The only way to enjoy the outdoors in AZ...

...is getting soaking wet! Here are some pics of Avers and I hanging out outside waiting for Daddy to come home. Averi got into the dogs water dish (as usual) and got all wet. I decided to just roll with it and break out the hose. I sprayed her down from head to toe. Even though the hose water was luke-warm, it still kept both of us nice and cool.
Hose misting her in the face Averi making sure I am still paying attention to her

Soaking wet and loving it Playing with one of her favorite toys

I know our yard is bleak. We are getting some plants in next week. Until then, its a sea of grey.

This last pic is a few days ago when she was waking up in the morning. She was kicking the railing so I went in to get her out of bed. She was just laying in her crib with her blanket over her showing nothing but her cute little legs. What a weirdo.

Averi's First Year Accomplishments

Now that my little baby Avers is already a ONE year old, I better jot down some of her accomplishments and of course cute little trademarks as my memory is sure to fade!

Averi...

1. Crawls. If she is excited or being chased she crawls at mach ten speed!
2. Cruises. Has even stood on her own a few times only momentarily but probably doesnt even know she did. Still no walking, but loves to climb the stairs... unfortunately.
3. Does not walk solo yet but will use anything and everything to push around the house including the dining chairs, her high chair, storage baskets, toys, etc.
4. Claps ranomely, but especially in her high chair and car seat. Lucky for me she is in a forward facing seat now so I get to enjoy her clapping performances in the rear-view mirror.
5. Waves -Originally started as waving "night-night". Then turned into whenever I told her to say "hi", "bye", or "night - night", and now she hardly every does it anymore because clapping is just so darn fun.
6. Has eight teeth. Four on top, four on bottom. Her top teeth hardly ever show though so people are always surprised whe I tell them she has that many.
7. Absolutely adores her baby-dolls. She has one that looks pretty real and one that is all cloth but she loves them both the same. Literally EVERY time she sees them she smiles. She will give them hugs and kisses repeatedly. Sometimes she will give them rides in her toy stroller...which brings me to her next talent...
8. Loves to push anything and everything around in her stroller. This includes her babies, stuffed animals, her toys, Sophie's toys, remotes, or anything else that may have been left within reach.
9. Gives head-butts. Not on command but if you lean your head forward she will put her forhead against yours.
10. Manages to look adorable with pretty close to NO hair. Has a teeny bit of hair that is about an inch long but its mostly in the back and it's all very blonde.Will not tolerate hats or head bands. I have managed to get a few pics of her with head bands but I have given up trying to make her keep them on all day. I can see now why some people pierce their baby girls' ears'. (not for me though)
11. Just recently kept her shoes on for the first time at church. I was ecstatic. I think she is taking a new liking for shoes. She will dig through her shoe bin now and try to put a shoe on her foot. She puts the shoe on top of her foot and carefully lets go and then acts frustrated when the shoe immediately falls off.
12. Loves playing fetch and tug-of-war with Sophie. She "runs for cover" when I throw a toy for her to fetch because she knows that Sophie is going to come charging back in her direction. Sophie can also get her giggling pretty good when they play tug-of-war. It is so cute.
13. Mimicks Sophie (and most dogs) when she barks. Makes this cute little high-pitched noise that actually sounds kind of like a bark.
14. Laughes hysterically when I help her walk up the stairs. She takes extra large steps so that she only steps on each stair once. It's hilarious.
15. Loves to prop her feet up on stuff. This is especially true in her high chair and in her stroller. Sometimes she will get herself stuck in a really uncomfortable position in her high chair and has to yell for help.
16. Very flexible and can literally fold in half. She loves to do pilates (since birth, pretty much) and enjoys eating her feet!
17. Says "Kitty" (actually pronounced "diddy" or "dee dee"). I saved the best for last because we are considering this her first word. She has said other things like "mama" and "dada" and other mumbo jumbo. But this is the first word that she only uses with reference to the real thing (which I find interesting since she isnt even around the cat that much). Every time she sees the cat she gets a big grin on her face and says "diddy!" I absolutely love it! She is an animal lover just like her folks (and their folks!).

