Avery's December

Avery in her PJ's for Polar Express/Pajama Day

I feel like a lot of my recent posts are about Kendall and Avery has only gotten a brief mention, so I decided to do a post solely about what my older daughter has been up to lately. This is a good month to do it because she has actually had a lot going on. Monday she had Polar Express/Pajama Day at school. Last year she didn't get to participate in this event because she was only going to school once a week, so she was really excited to do it today. I'm not sure what the two year olds did that was actually related to Polar Express because Avery said they didn't read the book or watch the movie. She said they watched Frosty the Snowman. . . hmmmm. she did come home with a Polar Express ticket in her backpack though. While I'm on the topic of school, I have to mention that last week she received the good helper award during music class and also got some special praise from her teachers for being the only child that followed their directions when they went to play on the Playscape. Way to go Avery! A couple of weekends ago, Avery go to go out to the stable to see Kola (my sister's horse) w/ Amy and my parents. She has ridden Kola once before, but this time was really special because she actually rode Kola by herself! She was so excited and proud of herself when she got back home. She couldn't wait to tell us about it and to show us the pictures. Tomorrow they have their Christmas party at school and then I guess she will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa next week! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Little Cupcake

My little "cupcake" is now 10 months old. Wow, that's hard to believe! She is becoming such a big girl. She points at things, initiates peek-a-boo, signs "more"(especially for Ritz crackers and goldfish), is cruising on the furniture, and even stands alone for a few seconds. She says "bye-bye" when she waves and she also points at Scott and says "dada". Occasionally she'll imitate things I say and get pretty close--but it's hard to tell at this point if it's just an accident or what. We can definitely tell that she is understanding more of what we say now though. She is developing a little sense of humor and is just becoming a little person now rather than just a baby. Every time I take a picture of her recently, she really hams it up and makes this scrunchy smiley face. Although she remains somewhat opinionated and feisty at times, she is such a sweet baby(my children have the oddest combinations of personality traits!). She loves to give smiles,hugs, and open mouth kisses. Even though it isn't one of her actual nicknames, I guess she really is sweet enough to be my little "cupcake!" Here are a few more pictures of Kendall as well as some of my other "cupcake".

Turkey Day

This year we had Thanksgiving with Scott's family at his brother's house in Coppell, TX. It was nice to just make the short drive over there, spend the day, and then come home and sleep in our own beds. When there are 11 adults and 5 kids in one house, albeit a large house, the day is always busy since it is 3-ring circus of sorts. But this year Scott and I both felt like it went by especially fast, partly becasue this year we had 2 children to keep up with and take care of amid the chaos, and partly because we had our Bedichek Christmas on Thanksgiving evening. This year we decided that all the "adult" kids would do a dirty Santa gift card exchange instead of drawing names or buying couples' gifts. Since Scott's sister and her husband were in from San Diego and we all had to be present to play the dirty Santa game, we just went ahead and gave Scott's parents and the neices presents too. The dirty Santa game was a lot of fun and sure simplified my shopping. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a large family. Scott and I both walked away with the gift cards we purchased to begin with: $50 to Amazon.com for Scott and $50 to Kohls for me--yay! Avery and Kendall racked up a pile of great toys that they are thoroughly enjoying too. I decided that opening some of their gifts early was a really good thing, because honestly I think all those toys all at once is a little overwhelming to such small children. I almost had to force Avery to open them as it was because she just wanted to start playing. And to close, a list of each of our favorite things about Thanksgiving Day: Avery- getting a pedicure from 5 yr. old cousin Brooklyn, Kendall- bouncing on the trampoline, Heather-spending time with family , Scott- "watching my daughters and neices play". Priceless!
Avery liked watching her cousins play their DS games and depleting Aunt Sheila's stock of M&Ms

Cousins Bailey, Braden, and Brooklyn ganging up on their DadAvery, Scott, Kendall, Mike and Tom were watching the action

Scott and Kendall jumping on the trampoline
Kendall the trampoline baby
Avery and cousin Brooklyn in action Kendall checking out one of her presentsAvery's new tea set

Silly Sunday

Yesterday Scott watched the girls for a few hours while I did some grocery and Christmas shopping and apparently they all went a little crazy without me! No, actually Scott has been so sweet lately to let me escape on Sunday afternoons so I can have some alone time (despite his goofy appearance here, he is a pretty smart guy!). I was finding myself completely exhausted after getting everyone ready for church and then going through the whole routine once we were there that I was beginning to dread Sundays, which was NOT the attitude I wanted to have. And once we were home, I had no energy or patience left to sit down and play with the girls. So my sweet hubby began insisting that I take a few hours off every Sunday, and I must say that it has been stellar! It's amazing what a few hours can do to recharge you and help you gear up for the week ahead. Speaking of gearing up, I need to go wrap a few presents for our Christmas with the Bedicheks since we are celebrating it on Thanksgiving this Thursday! Pics of that are sure to follow next weekend.

