Avery: 7 Months

Avery turned 7 months old on Tuesday March 20th!  I took these pictures on Sunday and am just posting them now.  We had a crazy weekend (that post will be forth-coming), so it’s taking some time for me to get back in the swing of things.

At her 4 month check up she weighed 13.1 pounds and was 24 inches tall.  She had her 6 month check-up in February where she weighed 15 pounds 10 ounces, and was 26 inches tall.  She is in the 50th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference.  She won’t have her next well-check-up until she’s 9 months old, so I’m guessing that her current weight is between 16 and 17 pounds.

Clothing: Avery is in 6-9 month clothing across the board—onesies, pajamas, shorts, dresses, pants.  We’ve had quite the gauntlet of weather this past month, so she’s been able to wear long sleeve onesies and pants, and sleeveless dresses, and also baby shorts!  The sleeves on long-sleeve onesies and pajamas are too long, but everything else fits well.  

Diapers: She's still very comfortably in size 2.    

Sleeping:  She’s doing pretty well in the overnight sleep department, and lacking in her naptimes.  She’ll go about 6 hours between her last feeding before bed, and when she wakes to be fed.  Sometimes I actually go in and wake her to feed since I’d be approaching (or past) the point of being uncomfortable.  Usually, I’ll feed her anywhere between 5:00 and 6:00pm, then she’ll need just a top-off somewhere between 7:30-8:30, at which point she’ll finally go to sleep after much crying and talking herself to sleep.  I’ll wake up (or she’ll wake up) around 2:00am for her next feed.  Last night I tried feeding her at 10:30 in the hopes that she’d make it to 4:30 or 5:00, but she woke at 2:00 anyhow.  Tonight I think I’ll just try to pump at 10:30 or 11:00.  I sneak in her room around 5:00-5:30 each morning to feed her before I start work.  She’ll usually (99% of the time) fall right back to sleep and sleep until 7:00-7:45 (it’s been on the 7:45 end of that spectrum recently!).

Feeding: She LOVES veggies (yellow/orange variety is preferred) and hates fruit.  For the daughter of a mom & dad who both have a sweet tooth, this is odd to us! :)  But, we’ve absolutely noticed that she much prefers veggies over fruits.  She’ll eat a whole container of veggies but might only get to the halfway point on a container of fruit.  We’ll be trying out the baby food version of meat in the form of “chicken and vegetables” sometime this week.  In her bottles, she’ll take 4-5ounces if she’s not eating some type of food at the same feeding.  If she’s eating food (lunchtime or dinnertime), she’ll take about 2-3 ounces in a bottle.  This is what we’re noticing when she’s at my mother-in-law’s house.  I don’t know how much she consumes at home because she won’t accept a bottle from me, so I still just nurse her.

Tummy Time:  She’s doing well in this department and is consistently working on learning to crawl.  She can definitely get from point A to point B.  Usually by a form of modified crawling and rolling.  She’s not too great at sitting up unattended, so we practice this a lot.  Most of the time, I believe, she’d prefer to be held, so she just contorts herself until she falls into me and flips herself over to where she’s holding onto me at which point I pick her up—so she wins, and she knows it.   

Habit:  She has already reached the point where she will seek out a toy or fuzz that she’s not supposed to have and will tummy-scoot/modified-crawl/roll to get to the object.  She gave us a scare on Tuesday evening when we thought she just spit-up on the floor, and as I went to pick her up, she projectile vomited everywhere, and out popped a wad of fuzz.  I didn’t know that she was already at the “scrutinizing stage” where her mission is to get to an object and put it in her mouth.  I knew the day was coming; I just didn’t know it had arrived.  Needless to say, she’s watched like a hawk now, and the boys have had another talking-to about how it’s game-time now and toys have to be picked up off the floor.  The last thing we need is for her to get ahold of a LEGO man head or other toy parts.   


Oh, Avery, you bring such joy to everyone around you!  We love you so!

Until Next Time, 

Much love, Reba

But wait, don't go!

My consistency with blog posting is stressing me out.  I absolutely 100% intend to post more regularly.  And the desire is there-- but the time is not.

Recently, they've instituted a change at work that adds about 10-15 steps to our processes.  This has drastically reduced the amount of "free time" I have while at work.

