Avery's Third Month

My sweet Avery,

As of Monday, July 28th, you are 3 months old and I cannot believe it. You are getting so big, so fast and it's so bittersweet for me. On one hand, I'm thrilled that you're growing and getting big like you are supposed to, but its just happening a little too fast! Slow down baby girl!

(You can read her first month post here, and her second month post here.)

At 10 weeks you weighed 14 pounds even and were 24 1/4 inches long. 90th percentile for both weight and height!! You had to get 2 shots at this time and it made mommy so sad. Thankfully, you were a trooper and didn't cry for very long. Your 3 month clothes are starting to get a little snug, so you are mostly wearing 3-6 and 6 month clothes. You wear all 6 month sleepers now and are still in size 2 diapers, but I'm not sure how much longer those will fit you. You are a big girl!

You're eating habits have changed a little and you're not eating quite as much as you were. I'm not sure what happened, but you all of a sudden cut back on food this past month. You now are eating around 4-5 ounces every 3-4 hours, but sometimes you'll go 5-6 hours between feedings and still only want around 5 ounces. And you started liking your bottles warmed up a bit. Picky girl. But of course we do whatever makes you happy!

Your sleep is still GREAT! You go to sleep at around 9:30-10:00 p.m. and sometimes don't wake up until 7:00- 8:00 a.m. After you eat in the morning, you always go right back to sleep in your rock n' play in our room and sleep until around 9:00-9:30 a.m. I couldn't ask for a better sleeper and am so thankful for the good sleeper that you are! You nap very well in your swing and rock n' play throughout the day.

You are a super happy girl. You smile and "talk" all the time now. You love for us to talk to you and sometimes get upset when noone is paying attention to you. You are so close to giggling, in fact, Auntie Ashlee says you giggled at her last week when she was talking to you, but I have yet to hear it. You found your tongue this month and you started trying to blow raspberries. You watch our mouths very intently and often try to mimic us. So if we blow raspberries at you, you will try and blow them back at us. You've gotten lucky a few times, and are getting close to being able to do it all the time.

You also started what I fear is the beginning stages of teething. You constantly have your hands in your mouth and are drooling a lot these days. :-(

Some things you love are: your swing, sitting on our laps facing the t.v. so you can watch with us, bathtime, being outside and being the center of attention. Some things you don't like are: riding in the car, having a dirty diaper, loud noises and tummy time.

You celebrated your first 4th of July this month and went to your first fair!

You got to swing on our playground for the first time this month. You loved it, as you can tell by your big smile in this picture.

And you had your first overnight stay away from Mommy and Daddy. You did great staying with Maw Maw and Papa while we were gone for our anniversary for 2 nights.

You also had your first sickness. You came down with a little cough on Friday, July 26th and it continued to get worse. By Sunday, you were running a low grade fever and slept a majority of the day. So I took the day off on Monday and took you to see the doctor. (Side-note: you weighed 14 lbs. 8 ozs. at this appointment which happened to be on your 3 month birthday.) You checked out okay and we were told to just keep an eye on the cough and to make sure your breathing stayed normal. So far, the fever has not returned, but the cough has gotten pretty bad. It is so sad to hear you cough so hard. I'm praying it goes away soon. The doctor said it would probably last around 7 days or so.

I may be biased baby girl, but you're the cutest and sweetest baby I know and you just keep getting cuter every day! I love your smile and sweet baby talk. You are such a blessing and I love you to the moon and back!

XOXO - Mommy

Storybook Photography {Senior Photo Session}

I had the privilege of taking a sweet friend's Senior Pictures last night and I had SO MUCH FUN!! I work with Maeve's mom and used to babysit Maeve and her sister Quin when they were much younger. It's so hard to believe that little Maeve is a Senior this year! Gosh, where does the time go.

I love each and every one of these shots! It was hard for me to narrow down which one's to edit because there were SO MANY good ones. I had such a beautiful subject, beautiful landscapes, beautiful lighting and the weather could not have been better. It was a picture perfect evening with a picture perfect Senior! It doesn't get much better than that. ♥

Explore St. Louis: Mater and Dusty Crophopper

A few weeks back, my brother-in-law told me about an Auto Body Shop here in St. Louis that had a life size Mater truck outside of their building. He knows Jackson loves Cars, so he thought he would enjoy seeing him up close. I immediately looked up the shop and got directions. 

