The Uptons

Last Friday, Shannon, Travis, Spencer, and Karly came to Toledo for a visit. We went to the zoo in the morning and then came back to the house to eat lunch and hang out for the afternoon. While Avery, Karly, Travis, and Erich napped, Spencer watched a movie and Shannon and I got to play one of our favorite card games (any other "hand and foot" players out there?). It was a wonderful day and it meant so much to me to have my sister and her dear family travel to visit with us! Here are some pictures from the zoo... Avery isn't really old enough to notice the animals, but she was quite entertained by Spencer and Karly!

Let's go to the movies

What do you get when you take 6 babies, all under the age of 1 year, to the movie theater?

Chaos. And a whole lot of fun.

Our local theater was advertising a program they have called "Baby Pictures". They play a chick flick in the middle of the day specifically for moms and make the theater "baby friendly" (lights not as dim, volume not as loud, etc). In theory, it's a great idea... moms get to enjoy a movie in the theater without having to worry about disrupting other paying customers. Today I met up with 5 friends from church and we all went to see "The Time Traveler's Wife". We ended up being practically the only people there. What a hoot! Not the movie, I mean, the movie was pretty depressing. But 6 babies playing together in the theater was priceless. And they all behaved much better than expected! I'm not sure we'll try it again any time soon, but it was definitely a fun experience.

Lydia, Avery, Sydney, Grace, and Jack

Grace and Avery fighting over Sydney's book. Can you feel the love?

Time to childproof the house!

Avery can't walk or crawl yet, but she has figured out that she can get to what she wants by rolling! This morning I set her down to play on her play gym and left the room for less than a minute (yes, even mommas have to pee now and then!). When I left she looked like this:

When I walked back into the room this is what I saw... Avery found a new toy:

That cord was safely tucked away underneath the entertainment center... or so I thought. Lesson learned! From now on I'll only leave her safely secured in the exersaucer or the bouncer seat or something I can strap her in to! It is so much fun to watch her explore... what a fun age this is! Although, I have a feeling Avery is going to start hearing the word "NO" a lot these days. Why do parents always have to ruin all the fun?!

The things we've handed down

I can't wait to watch Avery grow. I wonder what she'll be good at, what she'll struggle with, what she'll like and dislike... I wonder what traits she'll inherit from Erich and what she'll get from me. I hope she is patient like her Mommy. I hope she has her Daddy's sense of humor. And please Lord, let her have his metabolism!

My Dad handed down the love of music to me. He plays the guitar and sings just like James Taylor (which is probably why JT is my favorite!). And my mom helped encourage it in me through years of singing with me in the car on the way to and from school when I was a kid. And later, by tolerating hours of listening to me play the piano and the guitar (which wasn't always pleasant, I'm sure). I will love watching Avery's gifts and talents develop, no matter what they are. But selfishly, I hope and pray she has the music gene. Erich jokes that he can already tell she's going to have a beautiful voice because even her little cry is so sweet. No matter what she takes an interest in, music or not, I'm so excited to see who this little person turns out to be. The journey is so much fun...

So far our August has been busy, but very fun! Here are a few pictures of what we've been doing...

Grandma and Grandpa Kelley came up for a weekend visit. We enjoyed walking downtown to a street festival filled with all sorts of activities, music, and food. It was all free! Just one of the many reasons we love living in Perrysburg. There were also vendors selling all sorts of cute little girl things. Gma & Gpa couldn't resist buying that adorable little barrette in Avery's hair. You can't really see in the picture, but it has the letter "A" embroidered on it.

Avery laughed a Grandpa's silly faces

Grandma enjoyed feeding her rice cereal

Avery has enjoyed playing with her new friend, Grace, this summer. The mommy's have had a great time too!

Avery has been eating rice cereal for several weeks now and the doctor gave us the go ahead to start fruits and veggies. Here is a picture of Avery's first taste. We started with zucchini because I read that it was the easiest to digest (and because we had an over abundance of it from the garden!)

She liked it so much she licked the bowl clean!

This past weekend we headed to Stow to visit Nana, Papa, and Aunt Nikki... and to celebrate Erich's birthday (which is the 18th). Aunt Nikki made a delicious banana cake and authentic amish peanutbutter pie!

On Saturday afternoon we walked down the street to the park and enjoyed relaxing and listening to some bluegrass music.

Papa enjoying some Avery time

Playing with Aunt Nikki!

What we've been up to...

Just a few pictures of life at the Piland house over the past couple of weeks. Avery has been a very busy girl!

Picking huge vegetables out of the garden with Daddy

Making zucchini bread with Mommy (using said vegetables)

Sucking on her toes... all the time.

Chowing down on rice cereal. She caught on right away and now she even wants to hold the spoon herself.

Sleeping on her tummy. Once Avery started rolling over, she became such a wiggleworm that we had to stop swaddling her at bedtime. Now the instant we lay her down she flips right over onto her belly and puts her rear end straight up in the air. It's adorable! It does make me a little sad though, as it's just one more indicator that our little girl is no longer a tiny baby.

Here's a picture from a visit with our friends, Ben and Sara. As you can see, they are due to have a baby of their own any day now. How exciting! Avery thought Sara's belly made the perfect seat.

We got the exersaucer out and Avery loves it. It's so fun to watch her play with her toys now that she's a little more interactive. I have a feeling this will provide her with hours of entertainment!

When Erich saw this picture he laughed and said, "You have to put that one on the blog!". So, here it is. On the blog. Poor Avery.