Visit from Memaw and Dedaw

The first weekend in March Scott's parents, aka Memaw and Dedaw, came for a little visit. Unfortunatley, the night they got here Avery had started throwing up. Luckily, she was over the worst part by the next morning but she still was not back to her usual self for a while. As always, Jan brought a quilt to work on. Avery had a great time playing with the quilting squares, mostly hading them back and forth to her Memaw. She also got plenty of time with her Memaw in the rocking chair. I would've taken a picture of them napping together in the rocker, but i didn't want to disturb them! Even though she was sick Avery showed off her latest "skills" to impress her grandparents. Then after they left she decided to make her loving parents and grandfather suffer by getting us all sick the following week-- yuck! Luckily it was a fairly short little stomach virus-- at least for Scott and I.

Ski Trip

OK- so i decided I had to post the 2 (yes only 2) pictures we took on our ski trip in Red River. I guess since Avery was not there, we just weren't in picture-taking mode. My parents came in town last Thursday night and kept Avery Friday through Monday while Scott and I went skiing in Red River with a group from church. I was a little uneasy about leaving Avery overnight for the first time, but i was also really excited to ski since it had been several years. Luckily it was just like Scott said-- skiing came back like riding a bike. The weather in Red River was great and we had good company- both of which made up for the man made snow and lack of fresh powder. Avery did great here with her Mimi and Poppi. I'm sure she enjoyed being here with them vs. riding in the car for 9 hours. I can't imagine! It was pretty strange though not to have her around and not having to take care of her. I was definitely ready to see her on Monday after hearing her little voice in my head all weekend.

Spring fever

Getting up-close with the animals on Martha Stuart

Taking a "drive' and watching the neighbors' dogs


Scott and I came home from our ski trip in Red River to beautiful spring-like weather here in Edmond. It has been in the 70's the past few days and Avery and I have been eating it up-- taking walks, sitting outside, leaving the back door open and enjoying the birds and the breeze. Today Avery got to enjoy riding her little car outside for the first time since she got it. She can even push herself a little bit on it. She is really into animals lately-- ever since we watched the Baby Eintstein farm video over and over while doing breathing treatments when she was sick. There were some live animals on Martha Stuart today and Avery was just glued to the TV. She kept crawling up to the TV and touching the animals on the screen. She also really likes turning the TV on and off, on and off, on and off. Her other favorite thing right now is playing ball. She gets up on her knees and kind of throws it to you. Her sports-loving Daddy is very proud. She is standing alone more and more now and even tries to dance without holding on to anything. No steps yet, but she is getting really good at walking behind things. I can't believe only one more month until her birthday-- our little Aves is growing up!

One sick baby!

Unfortunately, it has been an eventful week in the Bedichek household. Avery started getting sick last Sunday afternoon and had to go to the doctor by Tuesday. Turns out she had RSV and fluid in both ears. There for a few days she was one sick little girl. She was sleeping all the time and not hardly eating, both of which are VERY rare for her. Until this point in time I have not ever seen her leave milk in her bottle, besides when she was a newborn and would fall asleep eating. And she could only stay awake for about an hour or hour and a half at a time. Thank goodness she is dong better now. She is still recovering, but is almost back to her old self. We have had to do breathing treatments every 4-6 hours, which were brutal at first because she screamed the whole time. But once she got used to it and we started playing Baby Einstein videos during the treatments she does really well. We're now down to just 3 a day and hopefully we'll be able to taper them off even more this coming week. This past week has made me so thankful to have a relatively healthy child. I can't imagine having a child with a chronic or life-threatening illness and having to give medicine and do treatments and Dr. visits all the time. I was just so happy once Avery felt well enough to be smiling and playing again. The poor babies who are continually to sick to just be kids and enjoy life! Count your blessings for healthy children!

