Let's talk car seats, shall we?

Avynlee is pretty big baby.  She has almost outgrown her infant carseat and is not quite 8 months old.  So, we need to start looking into getting her a new one.  She obviously still needs a 5 point harness and should probably stay rear facing.  I am debating between a convertible carseat and a high back booster with a 5 point harness.  The boosters I have looked into are foward facing only.  If I got a convertible one, would she just use the backless booster seat when she grows out of the convertible one?  I'm just wondering what others' experiences have been.  Any tips?

Easter 3

"Uh...Jen? Your title doesn't make sense. I'm pretty sure you haven't posted an Easter 1 or an Easter 2." Rather estute. Indeed I did not. But these are the pictures I managed to upload and scrapbook so, for now, that's what you're getting. "And...are you aware Easter was quite some time ago?" Ah, yes I am. But stupid school and work are crowding in on my all-important blog time, and thus, all posts are rather delayed.  And I know I'm crazy for having conversations with myself.

The week after Easter, we enjoyed another Easter extravaganza (you can thank me for not typing eggstravaganza) at the Howard home (Adam's family).  I love being outside, egg hunts, and excited children.  It was great.  Here are some adorable pictures my sister-in-law took because this joker had a dead camera battery.  I snagged a few cell phone shots but she has a fancy shmancy camera so hers are much better quality.

Aren't my nieces and nephew adorable?  My beautiful baby is smitten with them.  The secular celebration of Easter is the perfect holiday for my little bundle.  She loves being outside, crawling around on grass, picking up brightly colored prizes, and sucking on things.  Dumping plastic eggs out of her basket was a beloved activity for several weeks.

I hope all your Easters were as lovely as the 3 I enjoyed.  I also hope I one day post about the others!

7 Months

I have a lot of updating to do with many pictures.  We've had a series of spectacular weekends.  But I don't want to forget all the cute things this little 7 month old does.

- Avs has 3 teeth (as seen).
- She crawls like a champ, pulls herself up on everything, and is starting to cruise.
- She loves standing (even though she isn't the best at it) and walking in a walker or while holding hands.
- She can clearly say momma and papa.  Momma is usually reserved for when she is feeling needy (hungry, sad, tired).  She has said "I get it" "hello" "hi" "yeah" "yay!" ...possibly all by accident.  Who knows.
- She is getting better at waving goodbye.
- She can clap and loves to do it.  It's adorable.  We cheered for the marathoners (including her daddy) and she clapped and yelled.  It was so cute!
- Avs is a faker.  She fake cries and fake laughs but the funniest thing she can fake we just learned last night...she can fake cough.  She was coughing on her spit and her grandma and grandpa Howard said "Oohhh, poor baby!  You have a little cough!  Oh no"  Kind of sweet and dramatically...just giving her attention.  She thought it was excellent.  Then she coughed again (not sure if this one was fake or not) and got the same response.  Then she offered an obviously fake cough, got the same response, and continued 10 or 12 times until her fake "coughs" were just funny noises.  It was hilarious.  I really hope she doesn't always fake things for attention, but this time, it was pretty cute.
- Avynlee is a rock star sleeper.  When I put her in her crib, she holds out her arm (as if to brace herself) rolls onto her belly and tucks her face into her arms and goes to sleep.  I've tried making her sleep on her back, she won't do it.
- She likes to give hugs and kisses.
- She loves music.  She sits on my lap while I play the piano and sing and she'll pound the keys and sing as well.  She loves her baby piano too.
- Py loves being outside.  She like to crawl around on the grass and try to eat whatever she can get her hands on (dandelions, aeration balls, etc.).  Don't worry, I don't let her.
- Avynlee loves going to the park.  We take her on brunchnics most weekends.  She tolerates swinging with one of us but loves swinging my herself in the baby swing.  She can even pump.  She uses her whole upper body and rocks in foward and backward when she starts to slow down.  I was shocked the first time she did this in St. George (a post on that will come soon).  She also loves going down the slide on one of our laps.
- Avynlee is still a huge fan of swimming.  She loves watching other kids and squirming around in the water.  The way she wiggles, I'm sure she could propel herself forward...she won't be given the opportunity to find out for a little while though.
- Avynlee likes going to church because there are so many kids to watch.  She is quite irreverent however...and usually when she really ought to be quiet.  Luckily there are tons of noisey babies so she doesn't really bother anybody.  Unfortunately, part of church is during her morning nap time so she gets onry and fussy and we visit the mothers room, car, or home almost every week.
- Like most babies, her favorite things to play with aren't hers and aren't toys.

