Vote for Avery!

We got home today from our vacation to Columbus. We saw some good friends and went to COSI and the Columbus Zoo. I will post more about it tomorrow or this weekend but in the mean time, if you have a Facebook account, vote for Avery! I submitted her picture to be on the cover of Parents magazine. The $10,000 grand prize wouldn't hurt either.

Don't get discouraged that it says she is in 816th place. I believe that is the order that people submitted the pictures. I have been voting every day (you can vote once per day) and she hasn't moved up or down so that is why I came to that conclusion.

I titled the picture Daddy's Little Princess because it asked for a description and I said that she was born weighing 1 pound 8 oz and even though she has grown a great deal since, she will always be Daddy's little princes.

Just click on the link below to vote. It will then ask you to enter a phrase. Just type whatever it says after "Your Answer". Its a different phrase each time I vote.


http://www.parents.com/photos/parents-cover-contest-2014/2014-06-09/1366b

Thanks in advance for voting!!

Step by Step

Avery, who is now 21 months old, FINALLY took her first unassisted step yesterday. Of course I was in the kitchen and Tim was playing with her. I knew she was close and I told Tim about an hour earlier that Avery stood up and was sooooo close to taking a step towards me.

I took Avery to Stearns Farm in Parma this past weekend. I used to go there when I was little. It was fun to show Avery all of the animals and one day, she will get to feed them. They sell carrots for $.25 and ice cream cones filled with Cheerios for $.50.  I didn't really trust her trying to feed the ice cream cone to the goats. I was scared they would bite her fingers off so I was the one that got to feed them . She did have a good time though and got to see goats, turkeys, horses, miniature ponies, chickens and ducks.

Giddy up little doggy

Chewie loves it when I almost poke him in the eye

I am not fond of the new tunnel. Lily loves it though. Right after mommy took this picture she jumped inside.

me and my daddy

I was pointing at Daddy while he did yard work

Then we took a break in the hammock.

We got to feed the chickens. Mommy says when we move we can get chickens.

The only way I would cooperate and sit on this bench was if I was allowed to hold the ice cream cones..the cones were full of cheerios to feed the animals but I may have dumped them over.

Mommy and I by the lake at Stearns

I am wearing cute jammies. They say Whaley Sleepy

Trying to annoy Chewie and grab his face but this screen is protecting him

I learned to ring the bell like Chewie does

Hey Chewie, look at Daddy out there.

The dogs were being my friend because I was holding treats

I have been getting breathing treatments twice a day, every day. I now take pulmicort and albuterol. Sometimes I am good and hold it in my mouth but most days I don't like it. Mommy and Daddy normally give it to me while I am eating a bottle so I am distracted.

What?? A holiday and no trip to the hospital??

 We really appreciate everyone who has watched or is going to be watching Avery. Not sure what we would do without you! We are going to be sending her to daycare in the middle of June and see how it goes. If it doesn't go well, we are going to pull her out and will need to come up with a different solution. We would prefer to have people we know watch her but that might not be an option and we might have to go with a random person on care.com. Hopefully all will go well and she can attend daycare.

She has been doing well these past couple of weeks. We are all happy that the weather is finally getting warmer. Avery and I went to the zoo on Saturday by ourselves and then went again on Sunday with my sister and her family. Tim watched Avery a few days last week so I wanted to give him time to fix up stuff around the house. Plus he was very excited to set up our new security cameras. We have been having issues with our one neighbor(not the one who shot a bullet towards our house). I wasn't really for the cameras at first but now that we have them I definitely feel safer. I still want to get out of this neighborhood as soon as we can, which will most likely be next spring.

We hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. We did! It was one of the best holidays since we didn't have to spend it in a hospital!

Watching the dogs play outside is one of my favorite things to do

Lily, you are looking the wrong way

Hi buddy!

Just look at me. I am adorable

Mommy, you are what they call a close talker. 

