The Zoo

I love zoos. I have been living her in Phoenix for almost 6 years and I had never been to the zoo until today. I thought that it would be fun to take Avery and show her all of the animals. This was Avert at the beginning of the expedition:

She seems happy and excited enough. We made it in (thanks Holly and your free pass!) and started at the Savanna. Giraffes are my favorite and I was excited to show them to Avery, especially since they can come so close to you.

Around the corner were the flamingos. They were bright, they were pretty, and they were asleep. I think of most animals as being asleep when it comes to the zoo. I was not contradicted on this trip.

Avery had to eat during the monkey tour so she missed out on the little fuzzy friends. Once she had eaten she does what she usually does on our fun outings:

I stayed to look at the other animals and came across this sign:

I think that I need one of those to stick on Avery's bedroom door! It could read:

Avery May Jackson

homo sapien

Notice that the baby is often sleeping

Avery sleeps during all exciting events that are meant for her physical and social development and general well-being.

Diet: Mother's milk.

What a nice day.

Flipping Out

WATCH!!

I was so worried that this was never going to happen! After hearing that Maggie was flipping over at 6 weeks I was beginning to despair that Avery was NEVER going to flip over. I maintain that it is because she is just content. She doesn't really feel the need to reach over and grab things out of reach or want to move from her current position. She is just happy staring at what is in front of her so she never had a reason to flip over. But on Sunday night she changed her mind and decided that she is too big for tummy time. I set her down to play and went to make dinner- two minutes later Joe says: "I think she flipped over." Sure enough she was laying on her back staring straight up like she was lost. I took a picture to document the moment, but I could not get her on film for a couple more days. But here she is, rolling right over when she is set on her belly. Now I worry that she'll never have tummy-time again.

First Flip!

New Friends

Avery has made some new friends this month. A little bit ago we went and met our new friend Hunter out in Queen Creek. His mom is my friend, Ruth. What cracks me up is that Avery is 3 1/2 months while Hunter is 3 1/2 weeks n this photo and they are almost the same size! Notice she has her dukes up again!


One of our other new friends is Susan! She used to work with Joe and she came down for lunch the other day. In the photo you can also see Avery's friend, Sienna. She belongs to our good friends the Meyers. She is a little big for Avery to be playing with just yet, but give us a month or two and we will catch up. In the mean time, Susan had plenty of fun practicing her grandma skills.


The other new friends we made are not exactly real, but Avery loves them. Especially the monkey. She has had this toy for 2 weeks and is just now paying attention to the other animals. The monkey has just been too absorbing. Silly. But we do love to make new friends.

Put Up Your Dukes!

Okay, short post. Avery does this new thing with her hands. It's like she is getting ready to box or something. She usually does it when you change her diaper, but sometimes she just sits like that when she is playing and staring at her friends. Even better is that every now and then she will do a quick jab and hit one of her toys or one of her parents. She did it to her own image in the mirror the other day. HILARIOUS!

3 Months!

Avery is 3 months old today! Where does the time go? It seems like she gets bigger and bigger every day and we just can't keep up with all of the new and cute things that she is doing. Some of them are less cute, but still an adventure. They may not seem like milestones to a lot of people, but to us it is all so exciting.

First of all she has stopped pooping 10 times a day. Hooray! We are now limited to just one or two explosions a day.

She has gotten so strong! Avery can even stand up. Okay, not on her own, but her legs are strong enough that when we hold her hands she will support her own weight for quite some time. She is strong for someone so little. She has even started to try and sit up on her own. When she is sitting on our laps relaxing and reclining, she will start to lift her head up and try to lift off of out supportive bodies. If we don't help her to sit up after a while she gets mad. She wants to be up and seeing things as much as she can. Joe thinks that she is just facinated by the show "Planet Earth." It is what we are usually watching when she does this.

She has noticed her hands. This just started on Saturday. She was being held by Grandma when she just stopped chewing on her hand to stare at it. She seemed almost confused. She didn't move for a couple of minutes while she just looked at it. She did it again this morning during our photo shoot so I got a picture of her new development. Isn't she so intense in this photo?

