The Dertiens Blog

Dear Avery,

You are now 15 weeks old.  It’s hard to believe!  We really can hardly remember what life was like before you arrived! 

Last week you continued to enjoy having books read to you.  You love the soft books with the crinkly pages, but are also starting to enjoy many of the story books now too.  When you play, you want to put everything in your mouth.  You aren’t coordinated enough to get everything you want in your mouth, but you are successful some of the time.  If you can’t get a toy in there, you put your hand in your mouth.  Your WHOLE hand in your mouth.  We are working on getting you to chew on teething toys or your paci instead.  Your grip has dramatically improved in the last few weeks.  You can hold onto our fingers so tightly!  Sometimes you grab mommy’s hair.  Now you’ll understand when you see pictures and I have my hair in a ponytail all the time!   

Daddy turned the movie Cars on to watch with you the other day.  He said that you got upset when the action died down in the movie.  He thought it was funny that you wanted it to be “go go go” all the time!

We went to see Grandma Cumings one day for a little while to visit.  Uncle Todd Chatman’s mommy passed away and went to heaven last week.  Grandpa and Grandma Dertien came to watch you so mommy and daddy could go be with Uncle Todd and Aunt Kristen and their family. 

We love you very much!

<3, Mommy & Daddy

Look at that grip!

Last night, I decided to try playing peek a boo with Avery while she was on her changing table.  Steve was quick to grab the camera.  I’ll let the video speak for itself!  Check it out by clicking:  Avery’s First Peek-a-boo  Isn’t she the cutest? 

-Alisa

I’ve decided that since I am not doing so well at keeping Avery’s baby book updated, I would use the blog as a sort of record of the happenings in her life.  Hope you all don’t mind! 

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Dear Avery, 

Last week you hit 14 weeks old.  Your daddy and I can’t believe how big you are!  Daddy is constantly amazed at how strong you are.  For weeks, you have been pulling yourself up just by holding our fingers.  You are pretty amazing!  Last week you enjoyed having daddy around since he traveled  to Korea for work the week before.  You really missed him!  You also had a pretty big development – you started sleeping in your crib!  I was hesitant to leave you in your room all alone, so I slept in your room for a couple nights to make sure you were okay.  Of course you were fine - I just needed to get used to not having you in our room!  You’ve been doing great at night, but you’ve also started taking naps in your crib.  This is huge since before last week, you took all of your naps while one of us held you. 

You have been gaining a lot of “independence”.  You are getting so much better at laying on your playmat and keeping yourself entertained (mom and dad can almost eat a meal without having to hold you!)  You also like your swing quite a bit.  You bat at the hanging toys and sometimes even coo and talk to them.  So cute! 

Last week you got to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Dertien when they stopped to visit.  Mommy and Daddy went out on a date (their first alone date since you were born) so Papa and Grandma Cumings came to watch you.  You fussed a bit, but then you spent time reading with them and likely singing songs (Grandma loves to sing to you).  When we came home, you were watching a hockey game with them.  (it was your first Red Wings game!)  We also went shopping with Kara.  You were so good! 

We love you very much!

<3, Mommy and Daddy

I’ve been so busy keeping the blog updated with posts about Avery, but I haven’t been so good at posting about Steve.  We had a nice weekend at home.  Steve took advantage of the great weather we had to get some final fall cleanup outside.  Case in point:

Although the weekend was very productive, there was time for lounging too.

Hope you also had a great weekend!!

-Alisa

So, I  am sitting here, again listening to the hum of the baby monitor.  I am thinking about how well Avery has been doing with her crib – both for naps and nighttime sleep.  I have to laugh at myself though.  For weeks I have been saying how she only wants to take naps sleeping in my arms.  Hmmm… really?  Is that the case?  Or did I just want her to take naps in my arms?  Not sure.  Probably the latter.  Maybe when I tried to put her down at naptime before, I didn’t do it “right” or didn’t give it a chance.  Either way, the little girl is growing up.  And she’s sleeping well in her crib.  It’s a good thing!

