Good Luck Daddy

Wishing Artie good luck as he takes his last two CPA exams today and Friday!  You deserve to pass and become a licensed CPA.  Avie and I have our fingers crossed for you and hugs waiting:)  

"Good luck happens when preparedness meets opportunity"~ Unknown

You have prepared, now take this opportunity to knock it out of the park!!

Avery kept daddy company while he studied this week!

The Oscars and a Cold

Since the 2008 Oscars, Artie, Avery and I we out in L.A. (last April) and had a chance to visit Hollywood and Highland-which is where the Kodak Theatre is located.  For those of you who haven't visited, or may not know, the Kodak Theatre is actually in a large mall complex!  As the stars walk the Red Carpet tonight, they will walk past Sephora, Gap, Louis Vuitton, a Hello Kitty store, and many others.  We were actually lucky enough to take a tour of the theatre AND get on stage!!  Being on stage during a tour is a rarity because they usually have it set up for certain events throughout the year and don't allow tour guests on stage.  While I watch the Oscars tonight, I will think about us up there on stage looking out over the seats that will be full of all of the celebrities and my Avery (at 6 months) in her stroller chatting away like she was already practicing her Oscar acceptance speech!!  Here are some pics to give you a closer look at the walk the stars take on this special evening!

Lining the stairs to the entrance of the theatre are all of the past best picture winners-its really beautiful.

These are the very stairs that the stars will climb tonight...the entrance to the theatre is at the top of the stairs on the second floor.  See the lighted columns on either side...those are where the best picture winners are!

The entrance to the Kodak from the street (right across the street is Jimmy Kimmel Live)

Avery and I outside the entrance to the theatre...she was so tiny!

A view looking down the stairs from the entrance-a better view of the columns-and you can see where the entrance from the street is.

Now...the cold:

After being so grateful that no one in our house had been sick for many months and pretty much survived the winter unscathed...Avery and I came down with the worst cold ever this week!  We both got sick on the same day and have had the same exact thing.  Being pregnant and sick is terrible because you worry about taking any kind of medication (and most stuff you do have to avoid) and of course, worry about the toll on the baby.  But my little Avery is so small to fight off this terrible cold and can't tell me what's hurting more.  We took her to the doctor on Friday after she had been running a little over a 101 fever for three days off and on...of course she has an ear infection!  Since then, she has developed a very nasty cough that has her choking and gasping for air.  Her liquid intake has gone down dramatically today.  We've pulled out all the stops...honey to sooth her throat, baby vapor rub, cool mist humidifier, etc.  Hopefully her antibiotic kicks in soon and we start to see some improvement in her!!  In the meantime, we've pretty much been laying low.  We got more freakin' snow yesterday...have I mentioned how sick of snow I am!!      

We attempted to eat at Bob Evans Saturday morning before a little grocery shopping, but Avery just couldn't sit there without screaming, so we boxed everything up and headed out-this is how she looked in the car, gripping very tightly to her balloon!

A sick face...oh and this week she had a run in with a chair and bang-another bruise on her face! 

She was so sick one day this week that mommy let her eat her breakfast-toast-on the couch!

A silly girl bouncing on the couch!

One of the only smiles she cracked this week-it happened during a Disney short called Tasty Time with Zefronk...it's a dog that cooks-she absolutely loves it!

Avery enjoying her first ever popsicle this weekend-I know bad parents just now introducing her to them-but it seemed to help her throat for a few minutes.

Mommy reading Avery Llama Llama Mad at Mama-one of her current faves-should I take that personally??

Just a sweet little girl that feels so miserable-the real challenge when your toddler girl is sick, keeping her hair out of her snot!

Cooking on her new bed in her new room.  Her room is slowly coming together and she has been able to climb and play on her new bed.  We're going to start trying to transition her very slowly next month!

