Happy Holidays

Wishing everyone a happy hannukah, merry christmas and happy new year! We actually had our act together enough to take a family photo and mail out holiday cards mostly on time this year! 

The holidays were pretty low key for us this year since Averie doesn't understand. Might as well get away without too many presents while we can. Averie enjoyed watching the menorah candles getting lit at night. She also helped decorate her grandparents Christmas tree, placing a few ornaments on it herself. And of course loved ripping the wrapping paper and tissue paper a little more than the presents inside ;) 

11 months

Happy 11 months to our baby girl! We took Averie out to a pancake breakfast AND lunch to celebrate. She was in heaven with the salad buffet for lunch, trying beets for the first time. She had a whole plate of food in front of her complete with kidney beans, peas, cucumber, spiral pasta, beets and sweet potato, needless to say, peas are still her favorite! She has been busy cruising around the house. She will stand on her own for a few seconds until she realizes it and then sits down, only a matter of time until she stands on her own!

We have had a busy month with a trip to CT and fall festivities. It was a great week spent with Goma, Go, Uncle Lew and Olivia. Averie got to play in the fall leaves and pick out pumpkins. It was so nice to be able to take Averie to Blue Jay orchards and Stew Leonards where my family went for many years throughout my childhood. She however did not care for having to wear a jacket, good thing it is rarely cold in Florida.

10 months

Averie turned 10 months on Rosh Hashanah this year, what a great way to start the Jewish new year! She loved her celebratory meal of roasted chicken and carrots, noodle kugel and a matzo ball! She has also been standing and cruising around the furniture. At her doctor's visit, she weighed 19lbs and 11 ounces! Can you tell she still LOVES to eat?! It has been fun to introduce her to new foods and be able to take her out to eat and share with her. Below she is enjoying her favorite food, blueberries in a pancake!

 This month, Averie realized that she can hide from us for peek a boo and not just us hiding. She also discovered the bathroom, banging on the toilet seat lid, playing in the water if we forget to put the lid down, and unrolling the toilet paper.

Last week we were lucky enough to have not one but two visitors! My Nana flew down to see us and overlapped with my mom! Averie was of course spoiled by everyone and cracked us all up. She was very busy babbling away, jumping in her exersaucer and eating! They got a little glimpse into our daily lives, and as always were very helpful. We miss them already and can't wait to see them again soon.

It was great to have 4 generations together.

9 months

Baby girl is growing up! This past week she is insisting she feed herself everything with her hands. It certainly makes meals messy! She tried blueberries this week and that is all she wants to eat for every meal, so funny! One of our favorite breakfast places in Orlando just opened up in Wellington, so to celebrate Averie had her first silver dollar pancakes...of course she loved them, who doesn't like pancakes?! Averie has 2 more teeth breaking through on the top for a total of 6 teeth!! Her fingers are still in her mouth so I am guessing it is only a matter of time until 2 more break through on the bottom.

She continues to cruise crawling around the house and explore new places. She thinks it is hysterical when we chase her around upstairs and go boo! Another big first was going under the water in the pool yesterday! She "jumps" off the edge into Jason's arms and kicks her way across the pool ( Of course with Jason holding her).

8 months

I feel as though every month I am later and later with posting Averie's picture and accomplishments. I swear she is growing so much so quickly and I don't know where the time goes. Doesn't hurt that we have been busy traveling as well.

Averie has seriously mastered crawling and even tried to crawl out of the chair while taking her monthly picture! She has started pulling up and standing holding onto furniture...eek! She is starting to play more on her own and crawls over to her toy bins to dump them out and find whatever toy she wants to play with. Now if only she could put them away too ;)

We continue to try new foods and she loves to feed herself. We started more finger foods like her morning banana, cucumber spears, and cooked pasta. So far we have been lucky that she is an adventurous eater, the only foods she doesn't like are avocado and asparagus.

