Avery Being Avery

For those of you who have spent any amount of time around our daughter, you know that she is quite the character and has QUITE the imagination. :)


This post is a collection of photos/videos of things I want to remember about this season of life.


Avery, my Love, you absolutely love to dance.  Daily you ask us to dance with you and it's one of my favorite parts of the day.  You get REALLY excited when Daddy gets his guitar out.  You will dance to any beat, any song, any time.  If there isn't any music on, you'll hum or sing to make your own.

You love to read.  You will read book after book by yourself, usually getting the whole story right (from memory :)).  You bring us books and ask if we'd like you to read to us.  Of course we always say yes!  You point out letters on the page and are starting to know the sounds that go with them.

You always have an alternate reality going on. :) I love your imagination.  You see people and animals that want to be our friends, need to be rescued, or are going to chase us and tickle us.  We are "safe" from the "alligators" by hiding under our dining room table.  You find imaginary baby animals that fit in your hand and ask us to hold them.  You say, "ooooh, they're so cute - and so tiny!" in this sweet little voice.  You give every animal and every person a name. :)

You LOVE surprise us as well as be surprised.  You like when we scare (surprise) you by jumping out around a corner.  You collapse into a huge ball of laughter.  Your Daddy and I love it.

If you listen carefully, Daddy "surprises" you here and you jump, then run to him and tell him "surprise Daddy!" :)

Many times at the dinner table, you get silly.  We ask you if you're delirious, and you answer "I sure am!" Pretty soon this is all we get... and we all laugh together.  Love it.

You may have a bit of your mommy's OCD... I cannot confirm or deny that as the source... you are always organizing things.  You line up your fruit, you arrange the letters on the fridge by color, and you're pretty good at putting your toys away right when you're done (without being asked).

On one of our MANY 100+ degree days this summer, you insisted that you "needed" to wear boots and a hoodie.  You said you weren't hot and kept them on for quite a while... I finally got you to change by bribing you to swim in your kiddie pool. :)

You love water - LOVE water.  It makes me so happy.  I found a cheap slip 'n slide on clearance at the store and thought we'd give it a try.  You love it.  You also insisted on wearing your ballerina tutu swimsuit that Grandma Bubba got you (previously you refused, not wanting to get it wet).  You like to walk up and down the slip 'n slide, then splash in the little pool at the end.  You like to drink from the "fountains" as you go... sometimes crawling under them the whole way.  You haven't quite grabbed the concept of running and sliding yet. :)

You love to climb on me. all. the. time.  We have numerous conversations during the day about not climbing on, sitting on, or kicking baby. :) One evening I flipped you up to my shoulders and this is how you wanted to stay... you thought it was hilarious.

My back couldn't handle it too long, but it was funny hearing you laugh so hard!

One of my favorite things is that recently we "argue" about who loves the other more.  It's something I grew up doing with my family, and it's so fun to see you get so excited about loving us!  I haven't got a great video of it yet, so this one will suffice for now. :)

You thought Daddy was SO AWESOME when he put a kiddie pool at each end of your slip 'n slide.  You would walk (sliding and falling) in-between the two, then "dive" in face first at each end.  So fun.

I guess Daddy has been doing a lot of schoolwork, because sometimes you say one of your books is your laptop and you need to get some studying done.  You tell me who you're sending e-mails to... and you've even talked about needing to check facebook or read a blog!  Oh my...

Daddy has a new job and we're SO proud of him!  You like to tell people that your Daddy works at Sterling College.  He brought you home this shirt and you were so excited to wear it!

I love being silly with you.  You are the only person who doesn't look at me like I'm crazy when I do silly things. :) You were "helping" me edit some pictures the other day and I brought up photo booth.  You said, "let's make silly faces, Mom!" - so we did. :)

One of Daddy's favorite desserts is mini boston creme pies.  I made a bunch of them for his birthday party (the big 3-0!) and I let you test one out.  Funny thing is, you chose not to use your hands the entire time you at it.  Silly girl.

At least only your face needed cleaning at the end!

When I'm getting ready in the mornings, you like to sit on the counter and play in my jewelry.  It reminds me that you are a little girl. :)

Avery, you are such a joy to me.  I get excited to see you every morning... I can't wait to hear you call my name.  I open your door and you run to me, full force, with arms open wide, exclaiming "GOOD MORNING MOMMY!" and we hug for a long time.  You always ask me how I slept and tell me that you slept well.  I'm so blessed to start every day with you.


I love that you're silly and you have such an imagination.  Sometimes I get frustrated when I can't pull you out of "Avery's world" to talk to you or ask you a question, but I love that you're so happy. :)


You are so sweet about your sibling that will arrive in about a month.  You tell the baby good morning, give it hugs and kisses, and ask to "listen" to the baby throughout the day.  You love going to the doctor with me and hearing Baby Itty Bitty's heartbeat.  You like playing in the nursery.  You say "I'm a big girl now, so I gave my baby bed to the baby.  The baby will like my crib SO much."  It's sweet.  You put your animals to bed in the crib, turn on the sound machine (pretend right now), and close the door, asking me to please be quiet while they nap.  You're going to be a wonderful big sister.


I love how you and Daddy love each other.  You get SO excited for Daddy to come home!  Lately when you hear the garage you run to find a hiding place so you can surprise Daddy when he comes in... but you get so excited that you can't stay quiet and you give yourself away - just because you can't wait to see him!


There are so many things I want to remember about this season of life... more than anything I want to treasure this time before life changes drastically with a new baby arriving.  I pray that you'll be as excited about the baby when it's here as you are now when it's in my tummy. :)