Play

Growing up is hard work. It involves a lot of play. Sometimes, we have to learn to enjoy our activities while expending less energy. Avery is an example for us all.

On an upward slope

This is Marty; I'll claim this post since it may not fully represent the views of everyone represented by this blog. News in recent life... Headline: Avery pushed up her first tooth last Monday. Business: Amy has 13 days of Residency left, entire family counts down together. Sports: Volleyball and Kiteboarding seasons now open, low participation numbers seen thus far. Opinion: Parenting gets a whole lot better after 3 months.

So Avery remains the central fixture in life for us, just in case you haven't noticed the glut of pictures, videos, conversation content, and the like. The good news is that she gets to be more and more fun with each passing day. In early Avery days, I tried to convince myself how much fun having a baby in the house was. (It was fun, but in a 'this is new and novel' sort of way) We loved her all the same, but she had few ways to reciprocate. As the 3 month mark passed, plenty of things happened: Avery slept through the night, she smiled at us when we came and talked to her, she found her voice, tongue, feet, hands, and all sorts of other things. She also stopped crying so much for confoundingly mysterious reasons. Her facial expressions are now unendingly entertaining, she can throw her toys many body lengths away, and now we can see the dawn of 'learning' rather than just 'developing'. (Don't get excited; we know she learns all the time, I'm just commenting on the way it SEEMS) As she sits on her own (shakily) now, we are feeling the urgency in childproofing the condo. Crawling is only a few weeks away!!! So yes, things are moving quickly here, and we look forward to calmer days. I know there's some joke that would imply that our break arrives somewhere around retirement, but we'll keep our sights on the end of Residency, when Amy has 6 weeks off before starting a 3 day/week position, I'll be done with my college course (Cost Estimation and Financial Analysis... sounds fun, huh?) and only 4 credits away from my Master's Degree! God willing, we'll even resume recreational activities like exercising, kiteboarding, and other yuppie-like things. ( I think Starbucks might roll out a red carpet for our 'Welcome Back' party.) That's when you can expect us to return your call as well... nothing personal. So, such is life in a big nutshell. But a blog ain't a blog without some Avery pictures. Here ya go.