Top Ten

After my afternoon and evening yesterday were filled with 2 tantrums and every excuse in the book to avoid going to sleep at bedtime (all by precious daughter #1), I decided to switch my focus onto the positive things about my children. Without further delay, here are my Top Ten Things I love About Avery and Kendall.


Top Ten Things I Love About Avery:
1. Her belly laughs
2. Her sweet spirit (Last week she actually thanked me for taking her outside to play!)
3. Her use of hand motions and her facial expressions when she talks
4. Her made-up songs
5. Her love for Kendall and the way she can make Kendall laugh like no one else can
6. Her intelligence
7. Her love of reading
8. Her prayers and the things she says about God/Jesus
9. Her (usually) good manners
10. Her love of shopping and pretty clothes, shoes, etc

Top Ten Things I Love About Kendall:
1. Her smile and smiley eyes
2. The way she hooks her arm around my neck and hugs me when I get her out of her crib
3. Her open-mouth kisses
4. How easily amused she is -- she'll play with a sock, a piece of paper, anything!
5. The way she worships her sister and laughs so hard at her
6. The way she waves at and tries to play with people sitting behind us in church
7. Her sweet baby breath
8. Her beautiful, soft skin (especially on her cheeks and neck-- so kissable!)
9. The way she "talks"to Avery
10. The way she can entertain herself while I am doing chores and other things around the house

When Scott saw what I was writing a minute ago, he asked why I wasn't doing Top Ten things I Love about him. So I think I'll take him up on that challenge, although honestly, it might be hard to narrow it down to 10!

Top Ten Things I Love About Scott:
1. The way he supports me in all areas of life and always tells me what a great Mom I am.
2. What a wonderfully caring, yet hilariously fun Daddy he is.
3. How hard he works to make the practice successful.
4. The diligence he puts into our personal finances as well as the business finances.
5. The way he always strives to learn and become a better individual.
6. His passion for football.
7. The way he always lightens the mood and makes things more fun!
8. The way he knows me better than I know myself sometimes.
9. The sacrifices he makes and sweet things he does for the girls and I on a daily basis.
10. How he's always striving to develop a deeper relationship with God, a deeper understanding of His word, and to be a better servant and Christian.

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband and two beautiful, healthy, precious daughters!

Kendall 101

If you want to know all about Kendall at 9 months of age, here's a quick "course".


Favorite toys: Fisher price learning "house", ride-on toy car, play food and dishes, anything that Avery is playing with

Favorite foods: oatmeal, meat, banana puffs (meat & potatoes girl I guess)

Least favorite foods: several of the fruits and veggies (especially peas)

Favorite hangouts: Avery's room, outside, wherever Mommy and/or Avery are

Newest skills: crawling fast, beginning to "cruise" and stand alone for a few seconds, waving when the word "Bye" is just said, feeding fingerfoods to herself, giving open-mouth kisses, turning pages and lifting flaps on books

Favorite activities: playing with Avery, watching Avery and other kids run around, swinging, taking walks, splashing (big!) in the bathtub

Least favorite activities: riding in the car, diaper & clothes changes, getting her nose wiped

Sizes: size 3 diapers, size 2 or 3 shoes, size 6-9 or 6-12 month clothes (although pants are often big in the waist)

Sleeping habits: night: 8 pm- 7ish am, naps: 2, sometimes 3 a day (about 2-3 hrs total)

Nicknames: Ken, Skinny-mini

So that's Kendall in a nutshell. She is a sweet baby who is so smiley, so much fun and so funny when she is happy. As a friend at church put it, "Your youngest really lights up the room!" But watch out, because she is quite a spirited little thing who can go from happy to sad or mad and back to happy in 5 seconds flat! As always, she is not afraid to let you know when her world isn't right. She is growing and learning by leaps and bounds these days-- and Scott and I are looking forward to all the milestones, like walking and talking, that lie just around the corner for her!

Giddy-up!

Kendall and Avery were both cowgirls this year for Halloween. Unfortunately I was unable to find matching outfits, but at least their skirts matched. Actually, Avery wanted Kendall to be a pony "so I can ride her" as she put it, but I couldn't find a cute pony costume. We settled on both of them being cowgirls instead and on getting Avery a stick horse. Our church had a trunk or treat, but we opted to check out the carnival at Richland Hills C of C, which is a little closer and is where Avery goes to school. We figured that with it being "the mall church" as we call it, they would have a pretty good carnival. We got there a little later than we had intended and Avery was coming down with a cold, so we actually didn't stay too long. Just long enough for Avery to play a few games, get some candy, and go through the petting zoo. One random, funny thing I have to mention is that when I put Kendall's bandana headband and bow on (which my Mom made just for the occasion) Avery said, "Oh, is she a bunny?" That girl keeps us laughing for sure. Avery liked dressing up as a cowgirl so much that we have already made plans to go to the rodeo here in Ft. Worth in January (I think) so Avery can enjoy wearing her cowgirl get-up again. Yee-haw!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took the girls to a pumpkin patch in Grapevine at the Hall Family farm. They had lots of cute picture taking set-ups w/ pumpkins, hay bales, benches, scarecrows, etc. They also had a house made of hay, some tractors the kids could get on, a little playground and an actual pumpkin patch where you could see them growing on the vine. We opted against the corn maze, and the hayrides were only after 6 pm, so maybe we'll do those another year. Kendall had just woken up from a nap and was being clingy and not smiley. Avery had a good time though, especially in the house made of hay and the tractors.

