Big Dog, Small Space

I started back to work today, helping my brother out with his newest business venture. It's definitely a lot to learn, but I think it's going to be a great experience and I am very lucky to have an opportunity like this. Avery will be staying with her Gigi on the days that Jim and I both work, which is a huge help for us and everyone seems to benefit, a definite plus there too! On the days that Jim is off, however, he gets to play Mr. Mom. I must say, deep down I am really scared to think about what I will be coming home to, although it can be no worse than what met me this afternoon!

I got off work at 5:00, drove to my mom's house to pick up Avery and home we went. Since I left first this morning Jim was in charge of making sure things were picked up and that Jack was put in his room, aka the bathroom. For some reason, I suppose, he decided to give Jack a change of scenery this morning and move him from our big bathroom to the smaller hall bath. He put up the baby gate and off to work he went. Well, apparently this was NOT ok with someone else. I don't know if it was the fact that he didn't get a vote, or that he just didn't have prior notice enough to mentally prepare for this change. Anyhow, this is the scene that was waiting for me as I turned the corner. I left him like this until Jim came home about 5 minutes later. Looks like he will be back in the master bathroom tomorrow with a sturdier baby gate!

As you can see he destroyed every bit of plastic he could get his teeth into (notice the shreds on the floor behind him). I guess we will be buying new baby gates this week!

Today's Lesson: To ensure the proper holding space for an animal, with minimal structural damage the simple formula is: Multiply the animal's weight by 50. That number is the MINIMUM square footage an animal should be left in unattended!

Summer Fun

Yesterday Avery and I went to visit a very good friend of mine, Jaime, at the condo her family rented for the week at St.Augustine Beach. Avery had so much fun playing in the sand and waves. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of her fun in the sun! I am a bad bad mommy and forgot my good camera in the condo and when I grabbed the other from the diaper bag, wouldn't you know, the battery was dead! It started getting dark and stormy so we went back inside for a little while to play. Hunter, Jaime's 15 month old little boy, and Avery had such a good time playing with each other. They jabbered back and forth, although Hunter was more understandable; Avery even got some sweet kisses from Hunter (but don't tell her daddy). When we finally got in the car to go home she fell asleep before we even got out of the condo complex! She played so hard and was completely wiped-out!

Hunter getting fresh with Avery

Playing with shoes

It was a good thing she got a good nap though, because we had a very busy night as well! After we got home and changed, we jumped back in the car and headed to my parents' house for a yummy dinner with the whole family. Avery and Caden did some more swimming and playing. While the rest of us snacked on bread and the absolute best Greek olive oil I have ever had! Seriously...YUM! In grand tradition of family get-togethers there were several hold onto your sides laughing moments; one involving distinguishing a real cuckoo from my dad, another having to do with a previously unnoticed crack about a miniature whale. Good times, indeed, as always!

Got your nose Cay Cay!

Cheese!

Come on Everybody! Let's Sweat!!!

So this morning, during Avery's nap I decided to stop thinking about working out and actually do it! So I joined my long lost friend, who was adorned in his best candy cane striped hooters shorts, white high top sneakers and red tank top; hair perfectly coiffed and smile beaming. You guessed it! My old pal Richard Simmons! And let me tell you...he kicked my butt! It was good times though; me, jumping around the family room flailing my arms and kicking my legs like a marionette controlled by a drunken puppet master!

If you want to enjoy some top entertainment the next show will be tomorrow at 11am. Tickets will be sold at the door. No video cameras or flash photography, please. Refreshments will be available for a nominal fee.

Parenting Lesson #263

Never leave dog bowls on the floor!

Today when I was cleaning Avery's highchair out from her wonderful morning mess of waffles and applesauce, she was busy crawling around the kitchen, looking for treasures,terrorizing Jack, and other fun games that babies like to play. She crawled over to Jack's bowls, I assumed to play in his water bowl (also a fun pastime). When I turned around to get her and remove her from said "bowl of big wet fun" I noticed she was drooling...a LOT..big puddles of yellow drool. My first instinct was to check her mouth so I did and fished out a piece of dog food! YUCK! I put her back down and noticed she was STILL drooling like a starving dog with a steak in front of his nose. I checked her mouth again, and actually stuck my finger along her gum line next to her cheek. Low and behold, what did I find? 2 more pieces of dog food stuffed in her cheeks like a little chipmunk! Apparently it was very good, since she was not happy with me for removing her findings from her new special hiding place!

