Where are We?

Clearly, our most important news is that Avie started crawling a week ago Friday. She does not get anywhere too terribly fast, but she is certainly mobile. And the day she started crawling, she also attempted pulling up, but so far has only made it to her knees.

In other news, a second POD (we've had one in storage ever since putting our house on the market) was delivered that same Friday; my parents arrived Saturday to help us pack boxes, they left Monday with Elsa and Merckx in tow; we closed on the sale of our house that same Monday afternoon; we left for Chicago on Tuesday morning; we came back Thursday evening; movers arrived Friday morning and moved all of our furniture and boxes onto the POD (they were amazing -- everything fit nearly perfectly); we made several trips back and forth to the basement of the new house and a friend's house, taking the last of our stuff and stowing it away; we cleaned; and on Saturday afternoon, the buyers met us at the house, we went over the ins and outs of the place, and handed over all of the keys.

So we've been doing a few things as of late.

Bye, bye 555 McKoy Street. You served us well and provided us a palette upon which we created many a fond memory over these seven-plus years. And now we are homeless until the new house is ready and we are able to close on it. We stayed at a hotel for a couple of nights near Perimeter Mall, and it was fairly horrible. Hall parties were taking place on our hall both nights, and it was difficult to get sleep with all of the noise. And since the hotel is undergoing a fairly extensive renovation in the coming months, it is clear they do not really care about the status of things. Our shower head was dangling, there were stains all over the carpet, and holes in the curtains. But, really, the noise was the worst of it. Thankfully our pastor was a true godsend and told us Sunday at church that his family was going to be on vacation until August 11 and asked if we wanted to stay there. Umm... yes, please!!! So at their house we are, and it is lovely. Thank you, Matt and Stacey!!!

And let me back up a bit... Chicago was good. Since it was business travel for Jarrett, he was running his meeting most of the time we were there. I had hoped to get out with Avie and at least take in a museum, but really all I ended up getting a big enough chunk of time to do was shopping at some of the nearby stores. I went to the Lego store and drooled over the VW Westfalia kit, and also walked around the ginormous American Girl store (Lord help me if Elsa ever gets into that craziness!). So I never made it to a museum, but I did buy a new dress and some new shoes, twisted my hair up, and went out to dinner Wednesday night with Jarrett and his colleagues. We got a hotel babysitter, which was a definite first -- and a little strange -- but it ended up being great. The sitter was fabulous, and Avie slept the entire time. I probably could have pushed Avie a little more and had her nap on the go rather than spending so much of my time in the room, but she started running a fever before we left on the trip, and it lasted until late Wednesday afternoon, when it finally broke during a long nap. She then developed a fairly minor rash on her trunk and a little on her face, so I am suspecting it was roseola, though do not know for sure. Anyway, it was a delightful suite in which we were staying, so I enjoyed my downtime thoroughly. And Aveline did amazingly well on her first flight, despite not feeling so well.

In the meantime, Elsa has been bouncing back and forth between my parents and Jarrett's dad and Susan. We have talked to her a few times, and she seems to be enjoying all of the attention the grandparents are throwing her way. I know she has gone to a children's museum (if not two), a goat farm, my mom took her to see Brave, she rode a train and a carousel at the mall, went to Home Depot and out for an ice cream cone with my dad, and is going camping for the next three nights with Grandad and Grandma Susan. We get little snippets from her when we talk to her, but then she is always quick to say goodbye and run off for more fun. So she seems to be having a grand time, but I am missing her a little at this point. I will be happy to see my sweet girl on Friday.

To end, here are a few random videos and pictures.

Elsa "driving" the wagon -- complete with Mommy's sunglasses

A break from packing -- relaxing with the girls

Bathing in the hotel shower

Avie's first ride in a shopping cart, today

Aveline is Ten Months

This photo pretty much sums things up right now. Aveline turned ten months old on Monday, and at ten months it is like she is restrained at the starting gate, eager and waiting to take on the world.

Avie is so, so close to crawling. She gets up on those hands and knees and moves one leg forward, but just needs to figure out that she needs to move both legs. She usually ends up moving forward by moving the one leg, sitting again, moving one leg, and sitting again, inching her way, slowly but surely. And a lot of times on wood floor, she will end up going backward on her tummy rather than forward. But she bobs back and forth with such excitement, so wanting to get to -- or at -- whatever it is in front of her. I have a feeling that once she gets the hang of it, there will be no holding her back.

Avie is also my destructive baby. She puts things in her mouth much more than Elsa did as a baby and, thus, our board books are suffering, as are many toys of which labels and such are being gnawed off. Oh well, she is most likely our last, so if these things are destroyed, so be it. Although, if I catch her, I try to prevent destruction -- especially of the beloved books.