Chocolate Monster

Just a few pictures from the last few days.  After a trip to Target Sunday morning, to raid the discounted Valentine's aisle (it is honestly my favorite thing about holidays-hitting the day after sale!), we discovered that Miss Avery Kay LOVES chocolate!  We already knew that chocolate chip and oreos were here favorite cookies, but this girl loves chocolate.  I came home from class last night and went to have a piece out of a VDay box, big mistake.  Avery helped herself to the chocolate in the box and was double fisting the pieces!  Today, I made the mistake of having a few chocolate covered pretzels after lunch-chocolate monster took most of them for herself and kept signing 'more' to me!  What have we done...lol

Chocolate covered pretzel face...this was after about 6 of them (don't worry they're the little ones from the 100 calorie packs)!!

Taking mommy's Valentine's Day candy.  I don't believe in getting candy for Valentine's Day when you can get a box for half price the day after!  Luckily we didn't spend much on this particular box since Avery enjoyed most of it...yes, there is a piece of chocolate in each hand!!

A few other pictures from the week...

Avery and daddy's new game...Avery gets change off daddy's night stand and rather than putting it in her mouth, daddy has taught her that it goes in a piggy bank (or in Avery's case, a cow bank).  She's a smart one already, she has taken lots of daddy's change-only the silver coins, I might add-and made them her own!

While mommy did laundry one morning, Avery occupied herself for a very long time with her laundry basket.  She would throw everything in it, toys, food, her sippie...then tip it over and crawl in to get the stuff back out:)

Enjoying squeezing herself into one of her toy baskets.

Bath time is when the girl is the absolute happiest!  Making waves and splashing away!!

Valentine's Weekend

Valentine's Day '09 has come and gone and it was a pretty good one.  AVery loved opening the Valentine Elizabeth O. sent her-though mommy didn't have the camera-Avery insisted it be hung on the fridge:)...next year, hopefully, Avery will get to send out Valentine's of her own!! Artie and I don't do gifts, as with many holidays, but we did manage to spend a couple of hours out and about by ourselves!!  We were going to catch a movie, but decided instead to run errands that needed to be done.  It doesn't sound very romantic, but it actually was so wonderful to not having a screaming, unhappy little girl with us while we were trying to get stuff done.  I almost forgot what it was like to meander through stores without rushing to hurry and get done what I need and get out.  We hit up lunch first at Moe's-one of my favorite mexican places, so yummy!  And it was bliss eating my meal without having to make sure Avery had her food first or needed anything or dealing with her throwing her food or screaming before I was done eating-I was really like, this is the most wonderful meal ever!!  Don't get me wrong, I missed Avery, eventually, but it was nice to spend some kid-free time with my hubby (we did run an 'errand' to De Brand to pick out some chocolates together!)  The bliss was short-lived (but sooo worth it).  Avery has been the most upset little girl the last 3 days or so.  Absolutely throwing fits-not only in public, but at home too.  We are trying our best to keep cool and deal with it, but at some point I turned to Artie-after an 'incident' at Kohl's today-and wondered to him if we were dealing with these tantrums the right way.  Man parenting is hard!!  At home we give her timeouts or ignore her when she's mad or screaming, but in public everyone's staring at you to see what you're going to do about the kid making all the noise.  I wish they came with a manual!!  We did manage to have a short, but nice visit with Artie's brother, sister-in-law and our nephew on Valentine's night.  It was so nice for Avery to play with her cousin Garrett!!  Today we braved the tantrums and ran to Panera for a quick lunch (and managed to leave with a yummy loaf of asiago cheese bread) and picked up a new dresser for Avery's new room before heading home and relaxing for a bit.  We even got out for a walk-which the dogs very much appreciated:)  Hope everyone had a very nice Valentine's day and enjoyed some Bliss of your own!!

Watching Enchanted for the zillionth time and enjoying some cheez its

A 6 month belly picture before Artie and I headed out for blissful together time

Avery waking up Valentine's morning to her V-Day present...a new kitchen set:)

Sharing the kitchen fun with cousin Garrett

Avery being a ham

Cozied on the couch after bath time watching Enchanted-AGAIN

Just up from a nap with crazy hair!

