18 month appt and the zoo

I feel like I've been running around all week! On Monday, Avery and I made a trip to Walmart, no matter what time of day it is that place is always a mad house. After work Steven went to help his mom move a couch, while he was gone Avery and I walked to my gym and back home since I couldn't actually work out. Steven called a bit later and told us to meet him at Red Robin for dinner - his mother and grandparents were there too. Avery was not in a sitting mood so Steven, Yvette, and I took turns being outside with her. After dinner the six of us fed the ducks and took a walk. My pedometer said I only walked a mile and half that day, but I swear it was more.

She fell and skinned her knee (six days later I'm still kissing that boo-boo)

Avery and I visited my mom at work on Tuesday. It was nice seeing some old co-workers and thankfully Avery was well-behaved while we were there. When Steven got off work I went out ALONE (a rare treat indeed) to get coffee and gas. It was a small amount of alone time but much needed. When I got home I made dinner, we didn't really have anything so I made mac-n-cheese and put some bacon in it. After dinner Steven went to school and Yvette came over for a bit to see Avery, just as Yvette was getting ready to leave a random summer storm hit and there was a torrential downpour. Since Avery was distracted by Yvette I got a chance to play around on my computer. I FINALLY figured out how to follow some one's blog! I've been trying to figure it out for a while and now that I know how to do it I feel silly that it took me so long. For anyone else in my shoes: On the blogger home page there is an ADD button under Reading Lists, you just enter the URL of the blog you want to follow; or 'Follow by Email'.

9 weeks

Avery burying Steven in stuffed animals

On Wednesday I woke up with a terrible back ache and a head ache :/ Avery and I went to the store for coffee and donuts as a pick me up. When I got to Alberstons I started walking to the back where the donuts are, the Starbucks lady asked if I was getting coffee today and I told her yes after I grab a few things. When I got back to the front of the store to order my coffee the barista was already putting the lid on my drink :) I really love that they know my drink order, the barista even gave me extra caramel. I was feeling crappy but that little gesture made me feel special which every mom needs once in a while. That evening we went to my parents' house for dinner. We originally went out there to look at the house Steven wanted to rent but he came to his senses and decided it was a bad idea. When we got home I was still feeling miserable so I took a long hot bath after Avery went to bed.

Steven's response to me complaining all day

Thursday was busy busy busy. I had several errands to run and thankfully as I was getting ready to leave Avery told me she wanted a nap. I put her down for a nap and got to run my errands alone (Steven was home with Avery obviously). My first stop was Walgreens which happens to be in the same parking lot as my second stop, Whole Foods - since I didn't have Avery I parked in the very back so I would have to walk much further. I went to Starbucks after that and got a pleasant surprise - the woman in front of me bought my drink!! Thank you lady in the red BMW :) Next I went to grab lunch, but Steven and I wanted different things so I had to stop at two different places lol. When I got home I realized I forgot to get the two things I really needed, Avery woke up a few minutes after I got home so the two of us went to Albertsons to get the items. Steven had school that night (which is over soon thankfully) so after I put Avery to bed I pulled out two big bins full of old baby clothes to go through. I was looking for a bathing suit for my friend's little girl but didn't find it. Looking through all those clothes was a huge mistake! At first I was happily traveling down memory lane but then I just felt sick realizing how quickly Avery has grown up - by the time I got to the very bottom of the second bin I found the outfit that I brought Avery home from the hospital in, I was bawling.

A blanket that my friend Karina gave me in Korea

Steven's company gave this to us after Avery was born

Friday was even more busy! Avery had her 18 month appointment that afternoon which clashed with her usual nap time. I took Avery to the park in an attempt to wear her out enough to take an early nap. It worked, she went down for an early nap and woke up literally 10 minutes before we needed to leave.

