Ugh......formatting trouble

Please excuse the format of Avery's Birthday post. Blogger is not cooperating right now. I dislike technical problems.

Avery is ONE!

Happy 1st Birthday sweet Avery!!!!!!!
Angel Baby

So Avery is now ONE year old. When I started her monthly posts the thought of writing her 12 month post was few and far between. And here we are! Avery has changed so much in the last 12 months. She has developed her motor skills, her communication skills, and has definitely developed a little personality! Since she started walking she loves to follow Maddie around, which Maddie does not like. She loves to climb up in her "Avery" chair, all by herself, and look or tear up books. She thinks it is so funny to escape through the baby gate and climb the stairs leaving her father left to tighten the gate for the um tenth time and her mother chasing after her. We do not know what it is to sit still anymore because she has more energy than the energizer bunny! I am so thankful for Avery's health and happiness and I love watching her discover new things; such as her bubbles or the taste of dirt from the flower beds :) Daddy had fun teaching her how to smell flowers and instead she put them in her mouth! The WHOLE flower. The things she does are hilarious and she continuously makes us laugh. She loves going outside and will stand at the door pitifully wanting out to play. When she talks, she knows exactly what she is trying to say, but nothing makes sense! I love the sound of her voice, the look in her eyes, and the smile that she gets when she see us. I could do without the arching of the back when you don't get your way or the occasional swinging of the hands that leads to a "we don't hit", "hands are not for hitting", or a swat on the bottom. I am really struggling with this new found attitude. But until she understands right from wrong we will continue to teach her what she should be doing. We so look forward to spending the summer with you at the pool, outside playing, and going to the park!

Here is what Avery's been up too:
Size 3.5 shoe

Wear a size 4 diaper

12 month clothes

You are eating mostly table food with 1 to 2 baby foods mixed in

Started eating Teddy Grahams which you love! (Thanks Nana)

Two bottles of formula and two bottles of Whole milk (which I am still struggling with)

You are still not sure about sippy cups, which we will continue to work on.

Weight 23.1

You are now saying momma and dada

You are 29.5 inches tall

You have mastered telling everyone how old you are, by putting your cute little finger up and then clapping when we say "Good job!"

You say "dye" instead of bye and wave your hand like crazy

You are definitely more reluctant with strangers or people you have not been around regularly

You mastered Easter egg hunting by attending four egg hunts and then all the practice in the backyard with mom and dad.

Celebrated your 1st Easter on April 24, 2011

You have two teeth on bottom and four teeth on top, which we have started brushing

You love to empty your drawers in your room. I am not fond of this new game.

We will start all sippy cups and no baby food this next week so please cooperate! The following is a letter that we wrote to you. We love you very much!

Dear sweet baby Avery,
You are now ONE year old! Your mommy and daddy cannot believe it! I recall the day you were born like yesterday; the smell of your soft baby skin, the feeling I had when I first held you at 2 am in the NICU, and the feeling I got when I finally realized that I am MOM. You have brought us so much joy and happiness this past year. I think back to the day I found out I was pregnant with you, September 11, 2009. I received the phone call as I was coming home to change and get ready for a football game. When I heard the words on the phone, I had to pull over because I was overcome with tears of joy. I catch myself sometimes in awe at the thought that I am your mommy and that God chose me to be your momma. I prayed for you and you could not be more perfect. I look forward to teaching you about your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and watching your grow spiritually. I am so thankful that you are healthy and happy. I think of the day that we take you to your first day of school or the day you ask me about boys and I tear up. I tear up because I am torn between happiness and sadness. Happy because you will thrive in life and we will be there to support you each and every day, but sad because I will no longer stroll the isles of Babies R’ Us looking for baby goodies to get you. As your mom, you will need to understand that I WILL CRY at everything because I am so proud of you and that your dad will show his emotions for you SILENTLY! We take such pride in being your parents and we will work every minute of the day to be the best parents to you. We love you with all our hearts and for right now we will rock you quietly and cherish every little step that you are taking. We promise to be in the moment with everything you do. You are our sweet baby Avery and we will protect forever. We love you.

Your proud parents-
Dada and Momma

Happy 1st Easter Avery

Romans 5:1 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."