Mobile Baby; Immobile Doggy

Tonight we had two contrasting events happening in the Bedichek household. Avery finally decided to walk across the entire room with her push toy, and our dog Josie is lying around immobile (for all practical purposes) because she just had knee surgery yesterday. First the update on Avery. Up until now, she has only taken 2-3 steps behind push toys and then gets down to crawl. Tonight when we got home from dinner at Moe's I said, "Let's work on your walking!" I put her down behind the toy expecting the usual 2-3 steps and instead she pushed it across the whole living room. Not quite as exciting as walking by herself, but it's a "step" in the right direction! She has also been standing by herself for 10-15 seconds at a time the past week or two. I can't believe how big she is getting. She can do so many things by herself now that she couldn't do just a month ago. Some are good- like feeding herself finger foods, drinking from a sippy cup and a straw, signing "more" -- and some are questionable--like taking her bows out, opening and closing doors, reaching the kitchen trash. But overall it is so fun to see her learn new things and grow into a "big" girl!
Now for the update on Josie. A little over a year ago she hurt her leg-- jumping the fence we think. It seemed fine for awhile except for when she ran really hard, but since this fall it has gotten progressively worse. We finally decided to bite the bullet and pay for doggie surgery since she is still a young dog and was our first "baby". So yesterday she had surgery to repair a partially-torn ACL, and she got to come home this afternoon. She is doing fine all things considered, but it will take 8 weeks for her to recover. She should be able to put a little pressure on it and go for slow walks in 10-14 days. Right now she just hops on one back leg and is doped up on Doggie Codeine. Poor Josie!

Excitement in the suburbs

If you were watching the 6 o'clock news tonight on channel 4 or 5 in OKC you might have seen a little story about someone shooting out car windows with a pellet gun this past weekend. Well, unfortunately, our Honda was parked out in the street last Friday night and was one of the cars hit. Around midnight our neighbor's daughter rang the doorbell saying that her friend's window was shot out and they noticed that ours had been shot at too. The police had already taken a report from them, but when they noticed our car they called the cops back. Scott filed a report with the cops and then Saturday we got it fixed and we didn't really think too much about it. Where's the exciting part you might be asking? Well, this afternoon Lance West from News Channel 4 shows up on our doorstep asking about car because he had our address on a police report along with 39 others in Edmond whose windows were shot out over the weekend. They didn't interview me on camera and didn't film the car sine it had already been fixed, but still, it was a little exciting. For those who don't know, Lance West is the main news guy at 5:00 and 6:00 on channel 4. Then , I get back from running an errand later this afternoon and a Channel 5 van is sitting outside our house. So then I talked to Mark Opgrande, one of their reporters about the whole deal. I wonder what the neighbors were thinking? Hopefully we won't be the source of any nasty neighborhood rumors!

Avery's 1st Christmas

We spent Avery's 1st Christmas with my family down in Dallas, but Avery got to see most of her relatives on Scott's side as well. She really liked all of her toys-- which there were way too many of. (Yes, an ex-English teacher just ended a sentence with a preposition!) She even got into the whole thing of tearing the wrapping paper-- although she kept looking at me like, "Are you sure this is OK?" We had a really good time with family and even made some progress on the business too. Scott decided on which dental supply company to go with, so now they'll start working on the final drawings and then we can interview contractors and get bids once that is done. We did some preliminary house-hunting, but we'll probably wait until March to look more seriously. I've included a picture of the office for those who might be interested in seeing where Scott is going to "cut people" as he likes to call it. (For anyone who doesn't know, periodontists perform a lot of surgeries like gum grafts, placing dental implants, sinus lifts, etc.)

Santa baby

Last week I took Avery over to Kerri's house (a friend from church) for a holiday photo shoot. Kerri has a really great camera that is awesome for taking pictures of kids. She literally took hundreds of pictures of Avery, which sadly, is sometimes necessary just to get a few good ones. But we got lots of great pictures to help us remember Avery's 1st Christmas. We are trying to finish our last-minute shopping before we head down to Dallas next Wednesday to spend Christmas with my family. Scott also has some business meetings planned to work on the practice while we are in the area. At this point, we are still deciding on a contractor and on which dental supply company to go with. But once that is done, hopefully by January, we will begin moving forward with the finish-out of the lease space. Moving time will be here before we know it!

