August in a Single Post

Unfortunately, I have to attempt to cover an entire month in one post.  Thankfully I got Avery's Birthday posting out of the way.  August was a busy month for us.  We spent a lot of time visiting family, family visiting us and mom went back to school this month too, meaning Avery went back to a babysitter.   Check out the captions below for details.  Enjoy!

Avery loves ducks and my friend Sonia has a pet duck
of her own!  Avery was so excited!

I love the raised shoulders!

The first weekend is August is always our Nemer family picnic.  We got to see lots of family, many of who had never met Avery.  It was a lot of fun...especially playing in the pool with cousin Lucas.

Four Generations~  <3

Being Silly with Auntie Ashley

Kisses from Daddy

Playing with Grandma

I had to share this picture specifically because of the butt!  One of my favorite sites.... when I saw this outfit I had to buy it.  Check out Ruffle Butts for all your little girl needs (and wants!!)

The second week of August, Dave's sister and her family came to visit from New Jersey.  This was an especially important visit because they had never met Avery.  The first night we met up with them at dinner, Avery went right to her Uncle Doug, Aunt Mara and was super excited to play with her cousins Savannah and Elle.  That's our social butterfly!  Over the course of the week, we played at the parks, splash pad (no pictures...oops!) and visited the zoo.  We were sad to see them go, but so excited the families got to finally meet.







My friends Trevor and Faith



Also in August, our dear friends Clint and Georgia tied the knot.  It was an eventful ceremony!  Georgia's brother flew in from California to marry the love birds and the ceremony ended just in time for a huge thunderstorm to roll in.  After a quick and fierce storm, everyone helped reset the outdoor reception and we went on with the party! 

David and Dorota were in from DC for the celebration!

A little cake to end the night!

Finally, Avery is really beginning to understand things we say.  Our favorite example of this is when it is time for her bath.  It doesn't matter what she is doing, as soon as we say it is bath time, Avery heads on down the hallway, to the door and into the bathroom.  She then tries to climb into the tub, whether we are ready for her or not!

There she goes!! 

She's pretty cute when she is finished too!!  :)

And finally, since I talked about how much Avery loves ducks above and she is dressed like one in the above picture, I will leave you with this.  One day, I was looking on youtube for a song about ducks that Avery and I could sing each day.  I came across this video and had no idea what a monster we would have created.  The situation being the monster, not Avery!  Now, there isn't a day that goes by that we don't have to watch the duck song.  She loves it so much, that anytime she sees our computer, laptop or our phones, she walks up and says, "Bum, Bum..." and we know what time it is!  As soon as it begins, she starts to smile, giggle and dance.  I'm going to try to get that on video for you all next time.  But for now, I am sharing the duck song with you.  Here is your warning...if you watch this you will sing it for the rest of the day.  You have been warned.  Enjoy and love from us in Bloomington!!

Happy Birthday Avery!!!!

This is the first of two posts.  That's right...August has been so much fun, I need to do two separate posts already!  I figured that instead of put everything in one LONG blog, I would make two different ones, allowing for a birthday only post!

Can anyone else believe it?  Avery is 1!!  It seems like just yesterday I was still in the hospital snuggling with my little bundle of joy!  I woke up the morning of her birthday and spent about a half an hour to myself looking back at the pictures from the day she was born.  Yes, there were tears.  In looking at those pictures, I thought a couple things.  First, we are so blessed to have her in our lives.  Second, we actually have been pretty good at this parenting thing and there have been no real injuries!  (At that point, there hadn't been, continue reading to see how that ended up!)  Finally, what an amazing year it has been.  I never realized how much change can take place within a year until having Avery.  She has changed in so many ways it is sometimes difficult for me to really remember what she was like as a teeny tiny baby.

As of Avery's first birthday, Aug. 5, she is walking everywhere.  She has even learned to go from sitting to walking without the aid of any furniture or human.  We thought this was pretty remarkable.  She even sometimes appears to be running after us!  She can "say" a few words including "mama", "dada", "du-" for duck, "ba" for ball, "up", "dow" for down and understands the word bath!  Avery has even learned the signs for hungry/eat and more.  She doesn't always use them but I love when she does.

