a letter to avery | ONE!

Our precious Avery! 

I cannot believe that you are already ONE! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing you home from the hospital!
You are 21 pounds and 29 inches long. You finally got a tooth after your turned 11 months so you officially had one tooth when you turned one! 

You are walking so good and love to hold your hand out so we can hold your hand. You will wear shoes most of the time but as soon as we put you in your carseat you will pull the shoes off. 

You have developed such a personality. You love to smile and wave at everyone. Your smile, with your crinkled up nose, is THE cutest thing! You also give hugs now and you especially love to give your cousin Bryson hugs!

Words you can say: MaMa, DaDa, Bye-Bye, No-No

You eat so, so good! You especially love anything that you can pick up and eat. You are officially off of the bottle and doing so good with your sippy cups. You are such a big girl!

We love you so much. This past year was by far the best year of my life. You have brought so much joy to mommy and daddy and we are so thankful for you sweet girl.

a letter to avery | eleven months

Happy 11 months sweet Avery!

Nothing in this world will ever compete with your smile! You have THE sweetest, TOOTHLESS smile! Ah, it melts us! 

You are officially taking steps now! I can't believe it! You are up to 6 steps before you fall down and getting more steady every time you stand up to walk.

We are working on keeping socks and shoes on, but it isn't going too well. You LOVE pulling your socks off and chewing on them so it seems like it will be a long process.

Mommy and daddy are getting things together for your FIRST birthday next month! We are so excited to celebrate you turning ONE! 

We took you to Boo in the Zoo for the first time with your best friend Kinsley and cousin Bryson and you had so much fun! Not to mention, you were the cutest owl there ever was!

You still love to eat and having no teeth hasn't slowed you down one bit! When we try to feed you food with a spoon, you will immediately bring your hand up to your mouth so you can touch the food for yourself. It is so cute!

I can't believe this time last year I was a few short weeks away from having you! I honestly cannot imagine my life without you. You are my world and I thank God every single day for giving me you!

 I love you so much!

a letter to avery | 10 months

I can't believe you are 10 months old my sweet girl!  We have officially started planning your FIRST birthday party and I just can't believe it! You are such a fun, loving, beautiful little girl! Your laugh and smile are absolutely my most favorite things in this world and i cannot imagine a single second without you. Watching you grow and learn new things brings me so much joy! 

We love you so much!

milestones:

you are standing up by yourself

you are clapping 

you are waving bye-bye

you say "da-da" now...ALL the time

eating all table food with just 3 bottles a day

learned how to play peek-a-boo (thank you ashton!)

Your favorite foods:

green beans

mac and cheese

PP&J

You hate:

getting dressed

having things taken away from you

diaper changes

getting dropped off at daycare

having your nose wiped

you love:

playing with keys

playing with your cousins

being held

being outside

swinging

playing with daddy

cuddling

climbing on the stairs

a letter to avery | 9 months old

Our sweet, sweet Avery! My how time is just flying right before our eyes. You are officially 9 months old now! You are 18lbs and 14oz and 28 inches long and you are 1 oz away for tripling your birth weight. I cannot even believe that you have been here with us for 9 months already. You are such a joy to us and I thank God every single day that I get to be your mom.

You love walking with your walker! You crawl over to it, pull yourself up, get the biggest open mouth smile on your face, and start moving those little legs...but not before looking around to see who's looking at you! You love to pull yourself up on anything and everything and as soon as you get your little hands on something, it is going straight to your mouth. 

You give the best, wettest, open mouth kisses! Theres no way i will ever be able to get enough of those! You still don't have teeth and the doctor said she doesn't see any yet. MeMe said that I didn't get teeth until I was 14 months old, so you make get your teeth late like your momma!

You love playing with your big kid cousins! You would let them carry you around all day if they would. They really love playing with you and you just laugh and smile at them because you love playing with them, too! Anytime Bryson starts running around you giggle so much! Every time they hold their hands out to hold you, you gladly go to them. I love seeing you with them because you are always extra happy when they are around.

You are holding your bottle all the time now and you are probably only eating about 3 bottles a day now. You have officially started table food and oh my goodness girl do you love it! You have loved everything we have given you so far and we absolutely love watching you eat and try new things!