Turkey Day

We spent Tues night through Sunday in Dallas last week for the Thanksgiving holiday. We stayed at my parents house, but actually celebrated Thanksgiving with Scott's family since his brother hosts the dinner and lives about 5 min away from my parents. We also got to spend some time with my aunt and my grandparents, which was really great since they hadn't seen Avery since she was 2 weeks old. Thanksgiving at my brother-in-law's house was fun and crazy as usual. We all took turns trying to beat my 8 year old neice at a racing video game and played Monopoly and card games as well. Whenever we were at my parents' house, Avery was busy crawling into the kitchen to go play with their little dog, Lucy. She loved watching Lucy jump up and down like a pogo stick and sticking her fingers through the gate to get some puppy kisses. As for Scott and I, we got to go out alone--twice! Friday night we went to the Dallas Stars hockey game. We had 8th row seats, which made it really exciting. Saturday night we met up with some college friends that now live in New York. They told us that they are expecting a baby in June, so that was really exciting. Congratulation guys!

Avery's 1st Halloween

For Avery's 1st Halloween she was a bumblebee. When I saw the costume, I knew immediately that was what she had to be. Coming up with a family costume centered around the bee however, was not as easy. As usual, we waited until the last minute possible to throw something together for our Sunday school party. After I said that maybe we should just stick band-aids all over ourselves, Scott had the bright idea that we could be beekeepers. We probably could have come up with a beekeeper costume that looked more convincing had we started sooner on it, but I think everyone still got the idea.
A few updates on Avery are that she now has two teeth (bottom front) and is finally beginning to crawl forwards a little. Up until now she could only go backwards and would get stuck up against things. She is becomming quite the social butterfly too. She laughs all the time and just seems to be more in tune with other people around her. She also loves seeing herself in the mirror. Everytime we walk through the hallway she looks in the mirror and smiles at herself. I guess this is the only time a person can do that without everyone thinking they are conceited.

Pumpkin patch

Last weekend we took a trip to Dallas since Scott had off for fall break. Scott and I went and signed the lease on the space for the practice Friday, so that's a done deal. The space is in a set of 3 new professional buildings in Keller, TX. It was exciting, but also a little nerveracking! Saturday we met my sister at a pumpkin patch in Flower Mound. They had hay rides, pony rides, a petting zoo, and of course plenty of pumpkins and hay bales. We originally planned to take some family pics there, but Scott was sick, so that plan went out the window. I think the pics that my parents took of Avery on their porch actually turned out better than the pumpkin patch ones anyway. We also got to visit with Scott's brother, his wife and our 3 nieces and then we watched the OU/Texas game with Scott's parents and his sister and her husband. Even though it will be hard to leave Edmond, it sure will be nice to be closer to family so they can be more involved in Avery's life-- and ours too of course!
I forgot to mention that Avery got her first tooth! It's not in all the way, but you can see it pretty good now poking through her gums. And just last week she started babbling-- mostly saying "da-da-da". I say "ma-ma-ma" to her all the time and she just laughs! ha!

New toys and other "firsts"

For those of you that have tried it, aren't consignment sales great? My parents have gone to several now in the Dallas area and have found all kinds of great stuff for Avery. Both the
Leap Frog Learning table and the swing came from a consigment sale, along with a bunch of other toys and more fall & winter clothes than Avery could ever wear! I have yet to go to one myself, but I definately plan on it in the future.
The story behind the bottom pic is that in the time it took me to go out and get the stroller out of the car, Avery went from a sitting position in the middle of the floor to being underneath her exersaucer facing the opposite direction! I did a double take when i walked back in the room! It's amazing how much she can get around even though she can't really crawl yet. She just rolls and slowly inches her way toward things.
Two other little updates are that she went to Bible class for the first time this morning and she ate her first few bites of cereal today. As for Bible class, she did great according to her teachers, but the food didn't go quite as well. She "ate" a few bites (most of it was on her face) but lost interest pretty quickly. So, we'll just have to keep trying and I'm sure she'll get the hang of it eventually. Grandparents and other family-- we'll post of pic of her first try at eating sometime soon.

