Troy and Avery's After Bath Routine

Avery LOOOOVES bath time. And I'm convinced it's because she looks forward to this:



So thank you Aunt Kathy for the homemade kids towel...without which these nightly giggles would not be possible.

PS Please make 2 more. Please and Thank you.

Sea Lion, Sea Lion, What Do You See? RAAAAAWR!

Troy is waaaaaay more patient than I am with Avery. He will sit with her for whole minutes at a time (if her attention span allows for more than a minute or two) and say the same word 50 times trying to get her to say it right. I just figure it will come when she's ready, no reason to push it.

However, last night was pretty epic.

Troy was reading to Avery before bed while I picked up her room and cleaned up from the bath. They were reading "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle.

Instead of reading the book, Troy was flipping the pages and saying the animal name and asking Avery to repeat it and describing what made that animal unique.

I was DYYYYING laughing. The problem with that is, Avery is encouraged by laughing and kept on making me laugh instead of focusing on what her daddy wanted her to do.

For example:

Troy: This is a panda. It's a bear that is black and white. See? Say "panda."

Avery: RAAAAAAWR!

Troy: Say "bear."

Avery: Beeeeeeear!! RAAAAWR!

Troy: Good job! (turns page) This is a monkey. See his tail and how he walks kind of tall? Say "monkey!"

Avery: AHHHHH AHHHHH

Troy: Um, say "monkey."

Avery: AHHHHH AHHHHH

Troy: Say "mon."

Avery: Muuuun.

Troy: Say "Key."

Avery: geeeeee.

Troy: Mon.

Avery: Mun.

Troy: Key.

Avery: geee.

Troy: Monkey!

Avery: AHHHHH AHHHHH

Troy hangs his head and I laugh. And Avery laughs. Troy turns the page.

Troy: This is a sea lion!

Avery: RAWWWWWWWR

Troy: (while laughing) Ok, this is confusing, because his name has the word "lion" in it, but he doesn't roar like the lions on your movie. He lives in the water. (We've been watching the Lion King)

Avery: RAAAAAAAAAWR

Troy: Say "sea."

Avery: eeeeee

Troy: Say "lion."

Avery: RAAAAAAAAR

This seriously went on for more than 10 minutes. The best part is that Avery can identify all of the animals on the last page, where a picture of each one is in a collage. She just can't say them. Troy is working on that though...don't worry.

Avery and the Barnyard!!

Avery is the best. She is such a joy and blessing in our lives everyday. She makes us laugh constantly. Avery has got MOST of the animals noises down. She is walking around the house cockadoodledoing (more like a yodel) and I just want to squeeze her it's so cute. Here are the animals she's got down:

- Cow (moo)
- Sheep (baa)
- Monkey (aaaaaaaaah)
- Horse (nay)
- Rooster (doodleloodleloo)
- Cat (mow)
- Dog (woooof)
- Duck (wey wey)
- Lion (raaaaaaaw)

That's a terrible explanation. So without further ado, Avery making animal noises:



Totally adorable, right?

AIRPLANE! And Some of the Sweetest Daddy/Baby Shots I Ever Did See...

So our house is right in the flight pattern for the North Las Vegas Airport. I think we must be right under the pattern for the runway to land. Most of the planes are pretty small...don't ask me what kind or how big because I don't know. I should because I am an Air Force spouse, but here's the thing....I can't tell the difference between a F-16 and an F-15. BUT I can tell the difference between a T-38 and a C-5. I kid...I can do better than that. Most of the time. If I have a 50/50 guess.

But for real. The planes landing at the airport look like tourist planes...maybe somewhere between 4 to 8 people could sit in them. And some helicopters too. But to Avery EVERYTHING is an airplane. And it doesn't matter where we are in the house, if she can hear it, she's pointing to the sky and making a plane noise with her mouth.

As a side note, these are some of my absolute FAVORITE pictures of Troy and Avery together. FAVORITE!! They are looking up at the airplanes. It was a particularly busy evening over there. It is important to note that these were taken BEFORE daylight savings. It is PITCH BLACK here at 5:15 now. It is awful.

How cute are they!?!? I love her chubby baby fingers pointing up at the plane.

And this is her making her "OOOOOOOH" face when the next plane came over! She wants to make she we know it's there. I love her.

Monkeying Around for Halloween!

Last year, we took Avery trick or treating at a trunk or treating event held by our church in San Antonio. She was dressed up as adorable. OH WAIT! She's adorable everyday. She was a pumpkin. Here is the picture from last year.