Today this scripture caught my attention. I look around at my family and friends and I thank God each day for each and every one of them. I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband, a husband who has become an amazing father in the past year. I have a healthy little girl who radiates happiness and joy. Our families are so special to us and we love being so close to them. In the above scripture it says we persevere from our sufferings and I truly believe this. Jason and I have been through a lot together and even through the hard times, we are still hand and hand in the end. I thank God daily for Jason and our relationship. We work as one machine as a couple and we are team as parents. I always strive to be a better mom and to live a life with a strong faith. I pray each day to guide Avery in the right direction and teach her to be a caring and loving person. I am so thankful for the wonderful church we have found and for the kind people we have met. Happy Easter to everyone!

Happy 1st Easter Sweet Avery!
Cousin Tucker and Avery getting ready to hunt eggs. He is so sweet to her!

What's in here?

So Avery would not get ten feet from the dressed up Easter Bunny, so this will do!

Sweet little face

Reboot! Just lounging on the couch.

Momma and Avery

Look at everything the Easter bunny left at Nana and Papa's

Stuff for the beach!!!!!!! Thanks Nana and Papa!

Digging through my stuff at home from the Easter bunny!

The Easter Bunny at CHS

My school held an Easter egg hunt for all the children and grandchildren of faculty and staff. The kids and babies had so much fun! Avery got to see many little friends and she found lots of eggs!

MJ and Avery! They go to Mrs. Holley's together!

This seems to be Avery's favorite thing to do right now. Everything goes to the mouth!

Avery and Andi
We could not get a picture of both girls looking at the camera. Oh well, we get what they give us!

Egg hunt #2

Today we celebrated Easter with Jason's family at our house. Jennifer will be in San Antonio with Tristan looking for a house next weekend so we went ahead and did lunch and an Easter egg hunt today. Tommy, Nancy, Jennifer, Jeff, Teresa, McKinley, Brennan, and Emma all came! We had such a good time. After lunch we hid the eggs and the kids had a ball. Avery found lots of eggs! Lunch was yummy, the strawberry cream cheese pound cake I made from scratch was delicious, but what was even better was after everyone left Avery went to sleep, and Jason and I sat out on the back porch and ate ice cream and talked! It was such a beautiful day and what a peaceful night!

I love profile pictures. Avery has the most perfect little features and when I look at this picture I cannot imagine life without this little bundle of personality!

Helping daddy put all the "Redneck golf" balls back up!

Chasing the bubbles

Look at my new "trick" mom! This child is fearless and I swear I am going to pay for all my injuries I made my parents endure.

Happy happy baby!!!!!!!!

Her looking at the eggs in the yard! Such a silly face.

Brennan

Found one

and another.....

Emma Grace

Avery telling McKinley about her new teether!

Babies galore!

Such an awesome father

LOVE

Waiting on everyone to come over! Good morning everybody!

Where is Avery?

Her new favorite spot! Maddie's "house".

I have found her paci, her ball, her toy phone, and her lovie in the "house" just to name a few.

Since learning to walk, she has not slowed down!

Sneek Peak

This weekend Jason and I had Avery's 1st Birthday pictures taken at the Arboretum in Dallas. Meredith Shields-Terrell took them and she was so much fun to work with! She was very flexible with changing outfits and waiting for diaper changes! We can't wait to see the pictures!

After Meredith left we stayed and took some pictures and we wanted to share a few!

Avery did so good and was a real trooper!

Everyone loved her tutu!

The things mamas do for a good smile!

After pictures daddy took this picture. I was telling her just how much I love her!

She is saying "get me out of this wet grass" and yet she is still smiling!

I love my baby girl

Loving on daddy! Jason is such a great dad.

Love this picture

My favorite flower, the peonia

Deep in the Heart of Texas

So after church on Sunday we went to a great place for pictures with the Bluebonnets that Jason had found earlier in the week. Good Daddy! Avery fell asleep from church so we had to wake her up to take pictures, hence the somber look she has till the very end and then she is not happy. Sweet little baby is precious either way! Hope you enjoy. Sorry I posted so many, I just wanted to share all my favorites.

Jason took some really good pictures

I love every minute with this little baby!

Butterflies on Bluebonnets

We had to do some bribing......anything for a good picture!

BeautifulHoly cow, is that a smile I see?????

I will be 1 on April 27, 2011!

Come back mom is what see is thinking as I am running away!

Not too sure of this

One of my favorites

Sweet little thing

Such a interesting little face

Such a sweet picture with daddy!I love her profile pictures

Just amazed and finally enjoying the flowers!

But only for a minute.......

I am finished.

Get me out of here.

I give up with these two crazy people always in my face taking pictures. Where is my bed when I need it?