Avery- 7 Months

7 months is here!  I tried to snap quick pictures of her prior to heading to Lincoln.  She was interested in the board next to her and her hair was still wet from her bath.

  Our little girl is growing up more and more each day.  Avery is finally sitting up on her own, still working on those teeth, showing no interest in crawling, loving baby food, sleeping pretty much through the night (will wake up usually around 4 or 4:30), jabbering away and she said ma ma for the first time and continues to say it frequently!  I was so excited as Landon's first words were da da.    Overall, she is a VERY happy baby.  Often times people will comment on how sweet and happy she is and they are right; however, I have to remind them that the first 3 months were **** and not so pleasant.  We are finally glad we are able to enjoy her more.  

These are two of my favorites from daycare.  We are blessed to have such a wonderful daycare provider who takes gobs of pictures of our children throughout the week.  She is usually the one that gets the best shots of them.  

Mr. and Mrs. Fausett

 My parents came to stay with the kids Saturday while Kurtis and I were at the Fausett wedding.  Kurtis was in the wedding and I didn't feel like managing both kids on my own; plus I wanted to go and enjoy myself without constantly having to take Landon potty or feeding Avery.  Before we left my parents took Landon to the park.  Landon was so proud of himself walking Wally.

This was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to.  The ceremony was very touching and you could just feel the love between them and the boys. 

The reception was upstairs in the New Life Church.  It was a very non traditional wedding and reception which made it so much fun.  They had cake, nachos, popcorn balls, pool, basketball, etc.  

Enjoying the Photo Booth

Michaela and Taylor's Graduation

The kids and I headed to Ravenna Saturday, May 10th for Michaela's gradation.  

Avery and Taylin chewing away!  

The graduate!  

Kody and Grandpa made this cupcake stand for her graduation party!  Each color of cupcake was a different flavor!  

Then on Sunday, May 18th we headed to Lincoln for Taylor's graduation.

Grandma and Taylin signing "Go My Children"

Taylor was selected as 1 of 2 speakers in her class to speak on behalf of her graduating class.

Avery enjoying the beautiful weather outside.  The ceremony was a tad longer this time around and Avery got antsy.  

Congratulations to both of my cousins.  Michaela will be going to Hastings Community College next year and majoring in Ag Business (I believe) and Taylor will be dancing at Concordia and majoring in Elementary Education.  

6 Months- Avery

Our sweet little girl is already 6 months old.  It is so hard to believe it has been half a year already.  She continues to bring joy and smiles to our family.  Our friend Jessi once again took her 6 month pictures. Landon tagged along with us which was perfect as he was able to help get her to smile.  She continues to adore her big brother.  

Grandma Phillips picked out this outfit. 

Landon picked out this one!

And Daddy picked out this one!  

With the second child you find yourself a little behind on schedule and going with the flow is typical.  We pretty much skipped the rice cereal stage and jumped straight the baby food stage at 6 months.  Avery of course made the typical sour face but has seemed to enjoy her food so far.  Between daycare and myself we have done squash, sweet potatoes, peaches, bananas and apples.  There is no particular order we are going in; we just feed her whatever. There hasn't been anything yet that she doesn't like.   

--Of course for her 6 month pictures she was a little wobbly when it came to sitting up; however, she has been doing pretty good lately.  Still a little top heavy but she's getting stronger.  

--She is also rolling from back to tummy and tummy to back.  

--She loves playing with her toys and is really starting to grab and chew on various objects.  

--Avery is also very alert.  At daycare she does not nap unless all the other kids are napping; she doesn't want to miss out on the action.  

--When Landon was this age he was our little owl (He would "who, who, who") Avery is our little lion as she roars.  I need to try to get it on video.  

--She is also a jabber box and has high pitched little squeals.  

--Still not sleeping through the night. :( She was only waking up around 3:30; however, now we are finding that she is waking up twice again.  

We went to the doctor at the end of April for her 6 month appointment and Dr. Steinke said she looked great!  I was really worried about this appointment because of her head.  At 6 months Landon got his helmet and at our 3 month appointment with Avery, Dr. Steinke made a comment about Avery's head being a little flat.  Of course we were more educated this time around and I didn't know how she could have a flat head when she is constantly being held and slept on her belly the entire first 3 months.  I told Kurtis that I think we just have babies with flat heads.  Dr. Steinke said that there are just kids who are born with softer heads than others.  

At this appointment she spent a lot of time looking at Avery's head.  She said it looks symmetrical and her ears and eyes are in line; however, one side is more prominent then the other on top above her ears.  :(  With her crazy hair it is something that is harder to notice. I was waiting for the referral; however, she said that we have a little more time left to make a decision so she asked us to come back in 6 weeks to check the growth.  We'll pray that we don't have to go through the helmet stage again.  

Other than an odd shaped head we have a healthy and beautiful little girl.

26 1/2 inches (75th percentile)

16 lbs. 6 1/2 oz. (50th percentile)

Head- 17 inches