Glo-Worm to the rescue!

Avery's new BFF is Mr. Glo-Worm. He lights up & plays soothing music when you push his belly. When we put Avery to bed we hear Mr. Glo-Worm play at least 25 times over the monitor before she conks out. No crying, no fussing (generally speaking) just lullaby after lullaby.

I loved my Glo Worm when I was little, too... mine looked like this:

They've gotten cuter, don't you think?:

Mr. Glo Worm has come in super-handy for bedtime because as Avery is becoming more aware of her surroundings and developing distinctive preferences about nighttime routines. With this she was getting more apprehensive about saying goodnight (especially as we start weaning away from her bedtime bottle!). With a super-cute soothing friend to cuddle with, she is much happier bedtime babe. And this makes it easier on us all, because there is nothing worse than sitting on the couch downstairs listening to your baby cry and trying to let her sooth herself to sleep. This case is closed (for the time being, at least). Thank you Mr. Glo-Worm.

One step at a time...

Avery took her first step this past Saturday at our friends Jason and Elise's house... her first official, unassisted step! Such a big milestone! She has done it three times now. Each time her first glorious step is followed by a grand plunge onto the floor. Thank goodness for strong arms (hers) and quick reflexes (mine).

Last Saturday we got to visit with some of our favorite Elon friends, got to meet new Phi Mu offspring (baby Molly & baby Logan) and Avery got her picture taken with the "Pink Mafia" (AKA the Phi Mu ladies + babies).

Here's Logan & Molly (awww):

The Pink Mafia +3:

Avery is the life of the party. Truly. She continues to mooch off people's plates (kinda rude, but still cute) and is the first one to start the dance party when Madonna comes on. In fact, at one point she even had a circle of people around her cheering her on as she busted a move. I feel certain this girl will be dance captain of her sorority Greek Week dance in the future, just like her mama. If not, hopefully she will still participate in the "Fun Group" dance.

OK, maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves... so before we sign Avery up for the next "So you think you can dance" auditions, we will focus on getting her to take a couple steps in a row.

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day.

Today I am reminded of how important a fathers role is in a child's life. And I am so thankful to have a loving and devoted husband who is a beyond-wonderful father to our little girl. Not only that, I have an amazing and inspiring father who was and always will be 100% committed to his family and to his faith. We are also so thankful to have Jeff's dad who loves and supports our family in too many ways to count.

Lots of love goes out to these special dads, but also to all dads out there who make a positive impact in their childrens' lives daily.

To honor her awesome dad, Avery created her very first art project that was refrigerator-worthy. Her fingerpainted art highlights one of her favorite activities with her Daddy, high-fiving.

xoxo~
Kate

Gonna party like it's my birthday!

Avery sure knows how to party! And lucky for her, she had lots of friends and family ready to party with her. What a lucky little lady!

After Grandma Bricker and Aunt Meg got into town on her birthday last Thursday, we celebrated Avery's first birthday with pizza & cupcakes. Avery did not get any pizza, but she sure did have a cupcake. She loved the icing...

"I also love my Grammy!":

We waited until friday to open gifts and Avery was pretty excited about getting some new toys, since we had worn out most of her current ones. She especially loves her cookie monster, lampchop and her new mini-kitchen.

Cookie Monster:

The mini-kitchen:

Avery sported her cool new hat when she met Lampchop:

Cooking some eggs:

Friday evening Aunt Erin, Uncle Martin and Parker arrived. On Saturday morning, Parker and Avery played and played. Grandpa Bricker arrived on his motorcycle. He actually left his motorcycle trip with "the guys" for Avery's first birthday (for those of you that don't know him, this is a big deal!)

Parker was enthralled by the waddling ducks:

"Pass the salt please!":

Saturday afternoon we had some friends over for some fun and cake. Avery mostly got icing this time when she dug in to her cake, so I helped her out with a fork.

After she ate a good bit of her cake I started to take it away from her and she burst into tears:

Apparently she wanted more cake. When the cake returned she was very happy:

The rest of the day she mooched off of whoever had extra food on their plate. As soon as someone sat down with a plate of food, she was right beside them. I tell you, this kid can eat!

Avery was more then blessed by all of her friends and family that showered her with lots of love and attention. They also gave her more toys and clothes than a girl could imagine. Maybe by her second birthday she will have finally played with it all. :)

Avery in the middle of the action:

Mac showing Avery how to ride Mr. Lion:

Katherine showing Avery the teacup set she bought her:

Avery loves being outside, whether it's out back or at the neighborhood pool. We watched everyone playing KanJam, the new outdoor game that Meg found... and Meg and Jeff were the champions for the weekend!

It was a HOT weekend, so we made sure we got to the pool a couple times. Avery enjoyed her new floaty and playing with everyone.

Remember how I said Avery liked pancakes? Well BLUEBERRY pancakes were even more of a hit. Yum, yum, yum. When Parker got to close to Avery's plate, she moved all of her pancake to the other side of her plate - she's no fool!

SO proud of the mess she made!:

Thanks to all of those who made her special day (or, weekend!) so memorable!

Busy bee... Avery is ONE year old!

Avery has been a busy bee. She cannot stop moving, babbling and entertaining. New words include "look-a" when she wants your attention and she is seemingly asking "what's that?" when she points to new things.

As she gets more and more active (and curious) she has been getting more injuries... in many of the recent photos she is sporting a nasty bruise on her left cheek where she banged her face on a drawer in the kitchen. It was a sad moment that she got over very quickly, but the mark it left behind for over a week was not very pretty. Luckily her big smiles make up for it:

Avery has realized that she can get all of her toys out of the basket now:

Here she is playing with Mr. Lion:

Sitting in buckets is fun too!:

She's the next Carrie Bradshaw in her tutu, playing with her shoes:

Catching up on some reading:

This is how Avery gives kisses (photo credit to Kirsten Wyatt):

This is what it looks like when Avery tries to feed herself:

Here she is singing the "skina marinky dinky dink" song, with hand motions:

Avery tried pancakes for the first time!:

Because she never stops moving, it is getting really difficult to get a good picture! It take many attempts just to get one good one. HOWEVER, we finally captured the monster voice on camera... for your viewing (or listening) pleasure:

Birthday Babies...

In honor of Avery's 1st birthday tomorrow, we thought we'd share a blast from the past... who could the following blondies be celebrating their first birthdays many years ago?

All we know is the above babies are all grown up now, and they certainly love their little one who is turning 1 tomorrow! Hard to believe that these photos were taken over 30 years ago! As Avery would say, "Whoa!"