Avery's First Trip to the Beach

When Avery was just 6 weeks old, we decided to brave taking her to the beach to celebrate Mother's Day! Dad had to stay behind and work, but thankfully, we have another beach trip coming up in June! We stayed just for 3 days at a small little cottage in Seaside. The beach was a little harder and less relaxing with an infant, but it was so much fun showing her the beach and so much better with her there :) Here are some pictures from our trip!

Easy Mother's Day Craft

The week before Mother's Day, my friend Jamie Grace, sent me this adorable craft and we decided to give it a go! It was a little harder than we thought...but well worth it!! I am so glad I captured Avery's precious little newborn hand and footprints to keep forever.

 Take a look and if you have a few extra hours one day, give it a try!

Ingredients and Instructions: (we tripled this recipe and were able to make about 12)

2 cups sifted flour
1 cup salt
1 cup water
Bake 3-4 hours at 200 degrees

The reason that this took us so long (over three days) is not only because of the baking time, but also because we were constantly soothing crying babies, changing diapers, feeding, etc...but here were our little craft helpers...we couldn't have done it without them (literally) =)

 First we started out mixing the ingredients-

 

Then we rolled the dough out into little circles. We used a cup, but a rolling pin would probably work better =) We then used the edge of a glass bowl to make them a perfect circle shape. I also decided to make some in heart shapes with a cookie cutter. You can use any cookie cutter for this as long as it is wide enough for their little hand/footprints!

After they were all cut out, it was time to get the babies in attempts to get their little hand and footprints on the dough...this was NOT easy! It definitely took two of us- one to hold the baby and the other to open up and press their hands and feet down. Be sure to press hard or you will not be able to see the indentions well!

Once they are all pressed, they are ready to bake! We increased the temperature from the 200 degrees to 250 degrees and it worked well. They need to bake for a full 3-4 hours!

Let them cool and they are ready to paint!! I chose light pink to match Avery's nursery and an ivory color for the ones we are giving our moms.

 

I ordered a burlap ribbon from Etsy to tie them up so they can hang on the wall. You can also get a plate display holder so they can be displayed without hanging as well! Ta-Da...the finished product!

Avery Monthly Update - 1 Month

1 Month?? Wow!! It seems like yesterday that we we're just bringing this little cutie home from the hospital! Time sure does fly...especially when you have a baby! We have learned to appreciate each passing day even more now that we have her. It makes me sad how fast time goes by, but at the same time, it makes me so happy to see her keep growing into a little person more and more every day.

Dear Avey,

You are already a month old!! This has by far been the best month of our life. (I am sure I will think that every month!) At your 1 month doctors appointment, you were 8lbs 11 oz (33 percentile) for weight and 22 inches (82 percentile for height)...tall and skinny ;) You do so well at the doctor...so happy and smiley. I was so sad when they gave you your 1 month shot today. You were all smiles until they stuck you and your eyes got so big...then came some tears. You only cried for about 20 seconds though then were happy again =) 

You have brought so much happiness and joy into our lives. I don't even know if it is possible to have a bad day with you in our life. We are constantly amazed by you. Even the smallest things you do bring a huge smile to our faces. You are the cutest little baby...so happy and SO expressive. You are always smiling and making the most precious little faces (see below). I wish I could know what goes on in that brain of yours =) You love just being held and played with. Our favorite time of day right now is just before bath time when we lay you down on the rug in your room and play with you. It's so fun to see you look at everything, make eye contact and smile at us! You have even started laughing a little bit (or more so squealing)! My absolute favorite thing (aside from kissing you) is when you fall asleep on my shoulder...I could just lay there with you for hours (seriously!) I will be so sad when you get too big to do this, so I am cherishing every second! Your dad still misses you so much everyday at work- I highly doubt this will ever change ;) He loves coming home to you and immediately taking you from me to hold and play with! You are still the BEST sleeper ever at night...we are going on our 12th night of 8+ hours of straight sleep. We can probably never repay you for this ;) Happy 1 Month my little bug and thank you so much for being you! We thank God for you every single day and that he chose us for you- we are so blessed to be your Mom and Dad. 

Love,
Mommy

Here are some pictures of you from the 4th week of your life!

Here are some faces that you made all within 5 minutes one night when we were playing with you this week =)