Week 15...daycare and dreaming

I can sit up all by myself! :)

We love this onesie from Papa and Nana D (especially since Avaree pooped twice the day she wore it! ha!).

holding her rattle!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (That is what her shirt says--hehe!)

Avaree and Daddy "working out" together! :)

Big girl in Mama and Daddy's bed on Saturday morning!! :) She's watching the fan/adoo!

This week was haaarrrd, but good. Let me explain: Avaree started daycare on Monday. When I say daycare, I must clarify that she is not in a daycare facility with lots of kiddos; rather she is with Mrs. Donna and three precious little kiddos that all love her dearly. Of course it was hard for Mommy to leave her baby, it really feels like Avaree is with family. If you know me; however, you know that even though that is better than other options, it is not my ideal. Monday I went through a myriad of emotions, including: "She won't understand." "Will she think I abandoned her?" "Will she think that I wanted to leave her?" "She doesn't have anything familiar around her." I stayed up most of the night Sunday night thinking about all these things and when I left her with Mrs. Donna on Monday morning she let me hold her as long as I needed to and just told me it would be okay. She also told me that I could call as many times as I needed to. :) She probably regrets that now... (just kidding, I only call once a day!) It certainly is taking some getting use to though. Daddy has to get up early and help us so that we can get out the door on time as it usually takes around 30 minutes to get there (except for Thursday morning when it took us one hour and 20 minutes b/c of the ice--eek!) so I try to feed Avaree at the last possible moment so that she can get more sleep and I can keep her schedule to where Mrs. Donna only feeds her twice before I get there. So...Daddy was invaluable this week (not that he isn't invaluable every week!) as he fed me breakfast while I was feeding Avaree and then he got her ready while I finished getting ready AND he made dinner every night. :) My sweet friends at school are so accustomed to me crying (especially on Monday mornings) that they just hold out there arms and that was helpful too, though nothing ever really fixes that ache inside. God bless Mrs. Donna and her sweet hands that hold my sweet baby when I can't. Thank you, Lord, for giving her to us!!

Anywho...(even though I teach my big kiddos that such a word is an inappropriate transition--ha), we made it and are so happy to be together for the weekend. Thank you, Lord, for the weekend. Can you imagine life without them? :) I hope you enjoy the pictures!

At 15 1/2 weeks, Avaree has begun the following: squealing (she loves to hear herself), holding on to objects (and my hair!!!) and standing up with all of her weight (on our laps of course!). We are pretty sure that she will bypass crawling and go straight to walking (or running, for that matter!)!