8 months!

Wow! I can't believe it's been 8 months already since we welcomed Avery into this great big world! She changes so much and learns so many new things each month that it's amazing to just sit and watch her.
This month she really mastered crawling even though she's been rocking the army crawl for quite some time. She's really picked up speed too.
She has also started pulling up on anything that will hold still for any amount of time; including, but not limited to: the bed, the sofa, the chair, and Jack.
She's slowly increasing her vocabulary to "ga" and "ba" and "neeeee" as well as other high-pitched gurgling.
She also managed to sprout 2 teeth! The first one erupted 4th of July weekend and the 2nd not too long after! She was a champ through it. I never even realized they were coming up until they were there!

Sharing is Caring!

I am sure in this case Jim wishes that I had kept it to myself! Somehow or another I ended up with a cold (how you can catch a cold without ever leaving the house is beyond me). Avery caught it, poor thing! I feel so bad for her since we can't give her anything to help but a humidifier and an inclined mattress! Well, she decided to be so sweet and share it with her daddy! It's a joyous time in our home with all of us snorting, sniffing, hacking and, my personal favorite, dripping (although the last is mostly describing Avery, who has developed an intense hatred of the booger-sucker and all things remotely shaped like it). Let's hope there is a cure for the common cold in the works, but until then I will continue to sing the glorious praises of the makers of Zicam, Sudafed and NyQuil! Thank you, thank you, and thank you!

On a not so snotty note, we met Frances and Jimmy for dinner at Outback on Friday night. Can you say "Yummy!" It was so good. We haven't been since before Avery was born, which is crazy to me, since it was on the weekly dinner rotation for quite some time prior to her arrival! Everyone was well entertained by our little bread eating machine. I know she enjoyed her time with her grandparents as much as they enjoyed their time with her! She got her first taste of a lemon, unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. Her face was priceless, even for though it barely touched her tongue.

Rockin' & Rollin'

...in the most literal sense! Avery is a bouncer and a rocker. Those who have tried to hold her know this first hand; if you don't have a strong grip she'll get away from you quick!

Every time I put her in her highchair she rocks. Most of the time she rocks so hard that her highchair actually rolls across the floor if the wheel locks aren't on! I finally managed to catch her on camera today doing what she loves best! Rocking!

Can you tell me how...

...to get, how to get to Sesame Street? Yesterday morning as I was getting ready to run some errands I turned on the TV and started flipping through the channel guide. I saw that Sesame Street was on and figured I would turn it on just to see what Avery's reaction was. She normally doesn't pay any attention to the TV and just goes about her (very busy) business of crawling around and searching for things that the vacuum may have missed. This day was different though! She went from crawling around by me in the bathroom back into the bedroom. This was how I found her when I peeked around the corner.



Avery has also found the theme of Jeopardy to be dance-worthy. This evening when it came on Jim and I started humming the theme and she started rocking back and forth in true Avery fashion. As soon as we stopped she became very still. When we started again, off she went! It reminded me of one of those sound-activated dancing toys that everyone who was between the ages of 6 and 13 in the 80's had.

Reminiscing

Last night the whole family met for dinner at Pulcinella's. We had a great time, and a great dinner, as always. We got started telling stories on each other, with each one being funnier than the previous. I was reminded of all the simple lessons and interesting facts I had forgotten over the years. They are as follows:

1. Don't store flower bouquets in a fish cooler.
2. Read the label before assuming a mysterious bottle of alcohol is wine, even if it is placed adjacent to two wine glasses.
3. The small refrigerator located in your hotel room isn't stocked with snacks out of common courtesy.
4. Costa Rican dogs do not climb trees.
5. If you ask a man if his wife is pretty, chances are he will say yes....better yet, just don't ask a man if his wife is pretty!
6. Sausages do not come from "Willshire Farms"
7. Woolworth is a five and dime in America. WADSworth, is not!
8. Coconuts cause more injuries in Hawaii than shark attacks.
9. If we have arrived at our destination the chances are great that this is, indeed, "Where we are".
10. There is no such thing as "crawfish day" no matter how hard others try to convince you.

