New Tooth

Unlike with Elsa, I do not think we will make it to Avie's nine-month portraits before losing her gummy grin. I noticed yesterday that her top-right front tooth has just barely broken through, so that makes tooth number three for our little one!

Aveline is Eight Months

Aveline turned eight months old last Wednesday, making her two-thirds through her first year. I think I was already considering beginning the planning of a first birthday party at this point with Elsa. I just do not seem to have that much time on my hands these days. Our house is still on the market, meaning lots of inconvenient showings (although a well-planned move to North Carolina has now turned into a decision to stay in the area and move back to our old neighborhood). We are hoping to launch our new business July 1 (how can choosing Pantone colors and finding decent clothing labels prove to be so time consuming?). Our best friends are about to move away (but to an oh-so-beautiful place). And then there is just everyday life. It can be stressful some times (or maybe a lot of times), but we plug on and relish in the moments. Moments like these.

Avie continues to be such the charmer. Whenever I am out with her, she flashes smiles to anyone who will make the slightest bit of eye contact. And this usually turns into a little conversation between her and said person. "What a happy baby!" "Wow -- she is a smiler!" "She seems so good natured." I hear these comments over and over again. And they are all so true. Even on days when she does not get a decent nap because of house showings or just general running around, she is still happy (for the most part). We certainly cannot complain.

And, if you cannot tell by her roly-polyness, she is an eater. Her new favorites seem to be the squeezee baby food combinations that include meat (chicken, beef, or turkey). She'll down a four-ounce package in no time for dinner. And then we move on to another fruit or vegetable combo. She is also starting to be spoiled at Elsa's playgroup. "Grandma" now always has a bowl of the children's homemade applesauce waiting there for Avie every Thursday afternoon. Avie is still nursing, and still gives or takes those nursing sessions I thought she might be trying to drop last month as she sees fit.

Her sleep continues to be good. She is a breeze to put down for naps and nighttime alike, and she is still sleeping around one-and-a-half to two hours per nap (if able to nap in the crib) and around ten or eleven hours at night, still usually with one waking to nurse, usually between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. I feel that feeding creep (very slowly) closer and closer to morning, so one of these days I should be able to say she is truly sleeping through the night. It happens even now occasionally, but it is not consistent, for sure.

Avie is sitting up really well now. I still put the Boppy or other pillows behind her for the still occasional topple backward, but those are fewer and farther between. She bends forward to great extent in order to reach toys, etc., and she does a little rocking onto her knees, but I think it will still be a little while before crawling begins. She has started saying "Da, da, da" and "Ma, ma, ma," much to my and Jarrett's delight. In fact, she was getting pretty upset in the car about the last hour or so on the way back home from the beach. It went something like: [cry]... "Da, da, da, da"... [cry]... "Ma, ma, ma, ma... [cry]." She often waves to people. And she has also started clapping just in the last week-and-a-half or so. So fun!

There was no doctor appointment scheduled for this month, so we wait until next month for all of the measurements. But let's just say she feels heavier and heavier to this tired mama as the days go on. Could be because I am tired or could be because she is gaining a decent amount of weight. I guess we will soon find out!

Happy eight months, little girl!

Beach Trip

(Warning: There are tons of photos attached to this one!)

We returned from St. George Island, Florida, a week ago yesterday, and really had a fabulous time. This was our second visit to the island, the first being when Elsa was nine months old. We have not been to any beach since that last trip (at least with the kids -- Jarrett and I did go to Jamaica last year), so it was Aveline's first experience at the beach and Elsa's second.

I knew it would make quite the impression on Elsa this time around. She was looking forward to it and, once there, just really took it all in. Sadly, the trip did not start out too well, as she tripped down the front porch stairs here at the house and hit her mouth. Thankfully, even though blood was around her two front teeth, they seemed solid, and she was only left with a fat lip, which you can see in some of the photos from the first couple days of the trip. But the beach air made everything better. She loved the sand, as expected, with her love of sandboxes. And she really took to the pool, even becoming brave enough by the end of our five days there to hang on to the edge and make her way all the way around by herself. However, she still remained quite timid when it came to the ocean and its waves. Kate was actually the person to first get her to put her feet in the water, the day before we left, of course. And then Elsa decided the waves were fantastic. As long as she was holding onto one of our hands, and jumping up into our arms on occasion.

Avie was also intrigued with the sand, although she did not spend a whole lot of time on the beach because she is a wonderful napper, but my one attempt to get her to nap on the beach was a failure, and I decided not to try again. So, with two naps per day, it did not leave a lot of beach time for the baby. Like Elsa, she was not a fan of the water -- ocean or pool -- at first. I cannot really blame her, as both were fairly chilly, especially the pool. But it was the pool she eventually warmed up to once I got in with her and carried her around in it. Because the water was so chilly, though, she never made it into the float like Elsa did on her first trip.

