Recent I Phone Pics

I'm trying to get up to date with the blog before Chloe arrives, so here are some summer pics from my phone- 

My mom and Steph took Avery and Sophia to the dog show.  The face painting was the icing on the cake :)

 

A little Diego computer game at the library

After my shower, Avery dressed up her Chloe doll with as many accessories as possible.

Poor girl was taken out by an ear infection.  I have never seen her so sad and pathetic.  This was day two when she was finally sitting up.

I had to make a sticker chart with TCBY as the prize to get her to take her ear drops.  I think it was worth it!

Ave always wants to take pictures with Grace.

One of the very few trips to the park this summer due to the heat- I'm pretty sure it was like 98 degrees at 6pm.

So lazy... and rotten.

Buzzles trip- a fav for both of us!

Special glasses that she made at church

Such a brave girl.  She "rock climbed" all the way to the top at the park.



Showers and Birthdays

This past Saturday was pretty busy but a lot of fun.  We were able to celebrate a lot of fun events with my favorite people.  I started the morning off by going with my mom to a shower to celebrate Tiffany and baby Logan.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from the shower but everything was so cute, and she got LOTS of fun and useful stuff for Logan.  I can't wait to meet the little guy!

 

That afternoon, we headed to Scott and Steph's house for Sophia's 2nd birthday party.  I remember so vividly going up to the hospital and visiting Sophie when she was born.  It's hard to believe that it's already been 2 years!

 

Cake time!

 

 

I think I say this every time Sophia and Ave are around each other, but they absolutely have the best time together.  In this picture, they were squeeling while jumping up and down and running around each other. 

 

Since Easter, Avery has been obsessed with pinatas so she was so excited to see a butterfly one at Sophie's house.



The girls were so ready to break it open.

Sophia was so dainty.

Ave was really proud of herself for using two hands.  She now was able to do a light hit instead of a tiny little tap like at Easter.

 



And then there was Samantha.  That girl had some power behind her swings.  We had to make sure everyone was out of the way because she was intense!

Success... after a little mutilation with a huge knife by Scott :)

After we left Sophia's birthday party, we went back to our part of town for another birthday party- Reagan's 1st!  We were a little late but I was so happy to make it for part of the party.  I still can't get over the fact that this sweet girl is already a year old.  She was absolutely loving all of the attention and it was so sweet to watch her get and play with girly gifts.

Bundtini for her smash cake.  What a lucky girl!

I think she liked it!

Celebrating 7 Years!

7 years ago (after 7 years of dating), Bill and I said our vows, had a great time at our reception, and were heading off for our honeymoom in Maui.  So much has changed since that day, and I don't think that I could have picked a more perfect person to go through this life with.  We have made it through both the great times and the not so great times and have grown so much.  Thankfully, Bill has managed to keep us both laughing throughout the process! 

Unfortunately, I had a meeting for church on our actual anniversary which meant that Bill walked into the house after work and I pretty much had to leave.  We ended up celebrating last Friday.  I was thankful that Chloe decided to stay put so we could get one more date night in.  My parents watched Avery while we went to Flemings for dinner followed by a little shopping at the mall and some TCBY to end out the night.  He sure knows the way to my heart!

 

 

I am so thankful for this man and so glad that God chose him for me! 

Pregnancy Update

Today, I had both an ultrasound and my 36 week checkup.  With Avery, I continuously measured small at each appointment and had 2 ultrasounds at 35 1/2 and 38 weeks.  This time around, I have measured perfectly each week until my 34 week appointment.  I was 2 weeks behind so my doctor went ahead and ordered an ultrasound to check her size.  She wasn't worried at all about it, but she said that she really liked having 36 week ultrasounds done if there is any reason whatsoever. 

 

I remember doing some crying and worrying after this ultrasound with Avery.  I had it done at around 35 1/2 weeks, and they estimated her weight at 4 lbs. 12 oz.  This was the size of the average 33-34 week baby so they were worried she wasn't growing properly.  Obviously, it turned out fine but I went into this ultrasound expecting another small baby.  Bill and I were just hoping for over 5 lbs.  When Mohamed (our ultrasound tech for the gender reveal for Ave) checked today, Chloe's weight is estimated at 5 lbs 15 oz which is right on for a 36 week old baby.  I don't know why this was such a shock to me, but I was really surprised that there was a normal sized baby in there!  I'm so curious to see how much she will weigh at delivery.  He also said that she has lots of hair just like Avery.

