The Zipps Family: 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

6 Months

My sweet baby girl is officially half a year old! How can time fly by so quickly? I was packing up some old clothes and came across the onesie that we took her home from the hospital in. It was shocking to see how tiny it was, and I remember it being too big at the time. My how she has changed! Avery has made such progress this month developmentally and more personality emerges every day.

Here's what we've been up to...

Eating-Avery eats solids twice a day (breakfast and dinner) and nurses 5 times a day. She eats a vegetable for breakfast and cereal for dinner. We have made it through sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, peas, and carrots. I was amazed that she liked them all! I even made my first batch of baby food- sweet potatoes, of course! She eats them quite frequently since I have a big supply.

Sleeping- Well, there have been some ups and downs in this area. I wonder if there will ever be a month that I say how wonderful of a sleeper she is. At least this month she had an excuse...a tooth! Her first tooth broke through the gums. It is on the bottom left side. Tylenol has been our best friend over the past few weeks to help with teething. I tried to get a picture but it just turned out a big blurry mess so I will try to take another once it comes in a little more. She is STILL in her swaddle but sleeps so well with it.

Happy as a clam after her nap (miracle blanket still draped around her)

Rolling- During Avery's 5 month post I wrote that she had been rolling from her stomach to her back. I just couldn't get her to roll from her back to her stomach. Well, one night we were playing with her right before bed. She was on a blanket on the floor, and we were changing her diaper and putting her pajamas on. I tried to lure her with toys to roll but she just wouldn't. When I tried to get her diaper on, she rolled to get away. Such a stubborn child! Remember that she rolled the other way for the first time to avoid taking a nap. What are we going to do with her?! Now she is rolling like crazy. Hopefully, she stays put for another month or so. I'm not ready for crawling to start just yet!

Right after her roll

Sitting- Thankfully, we have made gains in this department also! Avery is only locking her knees some of the time. She could always sit pretty well when I forced her but literally would never want to practice. She HATED to sit. By the end of the month, she started to realize that you can do a lot from the sitting position. She definitely still lops over from time to time but that's okay. I had been worrying that she would never sit!

We now have to watch everything that is within Avery's reach. This is what happens when we don't...

We were having a nice dinner at the table. Billy got Ave out of her chair and was holding her. One of the flowers on our table was within reach and down everything went! She also has grabbed drinks from tables and spilled them everywhere (Sorry Linds!). I guess this is only the beginning of needing to watch her every move!

Some other pictures from this month-

About to go on a walk in the cold weather

Checking out her new PB Kids catalogue after a walk

This is what she does on her belly all the time. She pulls up her arms and legs and looks like she's swimming. I guess she's practicing for the summertime!

I was wrapping presents and took my eyes off of her for one second. This is how she ended up.

So excited about her stocking

We love you so much Avery girl! We can't imagine life without you!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Sweet Potatoes!

When I started solids back up, I decided that sweet potatoes were definitely going to be her first vegetable to try. I am a HUGE fan of sweet potatoes. I could eat one for every meal. So, of course, I thought that Avery would share my passion for them too! I do not plan on making very much of my own baby food, but I thought that this would be a perfect one to make. Bake a few for the baby food and one for me at the same time. Avery had different plans...

So ready to try them!

First bite- not so sure

...and we're done!

She was not loving them at all. She made a gagging face and literally shuddered when she ate them. She seemed so disgusted by them. I also had a bowl of oatmeal ready so I tried to trick her by feeding her a couple bites of oatmeal and sneaking some sweet potatoes in there. She was on to me and eventually would barely open her mouth so that she could taste just the tip of the spoon to see which food it was. What a tricky little girl!

So, of course, I was devastated but decided to keep at it! She decided on the second day that she liked them. I'm not sure if she had to get used to the texture or the flavor but it was a success!

Day 2- She loves them!

Avery, just wait until you can put butter or brown sugar or marshmallows on top of them! They are so good!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Thanksgiving

We had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Last year, I was just barely pregnant and still so scared that something might happen. It had been somewhat of a rollercoaster of a year emotionally, and I felt overwhelmingly thankful to just be pregnant again. This year, words cannot describe how I feel. Avery has made such a huge impact on our lives, and we feel so unbelievably blessed to be her parents. She has already taught us so much and certainly has put things into perspective for us. I can't wait to see the changes that will happen by next Thanksgiving! I am also so thankful for a loving, wonderful husband that keeps me laughing and great, supportive friends and family to go through life with!

This year we started the day off watching the parade and cooking in the kitchen. I have great memories of watching the parade on Thanksgiving morning, and I want Avery to have memories like this too (although she doesn't really watch tv yet!). Around lunchtime, we headed to Bill's Grandma's house for lunch.

After lunch, we went over to my parents for an early dinner.

Samantha was fascinated with Avery's bow, and Avery was just fascinated with Samantha in general!

Avery sat at the table too and ate her giraffe instead of turkey

Getting sleepy!

