My New Niece!

My brother Jeff and his wife Adriane had their first baby on July 3, 2010! Shelby Lilla Gray, she was born at 8:54 pm and weighed 7lbs 3 oz, and was 20 3/4 inches long. What a cutie!! I can't to meet her! She is such a good baby for them! Jeff says she mostly sleeps through the night and that they have to wake her up every 4 hours at night to feed her!! How lucky are they! Congratulations to them and their new daughter! We love you!!

Swim Time!

Avery loves the water! When she was just two months old we had her in my parents pool when in visited Phoenix. When we were there in May we went swimming or splashed at the park almost everyday! I've taken her to the Roosevelt pool a couple times a week, but some days I don't feel like going...cause I have to get in a swimsuit too, so I bought her a little blow up pool to have in the yard! The thing she liked most about it was the water coming out of the hose. She splashed a little but wouldn't put the hose down, she just sat there and was fascinated by the water.

What else is new??? NOTHING! Some days it is just so boring here I can't think of anything to do to make time go by fast....OH! Adriane, my brother Jeff's wife is due to have a baby girl ANY day now! I wish I could be there to see their brand new baby the day she is born, but we will go out to AZ when she is blessed. Good luck new parents!!

Books!

Avery loves books! Whenever we play she always goes for a book instead of a toy. My dad said to always read to her everyday, even as a newborn, and thats what we have done on most days. Now she has learned to carry a book over to me and hand it to me to read to her. Its so cute! Here is a video for my dad and mom to show them!

She's Walking!

Dancing with Aunt Christi

Here I gooooo!

Little Ave has started to take a few steps all by herself! She can walk really well holding onto our hands. She walks about 4-5 steps across furniture or to mom or dad. Also getting more daring too- sometimes she will just turn around from whatever she is holding onto and start walking to nothing, so we have to run over to catch her! So funny! I'm so excited for her to start walking, then she can follow me places around the house.....shes getting so heavy for me to carry all over the place! :)

Hugs and Kisses

So our little pride and joy Avery, NEVER cuddles! We are always so jealous when we see babies cuddling and sleeping on their mom or dad...we think oh how would that be. She doesn't transfer well either, like if she falls asleep in the car and we put her into her bed, she wakes up and won't go back to sleep. Whenever we try to hug her close she pushes away and pinches. She's been this way since the day she was born. She would scream and squirm to be put down, and when we would swaddle her as a newborn and lay her down she would sleep....and don't even get me started on how long it would take me at church to get her to fall asleep in my arms.

ANYWAY, so today was a really hard day because she was having some reflux issues and only took a HALF HOUR of a nap today and thats it!! So bedtime comes and I am DONE and can't wait for her to be in her crib. I start feeding her and rocking her and she starts squirming and wants to stand up......I almost lost it, but something came to mind to just pat her back.....I attempted to hug her and rub and pat her back to relax her.....and..... she actually laid her head on my shoulder! Unbelievable!!! This is the first time she has ever done this! THEN, she slowly looked up at me and put her mouth on my cheek for a kiss and then put her head back on my shoulder as I rubbed her back! I was so amazed and happy I started laughing cause it was so cute! She looked up again and gave me another kiss! WOW!! I was in heaven! It felt so good to have her hug me....all my hard work each and every day is starting to pay off with my little girl giving me a hug! I think that Heavenly Father knew I needed that because I was getting to the point of not wanting to nurture her anymore that day! :)

More Pictures

Mom and Me on the train

Uncle Richie and Katie

Here she looks like my Grandma Gray- my dads mom

Brandon joined the Knights Templer, its a humanitarian organization. This was us before the induction ceremony.

Having fun in Phoenix!

Riding the train

We have been here in Phoenix for much needed time away from Roosevelt since the 30th- Brandon went home in between to work for a week and comes back tomorrow. Avery and I have been having soooo much fun with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Adri, Uncle Richie, and Katie, and FRIENDS! Avery loves it here, she has been swimming and splashing at the outdoor water fountain pad several times, shopping, eating out places, going to parks, had 2 carousel rides and a train ride, and much more! She has been smiling and clapping her hands all the time! She is so cute! I love being able to take her out and show her new things. Uncle Jeff graduates from ASU tomorrow with a bachelors degree in computer science engineering. Avery has been looking forward to his graduation! ahhhh not really- we will see how it goes with her! All for now...more to come of our trip...