Nephew Charlie

We now have a nephew! Charlie Clayton Unruh was born Monday, May 24th at 8:56 p.m. He was 6 lb, 20 inches long, and a spitting image of his father. Everyone is doing great, and I just heard from Michael that they were dismissed from the hospital this morning and Charlie is already at home sleeping in his crib. I did not get many pictures of him, but here's one of my favorites of Baby Charlie with Daddy Michael.

In other news, the painting has begun. Well, the priming has begun. There was a lot of red trim on our house prior to this last weekend, but thanks to Chris, Dad, and Michael, the front, sides, and partially the back of the house are now redless. Not sure if that's a word, but I'm using it regardless. Yes, those three really knocked it out on Saturday, and Chris finished up on Sunday before the chance of rain. I tried to help whenever possible, but it sure is hard to get something done when there's a little nine month old needing plenty of attention. Hopefully this weekend we'll be able to get in some more painting and steadily work toward being finished!

On the Move!

Well, it's official. We now have a crawler. Avery did this for the first time this past weekend, but has now mastered the movement and is crawling all over her room, across the hallway, and into our bedroom. She is very easily enticed with anything that belongs to the dogs, such as half-eaten bones and stuffed animal remains. Bo and Bentley aren't too sure what to think about this latest milestone in Avery's development, but both are trying to remain calm, and when in doubt, they either hide under the bed (Bentley) or run to the computer room (Bo). Here she is, on the go in her room!

In other news this week, Avery had her 9 month wellness check. Although she's now closer to 10 months. Hmmm. Regardless, she had a wonderful appointment. She now weighs 24 lb 9 oz (that includes clothes, jacket and shoes) and is 29 3/4 inches tall. This puts her at the 95th percentile for weight and off the charts for height (which means she's above the 97th percentile). Dr. Thomas thinks she looks great and is perfectly proportional for weight and height. So it would appear that we will have a basketball or volleyball player in our family sometime down the road.

Here she is after she pulled herself up in her crib. We moved the mattress to the lowest position but it didn't seem to faze her one bit!

Just one more day until the weekend. Dad's planning on coming up on Saturday to spend some time with us and mostly Avery. Hopefully the weather will accommodate his trip and we will see some sunshine instead of rain, which we've been seeing all week. We don't know anyone who's graduating this weekend, so we will be able to just spend some time at home again!

All School's Day Weekend

A very busy weekend! We have had plenty to do, lots of people to see, and the best part is, Chris is off work tomorrow too, so our weekend is not over yet!

Friday was Avery's first All School's Day parade. We were worried when the morning started that we were going to have a rough day, but surprisingly, Avery loved the parade. We found a nice, quiet spot to stand and watch. No one around us was cussing, smoking, drunk, or being rowdy. We hit the jackpot locationwise. Then we realized the reason why is because we were behind the MCDS group, so everyone was so well-behaved and genuinely excited about seeing people in the parade. I think we are going to try to remember that spot for next year. Here's some pics of the parade:

After the parade, we went over to Ron and Pam's for lunch where Avery fell asleep. Chris and I went over to our friends Seth and Laurie's house for the afternoon and had a great time catching up with friends we don't get to see very often. After Avery woke up from her nap, Ron and Pam walked her over and I got this adorable pic of Avery with Seth.

Saturday was a pretty lazy day, and today I went to Jody's baby shower. Only a matter of days before Avery has her very first cousin!

Mother's Day Weekend

I can't believe it's already Wednesday! Starting tomorrow, Chris is off work for 5 days (that includes the weekend) and we can't wait for him to be home! This Friday is All School's Day, so Avery will get to experience the parade for the first time. Hopefully Mike the Clown will keep his distance...

This past weekend was another great one. Saturday morning I was able to go to my friend Shayna's baby shower. She's due in about a month and I hadn't seen her since right after Avery was born. I got to see a lot of old friends and have some much needed "adult" time and conversation.

