Where the Indian shot me.

When I was little, my Pa (G Daddy's father) called me Possum, and taught me a song (which I sang regularly, and still to this day don't know what it's called) that went a little something like this:

"Eighteen men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and and a bottle of rum." I just want you to have background info into what hanging out with Pa was like before I get to how this all applies to Avery and this photo:

Pa swore up and down that the "hole" in his belly (and mine) was where "the Indian" shot us. The Indian never had a name, I don't know if he was from India, Indiana, or the Poarch Creek Reservation, but I do know that he had a death wish for Pa and little Possum. (I think I should also point out here (for dramatic effect) that with every new grandchild, the nickname possum was passed down like a backwoods Olympic torch ceremony.) Long story short, I thought for quite a while that I was a victim of inter-racial violence and decided it would be a wonderful way to continue Pa's tradition to the future generation. And yes, she is wearing a headband of mine, and yes, she put it on herself.

In other news, we went up to the lake a few weekends ago, and of course, Avery woke up at dawn. So I took her out on the porch for breakfast. Isn't she a treasure?

I love that kid! Even at 6am!

Updates from the Homefront-Avery 14 1/2 months

Busy doesn't accurately describe our past few weeks. More like an ant farm on crack and coffee. We are constantly working and moving and doing. Avery is loving school, but had some "incidents" last week. She hit Will in the face, stole Finley's blankey, and got put in time out for the first time. Eeeek. When did my kid become the bully? She is not even the big girl anymore! Everyone else has caught up! Whew. I just knew she was gonna be huge forever. Turns out, she's normal! YAY! She has realized how much she enjoys being outside with all this nice weather. Anytime the front door opens, she runs to it, and tries to squeeze out into the yard. She loves eating dirt, washing rocks in her mouth, and anything else that irritates the stew out of me. She's obsessed with the hose, picking off leaves of my best looking plants, splashing and stomping in puddles, and blowing kisses to lucky passer-byers. Here are the words she can say with some consistency:

1. duck

2. dog

3. Boo (my moms dog)

4. ball

5. uh oh

6. juice

7. bye bye

Words she says occasionally:

1. mama

2. da (that would be daddy, but she just says "da")

3. baba

4. hie (Heidi)

5. Hi

6. hot

Words we have heard once or twice:

1. squirrel

2. puppy

3. g daddy

4. flower

She is currently eating all food and has no desire to eat anything for babies. She only wants what we eat! Which is good and bad. Because sometimes I just want a french fry and she is not allowed to eat those yet. We are sticking to mostly organic and home cooked foods for her right now. She gets lean meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, and legumes or potatoes everyday. I send her food to school since they eat all kinds of processed food that I don't want her eating. It is my goal to teach her as early as possible about good nutrition. We have been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and it has made me even more aware of the growing problem with our diets. I think Allison has posted somewhere on her blog about this too. It is truly an epidemic. I won't get on my soapbox today, since you have heard it from me before, but I am recommitting to eating organically, locally, sustainably, and healthily. I hope you will, too.

And now, a quick photo montage of our past few weeks:

After Grant's 6th place finish in the ARCA race at Talladega and a 3rd place finish the week before at Texas. TJ and I ended up not going, but we watched both raced from the living room on Speed Channel.

Avery at the park, again. The obsession continues!
The day we took 5 neighborhood kids to Hobby Road to fish, and I almost lost my mind. You can't go from one toddler, to 5 children under 13 in an afternoon, and keep your sanity. Although TJ somehow managed to.

Swine Flu

I thought this whole H1N1 thing was about over, and WHAM, somehow I end up with it. While I would never have self diagnosed this, and neither did WebMD, Dr. K guessed it right away, ordered the incredibly evil nasal swab to test, and positive it was. Fortunately, it is not as bad as I would have thought. Mostly feels like the worst sinus infection/chest cold ever. No fever, body aches are mild, so I would never have guessed it to be the flu. I texted TJ as I walked out of the Doc in the Box simply, "swine flu". Immediately, he called back (I think he thought I was joking), and his first question (which was mine as well to Dr. K) was what about Avery and I. I regurgitated the response of "cross your fingers". EEK. That's it? Cross my fingers that my little 14 month old doesn't get freakin' swine flu? Well, as I may have posted in the past, I think she has already had it. At this point I hope she has already had it.

