December

I can't believe it's been 2 months since my last post. Time is flying. The holidays are right around the corner and I am SO ready for our annual Keystone trip in January. I'm sure the 2 day car trip with a toddler will be an experience, but I'm confident that we will have a great time! Papa bought Avery her first ski jacket, so of course we had to try it on her:



Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!



I'll try to update more often (I think I say that every time!)...

Love to all,
The Pontious Family

My Little Pumpkin

Well... Avery is now 15 months. We are having a great time with her. She is expanding her vocabulary and now clearly says, "HI!", "Uh Oh", "Buu" - which translates to book, and "tihee" - kitty of course.

We had to install baby gates all over the house so that Ms. Independent is contained to the living room, kitchen, and dining room only.

Avery LOVES to be outside. She is always content to just hang out outside and walk around or play in her new castle. Since it is finally becoming fall in Texas, we took her to a local pumpkin patch this past weekend and managed to get a few cute pics.

Beautiful Girl

I just can't help but to share these amazing photos that Hunter took of Avery playing outside. She has been battling a little bit of a cold lately (as have I) but we are pushing through and enjoying the cooler weather that the beginning of fall is bringing. Hope everyone is doing well!

14 months

What a fun time we are having! I am already missing the tiny baby stages, but I love the little girl she is becoming.

She's down to just 2 or 3 bottles a day. She is still learning how to walk, she will walk when coaxed, but we haven't seen her just take off on her own yet. Avery loves to read books and she loves to play outside. I am going to try to buy her one of those little toddler playsets for the backyard soon.

Here's a video of her walking around the house with her Daddy.



Love to all!

Toddler?

Is it possible already? I still think she's a baby.

On August 3rd, Avery moved up to the toddler class at her daycare. I almost cried. She's even trying to walk now, she's taken one little baby step on her own. She hasn't done it again yet, but I have a feeling that walking is in our near future! Anytime someone walks into a room, Avery says, "HI!"

Avery is completely weaned from nursing now, which is a little sad to me actually. She takes about 3 bottles a day (half stage 2 formula, half milk) and we are working on transitioning over to the sippy cup. I'm not in a huge hurry though because she's so small. The pediatrician told me its okay to wait till 13-14 months to wean her off formula since her weight is still in the 5 percentile! At her 1 year check up, she weighed 17 lbs 10 oz. What a tiny peanut. The Dr. is happy with her growth though, she's been on the 5 % line since she was a few weeks old, so she is growing steady! She is tall though, 70th percentile.

Here are the newest pics of her playing and turning into a toddler. . . crazy!

1 Year Old

Hard to believe its been a year already. It's been the best year of my life, no doubt about it.

She's not walking yet, but can scoot around pretty fast. She gets carpet burns on her leg from doing a one leg crawl, one leg scoot thing. .. funny to watch! Avery LOVES swimming, especially with her Daddy. That has become their special Daddy/daughter time in the evenings (Mommy gets lots of cleaning done during this time!). She loves to eat too, although you wouldn't know it from her tiny frame.

She is mostly weaned from breast feeding, I only nurse her before bed at night. We'll hang on to that last nursing session for a while yet. I'm pretty excited that we've made it this far! She had her first bottle of formula at 10 months old. I have starting giving her bottles of formula with regular milk mixed in to try to switch her off formula completely!

Can't believe soon she will be bottle free, walking, talking, and who knows what else!

Hunter and I both feel that Avery is getting cuter every day. She also has the best personality I've ever seen in a one year old. I am just completely and totally in love with this little girl. Just look how far we've come!











My heart melts looking at these pictures! I'm just hoping I don't blink and miss anything.

Oh yeah. . .one year later, I think it's safe to say the blue eyes are staying (click for a closer look):



Love,
Andrea

Is it 5 o'clock yet?

It's one of life's greatest quandaries! I complain endlessly about how slow time goes while working, yet I blink and my first baby is almost 1 already!! I need to make up my mind. Do I want time to move slowly, or do I want the days to fly by? I know the answer, I want time to move slowly, I need to stop complaining, period!

I'm lucky to have a job, especially one that pays decent and where I get to work with great co-workers every day. I'm lucky that I get to live a lifestyle I could have never dreamed of at my young age. Avery is beautiful, happy, healthy, and the greatest gift I could ever have been given. Hunter and I are deeply in love and appreciate each other.

Seriously. . .WHAT do I have to complain about? Sometimes I have to shake myself out of it . . . and remember to stop and smell the roses.

I think all this stupid Jon and Kate crap has made me realize how important it is to be grateful, express how you feel, and enjoy reality . . . and to NEVER be on a "reality" show. (hehe)

Enjoy your day! Every minute of it.

The newly positive (we'll see how long it lasts!),
Andrea

11 Months

Holy moly! Where does the time go? I can't believe our baby is almost a year old. Here are a few pics of Ms Avery, she has finally learned how to scoot all over the place. Still no true crawling, but she is a master scooter. She is trying to pull herself up onto furniture too. I'm sure I'll blink and she'll be running! Time to baby proof the house.

We have counters!

We finally have counters! They were installed yesterday and look awesome. All we need now is the back splash. . .



Speaking of . . . here is a sample of the back splash we will have installed -



We will still eventually do under cabinet lights and recessed ceiling lights . . .but once the back-splash is done, I consider the kitchen mostly complete!


We also have a 99% completed hall bath, its the closest room to completion!



Ahh progress!!

New House Pics

Ok, sorry it has taken me so long, but we have been crazy trying to get moved into the new house. Its still a work in progress, but we are 90% done. Here are pics of the almost completed new kitchen. Counters will be installed in a few weeks, then the back-splash after that.





Here are a few more of the rest of the house (don't have very many of these):




It's coming along. Hopefully I'll be able to post the completed "after" pictures soon! We are in and already enjoying the new space though. Hope you can all come see it for a house warming party. . .someday *sigh*.

Beach Video

Be sure to check the pics below. . .but here's a video for added fun!

9 Months

It's been a long time since I've updated! Avery is now 9 months and becoming very expressive. She is very attached to Mommy, and I'm totally okay with that! She loves Daddy too, don't get me wrong!

We just got back from a trip to Saint Petersburg, Florida. We were there over Easter visiting my Nanny. It was a wonderful trip and we got some great pics!







In big Pontious news. . .we are about to close on a new house! We are moving a few blocks from our current house to the home directly behind Hunter's parents. The house needs a lot of work, but it is much bigger than ours and the price was right! Not to mention the interest rate! We are very excited and hope to see everyone at a house warming party after all the renovations!

Pictures of the new house will come soon!

Hope everyone had a happy Easter.