She drools now, too. Not so much drooling really as blowing bubbles. I took a picture of it but it doesn't show up too clearly. She does it a lot and she and her cousin Ethan would do it back and forth while we were visiting in Utah. Ethan thought it was so neat that Avery could blow bubbles like him. Joe thinks it is gross. He does not want a little lady that drools!

As was briefly mentioned, she chews on things. Really, everything. Her hand, my hand, clothes, blankets. Pretty much if it touches her mouth she will attempt to chew on it. It can be pretty hilarious.

She can play very independently now. Sometimes she will even cry until I put her down to have alone time with her play mat friends. It is a little sad when she would rather lay on the floor with stuffed animals than be held by her mom, but she likes time to herself sometimes. She is like her mom and her dad in that way.

She sleeps through the night! She actually started this in Utah. It is now normal for her to go to bed just before 9 and I won't see her again until around 6 the next day. I would be able to enjoy this so much more if I was not sick and getting up at all hours anyway to cough and blow my nose.

These are highlights from the month. If you want to see some other photos from December you can check out the slide show below. I did not repeat the Holiday photos; those can be found in a previous post.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Is Mom Right?

I mentioned in my post about Avery's blessing that my mother said it was like deja vu. She thinks that Avery looks just like I did when I was blessed. I know that it is not the best picture, but I found one of me that day and thought you could judge. Does Avery look like me?

Happy New Year

Our New Year's celebration was fairly uneventful. I am suffering from a pretty wicked cold and so I did not feel up to doing a whole lot. We kept it low-key and had a nice dinner with Joe's family and then went out for dessert. Have you ever had Chick-Fil-A's ice cream? It is delicious! Then we went home and were in bed my 10. I don't think that I have ever been much of a New Year celebrator, but when I am sick I am REALLY not interested in staying up just to watch the clock hit midnight. I was awoken at that time, however, by all of the guns being fired in my neighborhood. What a nice tradition; firing guns aimlessly in the air at night and letting the bullets land wherever they may in hopes that they don't happen to hit a person.

The next day was a typical New Year's Day. Family, food and football were all on the menu and not much else. The day was as it should be. We just hung out together at the in-laws and took naps when we could. That is my kind of holiday.

Christmas (Twice)

We actually celebrated Christmas twice this year. Since we were in Utah for the actual day, we had a celebration with Joe's family here in Phoenix before we left town. We had a lovely dinner (thanks Lisa), sang some songs (thanks Stacie), played a game (imaginiff), and then opened presents.


It was nice to get a family picture taken since I don't think we had taken one since last Christmas, and it was GREAT to get some winter clothes for Avery. Grandma Jackson provided most of the cute and WARM clothes that Avery wore while we were in Utah, so it was a much appreciated gift. I also got some much needed new knives. I love them! It is so nice not to have to hack away at the object you are trying to "cut." I must say that Grandma and Grandpa Jackson did great this year on knowing exactly what we needed.




In Utah we spent the day with Jenn's family. Joe and I didn't do a whole lot of gift exchanging this year, but it was so nice to be around family and share in the traditions that other family's have at the holidays. I love waking up to a lit tree with shiny presents and sharing in the excitement of all of the kids in the house when they finally get to come downstairs and see what they got this year.





Jenn's kids, (Kate, Megan, Soren, Emily, and Ethan) are great fun and all thought that getting to hold Avery was about the most fun they could have. Soren was surprisingly good with Avery. When he held her she would just stare at him like he was the coolest thing she had ever seen. Ethan was hilarious because he would ask to hold her and then after a few seconds he would say, "okay, you can have her back now." She was certainly the belle of the ball while we were there. She got held so much she actually would start to cry to be let down. I had to be sure to give her time on her own while we were there because there were so many people wanting to have a chance to snuggle our sweet baby. What fun!








For pictures of the whole trip, check out the slideshow below.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Temple Square to enjoy the lights. We were a little nervous that we weren't going to get a chance to see the display because there was another storm forecast for that night. Luckily the snow held off, we got it the next day, and the family had a chance to wander around the bright, happy lights in freezing temperatures. I love Christmas lights and I have not had a chance to see the ones here in Mesa, so I was extra happy at having the opportunity to see them in Utah. Avery would have loved them I am sure but, as is usual for her, she slept through the whole thing. Afterward, my dad took us out to eat and we had a chance to warm up and socialize a bit before heading back to our different destinations. But we were all to gather the next day for our Christmas Book/DVD exchange.

