Avery is six months old!

My baby is already six months old! Where has the time gone? With Bailey, I felt like time was passing so slowly. She was a baby forever. Now I look at Avery and wonder when she got so big (well, maybe not big, but so grown up).

Here she is hanging out with her baby friends.

She looks so little in the high chair!

She really started solids in the last few weeks. I was really excited to do it, hoping I would get a little more freedom. (She still won't take a bottle.) But, she does not like them. When I finally got her eating a little cereal, I introduced pears. After that, she would not open up her mouth for a week. Feeding her twice a day seems pointless right now, she just spits out the few bites she takes. I'm sure she will get the hang of it soon.

Avery has turned into our little roly-poly. She rolls all over the house and pushes herself around on the tummy using her feet. We are already having problems with Avery getting things that Bailey does not want her to have.

She is in love with her big sister. Anything and everything Bailey does makes Avery laugh. This last week, Bailey sneezed, and Avery thought it was hilarious. Bailey will run laps around Avery, making her giggle. It is cute to see the two of them together.

Unfortunately, Avery has a serious case of separation anxiety. She hates being left in the nursery at the YMCA, or in a room by herself. It is only recently that we have been able to get her to sleep by herself for longer than a half an hour. She is our little snuggly baby who does not like strangers, or being anywhere without her mom or dad. I guess it's nice to be so loved. Before I know it, she'll be Bailey, running off to baby sitting club without a kiss good-bye.

We love having Avery in our family. I already feel like she's been a part of us forever.

"Just like Grandpa"

"I'm just like my grandpa who lives with my white grandma!"
(in reference to her shoes and the glasses on her shirt)

While I'm nursing...

Because Avery is so sensitive, I've been giving Bailey activities to do while I am feeding her, or putting her down for a nap. I guess the markers won't be used unsupervised for a while:


Me: Bailey, what happened to your face?
Bailey: I colored it.
Me: Why?
Bailey: Because the markers are messy.
Me: But why did you color your face?
Bailey: Because it's messy.
Me: You look like a pirate.

The funny thing, she looked even worse before I took the picture. I think she tried wiping some of it off. She's a silly girl.

Sick Avery

I thought we were going to get lucky this year- Avery had avoided getting sick for most of winter, until now. She has bronchiolitis most likely caused by RSV. And a double ear infection. She has been so good! When Bailey had her first ear infection, she screamed all night. Avery just wants to be held, and refused to sleep. My only clues were the fever and ear pulling.

Any ideas on how to get Avery to take her medicine? This picture did not do her face justice. She keeps the medicine in her mouth, and just when you think she has finally swallowed it, she blows it all out of her mouth. I've tried putting a little medicine in her mouth, and then giving her her pacifier, but she just spits that out too. I'm beginning to wonder how much of it she is actually getting...

My Valentines

Here are the girls in their Valentine outfits (and one of Mike). I found Avery's "tutu skirt" at Gymboree on the clearance rack. I had to buy it! Mike thought it was kind of weird, but I think it is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. I'm sad they didn't have one for Bailey.

Our Valentine's Day was kind of a flop. We went out on Friday night because of our babysitting club. However, Mike did not get home until after 6:30. Then, the restaurant we went to was so busy it took forever to get out food. When we did get it, we had ten minutes to eat and run so we could make it back on time. Oh well.

At least we have two beautiful Valentines! They are both getting so big. We wish we could see all of you who are far away.

Blowing your nose and bottle feeding day 2

Right now, everyone in our family is sick with the same yucky cold. Even Avery. Mike learned something new about me because of it- I hate hate hate blowing my nose.

I always have. It messes up the pressure in your head, and most of the time, I feel like it doesn't do anything. Now there is a study that says just that! And if you do blow your nose, you are supposed to blow one nostril at a time. Who knew?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/health/10real.html?_r=1&no_interstitial

A bottle update- Avery is doing a little better today as far as drinking goes. She is a lot sadder today, and only wants to be held. I caved in last night- it was the middle of the night, she was hungry and wouldn't take a bottle. So I breastfed her. I am hoping that I can continue to breastfeed her at night, and bottlefeed during the day.

I hope this bottle thing takes soon!!

Bottle feeding- day 1

After several months of poor feeding, my milk has almost dried up. Her weight gain has seriously slowed down and finally almost stopped. I am so sad! So today was the first day of bottle only- I didn't even try to breastfeed at all. Poor Avery! She didn't even cry about it all day, she just didn't eat. I hope that doesn't mean that she is used to being hungry all the time. I try not to think about that, I just have to move forward from where we are.

Tonight she finally ate, after almost a whole day of nothing. Of course, her bottle of choice was the infamous Dr. Brown bottles. I'm kind of disappointed about that- Bailey liked those bottles as well. They are a huge pain to clean! They have pieces inside with tiny holes that have to be scrubbed out with a tiny brush. Oh well. At least she finally ate! I'm glad there was a bottle out there she would take! I am hoping that day 2 of bottles will go well.

Now I am trying to decide if I can reuse Bailey's old Dr. Brown bottles or go out and buy all new ones that are BPA free. I know that babies have been fed out of BPA bottles for years and years, and no one seems worse off for it. However, recent studies have shown that is causes early puberty in girls, weight gain, and even breast/ prostate cancer. The FDA says that we shouldn't worry, but I don't think we can always trust the FDA. Countries like Canada don't even allow them to be sold anymore.

I think I will err on the side of caution. I've read of people who won't even let their kids play with plastic toys- only wood. I certainly don't think I need to go that far, I think that it is the heat and plastic combination. I guess only time and more studies will show how dangerous it really is.

If you are interested, here is an article about it:

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/080207/report-shows-dangerous-chemical-can-leach-from-baby-bottles.htm