Avery at 9 months

Here are some highlights for Avery at 9 months old (from May 25 - June 25)
Avery on our outing to the dinosaur museum. (May 27) She is such a great baby to do whatever we are doing and is always so easy when we are out and about!

Avery celebrated her very first Memorial Day, which meant a trip to Grandpa Boman's grave. This is the traditional picture there. (May 29)

Now that the swing set is up, (May 29) Avery is LOVING swinging and would do it all day if she could!

We spent our Memorial Day (May 31) swimming at the Webber's, which is kind of a tradition, it seems. It is a good kick off to summer. It wasn't warm enough for Avery to swim. She is like her mom and only likes WARM water...so she kicked it poolside with mom.

She loves her tongue!

She's just so cute!

Now that Avery has gone through most of the baby foods, we are starting to try some real food for her and she is loving it! This is her first time having a potato and she was in heaven! She demolished it and made a lovely mess, but she was one happy baby! (June 1)

We have also introduced Avery to the sippy cup and she does great with it! (June 2)I think she thought of it more as a toy at first, but she gets an occasional sip out and is doing better and better with it. Since she would never take a bottle really, we are just skipping straight to the sippy, which is kind of nice.

I don't know why, but I thought these pictures of her with her sippy just turned out so cute!

I love this face!!!

Here is Rylee being the cheerleader for Logan again at his soccer camp. (June 4) This is 36 weeks old. What a supportive little sister she is!

Avery made her first trip to the zoo! (June 5) It was a really fun day with Aunt Heather and cousin Ethan and she had so much fun. She didn't notice too many of the animals, but we had a good time. She did love the funny meerkats running around and she really liked the BIG elephant. Other than that, I don't know that she paid too much attention. She looked cute in her giraffe hat though.

Avery was also a good sport watching LOTS of swimming lessons this month. (June 7) For 2 whole weeks! She was great for the most part, as long as she had lots of treats to eat while she watched.

The good part about having swimming lessons, is that sometimes we got to stay and swim after and Avery really liked that part! (June 8) She had so much fun splashing in the water - especially in the kiddie pool. Yeah for summer!

Avery has discovered a new favorite toy! She LOVES Ry's Hokey Pokey Elmo (and also her Dancing Brobee). (June 12) These kind of toys terrified Logan and even Ry was pretty nervous and cautious of them, but Avery LOVES them. As soon as they start going, she is dancing and rocking and smiling. It is so cute! They could keep her busy all day! It is so funny to watch her rock out.

I think this little Miss is starting to look a bit mischievous...

Trying on some shades. I always think sunglasses on babies are hilarious for some reason. (June 12)

Cute sisters! Ry always asks if her and Avery can be matching. Luckily, I am fairly obsessed with dressing them alike and so they do match a lot of the time. I am hoping they will be good friends. Right now, I'm not sure that Avery is always such a fan of Rylee. She gets pretty nervous whenever Rylee comes around, probably because Rylee likes to boss her around and drag her or try and pick her up. I think at some point, Avery will start fighting back. However, Rylee can make her laugh harder than anyone else, too. (June 13)

Avery - 37 Weeks old (June 13)

This is Avery's funny crawling position - with one leg out! She tries to get moving, but she just gets stuck like this with one leg underneath and can't seem to get going. That is OK with me for now. (June 13)

More swinging just before bedtime! Avery loves being outside and we LOVE having a swing at home! (June 13)

This picture won't turn for some reason.... This is Avery on the LAST day of swimming lessons! She survived watching all that swimming! (June 17)

What a good sport to sit through 8 hours of watching swimming!

I love how babies can bend. I think the way her feet are up on the stroller in this picture is so funny. Can you sit like that?

This picture won't turn either. GRRR.... This is Avery enjoying her first Summerfest. We spent the day in the Art Yard letting the kids do some crafts and Avery just enjoyed being out and about. (June 17)

Avery celebrating her first Father's Day. She does LOVE her daddy, despite the picture. She just had a hard day at church. (June 20)

Up and ready to crawl! Can't believe we are to this stage already!!! She is SO close to going! She is moving backwards a lot but can't seem to get going forward, which makes her SO frustrated! She pushes with her hands and that makes her go backwards and she can't quite get her legs going, although she tries and kicks and kicks them, but doesn't go anywhere. (June 20)

Her funny crawling position with one leg out.

