Friends

You know how you can just tell when you have a really good friend?? The type of person that you know is such a blessing in your life... the type of person that is there through the good and bad, laughter and tears. I'm so fortunate to have people like this in my life and last night I got to hangout with one of my absolute favorites.  The Lohreys came to visit!!

When Matt and I first decided to move to Texas I was terrified. Like crying, throwing a fit, begging Matt not to make me go terrified.  I wanted no part of it.  I didn't want to live in Texas, I didn't want to move away from my family, I didn't want to take a chance on him coaching.  I acted like a two-year old and while I'm not proud of my actions when I think back to those few days there is one bright spot.  I got a call from someone I'd maybe talked to once or twice in my life. Brian's wife Lyndsey.  She called to say that she was excited for us to be living near her and Brian, that yes, she understood how hard things would be during the next year because she was currently living the same life.  But more than that her call told me, without a doubt, I had a friend in Texas. 

Sadly (for me, not for them) the Lohrey's moved away but they have been back to visit a few times and we always have a blast.  I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did last night.  And as an added bonus, Lindsay Thomas came to visit too!!

Avery and Kai were so cute together.  Kai was one exhausted kiddo but he was such a trooper... seriously, I was very impressed.

He showed her how to work the ball bopper.

He tried to help her get that crazy pink thing out of her hair.  I'm glad to see I've trained little miss well... she wasn't about to let him take her bow!

Okay, now they're ready to make up and be BFF's again

Doin' a little dancing

Can you say deer.in.headlights??

Get us out of here!!

I absolutely love this picture!! How cute are Kai and Avery staring at each other with love in their eyes!?!

We had to snap a picture with Lindsay Thomas and little baby GIRL Thomas!!  

What a fun night!! Lyndsey... please come back soon, I miss you already!!!

So close...

I'm not sure I'm ready for this but it seems Avery is so I better just learn to accept the fact that she is ALMOST walking!

PS - I am very proud of myself for figuring out how to upload a video!!  Now I just need to figure out how to rotate it :)

 

Daddy's Litle Girl

I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband who is also an amazing dad.  From the day Avery was born, Matt has been more helpful than I could have hoped, more loving than I could have dreamed and more patient than I could have expected.  I LOVE watching these two together.  She is his little mini-me, from her nose to her toes and I am so thankful for both of them. I don't know why God gave me such a wonderful family but I am so incredibly fortunate that he did.  Avery lights up every time she sees him.  He can always find a way to make her (and me) laugh.... we are two very lucky girls.

More wedding pictures

Miracles DO happen (just kidding stef)!! My sister finally sent out the rest of her wedding pictures and they are just so beautiful I had to post a few more :) 

Love this one of our whole family.  Another miracle that we are all looking at the camera, smiling, eyes open!

The "honorary" flower girl.  She was so cute in this little dress.  She was infatuated with the tulle!

Love this picture of the three of us... we almost got Avery to look at the camera.

Love this one too!! Ok, I'm going to stop telling you how much I love these because I think you get the point! ha!

The wedding party

Mr. and Mrs.

Okay, now I'm super homesick and wishing we could take a trip to Colorado this weekend. 
All photos courtesy of http://gregnoyesphotography.net/

Quarantine

We are on day 5 of fevers, snotty noses, rashes, etc.  I am SO ready for everyone to be healthy again!! After Avery's fever broke she broke out with a rash.  Poor little thing, it's just not fair for children to get this sick.  I called the doctor Monday morning to see what they recommended for the rash and she asked us to come in immediately.  Turns out Avery had a viral skin rash (not connected to the RSV), an ear infection and pink eye which she so kindly shared with me!!  Ugh... we are a mess!! 

Thankfully everyone seems to be on the mend, little miss is still kind of very fussy but hey, I can't really blame her.  After a quick to trip to see a general practitioner I'm on antibiotics too and can finally see out of my left eye again!! I haven't had pink eye since I was a child and it hit me hard!! I will spare you the details but the dr. told me it was one of the worst cases he has seen in awhile.  I was that lady wearing sunglasses inside on a cloudy day because I think people would have gotten up and moved away if they could have seen my eye. I know I sound like I'm being a little overly dramatic but if you saw me, you would agree. 

