Sneezes are So Funny...

My Girls

I love watching my girls together. They adore one another.

Claire is hilarious because she will beg to hold Averi Kate and then about 8 seconds later say, "Okay Mom, you can hold her. Get her. Get her."

I pray that they will be great friends as they get older! I tell Claire all the time that she can help teach Averi Kate about Jesus.

Sometimes when AK is crying, I can hear Claire in the background saying, "Jesus, thank You for please help Averi Kate. Thank You for Averi Kate to feel better and stop crying."

It's really sweet.

I think one of AK's favorite things to do is to watch her big sister acting silly. When Claire dances around the room, Averi Kate can't take her eyes off of her!

Claire likes to tell me what Averi Kate is feeling, thinking, or wanting. "Mom, she's happy!" "Mom, she's smiling for you!" "Mom, Averi Kate is crying!" "She wants to sit on the couch!" "She wants to play with this toy!" "She wants me to hold her!" "She wants to sit in her high chair!"

I'm so glad I have an interpreter in the house.

Every night when Claire goes to bed, she asks, "Is Averi Kate going to sleep in here?" "Yes, Claire. She is going to sleep in here...just like she does every night."

4 Months Old

It is so hard to believe that our sweet AK is four months old today!

She is so precious and really developing her little personality. She loves to be held and talked to. She hates being in a room by herself. She is always ready to smile and is starting to really interact. She blows bubbles with her spit and the other day, she and Spencer blew bubbles back and forth for a few minutes...her first "conversation"!

Speaking of spit, it is everywhere these days. She is apparently already teething, and drenches herself daily with drool. I think I already mentioned she can roll over both ways, and she has awesome head control. I told someone yesterday that she is almost a "hip baby". I still have to hold my other hand behind her for support sometimes, but soon she will be riding on my hip like a pro.

She loves to chew on her hands. Sometimes she loves her passy, sometimes she really doesn't care about it, and sometimes it makes her cry harder. I'm learning to read the situation before trying to give it to her! She also has great hand-eye coordination and loves reaching for things. Her favorite thing to play with, I think, is my hand.

She seems to love being outside, which is a good thing in our family. She is also sleeping pretty well at night for the most part, but she is a little inconsistent about that. Some nights she will sleep for 8 or even 10 hours straight, some nights she'll wake up once to nurse, and then there is the occasional lapse into waking up every 3-4 hours. But overall she is doing well at night, and for that I am thankful.

We love our little Averi Kate! What a sweet blessing!

Dobby's New Camera

Dobby came to visit this past weekend and here are some pictures from her brand-new camera!

Little Miss Personality...

Getting ready to go swimming in the new swimgear that Dobby brought!

We took Dobby to Silver Creek to see the creek, the cave, and do some hiking!

On this Father's Day...

I interviewed Claire for Father's Day. Here is the finished product. Claire's answers are underlined.

• My Dad is two years old.
• His hair is me (translation: looks like my hair) and his eyes are you (translation: look like Mommy's eyes.)
• My Dad likes to wear shorts, pants, shirt.
• He loves to eat tomato sauce and bread.
• He is smart because he knows how to get a little piece of bread and eat it.
• My Dad works hard at church. He takes the little bread and the little juice and eats and drinks it.
• It makes my Dad happy when he eats bread.
•  If he could go on a trip, he would go to MOPs (mothers of preschoolers) and he would take a Bible.
• I really love it when my Dad eats a sandwich.
• If I could give my daddy anything, it would be a Bible.
• My favorite thing about my Dad is I looooove him.

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world! We love you Coach!!!

These days...

The other day I told Claire to put her toy phone up. I left the room and when I came back, this is where I found the phone.

These days...Claire loves to vacuum.

These days...Claire is starting most of her sentences with "Well..." and ending them with "so..."

For example: "Mom? Well...I'm still hungry, so...."

These days...Claire refers to everything that happened in the past as happening "last night."

These days...Averi Kate is rolling over pretty proficiently, both ways.

These days...Averi Kate is starting to laugh. I mean, really chuckle. My favorite sound EVER.

These days...you can't leave AK alone for long. She is a happy baby...as long as someone is talking to her. Already a little social butterfly.

I wonder where she got that from?

Sister Sister

Sometimes when I take certain pictures of Averi Kate, I have a distinct feeling of "deja vu"...


AK napping (check out the neck action)...

 Baby Claire napping at the same age...

 AK dancing with Daddy...

Baby Claire dancing with Daddy...

AK doing notes with Daddy...

 Baby Claire studying with Daddy...

AK and Mommy...

Baby Claire and Mommy...

Entertainment Tonight

Act 1: The Songs

Scene 1: Peanut Butter and Jelly

Scene 2: Haccheus

Scene 3: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Act II: The Verses

Act III: AK is really cute.

Oldies and Goodies

 I was looking through some older files the other day and discovered some pictures that I never got around to posting around the time Averi Kate was born...

A couple of weeks before AK came, Claire and I got to hang out with Justice one Saturday. Here are the cousins having some fun...

Look! Matching shirts!

Claire's favorite pastime...

And here are some pictures that I took of Claire...well...while I was in labor. She was just so darn cute, and it was a good distraction. So here is Claire in her last moments of being an "only child"...

And, I found this random picture as well. Oh how I love my sweet Averi Kate :)