Sitting pretty

Over labor day weekend we went to visit Scott's parents in Waco. They had not seen Avery since she was 7 or 8 weeks old. First we stopped off in Dallas and spent Thursday night with my parents. When we got there Thursday my sister and her husband were at my parents house to celebrate my birthday with cake and ice cream. Scott and I laughed about the birthday party because Avery got a present too and a balloon. If you didn't know better you would have thought it was her birthday! But that's OK because I really have no more use for birthdays after this one since I'm staying 29 forever!

While in Waco we went to West Fest, which is a Czech festival in the town of West, TX. We ate yummy sausage sandwiches on homemade bread and kolaches and watched some Czech dancers. The Bedicheks originally came from the Czech Republic, so we had to celebrate the family heritage. Other than that we didn't do much, mostly just relaxed. Scott's brother Mike and his sister and her husband were there too, so Avery got to see lots of relatives. As you can see in the picture, she is sitting up on her own now, but she still falls over some. I'm just hoping that it takes her a few more months to figure out crawling because I can already see myself chasing her and trying to keep her out of things. I guess we'll have to add babyproofing to our never-ending "To Do" list, which I can now keep better track of on my handy-dandy Palm that Scott gave me for my birthday!

Remote love

Avery is 4 1/2 months old now and is starting to get so curious. She wants everything that we have-- drinks, the cheese grater, the mail, the remote. . . just whatever. She has a special love for the remote though. She'll lunge toward it and reach over other toys I'm holding to get to it. We tried giving her an old remote, but I guess it's just not the same since it doesn't have colored buttons and a light on it. She also likes to sit at the table with us at dinner time now. I usually put some toys on the table, but of course her favorite thing to play with is a little spoon. I just keep thinking about what I'm going to do when she starts crawling and can reach everything! Agh!
This past week I started my new job. I'm doing contract work for Sooner Start, which is a birth to 3 early intervention program. So far I only have two clients, a 2 yr old here in Edmond and a 16 month old foster child in north OKC. I think I'm really gonig to enjoy basically being my own boss and the flexibility of it. And of course kids are always great. Besides it being younger kids than those at my job with Mid-Del, this job is a little different because I work at lot more closely with the parents. I'll be spending a lot of time just educating families and demonstrating what they can do to help their child. Scott starts his new job this Saturday-- he'll be at a place called Gentle Dental now. He is going to work Monday and Tuesday nights and 2 Saturdays a month. Hopefully we'll be able to go on some trips and do some fun things this fall on his weekends off. That will be so nice after 2 years of him working just about every Saturday!

Avery and Josey

About a week ago while we were in Dallas visiting my parents, we were able to get some pictures of Avery and our 4 yr old lab Josey together. The past couple of weeks Avery has been noticing Josey more and they even interact a little bit. Josey has always been the kind of dog that likes to be right by "her people", and now that includes Avery. I always tell Avery that she will have so much fun with Josey when she gets older and that they will be best friends.
It will definately be fun to see their little "friendship" develop.

Avery is now almost 4 months old. She likes baths, taking walks, listening to music, reading books,"talking", playing with her toes, and playing on her floor gym. (sounds like a baby resume doesn't it?) She sleeps through the night, eats well, and smiles a lot. The only thing she doesn't do enough of lately is nap during the day-- but I try to think of it as just more quality time with her.

