That's What We're Doing These Days...

 Playing with Huley the best dog ever.

Planking.

Eating blocks.

And flowers.

Climbing trees.

Resting on trampolines.

Running from cousins.

Counting my Blessings...

My favorite silly 3 year old

Almost 9 Months

Averi Kate will be 9 months old next week.

When did that happen???

AK is a little ray of sunshine. She has the biggest smile and loves to grin at people. She smiles with her whole body. If you are holding her and she gets excited, you will feel it before you see it. She will sometimes jump straight out of your arms if you're not careful. Her smile just starts way down in her toes and then her body starts bouncing up and down like she is going to bust with all of the smiley-ness.

She is very attached to Mommy these days. She still willingly goes to anyone who will reach out their arms to her, but if she sees me in the room she makes it clear that she'd rather be in Mommy's arms.

You can always tell when big sister walks into the room, though. AK absolutely adores watching Claire walk, run, play, do anything. Here she is when she spotted Claire coming across the yard.

Although Averi Kate is friendly and loves to interact with people, she has a shyness about her. When someone comes up to her and smiles and talks to her, AK will smile back and simultaneously duck her head down and turn toward me. It's the cutest little bashful move.

Averi Kate is curious about her world. She loves to pick things up, but unfortunately everything goes straight to her mouth these days. She also loves to bang small objects together. Though curious, she is not all that aggressive about exploring. She is definitely an observer and is more content to learn by watching than participating at times. She is not crawling yet but she gets around.

Averi Kate is an average eater, I would say. She does not love all foods like her big sister did. It definitely takes more coaxing to get her to eat solids. Her favorites include prunes (I know.), pears, pumpkin, and the almighty wheat puff.

She is a fairly quiet baby, or maybe I am just so used to nonstop talking that she just seems quiet. She is starting to explore with more sounds now (/g/ is her latest one) but her very favorite remains..."bmm bmm". In fact, that's what I call her. "Hey Bmm Bmm," I will say to her. And she will instantly respond with a quiet "bmm bmm bmm."

I love it.

When Averi Kate gets tired, our routine is this: I hold her, facing me; her left thumb goes in her mouth, her right hand reaches up to rub her right ear, and her head lays back in the crook of my left arm. I could stand with her like that forever.

Happy nine months, my sweet girl!

Changes

Weeeelllll...things have been crazy around here. Let's see, what all has happened in the last 2 weeks?...

We packed up our apartment in Rome and moved.

Claire was Micky Mouse for Halloween.

This is her good friend Kai. We miss him and all of our friends in Rome.

Oh, and Claire turned three!

Here she is on her three year old eve, watching a movie with Daddy and Averi Kate.

Licking the cake batter...

Opening presents...

Pumpkin spice birthday cake! (egg and dairy free, of course. It actually turned out pretty good!)

Averi Kate enjoyed all the festivities.

Claire reading a book in her bean bag...

Not much else is going on. Oh, except that we had a contract to buy a house and finally, through much prayer and petition and seeking and asking, decided to withdraw our offer.

Things have been...overwhelming? Yes, that is the right word. I am ready to feel settled again. I think we all are. BUT "settled" is not where the Lord has us right now. At least not in our circumstances...but I pray that, like Paul, we will learn the secret to being content in any circumstances: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." We have so much to be thankful for, so we will choose to focus on those things and pray that the Lord will teach us and guide us and grow us through all of these changes.