Avery's pediatrician is all the way out in Eagle so we had to leave the house 45 minutes before we needed to be there. We got to the office right on time but ended up waiting around because another child had an emergency. Avery is now 22 lbs and 32 inches long. She managed to gain 1 pound back of all the weight she lost since switching to soy. We are going to slowly re-introduce whole milk into Avery's diet and hope that she doesn't have the same digestive problems that she did before. The pediatrician said a lot of toddlers grow out of their allergies in a few months to a few years so fingers crossed. Avery's appointment took longer than it should have because she made the doctor exam her Spongebob doll first. Thankfully Avery didn't have to get any shots - she needed a shot but the doctor said it couldn't be administer. They need the shot to be exactly 6 months apart and Avery was a week shy of that 6 month point, she will get it at her 2 year appointment instead.

She stole my muffin

Waiting for the doctor

After the appointment I was eager to get home. Avery was in a bad mood because of the doctor looking in her ears and feeling her belly. Getting home took FOREVER because we had to use Eagle Road. When we finally did get home we were only there for 10 minutes before my mom came over to pick us up. We went to Costco to get a car seat that we had seen on sale. We only got the car seat but since its Costco it took us a while to check out. I put the car seat together when we got home, adjusted the straps, and all that good stuff. When it came time to install the car seat I realized that the car couldn't accommodate it rear facing. I reclined the seat back as far as it could go but the seats were so slanted that the car seat was still leaning too far forward. The manual said I could roll up a blanket and stick it under the base for cars with really slanted seats but it made the car seat really wobbly and loose. I was beyond frustrated at that point and gave up.
We were already late dropping Avery off at Yvette's house so once I got back upstairs we left. After we dropped Avery off we went to the Cheesecake Factory for our date night. We split a BBQ Chicken pizza (which is amazing BTW) and we each got a slice of cheese cake. I'm pretty sure the cheese cake packed on ten pounds at least so after dinner we walked around the mall to work it off.

Avery's fort

Steven and I picked up Avery bright and early the next morning. Avery and Yvette had gone to the farmer's market and played in the fountain - Avery's clothes were soaked so she rode home in just a diaper. Avery seemed like she was ready for a nap when we got home but instead she just quietly played in her crib for an hour.

Avery and I went to Laura's baby shower (Laura is a girl that I used to work with at Wendy's when we were teens), and of course Avery passed out in the car just as we pulled up to Laura's house! I sat in the car with her for 5 minutes so she could cat nap. The baby shower was a lot of fun, we played several games I haven't played before :) I won one of the games that we played, it was Baby Shower Gift Bingo (basically you make a bingo card with gifts you think the mom will get and play bingo with it as she opens her presents). Avery started happily screaming while Laura was opening her gifts because the other guests were happy. One of the guests offered to take the kids outside to play while Laura opened gifts which was helpful because I had offered to keep track of which guest gave what gift. Since it was hot out I decided to bring Avery back inside while Laura was still opening gifts and saw that she was sunburned, I guess the woman didn't notice the kids getting burned :( We left shortly after, I dropped Avery off at home with Steven so I could go buy Aloe Vera. Apparently everyone in Boise is sunburned because Albertson's was completely out (even though they keep it in 3 different sections) and I managed to get the very last bottle at Rite Aid! After I made dinner and bathed Avery I lathered her in Aloe Vera, by the next day the sunburn had turned into a tan - she definitely doesn't get that from me.

With Laura at her baby shower

Sunday was a blast! We decided to mix things up for Sunday family dinner so we went to the zoo! The Idaho National Guard was putting on a military family day at the Boise zoo. It started at 530 pm and had free food so dinner was taken care of - we had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, lemonade, and ice cream!
Upon entrance to the zoo we were each given a stamp card, you go to each booth listed on your card, get a stamp, then turn in the card to be entered into a raffle. After we ate we started going around to the booths and realizing that each booth gave out a ton of swag. We got a comforter, fleece blanket and a bear with a zipper on his back that the blanket goes into, make up, canvas grocery bags, a gel mouse pad, a baby clothes gift set, and other cool stuff. While we were there I got Avery finger printed and she did surprisingly well, she was even helping the guy do it :D Avery also got to ride the carousel, she had to be accompanied by an adult so Steven was quite dizzy afterwards lol. It was an awesome way to end the week!

