Happy Birthday Uncle Dick!

In the past people have asked Jon and his friend Dick/Rich/Richard if they are brothers, and the answer obviously no, but when your as good of friends as those two are, you might as well be family :) Happy 29th Birthday Uncle Dick!

Hanging with Uncle D and Bray

Avery & Rich

Just Chillen with Rich 

Driving the boat with Uncle Dick

Cousins!

All Smiles about having new cousins!

Avery is proud to announce the birth of his cousins! Yesterday, 7/28/11, Dylan Lee (girl) and Frederick (AKA Freddie) Wayne were born! Congratulations Lori & Chris!  

At the Park with Grandma & Grandpa

This past Sunday, we dropped Avery off with his Grandma & Grandpa B so Jon and I could run some errands. After a nice long nap if was off to the park to play with Grandma & Grandpa, and it looks like he had a great time. 

Napping at Grandma & Grandpa B's

Swinging with Grandpa  

Sitting on the slide. 

Checking things out with Grandma 

Silly Grandpa

 in a few months Avery’s claim on his Grandma & Grandpa B will have be shared with his new cousins, but for now Avery has them all to himself, and loves every minute. Thanks for watching Avery and for loving our baby as much as we do! 

Playing Ball

This weekend we discovered  a game that makes Avery laugh, and us laugh as a result of his laughter. It’s a simple game, Grandpa T would roll a ball to Avery and he would laugh and giggle and hold the ball with his feet and then Grandpa would roll the ball again. It was great game, I love to hear the sound of Avery laughing.

Playing Ball with Grandpa  

What a fun new game!

Just what the doctor ordered!

Our weekend plans were pretty simple, relax and rest. After a week of at least one of three of us being  sick everyday we all needed to have a weekend to relax. Jon had a softball tournament, so his relaxing came in the form of running around the outfield for 3 games in the hot sun, while Avery and I stayed clear of that sort of relaxing by cuddling in bed for a while Saturday morning then meeting my mom and cousin for lunch before heading out to the lake for friend’s 5th birthday party. 

Playing at the lake

Getting a better view of the birthday party

Sunday was more of the same for Jon, playing 2 more game of softball, while Avery  and I stayed home and enjoyed some fresh air. In the afternoon we took Avery to Grandma and Grandpa B’s, where he had a great nap before going to the park to swing, while Jon and I ran some errands. It was a great weekend after a long week of being sick, just what the doctor ordered!

Stomach Bug

Do I look sick to you?

There seems to be a stomach bug going around our house this week. Monday when I got home from work I wasn’t feeling so hot, or actually I was, and then cold and then hot again, and I couldn’t keep any food or fluids down. So work and softball were out of the questions for Tuesday. After some rest and fluids I was on my way to feeling a lot better. Wednesday  I felt well enough to go to work but at 10:00 I  got a call from Daycare that Avery had thrown up. I took him to the doctor just as a precaution, everything checked out fine, he most likely just had the same bug  I did (apparently it has been going around) and the doctor also suggested that he go back on his neb as his wheezy-ness had returned. Avery spent the rest of that afternoon with grandma. Thursday morning Jon woke up sick and didn’t go to work, and stayed home and rested and got some fluids. And again at 10:30  I got a phone call that Avery had thrown up, so I again went to get him. In hopes of trying to keep the circle of sickness as small as possible, Avery again spent the afternoon with my mom. Avery could have gone back to daycare today if he had gone 24 hours without throwing up, but that didn’t happen, so today he is not at daycare. For the most part he has been in good spirits threw all of this, we are keeping an eye on him, but with any luck we will soon be on the road to recovery.

Reverse

Avery likes to push himself backwards under the couch

Avery is ready to be on the move. He doesn’t crawl yet but he is really working on it. To get from toy to toy he rolls and pushes himself in reverse. You can almost see the gears turning in his mind as he tires to figure out how to go forward and get what is in front of him just out of his reach, soon enough he will get it and we’ll be off to the races.

New Flavors

Eating Carrots

Avery has mastered Rice Cereal, Green Beens, Peas, and now he is working on Carrots. After carrots next will be squash the final veggie. After the veggies we will be onto fruits. So far everything has gone really good with the solid foods, He still loves his bottle but is willing to try other new things. Lets hope he keeps his food mind open as he grows.

