8 months old

Ava Grace turned 8 months old on Friday!! She is growing so fast and learning more everyday. I just wanted to share a few things that she has done within the last month. She is definitely talking all the time (ok..no comments from the peanut gallery!!) and saying sounds like "ba", "da", "ma", "na", "ga", "gu", "goo", etc. She even puts two sounds together sometimes like "babaya" or"mamada". Of course when she says "mama" or "dada", Tim and I get excited. We know that she isn't completely associating those words with us yet, but it is nice to hear them. Ava Grace is also on the move! No, she isn't crawling in the traditional sense, but she is scooting backwards on her tummy, spinning on her tummy, and scooting on her bottom. We are just waiting for the day that she takes off! We'll let you know when that actually happens!! She still eats everything in sight (or what we give her at least). Nanny (the sitter) gave her some canned peaches mashed up the other day and Ava Grace couldn't get enough! She is sleeping very well at night and is usually tired from all of the excitement at Nanny's house everyday. Ava Grace LOVES being outside which is a great thing since we are in the midst of baseball season. We have been to the park too and it is too funny to hear her laugh while in those bucket swings!! I know there is so much more that she has learned, but everything is escaping my mind right now.

We go back to Shriner's hospital in April and back to her pediatrician for her 9 month appt. in April, so we will keep you updated on the status of her hips and other progress.

Baseball and More Baseball

The Perry family had yet another busy weekend!! Our UNCA bulldogs played Charleston Southern University this past weekend in Charleston. This was our first conference series of the year and although it didn't turn out like we wanted it to, it was nice to be outside for the beautiful weather and spend time with Meme and Pop Pop. The bulldogs won 1 out of 3 games unfortunately. The 2 games that we lost we GAVE away. It was (and still is) truly frustrating, but hopefully we have learned from it and we are ready to play ECU this week.

The weather was absolutely incredible!! It was hard to believe that we were under about 5 inches of snow on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday and by the weekend along the coast of South Carolina is was almost 80 degrees!! We soaked up every bit of every day while at the ball field!! Ava Grace was a real trooper!! First of all she LOVES being outside, but she actually played and stayed awake for 18 innings of baseball on Saturday. I put her in a onesie and took her socks off. She is definitely going to be a sock less child (She gets that honest from her beach mommy)!! Meme had a blanket that we set on the ground and Ava Grace played for hours. She talked to the boys as they were on deck and cheered when we cheered. It was great!!

We also enjoyed hanging out with Meme and Pop Pop. Ava Grace smiles at them all of the time (but why wouldn't she - they are so much fun)!! Of course the weekend went by too quickly, but I am so glad that we had such fun and spent quality time with Meme and Pop Pop. We are looking forward to seeing them this weekend when they come to the game in Asheville.

Sorry I don't have any pictures from the weekend!! I know...shame on me!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke is 8 years old today!! It is so hard to believe, but we say that every year. He is growing up so fast - close to finishing 2nd grade and no more booster seat in the car!! :)
Luke, we are sorry that we are going to miss your birthday party this weekend. Have lots of fun and we'll see you really soon!! Happy Birthday!! We love you!!

Snow Day

Most of you probably know that we had snow yesterday and overnight in the mountains. It accumulated somewhere between 4 and 6 inches. It was so pretty watching it come down and playing in it today. Even though it has snowed here about 5 times this winter, this was the first snow that we have had the chance to take Ava Grace out to play. The other times someone was either sick or there wasn't enough to have fun. So, we dressed Ava Grace in one of her snow suits and took her outside. She attempted to eat some of the snow, but made the funniest face because it was too cold. She won't eat anything if it is too cold! We set her on a tray in the snow so we could take a picture of her. We got the picture as you can see, but what happened to her was too funny. As Tim put her on the tray, she flipped right over and face planted into the snow. Tim picked her up immediately and since he was laughing, she started laughing too. We tried to put her on the tray again (and we got the picture this time), but before we could pick her up, she face planted again. She didn't think it was too funny that time!! It was really cold outside (20 degrees), so we didn't stay long, but it was fun to watch Ava Grace react to the snow!

Orange IS my favorite color

Ava Grace decided that ORANGE was her favorite color!! Here is a picture of her eating carrots for lunch today. She ate so well that I decided to let her enjoy the plastic containers for a few minutes. As bad as it looks, she managed to keep all of the carrots on her face, in her hair, or on the tray. Well done, Ava Grace!

Thank you for keeping me warm, Cece!!

Ava Grace wanted to thank Cece for the bright blue, warm toboggan and mittens she made for her. They came in handy yesterday as we braved the weather to go to the UNCA baseball games. Ava Grace and I sat in the car most of the time and she was quite content with pulling each cd case out one by one and playing with her toys. We also played music and as I sang to her, she laughed at me. We actually had a great time hanging out in the car!! "Our boys" won the first game against Central Michigan, but were losing the 2nd game. The 2nd game had to be suspended due to darkness and due to the weather today (it is currently snowing very hard outside), that game was called and UNCA ended up losing it. We were so proud of their performances this weekend. It was much improved and I am hoping that all of the jitters are now gone!!

Thanks again to Cece for making Ava Grace's toboggan and mittens. (For all of you people reading this from the North, a toboggan is not a sled, it is a hat that you wear in cold weather. At least that is what Southerners call them!! Remember this conversation, Heather? Too funny!!).

Yeah Bulldogs!!

"Our boys" did it!! The UNCA baseball team won their first game of the season yesterday beating Central Michigan 12-4. It is truly a huge win since we have gotten off to a little bit of a rocky start. I'm really happy for Boagie (as we call him) since he is a senior pitcher. He was the unfortunate one who had to pitch in cold conditions against Virginia Tech last Friday for opening day. He also pitched yesterday and had a much better outing since he told me that he could "actually feel the ball today".
We have had several guys out all week sick with the stomach bug, but they are willing to play with every bit of strength they have. So, maybe everything is coming together now. I am so very proud and so very relieved to get one in the win column. We have 3 more games this weekend (depending on the rain and snow)...hopefully we will be victorious again!!