Avery and cousin Ethan are finally noticing each other. It is so fun to watch them together! Mostly they just try and grab each other's faces, but some day I hope they will be cute friends and cousins!

Such a happy baby! I love those big grins.

Pulling up - Avery is standing up to everything now, but not quite pulling herself up. She loves to be standing though and gets so happy if you put her up to things so she can stand. This is the day she took her first steps along the furniture. She took about 3. (June 20)

Avery enjoying her first world cup with Daddy. It is always a big event at our house! (June 23)

Avery is loving being able to eat her own food! (June 23) She is becoming quite independent. She is so happy when she can feed herself. Peas seem to be her very favorite and if I put a bunch of things down with peas, she will pick all the peas out first.

This is Avery's new favorite spot to hang out when I am working in the kitchen or getting dinner ready. (June 23) It is just the perfect height for her and she can stand there all by herself. She has been kind of grouchy lately because she wants to be so big, but just isn't yet. I set her here and she got SO excited and just stood there and bounced for a long time! The simple joys of life...

Avery standing up so big! NINE MONTHS OLD! Can you believe it??? (June 25)

My cute girls!!! And yes...they are matching again!

Here are some other things about Avery at nine months.

Avery is starting to really do better at night. She is sleeping through the night most of the time and will usually do at least 8 hours and doing great! She will even put herself down some of the time and is getting into a much better sleep routine. She is also starting to go to 2 naps a day sometimes, but she will still take 3 some of the time. They are not too long though. Usually not more than an hour or so.
Avery is becoming more vocal. She has started to say "mama" and is saying "da da" all the time, too. She can also say "da" for dog. It is a little different than the one she says for Dad. I actually think she said dog before mom. Sad!

Avery is becoming SO hard to feed! She only wants to do it herself, so I have to trick her to get food into her. I will hand her her own spoon, and then she is OK with me feeding her some of the time. She is doing really well with feeding herself and can pick up even the tiniest things and get them right into her mouth.

Avery has become SO busy!!! Up to this point, she has been so content to just hang out wherever and didn't mind just sitting somewhere and playing with something for a long time. Now, she has decided she wants to GO! Whenever I finish nursing her, she will push away from me and scoot herself down and climb down onto the ground. She wants to crawl so bad, but just can't quite get it, but she is getting closer every day. She can get on her hands and knees from sitting, but one leg always seems to get stuck and then she doesn't know where to go. She will end up on her tummy with her legs kicking and kicking and kicking but she won't get anywhere and that will make her so frustrated. She has finally started pushing with her arms a little, but just ends up going backwards, which only seems to add to her frustration. Poor baby! I'm sure she will figure it out soon enough.

She wants to be standing up all the time and loves it if I will stand her up to something. She is so close to pulling up, but hasn't quite got it figured out yet. Her favorite place to stand is next to the fridge in the kitchen. The lower bar on the freezer is the perfect size for her.

Avery loves her tongue and is always sticking it out. I think it is so cute! It is kind of pointy and she for some reason thinks it is hilarious to stick it out. She is also always smiling and happy and is getting more and more personality and a sense of humor and is laughing at so many things - even herself! She apparently thinks she is pretty funny! She also accidently clicked her tongue the other day and thought it was so great. She keeps trying and trying to do it again, but hasn't quite figured it out. She will occasionally make a sound, but can't do it all the time.

Avery LOVES music! Anytime anything with music comes on, she will start rocking and bouncing and doing her own little dance. It is cute. It makes her so happy! She also thinks it is so funny when mommy dances.

Avery loves going outside and especially loves her new swing. Whenever I even walk by the door, she gets excited and her legs start kicking. Or if I mention the swing, she gets excited and the legs start going again.

Avery has started to really enjoy some of her toys more. She has really started to pay attention and like her baby dolls and her stuffed animals. She seems to like to poke at their eyes and bite their faces. I guess she is starting to get some mothering instincts, huh? She has also discovered the magic of the tupperware cupboard and loves to pull EVERYTHING out while I am working in the kitchen. She loves it and I don't mind too much because it keeps her very active self very busy!

I think my baby is turning into a toddler!!! Sad!