All bundled up to walk the dogs...when is spring getting here??

Dogs doing what they love...sniffing "things"

Just some pics...

Not much going on this week...I have a big test on Monday, so I have been spending a lot of time studying.  Avery seems to be accident-prone this week with many bumps to the head, a fall off the couch and random scratches-makes mommy want to wrap her in bubble wrap.  

I don't know if it's because of Valentine's Day is coming up this weekend, but I have been craving chocolate-the cheesy heart-shaped box kind.  It's so not like me because I don't eat a whole lot of chocolate, I guess it's a time when I can just blame it on the baby...but after my OB check-up today, I may have to nix the V-Day candy this year.  I was feeling pretty good, other than super sore belly ligaments that are making my back hurt insanely bad.  I've been working out on my elliptical almost everyday and doing prenatal pilates.  So I strolled into the Dr.'s feeling pretty good about myself-then came the weigh in...omg I gained 7lbs in 4 weeks.  I nearly had a freaking melt down in the office.  I was so concerned, it was the first thing I asked my dr. as soon as she came into the room.  My bp is still pretty good (110/62), so that's somewhat of a redeeming quality.  She (my doc) kind of chuckled at me and told me she never really says anything about weight unless it's over 8lbs...haha, just missed it (enter my very sarcastic tone).  Ok, really, as long as the baby's healthy...but mama wants to be sane too and my weight skyrocketing like that only makes me think about once the baby's out and how hard I'm going to have to work to lose those 7lbs...Ok, hopefully this was just my big weight gain month-I'm over it, whew!  On to the pics (sorry the quality is so crappy I think the background of the blog bleeds through them for some reason)...   

Daddy and Avery reading "Llama Llama Mad at Mama"-one of Avery's favorites right now-I'm not sure if I should take that personal, but it's a super cute book and I love reading it to her too:)

More daddy and Avery time on Monday night, she sure is a daddy's girl:) Avery has a hard time adjusting to Monday's after daddy has been home all weekend, so she soaks up all the daddy time she can get!!

 

Avery coloring with her markers...she got a little on her face by her eye-silly girl:)

Coloring on her dry erase table, she loves this thing. Unfortunately, she throws an absolute fit whenever it's time to put up the coloring equipment.

Showing off her gapped front teeth-that darn thumb sucking-and her dimples:) 

Showing off the little bit of a shiner she got under her left eye this week.  It was an unfortunate run in with a bathroom drawer-the drawer won...

So this is what they mean...

We here in Fort Wayne enjoyed a warm (it got over 50 degrees!) and sunny day yesterday.  It was so nice to actually go out and take Avery to walk the dogs with Artie.  I actually had some of the windows in the house cracked just so we could smell some fresh air.  This week it's even supposed to get to 60 degrees!  The snow has all but melted and I'm so hoping spring comes soon-the only down side to the warm up...the messy back yard and muddy, muddy dogs!!  Much of this week was spent in amazement that we have a full-fledged toddler in our midst.  It's a funny place to be because we are trying to get baby stuff rounded up and remember what it's like to have to feed and take care of a baby 'round the clock.  Avery is up 10 hours a day and down to one nap and she eats 3 meals a day when we eat-much different than her infant years.  When I really start to think about it, I wonder how I will handle 2 under 2 by myself and go to school!  This week was a challenge because I have a presentation Monday and while trying to squeeze in studying and preparing for that, I was constantly on my toes with Avery.  To say she is in to everything would be an understatement.  She notices the second the remote or my cell phone is free and gets right to it. I have spent much time this week searching for the remote!  I would have moments where I felt like I was just going to lose it because she was into so much I couldn't catch my breath, let alone get anything done.  Then, she would do something so adorable I would just laugh.  These are tough years, Avery is so curious and learning her boundaries.  However, they are years that I absolutely want to cherish.  I want to absorb every moment, every memory so that when she's telling me she hates me because I won't let her have a cell phone in grade school...I can think back to the times that she would run up to me for no reason and bear hug my leg.  Aside from wanting to get into everything, Avery is really interested in body parts and the art of dressing/undressing.  She can point to her belly button, nose and eye-plus mommy and daddy's. She likes to undress herself and try to redress herself...she can't really do much, but she's trying!!  When I really stop to think about my angelic little devil toddler, I wouldn't have it any other way.  She's growing like she should and curious about all of the things every other toddler is curious about.  I'm so thankful for my family, I love you guys:)