Eating dinner

Getting finger printed

Avery Quinn - 18 months

18 months

This week I've been feeling rundown, I just feel so blah lately. On Monday I stayed in my PJs most of the day and didn't do much at all. Avery was going stir crazy so I got dressed and took her to the park. Avery turned 18 months old on Monday, I can't believe how quickly she's growing up! I took some 18 month photos of Avery while we were at the park.

Tuesday was another really lazy day. I was still feeling run down so when Yvette asked if she could take Avery for the night I jumped at her offer. I dropped Avery off at Yvette's house after work hours. By the time I got home Steven was getting ready for school, he left shortly after. It was really weird being home alone in the evening, even though I knew Avery wasn't there I still found myself trying to be quiet.

Week 8

My Grammy left on Wednesday back to Arizona. I got up early to see her off at the airport but my mom sent a text saying that they were going to stop by the house instead, I live about 2 minutes from the airport so it worked out. My mom and Grammy were only at my house for a minute to say goodbye. Steven wanted to say goodbye but got a call the second the clock struck 8 am, although he knew it would be a busy day since he had 100 emails when he woke up. My Grammy is one of my loyal readers so I know she'll see this: Steven says goodbye, he's sorry he didn't get to say so when you left, and he's glad you made it home safely.

I left shortly after my mom and Grammy to go pick up Avery, I needed to be there by 9 am so Yvette could start work on time. Naturally I got stuck in horrible traffic, there was construction going on so traffic was down to one lane. For those familiar with Boise, I need to get to River but I was stopped at the train depot! Needless to say, I didn't make it to Yvette's house by 9 am. After I picked up Avery, Yvette suggested I take Americana home and as I was about to leave her house Steven texted me the exact same thing, like mother like son lol. When we got home Avery told me that she wanted to nap so I put her down and updated this blog :D The rest of the afternoon was dull. I went to my workout class in the evening and was barely able to walk home afterwards.

Sprinklers at the park went off - soaking wet

Thursday was interesting. I met Kristen, Tausha, and their kids at Winstead Park. The kids had a blast, Avery and Conner attempted to play tag but Avery didn't really understand the concept. Avery calls Conner 'Con' and he calls her 'A', its the most adorable thing ever! The park was fantastic until this summer camp (or whatever they were) released a large group of kids from lunch to play. The kids were older, they had no regard at all for the toddlers on the play ground, I was shocked at how wild they were. Within a 2 minute span you could see every mother pulling their small children off of the playground and out of the mayhem.
I took Avery off the playground because she was almost trampled, instead we walked the perimeter of the playground. A little girl that was Avery's age was walking next to us, she got pelted by a huge rubber ball and smashed her little face into the ground. The mother scooped up her daughter and yelled in the direction that the ball came from before leaving the park.

I took Avery back to the bench where all of our stuff was since the sidewalk wasn't safe either. Conner had brought a ball to the park so we let the kids play in the grass away from the other kids but less than a minute later we had a problem, two older kids kicked a soccer ball in between Conner and Avery. The kids had to be at least 12 or 13 so I fully expected them to be smart enough to pick up the ball and play away from the little ones but they didn't. The kids began playing soccer right between our babies, they were pushing each other and kicking wildly trying to get the ball. I freaked out and told them to take it some where else because there were babies here. Ok, so maybe I yelled that at them but I have no restraint when it comes to the safety of my child and the other children I love. A few minutes later Taush noticed the one of the camp counselors (who was sitting at the bench right next to us and looked maybe 17 years old) was throwing the soccer ball at some of the kids'...bathing suit area. She made a comment about how he was being a bad influence and it was no wonder the other kids had no regard for anyone but themselves. The camp counselor then started shooting kids with rubber band guns and almost hit Avery with one. This time it was Taush that yelled, she gave him what-for, I thought for a moment she was going to snatch the stupid badge off of his neck and report him but instead we packed up our babies and left.

