Crawling!

Avery has abandoned her signature inchworm move and is really crawling now. Yes Nana Piland and Grandma Kelley, we are aware that she could poke her eye out if she fell on that toothbrush. We promise we won't let her run with scissors when she's older. As much as I keep trying to push the teddy bear on her, the toothbrush is currently her favorite companion.

Playing in the leaves

One of the best parts of Jen's visit was when we went down the street to our favorite park and took advantage of the beautiful Fall scenery. Jen graciously put her photography skills to work and took some incredible pictures of Avery for us. She did a great job of capturing Avery's sweet and precious personality. Don't you just want to eat her up??

A special visitor

Last week my dear sweet friend, Jen, flew in from Austin, TX to spend the week with us. While I was thrilled to get to spend time with one of my favorite people, I would be kidding myself to think that Jen really came to see me. I can't complain one bit about the fact that little Miss Avery was the center of attention during Jen's stay here. Introducing my daughter to one of my oldest and truest friends just about made my heart burst with pride. I loved getting to show her off and I especially loved watching "Aunt Jen" and Avery bond over the course of her 5 day stay. Although I wanted to entertain Jen and show her all the sites of Toledo like she did for me when I visited her in Austin last year, I quickly realized that Toledo doesn't have a lot of sites to see. Also, life with a baby makes taking off to do exciting things a little more difficult. So instead, we stayed put and didn't do much of anything. It was just a normal week in the life of the Pilands and Jen jumped right in... helping with meal time, bath time, nap time, play time and everything in between. I just can't explain how wonderful it was to have her here or how sad I was to see her go. My friendship with Jen has proven time and time again that distance and time apart are not barriers to how close two hearts can become. I'm so grateful for her and can't wait for Avery to know her more. Feel free to check out Jen's blog for more pictures and her sweet thoughts on her visit to Perrysburg.

So my dear sweet friend Jen is in town for the week and although I would love to write a huge post and show you tons of pictures of what we've been up to, this momma has got to go to bed. So for now, I invite you to hop over to Jen's blog and let her show you tons of pictures of what we've been up to instead. More to come later...

Swim Time!

For the past several weeks, Avery and I have been participating in a "Mommy & Me" swim class at the YMCA. It's been a fun way to get Avery used to the water and spend time with other moms and babies.

with our friends Lindsey and Grace

practicing "backfloating"... Avery's favorite part

Playing games with the rest of the group

Daddy was at the Y working out and stopped in for a quick hello. I think Avery was cold!

Avery and Asher

We had a great visit with the Martins and Avery's new friend Asher on Thursday night. At nearly 2 months old, Asher is such a sweet little bundle! Avery was very intrigued by the little guy and chose to show her affection by giving him a nice scratch on the head... oops! (We're still working on being "gentle") Many dear friends are having babies and it's so fun to meet the new little lives that God has created. Avery will have no shortage of playmates!