Monday, August 29, 2011

First Cake

On Avery's actual birthday we had both of our parents and my brother who was in town come over for dinner and had a family celebration for Avery's 1st birthday. I made an eggplant lasagna, along with a yummy salad. And we followed that up with of course, cake! Or in Avery's case, a large cupcake.

She wasn't quite sure what to think of the cake. She definitely took her time with it.

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But after that first bite, she was all over it. A sweet tooth just like her mom and dad! And brother.

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I of course didn't let her eat all of it, but took most of it away after 5 minutes or so. And thankfully she went down for bed that night, no problem, just a little later than normally.

Over the weekend we had a small birthday party for her, one I get those pictures edited, I'll do a recap of it. Let's just say I had a lot of fun planning for it.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Avery - 12 Months = 1 Year

Our baby girl is 1 year old today!! Happy Birthday Sweet Avery Rose! Daddy, Mommy, and Cohen love you so very much!

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Our little pistol firecracker is keeping us on our toes. Well, our feet, because all she wants to do is walk around while holding onto our fingers. She is pretty happy pushing her push toy that helps her walk and she is even taking steps all on her own, with the count at 9 steps!!

She is the pickiest of eaters, but I'm glad she is still eating, it just means I have to dirty more pots to make food for her.

Avery likes to make a kissy face and show it off to everyone. It is too adorable. She still has a fiery personality and will hit you, yell at you, or just about anything to let you know she is not happy. We are working on that. But I think it is going to be a long road. A long tough road.

She is still very loving and fun. She loves to climb everything but hasn't quite figured out how to get down. She loves to be on the couch or bed and just crawl around it and stand on it and sit like a big girl.

Avery has 8 teeth. Her hair is getting longer. She loves to flip through books and leave them open lying on the floor.

We love her and couldn't feel any more blessed that God put her into our family.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Vegetarian-Vegan- Gluten Free

Well, today is the day. The day I start my new even healthier eating.

First of all, let's start at the beginning. I have always been a healthy eater. As a kid we rarely ever went out to eat, we always ate at home. My mom wasn't much of a cook, so a lot of the time we had the same things. But it was good healthy food. My parents never had soda in the house and rarely any cookies/cake/ice cream. Those were all treats for when we did go out to eat. In high school I gave up soda completely. I wouldn't even order it at a restaurant. I would just have a water and it is still like that to this day. Although occasionally I would go for a glass of wine. But lately not even that, not since getting pregnant with Cohen, my tolerance is very low. I cook almost every night. We have often implemented new things, such as Homemade pizza on Tuesdays and a new recipe once a week. But the new recipes weren't happening and we were eating the same thing over and over again. I fell into a rut and I hated it. And I don't think Jason cared for it either. Although he didn't really say anything. I knew how he felt. We both love having new things. So the same rotation of food had gotten old, very old.

A while back after who really knows what I had started contemplating the idea of going Vegan or at least Vegetarian or Pecaterian. We have friends that are dairy free, some that are vegetarian, and some very health conscious friends and family, including Jay's mom and my dad. I was always hearing this and that about nutrition and the things that we put into our mouths. We finally watching Food, Inc. and I found some blogs and cookbooks, videos. So after a few months of debating with myself, I decided to take the plunge and today is the day!

Why today? Well, because the credit card rolled and I was able to go grocery shopping since our fridge and pantry were nearly empty. Seems like a good time to start.

And a side not, some other things that are getting me to this point: I still have 8 pounds of baby weight to lose and here we are nearly a year later, and my skin. I have always struggled with acne and it haunts me every day. So, I have heard this new way of eating should help clear up my skin and help it to "glow".

Also, Jason has no intentions of going Vegan or Vegetarian, so I will be cooking chicken a few times a week, but he will also be partaking in whatever I cook. I just can't cook two meals. I don't want to.

Now, I realize I am going to have to be a better meal planner, or really, will need to meal plan in general, but I'm excited about that. I'm excited to cook a new array of foods, new recipes, time in the kitchen. This won't be turning into a food blog, but I do plan to document this process.

Here is to a new me! A better me. The Me God has intended me to be.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Avery and her bouncer

Avery has rediscovered her bouncer. She will continually go up and down it, stand on it, slide down on it, and bounce on it. It is just way too cute.

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