Can't wait for Christmas!!!

Monday, November 29, 2010

5 months

Happy 5 months to me!

Avery turned five months old about a week ago. She is getting more and more personality every day! Here's what we've been up to...

Eating- We're back! We started solids back up last week. She is eating oatmeal and loving every minute of it. I almost feel bad that I stopped because she really seems to like eating from a spoon (or just eating in general!). As I was feeding her this morning, she kept opening her mouth while I was still getting the cereal on the spoon. She was ready for more! Now that she is getting more solids, she sometimes only eats 5 times a day instead of her usual 6.

Sleeping- We are finally back to normal in this department. Hallelujah! Avery has been doing so well. She goes to sleep around 8, wakes up around 4:30-5:30 to eat, then sleeps until around 8. She is STILL being swaddled. I just can't make myself wean her from it yet. I can't even think about going back to no sleep again. She is on the brink of rolling in her swaddle so I'm sure that I will be breaking her of this habit soon. It makes me nervous just thinking about it!

Firsts-

-Avery started doing some rolling this month. She has rolled several times from her belly to her back and is so close to going from her back to her belly. Her arm just seems to be in the way. She's been moving around so much more than she used to.

-She is also much closer to sitting on her own. I have to force her to sit down because she will lock out her legs to stand. She would so much rather be standing than sitting. Hopefully she will figure out that she can do a lot more from the sitting position!

-Sitting at the dinner table. This is a huge one for us! We can finally eat together as a family now that she has her own chair to sit at. It is so nice not having to entertain her while we hurry and eat.

-Making all sorts of noises- She has started making some crazy high pitched squealing sounds. At first I thought that she might be mad but nope. She's just talking! She also makes some noise that sounds like she has a lisp. She will stick her tongue out a little bit and try to make a noise.

Favorites-

-We have realized that she loves being naked! We have stripped her down before bath time and let her play a little bit. If she is fussy, she will instantly turn into a different child. It is really precious to watch her.

-Shopping in the jogging stroller- I used to take her shopping in her carseat but she hates this now. She wants to constantly be looking around.

-Playing peek-a-boo

-Looking at herself in the mirror

-Shelby and Grace- she is on the lookout for them and is completely focused on them if they are in sight

-Being outside- she still loves this even if it is cold outside.

Watching dad plant some flowers

Dislikes-

-She has started having some stranger anxiety. We have noticed that she gets really shy around new people or even people that she knows but isn't around all the time. She refuses to smile until she gets comfortable. The other day, Avery was meeting some family members that she hadn't met before and apparently had too many people looking at her. She burst into tears. She warmed up after a little while but she kept making sure Mom and Dad were nearby.

-Teething

-Clogged tear ducts- Her left eye remained clogged but we have good news in this department! It got really bad about two weeks ago but then finally cleared up. Thank goodness! She was getting really sick of having me wipe her eye multiple times a day.

Check out her left eye. This was taken right before it got better.

Some other pictures from this month...

Avery loves hanging out with her friends. Luke wanted to get really close to Avery so she decided to play with his hair.

Then he tried to move away but she didn't want to let him go!

I love my girl in pajamas!

Being silly

Trying to look sporty!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Solids

After Avery's 4 month checkup, our pediatrician told us that it was okay to start solids. Most people that I had talked to began at 4 months, but I had done some research and read that it is recommended to wait until babies are 6 months old. I had planned to hold off for a little while but we were still having some very rough nights. I was willing to try anything at that point so we decided to give it a go.We began with rice cereal the Saturday morning before Halloween. She actually did a lot better than I thought that she would. She was a little confused at first but eventually got the hang of it.

First bite

What is this stuff???

Grace (in her Halloween jammies) was making sure nothing fell to the ground

After a few days, we started giving her the cereal for dinner. She was not sleeping any better. I was actually having a harder time getting her to fall asleep which never has been the problem. She seemed to be wiggling around a lot and having a harder time relaxing. I think the cereal just made it a little more difficult to poo so she was having to get used to that. Well, after a few days of that, I decided to stop for a little while. I was pumping so much for the cereal, and I figured we could wait a few more weeks.

Avery has been sleeping so much better lately so I haven't started it back up. We'll probably begin again with oatmeal soon.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween 2010

Happy Halloween!

Avery's first Halloween was a lot of fun. We started off with our visit to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago. Then last Friday, we met up with some friends for Faithbridge's Fall Festival. Bill and I have volunteered at the frog toss station the past 2 years so this year it was fun to see all that they had going on. There are so many activities for kids of all ages, and it seems to be a lot bigger than it has been in the past.

Since Avery is still a little too young to go trick or treating, we were able to see her dressed up that night. She was a cute little strawberry!

Once we got there, we went to drop off the strollers and then check out the stations. There was a bubble room where the kids can check out lots of bubbles. The babies were mesmorized by them!

Next, we went to some other stations...