Eleven Months Old!

Your "Second Snow" began on the day after your 11-month birthday. (Your first was the day you were born!). Atlanta was blanketed with about five inches of snow, and the whole city came to a standstill. Daddy was off of work for a whole week! We fashioned a sled out of your whale bathtub and some rope and took you for a ride in the front yard. You looked at us like we were crazy. Daddy went out and got you some snow in a cup to eat - now that, you loved!

You had your first real illness this month - bronchiolitis. Runny nose, bad cough, wheezing. The doctor sent us home with a nebulizer and we gave you (or rather, tried to give you) four breathing treatments a day. You are a busy girl, though - you can't sit still for a 10-minute treatment! We resorted to giving them to you in the middle of the night, when you were sleeping and couldn't fight us! By your follow-up visit, you were all better and you weighed 19 pounds, 13 ounces.

For over a month now, we've been waiting for you to take your first steps. Apparently, you prefer to still zoom around on all fours. You love to crawl around to forbidden places (like the bathroom, the Dolinger's bedrooms and even the stairs) and you love it when we chase you (and you're actually pretty hard to catch). You got your first tooth while we were in California for Christmas - on December 29th, to be exact. Bottom row, on the left...but you are determined to keep us from admiring it, you turn your head back and forth when we try to catch a glimpse.

You say "mama" a lot more now (mainly when you are upset...thanks a lot!). You can say "ba" for bottle and we think you've tried to copy us when we call you a "good girl" - it comes out more like "guh guh", though. We are trying to teach you to give a high-five, blow a kiss and to hold up your finger to show how old you are (just in time for the big birthday!). You LOVE to organize and sort things, to remove and return items to a container. You enjoy playing with socks, pieces of paper, your Gordon train, your Bible and Mama's cell phone. You like to dance to the music and cruise along the furniture. You sleep with your bootie high in the air, and you give us the biggest hugs when we get you out of your crib after a nap! Here's hoping that by next month, we have a new home and a new bedroom for our little darling.

Baby's First Christmas...

For your first Christmas, we spent two weeks with all of our Beauchamp family in California. They were excited to see how much you'd grown since the summer! We flew into LAX airport after midnight our time, and finally got back to Grandpa & Grandma's house around 4:00 our time...whew, that was exhausting! You were a trooper and a great little "lap child" on the flight (albeit an extremely wiggly one).

When we arrived, it was raining and it didn't stop for a week. Many areas of the city were flooded, so we stayed close to home.

We had a fun time hanging out with Grandpa & Grandma, Great-Grandpa, Uncle Mark & Aunt Kelly, and your cousins Gavin, Abby & Austin! Gavin loved his little cousin...he was always holding you or hugging you, and telling you how cute you are! Abby wanted to help you do everything, and Austin liked playing cars with you, until you would crawl off and leave him!

On Monday, you and I got to join the rest of ladies for Aunt Ruby's birthday luncheon. You showed them how much you love to eat! The night before Christmas Eve, Grandma made cookies and we all sat around the dinner table and decorated them. So fun!

On Christmas Eve, all of Grandpa's family came over to celebrate. Everyone thought you were adorable and you loved the attention! Later that night, we opened our Christmas Eve pajamas from Grandpa & Grandma, and you also got a neat Glowworm.

Christmas Eve Pajamas!

The next morning, we all opened stockings and presents in the living room - there were gifts everywhere! From Mommy and Daddy, you got an animal puzzle, pink and purple toy cars, a toy cell phone, and a Gordon train. And lots of stocking stuffers, like new pacifiers, new spoons, pajamas, stuffed Santa, whale bath sponge, and more.

Uncle Mark, Aunt Kelly and the cousins got you pajamas and Dodgers booties! Grandpa & Grandma gave you your very own suitcase, a talking puppy, a book read by Grandma (so neat!), and several cute outfits. You had so much stuff we couldn't even fit it in our bags for the trip home!

Surrounded by gifts!

We had a delicious Christmas Dinner, prepared mostly by Grandma. Uncle Larry and Aunt Donna joined us, and we all ate around the pool table. :)

Helping Grandpa with the fire

Waiting on bath time

The outfit you wore at church (Gavin's old clothes!) after you had the worst diaper disaster of your life.

Girl cousins :)

Your first New Year's Eve! You woke up at 11:55 pm, so I brought you into the living room so you could join us for the countdown. I tried to give you a sip of sparkling apple juice, and you knocked the cup out of my hand and we were both covered in juice. Oh well, Happy New Year!

Ten Months Old!

Disclaimer: After you tried to take a swan dive out of this bathtub (and Mama barely caught you because you were so slippery), we put an end to bath time on the table top. Your ten-month birthday finds you as mischievous and curious as ever! You are so observant...strangers will often comment on how you look them over and study them. They say, "She doesn't miss a thing!"

You scrunch up your nose and eyes when you smile, and you are very loud when you're excited (and tired). Your nursery class teachers always comment on how enthusiastic you are. You love to go to class and never cry over being left.

You love to help Mama with various chores - especially laundry. You take everything out of my baskets...and you usually let me put it all back. Sometimes you even sort the laundry - socks over here in this pile, shirts over there. You will hand me an item, and I will say, "Thank you, Avery!" You are so pleased that you will find something else to hand me...and this continues for awhile.

We went to Daddy's class on his 30th birthday to have lunch with him. We even surprised him with a big birthday cake, so all of his students joined us in the celebration.

(at one time, this cake read, "Mr. Beauchamp is 30!")

Critiquing Dad's latest publication...

First time on Santa's lap! After about a minute, you became concerned.