Avery and His Armadillo

After a delay in Phoenix due to weather in Minneapolis I got home a little later then I was originally thinking on Friday night but I did beat Jon and Avery who had gone out to a friends house for the night. When they pulled in the driveway I had just walked into the house. Avery had been awake for half of the ride home but was sleeping when they got home, Jon took him out of his bucket and gave me my sleeping baby to hold. I was very glad to see him and very happy to hear that everything had gone so well from him and his daddy while I was away. Although I could have held him all night, I thought it would be better to let him sleep in his crib.  So in his crib he went and  I  went to locate my toothbrush and things  I needed to get ready for bed myself, traveling all day really wears a person out. Before going to bed I stuck my head in Avery’s room excepting to find him sleeping, but I found that he had rolled over and pushed him self up and with his eyes wide open in the dark staring right at me. I couldn’t resist, he had already seen me and had huge smile on his face so I had to go pick him up. Avery giggled and talked, I think he knew that I was gone and that I was back now. I was glad to see how excited he was to see me but he was already really tired and I didn’t want him to try to stay up just to see/play with me so I handed him to daddy so he could rock him and  put him back to bed, after all there would be plenty of time to play the next day.

Saturday morning when Avery woke up I gave him the present that I brought back from El Paso for him, a stuffed Armadillo, from a shop at the airport. Avery’s Armadillo is soft and fuzzy not at all like the real thing, and small enough to fit in my carry on. Avery really seemed to like his new friend laying in his crib giggling and talking to it. 

Avery talking to his Armadillo friend

Armadillos are tasty

Avery and His Armadillo

The trip was good I got the job that I needed to get done, done and Avery got to spend some uninterrupted time with his daddy, but I am very glad to be home.

Flying Solo

This morning after I dropped Avery at daycare I headed to the airport, not to pick someone up and return home, but to board a plane bound for Texas, where  I will be for the next two nights. Which means for the next two nights I will be without Avery.  This is the first time that I have left Avery overnight, which also means this is the first time Jon will be with Avery by himself overnight. I am not worried, (and no I am not trying to convince myself) I just hope Jon is able to get some sleep, he just isn’t used to listening/getting up with Avery and he might not sleep as well, but they will both be fine. The hardest part about being away from Avery is that I wonder what he is doing, and I wonder if he will notice/understand that I am gone and I wonder if  he will miss me, and  I wonder if he will be happy to see me when  I get home. I will be back late Friday night and Avery will most likely already be sleeping but I plan on cuddling with him anyway.

My Baby the Pin Cushion, Part 3

Yesterday was Avery’s 6-month well baby visit, and he weighed in at 17lbs 15oz (57th percentile), and measured at 26” long (29^th percentile) and his head is 17.25” around (53^rd percentile). So everything looks good there. His height/length is a little off from where he had been tracking but it is difficult to get an accurate measurement on a squirmy 6 month old, so that number isn’t most likely accurate. 

Getting his measurement taken

As with Avery’s past well baby visits it was time again for shots, he drank one and took three others in his legs. Like the past times he has had shots he took them like a champ, only voicing his dislike for them briefest of moments, with a red faced cry and a few tears that went away the second the puncture sites were covered and I could pick him up. Then it was back to my smiley little guy. 

Waiting in the Doctor's office  

Garfield Bandaids make boo-boo all better

Something Avery showed me at his visit is that he now knows how to go in reverse. He pushes with his arms and propels himself backwards on his tummy. He was on the table in the doctor’s office when he showed off this new skill so I am not sure how far he can go, but soon when I put him down he wont be where I put him. Baby gates will be going up at our house very soon!

Avery’s next Well Baby visit isn’t until 9 months aka October (no shot next time). It will be fun to see how much he has grown and learned to do between now and then.

Green Beans

Saturday Avery added another flavor to his pallet, Green Beans. So his expanded pallet is now, milk/formula, rice cereal, and green beans. For the past 2 days Avery has had 2 TBS of rice cereal for breakfast with a 6 oz bottle (drinking most of it) then for “Lunch” he had his vegetable with another bottle, then his afternoon snack aka bottle, 2TBS of rice cereal with a bottle for supper and bottle before bed time, and that seems to be okay with him. He seems happy and to be doing fine, so I guess what we are doing is working. Today is the first day that he will have something other then milk/formula at daycare, I hope that it goes as well for them as it has for us.