Excuse me Mommy, I am trying to poop

Uh, Chewie, I wouldn't be smiling if someone cut my hair like that

Eating snacks at the zoo

Riding the train

Mommy keeps telling me to hold the bottle up but I hold it like this and then wonder why nothing comes out

Hanging out at the zoo with Eddie, Aunt Janet, Kaitlin and Uncle George

Kaitlin was pointing out all the cool animals for me to look at

I put Kaitlin to work and had her push me around

I am ready to go swimming for the first time this year. By swimming I mean sitting in an inflatable bathtub in the middle of the yard.

See, I wasn't lying. I am in a bathtub in the middle of the yard. Mommy only kept me in the sun for a few minutes..and I had spf 50 on

Enjoying the shade with Chewie

Hmmm, I wonder why the water just got warmer. Just kidding. I have a swim diaper on.

Eating some cheese

Eating my favorite food at the moment. Bread dipped in any kind of sauce. In this picture its spaghetti sauce but I love sloppy joe sauce on bread too

Mother's Day

I'm sorry I am a little behind on posting. I have a bunch of pictures to share. Avery has been doing well being out of daycare except for today. She had a fever last night of 100.5 and then in the middle of the night it was 101.5 and this afternoon it was 103. Besides the fever, she has been a little more clingy than normal. I don't notice any coughing so I am hoping {fingers crossed} that this is just a fever from teething. She has about 11 teeth now and it seems more are popping through.

For Mother's day Tim asked me what I wanted to do and I decided I wanted to take Avery and the dogs to Bow Wow Beach in Stow. We had never been there before but it seemed like it would be really cool. It is a 7 1/2 acre property that is fully fenced with a 3 acre lake in the middle, a beach, grassy area and a dock that dogs could jump off of. The weather was awesome on Mother's Day. We got to Bow Wow Beach and there is a sign that said no one under 48 inches is allowed in :-( Booo, Avery couldn't go in. I am assuming because A) some dogs hate kids and B)some kids love to chase dogs. Avery and I sat outside the fence and she ended up having a great time. Every time a dog ran past us, she waved her hands in the air and made noises at it. She loved it!

We saw my mom and family on Mother's Day but didn't get to see Tim's. Tim's mom had laryngitis but we didn't want to chance it so we decided not to visit. We still have a present for you! We will come over some day soon!

The other day I was trying to organize Avery's millions of plastic totes of clothes she has and I took out the preemie clothes to reminisce. It is so hard to believe that those clothes used to be too big on her!

Me and my brother and sister decided to watch Daddy work in the yard

Look guys, there's Daddy!

Hi Daddy!

Hey, how did you get on that side of the door Chewie?

Check out these pants. Supposedly I used to be able to fit in them.

Giving Mommy some hugs

Look how I have grown!

Preemie onesie with feet compared to 6-9 month onesie without feet!

Look how long my hair is getting

My legs look huge in this picture

Mmm popcorn...this could be how I got the huge legs

Chewie, would you like to eat my hair bow?

We went to the zoo again. I was waiving at all the animals

That is one weird looking dog. 

This weird looking dog wanted to get close to me so it jumped right over by me.. Mommy had to move me away because she didn't know if it was going to bite. Mommy later told me it wasn't a dog

Hanging outside with Mommy and Daddy

Me and Mommy...Sophie photobombed the picture in the background

We took a family selfie

How cute am I? I am posing and everything

Daddy is trying to pose..I was like, what are you doing? I can pose much better than he can

Aunt Janet, Eddie, Grandma B, Mommy and Kaitlin on Mother's Day

Mommy and I posing

Bow Wow Beach!

Hanging out at Bow Wow Beach. One of my favorite new places!

Grocery shopping with Mommy and Daddy

I just wanted to look through the mail

I don't remember what we were looking at but it must have been interesting since me, Mommy, Chewie, Scarlett, Sophie and Lily were all looking at it.

I have a lot of toys but I have fun playing with the cat food

I thought Mommy might get hungry so I put some food in her purse. Hey, I even gave her chicken flavored

Daddy and I got Mommy an orchid and I decorated the container with my foot prints and hand prints.

Here is a close up (Daddy traced my hands and feet and put the cut outs on the pot)

Hanging out with Mommy