The Park & First Zoo Trip for Averly

We have been busy, busy this past week or so! On Friday the kids & I met up with my friend Kelly at the park. Averly has been to the park before, but wasn’t really old enough to do anything besides swing until Friday. And she loved it! Riley of course had a blast too.

She was so excited to run & climb!



Doesn’t he look SO big?!



Averly loves her Aunt Kel. Thanks for meeting us! We had so much fun!



Friday night I met up with some of my old high school friends for a little girls night. It was so good to see everyone & catch up. I forgot my camera, but one of the girls got some pictures so I’ll steal those as soon as she posts them on Facebook! :0) What started out as a great night, ended tragically for Julie, my lifelong friend that recently moved to Utah. She was home for our little reunion & to celebrate her brother’s Birthday. Later that same night he was involved in a horrible car accident that took his life. On his Birthday. Please keep Julie & her family in your prayers. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain they are going through.

Saturday we went to the zoo with Mary Duke & Hartley. This was our first trip of the year & Averly’s first time ever at the zoo…unless you count the day before she was born last year. Technically, she was there.

 

Baby Girl didn’t know what to think of all these animals at first.

 

Checking out the hippos.



Averly finally let Mary Duke hold her. It takes her a while to warm up to anybody! Cute little side note…Yesterday Riley randomly asked me “Mama? You ‘member Miss Mawy? Hart-ye’s mama?” “Yes baby, I do. Why?” “Ok. Good.” I love the simplicity of a child’s mind.



Then she decided she wanted to be a big girl & walk to see the Grizzly bears.



My sweet boy pulling his {very tired} little sister in the wagon. Averly’s first trip to the zoo wore her out! She was conked out before we even got out of the parking lot.



I asked Riley what his favorite animal was & he said the horses. Ha! We could stay home & see horses! I think the giraffes are a close second though.

1 Year Stats

Averly went to the doctor for her 1 year check up last Friday. Everything was perfect & she had a great report. She is definitely a big girl these days! She weighed 24 pounds even (actually lost a few ounces since she’s been walking so much) & is 33 inches long!



Some new “tricks” she’s been doing lately are:

Says “uh ooohhh”

If you ask her what a lion says, she will say “rrrrrrrrr” or if you ask what a dog says, she will either bark or stick out her tongue & start panting.

We got her a baby doll for her Birthday that makes sucking noises when you give it a bottle or a paci & Averly has started mimicking that sucking noise. It sounds like she is slurping out of a straw. Hilarious!



If you ask her how old she is, she will {usually} hold up one finger. On some occasions we have gotten her to say one, but it’s really just more of a grunt.

If we tell her something is hot hot, she will blow (spit) on it & say “hhhaa”.



This girl loves to eat, I mean LOVES it. She hasn’t come in to contact with many foods that she doesn’t like, but some of her favorite foods are grilled chicken, green peas, corn, green beans, oranges, grapes, (cut into small pieces of course) lasagna, & red bell peppers
.
She is sleeping wonderfully at night. I generally lay her down around 8:45-9:00 & she will sleep until anywhere between 8:00 & 9:00. Monday she even slept until 10:00! We knocked out the morning nap a while back so she generally naps when Riley does between 1:00 & 3:00, sometimes a little longer.

She is very much still a Mama’s girl, but sometimes she just wants her Dada & that’s it. Last week Riley stayed a couple nights at my parents’ house so I could get things ready for Averly’s party (which was 100x easier with only one child!). During these days we noticed that she babbled way more that she normally does when Riley is around. TAG said she was just finally able to get a word in! Even though she “talked” more, she was very clingy to me. I guess she is used to having Riley play with her if not TAG or myself.

Her hair has started lightening up, which really surprises me because I thought it would be black like mine. It is definitely straight as a board. At one point a while back it looked like it may have some wave to it, but nope. Not any more.

My new one year old is still sweet as pie & I am more & more in love each day! I am so thankful that God blessed us with this precious miracle that we get to love & raise.



^See I told you she likes to eat :0)

Averly’s Birthday Party Part 3: Cake & Presents

Ok, last party post. I wanted to document the cake fiasco & gift opening separately so here we go.

TAG & I got her a baby bracelet with her name & birthday engraved.



She looked so sweet with it on!



Cake time. Let’s just say she was less than thrilled about the burning candle on the cake. When we lit it & started singing “Happy Birthday” I first thought she just didn’t like everyone singing, but then I realized it was the candle she was afraid terrified of.
 

Poor baby! Bless her little heart!



We didn’t get the traditional high chair picture with TAG & I because she wanted out after seeing that candle!



She calmed down a little when she saw her sheep cake. She didn’t know what to do with it, though. I pulled off one of the ears to get her started, but she wanted nothing to do with it!



Riley showed her how it’s done & dug his fingers in!



There was minimal damage done to the smash cake. {And honestly it was all Riley & myself that did that!} Neither Riley or Averly were messy with it at their 1st Birthdays! I was hoping she would really dig in, but she didn’t!



Miss Hartley waiting patiently for some cake.



Trey & Carter loved their cake!



I sure do wish Jaxson lived closer so we could have more playdates! It seems like we only see each other at Showers, Birthday parties, & Weddings!



Averly decided she would just feed ViVi instead of eating her cake.



Present time! She had so much fun tearing open the presents!

 

Riley’s Nana got him a present to open too!



Averly’s present from her Bubba & Vivi was a new car seat cover & a sheep piggy bank.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Averly’s first birthday! Thank you again to everyone that came.

I can’t believe my baby is ONE!!!