was having some really, really poopy diapers full of some great gooey stuff that was mucousy and sometimes bloody.   But, now, with my diet being free of dairy she's getting better.  Also, her weight gain is back on track.  As of this week (because we had a weight check today at the doctor's office) she's gained about 5 ounces where she had only gained about 3 in the previous two weeks.  When you breastfeed babies, apparently gaining about 3-4 ounces a week is normal. 

Through some thorough research that I've done and the advice of the pediatrician, we're now doing breastfeeding a little different.  When she's hungry she definitely lets me know.  I feed her when she's hungry but I let her decide how long she wants to eat and offer both breasts.  This is what has helped her gain weight.  Before, I wasn't necessarily doing it wrong, but I wasn't letting her eat as much as she wanted.  I got some conflicting advice from a nurse saying that she was eating too much and making herself sick.  So, I was taking her off after about 10 minutes on one breast every time so she wouldn't "make herself sick".  Anyway, it wasn't working and she was actually losing weight.  But, now it's going great and she's a happy little hoover! :)

Breastfeeding her has been turning out to be a wonderful experience.  It's so great that I am able to breastfeed her because for a while there I thought I wasn't producing enough.  It made me feel so sad that I couldn't provide the best possible food for her.  But, even if I couldn't have, it would've still been okay.  Any amount of breastfeeding for a baby is great, :). 

Anyway, I thought I post some pictures of Avery in her hoodie I bought her that Justin and I love so much on her.  I also am posting a video of how she wakes up in the morning, it's really cute to say the least.

And here's her "waking up" video:

Well, so, we're supposed to keep coming back to the doctor's office for a weight check every week.  I think it should be great from now on, but we'll keep you all posted on how she's doing with breastfeeding and weight.  :)

Have a great week everyone!

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