Tonight will be her first time to stay with a babysitter other than one of her grandmas. Scott and I are looking forward to going out to dinner alone to celebrate our 7th anniversary. And to think that one year ago today we found out that Little Miss Avery was on the way!

3 months old

Well, here are the 3 month portraits I promised. They turned out pretty good. We had them taken at JC Penney, but I think I liked the photographer and the set-up better at Sears. I still haven't tried Picture People at Quail Springs Mall, so we might have to do that next time. I don't really have anything new about Avery to report since last time other than that we are finally getting her in bed a little earlier. It seems like she definately goes to bed easier now and Scott and I are enjoying having a little bit of time to spend together at the end of the day.

My only other news is that I have decided to just work part-time and so i resigned from my job with Mid-Del Schools yesterday. It was a tough decision becasue I really liked my job, but we were having a really hard time finding a full-time babysitter we liked and we just were not willing to put her in day care. I don't think I could leave her with someone else all day every day anyhow. I love being with her to watch her grow and learn and discover new things. Now I just have to get everything set up for my new job. More on that later.

Toe-touches

Avery in her "Bumbo" seat
Toe-touches under her floor gym

I guess I've been a bad blogger since I have posted anything in several weeks, but it's hard to find the time. Avery is growing fast and it seems like she does new things almost every day. Her most recent accomplishments are grabbing her feet, rolling over from front to back, and reaching and grabbing for toys. I love being here with her to see her learn and grow. For any of you with infants who haven't heard of a "Bumbo" seat, it's really neat. Once the baby can hold their head up well, you can put them in it and it wedges them in so they can sit up unassisted. I just think it's funny to see such a small baby sitting up in a little chair-- it cracks me up!

This past weekend my parents came to visit and we had a great time, of course. They even babysat Avery Saturday night and Scott and I went to a movie. We hadn't done that since before Avery was born. We saw Superman Returns, which we really enjoyed. We also went to Penney's and had some 3 month portraits done. Once they post them online I'll have to put them on here. Until then. . .

Dallas Arboretum

For one of Scott's father's day gifts, Avery and I went to a store in Coppell called "Art From the Heart" and made him a frame that has her footprint on it and is painted in OU colors. In the frame I put a picture from our visit to the Dallas Arboretum while Scott
was in Nicaragua. Naturally, I didn't want to put any pictures from it on the blog until we gave him the frame and picture. The Arboretum was so beautiful and I'm already looking forward to going back and taking pictures next year when Avery can pose by herself and walk around and stuff. I'm thinking it might even be a good place to have some professional portraits done for her 1st birthday. Yikes! That's hard to imagine!
I think Scott enjoyed his 1st Father's Day though. If you know him well I bet you can guess where he chose to go for lunch--- that's right, Pizza Hut. He's a simple man, but I love him for it. We laughed at that fact that Pizza Hut was so busy today. We decided that Father's Day might actually be one of their busiest days other than Super Bowl Sunday. Other than that we've just had a relaxing day at home together as a family- what more could you ask for?

Friends and fondue

The "friends" part of the title refers to Avery's new favorite buddies-- the duck and frog wrist rattles that are attached to her carseat. She is so funny looking at them and smiling and "talking" to them. You'd think they were telling her jokes or making funny faces or something. And everytime we put her in the carseat she looks at them like "Oh yay. you guys are still here!" I guess with a 2 1/2 month old it's the little things that a parent delights in.

The fondue part of the title refers to our visit to "Simply Fondue"restaurant in Dallas last week. It was just one of MANY places we went. Avery's Mimi and Poppi definately kept us busy while Scott was in Nicaragua. We did a lot of shopping-- including dowtown Grapevine, visited the Dallas Arboretum, ate out a lot and I even got a relaxing massage from my sister, who is a massage therapist. All that "going" really made the week go by fast. I'll post more pics of mine and Avery's trip soon.



We let Avery have a try with
the fondue fork at Simply Fondue