Avery fell down so Conner helped her up

My mom stopped by for a visit that evening, she had gone to pick berries after work, she likes canning things. Avery was so excited to see her and gave her a baby massage (which is mainly jumping on your back and smacking you and then giving you kisses). Steven was a bad boy and skipped school that night because his friend Mitch was coming over. Steven, Mitch, and Cooper (Mitch's son) all went to the store for BBQ supplies. Avery had refused a nap after the park so I got a rare chance to snuggle my sleeping baby. She had passed out on the couch so I put her on my chest, wrapped us in a blanket, and cuddled her while the guys were gone. She managed to stay asleep when they all got home but woke up when Steven burned off some hair, beard, and part of one eyebrow trying to start the BBQ.

Getting a baby massage

Almost....

and she's gone

Avery and Cooper

Friday was overall uneventful. Steven's pay check came so we decided to leave the house immediately after work so we could cash it and deposit it. Steven got a work call a few minutes before the clock struck five and of course it lasted until 5:50 pm. The bank was only open until 6 pm so we raced to make it in time and arrived at 5:59 pm - Steven then realized that he had forgotten his wallet.... Luckily we were able to find another bank that was open until 7 pm so there was time to get the wallet and make the drive since that branch was out of our way. At the bank Avery was running around squealing after she got a lollipop. I knelt down to quietly tell her to use an inside voice but she head butted me in the face. I was not a happy camper after that, she hit me directly on my two front teeth which I have already knocked out skateboarding and had repaired. I have a feeling that Avery is going to bust out one of my teeth before she's grown.

When Avery turned 18 months this week I read up on all of the normal things a baby her age should be doing. "You may observe a physical development growth spurt". Um, hell yeah! I've told Steven several times this week that Avery looks like she got older over night. "Your child may start to refer to themselves by name". Yup, she calls herself Avy. "Your toddler wants to know what's behind, under, and inside of everything". That's probably why she ran around the house wearing oven mitts today and why my back pack is constantly being rummaged through. "Your toddler may want to help with daily tasks". This week alone I found tortillas in a bathroom cabinet, a juice box in a kitchen drawer, a sandal in my back pack, and 50 thousand gold fish in my soup. While I would appreciate help putting things away, Avery's method just isn't doing it for me. "By 18 months your toddler should be able to say between 10-20 words". Avery can say over 80, a few words in Spanish (thanks to Yvette), and several 2 word 'sentences' but that's no surprise considering she never stops talking! Ever! I found it funny that on one website it said between 12-18 months a child may say 'uppy' if they want to be carried, Avery always says 'uppy' in a whisper, she never says it in a normal voice. A big milestone this week is Avery FINALLY sleeping through the night!!!!!!!! It only took 18 friggen months!

On Saturday we met my mom at Costco, she doesn't have a membership so we together - Avery was happy to see her Mimi. After shopping we visited Steven's dad. Avery spent most of our visit kissing the dogs on the head and dancing - she's definitely a little girl. That evening Yvette came over to the house to baby sit Avery while Steven and I went on date. We went downtown to see Grown Ups 2, it was literally the funniest movie I've seen in a long time - my stomach hurt from laughing so much. We got home shortly after midnight and immediately went to bed (we're not night owls). Around 1:40 am I heard Avery whining over the baby monitor, she had been sleeping through the night for a while so it was odd that she was awake. I went to check on her and realized that she was soaked in puke, I hollered at Steven and he started a bath for her. Avery didn't have a fever so after her bath we brought her into bed with us. At 2:30 am Avery threw up again, our comforter and sheets were soaked :( It was a lot of puke both times so Steven called the 24 hour nurse while I comforted Avery. The nurse said we didn't need to go to the hospital yet but that we needed to get some Pedialyte into Avery so she didn't dehydrate. Steven ran out to the store while I paced the living room while cradling my sick baby - Avery threw up again while Steven was gone.