The Family Program

Last year for Christmas my family put together a little program. The program is just for us, but there are so many of us that we thought it would be fun when we got together to sing a bit, play some games, and just enjoy one another's company. It went so well that we did it again this year. For the first time ever my entire immediate family, their spouses, and their children were all gathered together. For those of you counting that is my parents (2), the original kids (8), spouses (7), and grandkids (10) for a total of 27 people. We gathered at Jenn's house, (again, thanks Jenn) had another fabulous dinner (ask Jenn for her onion soup recipe!) and then the show started.

Angela and Micah made a great movie with Jenn's kids that depicted the long wait for winter to come. I should see if Micah has put it on youtube yet. I could not believe how well it had been put together considering they were still filming just the day before the program.

Nathan sang weird Al's song "The Night Santa Went Crazy." It was HILARIOUS! I laughed till I cried. It is so rare that we get to hear Nate really bust out in song, but I still think he is the best singer in our family. I so wish I had it on film for you, but that may just have to wait.

Jon and Val's little number fell asleep before she could perform, but Kyra performed for us nearly every day that we were there so we let her sleep on. Not that we could have woken her if we wanted to.

It was Kristy's first real Sauter gathering and she and Dave did an awesome version of "Mr. Grinch". It's great that Dave could marry someone so musical.

Elizabeth and Scott had to come up with something very last minute since their original plan got left in Washington. In the end they shared a version of "The Night Before Christmas" that had been altered to fit our politically correct times. It was a hoot.

Ben and Melissa boycotted participation and brought along a puppy to make us all forget that they didn't have anything to contribute to the show. Sly of them! Lucky for them, Lola is so cute and distracting.

Jenn's family did the same thing they did last year, and it was just as fun this time. They have these great chimes that everyone can play and when you go in turn you can make the most merry Christmas songs ever!

The night ended with a live Nativity done by the grandkids. Kate, the oldest, organized the whole thing. She did the casting (Avery was Jesus), the costumes, and she narrated the whole thing. Another very memorable night.

A Real Snow Storm

On Monday the weather got crazy. It was snowy the day of the wedding, but on Monday it began to snow in earnest. I think it ended up falling for something like 12 hours. I stayed most of the day in-doors, but Joe played outside with the nieces and nephews, helped shovel the walk (several times), and took Avery out for her first snowman experience. She didn't stay out long, but she seemed to enjoy the snow falling in her face even if mom and dad didn't like the idea. It was also our first time to put her in her snowsuit. Believe it or not, the suit is actually the right length for her. It is just so puffy, and she is so skinny, that she just disappears in it. Too cute!

Avery's Blessing

On Sunday, the 21st, we blessed Avery at my sister Jennifer's house. It was a great experience since Joe, my dad, all of my brothers and all of my brothers-in-law got to stand in the circle. Joe gave a beautiful blessing and Avery was a perfect angel through the whole thing. My mom said that the experience was deja vu for her because Avery looks exactly like I did when I got blessed. I'll have to fish out a picture and see if it is true. She was certainly beautiful in her white dress. All of my sister's girls were blessed in this same dress, so the occasion was special on many levels. Another one of them being the AMAZING fondue dinner my sister Jenn prepared for after the blessing. I love getting together with my family at the holidays because the food is just to die for! It was a wonderful day.

Dave's Wedding

It was wonderful, beautiful, and I didn't get a single picture. There were so many cameras going that I did not realize that none of them were mine. I really need to be better about this. There was a snowstorm on the way to the temple so parking was a little rough and more than a few people were late, but all in all it went wonderfully. The snow made for some interesting pictures after the ceremony, but the bride came prepared in snow boots and a cape. Melissa ended up having to blow-dry the dress before the open house that night, but I think that Kristy loved every minute of her snowy photo shoot. Congrats to Dave and Kristy!