9 Month Progress

Here are a few 9 month shots...and only one week late. As you can see, she's definately interested in attempting to move. We learned at the doctor Tuesday that she's 19 pounds 14 ounces and almost 29 inches long. That means she's gained almost 4 pounds and grown almost 3 inches since January! Those little statistics are the only ones I'll need on our shopping trip to Williamsburg Sunday. No one can say she isn't growing out clothes left and right and could benefit from a few new things!

9 Months

Avery turned 9 months on Friday, and what a quick 9 months it has been! Just yesterday I started looking at party supplies for Avery's first birthday. So many changes take place in a day, week, and month. Avery now has 4 teeth, which have been a bit of a challenge. Spring break and the week after were a bit tough. We are not sure if that was due to teeth moving or an ear infection that the doctor didn't see until it was clearing. Minus 5 points for me! The last week has been fantastic though. We're back to loving baths, and car rides are starting to improve again. We've made the decision to keep Avery rear-facing as long as possible, and we're hoping a new seat will give her a better view out the window. We will not have a new seat in time for our first big trip to Williamsburg this weekend, so please say a prayer.

Avery is usually a good eater. She has 5 bottles a day plus solids at lunch and dinner. We will start breakfast after her nine-month check-up and will more than likely cut out another bottle. We're are still working on loving meats. Fruits are always a hit, and we go back and forth on vegetables, especially green. I think this is more of a stage than a dislike. She has learned that it's really fun to blow bubbles with her food and came home in her spare change of clothes twice last week.

Our next hurdle will be crawling, and we are well on our way. Once she starts, I'm very sure she's not going to stop! Avery is busy...using her hands to get everything she can. She then turns it over and over inspecting it before it ends up in her mouth. She likes to play with her toys, watch Sammy and Felix, and stroll or do anything outside. She loves the babysitter and watching her friends there.

Avery goes to bed between 7:30 and 7:45 and wakes between 5:30 and 6:15. The very early waking usually coincides with teething or a new milestone. I have to wake her around 6 during the week, so we'll work on sleeping a little later this summer. She has basically dropped her late afternoon nap and is down to two naps a day.

So sorry for the long post, but it is just as much for me as it is for anyone reading. I love this blog, and the author wrote about each month of her first child's life. As quickly as life is moving by, I need all the help remembering I can get. I'll be blogging about the birthday party before I know it! And, pictures will have to come in the next day or so, or she'll be 10 months before I get this posted!

Spring Break

I was so fortunate to have the week after Easter off. I quickly learned how much it takes to keep Avery entertained without all of her friends at Jen-Jen's! Although the pollen was terrible, we decided to go ahead and put up a swing for her. After looking at many installation objects, Ned and his father fashioned something between two trees that only a Lankford could manage. As you can see from the picture, it's working out just fine though.



Avery had been working on finger foods for awhile now and got really good at it while we were at home. Now the trick is to keep her from cramming four or five puffs in at a time!



A sun hat was a must since she spends lots of time outside at Jen-Jen's. We thought we'd better try it out at home.

We enjoyed some time on the front yard. Luckily the toys she gets bored with inside get a little more exciting outside.

And there's nothing like relaxing with a good book on vacation.

Portrait Day

Yesterday Avery and I traveled to Conway Photo Shop to have her 9 month portraits done. She isn't nine months yet (two weeks from today!) but I took advantage of spring break to get them done. Avery has been in an odd mood the past few days so I was a little nervous about how the session would go. Lolli met us there to help bring a few smiles. Avery had a pink smocked dress to wear, but I always do at least one more outfit to make choosing pictures to order even harder. I had ordered her a Kenzie Band to wear in some "naked" pictures but it didn't arrive, so after the pictures in the dress we tried out Carol's cool tutu. By that point Avery had had quite enough and wanted nothing to do with the tutu, pictures, smiling, etc. We'll try the Kenzie Band for one year portraits, which sadly will be here before I know it. You can see Avery's sweet pictures and Carol's amazing work here. Things went much better than I had hoped, but as you can see, we did have to pull out the bink a few times!

Easter

Easter dawned bright and early in the Lankford house. The first sign that the Easter bunny had been was discovering Avery's 4th tooth...the bottom one that I was starting to think may never appear. As you can see, a tooth is not all the bunny brought. Avery got a little time to play before it was time to get dress. A major bathroom disaster put us a little behind and kept me from getting pictures before we left the house. In this house though, we rejoice over a good poop and were even happier that it occured in pajamas and not our Easter dress. We attended church in Newsoms with Lolli and Poppa and then went out to eat. Avery's lunch was a green variety of Gerber food which made me very nervous as she was still in her dress. She thought it was the perfect time to try blowing bubbles with the food, and Lolli only encouraged this. Luckily, she and I both made it out of the restaurant completely clean. It was a fun first Easter with Avery, and we look forward to doing it again next year...without teething!

Palm Sunday

Much to my mother-in-law's delight, we ventured to church for Palm Sunday. While Avery has been on a stellar nap schedule at the babysitter's since oh, October, she liked to keep us guessing on the weekends, and church just seemed to always fall dangerously close to naps. I think the Lord understands. But, now that we're regularly up at 6 AM on the weekends, we have a pretty good and predictable schedule going (which will change now that I've typed that). What all this means is that church is now possible and I can no longer blame Avery for my inability to get out of the house on Sunday mornings. Ned convinced me to leave her in the nursery, and after pointing out a few toys she would like, I left my sweet baby. Avery paraded back in with the rest of the children during the service as they marched and waved palms, and her head almost spun as she tried to take everything in. It was a great relief to go get her at the end of church and not hear crying as I walked to the door. I must admit I didn't hear a word the preacher said, so it looks like a trip back is in order.

A Pampered Chef in the Making