When he got home I sent him to bed so that he could take care of Avery in the morning and I could get some sleep. I knew it would be a very long night so I grabbed Avery's mattress and put it on the living room floor and laid a blanket down next to it for me to sleep on. The nurse said we could give Avery 1 ounce of Pedialyte if she was puke-free for 20 minutes so we did, she was able to hold it down so another 20 minutes later she got 2 ounces. Avery fell asleep around 5 am on her mattress, I had planned to move to the couch but as soon as I moved she wrapped her arms around me in a death lock. I wasn't able to escape so the two of us ended up sleeping on the ground all night. At 9 am I woke Steven up so he could take over.

My poor sick angel

I crawled into bed and slept until 1 pm. Steven had to practically drag me out of bed so we could go to my parents' house. When we got to my parents' house Avery was still feeling unwell, she managed to splash around in the pool for a little bit and help my mom water the garden. Steven and I were still exhausted from taking care of a sick baby, we mostly lazed on the couch.

Watering Mimi's garden

Lately Steven has been dead set on getting out of the apartment life. We were looking into buying our first home but Steven's new job put a snag on things. We assumed the increase in money would only help us when it came to buying a home but Steven is now a private contractor and thus needs 1-2 years of tax information from THIS job before we can be approved for anything. It was a hard pill to swallow but we've decided to look into renting a house for that year or two while we wait. Avery is getting to that age where a trip to the park once a day is not enough to burn off her toddler energy, she desperately needs a yard to run and play in. While at my parents' house on Sunday we found a home in Meridian for a reasonable price. Steven and I checked out the house, the home itself is very nice but the land makes me uneasy. The house is on a large plot of land away from any other houses which makes me feel like it would be an easier target for a home invasion. There is a very large shop/shed next to the house which is being used by a landscaping company or something like that so we would have strangers coming and going at who knows what time. The house is on farmland so there is a fast moving canal surrounding the front yard and the house sits on a main road, there is no fence to keep Avery from running out into the street or falling into the canal. The kicker, however, is the company that is handling the rental. The house is being rented out by Property Management Pros (PMP) which is the same company that was screwing the people who moved in next door to my parents. I REALLY REALLY don't want anything to do with PMP! For some reason though Steven called PMP to ask about the house, they had us call the woman who is currently living there so set up a time to see the house. She informed us that PMP is "treating her like shit" and that there are birds living in the house...... no wonder the woman is moving out. Steven set up an appointment to go see the house on Wednesday, he's hoping the inside of the home is spectacular and that the owner will allow him to put up a fence to protect Avery.

Avery Quinn (and Mommy) - 18 months

Fourth of July Camping pt 2

This is part 2 of this week's blog post just FYI.

We went on our big fourth of July camping trip this week! Steven and I had planned to get in a little extra sleep but Avery decided to wake everyone up at 6 am. Yvette stopped by that morning to drop off the play pen and entertain Avery for a bit while we double checked our camping stuff. We met my parents outside of Home Depot and caravaned up to Cascade. The majority of the drive went well but I started getting car sick and Avery began screaming. We stopped in Smith's Ferry to get snacks and let Avery stretch her legs. I'm glad we stopped because we got stuck behind the Thundermountain Days parade and it took almost an hour to get 20 miles.

Our campsite was at French Creek, it was right next to Lake Cascade. Our site was beautiful and secluded but the mosquitoes were insane. We were using bug spray but it was a pathetic strength since too much deet is toxic to children under 2 - we were also using personal bug clips and a mosquito coil but nothing helped. Steven got bit more time than I could count, my parents got their fair share of bites, and I got bit four times - amazingly Avery didn't get a single bite!!