As you may have guessed by now, I have been quarantined at home today (hence the time to blog) and tomorrow, but pending how I feel, I may be breaking out of here and headed to Birmingham for a shopping trip. Did I mention Saturday is my birthday? I would really like to be feeling good by then! Plus, I have to dye Easter Eggs and cook some stuff for Easter Lunch.

I have been holding on to some good photos of Ms. Avery since the last time I posted. Here you go:

Aves with her new toy duck.

First time to play in the sand, did I mention she LOVES IT?
At the Easter egg hunt.

With the Easter Bunny
On the boat at the lake.

Daddy fished one day last week. I thought he deserved a photo on here too.

YAY WEATHER!

Can anyone be as excited as me? I heart warm weather, and yes, I know it will get cold again before the marvelous warmth decides to stick around, but I just have to begin my celebration now! We hosted an engagement party for Lacey and Justin on Saturday in our backyard. The weather was great for our setup, the party, and even our breakdown yesterday. Avery watched from her bench:

I am looking forward to the beach, and the lake, and the warm weather in general! I swear I have been a much better mood because of the sunshine on my face! I will post photos of the party later...I took a million!

Lastly, I want to wish a special CONGRATULATIONS and BEST WISHES to Suelin and Phillip!!!! They got engaged on Saturday! I am so excited for yall! TJ, Avery, and I wish you the best, and are looking forward to that wedding in October!!

Avery's Birthday Party

Avery will officially be 1 year on Thursday, but we had a little pre-game party (literally, right before the super bowl) to celebrate the momentous year it has been. Not only does my kid L-O-V-E cake, she thoroughly enjoyed all the extra attention! She slept like a rock when the sugar high wore off. I am posting two videos for your enjoyment. The first one is of some of her other guests at the party, and one of her with the mostly eaten smash cake. (video would not upload, so I will try again later!)

Thank you to all who came and we missed those who couldn't be there! It has been an exceptional year for us. I love my little monkey more than I ever dreamed I could, and TJ and I are so proud of her!

In other news, TJ has merged Partners with Graham C's Source Holdings and is now a lean mean machine of real estate, land sales, and property management.

Go Shawty, It's ya Birthday.

I cannot believe Avery is about to be a year old! How quickly the time has gone by! And by comparison, how long the previous 9 months were to get her here! In honor of this momentous occasion, she and I had a little photo session in Party City the other day.

Yep...I love that kid.

Her newest accomplishments?

1. Pointing to, and saying the word "duck", while looking at the lovely specimen on our mantel.

2. Using every possible item in our house as a "phone". She tries to call "dada" on her sippy cup, her brush, my shoe, the remote control, and my actual phone turned around backwards. She has all the right motions, but can't seem to figure out why no one ever talks back.

3. Tries to put her shoes on, but can't get them on just yet. Boy does she love her shoes. She says "shhhhh" for shoes, and "saaah" for socks.

4. Can sometimes point to Heidi when I say "Where's Heidi?"

5. Grew two new teeth last week for a grand total of 8.

6. Is a wonderful, beautiful sleeper!! Hooray!!! (seriously, this is the best of all, because it means that Dada and Mama get to sleep until 6:30 almost every morning!)

We are most excited about the small birthday party we are having on Sunday! It is Backyardigan themed! She loves the Backyardigans. Check them out on Nick Junior if you have no idea what that is. Photos of that to come!

My favorite time killer...I miss her!

The last few weeks have been so hectic around the Williford house. I am rockin' and rollin' with the Alley, so much, that I am having trouble keeping up with laundry, dishes, and general cleaning at home, and I am missing out on a lot of special time with Avery. The other stuff I can deal with, but I hate that my part time turned full time job is cutting in on my mommy daughter bonding time. I can't keep up with the phone calls! It truly is a great problem to have though. I am not complaining about that part! But I sure to love this face:

Her latest obsession is a little statue of a lamb that Searcy and Alicia gave her (what she is holding in the picture if you can make it out). It is freaking heavy though. She just carries it around with her. Cracks me up. The other favorite object she carries is a satin blanket. That thing gets washed all the time because of the abuse it takes being drug around on the floor several hours a day! She is a funny little girl!

I know this photo is crappy...I couldn't get her to sit still long enough to get the helicopter bow on her head. It was super cute. Boo on my blackberry camera.