This is the second month we’ve had to push off Avery’s monthly photo session. Last month, my wife and I had a date night paint night (King Kong even made an appearance), and this month Avery was too ill for us to subject her to pictures in the chair.
Once our little girl was back in action and running wild, we knew it was time for her photo session. She’s still not eating right and it’s obvious her current teething is the culprit. Poor kid, can’t catch a break.
I have to hand it to her though, aside from her stubborn eating, she bounced back from her fever rather fast and won’t let anything slow her down. She made sure to make her photo session difficult just to prove that she’s not sick anymore and we can’t just take pictures as we please like I did the other day. Taking her away from the book she was “reading” probably didn’t help either….
But that’s what parents do, right, we annoy the hell out of our kids. The first setup seemed promising and Avery put up a front as if she’d cooperate.
But not a second later, she was lunging forward with her crazy face.
It became obvious this session would be added to the another one of those categories, so we just managed with what we had. Basically, just a lot of re-positioning.
The only time she held still was when she was pulling on the bow in her hair.
Which, of course, led to it coming off.
Kelley only had to put the bow back on, ohhhhhhh, eleventy-billion times.
Which only made Avery increasingly interested in the little white thing clipped to her hair. Maybe it would be something good to eat?
Nope, maybe handing it to Daddy would be better.
Or maybe I’ll just hold on to it and give a quick pose.
Guess that was all we got, because things went “downhill” from there….
And hey, what’s with this bow always getting stuck on my head?!
So that was our photo session for her 17 month mark. I know there’s a lot of changes occurring each day in our growing girl, but does that mean she’ll be better or worse for her 18 month session?
I completely lost track of Avery’s photo session posts with the last one being her 10 month photos. But, hopefully this will get me back on track to capture her growth month by month.
Let me play catch-up and post at least one photo for each month missed.
10 Months
11 Months
12 Months / 1 year
13 Months
14 Months
15 Months
Yeah, so we botched her birthday and never took a pic of her in the chair with the bear. Ha, I love unconscious rhyming!
She turned 16 months on March 15, but we were a couple days late at taking the photos. As usual, it was late and she was cranky for the shoot, as you can see at the beginning. Luckily, her bear knows how to instantly cheer her up! She went from mad….
…..to calm/kind of smirking with her bear….
…..to full on giggle-fest 2015!
And she even stopped and smiled for a good picture. This is very rare!
But, just like most monthly photo sessions, the bear got the shaft.
Annndddd off you go, bear!
“Oops, did I do that?”
We set the bear back on the chair several times, but Avery finds a way to make kick him off every time.
All in all, the session went better than I expected. One thing’s for sure, our girl is growing, fast, and we need to make the most of each day with her while we can. From what I hear, kids grow into unruly pre-adolescents that are embarrassed to hang out with their cool parents. What gives?!
Glad to play catch-up and get Avery’s monthly progression published for the world to see! It won’t be long until I’m posting her 17 month photos…..shhheeeesh!
The memories keep coming almost daily now that Avery’s walking and is interested in everything! Seriously, how do you parents with multiple kids do it? Just our one is plenty to keep me busy during the day. Staying at home is definitely a full time job life with loads of overtime!
But no complaints here, I get plenty of pay in the form of….
….well, not the tongue sticking outing part, but just loads of love from Going Mom and our sweet (also crazy!) daughter.
I love them both, so dearly, and our current life is working so well! It’s been almost a full year since I left work to become a stay-at-home dad, and I never imagined how fulfilling this life would be. It’s wonderful and I know it will only get better.
That said, it also means I’ll be plenty more busy as Avery is no longer just an idle baby giving me quiet time during the day. Nope, she’s with me most of the day and we’re constantly doing something. Playing, eating, not sleeping, screaming, exercising, etc. Just part of the life, huh?
And now, on with the memories!!
1. Avery, you have become quite the chatter-box lately and “Dada” makes up most of your words. You may not know exactly what you’re saying, but you do know who Dada/Daddy is at this point.
2. Just recently, you started saying “Mama” too, and it’s usually accompanied by whining. I don’t think Mommy is too excited about that part, but it’s still great that you’re saying both Mama and Dada now.
3. It’s been really cold (for Texas), and working out in the garage is becoming increasingly difficult. You won’t accept being in your jumper much longer, but if I give you my weight lifting belt, it keeps you busy for a while.
4. Speaking of garage workouts, you’ve taken to attempting kettlebell training and it’s only a matter of time when you’re working out with me in the garage.
5. I’ve been having fun and keeping busy with making different meals for you and so far you’ve been doing great at eating them. But, some of the more savory items take some work to get you to eat. So as long as we play like you are a kitty eating kitty food, it seems to work….so far. You even make a cute squeak as your way of meowing.
Being a good kitty.
6. What’s more, after eating something and not spitting it out (i.e. being a good kitty), we all clap for your good behavior, even you.
8. Now that you’re more aware of your surroundings than ever, you let Mommy and me know if you aren’t happy with us taking an extended walk. When doing our normal neighborhood loop, we sometimes take a longer way, and immediately after we turn, you start screaming. I guess you don’t like sitting in a stroller in the cold any longer than you have to. Can’t blame you, but hopefully your bear suit keeps you warm and this crying won’t last too long.
9. Surroundings aren’t the only thing you’re more aware of. Your diaper has become a perfect thing to unsnap whenever possible. This is a downfall of the snaps on cloth diapers, but you also tear at the velcro kind, so it’s a lose-lose situation for us. To combat your diaper removing ways, we have resorted to putting packaging tape across the front. So far, this works. For how long? No one knows….
10. Since you are eating a lot more now, and because it’s just good practice, we started brushing your teeth. You don’t seem to mind the all natural blueberry toothpaste and brushing, but you also clamp down on the toothbrush making the “brushing” part extremely difficult. Either way, you are doing better than we expected!
11. You seem to enjoy dancing when and wherever possible, and I’ll admit you’re already better than I will ever be.
12. It’s getting easier to tell when you’ve gone poop. For one thing, they smell a lot worse, but almost every time it gets quiet and you go to your chair, a poop is sure to follow.
13. Bath time used to entail both Mommy and me, but for a while now, just Mommy will bathe you as I clean up after dinner. I could (and should) put off the clean-up, but I get to worked up to have it done ASAP. Regardless, Mommy seems to enjoy her time with you in the bath. How can you not enjoy time with such a cute kid?!
14. You’re finally giving us hugs! Multiple times a day, you will come up and hug my leg as I’m cooking or washing dishes, and you’ll give hugs when we ask you to as well! It’s the best feeling having you come to us with your arms open!
Kissing is the next thing to work on. Sometimes she gives them, sometimes not, and sometimes she opens her mouth to eat our face when we go in for a kiss. Hopefully by 15 months she’ll be accepting of kisses. Things keep getting more and more fun and interesting around here!
An at-home dad on a mission to keep it real when it comes to food, fun, and raising a healthy, happy family.
