Happy New Years Eve!

I was going to do a post of my favorite pictures that represent the things we did and the places we went in 2008 but it is COMPLETELY impossible to narrow down the pictures from 2008 because Avery was born in 2008 and I love every single picture! 

2008 was very good to us!  We had an amazing year beginning with preparations for Avery's arrival, her birth in March, and we have truly been enjoying every single moment with her since then.  So no pictures with this post (although I promise to post pictures from our Texas trip - yes we made it home safely- tomorrow!) but instead I just want to wish everyone a safe, healthy, and happy new year.  May 2009 be as good to us as 2008 was!

Baby's 1st Christmas

We have had an amazing Christmas Day so far.  Avery was wide wake at 6AM so we decided to see what Santa left for her under the tree. 

Our tree.  It really was beautiful all lit up and I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our family and friends who helped to put all the wonderful presents under the tree.  We appreciate your generosity so much and are SO blessed.  THANK YOU!

Avery raring to go at 6AM.  She is just like her Mommy and was soooo excited!  I thought she would be more interested in the boxes and paper but she actually loved playing with all her new gifts.  It took us almost an hour and a half to open all the gifts because she would open a toy, play with it for about 10 minutes, and then we would move on to the next gift.  

The adorable sleeping bag/nap bag that Dad and Michelle gave Avery.  It is so cute and has an attachable blanket and pillow!

Avery got her very first Barbie this Christmas from Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Tim and Drew.  It is a special 20th Anniversary Holiday Barbie and it is absolutely beautiful.  Aunt Jeanne also got us a really special charm for Avery's charm bracelet that commemorates her christening on 12-7-08.  Such amazing and wonderful gifts!

But I do have to say that I think my mom and Steve won the prize for Avery's most favorite gift this year with the Disney Princess Pink Pushtoy.  Its SOOOO cute and has a little piano on it and sings so many adorable songs.  Avery has not stopped playing with it yet!

We also got LOTS of Nike clothes from Uncle Eric and Aunt Jenny  along with Avery's first pair of Nike Shox (they are hot pink!), clothes and a push toy from Grandma Julie, a Savings Bond from Noni, clothes from Great-Grandma A, and a generous check from Grandpa Bob.  

Thank you so much to everyone for making Avery's Christmas so special and memorable!   We love you all so much! 

We wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas Day and a Happy New Year!!!

Avery and I are off to Dallas tomorrow so please pray for a completely uneventful, ON-TIME flight (for my sanity!).  

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  We send you all our warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Love- The Winstons

9 months old

Happy 9 month birthday Avery Kathryn!!!!!!

Today is sort of a strange milestone because today she turns 9 months old which is the exact same amount of time (minus about 2 weeks) that I was pregnant.  It seems so surreal because my pregnancy seemed like it went by very slowly and then BOOM the last nine months, with Avery in our lives, time has just flown by at rocket speed.  I can't even remember what life was like without her.  Matt was gone all weekend so it was a "girls weekend" and I thought to myself SO many times this weekend "Thank God that Avery is such a good baby!"  She is so easy going, constantly smiling, and just so much fun to be around that it made the whole doing-it-all-by-myself thing not too bad (but I am very anxious for him to get home!) I wanted to write out some of Avery's milestones so that I can have it for my records later on so skip ahead if you are not interested.

At 9 months old Avery is able to:

-  stand independently for 15 seconds

- pulls up on everything constantly

- loves to eat!  her favorites are carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, pears and just today spaghetti!  I don't know if I have found anything she won't eat..........anything with corn she doesn't really like

- says "mama" and "dada" but not to either one of us- just babbles all day long and blows raspberries

- when i say "give me a kiss" Avery will smack her lips together

- is scared of the vacuum cleaner! (just imagine what my house looks like!)

- can climb an entire flight of stairs all by herself- but has no idea how to go down them yet

- LOVES bathtime!  She just splashes around the entire time.

- will calm down instantly if you sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to her- also loves to listen to   instrumental music in the car

- waves bye-bye- she often does it with both hands (think Lane Frost in the movie 8 Seconds)

- LOVES the pink polka dot fuzzy blanket by Crib Clouds that Jessica gave her.  We call it the "magic blanket" because it instantly puts her to sleep.