 

After the ultrasound, we headed up to Dr. Hampton's office.  I had my first cervical exam- I figure that I can write about this since I'm pretty sure no males read this blog!  Mohamed had mentioned that her head was really low.  Dr. Hampton said that this was definitely true and that I am 4 cm dilated already!  I'm not going to assume that I'll go into labor tomorrow since I was 3 cm with Avery for 4 weeks and then had to be induced but it did make me feel like I need to get a little more prepared.  I would love to go into labor on my own this time.  It's such a strange and exciting thing not knowing when this little one will be here!

 

This pregnancy has really gone pretty smoothly once I got past the first trimester.  There are so many times that I am just in awe that I am pregnant and that there is a baby wiggling around inside of me.  I have, though, had a couple of complaints which I feel guilty even thinking about since this pregnancy is such a blessing.  Since around 25ish weeks, I have felt a ton of pressure probably because I carry so low.  Also for this same reason, I have had these lovely spider and vericose veins.  They are quite unattractive but they also make my legs ache all the time.  I have to put my legs up a lot to help with this.  The reason I mention this is because Avery has somehow learned about them (even though I really don't remember ever talking about them in front of her).

 

"Mommy, how are your spider veins feeling?  I'm going to put on some bandaids for your boo boos."

 

 

While at HEB, she took off her shoes and put her feet up.  She then proceeded to say, "Mommy, I'm doing what you always do in the car!"

 

She really does notice everything that I do which is a little scary!  Also, the fact that a 3 year old knows what spider veins are is both depressing and funny at the same time. 

I could not be more thankful for our great appointments today.  The results were definitely answers to our prayers.  It's great to know that if she does come a little early then I won't have to worry about her being too small.  I am getting so excited and cannot wait to meet Chloe for the first time!

Avery's 1st Trip to the Dentist

About a week ago, I took Avery to the dentist for the first time.  She was really excited to go, and she did great!

 

Learning about all of the tools.

I'm pretty sure that I was the only parent there taking pictures but I couldn't miss out on ones like this!

She did so well!  I thought for sure that she would get scared during the cleaning but she was a champ.

Ave tells me frequently that she needs to get the "sugar bugs" off her teeth like they talked about there.  It was a great experience, and I'm happy to have that first time behind us!

Potty Training Ave

I never did a blog post about potty training and decided that I want to be able to remember how it all went down in a few years when I'm potty training Chloe. Lately, I've been looking back at old posts about Avery's birth and details about the first few months and it's nice to remember all the details. It's amazing how much I've forgotten!

Last Fall, I checked out a book about potty training from the library and bought a small potty for Avery to get familiar with. In October, I decided to give it a shot. The book said to prepare to stay home for a few days straight. I had just had my D&C and figured that I would be staying around the house anyways and should give it a try.

Loading up with juices and activities

It took all of one afternoon for me to realize that #1 Ave was not ready and #2 Potty training (a frustrating task) was best not done right after an extremely emotional and trying time in life. So, we let it go for several more months. Every once in a while she would want to go on the potty but it was not often and I didn't push it.

Over Spring Break in March, I decided to give it a go again. I was definitely not looking forward to it but figured that a week at home would be good timing. Avery was much more into this time. We made sticker charts, took the potty around with us in the car when we went places, and gave it our best try.

Avery spent A LOT of time in shirts and panties over the course of the week.



Doing some "gymnastics"

I really tried to keep her in panties for the majority of the time but if we had to go somewhere like church or on a longer errand, she would wear pull ups. She would also wear pull ups for naps and nighttime diapers at night.