Also, the Spring 2 term for my schooling started last week on Monday and I'm such a glutton for punishment, that I signed up for 3 classes (whyyyy do I do this to myself?!?).  I'm treading water and I'm making it work, but I had to do a lot of work ahead of time in order to enjoy myself while at the beach since there's no wifi there and I have no laptop.

That being said, I am bringing paper and pen with me-- I can't leave home without them.  It's in my blood.  I hope to handwrite posts that I can type up later.

And yes, Avery turned 7 months old on Tuesday and I will have a blog post up for that soon.  Part of the delay is the fact that I'll dress her in a cute outfit, and she'll have a blowout that very day, and I won't get to take pictures of her in her cute outfit because she'll have her "back up" outfit on. :)  So, I'll be taking pictures of her soon and I'll get that 7-month update post up.

So don't leave!  I promise I'm still here!  I promise I still faithfully read blogs and am hoping for a sliver of free time to come back my way so I can write more!  Writing is such a release to me, so I cannot be absent from it for long.  But I am in the practice of doling out big doses of grace, and I'm accepting the fact that I cannot be superwoman and do it all all the time.  So please don't go.  Check back here again and I'll be working on new posts to have ready.

And here's a photo dump.

Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba

Shutterfly Books

Thoughts on making some Shutterfly Books recently:

• It was on my Christmas list to have time to do so
• I had coupons that were about to expire and I’ve let too many of those slip away in the past
• I only had two baby books for Michael, and none for Noah, and none to finish out Michael’s first year
• Created 2 for Noah's first year, and one more to finish out Michael's first year
• I missed out on creating books in 2014-2016 because I knew I'd come across pictures leading up to Michael's diagnosis.  Looking at pictures was painful—too close to Michael's diagnosis.  Too weighty for me to think that I missed out on life because I was so scared
• Even looking at the books now makes me wonder if I realized how much a treasure the time was and did I fully enjoy my children
• “babies don’t keep”
• Makes me want to fully envelope myself in Avery’s baby stages so that I can truly feel like I cherished them and relished in the moments
• Once all 3 kids have a set of books chronicling their first year, I’ll make combined books and I’ll just print extra copies so each kid can have one  (UPDATE:  I actually have now successfully made a "family book" for 2014-2015)
• I gave myself grace and accepted the good dose of reality that I don’t have as much time as I did when Michael was my only baby, so I didn’t add text boxes and cute sayings to the most recent books and that’s okay
• Making these books for us to look at is such a treasure.  Michael LOVES looking at his books.  Noah isn't really into looking at his yet, but I know he will want to look one day. 
• Next on the list:  making a family book for 2015-2016, and then chronicling Avery's first year.  

Until Next Time, 

Much love, Reba

Beach Trip

It should go without saying that we didn’t attempt a beach trip in the summer of 2017 since Avery was due at the end of August.  In the previous summer, we managed to go twice—Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend—and we ate.it.up.  We loved it.  The boys loved it.  We took both sets of my in-laws (one on Memorial Day, one on Labor Day).  (Side note for those who might be new:  this beach cottage sits in the panhandle of Florida in the most delightful beach town.  The cottage is owned by my Nana [her family owned it as a girl] and we’ve been vacationing there forever.  Aaron & I had our honeymoon there, and have wanted to go back and visit and finally made it work in 2012 and then in 2016.  It’s our goal to go multiple times a summer from here on out.  But, the reason why we brought my in-laws each time and not my parents is because my parents have been before since it was our family vacation spot). 

So it’s been nearly a year and a half since we were able to go to the beach and I’ve been aching to get back down there.  We knew we were going to go over Memorial Day weekend this year, and hopefully Labor Day, and hopefully on another weekend somewhere in between.  Heck, we’d live down there in the summer if we could make it work and Noah & Aaron somehow developed mosquito immunity.  

On a whim, I looked at Michael’s spring break schedule and decided to ask Aaron if he was craving a trip to the beach as much as I was.  We also thought we’d offer to “open up” the cottage for the year—meaning get it prepared for use throughout the rest of spring and summer by de-winterizing it.  My grandparents are so gracious and are actually going to meet us there in late March to help us see what goes into opening it up.  This means we get hands on training, and get in a visit with them too! 

