Pictures of Avi (and a few more of Sally Sharp!)

I had to bribe her, but Avi let me get a few shots of her as well on another beautiful afternoon. I don't even remember what the bribe was now, but it worked (actually I think the bribe was that I would also take a picture of her Lego house she and I put together--see below for the result!). Now, this picture of Avi riding her tricycle is one of my favorites. I'm just sad you can't see the handle bars in the image. Oh well.

Avi has been admiring and playing with her Lego house since we made it last week. It's pretty cute, I must admit.

The actual house.

Sweetness.

It's still difficult to get a "normal" smile these days! It's either way overdone or she's making a funny face! Bless her.

Now this is a real laugh. I love the gap between her front teeth and the way she sticks her tongue to the front of her mouth when she laughs hard. I hope I always remember the way these laughs sound.

I told her to put her hand on her hip, but she cocked the head and gave the grin :).

I'm just sick I don't have more of Sally Sharp in this picture. I had my camera turned the wrong way to truly capture this one. It would be such a sweet picture if I had actually captured the whole thing.

Oh, that grin and those 2 little teeth!! I love it! I just want to hug her and squeeze her constantly!

Intent on reaching the grass...and when she reached the grass, it went in the mouth!

Who knew the floor nanny could be good outdoors as well?! Some of the pictures I took of Sally Sharp on this day were the ones I lost (see my Facebook post from Saturday). I think I have most of the good ones, but I know there is ONE particular picture that was THE PERFECT picture from this shoot. I'm sick that I lost it. Just sick. BUT, I will have to get over it and move on. I had deleted the pictures from my camera only because they had been safe and sound in IPhoto for a day before I deleted them. Live and learn (twice now). I don't edit my photos in IPhoto; I just import them there. Not anymore. I am giving up on IPhoto. I will now simply import them into a folder so I have more control. Anywho, I enjoyed taking the pictures, and I can't wait for more beautiful weather to do it again!

Photo Session

I took some pictures of Sally Sharp yesterday afternoon on our patio. The weather was just too gorgeous not to be outside enjoying it. Avi wouldn't have anything to do with letting me take her picture. Nonetheless I was pleased with some of the shots of Sally Sharp, but I did have a rather sweet subject, after all!

Those eyes melt me.

What a smirk! She knew what I was trying to do!

Always exploring these days.

Had to throw one black and white in the mix; love that grin.

Sally Sharp loves to watch every move her sister makes.

I'm not sure why, but I'm a sucker for a picture from behind. I know, I'm weird!

Many, many things went in her mouth this afternoon that shouldn't have been there!

I L.O.V.E. baby feet!! Always have, always will!

She looks different in this picture to me.

Birmingham Zoo

Avi, Laura Leigh (Avi's cousin) and I headed to the Birmingham zoo Thursday for a little spring break fun. It was an eventful day. We started out at the Carter's outlet to get Avi some summer clothes. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a and all was going well UNTIL...2 people dressed as cows came out from behind the counter at Chick-fil-a! Avi had a meltdown and kept saying loudly, "Mommy tell them not to get near me. I don't ever want to see those costumes again." It went on until we finally were able to leave. She was physically shaking and holding on to me for dear life! Wow! Who knew costumed cows could be so frightful?

The zoo had a fun (but very small) climbing area for the kids. It was packed just like the zoo. The girls enjoyed it, but it was hard to get too high on it with so many children trying to do the same thing.

Oh, and Avi got a major haircut on Tuesday. I love her hair short, but I have a terrible time of keeping it that way. I'm going to try to do better about keeping it cut. It is so much easier to deal with when it is short.

All of the animals were pretty boring while we were there. I was hoping to see some animals in action, but it didn't happen this visit! Maybe next time.

I've always thought zebras were really pretty. Avi wasn't too impressed. By the time we got around to the "good" animals, she was worn out! I will have to work my timing better next time!

This is an anteater. It was HUGE. I don't guess I had ever seen an anteater prior to this zoo trip--an interesting animal.

Bow Head

Can anyone say bow head? That's what my sweet little Sally Sharp is in this picture! Love, love, love it! Avi thinks it's great to put her headbands with bows on them on Sally Sharp, and I must admit it makes for one cute little miss. She doesn't keep them on very long, but I was able to snap a few pictures the other day. This picture makes me smile! Oh, and yes, I am a month behind in posting this, but here are Sally Sharp's 6 month stats:

16 pounds (50th percentile)

26.25 inches long (75th percentile)

Overall, she's doing great according to the pediatrician!

