Making Valentines

Avery had fun yesterday coloring valentines for the grandmas. We started teaching Avery how to color a couple of weeks ago for a Family Home Evening activity.

(Our church recommends that families spend one night a week together. Monday night has been set apart for this purpose and there are never any church functions scheduled on Monday nights. Families spend the time together reading scriptures, playing games, singing, discussing family business, planning family events, etc. We have a little lesson manual that we've been following with pictures of Jesus or other scripture pictures for Avery to color each Monday night. He loves Family Home Evening!)

So when I got out the crayons to make valentines yesterday he was super excited.

Yesterday Avery also got to play with some new little friends. I have accepted a little side job babysitting on Thursday mornings for a women'schoir. There are about 8-10 little ones who come to the playgroup while their mothers are singing. There is another woman who helps with the babysitting. Avery comes with me and he gets to play and join in the activities. I quite enjoyed watching him interact with the other children and see him sit at a little table with them for snack. He was so cute and looked so grown up!

He was super excited to have some new and different trucks to play with. He loves trucks and that was very evident yesterday. He played with trucks the whole time. Luckily, they had lots of trucks so there were enough for everyone.

And he didn't even cry when I had to pick up another little baby who was crying. I thought Avery might be jealous but he wasn't. He just came over and smiled at me and looked at the other little baby with concern. It was so sweet!

And I learned that he likes raisins now. They had raisins as part of the snack. We gave him raisins a few weeks ago but he wouldn't have anything to do with them. Yesterday when I was passing out the snacks, I on purpose didn't give any raisins to Avery because I knew he didn't like them. But pretty soon he noticed all the other children eating raisins and started trying to grab raisins from the child next to him! So I gave him his own raisins and to my surprise he gobbled them down! I think this little play group will be good for him and the little bit of extra money will be a good thing for me!

Closets All Clean!

This week I've been cleaning out all our closets and sorting through our ever growing accumulation of "stuff".

This morning Avery and I just finished the last closet!

Hurray!

Now it's off to the Goodwill for a donation.

I think Avery will miss playing with the pile of donation things we've been making all week.

It's been keeping him entertained while I work!

I feel so blessed, I get to start my mornings seeing this sweet, adorable baby.

I'm so grateful to be able to be a full time mother and spend my days caring for Avery.

Occasionally I hear other mothers talk about how boring it is to stay home with children all day and how they wish they could have an exciting career or something.

I can't relate with that.

I waited a long time for this day and I don't take motherhood or Avery for granted.

I know that caring for this little innocent boy who is so completely dependent and unable to care for himself is an important role.

I cherish being a mother!

(Last night we discovered that Avery loves ranch dressing and breaded fish filets.

He ended up with this ranch dressing beard after dipping his fish in it!)

Dish Towel Head

Last Sunday evening while Clark and I were doing dishes, Avery grabbed a dishtowel and put it on his head.
He walked around the house like that for nearly 15 minutes.
So hilarious and cute!
We couldn't stop laughing.

First Signs and New Words

Now that Avery is more mobil and getting into absolutely everything, I'm finding that it's much harder to find time to be on the computer and write on our blog.

But I'll take advantage of this time while he's napping to catch up on a few things.

Avery is learning so quickly right now.

A new development is that he is learning a bit of sign language.

Actually we've all been learning it together.

We bought a little sign language DVD for babies and we often watch it together.

The first sign Avery used was the sign for milk.

So far he knows how to sign milk, Daddy, Mommy, baby, eat, and ball.

We've figured out that he's using the sign for milk sometimes to just mean "I want that".

He points to different things he wants and makes the sign for milk.

It took us a few days but we finally figured that out.

And he's invented his own sign for music/sing.

He waves his right arm like he's conducting music and we've learned that means he wants us to play some music for him or else he wants us to sing to him.

Sometimes when I'm rocking him at night, I'll think he's asleep and stop singing.

Then his little arm will start to wave and I know he's still awake and wants Mommy to sing some more.

He's speaking a few more words.

He says "amen" at the end of prayers and is learning to make a few animal sounds.

A few weeks ago he wouldn't stop growling like a lion in church and the family in front of us was chuckling.

Clark had to finally take him out to the foyer.

And he knows the meaning of more words than I can list.

Just to name a few, he knows the meaning of kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, bath, diaper, coat, hat, snack, garbage can, dog, bird, blanket, shirt, pants, socks, shoes, book and story time.

Speaking of books, he LOVES books.

Both Clark and I love to read and we're so happy that Avery is learning to enjoy books, too.

I've read to him nearly every day since he was born.

Now when I say, "Let's have story time," he runs to his little book basket and he chooses the stories we read.

He has several favorites that we read every day.

People at church have commented on how alert and attentive he is when we show him books and they're often surprised that he'll sit and quietly look at his books for such a long time.

Physically he's growing big and strong.

He loves to try and lift or push heavy things.

He finds this very exciting and fun.

We really have to watch him to make sure he doesn't lift something so heavy that he gets a hernia!

He loves to slam doors and cupboards and make loud banging noises.

He's learned how to walk backwards.

The only trouble is, he doesn't look back to see where he's going.

And he just figured out how to open the oven door.

Now that's a scary one!!

My sister Kristy told us that our main job right now as parents is keeping him safe during this stage when his strength and curiosity far exceed his experience and wisdom.

Boy, she got that right!