We told the boys where we’re going and they’re pumped!  Michael is going to add to his shell collection (currently, he has a grand total of zero shells, so any shell will be a great addition). :) Noah is going to sit and watch the fans (he’s mesmerized by the huge fans in the cottage).  

We plan to eat lots of seafood (via restaurant and cooking some ourselves since Aaron found a great place to buy it!).  

We plan to build sand castles (the water might be too cold to swim in since it’ll be March).  

We plan to take walks (coated with bug spray since that’s just how we have to do things).  

We plan to play board games (the cottage is fully stocked!).  

We plan to relax (rocking chairs overlooking the ocean anyone?).  

We plan to nap (fingers crossed).  We plan to just have a really great family time.

We’ll bake muffins for breakfast one day.  

We’ll go to my favorite grocery store in the whole world.  

We’ll attempt to play mini golf one early afternoon.  

We’ll go to a nearby beach town and walk along the pier.  I’m just so gosh darn excited about going to the beach cottage!

Until next time,

Much love, Reba

Costco Haul

Both Aaron and I spent our teenage years on the western side of America—Aaron being born & raised in the state of Washington, and me living in Hawaii for ages 12-17.  We were both very familiar with Costco and the Kirkland Signature brand—it actually began in Washington state.

Shortly after my family moved to Alabama, a Costco warehouse opened up about 30 miles away from our home.  Aaron and I got Costco memberships in 2012 a couple months before Michael was born.  

Aaron now happens to work at a facility within 3 miles of the store.  So, about once a month he’ll swing into Costco to grab a few things on his way home.  We’ve definitely found that it’s to our benefit to get some staples at Costco even if they’re in the bulk size. 

Here’s some of our favorite things to get from Costco:

-JIF Peanut Butter.   I’m a choosy mom.  I know prices vary across the nation, but we get this at Costco and it comes in a Twin pack and the PB jars are  48oz. each  That’s 3 lbs EACH.  That’s HUGE!  A singular smaller  24 oz jar at the regular grocery store is $7.99.  We pay $9.99 for this twin pack.  This is pretty much always on our list.  We eat some peanut butter in this house.  And when I say “we” I pretty much mean me. 

-Butter sticks.  I do a fair amount of baking, and we use a reasonable amount of butter in our cooking.  I like to get butter at Costco (the Kirkland signature brand).  It comes in a 4-pack of four 1/2c sticks each.  I put one box in the fridge and put the rest in the freezer.  I like not having to worry if I have butter.  Once I’m down to my last pack in the freezer, it goes back on the list.  We can usually go 2-3 trips between having to buy butter.

-Ziploc bags.  I particularly like buying the box of sandwich bags (read: I have a kid in school and I pack his lunch).  And I like having the box of gallon size bags too—they’re just good for all kinds of uses around the kitchen.  Food storage, thawing out meat, storing the bacon package after it’s been opened, sealing off stinky trash (like shrimp peels), containing all the medicines that we pack whenever we go on a trip (Benadryl, Tylenol, motrin, Zyrtec, etc).  We’ve bought the variety pack of Ziploc when they didn’t have the full box of sandwich bags available.  But it’s hard for me to find enough uses for the quart size bags and snack bags.  I definitely prefer to have the full box of sandwich bags, and a box of gallon bags.

-Crystal Light lemonade mix.  We prefer using carb-free drink mixes at our house.  Now, taste-wise, I prefer the Publix brand for lemonade mix.  But we prefer the convenience of the Crystal Light availability at Costco.  Aaron found a bag of the mix, which includes about 20 little packs which each make a 2-qt pitcher of lemonade.  We make this all the time and it’s nice to know we have lemonade mix for whenever Noah (he’s our biggest lemonade drinker) asks us to make more when the current pitcher runs out. 

-Dog food.  When you have two medium size dogs, dog food disappears like no other!  It seemed we were constantly buying dog food at the grocery store and that would hike up our bill so high!  So, we decided to search for our preferred branch (IAMs) at Costco.  They didn’t have it.  So we chose to try the Kirkland signature brand.  Our dogs did fine (sometimes dogs struggle with changing brands—tummy issues).  It’s so convenient now to buy a huge bulk bag once a month.  Usually our Costco trips are contingent on when the dogs need food.  I keep a running list of things we need from Costco, and whenever Aaron says he’s swinging by Costco after work, I just text my list to him.