In other news, it’s a beautiful day here!  Not sure of the temperature, but I believe it’s in the 50’s.  Pretty great for November!!  Hope those of you here in Michigan are enjoying it too! 

-Alisa

As I write this post, I have the hum of the baby monitor close by.  That’s because my baby girl is sleeping in her bed.  That’s right folks… she is on her own.  She is about ready to move out and get her apartment, that’s what a big girl she is.  Okay, so I joke.  But it does feel like a huge step to have her: 1. Taking a nap somewhere other than in my lap and 2.  Sleeping on her own in her crib (she’s been in the pack & play in our room for bedtime since we brought her home – except for that one night when I got no sleep because I had the monitor to my ear all night, but that is another post).  

I certainly don’t want to risk waking her up by taking a photo to document the milestone, so I’ll share a few other pictures from this week with you.

For fun, here is where Avery is camping out at right now.

After Avery's bath earlier this week.

She loves to coo and talk to us when she is laying on her changing table

I interrupted her play time... she was grabbing at and talking to the animals

We hope you have a great weekend!

-Alisa

Avery and I did some running around today.  When we came home she (I) was so excited to see a special treat for a special day.  Avery received flowers from her daddy for her 3 month birthday.  The flowers are beautiful.  What a sweet daddy!  I find it absolutely touching seeing Steve as a dad.  He is very protective and loving.  Oh, and he’s a softy already.    Avery is very lucky to have such a wonderful daddy! 

And Steve and I are very lucky to have such a wonderful little girl!  She grows and changes continuously.  It is hard to even believe that she was born three months ago already.  And at the the same time, it seems like we’ve always had her. 

Happy 3 months Avery!!

I can’t resist having fun dressing our little girl.  This outfit came from Grandma Dertien and I have been waiting since June for Avery to wear it.  She’s transitioning to a bigger size now and I was so excited to put this one on her!  We didn’t even leave the house yesterday, so I had to for sure show off the outfit here.   

Apparently she drools alot!  We had to take her bib off though for pictures!

You may have noticed the spot on Avery’s forehead.  We thought it was a bruise at first – as though she had pinched herself.  Almost two weeks after we first spotted it, Avery had a doctor’s appointment.  The doctor informed us that this is a birthmark.  She said it will get bigger and then should go away.  We’ll see as time goes by, I suppose.

Today we went to church at Sparta Baptist.  Knowing Avery was going to meet some new people, we had to be sure she looked her best! It was the first time Avery wore this dress.  I really should have gotten it in a different size as it’s pretty springy, but she sure looked cute in it!

We enjoyed visiting the church and seeing people I haven’t seen for some time.  It was fun introducing Avery to them!  She was a very good girl.  Hope you all had a nice Sunday too! 

For friends and family that are not near us, we just want to remind you that we love you and miss you!!

-Alisa

I’ve never been a huge fan of Halloween.  It’s okay… I just don’t like seeing kids dressed up like witches, devils, and other less than desirable icons.  However, now that we have Avery, Halloween will likely be some part of our life from here out.  Since Avery is so young, we chose not to get her a costume.  But we couldn’t miss the opportunity to carve pumpkins. 

Step 1-  Steve and I prepared the templates. 

Step 2 – Steve could hardly miss the opportunity to use power tools! 

Step 3 – Steve got stuck with the gross job of cleaning out the pumpkin guts. 

Avery supervised the whole event.  (We had to be in the garage because it rained all day… I think I heard it was the rainiest October day on record).

The final result!  We decided to go with a Cinderella theme in honor of our own little Princess!  We chose the castle, Gus the mouse, and of course, Cinderella.

And here are our FOUR pumpkins together!    (I think it’s hilarious that the pumpkin is bigger than Avery!)

And because I can’t get enough… a couple more cute pictures of our girl in one of her Halloween shirts! 

Hope you all had a great Halloween!!

-Alisa