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

August is Almost Over!

Well, well, well. . . I'm finally back. So much to report so I'll just jump right in. First, thank goodness school has started! Katie's in her 3rd week and Avery just started this morning. She's going to a mother's day out program at a local church on Tu and Th from 9:30 - 2:30. Our regular schedule will be Eric dropping her off in the am and Aunt Debbie picking her up in the afternoon. I decided that I needed to drop her off at least the first morning so the ladies in her class got the right information; you all know I love Eric dearly, but can men really be relied upon to give accurate and complete information? I think not. So I drop off Avery and missed her so much even before I left the premises :( I love Debbie and can't think of a better person to take care of my little baby and genuinely appreciate all the help she's been, but the thought of Avery running to some person other than me when it's time to go home made me sad. But life's not fair. So anyway, Avery had a great first day: she slept, she played and she ate. I expected her to cry a little when it was time to me to go, but I don't think she even noticed me leaving. She was so cute just playing. She's jabbering alot! Lots of Mamamamama, dadadadadada, bababababa, etc. She's on the verge of walking; it can't be long before she will be unable to be corralled. You all need to make a trip up this way and lay eyes on her - we'd all love to see y'all!

Katie has started 5th grade! Man, do I feel old! She is riding the bus to and from school and coming home to get her chores and homework before Eric and I make it in. Typically, Eric will be here a couple of days and Debbie will pick her up and take her back to her house so Katie doesn't have to be by herself. Riding the bus and coming home like a "big girl" seemed like a great idea to Katie - she's been asking for it for several years now, but the idea is a little different from reality. When she calls me after she gets home, she's so lonesome and I receive no less than 1 call every 10 min or so. School is going ok for now, and she's doing a great job on getting her work done on her own at school and at home.

Katie says: My summer was great the only thing I would change is that summer would be longer. That does not mean I wanted to spend more time with my brothers. I do not exactly not want to spend time with them but I do not want to spend time with them if that makes sense? My time at Gran and PawPaw's was really fun. Church was fun everyday you got candy. Wednesday nights were slow, very slow. I had a really good friend whose name was Kaitlyn that I met at the Bee and Butterfly. She was crazy and fun just like me. Everyday we went swimming or bowling. Kaitlyn was really good at bowling, me, not so much. One time Gran made ice cream, home made ice cream! PawPaw and I had a bunch of donuts and ice cream - chocolate with chocolate syrup. I got to meet my second cousin, Jeanette and see Max and Jack. This one night Gran and I were babysitting Jared, Russell, Max and Jack. It was quite easy and we got to see a movie.

Can't upload anymore pictures, will try to add some in the next day or so.

Love and miss everyone!

K

Summer's Here!

Well, it's hard to believe that it's already June! This weekend we grilled out a couple of days and mulched our flower beds - for the most part. Let me explain - one of our neighbors was mulching their yard and had quite a bit left over. Since I've been "nagging" Eric (my quotes, not his) about needing to mulch our beds (so we aren't the only one's in the 'hood who haven't done something to improve their yard), Eric asked the neighbor what he was going to do with the unused mulch. Our kind neighbor offered us the rest of the mulch! So we had enough to do the bed between the front door and garage and about half the bed on the other side of the porch. I'm keeping my eyes open for someone else in the neighborhood to be mulching so we can finish the rest of our beds :P

Next Wednesday Avery will be 6 months old! She's fully mobile so we purchased a kiddie corral (it sounds so much better than "the pen"). It's pretty big and allows her to pull herself up and crawl around - Yep, you read that right, the prodigy is pulling herself up already. In the mornings we hear her talking and playing in her bed and usually by the time we're ready to get up she's standing in the bed, holding on to the rail and smiling, or crying if we waited too long to get her out. It won't be long before she's taking some steps - oh my word!!! She's also eating pretty well. The pediatrician says feed her fruits and yellow & orange veggies, but I'm also feeding her any other veggies that I can; I already see there's a preference for sweets, so I'm giving the less desirable foods ASAP. Hopefully, she will enjoy them later. She eats green beans and jars of food that are labeled "country vegetables" but she is no fan of peas. When you get ready to give her a bite if you tell her "bite" or "open up" she'll open her mouth and wait (but not for too long) for you to put the spoon in - It's sooo cute!

Katie is enjoying her summer, this week she's going to the Nature Center, Splash Country, the pool and the movies with her summer camp. She really enjoys playing around the neighborhood afterwards and generally comes home soaking wet from someone's wading pool or lawn sprinkler; today it was a water balloon fight. These sunset pictures were taken by Katie.

The boys should be here in a few more weeks; we're waiting to see if they are going to come one at a time. Lucas has been chosen in the first round draft to play in an All-Star baseball league this summer, so we're waiting to hear what the game schedule will be and when he'll be able to come. Jacob just qualified for his All-Star soccer league for the fall. Both boys are excited about their sports and visiting with their Dad.

I Katie Testament am so glad that school is O U T out believe it or not. I miss my friends but I will eventually get over it bedsides I will get enough of them next year. About Avery that is hard to describe loving her is hard when she is screaming her head off. It is easier when she is laughing. when is it not easy to love someone when they are laughing but not at you. I am loving you and missing you every second. I Have new friends in the neighborhood. Their names are Carly and Avery what a coincidence.

New Things

Well, guess what? I've decided to start a blog, I thought this might be an easier way for everyone to keep up with what the Testaments are doing. I guess I'll bring you up to speed to this point.

It's 10:00 pm and Katie is practicing her recorder - if I hear "Old Mac Donald" or "When the Saints Go Marching In" one more time I think I'll lose my mind! Do they make silencers or something for those things? This year her music class had "Recorder Karate" don't worry, it's not as dangerous as it sounds. The idea is that for each song the children learned, they would receive a belt to tie around their recorder. After memorizing and successfully playing the song in front of the class they earned their belt. Katie earned 5 belts, and developed a relationship with the recorder - it's something she does when there's nothing else that interests her. She wasn't able to learn "When the Saints Go Marching In" before school was out, but has been practicing for the past week and now has it down. Her 4th grade report card was wonderful! All A's and B's except for 1 C in PE for behavior; not too shabby in my opinion. She's going to Wallace day camp again this summer and seems to be pretty happy about it.

Avery is sleeping right now. She's been eating with a spoon for about 6 weeks. She does a good job with fruit (applesauce, pears, peaches, banannas) and most vegetables that we've tried (squash, sweet potatos, corn & carrots) although a fit is always thrown when it's carrot time :P. She enjoys blowing raspberrys between bites which makes feeding a challenge for both of us - obvious reasons for me, for Avery, often it lands in her eyes and nose! The last couple of feedings, I would say "bite" or "take a bite" and she opened her mouth and waited for me to put the spoon in. After the bite is swallowed, she blows raspberrys and I try to block it from hitting me, but as you can imagine, it goes everywhere! She is getting up on all 4s and rocking - I've been saying the last few days that she will be crawling any day now. I can see it coming, she just needs to put all the pieces together. She can sit by herself now unsupported for a few minutes, but then gets bored with it and "repositions" herself onto her tummy. From her tummy she gets into an almost sitting position - bottom on the floor, resting on one hand. She is growing so fast, it's hard to believe she's already 5 months old! Last night was her first bath in the kitchen sink, she needed one after dinner - I should've taken a picture of her mess - she was covered head to toe!

Ok, I guess that's enough for now. Keep checking back for more posts!

Love,

K