This really is a fun time as parents, to watch our baby growing up and becoming more of a little boy!

First Interview

Our first interview with LDS Family Services went really well. Heather, our new social worker was warm, friendly and eager to help us.

Avery especially liked her and he kept peeking out at her from behind a chair and smiling and flirting with her.

She was really cute with him.

And the two secretaries in the front office were especially excited to meet Avery.

They had handled all the paperwork for his adoption but had never met the baby it was all about.

Best of all, I had a strong impression while we were there that we were in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.

What a good feeling that is!

The next step is lining up our character references.

It's all a long process but so worth it when you finally bring that little bundle of joy home with you.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow we have our first of several interviews with LDS Family Services.

The social worker we worked with for Avery's adoption has transferred to the Boise office and so we have a new social worker to meet with.

We're hoping to make a good first impression.

Avery gets to come along, too.

That's a point in our favor because he's so adorable and will melt anyone's heart!

So I'm spending part of today planning what we all should wear.

I know, I know.

That's just surface stuff but when it comes to first impressions those things count.

I'm so excited to finally be taking this first step towards finding a little sibling for our Avery.

The waiting and waiting that comes with adoption is hard for me.

Random photos of "A"

The Music Conductor

(Avery LOVES to listen to music and pretend to be the chorister. He frequently does this at church whenever there is a song. He just waves and waves his arms to the music! Clark taught him how to lead the music while watching various music concerts on TV. Avery has a wide range of musical tastes from opera to the Beatles. His current favorite that he begs for every day is David Archuleta's new Christmas CD. Yes, Christmas is over but Avery doesn't know that and he still points to this CD and begs us to put it on.)

The Streaker

Spaghetti Face


Feeling Daddy's New Beard

Praying to Adopt Again

Now that Avery is 1 year old, we're eligible to adopt another baby.

Today we contacted LDS Family Services to get started on our application process.

We have to apply all over again and the screening process for adoptive couples is pretty intense so we'll be very busy for the next few weeks.

Last time it took us 2 months to complete the process and they told us we had done it faster than anyone ever had.

We're trying for that 2 month goal again.

We can't wait for Avery to have a little baby brother or sister.

We know he'll be a terrific big brother.

He's very loving and affectionate and enjoys being around babies and other children.

After much thought and prayer, we know that this is the right thing for us to do and we know that LDS Family Services is the right agency for us to work with.

So now we're praying for a birth mother who is making adoption plans for her baby to find us and choose us.

We don't know how long we'll have to wait but we hope a baby will come soon.

Please keep us in mind if you happen to hear of a birth mother seeking for an adoptive family to place her baby with.

The birth parents can live anywhere in the continental United States and do not have to be members of the LDS church.

Christmas 2009

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year.

It was so much fun with Avery.

He was so excited when he saw a stuffed moose on the couch from Santa!

He went crazy for it when we saw it in the store several weeks ago and so I made sure to let Santa know that Avery wanted that moose for Christmas!

Then when he looked in this stocking and saw animal crackers he went crazy begging to eat them and we realized that he was really hungry.

So we only played with the Santa toys for a minute and then quickly made breakfast and I ended up not taking any pictures until later in the morning.

I'm kind of wishing now that I had pictures of him in his pajamas on Christmas morning.

But oh, we had so much fun and that's of course what really matters.

His favorite toy by far is the Jack-in-the-Box from Santa.

He thinks it's so funny!

He laughs and laughs and wants to keep doing it over and over again.

Avery loved opening presents and tearing the paper!


Another favorite toy is this animal puzzle.


I like this picture of Clark and Avery reading his new little book.

We had a very merry Christmas and enjoyed time together as a family.

Last night we had a "Night in Bethlehem" Christmas activity at our church.

Avery was dressed as a little shephard boy and took his little stuffed lamb along.
I think Avery's favorite part of the night was eating our meal on a blanket on the floor.
He LOVED all the finger foods but he was all over the blanket and had no sense of eating only from his own plate.
And Mom and Dad were really missing the high chair to contain him and his mess!
Avery also enjoyed seeing all the other children dressed in biblical costumes and Mom and Dad in their funny clothes.
He was very interested in all of it.

For church to day he wore this cute little outfit given to him by his Grandma and Grandpa.

You can't really tell in this picture but there are cute little dogs on the pants.
He wouldn't hardly hold still long enough for a decent picture.

But I like this one of him playing with an ornament off the tree.

We have a funny looking tree this year.

This top half is decorated beautifully.

The bottom half, well...it's decorated for Avery with little ornaments that are safe for him to touch.

He loves taking them off and putting them back on.

The tree looks a little different every day as Avery tries new ways to arrange the ornaments.

And believe it or not, he's left the presents alone.

He touches them and loves to look at them, but he hasn't ever tried to open one or eat the paper.

(That's a huge surprise. He loves to eat paper and we have to constantly watch him.)

Avery Loves Santa

Christmas is so magical with a little toddler in our home this year.

Avery LOVES the Christmas tree, the presents, and our outdoor lights.

His eyes light up with wonder and excitement.

His favorite time of day is when it's just getting dark and he gets to go outside with Daddy to plug in the outdoor lights.

And his most favorite decoration by far is this Santa in our entry way. Avery adores his little Santa and often tries to pick him up and kiss him.

It's so sweet!

Clark and I are truly enjoying this Christmas season with Avery.