HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVERY!

Avery Mae Michael is ONE! You are the most beautiful brown eyed baby girl we've ever seen. This has been hands down the most challenging year of my life. You finally has started sleeping through the night in the past month. I stopped nursing and it was like a flip of a switch and you started sleeping more...go figure! For your birthday Daddy brought home balloons and one to share with Addi. You loved pulling on the strings and watching them go up and down. We had hootenanny pancakes and banana for breakfast. Addi couldn't wait to give you your birthday present which was a little purple Minnie Mouse. You like to hold it up by your face and smile. Since I'm still on crutches and the weather wasn't very nice we stayed home and played with lots of toys. Addison was more excited than you were that it was your special day! You were showered with nice gifts from both sides of the family. You got a fluffy pretty coat from Auntie Kate, a warm fall outfit from Aunt Jenny, Cousins Ella, Hannah and Olivia sent new bubbles and a stuffed giraffe, We gave you a pretty dolly that has a binky, Grammie and Papa got you some much needed warm clothes and an Elmo game, Grandma Michael sent some clothes and a fun toy. You were overwhelmed while opening presents and we took a break and came back after dinner. For dinner Addison helped make mini pizzas and fruit salad. You loved it! Daddy made your fun birthday cake from scratch which was a carrot mango cake with lots of sprinkles. You even got your first taste of root beer:) You liked to dip your pointer finger in the frosting and lick it. We are so blessed to have you in our family and can't wait to see how you continue to grow!

Height: 28 1/2 inches 33%

Weight: 20.4 lbs 35%

Head: 45.5 cm 62%

Avery At One Year

*Food: Almost Anything...although you LOVE bananas and blueberries

*Toy: You are getting really good at pushing your walker toy, you also like to shake toys that make noise

*Words: Mama, Dada, sign language for "more", uh for uh oh

*You usually still take two naps a day and love to sleep in your crib

*You like to point at everything with your finger and do a really loud yell:) You clap for everything and we love to see you do it

*You laugh when Addi holds you down the slide 

*Your binky is your favorite thing ever!

*When the bath water starts running you get really excited

*Teeth: You have two on top and two on bottom. I tease you that you have hippo top teeth:)

First Day

Addison had her first day of ABC Art School this past week! We seriously tried taking 5 pictures and all we got was a disgruntled smile. The little preschool is with two other moms who have girls. Their names are Brielle and Eve and Addison loves them! We are swapping every month with hosting the preschool and it's from 10-11:30. The curriculum we are following is we start off with a letter and then do a craft and a snack. I was worried Addison wasn't going to be fully potty trained so we opted to wait to put her in a real preschool till next year. I'm really looking forward to Addison having some little girl friends to play with. Here's to a happy school year! 

Getting Out

We've spent a whole lot of time at home lately. I hobbled outside and watched the girls go down the slide together. Avery isn't fighting Addison so much when she carries her around. Avery is almost as big as Addison when she does it! Addison is really into twirling and wants to do it all the time now. She wants to wear a twirly dress everyday and that usually is the same red and white stripped one:) Somehow she talked Dave into doing a performance of ballet spinning the other day. It was really cute and I managed to get a picture of it! Dave took the girls and went to a Red's game last weekend. Addison loves going to them and it melted my heart to see Dave carrying Avery in the carrier! Dave also took Addison on the ward campout. She LOVED it. She actually went to bed which was an improvement from when we went about 2 years ago. Addison ran around in the mud and ate lots of marshmallows! Avery and I stayed home with my parents and we tried to have as much fun as they did:)

Get Well Mama

Addison painted me a beautiful picture and had Grammie write, "Get Well Mama" on it. When I wake up in the morning she runs in and asks if my left foot is better. I sadly still have to tell her that it isn't, but it getting better. Addison and Avery both fell on my foot this week and I was feeling it later on. People are still bringing in meals and the sister missionaries stopped by to clean my house. They brought by cookies one day as well. I'm getting a better hang on crutches and even went down the stairs with them outside:) About one more week and then I can put a little weight on my foot!!!

