Your science lesson for the day.

We have all been sick in the past week! TJ started it with a tummy bug last Thursday. Avery couldn't sleep, which means I couldn't sleep, and she ended up with an ear infection on Monday. So I stayed home with her through Tuesday, and then Wednesday night I woke up with a fever and chills and a killer sore throat. Turns out to be strep. Eew. Feeling much better today, but still have a bit of an ache in the throat. Yay Z pack. I hate taking antibiotics. But, when you need them, you need them. Disclaimer: Please try not to take antibiotics for a cold. It will not help. The cold and the flu are viruses. Bacterial infections are targeted by antibiotics. The common ones are strep, staph, and unfortunately MRSA (the drug resistant bacteria usually found in hospitals-if that doesn't gross you out, then I don't know what will). Taking antibiotics for a virus (60% of all infections are viruses) will only increase your chance of developing resistance to them (making them less effective when you actually have a bacterial infection). Ok, I am off my soap box. If anyone is still reading, see my cute baby below.

Bath time.

Video at bath time.

Pool Day!

Sunday afternoon, Avery decided she wanted to have a picnic. So we invited some friends over, filled up the baby pool, threw some snacks out on the table, and had a little get together in the backyard.

TJ took her swimming.
Riley came. He is SO handsome. (Avery's words.)
Jake is too, but he has another girlfriend at preschool.
Riley, being the oldest, felt it was his job to lifeguard, and teach the rules of "Duck, Duck, Goose."

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon.

"The Almost Crawl" -a poem with photos by Avery

My Daddy is the coolest person I know. He and Uncle Evan killed a rattlesnake yesterday. It had 18 rattles. I like rattles.

This is my "kiss me" face. (See below for my response when kissed.)

See, I can sit up!

MaaaaM....Stop Kissing ME!!!

I am a big girl. I don't need no stinkin' kisses.

I can almost crawl.

I am a big girl, don't bother me.

I can laugh, and play by myself you see.

I don't need your help,

I can do it all by myself,

I'm just like my Mommy.

A little Avery Update

I thought I might catch you up on Avery's latest achievements.
1. I can't remember if I posted this already and I am too lazy to go back and read, but she has her 1st tooth! It came in a few weeks ago, and she is loving some hard foods to crunch! Her new favorite thing is to put a cracker, teething biscuit, or carrot in her mouth and gnaw it down! She has enough hand-eye coordination to do it herself, and it can keep her busy for 30 minutes!
2. She can hold her own bottle! Yay!
3. She can sit up on her own, and stay there for several minutes! Then she flops over backwards, so we must still put pillows behind her to break her fall.
4. The kid is almost crawling. She has been scooting and rolling for a while, but she has just now started pulling herself up into the crawl position. She is lacking the coordination to actually start the crawl, so she flops down on her belly and then flails her arms and legs in an effort to move...it's quite funny. I am not looking forward to this milestone though. It means I actually have to baby proof our house and yard which will be extremely difficult!
5. She sleeps through the night (most nights). We are still having an occasional icky night when she isn't feeling well or something is bothering her (temperature, her own scooting that smashes her into the bumpers in her crib, noisy parents, people who want to look at her after she is already asleep). Her normal sleeping schedule is 7pm-6am, and then an hour long morning nap and a 2 hour afternoon nap. If she gets in her naps, she sleeps great. If not, it's going to be a long night for Mommy!
She is just such a joy, and is getting more fun every day!

Photogenic Much?

I finally put my college degree to use. I actually took some real photos with my big camera. Normally what yall get on the blog is via my blackberry. Sorry. Its just easier to email them to myself from my phone than upload them, then sort, and then upload again to the blog. These are what I got. I am pretty pleased with some. Keep in mind that I do not have Photoshop so these are completely unedited, and therefore not as good as they could be, but I love this first one!

This one I just thought was cute. I came home and this is what the Aunts and Aves were up to.