- loves when we go out to eat at a restaurant- she just looks around the whole time and babbles to all the people- she is sooooo social!

- hates to have her diaper changed

- loves to sit right next to Mommy and play with her toys- i guess she is sort of a "Mommy's Girl" right now

- smiles at EVERYTHING!  She loves the dogs and always has to say Hi to them in the mornings

Avery Kathryn- you are such a blessing and I thank God daily for you my sweet little angel girl!!!!!!!

The Cheese Stands Alone

Avery has been standing alone for about 2 weeks now and I was finally able to catch it on video this morning.  She has been able to stand alone for about 15 seconds and is getting very brave.  Yesterday she let go of the couch completely and then took a step ALL BY HERSELF and then dove face first into the ottoman that was right in front of her.  Does that count as her first step?

Anyways here is her video- she is getting SO big!

Sooooo Typical

It's just your typical afternoon in mid-December..............in South Florida.  81 degrees and not a cloud to be seen!  What a perfect day!

Bobo the Monkey

One of the main reasons for our trip to Houston was so that Avery and my niece Julie could finally meet.  They were so cute the whole weekend.  Julie was so helpful and helped me do everything- from feeding her, dressing her, bathing her- you name it, she helped me do it!  And Avery was totally enamored with Julie.  She would watch Julie all day long and laugh at everything that she did.  They were so adorable together!

During the trip Avery became attached to one of Julie's stuffed animals, Bobo the Monkey. Its weird because Avery has a few stuffed animals at home and has never even given them the time of day, but for some reasons she LOVED Bobo.  

So on the day we were leaving Julie decided that she wanted to give Bobo to Avery to keep with us in Florida. She had been hearing that Christmas is about giving and she said that she really wanted to give Bobo to Avery as her Christmas gift. She said it was the "right thing to do."  Isn't that the cutest thing you have ever heard????
And Avery is sooo appreciative. That dang monkey goes everywhere with us now and she sleeps with him every night, so thank you SOOOO much Cousin Julie because you have given Avery the best Christmas present she has ever gotten!

H-town

We had a really fun, super-fast trip to Houston this past weekend. We got there on Thursday night and came back Sunday morning- we didn't even get to go to Eric's game :-(
But it was such a fun trip. Its so great to get to be around family, especially this time of year. And its so wonderful to have Avery be around her family and watch her interact with them. We seriously had such a good time. Yes- traveling on a plane with an eight and a half month old is SUPER crazy because she never stopped moving the whole entire 2 1/2 hour plane ride BUT it was totally worth it.
We got to see a ton of family, eat yummy Mexican food, and even got to experience some colder weather- Avery wore a sweater for the very first time! Definitely got me into the Christmas spirit a little bit- did you know that Christmas is next week??!!!! I blame it on the 82 degree weather here but I am totally unprepared for it!
Anyways- enjoy the pictures- and i have one more post coming with LOTS of pictures of my niece Julie and Avery- so stay tuned!

Proud Uncle Eric- I wasn't sure if Avery would be a little scared of him because he is so big, but it was the complete opposite- she totally loved him and couldn't get enough of him.  She even cried when he left the room to go to the bathroom one time!

Uncle Eric & Aunt Jenny- they are so frickin cute and I miss them already!

Uncle Drew carrying out his "uncle duties" one night.  The 2nd night Avery was hysterical because she was teething and was totally inconsolable for like 45 min. but Drew kept patient and kept rocking her and eventually she just pooped out.  Such a good uncle!

Grandma with her 2 grandbabies.  Look at Avery's face in this pic-ha!
she FINALLY went to sleep on the plane ride home.  She slept a grand total of 15 minutes before waking up and bouncing around again.  She never cried on the return flight but she seriously did not sit still at all.  Busy busy baby makes for a very exhausted momma!

THANKS AGAIN YOU GUYS FOR EVERYTHING!  WE HAD SUCH A BLAST AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN SOON!!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Bad Blogger

Trying to start a new business + sleep deprivation + the holiday season = a VERY bad blogger

I promise to do a new post with LOTS of pictures from our Houston trip today!

