3

Since Avery's birthday is right around the corner I decided to do a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago to commemorate this 3 year milestone. I made the decision to do it myself because I feel I know her the very best and know how to capture her personality on film. It's also my joy to photograph her. So we just went out in the backyard and did it. I hope I don't regret later not taking her into the studio or paying a professional to do it. I always prefer outdoor pics to studio ones and Avery loves to be outside, so it seemed like the thing to do. And hey... the price was definitely right!

We used a couple of props that I would like to give credit for:
Avery's fab sparkly pink name sign(which unfortunately we broke during the shoot :/)was given to us by a sweet friend that I grew up with. My friend Angie Bailey has a business called GlitterPop. She makes lots of fun signs, bow holders, and other girly things. Her business is currently on hold and she's not taking orders, but hopefully will be again in the near future.
Avery's white baby grand piano was given to her for Christmas last year by her Aunt Alison, Uncle Alan & cousin Alex.
Avery's pink Converse Chuck's were a "starting preschool" present from Grandmommy & Papa.

Here are some pics from our little photo shoot. The two in my last post were also from this shoot.



























In just 2 days, our sweet Avery will be 3 years old!! This seems almost impossible. Where has the time gone?! I had absolutely no idea when I laid eyes on that sweet, tiny, 5 pound; 2 ounce bundle for the first time that she would become such a beautiful, joy filled, people and animal adoring, music loving, opinionated, passionate, dramatic, silly, fearless little girl who would undeniably steal her Mommy & Daddy's heart. Avery Grace... the first born of our hearts, our precious gift from the Lord, our Little Love, our baby girl, our sunshine, our daughter.

The Sweetest Face

Last week, Debra invited her readers to take close ups of their kids over the weekend. I didn't pick up the camera this weekend, but fortunately I had taken a few of Avery last week, so I'm posting those. Hope this isn't cheating Debra. :)

Everyday I have the joy of looking at this face....



The sweetest face I have ever seen.

Preschool Mom??!!

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and haven't had the time to add the pics and publish it...

9/7/10
Seriously, I have no idea how this happened, but I'm officially the mom of a preschooler! Lots of emotions are attached to that statement...excitement, sadness, fear, joy, anxiety, pride.. and the list goes on. I'm sure I'll have many posts on my processing of all of this.

Avery is going to preschool 2 days a week from 9-2 and her first day was last Friday. I had a few mini-meltdowns on the days leading up to Friday, but then in true Andi fashion, I pulled it together and put on the "I'm so excited!" face as soon as Avery's eyes opened that morning. We had a fun morning getting her stuff together and taking some pics. Brian was able to go into work late and went with us for the inaugural drop-off. I'm soooo glad he went with me! My husband is always a comfort to me when something big and nerve wracking is happening. He's also a heck of a lot calmer than me in all situations...which is just a nice way of saying he's not a spaz like me. Thank goodness!

We arrived at school and Avery was super excited. She looked precious of course with her backpack and lunch kit... Oh my, I'm still having a hard time believing that she's even old enough to have a backpack and lunch kit! As soon as the doors were opened, she sprinted down the hall to her classroom, went right in and didn't even look back. After a reminder from her teacher to tell us goodbye, she came over, gave us hugs and then waved and said, "bye-bye." Brian and I were shocked! Not that we wanted her to cry, but we were in awe of how great she did. We left the school (no... I didn't stay for the boo-hoo breakfast they were throwing for the mommies) and I was on my own for 5 hours! My first stop was Starbucks and then I ran some errands to keep my mind occupied. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I didn't cry!!! Can you believe it??!! Really.. I only teared up twice, no ugly cry.

At about 1:00, I started getting really excited to pick Avery up and hear all about her day. I forced myself to not pick her up early and got there right at 2:00. She was sitting in "circle time", when I got there and was so excited to see me! Her teacher told me she had a good day except for being "sad" at naptime. I guess that's preschool code for "she cried." :( This was really no surprise to me. I knew she would have a hard time with this part of the day, despite the super cute napmat we got her. She never naps well without knowing I'm nearby and her regular naptime is about 2 hrs later than the one at preschool. Other than being sad, her teacher said she did great and enjoyed playing with all her new friends most of all. (That's my sweet Avery... She'll pick people over objects anytime.) She seemed to be pretty enthusiastic about her day other than when she told me her school made her sad. I'm pretty sure she was trying to tell me about her naptime experience, but that of course was hard for me to hear. We were able to talk about school several times over the long weekend, so hopefully her return this week will be happy.

Here are a few fun pics from the first day. So grown up!!













Blog Update:
Avery has been attending school for 3 weeks and has done better each day! Her teacher says she's stopped crying at naptime and has gone pee pee on the potty! I think she really loves all the nonstop activity and being with the kids. She has been a little clingy in the mornings before school and a little hesitant to go, but never any crying and when she gets there she's fine. Last week she came home quoting a paraphrase of Luke 1:13... "Do not be afraid; your prayer has been heard." Such a blessing to my heart!! I loved hearing her speak God's word and even without prompting. I pray that He will give her a love for His word even now!

I have done pretty well with the preschool thing except for the 2nd day when I realized the novelty of the 1st day was gone and she was actually going to school on a regular basis. That day was hard and I couldn't wait to pick my baby up! Since then, I've been able to keep my days busy with errands and have even had the luxury of a couple of "grown up" lunches with friends. That has made it much easier. I know God has a purpose for my time away from Avery and I'm hoping to use it well.

My baby is growing up!!! She turns three in just 13 days! Preschool is definitely a big milestone and will be a season of change for us. Most of you know that I don't do change well. I usually resist and dig my heels in at first, but then eventually embrace it. This has certainly been no different. I'm sure my heels left huge prints and the drag marks are still going, but I'm getting there.:)