I am so glad that I belong to a family that not only makes fun of ourselves, but each other too. We live for pointing out stupidity in each other and somehow manage to hold it in our memory banks forever!

Swimming at Bubba's

Today we went to Bubba's house to hang out with Chris, Amy, Camden and Mason and go swimming. She had so much fun playing with the boys, well actually, she couldn't care less about them, but they had really neat toys! D's sundeck in his pool was perfect for her. She could crawl around in the water and sit and play with plenty of room!

Posing with Aunt Amy

Rani says, "Don't mind me, I'm just passing through!"

My happy girl!

Showbiz Pizza's newest act!

Let's all give a warm welcome to "Usher Bear" the newest addition to Rock-a-Fire Explosion, ShowBiz Pizza's feature band!

Fun in St. Augustine

Today Avery and I went to downtown St. Augustine with my mom and Caden. Caden had never been and thought it was so neat to hear about all the history and see the sights. We saw the oldest school house in the U.S. and did a lot of window shopping, stopping along the way for pizza and ice cream. Avery got her first taste of peach ice cream today thanks to her Gigi! "OOOH! What's this?"

"That's not half bad!"

"Here, let me help you with that spoon!"

"What do you mean I can't have any more?"

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It's called the "Love Tree" It's a palm tree growing out of an oak tree. It's said that when a couple kisses under the tree their love will last forever. I think I need to drag Jim there!

And speaking of Jim, we have a horrible method of cheap fun in our house. It's called the waiting game! Essentially it's just hiding out for LONG periods of time and jumping out, scaring the crap out of each other. I got him GOOD tonight! I must have been hiding beside the sofa in the living room for over 10 minutes waiting for him to come out of the kitchen! I was standing there so long that Jack got tired of staring at me, trying to give away my hiding space as he normally does, and went and laid down in the bedroom! Jim finally came out of the kitchen with his bowl full of watermelon chunks and I gloriously emerged from my hiding place. What I didn't know was that he had a bite in his mouth. Needless to say I was called not nice things once he cleared the watermelon that had become lodged in his throat and cleaned the blood from his self-inflicted bite on the lip! Oh well, it served it's purpose for me! I got a good laugh out of it and eventually so did he, although I have a feeling I need to watch my back for the next week or so!

Swimming with Cousin!

Avery and I went to Gigi's house today to swim with Caden. We had a blast! I have quite the little fishy on my hands. Avery loves the water; I can't wait until we get her in swim lessons!

They had so much fun swimming together! Avery LOVED her float!

Even Harley joined in on the fun!

She had so much fun playing in the waterfall!

"The best place to practice lifts is in the water!"

Water in your face is no fun!

Trying to convince Harley to come back in the water. Unfortunately Avery doesn't speak "dog" even though she tried very hard!

When she got bored with the pool we put her in the jumper with a foot tub under her so she could splash around. She had so much fun, but I think her little feet will be wrinkley until she is 13!

Cousin gave her a turtle squirt toy and it made the best chewy!

The Fourth and the Fish

What a great weekend we had! Jim, Avery and I went up to the farm for the 4th of July. It's always so nice to get up there and escape! Mawmaw loved getting to spend lots of time with Avery, even though she "stranger-dangered" her at first! Mawmaw couldn't believe how much she had changed since we were up in April! Even though poor Jim got put to work cleaning up some of the brush and clipping tree limbs, I think he enjoyed his time away as well. We got to experience a lot of cooking by Master Chef Bop (aka Dad). Apparently last weekend when he was with Mike he was taught how to make Breakfast Burritos. I was actually really impressed! This is his recipe (I hope it's not supposed to be top secret)

Tortillas
Ground Sausage (cooked)
sour cream
6 Eggs scrambled (mix raw eggs with
1tsp Taco seasoning)
Cheddar Cheese

Assemble on Tortilla: Sour Cream, Sausage, Scrambled Eggs, Cheese. Fold and enjoy!
I must say he was VERY proud of himself for pulling off such an impressive breakfast (almost by himself! I felt the need to step in when I saw him spray the pan for the eggs with Pam and THEN plop in 1/2 a stick of butter; I removed the butter and was thanked by our arteries!)

Taking some time out from playing to take a picture with Mommy!