I took this picture when Avery took her nap one day.  She cuddled herself in her blankets and had her feet propped up-so cute:)

I found out Avery does not currently like Teddy Grahams.  I gave her a bowl of them and found the entire contents of that bowl had been put in Domer's bowl and properly stirred with a spoon! Rocco was a little upset because Avery didn't share any with him!!

Currently, Avery's favorite movie is Enchanted.  It is crazy how much she loves this movie.  I finally had to put it on one day so I could get a little studying done.  She was so darn cute dancing to the songs!

Here she is dancing to the "That's how you know" song from Enchanted.  I made her a mixed playlist on my IPod with songs from her favorite Disney shows and Disney movies...I was playing it while I cleaned and every time she heard an Enchanted song she would run in and start dancing-she's got quite the moves!
This week, Avery tried the juice box on her own.  Since she tackled the straw, we usually hold the beverage for her so she wouldn't squeeze it or dump it since she's used to her sippie not spilling.  Now she's a pro at holding it so juice doesn't squeeze out!

Nothingness

Just a few random pics from the last few days...

Avery got an upgrade to her ball this weekend.  She has a small version of this ball, but we decided she was big enough to handle to bigger ball.  She's very into them right now.  Any store we go into that has balls, she immediately goes right to them.  Right now she likes to sit and bounce on it and kick it around the living room.

One of the things we have found Avery will eat is a turkey sub from subway.  She picks at it, but eventually ends up eating some of the meat, cheese, lettuce and bread!  No sub would be complete for her without her cheetos:)

Avery has started to want to get her own food/snacks.  She wants to reach in the bag to pull treats out or we put snacks in an open bowl that she carries around.  I have to say, she is really good at not spilling!  We only use snack traps when we leave the house!

This weekend came and went before I really even knew what happened.  Apparently Avery and I are fighting a virus of some kind.  Avery is covered in a rash and very unpredictably cranky.  She cries every time we put her down in her bed-which she has never done before.  I just feel so bad for her.  I wish she could just tell me what hurts!  We had to take her to the dermatologist yesterday.  She has had these random really big, hard red spots for about 6+ months.  She gets them on her stomach, back and legs (and an occasional one in her diaper area).  They are so weird.  They last for a week or more and then they fade.  They never really get puss or anything.  Anyway, we have brought it up the last few times she went for regular check-ups at her pediatrician and finally she said to take her to a specialist.  Well, some specialist...they were completely puzzled.  She was checked for ringworm (it's a scary thing when they're checking hands and feet for burrow marks...yuck) and what he seemed to seriously say as " thirds, fourths or fifths rash" and all of these serious things that cause rashes and bumps.  We were there for an hour and a half and left knowing nothing!  What are these bumps??!!  Ahhhh!  It's hard when they say, well don't worry if she doesn't have a fever and they don't seem to bother to her...anyway, we are due back in two weeks to see if she has a newer break out they can look at.  Until then, I'm wanting winter to end so badly!  I don't want dry skin or static hair anymore:)!  Apparently, the groundhog that determines weather we have more winter-saw his stinking shadow and we have 6 more weeks of winter:(  Which, by the way, wouldn't you think that if he sees his shadow that means spring is coming sooner since we think of sun more in the spring and summer than winter??  I never understood that logic, oh well.  The nothingness of this blog post will now cease...