 

There were lots of accidents in the first few days. Honestly, I started to think that she didn't really care when she had an accident. She would always go to the bathroom if I made her go, but would not tell us that she needed to go until it was too late. One strange thing about her accidents was that she never had one in a public place. It was like she knew better than to do that but if we were at home, you just never knew what you were going to get! Since it's been a while since we did this, I don't remember all the specifics but I do remember that it was not an enjoyable experience!

 

The rule for potty training at school was that they had to wear pull ups until they could manage to stay dry. Over the next few weeks, the accidents decreased drastically and she got a lot better at it. Ave was wearing panties all day except for naps but would have to wear pull ups at school. This is where our problem was. I think she was scared of the bigger potty at school and going with someone other than me. Some days she would go at school and other days she wouldn't. She would do great all weekend long but after half a day at school in pull ups, she would frequently have an accident at home that afternoon. One of Ave's sweet teachers left for maternity leave in April and they had someone different pretty often in the classroom so this may have added to the difficulty of going at school.

 

Once summer started, she was fully potty trained and I could feel my sanity returning. We dropped the pull ups during naptime sometime around then (mid May?) and dropped the nighttime diapers a little before her 3rd birthday. Thankfully, she has never wet her bed at night. At least that was an easy transition!







I really dreaded potty training and am honestly so glad it's over. I think it was my least favorite milestone to conquer- everything else seemed pretty easy. It's strange how getting a child to go to the bathroom can make you feel like you have done some amazing task! Oh, how my life has changed over the years! Now my girl is a potty champ, and I love being diaper free...even if it is only for one more month :). 

Mini Family Vaca

Bill and I wanted to take a little vacation before our family of 3 got larger.  We've never taken Avery on a trip with just us before and thought now would be the perfect time.  We wanted to stay someplace relatively close to home so we decided on a Galveston/ Moody Gardens trip. 

 

First stop... Cracker Barrel- my favorite vacation restaurant!

My girl and me.  She put her arm around my back to pose for the picture and it made my heart melt.  She is getting too big!

Ave told us that she wanted to eat pancakes on the trip.  Cracker Barrel was the perfect spot to make that happen!  Little did she know that it would be larger than her head.

 

We drove straight to Moody Gardens since we couldn't check into the hotel yet.  Ave was fascinated with the pyramids and even told a checkout lady at Target (when we were grabbing some bug spray) all about them.  We decided to go to the aquarium first.

 



Posing in front of the seals.  While on this trip, I learned that Avery very rarely looks at the camera.  Most of the time she looks to the left.  Not sure why!

 

After the aquarium, we saw a 3D IMAX show.  It was kind of a bust so we only stayed about 30 minutes.  Since when are all the IMAX shows animated?

 

 

After lunch, we went to the Discovery Pyramid.  We had no intentions on going there but we saw a big day care group going into the Rainforest Pyramid so we needed to stall a bit.  It turned out to be lots of fun for Avery.  There were tons of instruments she could play, and she ended up really liking it!

 



Taking a bow after her masterpiece on the piano.

After some time had passed, we ventured over to our last spot, the Rainforest Pyramid.  It turned out to be our least favorite.  Avery was really hoping to see butterflies but there was only maybe one or two flying around. 

 



This made up for the lack of butterflies- a bunch of chrysalises.  Some butterflies were breaking free and she loved watching them!

 



Having some down time in the hotel before going to dinner that night.

 

There was a Rainforest Cafe pretty close to our hotel so we went there for dinner that night. Ave loved the surroundings and all the animal sounds.



Pretending to be an elephant

  

 

Some yummy dessert after dinner.

The next morning, we went to the beach bright and early
 

Flying a kite with Daddy

 

The last time we were at the beach, Ave wasn't even 2 yet.  She was not a fan of the water or the sand.  This time was a completely different story.
 

A little timid at first

 

Getting braver!

 

 We built some sandcastles and then went back to the hotel pool.  I am not a fan of oceans unless I can see through clear water.  This obviously is not the case in Galveston so our stay at the beach was not very long!
 

 



 



Loving the pool!



Although the trip was quick, we all had a really great time and made some sweet memories with our family of three.  Avery talked about how much fun her vacation was the whole time so it made me really excited about taking more family trips in the future!