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Yesterday we had one of Steve’s coworkers over for dinner. He was in town from Boston working at a client. He was kind enough to bring Avery a gift. Besides a snuggly, soft blanket, he brought Avery an elephant that plays music when you tug on it. So cute! Even better than how cute it is, Avery LOVES it! It even calms her down (sometimes) when she cries. Since we anticipate the elephant making many car trips with us, we named it. Okay, I named it. Her name is Ellie. Get it… Ellie the Elephant. I know… so creative.  Many thanks to Pranay for such a sweet gift!
Also, this week Avery has been sitting in her bumbo chair. She’s been loving sitting up and checking things out.
We’ve also noticed that Avery is drawn to the light and motion from the TV or from the laptop. We try to keep her from watching the TV or laptop, but if she’s cranky, we sometimes make an exception. The other night the exception came into play. I thought it was too cute not to capture.
And if you aren’t bored of Avery pictures yet, here is one more. I figured that her Grandmas would love to see her with a bow in her hair.
If you’re waiting for pictures of Avery with her pumpkin, check back in the next couple days. We plan to carve pumpkins tomorrow.
-Alisa
It is one of the most amazing things to see a child grow and develop. Part of me rejoices with every new “trick” Avery accomplishes. A small part of me is sad that my little girl is growing so quickly!
Just tonight, Avery was laying on her playmat. We have put her on the mat several times. So far, Steve and I have played with the toys trying to entice her to pay attention to them. Tonight was different though. She was watching the toys intently and started batting at them. So cute!
These pictures were taken of Avery on her playmat a couple weeks ago…
Hope you have a great week!
-Alisa
No, not New York City… the big apple at Robinette’s! Steve, Avery and I met Julie and her girls at Robinette’s yesterday for some fall fun. That place is great! And do I have to tell you about their donuts and cider? Delicious! I don’t think there is anything more fall to me than apple cider. Of course we had to commemorate the excursion with a family picture in front of that big apple!
It was very cold though, so you can see we really had to bundle up. Avery was too cute in her new hat and sweater coat! Check out those eyes peaking out!
Besides enjoying the apple cider and donuts, we picked out Avery’s first pumpkin. No pictures of her with her pumpkin yet (don’t worry, I am sure we’ll post one here when we do get one), but here are the daddy, mama, and baby pumpkins we chose.
By the time we took this picture, Avery was done with Robinette’s. Julie and the girls went on to take a hay ride. Maybe Avery will be up for that in a couple years!
Between the temperatures and the trip to Robinette’s, it really feels like fall is here!
-Alisa
Written Sunday, October 18:
At about 11:30 pm last night, I found out that yesterday was Sweetest Day. Avery and I received flowers from Steve earlier in the day and it still didn’t clue me in to the fact that it was a special day (I am lucky in that Steve is known to bring me flowers from time to time for no apparent reason.) Here are the gorgeous flowers he brought for me.
In addition, we had two sweet people willing to watch over our little one for a few hours while Steve and I were out and about. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Dertien! Avery had a great time!
Even though I didn’t know it was Sweetest Day (and yes, I know it’s a Hallmark ploy to sell more cards), it was truly a sweet day for the Dertiens!!
-Alisa
Avery is the most smiley when she first wakes up in the morning. Steve and I are not sure where she gets this since neither of us are particularly morning people. Even though Avery is smiling more and more, her smiles are still tough to catch by camera. We had some luck this week though, so I thought I would share them.
 Shes's blowing bubbles a lot now too.