This little girl is the highlight of our lives.  We have had so much fun being her parents!

A late night procrastination

I should be studying. I'm distracted. Not really by anything in particular, mostly by my lack of desire to study.

My family is asleep. Do you miss your family when they're asleep? It seems silly, but I do. My husband is right next to me, sleeping soundly. But I want to nudge him and tell him something funny I just thought of. My baby is asleep (in an adorable little pile) in her room. I want to pick her up and cuddle her close to me kiss her chubby little cheeks. Pretty much whenever I put my baby down for a nap or for the night, I miss her instantly. Ridiculous? Maybe. But she is growing up so fast. I just want to cuddle her every second. I guess it's a good thing, really. I love them so much. Who would have thought I would grow up to be such a sap? Not me. But I'm the proudest sap around.

I've had some really great weekends with my little family. I'll post pictures one day. I'm just so grateful to have my supportive, funny, smart, super hot husband and my beautiful, cuddly, stubborn, clever little girl.

Random thought...today I was actually thinking I may have looked better pregnant than I do now...possible because I still look pregnant. If you're going to look pregnant, it's best if you actually are pregnant. I need to go to the gym. Badly. But a flabby, scarred body is so worth the amazing little bundle of miracle sleeping in the next room.

Fun springtime adventures

I sure talk about my baby a lot. She rocks my world. I can't help it.

We did get a chance to get away and go to a Jazz game last week. It was so great to spend some time together sans baby but we couldn't wait to get back to her. We're big fans of her.

We took Avynlee swimming at the Lehi Legacy Center. She loved it. And she looks adorable in her little, tiny swimsuit. I love that she isn't afraid of the water and loves to splash and swim. For this outing, I couldn't find my fat kid swimsuit (the racing suit I bought early in my pregnancy) so I had to settle for a racing suit I wore pre-preg. Bad news. I did manage to mush this flabby mess into the tight suit, but it looked dreadful. I really need to work out more.

Avynlee's sleeping has been really hit and miss. I blame her teeth. But who knows. She is brewing a 3rd.

She is a champ crawler and is getting really good at sitting and playing with things (not getting too excited and falling down). She has started to pull herself up on stuff but only pulls herself to a kneel usually.

She is still really clingy and now that she is more mobile she just follows me around as I try to get things done.

Avynlee is really chatty. Most of the time it's just babble. There has been a distinct "momma" for almost a month and "boppa" (papa) has been uttered in regard to Adam a few times in the past couple weeks. It's adorable. Usually she just makes random noise but I love that she is so chatty.

Avs things everything is funny/a game. The other day, my contacts were bugging me so I was wearing glasses which happens very rarely. She thought they were hilarious. She lets us brush her teeth everyday with no problems...because that too, is a game. We have a forehead scanner and she thinks it's so exciting to have her temperature checked. Adam was sick the other day and we whipped out the forehead scanner for him, but she got so excited to see it, she and I played with it for a bit first. It sure is handy that she finds joy in the menial and necessary tasks in life. And snap, the job's a game!

I made another cake. This time for a corporate event. Check it out if you like. There's a link on the right somewhere.

My brother get's home in 4 months. Four!!! I can't wait. Missions are long, man!

We took Avynlee to a park last week. She loved it. She crawled around and pulled at the grass and LOVED the slide (on my lap...we don't make our baby slide alone). I see many park outings in our future. Pictures were taken. I'll post them soonish.

Avynlee is completely fascinated by other children. Apparently she doesn't get out much. I thought Adam and I were pretty entertaining but whenever she sees children she gets so giggly and excited. It's adorable. And it makes me feel bad that I don't play date it up a bit more so she can socialize a bit.

I have to retake Anatomy because I took it more than 5 years ago and many PA schools I am interested in seem to think that anatomy has changed since then. It hasn't. I got the high score on my last test. Hurrah. (Note the lack of exclamation point there...I want to be done with school).

I'm super tired and my husband and baby are both sleeping soundly but for some reason I can't. Hate that.

This has just turned in to drivel. So I will do everyone a favor and re-attempt sleep. Wish me luck.