In the meantime check out what I have been working on

www.lildivadesigns.com

That Baby

I know my post is titled That Baby, but I meant for it to say That Baby. Avery was that baby on the airplane flight to Houston yesterday. You know who that baby is- the one who cries, screams, kicks, grabs and attempts to jump the seat every chance they get. Before I had a child I was always so fearful I was going to have to sit next to one of those babies on a flight.

I had our perfect flight all planned out around her bedtime (so that she would sleep through the majority of the flight) but unfortunately we had a hour and half delayed flight from Ft. Lauderdale which totally messed everything up. She ended up falling asleep while we were still at the airport and then was awakened on the airplane, but it was waaayyy past her bedtime so she was very, very, very over-tired. So needless to say she was a crazy mess on the plane.......and I was flying by myself since poor Matt had to work. I ended up have to stand up in the aisles and hold her down and rock her until she finally gave up and fell asleep. So stressful!
The happy part is that we made it to Houston and are having an AMAZING time! Pictures to come!

My Magic Shoes

Most people say that Avery is a pretty good mixture of both Matt and I.  From me she got my nose, my impatience, and my mother's dimple.  From Matt she got his eye color, his voracious appetite.........and his humongous feet. 

I have been on a search trying to find Avery a pair of shoes that fit.  I have bought, tried on, and returned a good 8 pairs of shoes from Target, Old Navy, Walmart and GapKids.  I just thought that her feet were a little wide and that is why all those shoes were not fitting.  Nope I was trying to cram my poor baby's feet into either size 2 or 3 baby shoes.  After a trip to Stride Rite I realized my teeny tiny eight month old wears a 4W (W is for wide)!!!  And in some shoes she even needs a 4.5W!!!

So besides the fact that she has big feet for her age, she has a really high instep and has to have Wide shoes.  You may be wondering why that is such a big deal.  It's a big deal because I have to get her shoes at specialty stores from now on because most stores do not carry toddler shoes in Wide size.  And these shoes run about $40 A PAIR!  That is more than i spend on a pair of my shoes!  But (thanks to Grandma Julie) Avery now has her very first pairs of big girl shoes.  And they are super cute........even if they are huge boats

Avery is sooooo dedicated

Hi everybody!  Avery here to tell you about my amazing, totally fun day that I had on Sunday.  

Beside the fact it was my Daddy's birthday, I also got dedicated to our church that day.  Mom said that dedication means that it is a public declaration of their commitment to dedicate me to God and publicly commit to raising me with biblical principles........whatever that means!

It was so weird because we were on this huge stage with sooooo many people looking at us and my Mommy kept getting all teary eyed talking about how "important this day is."  All I know is that I got to be the star of the show, dress up in a cute party dress, and go out to eat at Olive Garden with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Great-Grandma afterwards- sounds like a great day to me!!!!

GOD IS GOOD!

Happy Birthday To Daddy!

Matt's mother and grandmother came into town this weekend to visit with us and to celebrate Matt's birthday.  We had such a fun, busy trip and I am really sad that they are leaving tomorrow- i mean not 12 hours after they arrived at my house both of them were already hard at work cleaning anything they possibly could...............

oh yeah- thats right- they were both busy wiping down our fake banana tree- it probably hasn't been thoroughly cleaned since the last time that Matt's mom Julie came to visit!

Great Grandma A with Avery- these two are great pals now and Avery was following her everywhere today- even into the bathroom! Ha!

Grandma and Avery- such a cute picture!

The whole crew (minus mommy) out for Daddy's birthday- thanks for dinner Papa John!

The birthday boy himself with the best little present in the world..............

Pure Genius

Avery is now able to climb an entire flight of stairs all by herself!  She laughs the entire way up and is SOOO speedy at this now.  And just in the past few days she has been attempting to stand by herself.  She is really cautious but she can actually balance all by herself for about 1-2 seconds before she gets scared and grabs a hold of something.  Is it me or is my little baby an absolute genius?

