Busy Summer

So much to catch up on! Avery went on her first road trip to New Orleans for her Uncle Aaron's wedding. She did so well on the long drive, sleeping most of the time, and I came prepared with a couple bottles so we didn't have to stop much. She partied all weekend and was just a peach - no fussing or complaining about the strange schedule she was required to keep.

Avery fell asleep at the rehearsal dinner, held at Emeril's Delmonico. Yum!!

The wedding was so much fun! We danced to an Elvis song all wearing Elvis wigs (pics to come of this hopefully), and then we had a Second Line, which is a parade through the city complete with brass band and police escorts. We were cheered on by hundreds of onlookers.

While in New Orleans, we enjoyed a very hot day in the French Quarter, partaking in beignets at Cafe du Monde.

Luke's mom and Grandma

Brother-in-law Errol and sweet Emily

Our niece Peyton munching on a beignet

Avery had milk, of course.

Luke's grandparents - aren't they cute?!

We also had a family reunion over the 4th, and of course Avery showed off her patriotism.

With my sister, Michelle. We missed you Bri!!
(More pics to come from the reunion weekend)

Avery turned 3 months old on July 2nd!! She is such a cute, squirmy little thing. She met sweet Katy at the reunion, born 3 weeks after her.

Baby legwarmers are all the rage.

We have a Sip-n-See shower this coming weekend for Avery, and then in 2 weeks we're headed to Austin for another wedding. Good times all around!

Purchases

Per request, here is what I've purchased so far based on my lovely inspiration board. I took some liberties with some of the items, like a couple of the accessories because I either couldn't find them in the store, or I found something I liked better. For instance, the ring...I love how girlie this one is. The shorts...I own a few pairs of nice bermuda shorts, so I went for something a little more casual, in the cropped denim pair from the Gap. The purple shirt shown is the same style, but the wrong color purple from what I actually purchased in the store. Mine is a deep, rich, royal purple. Love it. I could still use some new sandals, and I saw some at Gap that I liked a lot, but they weren't on sale, so I'm waiting. I really like the dress from the inspiration board, but I need to make another trip out shopping, and that's hard to do these days.

**I did learn that the prices on Shopstyle aren't accurate - I found better deals in the stores, and the prices didn't always match up online. Weird.

My Fashion Inspiration Board

Here's what the fabulous Jill of the good life for less came up with for me. Check out the full post here.



I have a couple of the pieces already, like a denim jacket, and I found some of the items (or very similar from different stores) on sale this weekend when I was out at the mall. So fun to have someone pick items out for me!!!

Cause and Effect

You can see Avery's mind working as she interacts with the bee on her play gym. She's learning that her actions cause a reaction in the bee - every time she hits it, the bee jingles. I love watching her put things like this together mentally.

Summertime

Avery Updates and Father's Day

I can't believe Avery is almost 3 months old! She is growing so fast, and we notice new developments everyday. She's been laughing more this week, and her Aunt Haley discovered that she's quite ticklish. She holds her head up so well and her legs are amazingly strong - they never stop moving and she stands up when I sling her now.

She graduated to the big girl tub, no longer using the infant hammock in her baby bathtub.

She talks to the bumblebee hanging off of her play gym all of the time, and she carries on conversations with me while I'm nursing. She'll stop eating for a few minutes to tell me a long story, and then she'll resume eating. So funny!

We also celebrated Father's Day this weekend; we grilled steaks and chicken at his parents' house Sunday afternoon, and then we met my family for dinner Sunday evening. I was bad about taking pictures, but here are a couple from dinner.

Glamour Girl

Avery is such a stylish young lady these days. Her fabulous Great-Great Aunt Mary (doubly great!) brought her a pink feather boa, plus a princess wand and a pretty pink headband for dress-up. We wrapped her in the boa and she instantly smiled - I think she liked the way it tickled her face.

Her rockin' new sunglasses

And a new hairdo

The wig is supposed to be an Elvis wig, for Luke's brothers wedding (we are the Presley family, after all). We all sported them for a dance to Bluesuede Shoes at the reception - I'm hoping to get pictures from someone of us all wearing them. Avery was a hit!

Fun Giveaway

There is this cute blog that I read...I've had the link up for it on my site for months now...Sweetie
Pie Pumpkin Noodle. The gal who publishes this blog always finds such fun design inspiration on the web, plus she's a fellow lover of Etsy. Periodically she'll have some giveaways, and this one up now has to be my favorite. It's for a fashion inspiration board from another fabulous lady, which I am in desperate need of after having a baby - I don't know what to wear on my new mom body. Nothing I own fits, and I don't know how to shop for pieces that will work now and later, when I'm not nursing anymore. Plus, I've never known how to accessorize an outfit. Sigh. I'm hoping that I win this giveaway, because I've fallen in this rut. Go check it out!

***Edit: I won the giveaway! I'll post the end result soon.

101 in 1001

The list is up. See the left side of the page.

The Many Faces of Avery

so cute, right?

but

every once in awhile you get photos like this:

Hey Big Spender...

...you're out the door!

Luke and I have never been big spenders, but we like to eat out and that adds up. We've always tried to be as frugal as possible, but New York did not serve us well in regards to our savings account, so we're developing new ways to save.

• Cloth diapers - diapering would be our biggest expense if we were doing disposable, but we were gifted with all of the cloth diapers we need for Avery, so the only thing we have to purchase is detergent (which lasts FOREVER since we only need to use half the amount the bottle recommends per load) and diaper wipes. We're even considering switching to cloth wipes, since we're doing laundry anyways. We've been drying them in the dryer, but I'm switching to sun-drying them.
  
