Thankful

Today, I am thankful for my life. We serve a Savior who knows us and loves us and forgives us. He has blessed me beyond measure...way more than I deserve.

We are thankful for our precious family. We have been blessed with the most amazing family anyone could ask for. I know a lot of people who feel torn between "your family" and "my family." "Our family" is just that...one big ole happy one.

I am so thankful for my sweet husband, who makes us laugh all of the time...and takes such good care of us...and sacrifices for us...and always reminds me to relax and not worry about the little things...and is the absolute best Daddy to my little girl.

We are so thankful for that little girl...her serious faces and her silly faces....her laughter....her independent, sweet, funny little personality. We are honored that we have been chose by Him to raise her.

“Be thankful in all circumstance, for this is God's will for you who
belong to Christ Jesus.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Meet Persivia

A few weeks ago, as I listened to people call in to Rick and Bubba and tell about the kids they've sponsored for years, I decided that sponsoring a child was something I needed to do. It is only a drop in the bucket by way of providing everything a child needs, but it's my hope that we can make a small difference in the life of a child that needs a little hope.

We are sponsoring a child through World Vision. I went online and looked for a little girl who has the same birthday as Avery Claire. We found Persivia. She is a seven year old little girl who lives in Zambia, which is in Africa. Her family lives in an area severely affected by HIV and AIDS. She does not attend school, likes to play ball games, and helps her parents at home by babysitting her brother and two sisters.

Meet Persivia.

I just want to wrap my arms around her.

We have been enjoying collecting things to send her in a care package. I so wish I could see her face when she opens it. This is not an advertisement or a plea for you to sponsor a child. I just wanted to document our start with Persivia. Not only do I hope that Persivia benefits from our family, I hope that our family learns a lot from this experience. I think my biggest hope is that Avery Claire learns a lot about compassion and giving to others.

Enjoying My Fashionista

We are loving our week off so far. We've played and played and played. Today we visited friends in Russellville and saw Daddy at school for a bit.

{I promise my child wears clothes at home, contrary to the stories my pictures might tell}.
She is a girl after her mama's heart...today, we found her some new red shoes and she wanted to wear them tonight.

I'd wear new shoes out of the store if it didn't embarrass my husband.

It does a Mama's heart good to walk out of the kitchen and see her sweet girl in her diaper and her new red shoes, watching The Backyardigans.



And it does a Mama's heart even more good to turn around in the kitchen and see her girl cheesin' for the camera.


And after her bath, she pulled a few select items out of her drawers and insisted on wearing them all at once. You can't even see the fleece pants I put on her to sleep in, but they're under the Elmo pants and the blue cotton shorts.


She knows what she likes. There's a lot to be said for that.

I can see lots of "discussion" about picking out clothes in our future. Wonder who'll win?

Just a quick sidenote...You might have noticed that I've made some changes to the blog this week. I have some spare time on my hands and am just trying to figure some things out.

I cannot figure this signature thing out {and I just accidentally deleted it from this post}, but I am moving on for now...before I scream. Brandi, did you ever figure it out? I can get it on here, but with a white background and it's aligned on the left side. Ugh!!

And - I CANNOT comment on anyone's blog. It's been this way since the summer, but I just haven't had time to try to figure it out. Last year, my school system used my school email address to register us at Google. Since my email address was already registered (through blogger), things got messed up on my blogger account. I had to have the tech guy create me a new blogger email address because I couldn't even log in. Since then, I can't comment. And I can't figure it out. I have tried and tried. So please don't think I'm not reading blogs and that I don't have anything to say. I love comments and know others do, too.

Guess I'll just start commenting on facebook. One day, I guess I'll create a new site and direct people from here to there so I can have complete control back!!

Faces

Not only does Avery Claire say new words every day, she has some of the funniest, cutest faces. I can't capture them all, but here are a few.

This is her "I'm about to do something you'd tell me not to, so I'll wait until you're not looking" face.


