22 Months

Avery Claire, at 22 months, you:

- weigh around 29 lbs
- wear a size 5 diaper
- are still a great sleeper. You sleep 10+ hours at night and then take a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoons. We couldn't ask for more! You had a hard time going to sleep there for a few nights. After one night of laying you down and letting you cry for a few minutes, you've gone to bed so much easier the past couple of nights! Halleluah!!

If there is a mess in the house, or if we trash or something on the ground outside, I'll ask you who made that mess, and you always say "Daddy!!"

- say things in the sweetest way!! I love to see you turn around and motion and say "mon" {come on}. You've started saying mommy instead of mama. My.heart.melts.every.time! When something falls or we can't reach something, you say "I got eeeet" or I geeeeet eeeet". Other things you say that are so sweet: "Weeen" {Win}, "wook" {wook}, "Won wock" {I want to rock", "I wayer it" {I wear it}, "sur-ul" {cereal}. When you don't want something, like the big brown, round things in the Chex Mix, you say "not dat."
- are learning some manners. You will say thanks unprompted {dank} and if I ask you to say please, you will {peeeeze}.

- love all things girly. I love it! You watch me like a hawk when I put on my make-up and you know what to do with every tube and utensil in the make-up drawer. You love shoes and clothes and baby dolls. You take such good care of your baby dolls. Lately, you pat them and say "Otay". And you look at them and say "heeeyyyy, babeee!" And my favorite lately is "my wap?" {as in, you wanna sit in my lap?}.
- you as a question as if there is no answer but YES! For example, you say, "Won cook? Okay." Won pay {play}? Okay." It's too funny. And your little eyebrows raise when you ask a question. There couldn't be a cuter girl than you anywhere!




- things you eat well: raisins, cookies, suck-sucks {suckers},waffles, salisbury steak {oh, yes!}, fruit pouches, chips, chick-chick, apples, rolls, pizza...hmmmm. Doesn't sound like the most balanced diet. You do eat other things. I have decided that I will let you eat when you want to eat and not sweat so much what you eat. If all you eat is rice for dinner, oh, well. I'm not fighting that battle. I know you don't go hungry. You always want a pop-pop {pop tart}, but then you eat two bites and you're done.
- love to G-O. You are your mother's child. You get up on the weekends, eat breakfast, and say "I won go." You don't care where, but if we ask you where you want to go, you usually say "Wahmaht."
- can pitch a fit with the best of them. Thankfully, we have only had a few days that I thought the "terrible 2's" would do me in. Most of the time, you're a happy, funny girl! You are familiar with time out, however, and sometimes try to test those boundaries.
- made your first trip to the ER. I hope it's your last. You are a daredevil and I'm kind of surprised your first trip wasn't sooner.
- are not a morning person, especially on school mornings when I wake you up. You're much happier when you get to wake up on your own.
- constantly want to tee-tee. I guess we'll be potty training soon. I'll put it off as long as I can...the thought of taking you to potty in a nasty public restroom makes me sick.
- don't sit in your high chair very much. You want your babies to sit in it so you can feed them, though.

- are such a fun, sweet, precious, smart, beautiful girl. You are turning into such a big girl. We laugh at you all of the time. I love seeing your sweet, loving, caring, strong-willed, indepedent, sassy personality emerge more every day. We are so glad God sent you to us. We have learned so much about unconditional love, gratefulness, patience, and enjoying life to its fullest in the past 22 months. I cannot believe you will be a 2 year old in 2 months. Time flies when you're having fun with such a cute, lively girl! We love you, Avery Claire Davis, so very much!

I have to add these pictures from Sunday because I haven't posted them yet. We visited a new church {instead of driving to our old one}. Avery Claire sat with us. You heard me correctly -with us. And she did awesome! We were so proud. The only time we had to say "sshhh" was when she kept rattling the paper she was writing on. Doesn't she look so cute? She kept singing while we were getting ready. I should have videoed instead of snapping, I know...

Real Life

We all live in the real world, and we know that things aren't always peachy.

Sometimes kids whine. Tonight was one of those nights at our house. Avery Claire started asking to go "night-night" at 6:00. I finally let her at 7:20ish. She fell asleep for 3 minutes then cried. I let her get up and play for awhile and then go back to bed around 8:00. She cried on and off for 30 minutes before she fell asleep. Please don't think we're awful parents.