Before having this little one, everyone told me to “rest up or “get sleep while you can”. They were not kidding! Avery is not a bad sleeper. In fact, we are so grateful that she has done as well as she has. However, sleep in those first few weeks was harder to come by than I imagined. Avery did not want to be put down, so we held her 24 hours a day! It didn’t make for restful sleep for us, that is for sure. She still likes to be held… a lot. However, several weeks ago, she got over being held at night. In fact, last night was the fourth night that she has slept through the night. It has been great! We are working on getting her to sleep on her own for her naps. That will take some time I think. However yesterday she fell asleep in her swing. This is unheard of in our house! She typically only sits in her swing or bouncy seat for a short time before she “asks” to be picked back up again. Here is a picture of her in her swing yesterday:
Of course, as much as I wish for her to sleep on her own, I know that I will dearly miss the opportunity to have my daughter sleep in my arms. It won’t be that long from now when kissing her in public won’t be allowed because it won’t be “cool”. Until then, I will enjoy all the cuddling and nap times!
-Alisa
This is my first attempt at blogging here at TheDertiens.com. Our original intent was to reformat the blog so we could keep everyone updated on our little peanut, Avery. But here we are 10 weeks after her birth with only one post about our girl. Shame on us! I plan to do better, so be sure to keep checking back!
Those last ten weeks have flown by. It’s amazing how much changed for us the instant she was born. We have enjoyed getting to know Avery and her wants/needs. She is a very good baby. She eats well, sleeps well, and she ummm, poos well! That’s really all they do at this point, right?!?! We love her to pieces!
Our little girl has come a long way from her start of 8 lbs 4 oz. Now at two months, she weighs in at 13 pounds even (ironic, I know). That puts her in the 95th percentile. Our little one is an overachiever already! Yesterday, she rolled over. It wasn’t technically the first time. She rolled over at about 6 weeks, but that may have been a fluke. She hasn’t repeated yesterday’s performance yet, but we are looking forward to seeing it happen again!
Since this blog is about The Dertiens and not just Avery, I’ll try to keep you updated on Steve and me too. Steve continues to work from home. This has been such a blessing as it allows him to see his little girl a bit throughout the day and allows him to help me out a more than if he worked outside the home. He does still travel, but not nearly the amount he traveled in the past. On average, it is about one week per month. Not too bad, especially if you consider he used to travel about 90-95% of the tim in the past. My employer went out of business earlier this year, so right now I am blessed to be able to stay at home with Avery.
Remember to check back. I will do my best to keep the blog much more up to date!!
Love, Alisa
As I started putting this blog together I wanted something that would have really good photoblog capabilities without being too complicated. I ultimately settled on using WordPress with the NexGen photogallery plugin. The NexGen gallery supports a very nice slideshow feature from a company called Cooliris (cooliris.com). When you view any of the photo albums you’re going to see a link just above the photos that says “View in Slideshow”. Overall it’s a nice feature because you can either view an individual photo by selecting a thumbnail on the page or in slideshow mode. I’ve tried this out in both Firefox and Internet Explorer and it appears to work pretty well. I’ve also tried this out on my iPhone and it also appears to work well on that platform with Safari too.
For those that are interested in a richer experience in viewing photos you should try the Cooliris viewer plugin. When you select the “View in Slideshow” link you’ll notice a link in the upper right corner that states “View in 3D”. When you select this you’ll be taken to the Cooliris website and it will prompt you to install the plugin. Once the plugin is installed, select the “View in Slideshow” link again and you can experience a really cool way to browse through photos. It will appear a lot like the multi touch album view on a iPod/iPhone allowing you to flip through a large number of photos easily. I’ve just started using this, but it appears to do a really good job at allowing you to browse photos from a number of different websites by just selecting the arrow glyph that will appear on photos when you hover over them.
Today Alisa and I took Avery to welcome Cpl. Nick Roush home. While Alisa and I did not know Cpl. Roush, we felt pretty compelled to pay our respects to him during the public processional that was made today from the Gerald Ford Airport to his hometown of Middleville, MI. He died Sunday August 16, 2009 in Herat, Afghanistan after a improvised explosive device exploded near his vehicle.
More information about Cpl. Roush can be found on the Wood TV website here: http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/gun_lake_region/Public_urged_to_honor_fallen_soldier
Today Avery had her first hiccups. They were too cute to not take a video of!
Avery – First Hiccups
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