At her one year checkup we learned that Avery has grown!  Thank goodness.  Our little peanut had been in the 10% for height since she was born.  Now, she is in the 28%!  She is still in the 50% for weight, so we were really excited about that.  We are down to the last two bottles and then it is full time milk.  She isn't too sure about the milk, maybe because of the taste, maybe because of the temperature, but she has been drinking it now for a couple of days.

Alright, enough writing...here's some pictures on how we celebrated her birthday!

First, the day of her birthday, we took her for a very special lunch at one of our favorite places- Green Gables.  For those of you who don't know, this place is part restaurant, part bar, part grocery store and part bait shop.  And it has the greatest food!  She seemed to like it!

Later that day, I tried to take her 1 year picture.  Unfortunately, she wanted only to play with the teddy bear!

That afternoon, we went swimming at our friends' lake.  Her Auntie Georgia and Uncle Clint even made her a birthday sundae!  She loved it and I love this face!  :)

 That weekend, we went home for the annual Nemer Family Picnic.  Of course, this meant presents and celebrations from my family!

Avery even got a peach muffin to share with Auntie Robyn, complete with a singing of the birthday song!


After our weekend in Chicago, we came home and were so excited because Auntie Mara, Uncle Doug and Savannah and Elle were here to visit.  Again, we got to celebrate more!  Savannah and Elle even drew pictures for Avery!

Avery received Schmooney as a gift.  At first we were a bit unsure, however, Schmooney comes with a book that teaches it is not what is on the outside, but what's on the inside that counts.  It is an adorable book and Avery loves carrying this creature around!

Finally it was time for the big party!  This time, her "1st birthday" pictures turned out a bit better!

Hey Bear!

We're not sure she knew it was a big party for her, but she sure was excited!  :)

Of course there were cupcakes and lots of singing!

Unfortunately, there was also an accident.  Avery was busy pushing around one of her new toys and fell, bit her lip and bled...a lot!  It was a bit scary for mom and dad, but thankfully Auntie Donna RN was there to help!  

By the end of the day, Avery was spent!  I just love this picture though!

Avery and her BFF, Clara, at her party~

1st Birthday Sneak Peek!!!

Our preview is up on Imaginate Photography's blog!  Be sure to leave a comment at the very bottom so that we can get some print credit!  Pure sweetness!!!

Sneak Peek

I thought that I should get one last post up before Avery turns 1 this Friday!!  I cannot believe I am even typing those words.  But, we will get to that in the next post.  I only have 2 and 1/2 weeks left of my summer vacation and time home with Avery.  Some days I am ok with that, but for the most part, I think it will be a bit difficult not seeing her every day, all day.  So, we are keeping busy with the time remaining.

Avery and I took swim lessons this summer.  It was a Mommy and Me class, so unfortunately there are no pictures of the actual time in the water.  Avery loved her swim lessons.  We worked on paddling, kicking, floating on our tummy and back, blowing bubbles and even going under water!  That last one was hard for me, but after the first couple times, Avery was a pro!

Waiting to get into the water! 

We have also visited our Children's Discovery Museum.  I have taken first graders here, but was unsure how Avery would like it being so young.  Lucky for us, there was plenty for her to do!!

We played with musical instruments...

We played in the mirrored tunnel!



Avery loves animals!  When we read her animal books, she squeals.  When we go for walks and see the geese or dogs, she squeals.  Just our luck that our Museum has an exhibit on farm life.  She was super excited about these cows!!

This is her squealing!

And this is her moo-ing at the cow!!  :)

Driving a combine...eyes on the road lady!

Practicing drinking our milk...

And we even got to practice standing in some corn!

Avery has also learned some new skills such as playing guitar,

helping load the dishwasher,

hiding in he stuffed animals,

and playing peek-a-boo...kind of!  She likes to cover her ears, then drop her hands quickly and say "boo!"  She's almost there!

Avery has a total of 6 teeth now, 2 on the bottom and 4 on top.  Say cheese!

She also loves wearing other people's sunglasses!  These belong to her new best buddy Jake!

Finally, Avery has gotten really silly and really funny lately.  Sometimes we will be watching her and all of a sudden she will just start cracking up over something as simple as a remote.  It is hilarious and just makes us laugh.  She also loves the water.  And sometimes playing in the water is the only way I can get dishes done with her around.  Enjoy this video!  We promise that the squeals are that of delight and not of anger. We know that it probably sounds otherwise!  Also, sorry for the grainy picture, this was done on Dave's phone.

Love from Bloomington!!