It's obvious she was soooo tired!




If you remember, we had to do the Cry It Out method to get her sleep in her bed when she was a wee one. It was the only thing besides me {and only me} bouncing her for 30+ minutes every night. Over the last few weeks, we've gotten into some bad bedtime habits. She asks to "wock" before bed. So we rock for a few minutes, she hands me her paci, and gets up to play. She has probably rocked to sleep 20 times or less in her life. She is not a rocker. She will usually let me hold her in her room and sing to her while she goes to sleep. I love, love doing this. But {horrible mother that I am} know that I shouldn't let this become a habit...I guess because I know how great it is to have a child who will lay down and go to sleep without a lot of fuss. She's had to cry for a few minutes a few times lately before she goes to sleep because she won't go any other way. And it's our fault for letting her stall. It amazes me that stalling before bedtime is an ingrained tactic - no one had to teach her that!

So Mommy and Daddy got tough tonight. She cried for a few minutes. She laid down and stood up and cried a little more. After a few times of this, she went to sleep. So tomorrow night we have to be tough again. And the night after. She's a much happier camper with 10+ hours of sleep under her belt. If there's one thing I've learned from motherhood, it's that consistency is key!

I'm sure all of this interests, well.... not one of you. But I wanted to remember this phase and share the "real" moments, too!

And even though some nights are tough and some involve some whining, it only took one quick update from Kate McRae's family to put things back into perspective for me. God always reigns me back in and makes me realized how small my problems are...and how very thankful I am for a precious, happy, healthy baby girl!

Bargain Hunt {and Ashee}

Last night, we went to eat dinner and ran into this store we've noticed and wanted to go in, Bargain Hunt. We weren't sure what to expect, but were very pleasantly surprised. Dusty and I could have spent hours in there if we hadn't had a busy girl to chase.

We did find a great bargain that we just couldn't pass up. When Avery Claire outgrew her infant seat, I wanted a lightweight stroller to shop with that was NOT an umbrella stroller. I looked online and ended up buying a cheaper one, even though I really wanted a BumbleRide. We had problems with the new one from the get go....like the wheel kept coming off a the zoo kind of problem. Elton, of course, fixed it, and it's been just fine since.

But last night, among the many brand new strollers and Britax car seats, I saw this...

It retails for $249....we paid $101 {brand new} at Bargain Hunt. They carry overstocks, refurbished items, etc. If my husband hadn't bought a new tv a couple of years ago, I can assure we'd have walked out of there with a 60 inch Samsung {for a great deal}. And if he can figure out how to work it, I can't promise you he won't go back. I had to drag him away from the electronics section!

The baby section was the greatest to me, of course, because I knew what those things cost in any other store!! For example, this carseat, usually $289, was $145 {brand new}. And they had more than one print.

Anyway, we only left with the stroller. But I can tell you that won't be my last trip to Bargain Hunt!

Today, we had special visitors! Larry, Sheila, and "Ashee" stopped by on their way home from TN. Avery Claire had lots of fun showing them her house and her toys. Come back and see us when you can spend the night sometime, Raughtons!

This girl was worn out. I had to make her get up at 5:00 so she'd go to bed tonight {she just did}.

We tried out her stroller in the garage tonight. She loves her new "stro-stro."

And Daddy has a new toy to put together. A couple of years ago, he bought several of these. He found another at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago. I think it's gonna take him longer with all of the help he'll have these days!

Martha I Am Not

I need about 2 more hours in the day...or two less hours at work every day. That sounds more like it! I am going to work really hard this weekend to get my house in order and several things on my to-do list for school done. I can't get caught up {and realize I never will}.
So, I'm just gonna keep trying and enjoy the time we do have at home. All of the laundry, dirty floors, ungraded papers, and unironed clothes will wait, right?

My new friend is this:



You can see the disorganization in my life by looking at my workstation:

This has since been replaced with a small table. The table has a drawer to hold my thread and small supplies.

I now have a basket underneath for my fabric and hoops. Another small step towards organization.