This is her "my?" face - like when she sees herself in a picture or on the camera screen.


Silly


"Mine!"


"Cheese, Mama"


"I'm over it."


Sweet


Gosh, we love this girl!!


A few things she's said lately {I've got to start writing this stuff down}:

"That mine."

Every day, I ask her who was at daycare. I name someone and she says "cry." She tells me everyone there "cry" and we saw "awwwww." So sweet when she says it and cocks her little head sideways.

"Night-night." {Up until now, she's just said "bye" when it was time to go to bed."

A very clear, firm "NO!"

"Juice"

"Cookie"

"I not know."

"I want (cup)"

*I realized she is drooling in every one of these pictures. I just know one of those molars is going to break through soon.*

A Much Needed Break

The Davis family made a group effort to clean the house, wash some clothes, and straighten up. Avery Claire helped her Daddy and then used the pliers on a few other things that needed "fixin'" around here.

Now, the baby girl is fast asleep in her bed after a fun night of playing. The house is clean. The laundry pile is not too high. The bathtub and my book are calling my name. AND I have the next NINE days off!! That's right. No school for me next week! Believe it or not, I really didn't bring that much work home with me. And my husband booked me a massage for one of my days off. Go ahead. Be jealous. I know I'm a lucky girl.

I know my week will fly by, but I am going to enjoy every second I can with this monkey...

Operation Rid Paci: Baby Steps

A few weeks ago, I had just about decided that we were getting rid of the paci during the week of Thanksgiving. I have the whole week off, so I thought we'd start this weekend and by the time we travel for the holiday, I thought we might be paci free. As the time got nearer, I was really doubting that decision.

Avery Claire has gotten more attached than ever and had started asking for her paci. She knew she could find some in her bed and sometimes on the counter or in the dishwasher. And she'd go lookin' for one.

Nana came to visit this weekend. We were so glad she decided to come and enjoyed her visit. Mommy & Daddy even got to have a date night!


A few days ago, Avery Claire said she would give her pacis to Win. So, we kind of jokingly told Avery Claire we were sending her pacis with Nana so she could take them to him. We put them all in a yellow gift bag and pretended to put them in Nana's car. Avery Claire forgot about them.


Nana left and it was naptime. Dusty and I decided we'd lay her down and see what happened, but that we weren't going to let her scream for it. She laid down for a minute and then stood up and whined. She cried a little, but not nearly as hard or as loud as I thought she would. And the whole time I was thinking, "I'm not ready to give up the paci!!" And I surely didn't think Sunday afternoon was the time to start! So, we gave her one paci to nap with.

When she woke up, I took her paci and put it in a little zipper bag and told her she could have it again when it was time to go night-night. She went back one time late Sunday afternoon and wanted the bag and cried for it. We were firm and told her she could only have it at night-night time. And that was the end of it. Really. I have been shocked. That night, she laid down with one paci and had a hard time going to sleep. So I gaver her two more - she needs one in each hand {we'll cross that bridge when we get there, right?} We asked daycare to try to help us out and only let her have it at naptime there. So far, so good.
Cheeeeese!!

Muuuuwaaaah

Cheeeeeeeeese, again!

And I have to say, she has been in a much better mood...much less whiny! And that was my worry - that we would have nothing to "pacify" her. She is talking even more. And when I give her paci to her at bedtime, she just snuggles for a few minutes before laying down. If you know my girl, she is not much of a snuggler. So, overall, our first baby step in Operation Rid Paci has been a success....so far! We'll work on getting rid of the paci entirely at a later date.

Snacking with Daddy

Just so you know, we will still be relying on that paci during our 3 hour trip home for Thanksgiving!

Good mornin'

Thanks, Aunt B, for sewing appliques on Avery Claire's shirts!! They are perfect!

