Learning Peek-A-Boo

Avery and Dad are enjoying playing peek-a-boo with each other....She is slowly catching on to the concept and finding it funny!

5 Month Update

Some highlights from month 5:

• Avery is a rolling machine!! The minute you put her down she starts rolling over - She can now go back to front and front to back in both directions. She prefers to roll to the right and will just keep going until she hits a wall. Her activity sheet from daycare usually says "I rolled over and over and over today".
• She had her first bad cough/cold this month (happened right after day care started). She seems to finally be getting over it but we have a feeling there are many more to come given that it's flu season....Mom and Dad got sick too. We are told this is pretty normal for the first few months after you start day care.
• She is very chatty and loves to play with her voice - squeals, low mumbling and everything in between. Sometimes she will just look at you and babble and babble some more. It's very cute!
• Avery is very smiley and is starting to really like peek-a-boo. Every once in a while we get a good giggle or belly laugh - usually when Dad has her in the Bjorn and she is looking in the mirror.
• After 4 weeks of daycare she is really getting the hang of things. Her teachers tell us what a pleasure she is to have and that she just "gets it" now. She is napping better and taking 4 oz bottles (much improved from her 1-2 oz the WHOLE day the first week) and really likes looking at the other babies - apparently she loves to watch them take their bottles which may be why she is better at taking hers.
• Her eyes are still grey/blue.
• Avery got her 2 bottom teeth and the top two may not be too far behind given how much she is continuing to drool and chew on EVERYTHING! She loves to put strings of any kind in her mouth - If you are wearing a hooded a sweatshirt she is happy.
• She is still loving books and has more patience to look at the pages
• Avery seems to be getting closer to sitting up on her own
• Avery loves to sleep on her tummy now - we put her down on her back and she typically flips over within a few minutes. She is still not the worlds best sleeper but she goes down easily between 8 and 9 and usually wakes to feed once. She stirs a bit in the night but is much better at putting herself back to sleep and is usually up for the day between 7:30 and 9.
• One major difference we are seeing is how much longer her attention span is. She can play with a single toy on her own for 20 minutes or more and be happy. I took her to a basketball game at UHS on Friday night and she sat for the whole game in Grams' lap playing with one toy and never fussed or cried or needed to be walked around. This is a huge difference from the early days!! It makes it much easier to take her places.
• Her weight gain seems to be slowing - probably a combination of how active she is, her age, and the fact that she had so much trouble taking bottles for several weeks.
• We can't believe that next month she'll be 1/2 a year!! Amazing how fast it all goes....

 

Discovering Avery's Voice

The past couple days Avery has really enjoyed hearing herself and experimenting with her vocal cords. It's been really fun to listen to her!!

 

A Weekend with Grandma T, Grandpa and Aunt Maddie

We had a wonderful, cozy weekend with Grandma T, Grandpa and Aunt Maddie who came from Michigan to visit. Avery had so much fun showing off her two new teeth and rolling skills. Avery and me both had pretty bad colds but having our family here made us feel so much better. Hung and me finally started playing "Words With Friends" and we all spent most of Saturday challenging each other and exchanging words. Avery was very busy rolling, smiling, playing with her toys, drooling, chewing and talking and kept all of us on our toes. As always, the time goes by too fast but we loved having everyone (except Uncle Nate) here and can't wait to see them all again!

 Hanging out in the Bumbo

 Loving the strings on Grandpa's sweatshirt

 Storytime with Grandma T

 Bedtime Stories with Aunt Maddie

 Showing off my new headband

Rolling Baby

Avery has now mastered rolling stomach to back and is all over the place!! She loves to just keep rolling over and over.....

Tooth #2

Avery got her 2nd bottom tooth four days after the first. She has been very drooly and chewing on EVERYTHING but not fussy or showing any other signs of discomfort. She has also been very gentle and has not bitten mom yet. So far teething has not been so bad. Once they are further through the gums we'll get some pictures.

Avery's First Tooth

Avery got her first tooth today....It's just starting to poke through so we can't get a picture yet but can certainly feel it. Let the fun begin :)

Here are some pics of Avery on the night she got her tooth.

Hating Shots!

Avery had her 4 month vaccines today...We thought we were in the clear as she barely cried and was in good spirits when we got home. Unfortunately, she woke up from her nap with a fever of 100.3. We are hoping the Tylenol kicks in soon and this passes quickly. Poor thing!

