Part 1

Avery
December 18 was her first birthday! By this milestone she has already been walking for 4 months! She is an accomplished climber – she will scale anything whether or not it’s nailed down. She’s getting sooo big! She’s beginning to say words like toy, Ellie (her security blanket), Debbie (Aunt Debbie watches her most days), Katie and of course, Mommy and Daddy. Daddy seems to be her favorite word and it always makes Daddy smile really big. She loves being outside – playing, walking, exploring just being outside! She loves wrestling around with her Daddy but when that goes too far she always goes running to Mama! In March the girls and I made a trip to Louisiana to visit with Gran & PawPaw, where Avery had beignets, Coke and Cheetos for the very first time. She loves to feed herself but hasn’t quite mastered the spoon or fork! She has also developed a love of red beans and rice and jambalaya. Avery weighs about 20 pounds and is 30 inches tall.

Part 2

Katie

Celebrated her 11th birthday on December 31. It's hard to believe that she will be in middle school next year! She is growing up so fast, I just hope I can keep up! For this last semester of school, Katie is one of 2 anchors on WAES - her school's news program. She is really excited about this activity and I know she's going to do a great job! Katie is a really good artist and enjoys doodling and drawing pictures for her friends and making art work for me.
Katie and Avery's relationship has begun to develop. For the longest time, Avery was not very interested in Katie (unless she had food) but lately, Avery has been very excited when she sees Katie, calls her name and always enjoys playing with her. Of course, Katie is thrilled with Avery's attention and I see them becoming friends and not just sisters. If Mommy's busy and Avery needs a hug, she's more willing to take one from Katie. Katie is great at helping with Avery - she does a great job feeding Avery and playing with her outside.

Eric & Kelly
In November, I took a trip to Roanoke to visit Ally. That's about the halfway point for both of us. I'm hoping to be able to make more trips to see her before she goes back to California. We spent the weekend there and had a really good time catching up. In February Eric and I celebrated our 5th anniversary and in January I hit the big 4-0! It's hard to believe that it's been just 5 years since we were married! He is such a great Daddy, I'm so glad I get to see him at his best! We have both gotten new jobs ~ I am now working a less stressful, non-sales job and am really enjoying it; this was just the change I needed. Eric has also started a new job and is still in sales, it's still fairly new so we'll see how it goes. . . Eric is going to see the boys later this month during their spring break, we haven't seen them since Christmas and I know that all 3 are ready for a little Father-Son time! During our girls trip to Louisiana in March, it was nice to be able to visit with Joelle and Holly, I just wish Ally would have been able to be there with us - maybe this summer a Bullock-boy reunion will happen. Joelle, Holly and I were also able to get together with family and friends from school over beignets, most of the school friends we hadn't seen since my graduation! I have been spending an ungodly amount of time on facebook (one of the perks of my new job) and have been able to reconnect with so many friends there who are from different stages of my life - it's been a lot of fun! It was so nice to see everyone and I'm hoping that I'll be able to make another trip down this summer only this time, stay for a little while longer - there are just too many people to catch up with to be able to see them all in 3 days! There are only 7 weeks left of school then summer will be here; hopefully by then we'll be counting down the days to our next visit!

Halloween

My Fair Lady Bugs & Eric!

She Climbs!

On several occasions Eric and I have found Avery standing on the coffee table drinking her juice. You ask how a 10 month old can get to the top of the coffee table. . .

<--- It starts like this

followed by this --->

Are you surprised to learn she might be a little spoiled?

Eric's mom showed me some pictures of him when he was Avery's age and they're identical!

Avery is beginning to sign; she can sign her version of eat and occasionally she'll sign more. She has repeated things we say like "no, no, no" and "uh oh" but she jabbers constantly! She is a lot of fun and I can't wait for everyone to be able to spend some time with all of us!

She's Mobile!

Well, the time has arrived: Avery is fully mobile. She's walking and getting into everything. For a while we had the living room blocked off with various furniture pieces and baby toys. These top pictures are a result of Avery crawling through the pillows that were stuffed in the open part of the toy on the left. Once she reached her destination of the basket that holds diapers and cloths, etc. she proceded to pull them all out and and examine each one with hands and mouth. She has become a little bulldozer - using her head to push through whatever is in her way. In the morning when Eric is ready to take Avery downstairs for her breakfast she will crawl over me and push the pillows and blankets out of her way with her head! Since this adventure, we've had to re-think how supplies, furniture and decor is placed in the living room. So far we've got it under control, but I'm certain that it's only a matter of time before we have to move to the next plan. Oh well, that's life with a young un', right?!

Here are a few pictures from Labor day. This wasn't Avery's first trip into the pool but the first one when I had a camera! She loves the water and can't seem to get enough of it.

First Things First