So last night, my Mother-in-Law and I took Jackson and Avery there to see the "Big Mater". :-) When we got there, we saw that they had a Dusty Crophopper as well... Bonus!! Jackson actually loved the Dusty plane more than the Mater. I couldn't believe how detailed they were. They looked just like the characters!!!

As we were leaving, Jackson said "bye Mater, bye Airplane". It was too cute!!

Explore St. Louis: The Magic House

On my last day of maternity leave, Jackson and I met up with my sister and her boys and some friends of ours at the Magic House,or as Jackson calls it, the "Monster House". I hadn't been to the Magic House since I was in grade school, so it was fun to go back and see how much it has changed and grown. Jake took Jackson last year on a Saturday when I was busy, so Jackson had been there, but it had been years since I was there. It has changed a lot since then and has gotten so much bigger and they've added some really great things.

They have a whole section where the kids can play in a bank, water company, pizza parlor, veterinary hospital, they can fish, work on a car, build in a construction area, sit at the President's desk, be a judge/jury in a courtroom, and so much more! There was lots of areas to play and learn, its just a really cool place and I'm so happy we have it right here in St. Louis. 

An extra this summer was a sand pit outside. The kids could play in the sand and get wet in the sprinklers. They also had built this really great sand castle there. The kids had so much fun.

Here are some pictures I took with my phone that day.

And of course, we couldn't leave without getting a picture with the STL250 Cake! :-) As of this past weekend, we have seen 135 of the 250 cakes!

Friday Five

Five happenings worth mentioning from this past week.

One

Jake and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary with a wonderful trip to the Lake of the Ozarks last weekend. We had a great and relaxing time away.

Two

Since getting pregnant with Avery, I haven't been able to wear my wedding. Even after having her, it was still a tiny bit snug. So I had it resized and polished last week and was able to pick it up on Monday. I love being able to wear it again.

Three

Wednesday night I took the kids to the mall to exchange some tennis shoes we had gotten for Jackson that were just a size too small. We can never go to this particular mall without stopping into Cabelas for Jackson to see the fish and the "stuffed" animals.

Four

Avery has recently found her tongue! She tries and has succeeded a few times at blowing raspberries even. She is really starting to show her personality. I just love it.

Five

Before heading home from the Ozarks on Sunday, we stopped to have a late breakfast at one of my favorite restaurants there... Kays. They have an all you can eat breakfast special where you pay a flat rate and can order as much as you want off the menu. It is so good!! The French Toast (not pictured here) was probably my favorite thing on the menu.

Jackson's First Carnival

Last month, a small town near where I grew up, was having a carnival. Jackson had never been to a carnival so we decided to take him and see how he liked the rides !! My Mother-In-Law came along too and helped out with Avery so that we could ride some of the rides with Jackson. We weren't entirely sure how he would like the rides, but we were so happy to see that he LOVED them!! 

For the first ride, he rode the cars that went around and around and up and down. I tried sitting in the same seat as him and he told me I was too big and I needed to move! Ha. So I sat behind him and we soon realized he didn't need me there at all. He loved it. He was laughing the entire time.

We decided he could ride the next ride by himself. The next ride was a similar ride but with space ships instead of cars. He ended up riding with another little girl who needed a partner to ride with. They were so cute and he had a blast!! We were beginning to see that we may need to go buy a few more tickets. :-)

Next we rode the Bears that were similar to the old barrel ride where you spin it around as it goes around and around. Jake and I rode with him since he couldn't ride it alone. Once again, he laughed the entire time. 

Here's a little video. At one point you hear him say, "this sun" which means this is fun! Ha.

I also took him through a "Fun House" and then we put him on the last of the kiddie rides called the Frog Hopper. I was a little nervous about this ride because it seemed like it might be a little scary for him. They take them up and then drop them over and over again. Jake insisted though and I'm glad he did because Jackson loved it! He was raising his hands and laughing the whole time. He loved it so much we let  him ride it twice. I think he might have been one of the smallest kids on the ride.

I got a little video of him on this ride too. :-)

After that, we went and got some carnival food and then we stood in line to ride the ferris wheel with him. 

 

It was the perfect way to end a perfect evening. The weather that night was gorgeous. We really couldn't have asked for a better night. We all had a GREAT time!!