Sunday was my first Mother's Day with Avery here! She and Chris made me a very sweet card and also were way too generous with a gift certificate to Stone Creek Nursery. Ah, how well they know me. They could probably see the wheels turning in my head as I already imagined what I would spend it on. We spent some time with Mom in the afternoon, and then had a very relaxing rest of the day at home. Mommy even got to watch her show while Daddy gave Avery a bath. A great end to a great day.


On another high note, Avery now has 3 teeth, possibly 4. She got her left upper tooth in, and the right one is just right there. I haven't really looked today, so hopefully it has come completely through. She's getting real close to crawling also. She is on all fours quite a bit, but just hasn't made a move forward yet. Instead she falls onto her belly, rolls over, and then looks at us, like why aren't you picking me up? I want that toy over there. She's pretty insistent sometimes, and very convincing. We just need a little more willpower. But how can we resist those big blue eyes?

Beautiful Monday

Here we go, another week to get through before Chris gets to be home with us for a couple of days. But I'm not going to complain (yet)! The day is starting off great-Avery slept for 10 straight hours last night. She woke up right at 7, which was great for me. I can't remember the last time I've been able to lay in our bed for 8 or 9 straight hours and wake up there in the morning when Chris's alarm goes off. Crazy the things one takes for granted.

The weather's beautiful again today; yesterday was so pretty. We were able to go for a walk and spend some time just hanging out outside. Dad came up from Wichita, and Mom joined us for lunch. Saturday night we went over and had dinner with Ron and Pam. It was a nice, relaxing weekend.

We don't have much planned for this week. The weather is supposed to be getting warmer, so we'll finally not have an excuse for breaking out the paintbrushes. And Avery will be 9 months tomorrow! She's still working on trying to crawl. Everyday she seems to get a little closer, but still can't figure out how to get that other knee under her. We really think she wants to skip crawling altogether and go straight to walking. Mommy's not really ready for either to happen. I like being able to leave her in her room for a minute and come back and she's not too far from where I left her. Much easier to keep track of. It won't be too long though and the time will come.

(Picture is Avery at around 7 months in her duck robe. She loves that thing!)

Almost 9 Months!

In just a matter of days, Avery will already be 9 months old! I can't believe how quickly the last few months have flown by. She's still working on her top teeth, it looks like she's getting in several at once. Poor baby.

This is a picture of Avery when she was around 4 months old. She was just learning how to roll from her tummy to her back and her hair was pretty sparse. Now she has a pretty full head of hair, but we still have no idea what color it is. Indoors she's a blond, but take her outside and we have a flaming redhead! Her eyes are still almost as blue as the day she was born. One more thing for Chris to take credit for...

Our weekend is looking pretty nice, other than the weather. Rain again. Dad's coming up for lunch on Sunday and to spend some time with his grandbaby. Other than that, we're hoping to take it easy and wait patiently for some nice weather to be able to start painting the house. Yes, we have yet to begin that project. One of these days...

Emma Creek Classic

Saturday was the annual Emma Creek Classic Women's 5K Walk/Run in Hesston. Mom, Avery, and I went and though a 5K sounds impressive, we definitely were toward the back of the pack, walking with Rhonda, Meg, and Tytan. We all finished in under an hour, which I figure is not too bad considering we had a couple of strollers loaded up with everything under the sun.

Avery seemed to enjoy the morning. She sat comfortably in her stroller for the 3.1 miles and threw her socks and a couple of rattles out the side, which made life a little more difficult for Mommy, trying to catch everything before someone else trampled over it. Mom and I don't have the whole throwing items in the basket underneath the stroller while it's moving at a fast rate down quite yet. We'll keep practicing. I tried to enjoy this year as much as possible because I know next year Avery will not be content to ride in the stroller for an hour. She'll want to be out walking like a big girl, so I've got to be prepared for that. The car ride back to McPherson was a little tough. Someone was ready to eat and have a nap, plus Avery was kind of cranky too! All in all, a pretty good morning for a 8 (almost 9!) month old to be out strolling in a strange town!