The entire family had a lot of fun with the two other families we were with -- Kate, Tim, and James, and Shelly, David, and Christian. All of the kids got along swimmingly (for the most part), especially in the bunk bed room, which was where Elsa slept. She slept on one of the bottom bunks and was very intrigued with having her very own nautical light above her bed, complete with its own switch that she could turn off and on at will. Surprisingly, she did not turn it on and stay up when it was time to go to bed. I think she was too exhausted every evening for it to even come to mind. Avie slept in Elsa's bathroom in the pack-n-play, which actually worked out quite well and allowed Jarrett and me to have a kid-free room. The house was big and pretty much perfect for all of us. James had a room to himself, as did Kate and Tim, and Shelly, David, and Christian were in a room together, which is how they usually end up at home anyway, so they were happy with that arrangement. The house was two rows back from the beach, with an expansive porch that provided an unobstructed view of the sand and surf. When I was not on the beach itself, I was perfectly content on that porch with a book in hand.

We had fabulous meals too. The guys went out fishing with a guide one morning and caught their limit of sea trout and redfish, which provided a most awesome dinner of escabeche and blackened (really) fresh fish. And our fridge was so loaded down the entire five days, I am not really sure how we could ever have gone hungry. Jarrett and I also went out to dinner with Tim and Kate one evening to the Owl Cafe, in Apalachicola, while Shelly and David stayed home with the sleeping kids. This was really nice, considering Kate and Tim's impending move to North Carolina. And then Shelly and David had a night out later in the week.

Because the guys had their fishing day, us girls went out one morning ourselves into Apalachicola and had a coffee in a local coffee shop, lunch at the Owl Cafe (we like that place), and plenty of window shopping. As much as I love our children, it was nice to get away for a little bit and have some uninterrupted girl time.

We came back home sun-drenched, tired, and happy, with traces of sand on all our belongings and plenty of seashells collected from the shore. I cannot way to make our way back there again.

The kids were intrigued with Tim's catch.

The bunk bed.

She was so excited over her first, very own, kite.

The house.

Miss Aveline Muir

A pregnant belly -- perfect resting place.

Elsa, finally deciding she might like the ocean waves.

Not so happy at first dip.

Those rolls!

Plagued

Elsa, recovered from the chicken pox, went to Gabriela's four days straight (including a Saturday make-up day) the week before last, only to come down with another high fever while out to breakfast before church that Sunday morning. The fever lasted for days, spiking to between 104 and 105, and coming down to only around 101 with the use of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. I suspected roseola, as others told me it was going around, and I was waiting patiently (or, not so, really) for the fever to break and a rash to appear. I thought the fever was finally gone Tuesday morning, but it popped up again by that afternoon and I decided enough was enough. To the doctor we went. With complaints since Saturday afternoon about a hurting tummy, the high fever, very swollen glands, and white stuff on her left tonsil, the nurse practitioner, Susan, diagnosed her with strep. The poor girl felt horrible while we were at the doctor, so Susan did not even want to put her through the swab test. She felt confident enough that it was strep, and just went ahead and prescribed an antibiotic. Even with the antibiotic, it was Thursday before the fever was completely gone.

With strep, on the very rare occasion that I was able to get some food down her.

After getting to go to playgroup for those four straight days, Elsa was begging to go back when she became sick again. I felt so bad telling her that she had to stay home yet again. And the television watching was getting out of hand. And a serious Curious George addiction was running strong... and still is. She was such a brave little thing once again, going through all of this. Jarrett and I were amazed that there was not more whining and such coming from her. I do not think she really needed a reward, but she was surprised one day with a George of her very own, arriving in a big brown box on the front doorstep. He is her little buddy now. (He was good bribing material when it came to giving her medicine too.)

Elsa and George -- their first night together.

So Elsa started feeling better last Thursday, and we went to the zoo on Friday to get out of the house and get some fresh air. It was while at the the zoo that I noticed two or three red dots on Avie's cheek/hairline. I thought about the possibility of chicken pox, but kind of shrugged it off for some reason. Until later that evening when I realized more dots were appearing elsewhere. Thankfully, our little one has had a pretty mild case, even more so than her sister. She has had absolutely no fever, at least that I have been aware of. And I would say she has around 40 pox total, about 25 of them in her diaper area alone. That must be the worst part for her. Her constant diaper rash, combined with chicken pox cannot feel very nice at all. But, like her sister, she seems to be a trooper, and has really remained her happy, go-lucky self. I just hope it is a strong enough case that she will not have to worry about it later down the road. I think it probably is, though.

May the sickness end after all of this. We have a much anticipated trip to the beach scheduled for next week, and it would be lovely if we were all well to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf!