Grandma Connie and Grandpa Delbert Come to Visit!

Last weekend, my mom and step-dad sought refuge from the snowstorm in Wisconsin and came to visit flooded Indiana!  Avery had a blast with them and was charming as ever. He got super spoiled, took a trip to the park with grandma, showed off his sweet walking skills for grandpa, read lots of books and played lots of catch. It was so great to have them here!  A special thanks to Gram and Gramps for staying with Avery so mom and dad could get a night out with friends, too! (I don't know who had more fun, those who went out, or those that stayed home! :)

He even received his very first birthday present (grandma and grandpa won't be able to make it to his party in June) - a picnic table! He loves the table and has already figured out how to climb up AND down it all by himself!

It's becoming more and more evident that this baby is actually more of a toddler. Every time someone visits after not seeing him for awhile, they're blown away by the things he can do and how much different he looks. He certainly is growing into his own personality and I'm happy to say that it's the sweetest personality ever :)  xoxo

Grandma feeding Avery a dandelion - naturally, he tried to eat it ;)

Project Life: Avery's First Year - Month 4

Month 4 - Spread 1 - with Avery helping photo bombing :)
A bunch of photos from our daily life: fun on the activity mat and Exersaucer, chillin' with his cool Brewers gear, his first experience with a fish tank.

I added a 8.5 x 4 insert with 6 pictures of Avery flirting with himself in a mirror :) 
(Some of my favorite Avery pictures!)

A close up of the insert - I just sewed the pictures into a page protector with my sewing machine and cut the excess off. As I was doing this, I realized how ironic it is that I use 'Avery' brand pages :)

A little journaling and some pictures from 'the accident' which kept us stuck in a cubicle in the emergency room for 10 hours. Some more date-stamp-on-fabric and sewn fabric pennants.

A fun memory we have of Avery (the green and blue background is cut out of a Kleenex box!) and a family outing to the 'Feast of the Hunter's Moon'.

Month 4 - Spread 2 - Avery's current sleep habits (or lack thereof), a visit from Grandma & Grandpa Stewart, & Avery's first letter!

Avery in his sleep suit, a page out of our 'sleep journal' (this month we were tracking all his night wakings trying hard to get him on some sort of sleep schedule...) Cards with cloth details and the little sheep is a scrapbook embellishment.

Avery's first letter from his cousin Emma in Maine! I just 3 hole punched the envelope and inserted it. I also stuck in a little note that my aunt & uncle sent Avery this month.

Our little outlaw. I had a couple of extra pictures I wanted to include on this page, so I just made a little double-sided pocket out of a leftover piece of page protector and sewed it into place.

A cute shot helping dad, a family photo in our matching SOA shirts :) and a shot of Avery and Max, all captions are on cut grid journal cards with little cloth details.

These are the only 2 spreads for month 4. I guess after I got smoked in the eye with a baseball, not much happened around here. (or maybe I just wasn't spending much time behind the camera!) That's ok though, because month 5 has a few extra pages to make up for it!

And if you need a little laugh to help lift your spirits (will it EVER stop raining?!), here's a little bathtime bubble fun with Avery - LOVE that belly laugh!  :)

Fun Times with Grandpa Jim & Grandma Linda!

This past weekend, we were lucky to have Grandpa Jim and Grandma Linda pay us a visit for a couple of days! Avery took full advantage of all the love, snuggles, book reading, and funny-Grandpa-faces. It was so nice to have them here and to watch Avery interact with them, he's such a charmer!

Avery was such a cuddle-bug, which made for some pretty sweet pictures, especially here when he was getting some last-minute smooches before Grandpa & Grandma headed back home.

Project Life: Avery's First Year - MONTH 3

Month 3 - Spread 1 - the smiling begins! :)

Can't get enough of these baby toes!

Avery's monthly stats, his favorite toy at the moment, 4x6 insert of a photo of Avery on one side and the thumbnail card that came with the printed photos on the other.

Our cloth diapering experience begins and Avery is getting so strong! I bought some cardboard sticker embellishments on clearance at a scrapbook store and cut them up to spice up some plain white 3x4 cards. The diaper & pin are also scrapbook embellishments.

Month 3 - Spread 2 - Fun times with Uncle Josh (and a sweet-and-shameless bathtub photo)

More pennant cloth embellishments (I just think they're so cute), journal cards and uncle cuddles

I did some daily journaling this week - seeing the cards again makes me want to do more!

Month 3 - Spread 3 - Avery's second time to the beach in less than 3 months!

Journaling of the day on a large paint swatch card from Lowe's. (I love these big swatches... I pick up a few every time we go to the store... you know, to help me decide on a color...)

Date stamp ON fabric! It works! (This brings my fabric-embellishment obsession to a whole new level!)

Some beach play under the umbrella with my Godmother, and one of my favorite weekly photos from this month

Daddy smooches, cousin play, and poor Avery being pushed around by baby Max while being my assistant during Max's 6 month photo shoot

Month 3 - Spread 4 - A trip to the battlefield and some very special 4-generation photos.

Avery's 3 Month 'birthday' and his favorite song (this is STILL his favorite song, 7 months later!) The animal sound words strip is another cardboard sticker found on clearance, and more cloth and date-stamp details!

A fun little photo shoot with Avery's daddy, grandpa and great grandpa! (This is one of my favorite color combinations so far, the olive green and the pattern blue. The green being more paint swatches and the blue being fabric)

More date-stamp on fabric (I may never stamp on paper again ;)  and a couple of shots of an Avery smile (I love adding photos like this to the book, it's almost like a mini flip book)

Project Life: Avery's First Year -MONTH 2

Believe it or not, I've been working on Avery's book quite a bit lately. I'm almost done through month 5, so stay tuned as I work through the photos and get them posted in the next week or so!
Looking back on these photos makes me a bit weepy... what a sweet little munchiekins!!

Month 2  - Spread 1 - 'Day in the life' updates

Sometimes I just have too many photos than pockets, so I added a small insert to sneak in 2 more 3x4 photos. Rubber duckies are scrapbook embellishments

Some 'milestones' and sweet baby Avery moments

Month 2 - Spread 2 - Trip to the beach! LOVE those little baby footprints in the sand!

Fabric pennant banner and journal entry card (I LOVE my date stamper!)

Cloth pennant detail (almost all of the cloth used for embellishments are scraps from the quilt I made for Avery) and a parking pass, appointment reminder, and Avery's first band aids (eeew?) to add to pockets

Month 2 - Spread 3 - Lots of love from grandparents and Mom & Dad's 3 year wedding anniversary :)

Lots of down time and snuggles and Avery really getting into the London Olympics!

Journal card, sweet quote and dreamy baby smiles from the bike trailer :)

Avery - 10 months!

He only stays stationary when holding something, so there will be new 'additions' in his weekly photos! :)

This month, Avery enjoyed: 

• Some quality time with Aunt Janessa

• Pool time!

• A quick trip to Chicago to have dinner with Uncle Josh AND Aunt Janessa at Giordano's

• A few spring walks (finally!)

• Gobbling down lots of finger foods - hard-boiled egg yolks are his only no-no

• Climbing the entire flight of stairs by himself!

• Waking up with crazy wild hair (Ok, maybe I enjoyed that more than he did, but whatever)

• Hanging outside in the sunshine (and discovering his first earthworm)

• His first Easter, spent with some great friends

• Some snow play complete with a fort and lots of tasty snowballs 

• Lots of clapping (his new favorite trick)

• Playtime with Max

• His first short hike in a hiking backpack! (Bring on summer!) 

Lots of love at Giordanos! :)

Showing off his killer swimming skills for Aunt Janessa

 

Clapping in his chair that mom and dad made him during nap time one day (tutorial here), his reaction to the cold snow, and being a great 'helper' in the kitchen :)

I'm not exactly sure what Avery and Aunt Janessa saw in the book about dogs & puppies...?  :)

Avery's Current Favorites

Flirting

Giggling

DANCING

Emptying any box, bag, bucket that he can find (he's sort of a curious little mini-tornado)

The dishwasher - emptying it (of course) then crawling on the open door

Tight squeezes & sloppy wet open-mouth kisses (his mama's favorite)

Being tickled

YOGURT! 

Blueberries

Banana pancakes - (super-simple recipe here)

Chicken

Making 'hissing' sounds

Reading books with mom and dad

Reading books by himself (he's mastered turning the pages!)

Bouncing up and down in his crib 

Taking off his socks (and sometimes pants!) while waiting for me to get him out of his crib

Speed crawling

Jabbering

Playing peek-a-boo, especially with the vacuum cleaner :)

The musical globe on his activity table

Looking out/banging on the windows 

Feeding Jasper and Bella from his high chair...

His shaker eggs from his Easter basket!  (They were a hit!)

When I asked Justin what I could add to this list, his response was: "He kinda just loves...everything!" And that pretty much sums up Avery - the sweetest, happiest most easy-going child we could ever ask for (Yes, I may pay for making this statement one day soon, but it needed to be said anyway) :) We are so blessed!

I LOVE watching him troll around the house in his own little world, tearing apart and exploring everything along the way and watching the wheels turn in his head as he processes his surroundings. Then he comes back to reality, looks around and upon realizing I'm still in the room watching him, smiles a big 'ol smile, speed crawls over and climbs in my lap for a big hug and sloppy kiss. BEST. MAMA. MOMENT. EVER.  Seriously, people, it's like a drug. I can't get enough of this sweet little boy. I'm addicted :)