Mom's First Night Away

I had my first work trip this week and had to travel to Denver for a couple days. I was worried to leave her given how fickle she has been with taking bottles but Avery did GREAT! Grams came and stayed with Hung and Avery for the 2 nights I was gone - she went to bed well and only got up once in the night, took her bottles pretty good and was in happy spirits (minus the constant cold she seems to have gotten since starting daycare). Hung sent me lots of pictures and a recorded "conversation" he had with Avery so I didn't get too sad. It was hard to leave her but I am SO happy that she did well at home and at daycare while I was gone. Pumping was a challenge (I was sitting on the floor of several office and airport bathrooms) but I was able to bring back almost all the milk I pumped which was a nice accomplishment and TSA was surprisingly friendly about it at security. It was a good trip but I could not wait to get home to see my girl!!

Thumb Sucking

Avery has really started to like sucking her thumb and has no interest in pacifiers...We will have to see if this is just a phase or if it sticks. Either way, it's pretty cute!

 

Daycare Ups and Downs

We made it through Avery's first week of daycare and my first official week back to work. Avery did the best she could but I think it will take a few weeks before we are all comfortable with this new routine. It was a big change for all 3 of us. Everyone keeps telling us that it takes time and it will get easier...I miss seeing her all day but I also get SO excited to go and pick her up. I know that, ultimately, daycare will be good for her and working again will be good for me. I am looking forward to the day when it doesn't feel so new and foreign.


Thankfully, it's the weekend and we get to spend lots of time together the next 2 days!

The Good:

• Avery's daycare is literally 3 minutes from our house and we can go visit whenever we want. I went twice this week between work calls - once to feed her and once to just play with her. With it being so close it also allows us to take her in a little later and pick her up earlier.
• We love her teachers. Her main teacher, Ms. Dee, is the sweetest grandma you'll ever meet. She is so patient and kind with the babies. When I was feeling frustrated that Avery wasn't taking her bottles she told me "You want a baby with an opinion and it's good that she is so strong willed. And, she will figure this out"
• She's starting to nap better and actually took 2 hour long naps today (better than her 20 minute naps earlier in the week)
• Avery seems to enjoy the new toys and the other babies
• She is definitely getting lots of stimulation - she has been going to bed amazingly well at night. It's obvious she is really playing and taking everything in during the day and it's wearing her out!
• Work is going well for me - It's been good catching up with colleagues and using my brain for things non-Avery

The Bad:

• She is really having trouble taking a bottle. On Thursday she did well and actually took all 4 of her 2 oz. bottles but today she was only able to take one bottle and refused the rest. We both miss nursing during the day (and pumping 3x/day is not much fun) but we are going to be diligent about doing bottles this weekend in hopes it will help her catch on quicker.
• When she doesn't eat she can get pretty panicked and worked up and it breaks my heart to see her so sad.
• Avery is very sensitive to the other babies crying. There was another new infant this week, Beau, who was also having some trouble adjusting. And they ended up having to move Beau to the "big infant" room because whenever he cried it made Avery cry and then he would cry because she was crying and so on and so on. It was actually pretty funny - they did make up later this week. When I picked her up on Thursday they were in boppy's next to each other playing. But, in general, when the other babies get worked up she reacts.
• The biggest negative - We miss hanging out with Avery all day!

On my way to my first day of school!

 

Belly Laughin'

Avery gave us her first real belly laugh tonight....Hung was playing with her on her changing table and giving her raspberries on her tummy. She let out the sweetest giggle and we got her to repeat it a couple times. We can't wait for more!

It has been a rough start to daycare - While we are loving her teachers and the facility, Avery is having a very hard time taking a bottle and napping so it's making life pretty tough for her. It was a nice treat tonight to see her smiling and laughing.

Happy New Year!

We had a very laid back but fun New Year's weekend. Uncle Du came to visit. Hung and Uncle Du were able to fit in 13 holes before getting too cold. And then we all went down to La Margarita for an early dinner with Grams, Grandpa Chuck, Great Grammy and Uncle Cullen. Avery was not in the mood to sit at dinner so we took turns walking her around the restaurant. She especially liked staring at the lights on the pinball machine.

Avery also got her first boo-boo. She threw herself forward at the dinner table and got a little bruise on her forehead. She was quite dramatic after she bumped it but was able to calm down and it's barely visible a few days later. It doesn't appear that she will have a very high tolerance for pain.

On New Years Day we had a great dinner over at Gram's house. Today was spent getting everything ready for daycare. Tomorrow is my first real day back at work and Avery's first day at Kindercare. I am feeling very nervous and sad but hoping things will go smoothly.

Happy 2012! We are excited for all that's to come this year :)