But here we are in the middle of May and Avery will be 6 months tomorrow, the 15th. What sounds longer; 6 months or half a year? I know they’re the same, but seriously, time flies!!
I’m sure all of you parents with toddlers, teens, and older are just laughing thinking how it only gets faster; am I right? Ugh, all the more reason to try and make the most of each moment! I really need to remind myself of this.
So, keeping consistent with my new monthly memories posts, I’ll get to it. Avery, it saddens and excites me at the same time when I think that one day we will go back and read these posts together. Your mom and I love you so much and we are happy with our little family!
Edit: Ha, I just looked at mu first memories post and pretty much said the same thing before starting the list. I could delete instead of writing this, but I think it further drives into the ground how much we love our little girl!
1. You’re getting better control of your arms and legs now, and although you still kick and flail your limbs like crazy, you’re definitely making contact with things. Sometimes, they are things that hurt mommy and me, but we know you don’t intend to hurt us, right?
You also reach for and grab things pretty well, but you’re still learning how to maintain your grasp for longer than a few seconds. Unless, of course, it’s mommy’s hair, you like to hold on to that and pull.
2. Now that you are more active, we’ve been playing before your bedtime on a blanket in the living room or the kitchen floor.
Depending on how tired you are from the day, we might get anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes of quality play.
Some of the things you enjoy most (we think) are being tickled all over in the form of “tickle bird” attacks, standing up as we hold you by your hands, and hanging upside down. We are getting close to wrestling, and I can’t wait for a little rough housing!
3. You have figured out and mastered how to blow raspberries. I remember Jonathan from Dad’s The Way I Like It mentioning how his son was doing this and I couldn’t wait to get youdoing the same. After many “teaching by example” sessions from Mommy and me, you finally started blowing your own raspberries and haven’t stopped!
Caught in the act!
4. Lately, trying to get you to take your first and usually only nap of the day, I’ll feed you a bottle and while burping you, you just look me straight in the face a flash a big smile. I can’t help but laugh and smile back, but I’m really thinking “Crap, she’s never going to sleep!”
That’s when I give up and tell you that I love you, kiss your head, and lay you in your crib just hoping for the best. Surprisingly, you have a short fussy session and you’re out! I’m not sure how long this will last, but I’ll enjoy it while it does!
5. You’ve already had your jumper for a couple months, but now you’re finally starting to jump in it. Out of no where, you’ll just bounce up and down and look at us with a big smile. Mommy and I applaud you and love seeing our happy baby so excited to jump!
Now when I bring you to the garage for my workouts, I bring your jumper out too. You’ll start jumping as I do burpees or jump rope to exercise with me and I can tell it makes you happy. I foresee you being the youngest baby who can do burpees one day!
6. Mommy and I had been working with you on sitting up by yourself but you usually would tumble to the side.
The setup…Mid-tumble….Crash!
Then, just a few days ago, Mommy watched you sit up on your own while laying on the blanket! I missed that time, but have seen you sit up as we play at night and even during the day. I went to wash my hands after changing you, and when I came back, I found you sitting up and obviously very proud!
I have a feeling one of my memories at the 7 month mark might be crawling, or close to it! Kelley and I are so proud and in love with our growing daughter, and it makes me happy to be able to share our journey with all who care to follow!
Wow, what a day! Mother’s Day is a well deserved day of celebration, but it can really wear you out!
I guess having a 2+ hour photo session with a hyper baby doesn’t help, huh?
Kelley’s parents, Nana and Papa, hosted the family for Mother’s Day, and Papa graciously took Avery’s 6 month photos. Kelley had several ideas picked out from Pinterest, and Steve (Papa) is a great photographer with high quality equipment. So it just made sense for Papa to do the “shoot.”
And he wasn’t messing around; for only having photography as a hobby, he’s well equipped to have his own studio.
He also had white and black backdrops, and both were used for our session with Avery. The black backdrop made for a dramatic effect and think the pictures will turn out great. Actually, I think all of the pics will turn out wonderful! I’ll be sure to share once we have them.
Before making the trek over to Nana and Papa’s, I woke up before the girls to make breakfast and coffee for Kelley and setup her gifts.
In the bowl is one of her favorites, teff porridge cooked with whey protein, peanut flour, mashed banana, and lots of blueberries. And coffee is always a must in our house!
Yesterday I posted about my Casting Keepsakes clay print and photo kit which I reviewed and gave to Kelley as one of her Mother’s Day gifts. She loved it, and I love how simple it was to make such a lasting memory with Avery’s help!
The other items include a “handmade” card, my personal recipe of baked goat cheese crackers, and a poem I wrote from scratch. I’ll post the full poem at the end of this post for those who want to read it.
Inside I wrote “The guy who cut these pieces of paper.” I know, she’s lucky, huh? Well I’d say it certainly beats giving a bouquet of flowers someone else cut and put in a vase that all you do is have to pay for; but that’s just me. 🙂
At Nana and Papa’s we cut right to the chase and started the photo shoot. Avery was already missing out on her regular naptime and Kelley said it best by saying she was a ticking time bomb.
1 of a 10000000 pictures…..or so it seems
Fortunately, Avery did a lot better than expected and besides her constant squirminess, she was good for most of the session.
One of Kelley’s Pinterest inspirations was to have a photo of Avery sitting with several stuffed animals. I loved the idea and the pictures she showed me, but Avery was difficult to keep still. Nonetheless, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
Another idea was to have Avery naked with just a bow and pearls; these photos are adorable too! I used my camera to snap a few quick shots while Steve did the pro shots, so just want to make that clear.