-Meat.  I really really really like to buy meat at Costco.  We like to get the bags of frozen chicken thighs or tenders (when they don’t have thighs in stock).  We also like to buy their portioned out ground beef burgers (not the frozen ones, but the ones in the fridge area).  We then put 2 or so patties in parchment paper, wrap them up, and freeze them so it’s like a pound of ground beef for each wrapped portion.  We get about 4 packs of portioned meat when we buy it this way and it’s so much cheaper than getting it from the store.

-Ground coffee.  I think we usually buy this about once a year, to a year and a half.  A big canister that I use re-usable k-cups with lasts a really long time.  Also, it’s nice to have ground coffee on hand for when we have guests and make a pot of coffee. 

-Chocolate chips.  This is also something I hate buying from the regular grocery store due to the marked-up prices and small bags.  We buy the Nestle humongous bag and I pop it in the freezer.  We buy this about once every 4 or 5 trips—depends on how much baking I do. 

-Shelf stable chocolate milk.  This is a necessity in this house to have chocolate milk on hand at all times for potential blood-sugar lows for Michael.  We also send this to school for the nurses to have as part of Michael’s low blood sugar supply boxes.  We take this on trips, and always keep some in the consoles of our vehicles, and the no-need to refrigerate til open is so convenient. 

-Applesauce.  When Costco stocks the unsweetened Mott’s applesauce packs, we get them.  Twenty-four individual servings in a box, and we use them in lunches for Michael, as well as Noah’s breakfasts (sometimes he just wants applesauce). 

-diapers.  We started buying diapers at Costco when Michael was a baby.  We also bought Pull-ups from Costco.  We have started buying diapers again since Avery’s birth. 

-wipes.  We also buy baby wipes at Costco.  We don’t want to know what it’s like to run out of wipes, so this is our failsafe.  Also, it’s cheaper.  We can buy wipes about 2 to 3 times a year and be set.

-Facial wipes.  I liked to get either the Kirkland Signature Daily Facial Wipes (smells so good!) or the Neutrogena Make-Up Removing Facial Wipes from Costco. 

-Bar soap.  Costco carries our preferred Dove brand bar soap and it’s nice again to have the convenience of reaching under the bathroom cabinet for a bar of soap and knowing we have a supply.  We buy this about once to twice a year.  Each pack comes with like 16 bars of soap.

-BreatheRight strips for Aaron.  It’s always nice to have these on hand too rather than running out and having to  buy them at the grocery store.

-Paper plates.  It’s super convenient to have a supply of paper plates on hand for those nights when we don’t want to have a dinner mess, or we have a casual big-family dinner, etc.  We keep these in our laundry room on a shelf, but they do take up a lot of space.

-Napkins. Once I bought napkins like on two back-to-back Costco trips.  That was probably two years ago or more.  After I finally finish using the napkins I’m going to attempt using cloth napkins at home. 

-Parchment paper. Comes in a two pack and lasts us about 6 months.

-Paper Towels.  Life savers.  We keep these on a shelf in our garage.  Very nice to have on hand, and so convenient for times when the bus driver stops in front of my house and asks if he can have a roll since a kid just vomited on the bus.  Yes, here, take it.  I don’t need it back.  I have plenty.

-Toilet paper.  Again, this takes up a huge amount of space, but it doesn’t have to.  I could undo the packs of 6-rolls (4 packs of 6-rolls per Charmin container) and distribute them among both bathrooms. 

-Foil. Comes in a two pack.  Really helpful around the holidays when I don’t have to think if I have enough foil to cover turkeys, etc.

That’s pretty much our main haul.  Occasionally, we’ll come across good seasonal deals like cocoa packets at Christmas time, and that’s always fun.  We got 60 packs of cocoa mix for $5.00 in December.  I also bought Oreos here (10 sleeves a pack) in my early post-partum days with Noah and Avery.  We’ve also bought spaghetti sauce, spices, granola bars, etc. from Costco.

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba