Chris remains unemployed, but we'll hang on for a bit longer thanks to a much larger tax refund than we expected. And once again, the Lord proves He knows better than I do -- I've been having some medical problems lately that would have made taking care of Averie on my own very difficult, so having Chris home all this time has actually been a wonderful blessing. We both have the feeling that once my problems are resolved, that that will be the time for Chris to get an offer of employment.
In happier news, I will be (finally) graduating this year! It's been a long time coming seeing as I started college in 2003. I owe the past eight years of school to multiple major changes and only attending classes part-time (while I worked full-time) for several semesters. It is a good feeling to be done. Now we can focus on expanding our family (once Chris is employed again) and getting Chris finished with his own degree.
Now for some Averie updates...
As of a couple weeks ago, Averie weighs 22 pounds 10 ounces. She's wearing 12 to 18 month clothes (which are quickly becoming too short, though they fit perfectly everywhere else) and size 4 diapers. She has tiny feet though -- she wears a size 3 with room to grow, when the "normal" size for her age would be a size 5!
Averie started walking shortly before her first birthday, but last week, she started running! The look on her face when she realized she could move faster was priceless. More fun for us, I suppose!
She is still not talking much and though I am concerned, full-blown mommy worrying has not kicked in yet. We read to her on a daily basis and narrate our activities to her so I know we are doing everything we can be doing right now to encourage her. And in my own reading and research, I found there is typically a big language explosion around 18 months so she still has some time.
Averie does understand a lot of words, so that makes communicating with her much easier. She knows "no" and "stop" (thank goodness! We use those a lot :P), "milk", "lunch", "cup", "keys", "diaper", "cheese", "book", "toys", "bath" (her favorite time of the day!) and a handful of others I can't remember. She waves when we say "bye-bye" and responds to "clap" and "dance" by doing so, or whenever she hears any music (even TV commercials, LOL). Body parts she knows are bellybutton, nose, mouth and hair.
She takes after Chris and I when it comes to being independent, too. Averie loves to do things on her own, especially feeding herself. Makes for some fun (albeit messy) mealtimes. She tries (mostly unsuccessfully) to put on her own hat and shoes and is a pro at taking them off :P. She even helps put away her toys at the end of each day by throwing them (literally, LOL) into her toy bins.
Averie LOVES cheese, playing peek-a-boo, Silly Songs with Larry (Veggie Tales), and her Uncle Tyler because he can throw her up in the air higher than anyone else :).