the corn was much more interesting than the camera

quiet Kendall

futile attempt at a sister's picture

playing on the hay bales

family photo

"Peek-a-boo" through window of hay house

Avery the farmer

Avery liked the small pumpkins the best

Swinging

We have been having nice fall weather this week here in Fort Worth, and the girls and I have been trying to enjoy it as much as possible. The other day I decided to snap a few pictures of them swinging in the backyard, which is something we do nearly every day. Avery has always loved swinging and would do it for hours if she could. Kendall is also really enjoying her swing since we hung it up a few weeks ago. She just laughs and smiles and then sometimes gets sleepy after awhile. Speaking of Kendall, in the past week or so she has started pulling up on everything! One of my biggest challenges is keeping her away from the pottys when I am helping Avery in the bathroom because apparently they are the perfect height for pulling up and oh so interesting! Gross! She has also started playing with the dog dishes a little bit, so between the potty and that, I've officially started having to say "no" to her. Whether she understands or not at this point is highly questionable, but I know she will soon. Besides pulling up, she is also drinking from a sippy cup now when she eats her baby food and has figured out how to click her tongue-- getting so big! Avery is getting so big too. She is now paci-free at night-Yay Avery!

Don't let the orange fool you. . .

. . .we are still Sooner fans! We did, however, begrudgingly agree to attend the OSU homecoming parade while in Oklahoma this past weekend. One of Scott's friends from Perio residency lives in Stillwater and thought it would be a fun family activity to go to the parade. A few times a year we meet up with two other families from Perio residency to let the guys talk business and to enjoy some family fun. Despite the fact that we were wearing the wrong color, it actually was fun and the kids really had a good time waving at everyone in the parade, seeing the horses, firetrucks, etc and of course getting some candy. While the guys went to the game on Saturday, my girls and I headed back to Edmond to spend the afternoon with the Williamsons, our friends from church there. Their little boy Carter is a few weeks older than Avery. They had a good time playing together. As you can see in the pic, they spent a lot of time in the inflatable jumping thing the Williamsons had. We were able to go to church at Edmond C of C Sunday morning and see lots of people we had not seen in almost a year. After a delicious lunch at Hideaway pizza (my favorite!) and a little more jumping for Avery at the Williamsons' house, we headed back across the Red River. It was a fun weekend and we'll always have a special place in our hearts for the Sooner State!

"A Lot of Kendall" (8 months worth!)

Saturday morning as we were eating breakfast I commented to Avery that Kendall was now eight months old. She responded, "That's a lot of Kendall!" I guess that's her way of saying that Kendall is getting big and has now been around for awhile! Avery and Kendall are interacting more and more these days. Kendall is constantly laughing at everything Avery does, which is great entertainment in the car especially. Kendall loves to wave at people and claps now when she sees someone clapping or when you cheer. Although she's not the best crawler, she does stay up on all fours more now and she can certainly get where she wants to go. As I'm writing this, she keeps crawling off her blanket in the living room and getting under my chair here at the computer, finding the most miniscule crumbs and pieces of dirt on the tile. She is pulling up to a stand some now and when I try to sit her down somewhere she keeps her legs straight and just tries to stand up instead. It seems like she has always been ready to move on to the next stage or milestone before she even has the previous one perfected. About a week and a half ago I had to take her to the doctor for an ear infection and she weighed 16 lbs 4 oz. She is wearing size 6-9 mo or 6-12 mo. clothes, size 2 diapers (but not for long I think) and size 2 shoes. She nurses 4 times a day and eats solids at all 3 meals including cereal, fruits, veggies, and meats. She goes to bed around 8 pm and wakes up between 6 and 7 am. She takes about a 45 minute morning nap (occasionally as long as 1.5 hrs) and then about a 1.5-2 hr nap in the afternoon. Occasionally she takes a 3rd nap around 5 or 6 pm too if her other pm nap was short. She is still toothless and is still in her separation anxiety phase, although she will actually stay in the church nursery now after a few minutes of boisterously voicing her opinion on the matter. But what can I say--that's my Kendall!