Meet Bessie

We have searched high and low for a cow stuffed animal. Apparently, we should have been searching in the heating pad department. Last night, in TJ Maxx, Avery Claire and I found Bessie {who comes with the beads you warm in the microwave and use as a heating pad}. We removed Bessie's beads and our girl has her very own cow!!

Life Lately

I have good intentions, ya'll, to keep up with the blog. I really, really do. But then when I have a minute to sit down at the computer, I just want to go to bed. I had a cold for the past week that just wouldn't quit. Finally, two shots and 3 prescriptions later, my voice is back and I feel much better. Last weekend, Avery Claire was the crankiest I've seen her. Maybe it was just that I didn't feel my best. But Dusty and I joked that we needed to go to school to rest after that weekend. We do think she's teething. Gosh, I hope so, 'cause we can't take years of the Terrible Two's if they are really that terrible. She has seemed much better as the week has gone along, so we think she just wasn't feeling her best. Our sweet, funny, happy girl is back! This day off has been just what we needed. The house is cleaned, most of the clothes are washed, and we have enjoyed our time together. And we still have the weekend ahead of us!! I love having Friday off!

Let me catch you up on life lately, then I'll attempt to keep caught up after this one. I know....you won't hold your breath, right?
Avery Claire has always loved bath time. Until one night a couple of weeks ago. While washing her hair, she became panicked. She screamed and screamed while I rinsed. Dusty tells me I traumatized her. For the next week, she screamed when I mentioned bath time. It took both of us to hold her in the tub and bathe her while she stood, cried, and tried to crawl out. And washing her hair...I can't even describe. We tried bathing her in the sink. I tried bathing her with me. We tried the shower. Nothing worked. She panicked every single time she came near water. Then, one night, her daddy talked her into the bathroom calmly and I had 3 funnels for her to play with. Since then, she's all about bath time. She still hates the hair washing part, but things are getting better. We wash her hair as infrequently as possible!!!

This face was after one of those traumatizing baths.




And her new favorite bath toys....






We had 18 month/family/Christmas pictures made last Saturday {during the weekend of Miss Cranky Pants}. She really acted fine during pictures, but I think we might have only gotten one smile. I just hope there are some good ones! Look at these sweet little boots she sported for some of her pictures.

Avery Claire is into:
- laying on a pillow and laying on the couch. She loves to lay down so we can cover her up.



- pacis. They've gotta go soon. Oh, how I dread that day. She had gotten so good about leaving them in her bed. When she's at daycare, she can have it whenever, so it's hard to enforce the leave it in the bed rule at home. So we're done fighting it. But I guess we have to think about taking it away. She gets more attached every day {although she usually doesn't carry around this many!}




- forks. She will eat pretty much anything I want her to as long as it's off of a fork! And she likes to do it herself. If she can't get the fork to pick up the food, she'll put it on the fork and then eat it!






- squeezable fruit snacks. Have ya'll seen these? They are so handy. And Avery Claire loves them. I was afraid they'd be a huge mess, but she knows how to handle them pretty well. They are a great way to get a couple of servings of fruit and veggies in!!

- candy! She learned all about it this Halloween. And we've learned it could be very good bribery material. The candy is hidden now at our house because she kept going to the stash and wanting it.
This is M&M face.

A silly girl with a ring pop


My sweet baby girl - isn't she beautiful?


Playing possum...


And she's so smart. Her vocabulary grows every day. I love to see her learn new words and try to use them. She has learned "I want" and "I cy {cry}." She thinks it's funny if we cry, so she playfully hits. When I say "I cry" she pats my face and says "I cy." Tonight, I swear she patted my face and said "I sorry." When I stop the car, from the car seat I hear "I drive." She loves to sit up front and pretend to drive. When she sees her own picture, she points to herself and says "my?" I love it!
The other night, Dusty asked me where I had hidden the "c-a-n-d-y." She jumped up and took off towards the kitchen. We just looked at each other and laughed. I'm telling you, the girl is smart!!