New Food: Green Beans

Yummy!

Now that Lunch is over it's playtime!

Tomorrow Avery will be ready to try something new so we will just continue with the plan of introducing one new food at a time, starting with the green veggies, then the orange veggies then moving on to the fruits, and somewhere along the line increasing the amount of cereal. With babies there are no real timelines you just have to be ready to chance when they do, and that is more and more obvious everyday.

Solid foods are just another new experience for Avery, and with every new experience that Avery has, Jon and I have one too. In past 6 months we have learned a lot. One of things I have learned is that parenting seems to be a whole lot research combined with trial and error. 

Watch Me Grow - Six Months

Avery is 6 months old today! He has learned to do so many things in the past month, adding to his already impressive skill set. Avery now rolls over (all the time), can sit up (with help) and play (and prefers sitting and playing to laying down and playing most of the time), he is learning to eat “solid” foods. Everyday he is growing and learning. Happy Half Birthday to my Baby Boy Avery! Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!

Six Months

Solid Food!

July 4th 2011 is the day Avery first tried solid food, oatmeal and mixed fruit cereal mixed with formula to the consistency of watery paste, so to call it solid food might be a stretch but  when you’ve only had liquid I guess it counts. We put him in his highchair and moved all the toys off his tray and got ready to try something new. 

Bring on the FOOD!

The second Jon put the bowl on the tray Avery was reaching for it , he knew what was coming.

I'll have some of that.

Every time Jon offered him the spoon he opened his mouth and took what was on it without hesitation.

Open Wide! 

Is there something on my face?

I'd have more.

 Everything seemed to go well with eating the cereal so we will keep eating that for a little bit before we try something else new but we are on our way.

Red, White and Blue Baby Boy

What a weekend filled with Fourth of July festivities.  Friday morning was his daycare Fourth of July parade, which equals all the kids from the daycare walking around the block, but this year due the weather the route was shortened and the bigger babies stayed behind. The little babies, Avery’s room, never go because it is just to difficult with babies that range from 6wks to 9 months, although his room wasn’t going I still dressed him in red, white and blue for the occasion. 

Red, White & Blue Baby Boy

Saturday we had the biggest plans of the weekend, we spent the day at a friends house on the lake.  Knowing that it could be a long day for Avery without any of his toys we packed some bigger toys up in the Jeep before heading out, we also threw in a pack and play for his nap, every time we go somewhere for the day it always amazes me how much longer it takes us to get out the door and how much stuff one little baby needs. Packing some toy bigger toys was worth it, it gave Avery a place to be without having to be held or in a car seat all day. 

Chillen in the shade

Playing in the Sun

Covered in sunscreen Avery spent the day on the deck in the shade playing with his toys, and loving every minute.  After playing for a while it was time to hit the pool, Avery dressed in his red, white and blue swim trunks, Avery went swimming for the second time in his life.  The sun was out and the water was warm and he had a great time, he even went under water.

Swimming with friends

 We played in the water until we were prune and then it was time to get out and dry off, and after a bottle it was time for a quick nap before it was into to a life jacket  and out on to the lake for a boat ride. 

Napping

The boat ride gave Avery another chance to take a nap but when we was awake he enjoyed looking around and didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered by the life jacket. 

Driving the Boat

First Boat Ride!

 After the boat ride we decided to pack up and head home guessing that our little boy would be tired soon and would mostly likely be sleeping before we made it home, but he stayed awake the whole ride home and even stayed up to play once we got there, not falling asleep until 10:30. 


Sunday our plans were to have lunch with Jon’s Family for Avery’s Uncle J’s birthday. We ate while Avery napped, then once he was awake of course there were pictures to  be take and then it was time to play. Avery showed off some of his tricks and had a great time.

Grandma & Grandpa B

Barbeau Boys

I can do so many things!

Making Music!

After playing hard with Grandma & Grandpa B

Monday we made plans to go to my parents for lunch and try out their new grill. After lunch Avery got into a swimming diaper and went out to play in the shade in a tub of water. 
And what a great time he had splashing in the water, getting me and grandma wet while doing so. 

*Splash*Splash*Splash*

All Wet

All tired out after playing in the water

It was a long good weekend, I am guessing that Avery might spend some time sleeping today at daycare recovering from all his adventures, but your never know he is always full of surprises!