30 - and I don't look a day over 29 1/2

Can you believe I just turned 30 two days ago? Me neither, but I did. I had a difficult birthday - not because I was 30, but Avery decided to throw screaming tantrums in the middle of Target (during one of which, I found out I had work to do asap). Bummer. I went to dinner that night with Ashley, Diem, Alison, and our surprise guest Lindsey. It was great!

Then, yesterday, my mom hung out with Avery and I. We went to Gymboree, and then took Nit Noi to Melissa Bland (to see new baby Connor). We had a good time catching up - Avery was sure to play with (by play with, I mean stick in her mouth) all of Katie's toys. Seeing precious, little Connor sure makes me ready for another baby. Well, you can never be completely ready. But I'm getting there.

So tonight should be a blast. I'll be having dinner with my entire Houston family inlcuding Josh's (my cousin's 10 year boyfriend) family from Maryland. So excited!! Then we'll head over to Zula's for some food & drinks, and Venue for dancing. I'm gonna party like it's my 21st birthday. And I'll try my best to make it to work on Monday (I'm not as young as I used to be, Del).

I'll let you know how it turns out!

A Creepy Friday, the 13th

This has been a pretty good week. I'm still recovering from illness, but work has been good, and Avery is currently behaving...currently being the key word.

Today, I took Avery for her third hair cut at Cool Cuts 4 Kids. They are awesome. They have little cars that the kids sit in, right in front of a TV playing a DVD that the child selects. Avery was licking on a lollipop (between screams) while getting a five minute hair cut (they're fast).

Then we went to Gymboree where Avery did fairly well. We practiced going "up high" and "down low" today. We were supposed to eat lunch with Daddy, but Avery fell asleep as soon as her booty hit the carseat.

After her nap, she ate a late lunch (and brownies that I made), and we went to her day care for their Jell-O Valentine's Party. It was great - Avery didn't like the Jell-O, but she ate 20 or so grapes.

The creepy part was when we got out of our car to go into the day care, my car alarm (or panic alarm) started going off. No one made a sound; I wasn't pushing any buttons. It was an actual alarm (not the horn), and the hazard lights were flashing. What's odd is that I don't have a regular or panic alarm on my car. It's not new, either. I've had my Hyundai for over four years now - no alarm EVER. I have no idea where this came. If I hit the "lock" button on my remote, the alarm would stop, but it would go right back on in a few seconds. Haunted...

I came back out of the party expecting my car to be annoyingly going off, only to find it back to it's quiet self. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Nathan and I are really looking forward to Valentine's Day tomorrow. My mom's going to keep Avery overnight so Nathan and I can have a full evening to ourselves and not have to worry about her waking us at 6:30 am.

Happy V-DAY, everyone!

new words-to-date: night night, i'll get it, outside, snack, up, elmo

Sick Mommy & Daddy

This week has been draped in illness so far. Luckily just for Nathan and I; Avery's fine. Unfortunately, we're both searching for the energy to keep up with her. Hopefully a nice, relaxing weekend will get us back on track. Miss Avery is learning what seems like at least two new words per day. She's at a point where she can repeat single/double syllable words, so her vocabulary is growing exponentially. Avery's words to date: bubble, kitty, cat, cookie, cracker, mine (her new favorite word)