I got my embroidery/sewing machine {my Brother} after Thanksgiving. I really wanted to learn to applique and monogram. I'm not sure how interested in sewing I am, but I wanted the option. It took me 2-3 weeks to even figure out how to attempt to applique anything. I did a couple of things for Christmas and then I did this shirt that I've shown you before. I may not have an online art degree but I enjoy it and it came out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.

It is certainly not perfect, even to the untrained eye, but I'm proud of it because it was first "real" project.

The hoop lines do wipe off, by the way. I realize they aren't very cute.

Several people have asked questions about my Brother, about the costs and time it takes to make a shirt, so I thought I'd try to answer a few.

1) What kind of machine did you buy?
My machine is a Brother 950D. It has Disney capability {whatever that means}.

2) Was it hard to figure out how to work the machine?
I was able to use a font already loaded on the machine to monogram a scrap piece of fabric on the day I bought it. Figuring out how to download cuter fonts and get them on my machine took me a few days {and a few google searches}.

Learning to applique took a few days longer. Once I figured out how to get the patterns loaded on my machine, I couldn't get them centered. And I really wanted to do more than one pattern/letter at a time, but I couldn't figure out how to do it on the machine. No one told me I needed an editing software {until a couple of girls at school gave me a tip!}. So I downloaded Sew What Pro and my attempt at becoming Martha Stewart became easier. I could merge my patterns & fonts in a jiffy!

I will admit it takes a lot of patience for this craft! Before Christmas, I spent a lot of time trying to do a few shirts for cousins. I got really frustrated because I kept messing them up. I didn't have the hoop centered. Or I had almost finished the shirt and then got the sleeve caught in the needle while it was moving. If you remember, I got most of them completed Christmas Eve.


Here's another one I did for Christmas


Last week, I had Avery Claire a Valentine's Day shirt in the works. My needle kept getting stuck in the bobbin area. I took the needle section about 2-3 times and then it did it again. I took my Brother to the sewing store and the guy fixed it in 5 minutes. This just happened to be the night Bama won the National Championship. Roll Tide!! I was up late and trying to work on a shirt and my needle did the same thing!! I took my Brother back to the sewing store Tuesday and they kept it. There was a problem with the bobbin area and they fixed it. I picked my machine up Saturday. Sunday, I cranked out three shirts!!





3) Do you think it's cheaper to do your own shirts than to just buy them?
It definitely takes more time to do my own shirts. But, I can buy a shirt at WalMart for $3.88 and either use a pattern I already have or buy one for $1.50. I bought a few yards of fabric when I first started and still have TONS left! The appliqued/monogrammed shirts I see online {etsy/facebook} cost from $18-25 or more. So I think it's worth it to do my own.

I would recommend buying a machine at a place that offers warranty. Ken's Sewing Center
is located near us, and they offered something like a 25 year warranty on my machine. And I've been back often for help with something I couldn't figure out. They have most of the machines there on the floor and they take you to one like yours and help you figure out how to do what you can't. At one point, as I left one afternoon, the nice lady there said "I'll see you tomorrow!" Ha ha!

One thing I've decided during this learning process - my next child will have a short name, like Ava. That will be much easier to work with!!

I'm really enjoying my new hobby. I think it's one of those things that takes a lot of practice to make perfect. And I'm sure it won't ever be perfect. It's very satisfying to put a cute little shirt on my sweet girl that I "made."

Speaking of my cute girl, one of the things she loves to do these days is "go night-night." She climbs in her little rocking chair and looks over into her bed and wants to get in. So I let her.


This mama wasn't born yesterday. I realize this may just be a ploy to get to the pacis {or sha-shi as she now calls it}. It does give me a couple of minutes to get something done while she reads or plays with Bessie or just loves on her sha-shi.

Her chin looks sooo much better. This was last night. The glue has already started to peel off a little. She has a pretty good little bruise there, but the cut is almost unnoticeable. She still hasn't complained once. She will touch it and say "my boo boo" and move right along.

I just love her so much. How can you not when you look at that sweet face and those sweet hands building something with her blocks?



She loves to look at pictures and has started pulling our big scrapbook down to look at it.


This scrapbook is caught up through March 2010, right before Avery Claire's birth. Just another example - Martha I Am Not {caught up or organized in my craft life, either}.