I'm ready for this to all just be a distant memory and for everyone to be healthy again.  I'm ready to get Avery out of the house and feel like I can go out without being gawked at.   We seem to be on the mend so God willing, I think our quarantine will be lifted tomorrow. 

This little girl seems to be a tad stir crazy (can you blame her?)...

RSV

Well, I'm afraid that I may just deserve the "worst mother of the year award".  Not really, but hindsight is always 20-20 and looking back on the last 24 hours I feel like I should have done things differently. 

I got home after Avery was already in bed, she had been in a good mood all day and went right to sleep.  Matt and I were getting ready for bed and one of us (if not both) always check on her before we turn off the lights. I was almost asleep when Matt came walking in with our little girl in his arms.  He said he peeked into her room and she was wide awake.  I rocked her for awhile and then put her back to bed, no problem.  Around midnight I heard her fussing on the monitor.  She wakes up during the night occasionally but 99% of the time she talks to herself for a minute or two and then falls back asleep.  I rarely even get out of bed to check on her because she's crashed before I even get to her room.  Well, last night she was a little louder than normal. It was different than her normal "talking" so I went in to check on her.  I picked her up and rocked her for awhile.  She felt really warm but all I thought was how it was hot in our house so she was probably just warm in her sleep sack and PJ's.  I took her out of the sleep sack and put her back to bed.  Didn't even give it a second thought. 

This morning she was grumpy but seemed okay.  I figured lack of sleep will make anyone (especially me) grumpy. Again, the thought NEVER even crossed my mind that something may be wrong. 

At about 11:00 this morning our daycare provider sent a text saying Avery had been fussy all morning and was running a fever of 101. Immediately my mind went back to last night and the fleeting thought of  wow, she feels really warm.... why didn't I consider that she may have a fever???? I guess she's been so healthy that I just don't think about it.

Matt immediately picked her up and we scheduled an appointment with her pediatrician.  We get there and while sitting in the waiting room, all I could think was why didn't I realize she was sick?? How could my "maternal instinct" fail me like this??? Ok, I know I'm over-reacting a bit but this is the first time she's ever been really sick and I feel AWFUL that I didn't realize what was happening.

Well, the nurse confirmed that yes she was running a very high fever, 103.2 to be exact.  They ran a few tests and one came back positive. RSV.  I had never even heard of this until last winter when a friend's little boy had it.  It just sounds awful.  Turns out it is fairly common but little babies and kiddos are highly susceptible to it and the fever can last quite awhile.

Thankfully our little girl is a trooper and doesn't seem to phased by it.  She still wants to play and get into everything within sight but she's a little more laid back than normal  and definitely requires more cuddling (the only bright spot to all of this).

I still just cannot believe that while I was rocking this little girl last night and thinking, gosh she is so hot, how did I not even consider that she may have a temp???  I guess this is just part of parenting, right?? You take each situation as it comes, learn from it and hope you do better the next time around.

Thankfully at this age there is no problem that a nice warm bath can't solve... I couldn't get a smile out of her but we had fun anyway...

What we've been up to...

March has been such a busy month so far, I feel like the days are all just running together.  The house is constantly messy, laundry is never done and work keeps piling up.  So.... the blog suffers.  I just haven't had much to say lately and Avery does her best to avoid the camera (I have dozens of great pictures of the back of her head though).  I feel like we've got so much going on, yet when I sit down to write about it I have nothing to say. That being said, I want to write SOMETHING each week, I know if I don't I will get out of the habit and before I know it I will feel like I have so much to catch up on that it will be too overwhelming of a task so I just won't do it.  Hmm... this may be why the house is such a mess and the laundry basket is overflowing.  I digress...

We've had some wonderful visitors/house guests the past few weeks.  Matt's mom came to stay with us twice in the past month. It was great to see her and have someone to help out with Avery.  She's been helping Matt and I with some very exciting projects (more about that later).

Thursday night we welcomed the cutest little house guest I think we've ever had.  Little miss Pippen is just the most darling golden retriever I have ever seen.  I could have kidnapped her and kept her forever.

