Lately...

Lately....I haven't been blogging. Lately....Avery's only taking one nap a day. Lately...I use that time to work on a number of things. You get the idea!

Like I said before, Avery's running on only one nap a day, which means less free time for me. And lately...things have been busy with my new business:) Yaay! I mentioned a few months ago about starting my new photography business, and it has been going very well. So during Avery's one nap a day, I've been editing photos...or working on my new website...or cleaning (or not!). But one thing I have not been doing during her nap is posting new blogs. Just been busy, people! You can see what all I've been doing here at MY PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG!

Other than my last post about Avery's 11 month update, you really don't know what's been happening with that little girl. Actually, she's not so little anymore. I have to make a correction with her height measurements from that post. I said she was 28 inches long at 11 months...well, according to her last doctor's appointment at 9 months...she was 28.5 inches long. I guess she shrunk! Or maybe I'm just a bad "measurer!" We'll find out officially how tall she is at her 1 year check up....which is only 3 weeks away!! Unbelievable.

I'll catch you up to speed. She's really into playing with her baby doll and Michael's "My Buddy" from his childhood. It's sweet to watch her hug, kiss, and feed the baby. She will point to the baby's eyes and mouth. She's pointing at everything now and looks like E.T. with that pointer finger ready to go.

She is really good at walking now, but will still grab onto my finger and try to pull me with her sometimes, especially in the yard. When I don't go or try to pull my finger away to encourage her to go by herself, she gets mad at me. Just this month, 11, she has started pulling up on objects and furniture. I know, she got it backwards. She started walking, then pulling up, maybe next month she'll crawl. What if we have a Benjamin Button on our hands? She's way to cute to be Benjamin Button when he was a baby, gross!

Look at all that hair!! No more 'fuzz head' anymore :(
Whenever she wants to get rid of a toy, or sippy cup, she will hold it behind her head and drop it. (Ex: blue ball behind her back) It's just her thing.

The most important and life changing thing that has happened this past week....wait for it....SHE SLEEPS IN HER OWN BED! Hallelujah, PRAISE GOD! I told Michael my goal was to have her sleeping in her bed all night by the time she was 1, and he said, "You shouldn't set goals for yourself, because then you don't achieve them and get disappointed." Haha, he has so much faith in me:) Really, he just didn't want to see her leave the bed after four months of cuddling.

After talking to a good friend and mom of two, I was finally motivated to do it! We put her to bed earlier now, 7:45-8:00p.m., and she sleeps for 11 hours straight. It took a few nights of crying, screaming, and taking turns checking on her, but by the 6th night she slept straight through. She even naps in her crib during the day, too, when before I would lie down on the bed with her until she dozed off. I feel invincible now, like I can do anything after accomplishing that feat!

She has a ton of teeth sprouting up. Her two top teeth have come in and her smile is totally different now. The two on the outside of those have just cut through. She has another tooth on the bottom, 3rd bottom tooth, that is 1/3 way up and another one on the other side cutting through. So in the past month, she has gotten 6 teeth! Poor thing, I know it has to hurt. I guess now that she has more teeth she thinks she can pick up her toys like Cotton, with her mouth!

Although she has gained some independence and will play by herself, she can still be very clingy. This is what I see in the computer/play room when she's not interested in her toys.

This is what I see in the backyard when I won't let her hold my finger to walk through the yard. She turns right around and is a magnet to my legs and will stay there until I pick her up. DIVA!
In case you were wondering, Cotton hasn't changed much! He still rolls around in the grass and brings it in our house/bed/furniture. He has a gotten a lot lazier in his age, which I can't complain about because he's a hyper child! Gotta love me some Cotton, though:)