You still love bath time! To this day you have only cried once in the bathtub which is pretty impressive! You love all of your bath toys and you especially love chewing on the wet washcloth! You love to splash the water with your washcloth and you laugh every time you do it! You also will never let go of your washcloth when I get you out so it always makes a trip to your changing table when you get in your PJs.

You are getting a little attitude about you. If we take things away from you or you run out of food, you get mad and start screaming.  It is so funny, but I hope this attitude of yours doesn't get any worse! ;)

You are officially in your big girl car seat! You didn't care for it too much at first, but you have gotten used to it now, thankfully! When I get you in it, you always looks around to the driver seat to see where your daddy is and when I get you out, you always looks around me to see where your daddy is. You sure love your daddy!! When we lay you in the bed to put you to sleep, you always curl up with your daddy! It is so cute, but your mommy sure would like to cuddle with you! :)

We found out this month that you are going to be getting a little sister! I hope y'all are as close as me and your aunt ashton are! I can't wait to see y'all grow up together and be the best buds! I just hope she doesn't mind wearing all of your clothes! :)

Words can't quite express how much we love you sweet girl. You are our biggest blessing and our lives are so much sweeter with you in it. I can't wait to keep watching you grow.

a letter to avery | 8 months old

Oh my sweet girl you are growing so fast! It seems like just yesterday you were mommy's tiny little baby! You were 18lbs and 3 oz at your doctors appointment last week! 

You love to crawl around and get your hands on anything that you can see. You love to walk (with assistance) and you would rather stand instead of sit. You will actually fight us when we try to sit you down sometimes. You are also pulling yourself to stand whenever you can. It won't be long until you are standing all by yourself! You are still putting everything in your mouth! You love to eat your baby food, but you are starting to get interested in the food we eat! We haven't started table food yet, but I know you will love it! Stage 3 baby foods are confusing you with the texture (you threw up when you ate it for the first time) but you will soon love them too, I hope!

The mornings are still your favorite time of day! After your bottle, I'll take you downstairs and let you play with your toys and you are so content playing. You will squeal and just talk and talk. Once you notice that I am walking around in the kitchen, you always follow me.

You are the happiest girl! You are always smiling and laughing...especially when you see your daddy! You always have your mouth wide open so we are still calling you "little bird." 

You have discovered puffs and you absolutely love them! You seem to love the fact that you can grab them with your fingers and put them in your mouth and eat them. We had to give them to you in pieces at first, but you are a pro with the whole puff now! 

I have been trying to teach you how to wave and you have actually done it a few times. Most of the time you just stare at me like I'm crazy when I wave to you. You will also kiss us! I'll say "give mommy a kiss" and you, with your mouth wide open, lean into my lips! It is the cutest thing!! I love slobbery kisses from my girl!

You are sleeping through the night still and taking about 3 naps a day.  You are still in size 3 diapers and you are wearing some 6 month clothes but mostly 9 months clothes. You still have no teeth! Your hair is still dirty blonde and your eyes are still blue! You are wearing bows in your hair now! Yay! You are the most beautiful thing in this world!

You celebrated your first 4th of July this month with your cousins and friends. We also found out that you will have another girl cousin! I know y'all will be the best buds like me and her momma are!

You are so, so loved my precious Avery! I will never be able to truly express to you how much we love you and how much of a true blessing you have been to us. You are mommy and daddy's world!

weekend | first birthdays

Avery, Bryson, and I loaded our car with up presents and spend our Saturday afternoon celebrating Harper and Kinsley's FIRST birthdays!

Avery's cousin, Harper, had a Minnie mouse themed birthday party and everything was so cute! Harper has the most contagious smile with that mouth full of teeth! She sure is a small thing, but she is sure full of life! Happy FIRST Birthday sweet Harper! We love you!

Next, we went to Avery's best friend, Kinsley's first birthday party! She had a princess themed party with a tiara and a tutu to match! She loved opening presents and couldn't quite understand why she couldn't play with the toys right then! We love you, Kinsley!

I can't believe these babies are aleady one!

Baby Moore # 2 | week 14

14 weeks, already?! Baby Moore #2 is the size of a lemon & growing by the day! 

I am thankful the second trimester is here! 

