A Week of Firsts

We gave Avery her first taste of rice cereal this week. At first she was not so sure....



...but quickly grew to love it! Now, she honestly tries to stick her face in the entire bowl. I think she would lap it up like a dog if we'd let her!



I also took Harrison to the circus for the first time. We went with his friend Henry and Henry's parents. At first, the boys weren't so sure about the place and were a little anxious. But once the show started, they were entranced by all of the action! They especially loved the elephants.



Henry and Harrison dancing during the circus pre-show.



This was the first time we took them both out on a walk in the new double stroller!



I am so tired from kicking and screaming for the Hokies (see my bib?)!

Four Months Old

Avery was four months old on September 1st, so I am a little late on the update! She had her doctor's appointment this past Monday, and she is 15 pounds even (75th-90th percentile) and 25 3/4 inches long (90th percentile!). The first time the nurse measured her she got 26 inches and she thought she did it wrong so she made us try it again and that's when she got the 25 3/4. But I thought that was funny, Avery is so tall she made the nurse second guess her tape measure! So she has almost doubled her birth weight and has grown exactly four inches since she was born.

She is developing so rapidly. She still loves her bouncy seat and exersaucer, but has moved on to the Jumparoo as well. She stands and bounces and sways from side to side, I think she has just as much fun as Harrison did with it. She also just started laughing this past week. If you tickle her or make really funny noises she just giggles and giggles, it is so cute. She still loves watching Harrison, always smiling at him, trying to get him engaged I think. He's interested sometimes, but most of the time he's still got his own agenda. She really is the sweetest, most easy going baby ever, always happy and talking, and is sleeping very well now! We could not be more blessed with our two little ones.

I made sure I took this chair picture ON her four month birthday. We had just arrived back at home from our Labor Day trip to FL around her bedtime, so I brought her upstairs right away, put her in her PJs, took the picture, then put her bed! And, of course, she still has a smile on her face like always, even after a 7 hour car ride! Actually, that's probably why she's smiling, being so relieved to be out of the car seat.

This was so awesome.....Gracie went and laid down next to Avery as close as she could, and Avery looked right over and reached out to touch Gracie and proceeded to "pet" her, touching her ear and her face. Gracie was loving it, and it was so cute! My girls bonding. FYI - Gracie is wearing an e-collar to keep her from licking her freshly stitched wound, poor girl!

Here's our big girl enjoying the Jumparoo!

Happy Birthday Uncles Will and Jeff!

My brother and Jason's brother have their birthdays only one day apart (Sept. 4th and 5th), and for the past few years we've been able to celebrate with both of them here in Atlanta, until Will recently defected to California (j/k Will! Congratulations to you and Megan on your new jobs!). We had lots of fun celebrating Jeff's birthday this past Saturday when he and Caitlin came over for a cook out and some Wii Mario Kart!

Avery was so happy to see Jeff!



And Caitlin!



Harrison "played" Mario Kart with Caitlin.



Time to have some birthday cake! Harrison got a big kick out of singing the Happy Birthday song all night. Although he had trouble remembering who's birthday it was, he thought it was "Harrison's birthday" when we asked him.



YES! We got them all out on the first try.




Harrison "helped" Jeff open his cards and present.



We hope both Uncle Jeff and Uncle Will had wonderful birthdays that were as special as they are! We love you!

Owen Christopher Grimes

My sister had a beautiful baby boy last week! Owen Christopher Grimes arrived on August 25th at 3:25 AM, and was 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 20 1/2 inches long. He is healthy and Mandy is doing great post-birth. We went down to Florida over Labor Day weekend to visit the Eschens and to meet Owen for the first time! For more pictures of Owen, visit the Grimes Family Blog.

Proud Mommy!



I was holding Owen about 5 minutes after we arrived in town. I can't believe how tiny he is, and that Avery was this small only 4 months ago! I already can't remember!



Testing out Avery's bouncy seat! He seems to like it OK.



All three of the Eschen grandchildren.



Poppy and Car Car were thrilled to have all three of them together for the first time!



Here are some other fun pics of our holiday weekend in FL. We missed Will and Megan a lot, but they were with us in spirit!

Harrison tried the earphones that go to the DVD set in the minivan, but didn't want to keep them on long. It was his loss, as he ended watching his movies in silent mode, as Mom and Dad were not going to listen to Little Einsteins and Thomas for 7 hours straight!



Avery loved the exersaucer at Poppy and Car Car's house!

The Redding Street daughters and grandchildren. From left to right, Harrison, me, Avery, Mandy, Owen, Alex, Kim and Nicholas Colitz.

We had lots of family and friends over to visit during the weekend to see all of the babies - Karen, Glenn, Shelby, Luke, Uncle Jim, Aunt Nancy, Brian, Erin, Kim Colitz and her two boys and Karen Izzo. Here are Karen and Shelby getting some Avery love.



Harrison and Car Car eating some ice cream. Harrison woke up the next day asking for ice cream as soon as he was out of bed. Uh oh! His other favorite thing to say is YES! with the fist pump. It all started with hot dogs, I asked him if he wanted a hot dog for dinner and he was so excited that I said "hot dogs, yes!!" with a fist pump and he thought that was great! Now he says it all the time, i.e. waffles, yes! Einsteins, yes!



Erin also got to meet Avery for the first time! She brought James over too, it had been a long time since I had seen him. He is such a big boy now!

Getting to Know You.......

.....getting to know all about you......

Avery is getting to know everyone around her, recognizing Mom, Dad and Harrison all the time.

Harrison loves to give Avery kisses....



.....and hugs! Doesn't she look thrilled?



Here are all our kids together, hanging out. Though the doggies probably aren't interested in getting to know Avery, they just want to see if any of Harrison's snack will fall to the floor. Which it probably will.



Here's Jason singing to Avery. It was SO sweet, she was looking up at him so adoringly and smiling! I took several pictures, but I'll save you the duplication.



Here's Avery getting to know the Sagers and the Almstedts! I think she's wondering, are you going to eat that?

These three munchkins have known each other all of their lives! They have bonded over chicken nuggets many a time.

Growing Up and Getting Big

Harrison and Avery are both growing up so quickly, right before our eyes. Harrison talks a mile a minute now, learning new words all the time and putting them into short sentences. Our ability to communicate with him better helps a lot with the frustration on both of our ends! Avery is so active, constantly looking around and talking all the time. She loves watching Harrison and lights up and smiles when he's in the room or hears his voice.

Here's our big girl with her name on her pretty shirt!



Harrison and his friend Henry talk to each other and play very well together, and even sit side by side and drink juice!



Both boys are so big now that they even have driver's licenses. Just kidding, I'm hoping that's a ways off. Here they are playing in the minivan, wishing they could drive around!



Avery is getting so big, that she can go in the exersaucer now! She started in one at school, so this is the first time she went into ours at home. Her facial expressions and reactions were SO funny!

Oooo, that dragon scared me!



This thing plays music AND lights up??? What will they think of next?



Harrison, of course, loves to play with all of the baby toys, every time we bring one out he's all over it, checking it out. It's probably a lovely walk down memory lane for him. I'm trying to teach him to "play" with Avery and share her toys, especially while she's in the saucer.

Bumbo Girl

Avery is so strong and loves to sit up so much, that her nursery school teachers started putting her in the Bumbo seat for a little while every day, and she loves it! So we got out our Bumbo at home and here she is, looking like such a big girl.

I swear she really is enjoying this, despite the hesitant look on her face!



Just relaxing, taking it all in......