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