We have had one busy semester (yes, I still mark my calendar in semesters--that's how my life revolves--in semesters!). Going back to work and getting out of the house each morning has been very challenging to say the least. My friends Karyn & Michael Brown were able to finalize the adoption of their adorable, sweet, infectious son, Diwas. I taught a class for Karyn while she was in Nepal (and I wouldn't have had it any other way), my mom had quadruple bypass heart surgery 3 weeks ago, I had federal jury duty the entire month of February (thankfully I only had to go one day), and now both girls have been sick since Sunday! Can you say overload? Needless to say we have been busy adjusting to life with mommy back at work full time. I hope we are on the downhill of "things" coming up for the semester!

Avi loves her headbands. Until this school year, she had been wearing barrettes in her hair every day. Most of them didn't make it home; frustrating to say the least, but they were just barrettes. I bought her some headbands with her fall wardrobe, and she has been addicted ever since. Lately she loves to put as many headbands on her head that will fit. She thinks it's pretty hilarious. That huge bow on Sally Sharp's head just makes me laugh every time I look at it!

What an adorable bathing beauty, huh?! Sally Sharp loves bath time. We love bath time too because that means bedtime is right around the corner! Ha!

It is simply hard to believe Sally Sharp is old enough to sit in this swing. I must say, she loved it! She sat in the swing (swinging and just sitting and looking) for at least 30 minutes on this particular day. We have really enjoyed the nice weather we have had lately. Spring can't get here fast enough for our household!

Avi is such a great big sister. In this picture, she is wiping the drool off of Sally Sharp's chin!! I was trying to get a good shot of them before church one Sunday. That didn't happen, but I thought this picture was sweet of Avi helping her little sister.

And, of course, Sally Sharp is enjoying lots of different baby foods these days. She hasn't really met a food she doesn't like yet. Avi would never eat green beans, but Sally Sharp pretty much loves everything. She HATES to be cleaned off after she eats, though! She pretty much throws a fit when you try to wipe her mouth and hands. Her favorite thing to do when she eats is to put her feet in her mouth! I have to make sure I put the tray on the high chair because if I don't, the next thing I know, she will have her toes in her mouth, and you know what that means...baby food everywhere!!

Silent Sunday

6 Months Old

Look who is 6 months old! Wow, time--it is a flyin'. Sally Sharp started daycare on January 3rd, and before I dropped her off, I knew she was the youngest in her class. When we got in there, it was quite apparent because all the other children were sitting up, and most of them were crawling around (some even pulling up!). I reminded the teacher she wasn't even sitting up yet, and as I left her there I felt sorry for her (for many different reasons; I thought I would cry when I left her the first day, but we had such a time getting out the door the first day that I didn't come close to crying!). Anyway, I think she realized that day she'd better get it in gear. Pretty much by the very next day she had started sitting up pretty well on her own. We still don't let her sit up on her own without some type of protection around her, but she is doing GREAT sitting up. She loves her floor nanny, and so do I! Now, if she could ever learn to roll over...I know, usually that comes before sitting up. Not my children, though! Avi did the same thing--she sat up before she ever thought about rolling over. Oh well. I guess it doesn't really matter!

I was trying to take some pictures of Sally Sharp on her 6th month birthday last night, and she wasn't in the best of moods. She was pretty sleepy--thus the not so great faces. Avi was having fun, though!

She's been doing a lot of this the past few days...biting, drooling, fussing. I think we are in full teething mode right now. I'm just not sure they are ever going to pop through!

Sally Sharp in her awesome floor nanny playing with her toys.

A little snow

So, I'm a little late in posting about the snow we got (two weeks ago). First, we had huge snow flakes that lasted for hours on Christmas day (that didn't stick), and then we found this when we woke up on Monday, January 10th. Avi was pretty excited to play in the snow. As you can tell, she and Drew made a snowman, which she promptly named Frosty. Very original! We had a hard time with our buttons we used for the eyes, nose & mouth. The "mouth" didn't want to stay on. Too bad we didn't have a carrot for the nose. As Avi said, "That's okay."

Sally Sharp & I stayed inside while they built the snowman and then joined them to take some pictures. I had to bribe Avi to take a picture with us. I guess she'd had enough picture taking by the time I asked her to take a picture with me.

I didn't post it, but when I asked Drew to take a picture of Sally Sharp and me, he was aiming the camera at the house. I said, "What are you doing? We are over here!" He said, I'm getting y'all in the picture. When I looked at the pictures later, he had this great picture of the house, and we were these little ants in the right corner of the picture! What?! Thankfully he also took another one of us, but of course it is not centered. Oh well.

I love the way the snow made Avi's tricycle and the swing look.

Fun times in the snow. Very out of the ordinary for us to have snow twice in one year. I started back to work on January 3, so we had a snow day a week later that gave us a little break. It has been quite a challenge getting 2 kids and myself out the door in the mornings. We are getting into a routine, though. I'm sure we'll get the hang of it just as the semester is ending, ha!