Rhode Island

Every 4th of July week my family rents a house in Rhode Island. This was Averie's first real year going, last year she came in womb. It was definitely a different type of vacation than in the past, but it was so nice to be able to share a special place for my family with her and add on to the tradition. We took our annual trip to the lighthouse and luckily Averie woke up at the end to ensure her picture was taken there too. We have pictures there from when my mom was pregnant with me and my brother, and us through the years growing up. Now we have pictures with Averie to add to the collection. She was too young this year for lobster and steamers, but hopefully next year she can enjoy them with us.

This year Uncle Lew and Olivia came, which was a nice treat. It is always fun to see them and watch them interact with Averie. Olivia brought her ukelele, which Lewis played for Averie to dance and kick along to!

We made a trip to the beach, but unfortunately, the water was too cold to play in and was so windy everything was coated in sand in a few seconds. Who knew how long it would take and how much stuff one little baby would need for 15 minutes at the beach! Luckily, she didn't mind and had fun anyway.

 

And no trip is complete without going to the rocks...even if we didn't get any sunbathing in we had a relaxing picnic breakfast!

Father's Day

This was Jason's first Father's Day! We had a nice breakfast out with Averie and Jason got to enjoy his favorite breakfast potatoes. Then we went to the Cornet's for a family lunch and he took Averie swimming, she did great and proceeded to take a 2 hour nap in the pack n play! She is lucky to have such an amazing dad who loves her and spends so much time playing and swimming with her!

Jason's dad got him the funniest shirt, he can't wait to show it off to his Daddy friends.

7 months

We can't believe Averie is already 7 months old! She is trying so hard to crawl. Averie is very determined and has been on all fours rocking and scooting. We better hurry up and start baby proofing the house! Averie continues to be a piggy and loves most foods. She starts to kick and complain if we try to eat our own food or don't get the spoon to her fast enough, haha. We have given her puffs and cheerios to eat. She has great dexterity to pick them up and enjoys being able to feed herself, she even holds her own bottle!

Averie and I are taking a mommy & me class with a few of our friends and she just loves to play and try new things. Last week's theme was on the farm and she got to wear a cowboy hat and play with all sorts of farm related toys and stories.

6 Months

A few days late, but wanted to get the stats from the doctor. Averie weighs 15lbs 10.5oz (40%) and is 27 inches long (88%). Still our long, lean and active little girl. She is working on sitting up, doing push ups and scooting on her head/back. We are not ready for her to be crawling, but she sure seems determined. She also had her two bottom teeth break through back to back, then got her first cold...not fun for anyone :(

We started solids a few weeks ago and Averie loves her veggies. She likes peas, green beans,  butternut squash and sweet potato already, but is not a fan of applesauce or pears. I never knew babies didn't like applesauce, thought it was a given. Below is a video of her first bites of oatmeal. She tries to hold her own bottle at bedtime and will start trying a sippy cup this month. She is growing up so fast and can't wait to see what the next month will bring us.

Jacksonville

We took our first road trip to Jacksonville and Averie was a champ sleeping most of the way with one stop for lunch! Definitely felt lucky to be able to drive up for Lauren's 30th birthday party and to meet their son Jeremy who is 6 days younger than Averie. It has been so great to go through this experience with a friend and now for our babies to meet. Definitely love at first sight, they were holding hands, and showing off all of their tricks while playing on the floor. We had such a great visit and miss them already!

Passover

We all survived Averie's first plane ride and family trip to Atlanta for Passover! We even managed to do carry on with an infant, but would not recommend it to anyone nor will we try that again ;) I guess that is all part of the learning process as first time parents. It was so great to see family and celebrate Aunt Robyn's 60th birthday, as well as Passover together. Averie even got her first pair of wings, we weren't sure if airlines still have them but lucky for her they still do! Uncle Lew was kind enough to take some amazing family shots while there

 

 All of the girls!

Averie even got to ride her first carousel, she wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but seemed to enjoy the lights in the center more than the horse going up and down.