Cincinnati and Squash

TJ's grandmother, MeMaw, passed away last week. She had asked to be buried in Ohio near her mother, so we made the journey on Friday, sans Avery. Mom kept her so that she wouldn't have to fly since she wasn't feeling very good. We arrived late afternoon, and TJ was determined to make the best of the weekend, so we ended up at the Cincinnati Reds baseball game with 8 of his relatives. Their stadium is right on the river, so it was really cool to watch the boats and the fly balls go by while you are eating a delectable hot dog.
The funeral was Saturday morning in Mason, Ohio, one of the suburbs of Cincinnati. Afterwards we ate lunch at Beverly's brother house, and then we made our way to the IKEA store before heading to the airport. I heart IKEA. That store is like a McDonald's playplace for adults. When we checked in at the airport, we were told that our flight was delayed. After an hour they said we would not make our connecting flight in Charlotte that would take us our car in Birmingham. So we decided we would rather be stuck in Cincinnati than Charlotte, and we made arrangements to get on the early flight the next morning. Then we called TJ's dad to come back and get us, and we headed to Kentucky Motor Speedway. Grant just happened to be racing the number 83 BeasleyAllen.com car (remember that name) 30 minutes from the airport in Kentucky. Well, when TJ's family heard we were going to the race, they wanted to come too, so Hope, Aunt Tinsey, MiMi, PawPaw, Rick and Sherry all came too! See photo of Aunt Tinsey holding onto Linda less than 30 seconds after meeting her. Honestly, I don't think she has ever met a stranger.
So obviously, we were going to make the best of our situation! Not only did we have a blast, but Grant led 25 laps and almost won the dang thing! See this photo of Floyd as Grant is leading! Not even a smile. (Also notice the flames on his hat. I just want to point out that it is sinful in NASCAR world to not have flames on every article of clothing you own at all times.)
He came in 2nd, so we went down this creepy escalator tunnel and walked over to the infield to congratulate him! It was a great evening. This is where it takes a turn for the worse. We realize after watching the car go through inspection and "tech" (to make sure he wasn't cheating somehow) that it is well after midnight, and we have a very early flight to catch...so we load up and head back to our comped room courtesy of US Airlines. Now, I am sort of a hotel snob, seeing as I work for one. And the Days Inn, just doesn't cut it. I was so creeped out by the 1984 decor and the huge window that and number of strange people could have broken right through and murdered us, I could hardly sleep. Not that it mattered, since we checked in at 1:15 am and checked out at 4:45 am, I didn't really have a opportunity. So we slept on the plane, and arrived home safely to find Avery feeling much better than when we left her, and a only slightly irritated but tired Ama (who really helped us out knowing full well that Avery wasn't sleeping because of her stuffy nose!).

Here is Aves riding Heidi...sorry its random...just had this one saved on my computer. I don't know if Avery or Heidi enjoyed it more! They love each other!

Finally, here is Avery eating squash for the first time. Not sure if she isn't hungry or just doesn't like squash. Did I mention she has a tooth? I think the second one is on its way, so I have been letting her try hard things to knaw on like uncooked carrots, melba toast, and organic pizza crust. Seriously, I don't think she wants to eat regular baby food anymore.

Nashville, Lake, Atlanta (but not in that order)

We went to the lake for the 4th. Avery played in the water a little and hung out with Mimi and Paw Paw and the girls a lot!

We stayed at the Renaissance Concourse when we went to Atlanta for Granny's funeral. Avery really liked having the big bed all to herself while we waited for her bed to get brought up!

Avery and Da Da horsing around before bedtime. I don't know who had more fun! I lost all my clothes, but the bow remains.

TJ and I went to Nashville without Avery for Sara's wedding. It was so fun! TJ, Chase, CT, and Phillip sang karaoke at Wanna B's on Broadway after the wedding. I was so proud! The photo is very blurry...it was quite dark and he was moving so fast. You should see the rest of them!

And here is Jenny doing the Britney dance. J-bo, you should quit being a nurse and just dance full time. I hear the Booby Bungalow is hiring.

Eeewww...Nanners.

Avery ate some bananas last night...not the first time, but we got quite a different reaction this time. I mixed them with rice cereal, but I didn't think that would change the flavor. Either way, she gave Searcy and I a good laugh, and I caught a little on video.

In other news, my Granny passed away last weekend. It was very sad, but she had a wonderful 85 years, and she lived long enough to meet her first great grand baby Avery. She will be missed.

Loads of Photos

I have a major backlog of photos to share. Some are pretty old!

I can hold my own bottle now! Mommy is so proud! (It makes her life much easier now that I can feed myself sometimes!)

Did someone say beach?

Mommy took me swimming in the baby pool in the backyard. Daddy videoed and photographed. (Of course, everything I do is a documentable moment.)

I kicked and splashed! I only got mad when I splashed water in my own face.

Yay! No bath tonight!


Any guesses on what she is doing here? I'll give you one hint: Clean diaper needed after this photo was taken.

I am too cool for school. Except that Jake is there now (at school, that is) which makes it much more fun!

4 month photo shoot. She will be 5 months tomorrow~sorry so late!

I love this one!

CARROTS are my favorite! My face likes them, too!

Family/Friends Photo Session

Lady Liberty and Paw Paw.

Lacey at the lake!

Uncle Michael...we might have the same hair dresser.

Uncle E.

Dis' ma Ama, yo.

G Daddy.

Great- Great Aunt Evelyn.

G Daddy, Uncle E, Mommy, Snapper, Daddy, and me!

Gettin' ma hair did

You may have noticed that Avery has chosen a new hair-do lately. I think this is a lovely opportunity to recognize that I am still young and hip, and have an excellent sense of humor. My baby girl has a mo-hawk. I think it is so cute! She has so much hair and its getting long, so I decided to try this out. The alternative is to brush it to the side, but she looks like a little old man with a comb over. I, personally, like the punk rocker look she is sporting these days.

As you can tell from her bib, she loved her avocados I made for her the other night! They have been her favorite so far!

Lastly, when I went in this morning, to get Avery out of bed, this is what I found.

She was upside down, on her back, and playing with her hands. As you can see, the paci was long gone, and although her eyes are closed in the photo, she was awake and happy. She always beats the flash on my phone.