• No eating out - ok, honestly, minimal eating out. Living in the country makes it difficult to just stop and pick something up on the way home, so I'm having to carefully plan my grocery trips and I'm cooking every night, unless we have a leftover night.
• Start a garden - maybe?
• Ditching the expensive dish sponges and switching to dishcloths.
  

Our biggest change is moving back to Houston. This is partly for financial reasons, so I won't have to put Avery in daycare if I go back to work (and I don't want to put her there, even if it were affordable), and partly just to be near family again.

Settling In

We're settled in Houston, or far-north-rural-past-the-suburbs-of-Houston. Which means...pics to come of Avery's room. Cute!

Country life is hard - too many plants. ALLERGIES.

This move was the hardest, as packing with an infant presented many challenges. It took me forever.

Unpacking was a breeze - we've been here just a few days and the house is in order already. Except for pictures on the wall. Never feels like home until pictures are up.

Bucket List

For awhile now I've thought of starting a list of things I want to do, mentioned to me by my friend Kathryn. Not necessarily a true "bucket list", of things to do before I kick the bucket, but a modification of sorts. It came to me again after reading the blog of a gal I went to college with, who apparently had the same idea, and reminded me that I need to get started on it. 101 in 1001; this gives me roughly 2.5 years to do all of the things on the list, with my hubby and baby girl of course.

We'll work on the list and post it in the next few weeks.

I Love This Girl

6 Weeks!

The past month and a half has absolutely flown by. Everyone says that the first 6 weeks is simply about surviving - we've survived, and I think we've done quite well.

Some of her milestones:
Avery started smiling at 3 1/2 weeks, but only at her Granddaddy.
At 4 weeks, she was smiling at the rest of us.
On Mother's Day, she tracked people for the first time, turning her head to follow them when they walked past her.
She's starting to coo and talk to us in the past week.

Our milestones as parents:
We've mastered cloth diapering, and it's really not that much extra work.
We're faster at diapering, getting them on before she pees everywhere.
I've mastered advanced nursing holds, where I can get up and answer the door (only did that for my mother, not the mailman!) or answer the phone while keeping her latched on. Hurray!
We successfully made a 2 hour car trip to Houston, twice, with Avery, without hyperventilating (okay, I might have a little bit the first time, but those drivers out there are reckless!)
We're functioning on tiny bits of sleep - perhaps we aren't always presentable in dress or smell, but we're up and moving.

Some new favorite photos from the past few weeks:

Her first week at home - how precious is that grin?

Me, Gramma, Avery, Mom

This is what having a newborn does to new dads - allows them to sleep anywhere, even on hardwood floors.

My friend Kathryn flew down from Chicago to meet her.

Luke was sick last week, so he was minimizing contact with Avery. I have a video below of this. He was trying to put her paci back in her mouth.

First tummy time

This is how she looked after the ordeal of our car getting towed, lugging her around in 90 degrees trying to find a bus to get home, then finally being rescued by a friend. She never woke up.

This morning - she's getting so big!

Mothering

(pic from Easter Sunday)

I celebrated my first Mother's Day this year. I look back over the past 6 weeks and see how much I have changed and adapted to this new role I play. I have gone without sleep. I have eaten many a cold meal by myself because Avery wanted to eat then too. I have rocked and nursed and talked and cuddled and cried my daughter to sleep, praying she'd stop crying, wishing I could make it better for her. I have sat by myself nursing while the rest of the extended family enjoys visiting in the next room. I have rejoiced over her first smile, how strong she is and how well she holds her head up already. I have marveled at her newfound ability to track objects. My heart melts when I look at her sweet face when she's sleeping. I love to cuddle with her in the early mornings when she comes to bed with me. Her squeaks and grunts and sighs make me laugh.

My mother celebrated her 25th Mother's Day this year. She dealt with the stress that three babies can bring. She has become a pro at all things newborn. She has taken us to soccer games, orchestra rehearsals, school trips, girl scout meetings, youth group. She sacrificed her time so that we could have a fun childhood. She put her own desires aside to make sure that we never wanted for anything. She worked full time and went to school to finish her degree while raising three girls on her own. My mother sat up at night when we were in high school, to make sure we made it home okay. She risked making us hate her forever by not letting us go to that party or out with that boy. She challenged us, making us think through our actions; she made us work for what we wanted, rather than just giving it to us. And now she is my role model for what a mother should be. I hope that I can be as great of a mom to Avery as my mom is to me.

Meeting More Family

We traveled to Houston this weekend so more family could meet Avery. I was a nervous wreck on the road - it was raining and there were so many bad drivers (or perhaps I was just more paranoid). But, we made it there safely and had a great time!

When the grandparents are around, Avery spends very little time alone and a lot of time in someone's arms. She's giving huge smiles to Grandpa, but he's the only one who gets them. Luke and I are still trying. I just wish I had a picture of that!
Aunt Lela was a saint, and rocked her at 3 in the morning when we failed to get her to go back to sleep.
Mam-ma (Great-Mam-ma?) was a huge hit with Avery, and pretty soon she'll tell Avery the story of Foot, Foot Foot, and Foot Foot Foot. I can't remember how this goes for the life of me, but it was a favorite of mine apparently during diaper changes.

meeting my dad

Avery and Great-Aunt JoLynn

cousin Emily didn't want to let go of her

Cousin Peyton

inspecting Avery's feet

Great-Grandpa sang to her and calmed her down

4 Generations


And, after a long weekend of visiting relatives, there is nothing better than cuddling with Daddy.