Nausea & extreme exhaustion have finally passed! Thank you, Jesus! It sure is tough not feeling 100% & having to keep up with 7 month old who has learned how to crawl! I'm not even ashamed to say I napped with Avery A LOT the last couple of months! ;)

 So far, this pregnancy has been very similar to my pregnancy with Avery! I have had the exact same symptoms. Of course, most everyone I've talked to thinks I'm having a boy! Funny story...I was really good at putt-putt this year at the beach (I actually won a round against my entire family which I have never done!) which convinced my mom I am pregnant with a boy. Haha! I'm honestly not feeling one way or the other & I honestly don't care what this precious baby is! Being a mom is my most favorite thing & I am so blessed that I get to be a mom to another little one! :)

Happy July, everyone!

a letter to avery | seven months old

Well, little bird, you are officially seven months old!

 This post is a little late because we ventured off to Myrtle Beach last week for our family vacation, but better late than never. :)

You loved it, just like I thought you would! Of course, you napped and ate more than usual (which is about right for vacation) and you loved the water and you especially liked the lazy river. Your cousins loved on you all week. I think they really enjoyed getting to spend 24/7 with you. You were our little 7:00 am alarm clock all week and loved to wake us up by saying "ahh" over and over until we woke up, too. You, my little one, are the most precious thing in this world. Vacation with you was a little challenging, but so much fun! We can say that you have officially put your little feet in the Atlantic ocean now! 

We took you to Family Kingdom and you rode the train with your cousins and daddy. You saw fireworks for the first time and you actually didn't cry! We were super surprised about that because loud noises really seem to scare you! You went to Medieval times and really seemed to like it, for the most part.

I signed you up for a class at The Little Gym for the summer and you absolutely love it! You get to play on balance beams and crawl around on mats. You see bubbles every time we go and those are your favorite thing ever! You get to play with balls and do fun flips. You smile so much when we go! And, you get to do it with some cute baby friends who you love to smile at!

You are starting to crawl and pull up by yourself. You are seriously on the move! You are everywhere now and into everything. You are starting to lean/reach for people when you want them to pick you up or hold you and oh my goodness, it is the cutest thing! You still don't have any teeth, but I think they will be coming soon. < I think I say that every month. :) Your eyes are still blue and your hair is still dirty blonde. You are still in 6 months clothes, but can wear a few 9 month outfits and you are in size 3 diapers. You are taking about 2-3 naps a day and you are sleeping about 9-10 hours at night now! Yay! You are still loving your baby food and you are finally starting to hold your own bottles...well halfway through haha and you love your sippy cups!

You are so full of life! Your smile literally lights up a room. There is absolutely no way to not smile back at you when you get a glimpse of your smile. Your Papa says that even when it is 6:00 in the morning, (which is when I drop you off with Ashton before daycare) you still can make him smile!

We announced to the world that you are going to be a BIG SISTER! I know you have no idea what is in store for you and our little family yet, but I am so excited to see you as a big sister! You will never know life without this new little one and I hope that y'all are the best buddies!

Oh, sweet thing you are the light of our lives. I give you so many kisses and tell you I love you multiple times a day because I want you to know just how loved you are. Some days I still can't believe that I get to be your mom! You are such a joy to us and I have loved every single second of the last 7 months and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for you! 

Keep growing big and strong precious girl!

Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

a letter to avery | 6 months old

You are 16 pounds and 13 ounces and are 27 inches long. You are back up to the 89th percentile for height! You are getting so big!

You love for us to stand you up on your legs so you can look around. You stomp those legs and move around so much! Its hard to hold you standing on your legs for long! You are making all sorts of little sounds now and oh my gosh I just love to hear them. You love to put your lips together and say "Mmmmm" the most and let me tell you, It. is. so. cute. You are also getting really high pitched in your sounds, but you also have really delicate sounds. We think you are going to be quite the talker (like your momma!) You have found your tounge so you will make the wet sound with it and of course it causes you to drool all over the place.

I love to watch you play. I will lay you down on your back and you will immediately roll to your belly and search for something you can touch. Its usually your crinkle book or your light up turtle and you always put whatever is in your hand in your mouth. You are starting to get up on your knees and hands and you rock. You are so close to crawling! You also love to put your arms straight out and kick your legs so fast! It is so cute! It looks like you are either trying to swim or fly!

