Avy Birthday

Last Friday, our sweet little girl turned 1!

Some facts about Avery:

• I'm not sure when we started calling her Avy. It wasn't ever something we thought about, but we call her that a lot at home, maybe even close to 50% of the time. I'm not sure who came up with it, but it was popularized in part because of the way that Adam used to pronounce "Avery." I'm really happy that she has a cute little nick-name. We also call her: Little A; Squishy; Squishy Bear; Sister Bear (Berenstain Bears reference); and when she wears Adam's old clothes, Boy Baby. 
• She's a good little eater. She mostly eats table food. Her favorite foods are yogurt, pizza, and this bruchetta chicken casserole that I make a lot.
• She has 2 teeth and they are sharp little demons.
• You may not know this, but she has dimples.
• She is quite the little mimic. I'm never completely sure how much meaning she attaches to the words she says, but she definitely will repeat you when you say: Mama; Dada: duck; dog; hi; night night; no:  and more. (Literally the word "more.") One thing that I KNOW she attaches meaning to is "Adam."
• She loves Adam. This practically deserves its own blog. She adores him. It's very sweet and also sad because he can be kind of mean to her. If she's ever sad, I try to make Adam smile at her. It never fails- she gets over whatever it is immediately. 
• She's 17 pounds, 7 ounces. I'm not sure what percentile that is, but I'd guess it's near the bottom.
• She has blue eyes, but so did Adam at this age.
• She has turned into the sweetest little baby. She had a rough about 7 months. She had colic and acid reflux. For a few months, she was literally screaming all day. We knew that she wasn't a difficult baby deep down. She always seemed so sweet underneath the sadness. Good news, she is. I'm not going to claim that she's a wonder-baby, but she is an extremely pleasant baby now. She had this terrible wheeze and cough and I took her into the doctor and after listening to her chest, he said, "It seems like she has pneumonia, but she's just more pleasant than most babies are who have it." He then checked her ears to find that she had a double ear infection. She was smiling through all of this. It was strange.
• She's not going to win any awards for sleeping. A few months ago, I'm pretty sure she was the worst sleeper in the world. She woke up every three hours for just the longest time. I sleep-trained her several times. Other than teaching her how to fall asleep on her own, it didn't make much of a difference. She just started sleeping longer stretches with time. Now she wakes up once or twice a night. Not a huge deal- she goes back down easily now. 
• She loves to say "Yay!" and clap her hands. Her chosen occasions are questionable.
• She's not walking yet. I thought she'd make it by her birthday, but I'm not complaining. I think she'll do it in the next month or so. I'd rather have a late walker (And I did- Adam was 15 months) than an early one. She already makes enough messes as it is. 
• Her hair is very long in the front, so I basically have to pull it back everyday, or it falls into her eyes. I like doing pigtails, but it's hard to get her to sit still long enough. Also, she pulls out her piggies all the time. I can deal with that, but I can't deal with her eating her hair-ties. Which she has. I always feel like the worst mom in the world when she poops them out. 
• She always seems to be getting into scrapes. I literally (like 30 seconds ago- I'm trying to finish this blog, but somebody woke up early) just pulled out an electric socket cover out of her mouth. I'm impressed that she got it out, but dismayed because those are two major hazards that she's hitting pretty hard. Thanks a lot, baby.

Have I mentioned how gorgeous she is?? 

She, like her brother, is a big fan of Daddy. I'm trying to get her over to my side. 

Avery is constantly watching/smiling at Adam

Can you see her dimple?

I wore Avery everywhere for the majority of her first year. She has always been such a good sport about being lugged around. 

People always comment on how photogenic she is, but she has a  habit of taking pictures with her eyes closed. I  just take a lot of pictures.

This isn't even clear, but I love it. She pushed open Adam's door and tried (unsuccessfully) to wake him up. It also is a good demonstration of her raging bedhead.

She loves the swings. Used to hate them. I think she gets motion sickness, like Jeff. 

A demonstration of her blue eyes. (We were parked at Sonic, don't worry.)

She loves Adam and spends the majority of the day in pursuit of his love.

Avy in hats is the best thing ever.

I put her hair in curlers. They made her look like she had a baby toupee and she kind of loved it. 

Holding hands with her brother as the worship their other parent. 

What did I tell you about Avy in hats?

Avery does this huge open-mouth grin when she's reeaaally happy or excited.

See? Also- enjoy my feet.

She's always up for an adventure.

Her hair is getting super long.

She frequently reminds me of a little adult.

Like I said, she is always up for an adventure. This was taken when she had pneumonia. She was having a hard time getting rest at home, so we hopped in the car and drove a few hours south. She was incredibly pleasant the whole time.

I sometimes get the feeling she wants to do big kid things.

I like to get her, (and ok, the boys too) all gussied up.

For her birthday, we were lucky enough to have family nearby. Avy loved it.

She also loved the swag she scored.

Especially her Baby Mulan doll.

She was an enthusiastic cake-eater.

And promptly got so incredibly messy.

Adam said she looked like a tiger.

She had an "Oh crap, I'm covered in frosting moment," but was soon back to her happy self.

Avery, what a year it has been. The moment I had you, I felt the most intense joy. It was spiritual, almost indescribable.

But it has also been a tough year. 

You've been through a lot. It was hard. There were a lot of tears this last year.

And you know what? 

You were worth it. You will always be worth it.

Me, trying to finish this blog. She carries this little yield sign from Adam's train tracks around in her mouth like a cigar. And I let her.