update

This is Two…and a Half

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Every day is an adventure with Averi and every day is a mystery. Will she eat today? Will she nap today? How bad is bedtime going to be? It’s exhausting.

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She is not a great eater, lately she is refusing meals all together. One day she will eat a huge bowl of mac and cheese and then the next week, if she had her way would throw the bowl across the room.  She isn’t a huge meat eater, anything green she will push away.

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Sleep is another thing that we have been struggling with. Naps are random, some days she is asleep for a couple hours and some days she cries and cries and cries until I can’t take it anymore and get her up. Bedtime, for the most part has been a breeze but again, lately she is fighting it. So, with that we decided to convert her crib into the toddler bed. Like right now, she is in there for the first time. No she is not asleep but she is still in her bed and not screaming. Maybe it wont be so terrible.

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She loves cartoons ,Elena of Avalor and Mickey Mouse ranked highest and getting time with the iPad without sister around. She has no interest in potty training yet and loves shoes.

Hopefully the potty training will come soon so we can look into preschool a few days a week. This kid is with me every.single.second.of.the.day. I think she will really benefit from being away from me, socializing with other kids and having someone else tell her “NO.”

But, she is my little love, my cuddler and my baby girl. Happy 2 1/2 Averi!

Marching On

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The Avester is getting pretty good at walking. She enjoys putting on her shoes and heading out. She’s got to work on getting up and down steps but soon she should be able to wander around without much help.

California has been in the oven the past month and we have been held up in our nice air conditioned house. I think Aves gets stir crazy sometimes but then I think of the book The Room and I’m like, girl, you’re good. In all seriousness,  it’s been too hot to be outside for long, plain miserable. If we were outside, water was involved.

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She is now 14 months. I have started her on some sign language, just a few basic signs. She is catching on fast but I’m not so sure she quite understands what she is saying, but she will. We don’t have much language, she can say dada and growls for “doggy” but that’s about it. She does babble and laughs a lot, she melts my heart. Not everything is getting put in her mouth anymore, she is good about stopping if I tell her “Averi, not in your mouth.” I was doing  a bunch of art activities with Kaili at her age because K never had any sort of oral fixation. I am still hesitant to do much with A, hopefully soon. I know she will love it.

IMG_6013We stopped bottles completely, no problem. I tried everything I could to get her to drink milk but she doesn’t want it. Without the milk, her constipation stopped. She get’s her dairy through yogurt and cheese and that doesn’t seem to bother her…luckily.

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I have to admit, I am looking forward to the holidays with the girls, fun times ahead.

11 Months

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

11 months old. I can’t remember Kaili at this age, even going back and looking at her pictures it’s like I lost all memory of what she was doing at this age.

Averi is cruising around the furniture like a pro and has stood on her own for .2 seconds but that’s it for now.

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I can’t tell you how excited I am to get rid of formula and stop washing bottles. I’m like really really excited about that.

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She still puts anything and everything she can grab into her mouth. She is also getting better with eating solids. She loves her carbs, bread, crackers, pasta, pizza, bagels, waffles, veggie chips you name it. She usually takes a bite of her fruit and then drops the rest on the floor, along with anything else healthy.

Not sure how much she weighs but I’m betting she is gaining on her sister.

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She has 4 teeth and two pushing through as we speak. She is getting her own little personality and for the most part is a happy girl. She is easy to take places, she likes to people watch and is happy to be pushed along in her stroller. A friend of ours got her to fall asleep in her stroller at a party. Kaili never did that, as a matter of fact Kaili has never fallen asleep anywhere other than her bed or the carseat and that has only happened about 3 times.

I can’t wait to see what the next few months brings.

Happy almost 1 year baby girl.