You are sitting up all by yourself! Such a big milestone! :) The doctor was even surprised when we told her! It took a lot of practice and a lot of falling over, but you have mastered it!

It's becoming harder to put your diapers on because you love to roll onto your belly and you still hate to get dressed. You are definitely teething because you are chewing on absolutely everything! I look into your mouth every day just to see if anything has poked through yet. When we try to get you to open your mouth, most of the time, you just try to lick our fingers!

You are the smiling-est baby! Your teachers at daycare call you "smiley" because you are just so happy! That smile...oh my goodness it melts us! You will be playing and then your eyes will catch ours and you will break out into the biggest grin! You will pretty much smile at anyone that pays you attention!

We took you to the pool for the first time this past weekend and you loved it! You floated around for an hour and half with your paci in your mouth and you just kicked your little legs. I can't wait for many more pool days this summer with you!

Your eyes are still blue and your hair is still dirty blonde and you still have the cutest cheeks! Oh, I love to kiss them! I quite possibly kiss you over a hundred times a day and I'm pretty sure you are going to think your name is "i love you" because I tell you so much!

We are thankful for every single day we get to be your parents and we can't wait to keep watching you grow sweet girl!

bring on summertime!

springtime evenings

our evenings are mostly spend at the ball park these days which is okay by me because I know one little girl who absolutely loves to be outside watching her cousins play sports!

a letter to avery | five months

Are you REALLY already 5 months old baby? I cannot believe you have already been here with us for 5 months! They have been some of the best months of our lives and goodness gracious do we love you to pieces. You have changed our lives little bird and we wouldn't have it any other way! You bring us so much joy its ridiculous!

You have officially eaten solid food! You have had rice cereal, sweet potatoes, green beans and carrots! So far, you have loved everything we have given you! You were a little confused at first and you didn't really know what to do with the spoon in your mouth, but you have definitely gotten the hang of it. I absolutely love giving you baby food! I love how cute your little face looks with baby food all over it and I love that you can't seem to eat it fast enough, piggy!

You have now rolled over from your tummy to your back (although your aunt Ashton is the only one who has seen it!) We still can't keep you on your back because you are always rolling over. (and you spit up so much when you are on your belly!)
 You are trying your hardest to crawl. I imagine it wont be long! You also love to grab those little feet and put them in your mouth. You are starting to "walk" in your baby walker when you're on a hard surface. You love to chew on the wheel that is on it and you will keep you arms straight out. You are starting to pick up objects with your hands and of course you bring them straight to your mouth. You can also sit up when your arms are out in front of you. You are growing so fast!

We think we will be seeing little teeth soon! You have your little hands in your mouth pretty much at all times and when I give you your cold teething rings, you love to keep them in your mouth. You also love to grab our hands and gnaw on them!

You still make that squeaky/sucking in out and it is so adorable. It is my absolute favorite sound I have ever heard. It makes everyone smile when they hear it!

We think your eyes are slowly turning brown! Time will tell, but we see specks of brown appearing in certain light! But, as of right now, your eyes are still blue and your hair is dirty blonde! You are still in 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. We are so happy the weather is getting warmer so you can get good use out of your summer 6 month clothes.

.

You love:

looking at your daddy (you can't look at him without smiling!)

smiling at everyone that talks to you

grabbing your feet and putting them in your mouth

 to be in your walker
mornings

chewing on your hands at all times

 to roll over on your belly

  "talking" really loud
cuddling

all veggies we have given you
your paci when you are sleepy

watching your cousins play baseball
watching TV
when your cousins talk to you

You hate:
to have your clothes changed
to have your nose wiped or sucked out
to be hungry
to be on your belly too long

weekend | easter celebration

avery's first easter

    

easter egg hunt

congratulations to you two!

family of three on easter

the lanfords

coley's - shawn is getting too tall!

sweet Solomon

my family

the kiddos - minus avery and Solomon

our annual easter egg hunt at mema and pepa's was a success! we had two new additions this year and we found out we will have another little baby running around next year! (congratulations haley & kendall!) our family keeps getting bigger and bigger with each passing year! I can still remember when it was just me, megan, haley, ashton and carson hunting eggs! Now, we have so many kiddos running around and it is so fun! another easter celebration is in the books and this year we got to celebrate with our sweet avery claire! i was exactly 9 weeks pregnant last easter and this year we had her here with us. we are so beyond blessed with that sweet little girl!

i hope everyone had a wonderful easter!

a letter to avery | 4 months old

You weighed 14 pounds & 6 ounces when I took you to the doctor this week (you had your first ear infection and first cough, poor thing)! You are getting so big! You are wearing 3-6 month clothes and are still in size 2 diapers. It was really bittersweet for me when I packed away your 3 month clothes, but I am so happy you are healthy and growing like you should!

