July @ 2009 @ Love This Life

Jul

31

Odds and Ends

This week, Avie had her Auntie Dawn visit and thank goodness because Scott was gone most of the week traveling around Texas and would get home between 8 and 10pm. I get lonely around here when he is gone so I had someone to keep me company during the day while Avie is at school. We went to eat sushi one day at Sushi King, our favorite, and yesterday we went to Central Market. I just love that grocery store and so does my little girl because the nice people that work there give her all kinds of goodies to taste like sweet potatoes, fruit, and bread. Yummy!

Avery loves sitting on the first stair tread. It’s just her size and she goes and sits and says “Dow” because we always tell her to sit down (sometimes, she likes to stand on it).

Hillary, Avie, and Bentley all hanging our the pantry. Are you guys hungry?

Eating snacks:

Here I was playing with my camera. I will Photoshop this pic when I get a chance:

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Jul

30

Carousel Ride

Baby & Child / Living

On Sunday, we decided to go to Memorial City Mall so Avery could ride the Carousel. Auntie Hillary came along as well. We ate a little lunch at California Pizza Kitchen and then strolled around the mall for a bit. Scott got trapped by one of those people in the middle of the mall. He told Scott to try a sample of the massage and got sucked in. While he did that, the girls went shopping. Now here comes the funny part! When we went to go ride the carousel, I told Scott we should change Avery’s diaper first so we headed to the family restroom. I looked through her diaper bag and her changing pad was missing (not sure where it went). What to do? We used Avery’s extra outfit (in case of accidents) on the changing table for her to lay on. Scott started changing her diaper. Keep in mind, I forgot to pack the wipes and knew we didn’t have any with us and Target was going to be our last stop (there is one at the mall) so we hoped and prayed she didn’t have poopy. Thankfully, she did not! As Scott was changing her diaper, she started to pee. It got all over her outfit and her extra outfit that she was laying on. Yikes! I looked around for paper towels. There were NONE! What family restroom doesn’t have paper towels. Okay, so now we have a dilemma. No wipes, no paper towels. I picked up Avery and stood her up. Scott said, how about I rinse her clothes in the sink and dry them under this powerful dryer. Yes! Great! As I’m holding Avery up on the counter, she pees again, everywhere. Oh dear! I rinse her off in the sink and dry her off under the dryer as well. She loved that! Finally, we got her all fixed up and had to clean the excess pee pee on the counter with a clean diaper and soap. We put that little adventure behind us and were off to go ride the carousel. The attendant was out for lunch (at 3:30 pm?) so we went for a little snack of chocolate and caramel covered apples. Yum! Then it was carousel time. As you can see in the pictures, she really enjoyed it!

Lunch at CPK:

Scott got sucked in with the sample:

Snacking on a caramel/chocolate covered apple:

I thought Avery’s facial expression was so precious in this picture. Too bad my eyes were closed:

And this week, Auntie Dawn is coming to visit!

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Jul

29

Squeaky, Squeaky!

Uncategorized

DSC_0088, originally uploaded by smhibner.

Avery wore her squeaky shoes for the first time on Sunday. She thought they were the best thing ever. It was so funny how she would just stomp, stomp, stomp just to make them squeak more. What a cutie pie! When we first put them on her, she ran around non-stop.

Lovey gave her these shoes and we took this video for Lovey. Avery doesn’t get to see Lovey very often because she lives so far away.

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Jul

27

Snack Time!

Uncategorized

DSC_0064, originally uploaded by smhibner.

This was on Saturday right before her playdate with Fieldsie, our neighbor’s granddaughter. Avery had a blast. Aunt Hillary was also in for the weekend so we could go to The Fray concert in the Woodlands on Saturday evening with Mariam. That was so much fun! I love their music. We had lawn seats and it was nice and breezy.

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Jul

24

Show Us Your Life: Wedding Dresses

Wedding

Kelly over at one of my favorite blogs, www.kellyskornerblog.com, has changed up her weekly Show Us Your House to Show Us Your Life. This week features wedding dresses. Scott and my wedding day was one of the most special days of our lives and I love reflecting on that amazing day that sparked the journey that we have and will continue on together for the rest of our lives.

I chose a really simple wedding dress. Since it was a Maui beach wedding, I thought that something simple and classic would be most fitting for what I had envisioned. My inspiration was from the dress the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy wore. Ever since I saw this picture, I knew that’s what I wanted mine to look similar to. I went to one place, Priscilla of Boston, and walked out with the one.

Scott still talks about our wedding day and if there was one day he could relive over and over, it would be that one for him. (and of course, the day Avery was born )

You may not even recognize me because my hair was so dark. It was a fun change! It was so hard to maintain though because my hair is naturally light and it required constant coloring to keep it dark.

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Jul

23

Okay, I’ll Admit It…

Baby & Child

Avery Grace does look like her Daddy! I know all of you have realized this since she was born but I’ve been in denial holding out hope that she might look like me a little bit. That might just be silly but I think moms like it when their children resemble them in some way. In some of these pictures, I’m noticing it more and more of how much she really looks like Scott, especially when he was a baby. We do joke about her being a little like me when it comes to keeping things clean and organized which I’m oh so proud of. She likes to put everything back just like it was before she took things out. This morning, she hung up our dish towels on the stove where they belong and I gave her a toothbrush to brush her teeth with while I was getting dressed in my bathroom and she put it back in the drawer (the correct one) when she was finished without me ever asking her to do it. She’s a mini-me when it comes to being organized.

Avery’s snuggling with her Minnie Mouse:

Scrunchy Nose:

Avery’s Favorite Place to Play (her cabinet):

This is Avery’s cabinet. She isn’t allowed to play in any of the others and has full reign of this one where all the tupperware is. If she gets into the other cabinets where she isn’t supposed to be, we just tell her to go find her cabinet and she shuts the door and goes to hers. I used to have it all nice and neat but I let her pretty much put things how she wants them to be in here. As you can see, she loves her cabinet and all the contents in it and sometimes will try to crawl in it as well.

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Jul

23

Avery’s 15 Month Birthday

Baby & Child / Family / Living

Avery turned 15 months yesterday! Woohoo She has given us 15 of the best months of our life and I look forward to every new day with her. When I go to sleep at night, I think to myself I can’t wait to see her smiling face in the morning. I often not so secretly wish she could sleep with us but she has always slept in her own bed and I fear if I put her in our bed she will not get a quality sleep and might even end up falling out of our high bed. I just want to lay and cuddle with her as she peacefully sleeps. It’s hard to do that when she is laying in her crib Happy 15th Months Avery!

This past weekend, the highlight of the weekend for me was heading up to the (town deleted) to see our land that we are going to purchase. I just like going riding and looking. It’s a genetic thing I believe. My Mom and Dawn love to do the same thing and my Mom’s sisters all do as well. It’s fun whether there is a purpose or not. At first, Avery wasn’t so excited. She is not a fan of being strapped down in her car seat. She loves to play and be active so I have a car organizer filled with little toys arms length away from me while I’m driving. Each toy holds her attention anywhere from 2 seconds to maybe 5 or 10 minutes if we are super lucky. She throws one down and I hand her another one. A 30 minute car ride with a whining toddler can seem like forever but when we arrived at our destination, she was beside herself. She loves being outside and starts laughing and squealing when you let her loose. The lot is on the golf course so we let her run around. As soon as she spotted the lake, she started running and laughing towards it. She was so cute! I hope to remember her expressions and reactions of pure delight at that moment. I didn’t know her little legs could move that fast. She definitely wanted to go swimming in the water. After checking out and surveying the lot to make sure it was the right one for us, we headed to La Madeleine’s for a very late lunch, stopped at Wal-Mart for a quick purchase and came home for a restful evening.

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Jul

16

My Favorite Things

Living

I’m a list maker. I just like making lists. They are so nice and organized. Today, I decided I’m going to make a list of what my favorite things are right now (sure beats working, ha!) and though I’m not going to list this below because it is understood, I love my family more than anything.

The List:

Receiving kisses from Avery (the kind where her mouth is wide open); she is so loveable!
Knowing that we will have a relaxing weekend at home this weekend
Target (I’m headed there in a few minutes)
Eating sushi and having a cocktail after a {insert here successful/long/boring/terrible/productive} days work
Hearing Avery say new words and trying so hard at it
Looking for new business opportunities (might teeter on being obsessed with it)
Shopping on Etsy
Reading the following blogs: momtog.com, kellykornerblog.com, brendaacuncius.com/blog, and about five more that I like to read on almost a daily basis
Taking road trips and traveling in general
Mexican Food (always, that will never change)
Reading books (I’m trying to make a transition from TV to books in the evening during my down time)
Scott’s tortilla soup (means I don’t have to cook and it is yummy)
Walking into William Sonoma
Looking at Pottery Barn catalogues
Avery’s Bathtime Ritual
Bentley sitting on my lap during the day while I work
Drinking Diet Sunkist
Shopping at Central Market (I love grocery stores)
A clean house
Taking pictures of Avery

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Jul

15

Mi hija cada vez crece mas

Baby & Child

Did you know I spoke spanish? Ha! My Spanish vocabulary is very small and in comes the beauty of the google translator. Translation in English: My Growing Daughter. I actually have written notes for my housekeeper using Google translator if I cannot act out what I need. Luckily, now she brings her sister to help her whom speaks perfect English.

