43 weeks!

43 weeks on Christmas Day ... 9 weeks until ONE YEAR!!!

3 quick things...

.... christmas has officially arrived in the johnson house and we are gearing up to celebrate christmas #1 (of 6!) tonight, but before we are away from the blog for a few days, we wanted to share 3 new things that avery learned/accomplished this week!

1. CLAPPING! she claps when you say YAY! or get excited and also starts clapping when you sing Patty Cake .... probably the cutest thing she was done to date ;)
2. WALKING WITH A WALKER - aunt karly bought her a playschool walker and she quickly picked up that she can walk (with the assistance of the toy) back and forth in the living room. not long until she starts walking on her own ... scary & exciting!!
3. CLIMBING UP THE STAIRS ... while sitting on our stairs talking on the phone, i look down to see that miss avery was standing on the 1st stair holding on to the railing - how did she learn to do that?! i then put my cell phone on the landing stair and she proceeding to climb her way up to it! what a big girl she has become this week!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS .... EXPECT A YULETIDE-LOADED POST EARLY NEXT WEEK WITH PLENTY OF PICTURES!! XOXO!

42 Weeks!

Hey Santa Clause!

Avery just had her first Santa experience at the mall! She did very good! She definitely checked him out at first (pretty sure she beat his beard in a staring contest!) but she was very happy and content and even smiled for the camera! We went with her buddy Max and although he started having a meltdown at first (we were hysterically laughing - it was too cute!) the photo elf was able to quickly turn that frown upside down and got him to laugh and smile! Hope you guys all like this photo - it cost us $30!! The mall Santas must make a killing!!! ;)

41 weeks!

Drop a Beat

For the past 12 weeks, Avery & I have been taking a music class KINDERMUSIK at Forest City Music and have had so much fun! Our neighbors Jess & Max got us into the class and Avery enjoyed herself so much, we signed up for the next semester starting in February! The class is one day a week for 45 minutes and I really think Avery has gotten a lot out of it. She has learned social interaction, exercises, rhythm & beats, songs & even dances ... it's mommy's weekly workout for sure! :) Today was her last class and I'm really going to miss some of her buddies & their moms! For any mommies looking for an activity for their babies, Kindermusik is highly recommended!!

40 weeks!

Goodbye Jail Cell...

After months of living in a "prison cell", I finally put the bumpers on Avery's crib today. I had been steered away from using them since Avery has been born as they have been known to be a cause for SIDS but now Avery is so good at moving around inside her crib, that I think she will be OK. Doesn't her crib look so much more girly and comfy?!

That's a honey of a tree, Clark!

On Sunday, we kicked off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols. That's right, we got our Christmas tree! It's a tradition for our family to get our tree at Williams Tree Farm, a family-run farm in town. It was a little too chilly for the babe so we decided to pick out a tree that had already been cut down. Avery looked SO adorable in her North Face snowsuit (which I received as a gift at my shower almost 11 months ago and have been anxiously awaiting the day Avery could actually wear it!) Our 5th and final tree is now up and decorated and we are officially ready for the holidays! I hope Avery will think she has a cool Mommy once she is old enough to realize we have a different themed tree in every room! :)

A New Tradition

Anyone that knows me, knows I love my traditions! Since this year marks the first Christmas with a child, I decided we needed to start something that we could do every year until all of our kiddies are big and grown ... and maybe they could do it someday with their children! Thanks to Pinterest I discovered this - http://katherinemariephotography.com/blog/archives/3773 - instead of the traditional advent calendar, you wrap up 24 Christmas books and have your children open one each day of December and read it all together as a family. Avery is still a little too young to get "unwrapping" - but we are letting her pick a book out of the stack which we will read each night before bedtime. Tonight's pick - "A Christmas Carol"!

9 month photos

avery just had her 9 month/holiday photos taken by the fabulous kelsey of 'k photography & design'. avery chose a more serious expression for her photo shoot and here are some of our favorites! :)

9 month stats

another great report from dr. martinez at avery's 9 month check-up!

28 3/4 inches tall - 87th percentile
18 lbs 3 oz - 35th percentile

since she is crawling as fast as a spider, and now walking around our furniture, she is burning so many calories and will not gain weight as quickly as she was before!

39 weeks!

Avery has officially been alive longer than the amount of time that I was pregnant with her! See.... you really are pregnant for a very long time!!!!

Thankful

Avery had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family & friends! We hosted our first annual "Friendsgiving" breakfast with our neighbors the Kriegers & Carters - the kids & mommies watched the parade and the daddies threw around the football. Qe then went to my mom's for thanksgiving with the Cwynar clan. Avery did get to enjoy real turkey, mashed potatoes & cranberries. This year we are truly thankful to all of the wonderful people in our lives and our amazing baby girl!

38 weeks!

37 weeks!

let it snow let it snow let it snow

so we got some snow yesterday ... and today ... not sure if it was in the forecast but we did have our first snow of the year! granted it was so wet that it stuck to the ground 10 minutes before melting, but snow nonetheless! can't wait for avery to go out and experience real snow - won't be long now!

Uno - Dos - Tres!

Today Nick & I celebrate our 3rd anniversary! Cheers to many, many more!

36 weeks!

i'm soooooooooooooo big :)

Halloween!

Despite a last-minute costume change, Avery had a wonderful Halloween! She had a dress up Halloween music class with all of her friends at Kinder Music, and she went "trick or treating" (aka a chilly stroller ride) with her buddies! We also threw a trick or treat "party" - decking out our front yard and garage - passing out candy to the kiddos and spiked cider to the big kiddos. It was hard to count, but given the fact we went through 280 treat bags, 50 packs of crackers, 1.5 bags of reserve candy, 300 glow bracelets and other treats from my neighbor's pantry (we were desperate!) ... we are guessing we had at least 350 kids! Most people would find that annoying (and expensive!) but I loved every minute of it! I'm already looking forward to next Halloween when Avery can actually say "trick or treat" and get some goodies!