Speaking of her mouth, she has embraced finger food in a big way. Once she got over the choking reflex and really started picking up food and eating it, she decided baby food should be a thing of the past. Now I feel like I am almost force-feeding her the pureed stuff. But I also have not gotten it together enough to feel like I am giving her enough veggies without doing it. So I try to give her a good combination of finger food and purees, and we are making it happen for now. She adores scrambled eggs and cheese, could give or take avocado, and does not seem to really like anything involving mango. She still loves berries, and is so-so with grapes (chopped into little bits, of course). She really, really likes hummus, and seems to eat all the pureed veggies still without grimacing. She freaks out with excitement at the sight of the container of puffs, and is doing really well with O-shaped cereal too. Her favorite purees are still those involving meat, so that at least makes an easy way for me to get protein in her. Avie immediately took to a Green Sprouts straw cup -- it was one of the few I could find that you don't really have to work at, and she is very easily able to drink a good amount of water.

Avie is still nursing four or five times a day, one of those feedings being between about 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Then she will go back to sleep, usually until around 6:30 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. She still proves to be a good sleeper, and is taking two good naps a day, usually at least an hour-and-a-half each, often times longer.

Right now I am loving the wisps of hair over her ears, her new head-shaking trick, and the clicking of her tongue. And she cracks me up now when she signs "all done" with one hand when she is done nursing.

Avie's favorite book still seems to be Goodnight Moon, and I was excited to see that a cloth version is scheduled to come out in late September, as this is one of our cherished books that is likely soon to meet its demise if left in her hands too long. She enjoys walks, either in the baby carrier or the stroller. She continues to adore her sister, and is very interested in some of Elsa's toys, namely, Elsa's baby doll and Curious George (much to Elsa's dismay... unless she happens to be in a sharing mood). And, if she could, I think she would chew on my leather wallet, the neoprene carrying case for our small camera, or my keys all day long. She thinks Merckx is great, and squeals with delight when she sees him, often attempting to sign for "dog."

We have entered the stage of the "dropping game" too. She thinks it is fun to drop something from her perch in the highchair, and then say, "Uh-uh-uh-oh." Cute, but probably something we should not let her think is too cute.

We went to the doctor last Thursday, but just to get Avie's first round of the polio vaccine. I held her, chest to chest, while Susan gave her the shot in her leg, and she did not shed a tear. There was no weighing or measuring, so we will have to wait until her one-year check-up to find out those stats.

We love this little one. And we thank God for both of our girls every day. What amazing gifts have been bestowed upon us.

The Ten-Month Slideshow

We took pictures on Saturday afternoon. I think we waited too long in the day and, thus, the lighting was not as perfect as it was during her six-month shoot. Avie, however, was. Perfect as can be.

*The song playing in the background is "Free Little Bird," performed by Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb.

The Fourth

Grandmom came for a visit over the Fourth of July for a long weekend, and she and Elsa were bestest buddies the entire time. It was great to see her, and it also provided Jarrett and myself a bit of a break, as she played with Elsa four hours on end. We also were able to go on a date one evening and, one morning, run out to our storage container to retrieve the next size up of clothes for Avie without having to worry about little ones burning up in the car while we did so.

On the Fourth itself, we had a group of people over and grilled out and celebrated together. It was probably the last real shindig we will have in this house, and that was not lost in my mind as we enjoyed the afternoon.

Thank you, Grandmom, for coming to visit and spending some time with us!

Rearrangement

Aveline is approaching the weight limit of her infant car seat, so we went ahead and did the ol' switcharoo over the weekend. Avie moved into the seat Elsa was using in the wagon (though Avie is, of course, still facing backward) and the seat Elsa was using in the GTI is now her seat in the wagon. Everyone seemed very excited about the change.

Special Deliveries

Fun with Daddy

Truly Sitting Up

Yesterday morning, in the wee hours, around 4:00 a.m., I went into the back room to find Avie sitting up in the pack-and-play. And I haven't come in after a sleeping period to see her laying down since. She seems duly pleased with herself each and every time I find her, and it is unbelievably cute. To find out just how she does it, I tortured her yesterday evening, by laying her down on her back on the floor, and just watched and waited. After being upset for a period of time, she rolled onto her belly and then worked to eventually kind of scoot up onto her knees and, in a slightly sideways fashion, get up onto her bottom, eventually scooting her legs out in front of her.

The downside? She cannot seem to figure out that she can lay back down. I somewhat remember this happening with Elsa for a short period of time, so hopefully it will not last long, as getting her down for a nap this morning was more challenging than usual. She kept sitting up and then getting upset. The last time I went in before finally getting her settled down to where she went to sleep, she was still sitting up, but totally hunched over, nearly asleep, and started a very pitiful cry when she saw me.

And, in other news, she is so on the verge of crawling. I think it will happen this week, two weeks max.  You can tell she so wants to move -- she just needs to get those knees moving!