Check out my little girl in her pretty Mexican dress:

Avery will be 15 months next week and I want time to slow down! She is still going to school because Dee is still in the hospital and we are hoping for her speedy recovery. I feel like she has blossomed so much in the past few weeks. Her fine motor skills are amazing and she loves to put things together. Her school teacher says she is very creative and loves arts and crafts time where they do simple gluing of objects, etc. She is really trying to talk a lot more, too.
Her list of words:
ball – she says it perfectly
dada – daddy with real meaning
baba – bottle
t – light and points to light
sh – shoe
puh – puff (her little organic puff snacks)
buh – book
moo – When you ask what does cow say?
wo,wo, wo – When you ask what does doggy say? (woof, woof, woof)
mo – more
daw daw – Auntie Dawn said she called her this this past weekend when she stayed with them.
Buh – Bear, Auntie Dawn and Uncle Matt’s dog
Chase – Dawn said she said it almost perfectly this past weekend getting both the /ch/ and the /s/ at the end. Chase is our cousin.

I’m sure there are more but the last few days she has been verbalizing non-stop. It’s really cool to be able to communicate with her and have her reciprocate.

Things Avery loves:

Yogurt and raw Manuka honey (the kind that you can give to babies, not to be mistaken with pasteurized honey) are her all-time favorite food. She licks her lips at the sight of the yogurt jar.
Her Bentley doggy; She gets so excited to see Bentley and pet her.
Her blankets; She loves covering herself up with blankets and playing possum. She loves the feel of them and rolls around in them.
Her boppy pillow; She squeals in delight when she sees her pink boppy pillow. She likes to sit in the middle of the U shape and lay on it, roll over it, etc. She gets a huge kick out of that pillow.
Buckles; She is obsessed with putting her buckles together on her chair that she eats in, in her wagon, and in her car seat. She is also very good at getting them fastened.
Running and also forward rolling. She loves it when I help her.
Being outside; if she could stay outside all day, she would.
Of course, all of her family!

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Jul

14

Miami Vacay

Travel

I dropped Avery off Thursday morning in Columbus with Nana and Grandma Raab. It was a bit of a hurried drop off because it took me much, much longer than expected to get there. I met up with Scott at home, threw my clothes in a suitcase (almost literally) and we were off to the airport. Upon arriving, it was very cloudy and the forecast for the weekend was cloudy and rainy. However, it actually turned out really very nicely. On Thursday evening, we kept it low key and stayed at the hotel. We ended up staying at the Mandarin Oriental and they have a great restaurant called Azul. It was very yummy and the decor and view were gorgeous! On Friday, we went to early lunch at Senora Martinez’s, by famous chef Michelle Bernstein, followed by an entire afternoon of shopping and more shopping. It was a cloudy day and it was nice because all the shopping was outdoor so the temperature remained tolerable. We went to the Design District, shopping on Lincoln Rd, and I think one other place. It was a lot of walking! On Saturday, we decided to do some exploring and took a private boat tour of Miami which was a blast and spent some time at the spa at the hotel. We had a fabulous dinner at Il Gabbiono (our mutual favorite) and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling through or to Miami. Yum, Yum and the view is awesome! Sunday was our last day so we mainly just pittled around since we had a late flight (8:30pm). We left the hotel around noon, drove around for about 2 hours and settled at Smith & Wollensky’s right across from Fisher Island watching monstrous boats come in and out of the bay. We walked down to the beach after eating lunch (it was scorching hot) to see thousands and thousands of people on the beach and in the water. I’ve never seen so many people in the water in person. They looked like little ants! It was kind of cool to see. We decided to stay cool and went to a movie before heading to the airport around 7pm. We ended up having beautiful sunny weather and a great time! We missed Avery tons though and were ready to get home to see her

Menu Memento:

We might look a little windblown here. The house in back of us is one of the famous stilt houses out in the middle of no where ocean. It’s crazy really! These stilt houses were all built in the early 1900′s and they are not allowed to renovate them and they have made it through countless hurricanes. They cannot be sold either so they are heired. They are mainly used for parties or weekend hangouts.

Boat Tour of Miami (we learned a lot of really cool things including some history):

Dinner at Il Gabbiano’s:

Bewildered at the amount of people on the beach (south beach):