That evening we had hot dogs and beans for dinner, took a family walk, started a fire and had smores. Avery started getting fussy from overstimulation and lack of sleep so my mom and I put her in the car for a drive. We drove back to civilization to get ice and thankfully Avery fell asleep. There was going to be a firework show that evening at 10:30 pm so I drove as slow as possible back to camp to make sure Avery got the maximum amount of sleep. We managed to drag out the drive long enough for an hour nap, but Avery woke up right before we pulled into camp.

A butterfly landed on my dad's hat

At 10 pm we all hopped in the Durango and drove to the edge of the lake for the firework show, the bugs were so bad that we couldn't get out of the car. No one was able to enjoy the fire works because Avery was climbing all over the car and in every one's lap - Avery didn't care about the fireworks so we went back to camp. It was difficult to sleep that night because fireworks went off for several more hours, our closest neighbors were really loud, and the camp host kept driving by on his ATV. We brought the play pen for Avery to sleep in but that just wasn't happening, she slept in bed with us. The temperature quickly dropped down for 46 degrees so having my little cuddle bug was nice.

The next morning everyone woke up sore and grumpy at 6 am - within 10 minutes we all decided not to stay another night as originally planned. We had brought all the fixings for a great camping breakfast but decided to eat in town instead, it didn't seem logical to dirty a bunch of things cooking while trying to pack everything up. We packed quickly and searched for a place to eat, we stopped at a little breakfast cafe. From start to finish we were at that cafe for 2 hours! The place was not busy at all but it took forever to even have our order taken, our waitress definitely had a stick up her butt or something. After we had already placed our order a group of six people sat at a table next to us and somehow all got their food before we did. It turns out that the waitress had given them our food. When we finally got (some) of our food (about 45 minutes later) it was completely wrong. My dad let the waitress know that he didn't get what he ordered at all and that it was clearly someone else's plate, her response was "oh, well". Not a single one of us actually got what we ordered, it was absolutely ridiculous.

The moment we got on the road Avery passed out, she was exhausted. Sometime during the drive we realized my parents were no longer behind us, we tried to get them on the walkie talkie but got no response. We pulled over and waited thinking that maybe a few cars passed them on the road but when about 30 cars drove by we turned around and went back for them. Apparently they made a pit stop but couldn't get us on the walkie talkie, it scared me for a moment considering the horrific car accident Steven was in on a mountain road.

I passed out shortly after we were back on the road and woke up parked in front of a Starbucks, it was the best way to wake up, Steven was inside getting me coffee. When we finally got home Steven took a shower and napped for 2 hours - I showered and bathed Avery afterwards. Avery had slept the entire drive home so there was no chance of a second nap. When Steven woke up we went over to my parents' house for the dinner and just relaxed.

Giving Grammy kisses

On Saturday morning Yvette stopped buy for a visit, its still weird to me that our family can come visit whenever they want now that we don't live in Korea. We ran several errands that afternoon: buying ammo at Cabela's TJ Maxx for a pair of shorts, Sportsman's for a holster, etc. Avery must be growing because she seems to fall asleep every time we get in the car the past few days, she also tells me when she wants to nap. We had dinner with my parents which worked out great because my mom wanted her 'pumpkin-doodle' to spend the night. Since we were toddler-free we went to see World War Z with Quinn and Ashley, it was pretty good but skimmed over a lot of things covered in the book. Also, Camp Humphreys, South Korea is nothing like it is in the movie FYI.

The next day we went over to my parents' house earlier than usual so that I could help make tamales. The original plan was to have Steven watch Avery while mom, Jan, Grammy, Ashley, and I made tamales but Avery wouldn't let my mom do anything but cuddle her. We made an unimaginable amount of tamales which will make a delicious treat for the next several days :) We left shortly after dinner so we could go to the store for soy milk and diapers, hopefully we will be given the green light to put Avery back on regular milk again. Her appointment is on the 19th so we shall see.

Avery Quinn - (one day shy of) 18 months