Excused Absence

Since it has been quite some time since the last blog entry, I thought I would share what, maybe it would be better to say who, has kept me away. Besides the obvious late nights of work, baseball games and practice, and just life in general.  Ladies and Gents, I present to you a few of the many antics of Miss Avery!  There is never a dull moment with this girl, and we LOVE it:)

First, there's climbing on the stroller while trying to act cute!



And of course, torturing your brother is essential.



Playing with your food (mashed potatoes) always makes for a good time.



Snacktime in the toy box.



Learning how to climb on the object that is blocking the stairs from which I'm being prevented from climbing.

Playing 'library' with big brother.

Getting stuck in our shirt while trying to undress after a nap (this happened multiple times that day)



Water therapy makes for a great day!

  

Enjoying the news, in the toy box (see the pattern)







Squeeze in my first pedicure.



Again with the climbing.



And of course, general cuteness:)



W-I-M-P

It's official, I've become a wimp.  Growing up in the UP and living Michigan, I used to LOVE winter and snow.  Now, not so much.  I think what I hate most about Indiana winters, is the snow doesn't stay, so you get used to seeing grass and warmer temperatures, and then one day you wake up and there's 6" of blowing and drifting snow on your back deck.

I'm over it, bring on spring.

What a difference a day makes

Lately Miss Avery has been a bit grumpy, she's working on some new teeth so she's not always her usual happy self.  Teeth hurting, runny nose, all that fun stuff.  So on Monday I get a text message from Richard that said her eye was bothering her, great here we go!

Sure enough, by the time I got home on Monday, the poor little monkeys eyes were so swollen and red, that she looked a bit like a drunk.  Trying to see out of the tiny little slit, because it clearly felt better for her to leave them closed.  And of course, it was after hours.  A call into the pediatricians office suggested we take her in.

So off to the immediate care center we went.  Luckily it wasn't busy at all.  And, of course by the time we got there, she was a teeny bit happier.  The doctor sees us.  Who I may add, definitely did not like her job.  She had to be the most unfriendly doctor I've ever encountered.  I was definitely not impressed with her at all.  So was thankful for a nice short visit.

We left with a diagnosis of a sinus infection and pink eye, and a prescription for some antibiotic eye drops and amoxicillan.  Avery fell asleep in the car about 1 minute after leaving the clinic.  And stayed asleep (which she's not the best car sleeper) through a trip (and kind of lengthy wait) to the pharmacy and the ride home.

With a dose of each med under her belt, and a good nights sleep behind her, she woke up the next day cranked up and ready to go.  What a change!!  My mother-in-law even asked what sort of 'hyper' meds we had been prescribed.  She was into everything that Tuesday morning.

And as of last night, there aren't too many signs of any infection left at all.  Her nose is still running a bit, but it certainly doesn't seem to phase her.

And the rest of us managed to avoid the pink eye too, thank goodness.

Normalcy

Or as close to it as possible I guess.  With all the holidays, turkey day, Avery's birthday, Christmas, and Logan's birthday, behind us, I'm hoping we can return to normal.  Whatever that is.

The snow is falling quite steadily outside,the drive in this morning was very slow, so I can't even imagine what tonight's commute will bring.  These Hoosiers just don't know what to do with 4 inches of snow.  And everyone is crying for spring already.  I think someone should tell them it's only the middle of January. *sigh*

Avery has officially conquered the stairs!  YIKES!!  And she's pretty quick at it too, little stinker.  Still working on walking though, but it won't be long before she's a full time feet walker.  I say feet walker, because she seems to have mastered walking on her knees!  She can walk if already standing, and Richard says she has stood without support a few times on her own.  Look out then!

Logan is a few weeks into basketball and seems to really be enjoying it, and has improved quite a bit just in a few weeks.  I also think he's glad to be back in school after the long break.  We're headed to the Children's Museum on Saturday with his best buddy Ethan to celebrate his birthday.  We decided to skip the big party this year.

And I am back on the Weight Watchers train.  Although it seems like I'm never really off of it.  I've struggled with my weight pretty much all of my adult life.  Well I shouldn't say struggle, it's been an all out battle.  I HATE the way I look and feel, yet just have no motivation to do much about it, ugh!  I've been a WW member again (for the 1000th time) for a few months now, but really haven't accomplished much.  I'll do good for a few weeks and then slack.  I haven't really gained any more weight, so I guess that's good.  But still frustrating.  My struggle is with exercise.  I despise, loathe, hate, whatever word you want to use, exercise.

I'm not a good sleeper, so getting up earlier in the morning is just not happening.  And I've been working some long hours and late night lately, so the last thing I want to do when I get home is exercise.  It's really been my biggest struggle.  I always have good intentions, just never works out.  I do fairly well with the eating right.  I love my fruits and veggies, and haven't been much of a junk eater.  So my downfall is the exercising.  And I have yet to find anything to kick my butt into gear.  So maybe now the blog will become my exercise journal, might help make me accountable.  Sounds good now, but we shall see.

Happy Birthday Logan!

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Happy Birthday Avery!

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Catch-up

Just a quick run down of the latest in the Gusty household.

Avery had her first Halloween experience, a rather chilly one at that.  She went dressed as a chicken (the same costume her brother wore for his first Halloween)  Logan went as Superman and took home quite a haul of candy.  I think there's still some in the cupboard.

November brought many ups and downs.  Miss Avery popped her first four teeth all in one weekend, and was quite miserable in the process.  Logan continues to love school, but has also picked up some attitude along the way.  He's doing excellent with his reading and writing, and seems to practice both every chance he gets.  He's always asking what things say, and is trying to sound things out.  It's such a neat thing to watch him learn.

Avery has become quite the trouble maker, and loves getting into everything she possibly can.  And knows when she's doing something she's not supposed to, because she laughs and crawls away in the other direction.  Yes, still crawling, but walking along everything.  Just doesn't want to work on the walking with help from mom or dad.  As soon as we grab her hands to walk with her, she plops down on her butt. 

Putting up the Christmas tree brought a whole new set of challenges, as now our tree has ornaments on the top 1/2 only, because unlike her brother, Avery is not afraid to 'get-in' the tree and reach what she wants.  So we will not be putting gifts under the tree ahead of time like usual.

The week of thanksgiving was hard around here.  The Monday before thanksgiving, Richard was let go at work.  Huge shocker, and definitely bad timing.  But he's doing okay with it now, and is enjoying his time home with the kids, and just about has the basement finished.  So now we'll just get through the holidays and wait for the interviews to start pouring in after the first :)

And as usual December has been crazy!  We had Logan's church Christmas program, school Christmas program, company Christmas party, choir and hand bell practices and performances, Logan has started basketball and has two practices this month.  We're going to see Wicked, Avery's 1st birthday and a trip up north after Christmas, which includes the  most exciting event of the month, my sister Joanna and Jeff are getting married, and Jamie and I are planning a co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party.  The events are a surprise, but we promise to behave:)

So that's it in a nutshell.  I'm hoping to get back to regular blogging after the holidays, as my grandpa is not very happy with me these days, and I don't want to lose my status as the favorite grandchild (love you grampy)

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic start to the new year!