Little Miss

 Avery Mae will be one in two days... she is walking along everything and is LOUD. She is proving to be a little impatient and wants what she wants right away! She has the goofiest little cheese face with a scrunched up nose. Not being able to carry her and pick her up has been hard on both of us. She cat calls to me and holds her arms out. The only time I can get her to lay on me or hold still is when I'm giving her a bottle. The cuddle baby phase is almost gone and it makes me kinda sad. Avery is such a good eater! I hope she continues to be a good eater and shows Addison that veggies aren't all that bad:) We cant wait to celebrate you coming to our family in a couple days!!

Labor Day Weekend

My parent's are finally back and we couldn't wait to have them back! The girl's and I went and cleaned their house and got all the spiders out before they got home. Dave had to work on Saturday so the girls and I headed down to spend the day with them. Addi was on cloud nine playing with all of Grammie's toys again. We tried to go for a walk, but it was unbelievably hot so we didn't last very long. We said goodbye around dinner time and headed up to the base to eat dinner with Dave. Addison loves to eat dinner at the hospital where daddy works. We all squeezed in the on call room and watched a movie before heading home to bed. After church the next day we went back down to Cincinnati for a dinner turkey dinner. Avery was a big fan of the turkey and gravy. After dinner Dave and I scooted off to fulfill Dave's dream of seeing the Labor Day fireworks down on the river. It took us a while to find parking in a safe area and then we walked and walked! We found Lyle the Snowie guy and he let us sit right behind his kiosk and enjoy a snow cone. The show was shorter than I remember, but still amazing. My favorite are the ones that they light off of the bridge. We got home before midnight and it was a nice night out together. Papa made a yummy breakfast for all of us and we headed downtown again. We played at the padded park by the river and ran down the stairs at serpentine wall.  We were all way to hot so we stopped and got ice cream on the way home. We had an early lunch or bbq ribs (my favorite) before heading back home. We stopped at some new friends that Dave met at the park for dinner. Addison was really shy, but warmed up by the end. It was a nice weekend with a few extra days off of work!

Bad Luck

I've had a stroke of really bad luck lately and the list is still continuing! I was pulling weeds a few weeks ago and the next day I completely broke out in a rash ALL over my body. We think we have poison sumac growing in a few of our bushes on the side of our yard. Dave got it at the beginning of the summer and I got a few patches on my arms. This time around I got it all over including my face. I had about 10 band aids on at a time and almost used a whole bottle of calamine lotion. I had to go drag myself in to the doctors and get a steroid. Almost three weeks later and it's finally all gone! After the poison something episode my wallet got stolen. I was extremely sad about this. I had to cancel and order all my cards plus get a new license and military ID. My license ended after about a 5 hour wait with both girls and a whole lot of waiting in line. I had to get the state of New York to fax my driving status and it took forever! My military ID took two trips and I had to wait just over 3 hours with of course the girls. The real icing on the cake was yesterday when I drum roll....BROKE MY FOOT! I was carrying far too many things down the garage stairs and missed the bottom two steps. I was carrying Avery and threw her over my chest and saved her head over my foot. I screamed probably the loudest I ever have. Dave thankfully wasn't working and was able to come home from the store he was at. We dropped the girls off at friends houses and went up to the hospital. a couple hours later and the verdict was in that it was broken. They put me in a soft splint until I meet with the orthopedist tomorrow. I feel completely helpless and the thought of being in a cast for 8 weeks makes me want to cry. However, it's through all these accidents and problems that I'm realizing how blessed I am. Within 24 hours of my accident people have shown an incredible amount of kindness. My mom came running up to help get the girls up in the morning and stay until Dave got home. She went grocery shopping for me and helped me to the bathroom all day. Ladies that I haven't known for more than 2 months brought over homemade cookies and dinner. Two other friends showed up without their kids to clean my house! Then one of them stayed to let my mom go grocery shopping alone while I slept away in a drug induced sleep. She made my kids lunch and played with them for a couple hours. The sister missionaries even stopped by to see how I was feeling. I have friends offering to bring meals and others willing to watch my kids. It's difficult for me to accept help at times and I try to handle things alone most of the time. This has been a humbling experience to say the least. The RS activity I just put on last month was about Serving Our Sisters. I guess I needed this lesson more than anyone else. These next couple of months are going to be challenging, but I am blessed to be surrounded by loving and thoughtful people. The gospel unites women in times of need and it's a beautiful opportunity to be on the receiving end this time.