She May be Ready for the Potty...

...but we're not!!

For the past few weeks, Avery Claire will say to us "I tee tee." She sits on the potty {lid closed, pants up} and tee tees. Then she says "I wipe." She pretends to wipe and throws her tissue in the toilet and flushes. We figured this was okay to let her do. She'll probably be ready to potty train in a few months, right?

For the past few days, she does this all of the time. I've tried to let her sit there {pants off} and see if anything happens, but she doesn't sit there long enough. Sunday night, she probably did this 10+ times. She tells us "I tee tee," heads towards the bathroom, and starts pulling her pants down. And she's started wanting poo poo diapers changed immediately. I know these are all signs that potty training is in our future.

But is she ready? I know I'm not!!

I need advice from you moms! I don't know if she knows before she has to tee tee or poo poo. I bought her some training panties, just so we'd have them. I stuck them in the washing machine yesterday so I could put them up and have them ready for when we needed them. As I folded them today, she saw them and tried to say "my panties," and of course had to put them on! I'm amazed every day that she knows what to call things.


Tell us what you think!! I'm satisfied for her to wear diapers til this summer!!

Moms {saw this today and couldn't not share it}:

Go read this!! It's something that never even occurred to me to think about! We did this for a long time until Avery Claire was able to reach the monitor and started knocking it off. Now it hangs on the wall. Tape your monitor cords or hang the baby monitor on the wall!

Relaxing Weekend Ended in Drama {and an ER visit}

Our relaxing weekend turned dramatic about 30 minutes before Avery Claire's bedtime last night. We were playing in her house. I was sitting in the house and she went out and leaned on the door {like she has done many times before and we've tried to discourage}. She leaned over a little too far, her feet lifted off the ground, and over the door she tumbled. She didn't actually flip, but her feet went up in the air and her chin went down. It met the concrete floor.
I scrambled out of that tiny house as fast as I could, she started screaming, and Dusty jumped up to see what was going on. I grabbed her and looked at her face and immediately saw that it was her chin. We took her to the bathroom and tried to wipe it enough so that we could see how bad it was.

I say "we" very loosely because at this point, I was no longer looking at the gash. I'll never live it down, but I came this close to passing out. There was blood, but she's bled more from little falls that cut the inside of her mouth. Those didn't faze me. This one didn't look good.

The bleeding stopped pretty quickly. Unless you touched it. We could tell it wasn't going to just close up on its own. After about 30 minutes of debating {and the mama getting her wobbly self able to walk}, we headed to the ER. These are the times when you hope that the nurses that will help your baby have gone to the best nursing schools!

An hour and half later, we left with the gash glued!! The first nurse thought it could be glued. The second nurse was very skeptical that it could be glued. The doctor decided glue should do the trick! Thank God! I dreaded the moment my baby had to get a shot to numb her little chin so a doctor could stitch it up!

Avery Claire was such a big girl. She let the nurse weigh her, look in her mouth, look in her ears, take her pulse, and look at her chin. She even let the nurse put a band aid on her chin {which she promptly ripped off}. The nurse let her pick out a sucker and off we went to a room. We waited there for awhile, saw the doctor, and waited some more for her to come back with her glue. Everyone went on about what a good girl she was. She never cried or fussed or complained. She was in awe of all of the things that she couldn't, but tried, to get her hands on.

We were so proud of her and so thankful that all that resulted from that tumble was a little gash on her chin. We should have taken a picture of her chin last night before we took her to the ER. It looked sooooo much better this morning. I'm pretty amazed at the glue.


Everyone she saw last night asked her if they could look at her "boo boo." She would lift her little head up so they could see. She hasn't bothered it at all. On the way home last night, she touched it and said, "My boo boo." She did the same thing once tonight, and that's been it. She went to daycare today and they reported that she didn't even know it was there all day. The glue should peel off in 3-6 days and her chin should be just fine. I'll be putting some Mederma on it to ensure little scarring!

We did take a picture tonight, but it doesn't do last night justice.


If you've never had to handle your busy 21 month old at the ER for an hour and half {among all of the disease being spread around in that place}, I pray you never know what it's like!