Birthday Party #2

We were lucky to have Doug's brother and Family come to AZ this weekend. Macy and Payton are their little girls and they are just adorable. Macy's birthday is this weekend too so we had a double celebration at Dave and Busters Friday night. Daddy won Averi a D&B teddy bear (which she loved and gave kisses to immediately).

Three tuckered out little girlies

Birthday Party #1

We had Averi's first birthday celebration on Saturday. Her birthday isn't until Thurs when we will have another modest family party. It was so fun to have some good friends over to celebrate Averi and her One Year accomplishment. We swam at the pool, had a good ol' fashion barbeque and then went back to the house for cake and presents. It was adorable to see the little kids playing together with all of Averi's new birthday gifts. She is such a lucky (or spoiled?) little girl. Averi loved her birthday cake and ate a whole cupcake in about two minutes. She has a major sweet tooth just like her mama.

Babies do the cutest things...

At least MINE does! :)

Averi has been pretty whiny the past few days but this morning was a nice change of pace. She is just so adorable. I was doing the dishes a couple hours ago while Averi was playing with some toys in the living room. I began wondering why she wasnt in my face wanting to "help" me do the dishes like she usually is. I looked over to see what mischeif she was up to but all I could see from my angle was that she was standing hunched over on the seat of the couch totally enthrawled by something. My first thought was that she was calling people on my cell phone or something. I walked a little closer to see that she was reading her Dr.Suess alphabet book and actually turning the pages taking time to digest the information on the pages. I watched her for a minute wishing I had the camera in hand. no luck ... just trust me... it was SO precious.

Then a little later, I decided to spy on her while she was playing with her baby doll. She had her baby and a bib in hand. For about 10 or 15 mins she would put the bib over her baby (I guess maybe like a blanket or something) and then just look at it and giggle to herself. Then she would take the bib back off and give her baby a hug or just look at it a minute. She would then put the bib back on her baby and giggle all over again. I wish I was as easily amused!

Here are some pics of Averi with her first birthday presents (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks!!) and her playing with Sophie. They are good little buds.

Lazy-fun weekend for Aves

Saturday evening we decided to bring the air mattress downstairs so we could watch movies all night. I decided to leave it there for a few days (w/t, I know) just because Averi LOVES it so much. She is totally content to hang out on the mattress and play with her toys all afternoon. It is so cute (not to mention easier on me having her stay in one place!).




Averi's buddy Ezra also turned one and had a party at the pool on Sat morning. She had a great time. Although most of her time was spent by herself playing with the stroller...one of her favorite pastimes. :)

In other exciting news: We are getting our back yard landscaped! So far, the patio, curbing, and sprinklers are done. Looks great so far. I will be posting pictures of the final product. We cant wait to actually spend time outside when the weather cools down a bit.

A few firsts...

Averi learned how to wave a few days ago. It is so so cute! She uses her whole arm and waves it side to side. We always have her wave "night night to daddy" when its time to go to bed. I swear she waved and said "Nye Nye" the other night completely on her own. I couldnt ever get her to do it again though so who knows, it could have been a fluke. She also learned to clap today! SO CUTE.

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Happy FIRST 4th of July! Didnt really do much but watch fireworks (or what we could see of them) from the park across the street. It was really fun and relaxing.

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Averi LOVES to put toys (or remotes, kets,etc) in her stroller and push it around the house. It is so adorable. It is amazing to me how much she picks up on.

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Averi has also been getting into more and more mischeif now that she is becoming so mobile. Here is a shot of her demonstrating that hardly anything breakable is safe in my house. When I was taking this picture I didnt even realize that she was reaching for a glass plate but I caught it just in time! Close call!