I will get videos when I can :-)

Business Partner

I made my post announcing Lil' Diva Designs before I had officially gotten word from my friend Lisa but she has officially agreed to be my business parter! yay!!  She is soooo creative and is the one that gave me the idea of custom tutu's to start with.  So make sure to head on to our website soon to see all her updated designs- they are adorable!  And make sure to check our website out often because we update the pictures and add new stuff almost daily.

http://lildivadesigns.etsy.com

I've Been a Busy Busy Girl

I am very proud to introduce my very first baby model for Lil' Diva Designs (other that the original LDD model Avery Kathryn) Miss Emersyn Kay, my precious niece, who is wearing  LDD original for her Christmas card picture- i think based on this adorable pic alone we should sell dozens of tutus!!!!

...............OK better get back to work now :-)

Lil' Diva Designs

After making my first tutu  I got really inspired and possibly a little obsessed......

 

It all started at my local baby boutique where I was showing the owner my pictures of Avery in her Christmas tutu and she was amazed that i had made the tutu myself and offered to sell them in her store.  I was amazed and the more I thought about it I realized that there really is no good place to go and buy a super cute tutu at a reasonable price.  So as I started making some tutu's for the boutique I thought maybe I would offer it up to others so that they can buy their cute little girl's some adorable, reasonably priced tutu's.  So right then and there Lil' Diva Designs was born.  Here is the link to my "store" in Etsy (you can also click on the icon on the sidebar):

CLICK HERE TO BE TAKEN TO LIL' DIVA DESIGNS

I will give friends and family a 15% discount if you are interested.  Please pass the link to my store on to your friends and family!  Thanks :-)

Our Miami Dolphins

Today we went to the Miami Dolphins vs New England Patriots game here in Miami.  It was Avery's very first NFL game, and I am sure its the first of many many games to come.  It was so fun and we picked a perfect day and perfect game to go to.  I convinced my friend Nicole (its so weird to have a friend with the same name as you....) to come with us and we had a blast!

***Now I know neither Avery nor I are sporting any Dolphins gear but we didn't have any orange or teal shirts- we will be more prepared next time!

I decided to try out the Baby Bjorn again (I have always hated it because I think it really hurts my shoulders) and it was a good, easy way to bring her into the game.  Luckily Matt got us a really good parking pass (right next to the stadium!) and some REALLY good tickets in the "Club Level" so we didn't have too much walking to do so the Bjorn worked out just fine and Avery loved to look around and see everybody- she loves to people-watch already!

The weather was so funny.  Prior to the game I was nervous that she would be cold since it was in the low 70's here and the wind had a little chill to it.  But I was totally wrong.  The only bad thing about our wonderful seats was that we faced the sun.  And with the stadium blocking any wind the sun was pounding on us and it got a little toasty.  Thank God I threw in baby sunblock and Avery's little hat (compliments of her uncle Eric) because they were our lifesavers.

Avery did SOOOOO good at the game and I am really not exaggerating.  I thought she may be a little scared by all the noise but she didn't wimper once and just looked around the entire time.  And she wasn't wiggly at all (which was my other fear).  She just sat on my lap and looked around.  Such a good baby!

After the 1st quarter we decided to take a break from the sun.  On the "Club Level" they have this huge lounge area set up with tons of tables, chairs, sofas, and lots of really yummy food.  Also there was tons of room for her to play and crawl around a little.  It worked out so nicely to be able to let her move around a little and get some of her energy out and everything was so nice up on the club level- they even had 3 flatscreen TVs in the bathroom-ha!

We came back to our seats for the 3rd quarter and our little cheerleader just pooped right out.  I seriously have never seen her crash like she did.  She was sitting on my lap looking around and the next second she was fast asleep.  She sleep like a rock for like 45 minutes and wasn't phased by all the yelling and screaming and music going on all around us.  

Overall it was so much fun and I am so glad we went.  Avery was such a trooper and it was a great way to spend a Sunday............now only if the Dolphin's had won............we'll get 'em next time guys!

As Promised

Ok here are some more of the pictures we got taken yesterday.  We went to Portrait Innovations- i think they are all over the country- and I was really nervous because I thought they might be really cheesy and I wouldn't like any of them.  To be honest, some of the pics did turn out cheesy, but there actually was quite a few that we did end up liking.  The whole process was really fast and the entire thing (taking pics, looking at proofs, choosing proofs, and printing pics) took about an hour.  And the prices were really reasonable.  Soooooo, I guess it all worked out OK.  Now on to the adorable pics of my baby girl who turned 8 months old last Friday!