Nap time

When Avalon woke up from her morning nap yesterday, she looked like this! She seems to prefer to sleep on her stomach now and this time on her hand as well. At least she woke up with a smile! I’ll take this chance to note that she is also sleeping well at night; usually about 11-12 hours.

Picnic at Duke Gardens

On February 21st, Brian and Michelle promised their daughter Sophie, age 2, a picnic at the Duke Gardens. Although it was a bit cold, Camille and Avalon decided to go out and join them. It was actually pretty nice in the sun. We hung out, ate sandwiches and played in the grass. Sophie let Avalon play with her bouncy ball and she even went and fetched it for Avalon when it rolled away!

Swing away…not exactly

As we are going back through earlier pictures, we came across this picture of Avalon in her swing when she was about 3.5 months old. I couldn't resist posting the picture and telling the story of the swing that did not swing. Camille bought this swing at a consignment sale. It was cheap and looked like it was in really good condition. Only one problem, which Camille didn't realize until she had it home, it didn't really swing very good. Even so, Avalon enjoyed sitting in it, especially when we'd hang toys for her to bat at. So it did serve its purpose.

First Tooth - Happy Birthday Mom!

Avalon's first tooth broke through on Sunday, March 15. What a wonderful birthday present for her mom! Avalon spiked a fever of 102 on Saturday afternoon. Although she high a high temperature, she was still feeding well and playing. She was very tired though and slept really well through the night. On Sunday evening after her bath in her new pink tub (pictured above), Jarad checked again for a tooth, as every time she is fussy or has a fever Camille keeps saying maybe she is getting a tooth, and finally Camille was right! Although clearly the tooth is not easily visible, we can definitely feel the sharp edges poking through her gums. What excitement for the parents of a 7.5 month old!

It's been one week now since Avalon got her first tooth and her second one just broke through yesterday.

Apple banana carrot (alternatively: the alphabet song)

Some things in your child's life last for a brief moment in time. This is one those things. For maybe a month, signing and singing the alphabet song would entertain Avalon no matter how upset she might be. This came in extremely handy when I knew Camille was on her way home and Avalon was starving. I would repeatedly sign/sing the song for 15-20 minutes. Unfortunately as with all tricks that work for your kids it was fleeting. At least we have this video to remind us.

Assistant coach for Yale lacrosse visits!

Okay, so my cousin Graham is an assistant coach for the Yale lacrosse team. The team is in town for the week during their spring break to practice and play a game. We caught their game versus Duke this past Sunday. The picture above shows Graham (green arrow) working hard. At 6'5" he is quite the intimidating force on the sideline.


We liked this picture because Avalon and Graham have basically the same expression, I'm sure it's in the genes.


This was really the story of Graham and Avalon meeting. At the end of the lacrosse game when we said hi to Graham, Avalon was taking a nap. When he came over for dinner, she was taking a nap. When she woke up, she was crabby because she was tired. I guess she needs more sleep.

Stacking toy (alternatively: Go Duke!)

Avalon just loves this stacking toy. Primarily she loves taking the donuts off the post, throwing them as far as she can across the room, and then chewing away on the post. But hey, whatever makes her happy. Btw, big men's basketball game on Sunday: Duke @ UNC 4pm EST (or is it now EDT, I never have figured out how that works). Go Duke!

Not quite crawling yet.

It won't be long now, but Avalon is not quite crawling at the moment. Instead she has figured out an ingenious system of bucking bronco and flat lay-out (pictured) to move around and get to toys that were previously out of reach. In the bucking bronco, she is sitting upright and rocks back and forth as if she was riding a horse. Often she even has her hand in front of her as if she was holding the reins. Unfortunately we have yet to capture a good video of the situation since she is apparently camera-shy. She has perfected the flat lay-out to extend her body as much as possible. Typically she will have one foot still underneath her which then allows her to return to a sitting position. Once she gets this foot out of the way, we think crawling will follow shortly.