After all those days of trying, you have officially rolled over! You rolled over from your back to your tummy! I made such a big deal about it that you were really excited. Anytime we lay you down now, you will roll over or scoot your body all around the mat. You are quite the wiggle worm...we find you upside down in the mornings a lot of the time. You spit up just about every time you roll over now so we spend lots of time cleaning you up. You will literally only spend 2 minutes max on your back before you are on your belly now. And, I swear you are already trying to crawl. You just aren't content staying still anymore! I don't know what it is, but there is just something about seeing you on your belly with your head popped up that makes me feel SO full of joy! I can't even explain the feeling I get every time I see you like that! I. just. love. it.

You are holding your head up all the time now and you can bear weight on your legs. You can actually walk on the floor when we stand you up. It is so cute! I can't believe how strong you are! You have found your feet so you love to reach for them. You also love to grab things in your hands...especially my hair! You love to rub your little feet together (like your momma does) and you love to bring those hands together.

Everyone thinks you are the prettiest baby and I honestly think you have started to recognize the word "pretty" because you start to smile so big when someone says that to you. It's really funny! Your aunt Ashton has started calling you "pretty" instead of Avery which you love. We get stopped all the time by strangers telling us how beautiful you are. It is so sweet when people do that...probably because I'm also one of those people who tell strangers how pretty their babies are!
But, of course, we think you are the cutest and prettiest baby in the world! :)

I am really looking forward to summertime with you! We can't wait to take you swimming and to the beach. You are going to look so cute in your bathing suits this summer and I already know you are going to love the pool so much! It's starting to get warmer out and we have started taking you to watch your cousins play baseball at the park and you absolutely love to watch them. Probably because there is a lot going on and you are still so nosy!

When you are eating or are getting sleepy, you bring your hands over your eyes. Sometimes it's hard to get a bottle in your mouth because your hands are in our way. You also love to have your hand in your mouth pretty much at all times. You love to sleep on your side sometimes and I think it is the cutest thing. You will stop on your side to sleep for a little while and then you will roll completely over to your belly and sleep that way. You still only will take your paci if you are getting hungry or tired and you love to forcefully spit it out if you don't want it.

You are such a happy baby and you are always smiling. Your teachers at "school" say you are the happiest baby and they love when you are there! You are starting to giggle now and you love when I put my hair in your face. Every single time you look at your daddy, you smile. You really love him, little bird and he sure loves you. You make the cutest little sound when you get excited. I don't know how to explain it other than it's a "sucking in" sound. It is just precious. You start to kick and move those arms back and forth and start making the "sucking in "sound and I can't help but laugh! You have THE sweetest smile I've ever seen. It is so contagious! Your eyes light up every time you smile.

You still love bath time and you still love to watch TV. You will twist your body all around just so you can watch it. I have started to take baths with you and man oh man do I love that...and you seem to love it, too!

You have slept through the night (8 WHOLE HOURS!) for about a week and a half now! What a treat that has been! Mornings are our special time together. I love to lay you down on our bed to look at you and talk to you and you just talk and talk back to me, but as soon as you spot a light that's where your attention goes.

Oh my goodness we just love you so much! You are the most precious thing to us baby! We always just randomly say to each other "I just love her." You have just been the biggest blessing to us and by far the biggest bright spot in our lives. It's hard to remember how we spent our days before you because we can't imagine doing anything else except wanting to spend every minute with you.

You are so, so loved baby girl.

this how the majority of the pictures turned out. she tried to get that sticker in her mouth so many times.

weekend | hello there, march

My weekend was spent snuggling babies and celebrating my brother's birthday with a surprise party.

And, our precious Avery rolled over for the first time!

weekend | bryson turns five

We spent the weekend celebrating this sweet boy!

our boston babies