Towards the end, when we brought her outside and I tried tickling her for the millionth time, she finally started to get impatient.
In all fairness, so did I, I was ready to get out of my jeans and into shorts and a shirt!
After our session was over, several attempts were made to get Avery to take a nap, but to no avail. I guess there was too much going on and she didn’t want to miss anything!
I was happy to have my mom (G-ma), and brother (Uncle Preston) there with us and we all had a nice late lunch together. Uncle P even got a little niece holding action as she tried to eat his hand.
For G-Ma’s gift, I kept with the handprint theme but used a block of Sculpey polymer clay. This required more work than the Casting Keepsakes kit, and you have to bake it instead of letting it air dry.
5 handprints and 1 footprint later, I finally settled on a print I felt G-Ma would love. I first made an impression with my hand, and then put Avery’s hand in the middle. I saw it on Pinterest (that site is so useful, but also addicting!), and knew I wanted to give something like that to my mom.
Yeah, that’s my best painting job and I’m proud of it! I also gave her a picture frame with a picture of her holding me as a baby and another picture of her holding Avery now. Going Mom helped me out a lot and wrote “Great Moms Make Wonderful G-Mas” beside the pictures and it turned out great! What an outstanding wife!
Since we don’t have a printer, I had to wait for my mom to bring a printout before I could give Going Mom her last gift. I purchased a Groupon for the two of us to attend a BYOB painting session at Texas U Can Paint. It’s something we’ve both been wanting to do, and since G-Ma agreed to watching Avery anytime, we’ll be doing this soon!
It’s kind of like a little gift to myself too, but only with my best friend/wife! Can’t wait to go!
Avery only took a couple of short cat naps the whole day and her tiredness was coming up fast once we were home. I made Kelley a quick salmon with steamed rice and broccoli dinner but she had to save half of it until after we bathed and got Avery to sleep.
It was a very long and busy day, but we both agreed it was a great day. We loved being with each other and our family and are so happy with our current lives. Let the warm fuzzies commence!
How was your Mother’s Day?
Anything special to note?
As promised, here is the poem I wrote to Kelley:
It was only last year
when you held something dear.
The excitement we had
and fear that nothing went bad,
stayed with us right to the day
“Hello, Avery” we would say.
At times we felt stuck in a rut,
especially with shots in the butt!
Now we have Avery,
the most beautiful baby
that we love so much,
and can’t get enough of her touch.
I am so happy to have you and our daughter,
and it cheers me each night we watch her splash in the water.
You are the kindest, most caring mother
whose love can be surpassed by no other.
We may have celebrated Mother’s Day last year,
but now our baby is actually here!
You are the best mother and wife
Avery and I have for life.
Let’s celebrate this day as your official first,
and know that you fill me with so love I could burst!
Happy Mother’s day to my best friend, my wife, my lover,
and now and always, a wonderful mother!
This post is part of the I’m Proud of That Link-up Party on DaddySpace, check out other cool dad bloggers using the badge below.
Hope your Saturday is off to a great start and full of fun activities or relaxation, or maybe both!
Going Mom, Avery, and I will be out and about looking for a few clothing items for our daughter and hopefully we all have a great time along the way.
Anyone following my blog or who personally knows me, knows how much I value both good nutrition and exercise. If you didn’t know, well, I value both good nutrition and exercise; there you go.
My wife and I make it a point to show Avery how we keep active and include her whenever possible. I’ve even shared a few ways to workout with your baby on this blog. Here are a few:
When we can’t include her, she’ll watch us (or the camera) in action as we workout.
Going Mom rockin’ the lunges with an overhead press!!
But, not all children are exposed to a daily regimen of exercise and healthy food choices/options. Obviously this is something I am passionate about and it saddens me to know so many kids and adults both are unaware or don’t care about having a better quality of life.
I understand time is a big issue, 9 times out of 10, there’s a way to make it work. Something is always better than nothing!
Which brings me to Action for Healthy Kids, Inc. This organization works with groups and individuals across the country to implement “health-promoting school programs and resources.”
Action for Healthy Kids acknowledges that if the current trend of unhealthy kids continues, their generation will be the first to live shorter lives than their parents!
At Action for Healthy Kids, we believe that all children should be healthy and ready to learn. Sadly, they’re not. One in three of our kids is overweight or obese, putting them at risk for a variety of health complications and chronic diseases, including heart disease, gallbladder disease, asthma, Type 2 diabetes and cancer.
They are helping to combat this trend by providing resources needed across the country to “Learn, Act, & Transform”. They do this by:
Staff – We have a small, but mighty national staff of professionals with expertise in the fields of nutrition, physical activity, education, social justice and communications.
Partnerships – We work through a highly-collaborative partnership network of more than 70 national organizations representing leaders in health, education, fitness, nutrition, governmental agencies, corporations and others who care about kids. Together, we make health-promoting school programs and resources accessible.
Volunteers – Our legion of dedicated volunteers – school leaders, health professionals, parents, students and others – from within the ranks of our 70,000+ constituency, work through schools in every state and the District of Columbia to improve the health of children.
With Your Support – We need the support of millions to create social change. Consider getting involved – whether you donate, volunteer or fundraise for the cause – your help can make a big difference in the lives of children.
My birthday is just less than a month away, and I set a goal to earn $100 on the fundraiser website, Crowdrise before I turn 30.
This is where I am asking you for help. If you can and are willing, I ask that you please help by donating to this very important cause.
Just click on the link below to go to my Crowdrise page and donate whatever you can.