Seriously, how can you not love this face... Look at those white eyelashes.  OMG.  Adorable.  Her and Cash were the best of friends and I know he misses her already.

Pippen wasn't the only cute house guest though... Last weekend our niece and nephew (and their sweet mamma) came up to stay.  I don't know who had more fun, Cash, Pippen, Avery, Emily or Grant.  I just love watching kids and puppies play together.  They are so innocent and sweet, it makes my heart happy.

Who wants to come visit next? Oh wait... the Lohreys will be here in a few weeks.  YAY!!!!!

Peek-a-boo

Last night Matt and I were sitting at the coffee table eating dinner. Yes, our dinner table is piled high with junk that needs to be put away so the past few nights dinner has been served at the coffee table.  Don't judge.  Avery was standing on the other side playing with the remote (or something she wasn't supposed to have).  She dropped it on the floor, bent down to pick it up and stood back up with a big ol' grin on her face.  So Matt and I clapped and told her good job.  It was like something clicked in her little mind, this time she purposely dropped down so she couldn't see us and popped back up, again, grinning ear to ear.  She was playing peek-a-boo with us!! She did it over and over, giggling and grinning the whole time.  cutest.thing.ever.  Gosh, I love this little girl!!

Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, she decided to play again tonight!! This time she got a little lazy though, she'd just bend down a little and wait for us to clap, smile and praise her.  Of course we obliged and I managed to grab my camera before she got bored/distracted. 

 

After we finished playing peek-a-boo little miss decided to show off a bit and stood up for awhile all by herself.  I guess I need to accept the fact that my baby isn't really a baby anymore... she's doing so many big girl things now.  Definitely feeling very conflicted about all of this.  On one hand, it makes this momma so proud to see my little girl learning and growing up but I sure wish she'd give me a little more snuggle time. 

10 Months!

Wow, even as I write this, I just cannot believe it is true.  Where did the last 10 months go?? Pumpkin, I cannot believe that you are getting so close to being a year old!  This past month FLEW by.  I guess it was a combination of February being a short month and the chaos of life but I feel like I was just writing about your nine month accomplishments.  If the next two months go by this fast I will be in big trouble.

I'm have a great time planning your big birthday bash!  I'm so excited that all of your family will be here to help us celebrate!! I have a sneaky suspicion that you will be walking before your birthday.  Last week I stood you up on your little push car and you started walking.  Your daddy and I were shocked!! You acted like you'd been doing it for months.  Walking up and down the hallway, sometimes only holding on to the car with one hand!! You smiled the whole time, I know you were so proud of yourself!! One day I'll figure out how to post videos on here and put this one up, it is so cute!!  You are also getting gaining more confidence when you're standing unassisted. You are quick to sit down if you get even the least bit concerned that you're going to fall but you will stand on your own for 10-15 seconds. 

We are weaning you off of pureed baby food and you LOVE table food!! This past month you've had cottage cheese, black beans, scrambled eggs, pasta, mango, green beans, meatballs and "mini sirloin burgers."  You love everything I give you and I love thinking of new foods to try!  You are still not interested in feeding yourself.  We're working on it but sweetie, you are being a little stubborn :).  You are down to three 8-oz bottles now.  You usually go to bed around 7:30-8:00 and have decided to become an early riser, waking at 6:30 most mornings.  For some reason the later I put you to bed, the earlier you get up.  Go figure. 

You absolutely love being outside and make a beeline for the back door anytime it is left open. You love playing in the dirt and have a new-found love of Cash's toy.  Poor Cash, he only has two toys compared to your dozens but you insist on trying to get his.  Luckily he loves you and doesn't mind sharing.

Last week Grandmother came up and the two of you spent all day Friday hanging out.  You smile every time you see her and I think she just may like you as much as you like her :)

You are super squirmy and will not sit still for even a second.  I tried for probably 30 minutes to get a good photo of you looking at the camera, sitting and smiling.  No luck.  Daddy even tried to help. 

Sweet girl, you are such a blessing and I cannot imagine my life without you.  I love you so much that sometimes I think my heart may burst. 

Love,

Mommy

Here are a few of my favorites from our attempted photo shoot...