Boys will be Boys

Avery enjoyed spending time with his uncles (and Oscar the pup too) over the holidays. 

Daddy's Boy

Avery giving Daddy some loving. 

Good Day

We had the best day with Avery yesterday! He has really started to 'talk' a lot. He has started to repeat various sound combinations that he makes up. This new 'language' of his seems to have replaced the endless whining phase he went through over the past few weeks.

He usually fights to be dressed or changed - crying, twisiting and fighting as hard as he can - but not yesterday. The entire time I changed him he would just 'talk' to me.

He practiced standing alone yesterday. He started out trying on the cat tree. He would move from the lower shelf to the higher shelf while letting go of it in between. He practiced this over and over and didn't realize that we were both watching him. Later in the evening, Jason was sitting on the couch and I was sitting on the floor beside him and Avery was between us. All of a sudden, Avery raised both hands over his head (as if to say "look no hands") and turned to take one step to me. He did this over and over.... laughing and laughing. He seems to have crossed this barrier of not being able to communicate to at least grasping the concept of it yesterday. It was just this really amazing day of discoveries with him. He is the greatest joy I have ever known.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

New outfit $10.00. New stuffed monkey $6.00. New wooden tool bench $7.00. Sitting in an empty cardboard box with tissue and wrapping paper.... PRICELESS!! By far, this was the thing Avery enjoyed most this morning. It does sum up what the holiday is about though... it isn't what is inside the pretty packages that matters - spending time with family and friends is what truly matters and makes the holiday special. 

Avery and Pepe

Avery was very excited to receive lots of new clothes from Meme and Pepe. He loves the color red, so I think this shirt may be his favorite. I like the blue and red flannel shirt. Avery's afternoon was filled with hugs from Meme & Pepe, Great Grammie & Gramps, Aunt Em & Mike and Aunt Dani. 

A close up of the holiday sweater vest! 

First Christmas Tree

Avery's first experience with a Christmas tree was Saturday at a holiday party. He was actually more interested in the train that circled the bottom of the tree than in the tree itself. He was the cause of a few derailments. Check out his holiday sweater vest! We'll post another image of it soon.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree (cont.)

Grammy and Papa Richard came by today to have lunch, and they helped us string the lights and garland on our Christmas tree. Here it is decorated and lit. Hope everyone is having a good start to the holday season.  

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

The Richard family went to cut down their Christmas tree this afternoon. It was a beautiful day for it, with the fresh snow. We picked out a nice little tree and we'll be putting it up tonight. Happy Christmas tree day. 

Avery and Santa

Jason, Avery and I attended Avery's holiday party this afternoon. It was a lot of fun to see him interact with his friends. Here he is with Santa - he was very brave! 

A Question about Shoes

These are Avery's shoes. I'm questioning the necessity of these shoes. His feet only touch the ground when he's indoors. Does he need to wear them? jgr 

Music to His Ears

Someday it will be music to ours! Avery is lucky to have two musically talented grandmothers. Here he is playing the piano with Grammie Richard on his first Thanksgiving. Grammah Green also enjoys playing piano with Avery. 

Rub a Dub Dub

Avery just got out of the tub. 

Avery and Papa 

Avery the Role Model

This is Avery teaching his friend how to play with this toy. He looks SO big here! 

Movin' On Up, To The Top...

Look out world! 

About as Exciting as It Gets

Well, we're excited about it anyway. After two and a half years of listening to our giant brown-cow of a refrigerator make its clunking sound, we bought a new one. It was just like Christmas here today. It has a freezer on the bottom so all of the fridge contents are at eye level (more than eye level for Jen), which makes it very convenient. We also bought a small chest freezer to hold our venison. We still have to hook up the icemaker, which will involve drilling a hole in the floor to run a water line. But that will be a project for another day.

Standing Tall

Avery is standing all the time. He can hold onto the couch and walk along it. He is starting to learn how to put his hands out before letting go... still trying to master this skill. Its amazing how fast they grow!

Avery Monster

This Avery actually acting like a little monster. He thought the Cat Chow looked a lot like his Cheerios! Even when he's naughty, he's just so cute!