Having a conversation with Uncle "Joe" (whose name was Charlie, until a 2 year old Caden thought it should be "Joe"!)

Jim and Avery were worn out by the end of the weekend and decided to catch a quick nap on the porch!

Tonight Caden had her very last swim meet before Regionals. She has done so well! Unfortunately, this was the first meet Jim and I made it to, hopefully we can attend her regional meets and cheer her on there!

Caden getting a pep talk from her Daddy before a race

Ending her 25m breast stroke race

Caden and a very wiggly, uninterested Avery and their "Bubba"

What a Weekend!

Friday afternoon Jim and I packed up the dog, the baby and all the oodles of mess that go along, and headed for Orlando for the weekend. We enjoyed a nice long stay with Frances and Jimmy, and a jam-packed weekend!

Friday night I had the BEST pizza I have had in a long time...if ever! It made me realize, even more how much I really, REALLY want Jim to take me to his old stomping grounds, Chicago! If Chicago pizza tastes that good in Florida, I can't fathom what it takes like IN Chicago! (It was also just as good for breakfast as it was for dinner!)

Saturday morning Avery and I ventured off to Sanford to meet some other mommy friends at the Central Florida Zoo. We had a good time, but eventually threw in the towel after the babies got cranky and the mommies got sweaty! The mall sounded much more appealing, so off we went! It was such a fun day! We all agreed to attempt the zoo when the weather gets cooler!

(From left to right) Cranky Avery, Happy Avery, Landon, Logan, Kyson, Tristan,Cayman, Kylie,

Sunday afternoon we all packed up the car and made our way to Daytona to Bruno and Cindy's new condo for his 50th birthday. BEAUTIFUL! If I had that view I would never leave the house! It was such a gorgeous day! We all had a great time, especially Avery! Her Great-Aunt Lucy (not just figuratively speaking) gave her a taste of her first cupcake; red velvet with cream cheese icing! Needless to say she LOVED it!

At the end of the afternoon Avery and her Grandpa Jimmy went out on the balcony to watch the ocean for a little while and I snapped this shot. I love it!

The Song Remembers When

I was driving to meet some friends for dinner this evening, with my iPod set on shuffle mode. When a certain song came on I was immediately taken back to a time and place where there were no bills, no jobs, no cares in the world; where our biggest worries were which beach we were going to the next day and what we were taking with us to camp. We were young, carefree and clueless! Flying high on the rays of the summer sun; newly licensed and on the go! This one is for you ladies! I hope it takes you right back there too! Thanks for the memories of the best Summers ever!

A Good Funny

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in awhile!

Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went:


Walmart Employee: "Hello 'dis Walmarts, how can I help you?"
Customer: "Yes, I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week."
Walmart Employee: "Whatchu want on the cake?"
Customer: "Best Wishes Suzanne." And underneath that "We will miss you".

Sad but true. This actually happened.

They grow so fast!

After spending part of my afternoon with a 1 day old and an 8 week old I realized just how quickly the most precious part of our lives change! It seems like one minute you are holding this brand new baby, so tiny and helpless, the next you are chasing a crawler, who is curiously into everything! I wish I could keep her in each phase just a little while longer, even if at the time, I am wishing she would grow out of it quickly!

My Friend, My Hero!

Kristin and Adam welcomed baby Braden Robert into the world yesterday morning. He is the cutest "little" thing ever! He weighed in at 9lbs 9oz and 22 inches, giving Avery a run for her money! haha Kristin is my new hero for having a natural birth!! I wish I had a fraction of her strength! Mom and baby are both doing wonderfully...and so is Dad!

Congrats Kristin and Adam!

6 months in a nutshell

Ok, I will admit it, I suck at keeping up with blogs! In my defense though, I never said I was anything different! Although there is not a lot to report with Jim or myself, a lot has happened within the course of the last 6 months with Avery. She is now very mobile, very independent and very big! haha One month ago at her 6 month appointment she tipped the scales at a whopping 18lb 9oz and 27.5 inches! Here are some of the things that were missed:

Baby's First Christmas

First Day with the Girls! (Abby Lynn, Avery Burke, Emma Kate)

Avery Met Mitt!

Then she met the Easter Bunny!

First attempt with solid foods!

Little Miss Grump on her Happy Half Birthday