What a difference a year makes, eh? So this year, Avery received a sock monkey outfit from her Gran-Gran. We decided that she would wear it for Halloween and it was perfect!

Troy really wanted to take her trick or treating, but he wanted to dress up. The first year we were stationed in Dover, one of our neighbors took his kids trick or treating and he was the highlight of our night. His daughter was Winnie-the-Pooh, his son was Piglet, and he dressed up as Tigger. He didn't just have a black sweatsuit that he striped with orange duct tape. It was a full on Tigger suit. ADORABLE.

Troy wanted to think of something that would tie Avery's monkey outfit to him. So they could be a pair. I love him :) This is what he decided he wanted to be:

The man in the yellow hat. Avery's sock monkey outfit could easily translate to monkey. So anyway...Troy asked me to find him a FULL ON YELLOW SUIT! Like Dumb and Dumber style.

Except for yellow of course. I was like, "um are you kidding?" So instead, I got on Amazon (oh good old Amazon, you are so dependable) and ordered a long sleeve hanes yellow t-shirt and a yellow hat. Total of 11.16 + shipping. I used black electrical tape to make his tie.

We walked outside to take a picture on the porch and Troy was like, "TAKE A PICTURE OF AVERY BEING CURIOUS!! GET IT? LIKE CURIOUS GEORGE???" Apparently being "curious" translates to putting your baby on your car and making a scared face. For the record: This picture was Troy's idea. He completely posed them both for the photo. Another reason I love him: He's silly.

Look how excited he is:

Getting ready to leave:

Troy said that they went to about 15 houses. And only about 1/2 of the people got their costumes. READ PEOPLE!!!

Avery was super excited about her candy. I know she doesn't look like it in the picture, but she ate 2 kit kat bars and figured out how to chew through a Butterfinger wrapper and was found eating the paper and some of the candy bar. Bad mommy points. Overall, she had fun!

Here is Avery enjoying her kit kat and making monkey noises while her mouth is full. For the record, we did NOT teach her that monkeys go "oo oo oo." We taught her that they scream. More like "aaaaaaAHHHHH aaaAHHHHHH" so that the pitch and volume go up at the end. It's more accurate.

Troy: Undercover Hairstyler

Troy's favorite new thing to do with Avery is style her hair in the bathtub. It is SO adorable. I gave a little preview last week of her hair/mullet here. It also gives a great visual of how long her hair is getting.

Before:

After:

And of course, the mohawk. How cute is she?

Love her! You can really see the length her hair is starting to get.

Troy and his Mini-Me

Avery looks so much like Troy it frightens me sometimes. But then she makes a mad face and looks like me. Like right here. Except grumpy is a cute look on her. Pouting Avery = kissable lips.



Lets just say those sunglasses lasted exactly .5 seconds before she pulled them off. And then we put them back on and Troy held her hands down for a picture. And then she pulled them off and handed them to me. At least she didn't drop them. The lessons in gravity are getting a little old.



Snuggle time for everyone with the Daddy. Optimus gets jealous of Avery love from Troy and me. Troy is much better at giving him attention than I am. I guess parenting is a work in progress. That's right, parenting for fur babies makes you a parent too :)



When we ask Avery for kisses, you get one of two things. The first being an open mouth, spit ring from your nose to your chin, "kiss." The second being a lean in for the kiss, but not lifting her face high enough for an actual kiss, so she touches her forehead to yours. Very cute <3

They're related. Shocker, I know.



This is Troy biting Avery's fingernails. I hate cutting them. When she was about 4 months old I was scarred. For life. I decided to cut her nails while she was nursing. I got to her last finger, the thumb on her left hand. And totally took a chunk out of the side with the clippers. She was screaming. I was crying. Troy was laughing. It was like a scene from "Psycho" on my boob. It was awful. Troy likes to remind me that I "spill't her first blood." Say that with a Scottish accent like William Wallace. I avoid cutting her nails at all costs. So Troy bites 'em.



Look at this chunky monkey hand clutching Troy's shoulder. It's so sweet I just want to cry. I lurve it.



She wants to be a nascar driver. These kind of shopping carts are her new favorite. They have the "car shopping cart" at both the BX and Commissary. We can now shop for longer without meltdowns or baby boredom. It's awesome. She thinks she is in charge, but she's not. Winning.



Troy and Avery. Love Love Love.