Last night, Avery said "da-da". Avery watched his dad say it a few times... then he moved his lips (no sound), then he progressed to "da" and then "da-da". I asked him to say mama - he looked at me, smiled and said "da-da" and looked at Jason. Sigh.

Happy Halloween!

Avery is Sully from the Disney movie Monsters Inc. Daycare sent a ready to display jack-o-lantern home with him last Friday (carved with candle and all). Today they are having a Halloween party and all of Avery's friends were dressed up this morning too. We're so lucky to have such a wonderful place for Avery during the day!

Taking it All In

This is Avery checking out the LL Bean catalog. We had a nice fall drive this afternoon with views of snow topped mountains out to see Meme and Pepe. Avery met his Aunt Emily too. He especially enjoyed the pizza for lunch-it was more like dessert after some sweet potatoes and applesauce. 

Deer Hunting Update

I took a nice doe less than an hour into opening day.

On the Trail of the Elusive Whitetail

Hunting season begins tomorrow. I love this time of year--the cold mornings, the sound of rattling leaves, listening to the woods waking up.

I'm headed out for my first day tomorrow. It's supposed to rain, but it's still hunting season. -jgr

Sir Mix A Lot

Ok, so this isn't our most favorite Avery game. However, it is slightly better than playing with Max's food, the stereo or the woodstove. We've decided to pick our battles - and we've lost this one. 

Skunky!

Max, the brainwave that he is, got sprayed by a skunk this morning right before we were supposed to leave for work. Everyone is quite skunky right now. I got run out of work and had to go home and do laundry and take a shower. Jen is smelly. Even Avery smells like he met the wrong end of skunk. Max is spending the day outside and our house is ventilating.

Under the Table

You buy them all sorts of toys... and they have the most fun playing under the end table! Avery and Max both love this spot. 

Beary Hungry, Indeed.

Today, Avery enjoyed his first cookie (after his homemade sweet potatoes). Please, no comments about the Kramer hair. 

Much Better

Mr. Avery is feeling much better now. Poor little guy.

Poor Avery

Avery has an ear infection. I had an ear infection every year when I was growing up. Jason never had the pleasure of experiencing the red hot, burning pain of an ear infection. I hope that Avery gets his dad's genes in this regard! The medicine seems to be easing some of his pain. So much for breastmilk being the wonder food that keeps illnesses away.

Football Sunday

Avery is sporting his Florida State Seminoles outfit today. 

An Autumn Afternoon

Avery, Max and I enjoyed a walk this afternoon.

Avery is now definitely crawling. He skipped the creeping stage. He went from rolling to crawling. He's doing very well with table food also. He had some bits of pancake for breakfast this morning! He loves cheerios and yogurt. He drinks well from his sippy cup (he doesn't hold it yet). He had chicken stew for dinner (after a spin in the food processor). He's getting to be such a big boy!

We picked up a new pajama set today... the fleece kind with feet. It was so nice to read his bedtime story tonight and snuggle up with him! 

Special Day

I'm not an overly syrupy sweet kind of girl. I'm really a matter of fact, tell it like it is, unsympathetic, overly stubborn and opinionated kind of girl. I don't whisper sweet nothings in my husband's ear. I don't give him mushy cards with or without reason. I hope he knows that I love waking up with him, I look forward to my afternoon email from him "EB", I love this beautiful and amazing child we have created. For those of you who don't know, the blog namesake comes from how long we have known each other... since we were about 11. We have experienced some bumps along the way and I suspect there will be a few more to come, but that's life, right? I am very lucky and thankful to be sharing mine with my husband. Happy Anniversary. Big fat EB to you!!!

Swim Session

The lighting in the pool is not so good for taking photos - so this isn't the best quality image but I had to share. This was our second swim time. This week Avery was getting into it by splashing his hands and kicking his feet! Check out his adorable Baby Gap swim trunks. They are yellow with multi-colored fish, a Goodwill steal for only 99 cents! His daycare friend, Marissa, also goes to swim with us.