avery claire | september

About that day:

almost 22 months old

these pictures rescheduled due to getting a black eye from the park & huge meltdowns all day long
You sitting on the bench and immediately saying "cheese!"

pigtails, my favorite

wanting to pet every dog that walked by

being bribed to smile with goldfish ... That I didn't realize I had left in the car until after I had mentioned giving you some
That "cheese" smile

Photos by EmersonIrisPhotography

avery and emery | september

photo credits: emersonirisphotography 

(check her out on instagram - she did a great job!)

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!

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!

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!

Avery Claire | dreaming

 As I looked at my sweet Avery sleeping, I just wanted to scoop her up in my arms and hug her so close as I started to realize that she will never be this young or this little again. 

Tomorrow she is a day older. 

Tomorrow she is a little bigger.

The changes are gradual yet they seem to happen so fast.

It's definitely bittersweet seeing your baby grow. I am so blessed she is healthy and happy and I am so excited to watch her grow up, but oh man am I going to miss her this little.

I am soaking up every single minute I get to be her mom.

Dream big baby girl.

Avery | 9 weeks old

"Your soul could never grow old, it's evergreen."

Avery | close ups