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Sisters

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Averi is 11 months old today, more on that soon. Kaili has turned a corner in her maturity and it’s awesome and scary at the same time. We moved her kid table into her room and now she can do her activities at our dining room table. She spends a good amount of time in her room playing by herself…(A dream I never thought would happen.) Last week I let her stay up until 8:30 (GASP) to finish Frozen. I thought maybe she will sleep later than normal but no, she woke up at 6: AM.Bullshit.

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 Isn’t she beautiful? Little sister, just as cute, has been making this weird face. I love it and luckily strangers adore it.

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Kaili moved from the 3 year old class to the 4 year old class this past week. Luckily her bestie moved up with her, that made it an easy transition. Along with gymnastics I am hoping to sign her up for a two week swim class at a new pool this month.

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Kaili is mostly nice to sister but not really. She is really starting to piss me off with the way she goes out of her way to poke, prod and irritate little sis. She is spending a lot more time “thinking” these days…sigh. They will be besties soon right?

April

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I finally got my computer fixed after I spilled apple juice on it, ironic huh? Apple on Apple? Gah, no more liquids around electronics for this girl. It was really hard to motivate myself to write on my iPad.
So all of the sudden it’s April, birthdays are looming ahead of us. Little Averi turned 9 months, she is moving along with her own unique crawl where she uses her upper body strength to pull herself along while her feet kick about. It doesn’t slow her down. We got a baby jail for her which is great when I need to turn my back, she will find anything and everything on the ground, put it in her mouth and then gag on it. Where there’s a will there is a way, she is a determined little thing.
She is still on purees because she chokes on anything that isn’t and it scares the hell out of me. I didn’t make my own food this time around because it’s so easy to buy and the variety of food available is amazing but it’s not cheap.
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She has been sick the past month AND her two top teeth just poked through so sleep has been a mess, with wake ups sporadic. Like her sister she is an early riser and I have come to the realization that these girls are not late sleepers and I will never sleep in again.

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Kaili turns 4 in a couple of weeks, this amazes me. She is doing great in school, can write her name and is working on writing MOM and DAD. I can look at her and say Shane and I have done good. She is compassionate, empathic, funny and relatively a good listener. She is starting to act out a bit which is actually coming later than I expected. Nothing that’s not age appropriate but her baby sister usually gets the brunt of it. This sharing thing is harder than in looks.
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She started swimming lessons twice a week at the Y and she loves it.She is picking it all up really fast.
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We got her a bunk bed for her birthday with Frozen sheets to go with it, of course. She is excited to share her bed with anyone really, and soon enough Averi will be her roommate. I told Kaili she will be in charge of getting Averi back to sleep once that happens! Good times ahead!

5 Months

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Our little monkey butt is 5 months old and I have to say she is a bona fide cutie.

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She eats a lot, at least a lot more than K did and more frequently. She goes through 5 ounces every 2 1/2 hours. I feel like I am perpetually  making or washing bottles.

Sleep, for the most part is great. She takes two naps a day ranging from 1-2 1/2 hours. Bedtime is at 6:30 and if she wakes up its anywhere from 1-4 am. Recently she has mastered rolling onto her tummy, if you put her on her back she WILL roll but she can’t roll back over, so you can guess what that means.  This has thrown a wrench into sleep, I found myself walking into her room a good 5 times early this morning to flip her back over. That was not fun.

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She thinks her sister is hilarious, Kaili just has to make a funny face at her and Averi will crack up. I come in second in the comedy department, apparently my singing is pretty funny, not sure how I feel about that.

I feel really lucky with how easy she is.She does have her moments and they arrive around 4-5 pm or also known as “witching hour”. The hardest part for me is when Shane is gone and I am trying to make dinner. Some days are better than others, like Friday through Sunday. The outcome is that Kali’s weekly dinner menu has really weakened in creativity. Occasionally I beat myself up over it because her palate is getting fussy but honestly as long as she is eating I will not stress over it.

After the holidays I will start Averi on some oatmeal and veg. I would like to say I will make all her food but… ya, probably not going to happen.

Happy 5 months baby girl.

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