Happy 2 Month Birthday

You bring so much joy and happiness to mommy and daddy. Thank you for being such a happy baby! We love you and Happy 2 Month Birthday! ~Daddy and Mommy

Go Rangers

Nolan Ryan was right by us!
Avery got a ball from some friends of ours that were there too. Thank you Jeremy and Candice!

Kiel and Ashley Cathey, Jason's cousin and his wife, came into town for the weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed them coming to see us and going to the game. Thanks for a great weekend!

Avery loved the game. Actually she loved looking at mama!

Happy Father's Day

Avery loves her daddy and looks for him every time he talks. Jason is such a natural when it comes to talking care of his little girl. She is one lucky girl to have a daddy like him. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful man talking care of us. Happy Father's Day and I hope we made it special. We love you! ~ Your girls

Happy 1 Month Birthday

Happy 1 Month Birthday Avery! We love being your parents.

~Daddy and Mommy

Favorite Pictures (so far!!!!!!)

My sweet Angel
Loving her daddy!

Go Red Raiders!!!!!!

Still alittle small for the chair!

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L

Going Swimming

Sweet baby Avery loved her first time in the pool at Great-Grandpa and Grandma Powell's house. She looks adorable in her little two piece swimsuit.


Swimming with mommy and daddy!
(June 2, 2010)

Splish Splash....Bath

Avery loves to take a bath but when it is time to get out and dry off, she becomes very unhappy. She does not like to be cold, naked, get her diaper changed, or be hungry. Now she smiles when you pour the water on her and it is the cutest thing!

My little bunny all wrapped up!

Happy Mother's Day

The Brighton bracelet Avery and daddy got for me for my 1st Mother's Day! It is beautiful and so very special. Daddy did good!
Jason made me breakfast! He is so sweet and creative. Thank you for everything; the flowers, breakfast, dinner, and my beautiful bracelet. I had a wonderful Mother's Day and will always appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Updates

First let me say a few things..... We have been extremely busy with being in Sherman for two weeks, house hunting, and taking care of our sweet little Avery. I have many things to update such as Mother's Day (I know it was over a month ago), Avery's first bath, her first time going swimming, Father's Day, our Anniversary, etc. So the updates begin!!!!!!!!

A few things

So we have been very busy since Little Miss Avery arrived. She went to the doctor yesterday and is finally back up to her birth weight and then some. I was so relieved to see that her check up was all good. She is the sweetest baby. She loves to fall asleep on your chest and cuddle with her daddy. I call her my baby bird because when I go to feed her she pecks around to find the food. Her noises are the best sounds and I love watching her sleep. (for many reasons!!!!!!) She is truly a joy.

School is out May 28th and we will officially begin our search for a house. I interview with Frisco again on June 2 and I pray that everything works out. God has always taken care of my family and I know that whatever the outcome may be it will be what is in our plan. We are so excited about the move but are heart broken to leave our great neighbors and friends that we have down here. There are many people we will be coming to visit quite often and staying in touch with. When one door closes another one opens and we are very thankful that we have had the opportunity and time here in Magnolia.

Just a follow up on my headaches. I am still having them. I have been referred to a neurologist at Memorial Hermann and I go June 1 to see what is going on. The past couple of days have been better, knock on wood, but I want the pain gone. I have had many days where I just sit and cry because I have no answers and I am so ready to be back to myself again; taking care of my family. Hopefully the outcome will be relief and the pain will be behind me.

We will be visiting Sherman the first part of June and look forward to spending some time with our family. I am trying to get back to my regular blogging but I can see that it will be a slowwwwwwww process. I hope everyone is doing well and take care!

Newborn Pictures

Jason and I found, through many friends, an awesome photographer here in Magnolia. Her name is Andi and her company is 2A Photography. She was so fun to work with and really made the day special. She sent us these three pics as a preview or a tease and we could not be more happy. They are beautiful pictures of our precious angel and we are so thankful she was able to work us into her schedule. What a blessing! Thank you Andi.

Daddy's Favorite!

The day my life changed

My life has completely been changed since April 27th, 2010. Jason and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl who we have fallen deeply in love with. See arrived at 5:43 pm weighting 8 pounds, 19.5 inches long. She has a head full of hair and the most beautiful skin. I am still in aww of her actually being in my arms and able to hold her. There are some things that I would like to write about though.

The Day of her Birth:

I woke up at 7 am not feeling very well and I told my mom that I was going to lay back down. My mom had been in town since I was placed on bed rest and my dad actually was down that weekend because Lindsey was in Austin and mom was with me. At 8:30 am I awoke again in a puddle of sweat and unable to move. I thought maybe I had ate something bad or was having false labor. So I tried everything the books say to do, change the way you are laying, etc. Let's just say none of that worked. So I went and got my parents and we started timing the pain. The contractions were two to three minutes apart and I started to think, "Ok, maybe this is real". My mom said to go ahead and call Jason and I agreed. When I called him I said, "not to alarm you, my water DID NOT break, but I am having pains that I have never felt before. I think we should go to the hospital and get checked". His response was, "should I head home?" I quickly replied, "YES". When he walked in and saw me, he sprinted to the bedroom, got the bags and we got on the road. The hospital is just ten minutes away and it was the longest drive ever. Once we got there, I was in so much pain I could not get out of the car. These two sweet little ladies came with a wheel chair and wheeled me up to labor and delivery. Long story short.....When I was evaluated I was already dilated to a 6, the pain was so strong I threw up and terrified the other two couples in the triage, and by the time I got my epidural, I was dilated to a 7 1/2. By 3 pm I was completely dilated and started pushing. I will never forget Jason asking the triage nurse, Kathy, who became my labor and delivery nurse, "does this mean we are staying?" She just looked at him and said, "ah, yes, we are admitting her." When she was born, my doctor had to use forceps and I had a spare of the moment episiotomy. For some strange reason, all the pain and hurt is something I cannot remember or describe. I would do it again in a heart beat. Anything for that little girl!

After Delivery:

Unfortunately after delivery, Avery had to stay in the NICU a little over 24 hours. She is a smart cookie so she was out by 8:30 pm the very next day. I was so relieved that we were getting to take her home with us the next day. I then developed a spinal headache from receiving a wet tap. Those of you who have experienced this are truly the only ones who know what kind of pain I was dealing with. It was not until Saturday that Jason had to take me back to the hospital for a blood patch. In a nut shell they go in with 20cc of your blood and locate the original epidural sight where the leak was and insert the blood. This forms a blood clot over the hole and the spinal fluid stops leaking. I was so thankful it worked the first time. Sometimes it can take up to three times to become effective. After that headache went away I started having another headache from a strained neck and shoulders. I am stilling battling that headache. I joked with Jason and my mom that out of all the books and advice I sought, none of the information mentioned any of these hurdles. I am planning on writing a book titled: "Having a Baby is blissful.....HOWEVER...." :) I also had this misconception that breast feeding would be a cinch. WRONG. I have shed more tears over breast feeding than anything else. Things are getting better, but I defiantly have a lot to learn.

Bottom line is I have a perfect baby girl who is happy and healthy and I could not ask for more. Time will teach me what I need to know.

I love you for.......

I love you for.........

1. ...the Christian man you are.

2. ...the way you look at me across a room.

3. ...the way you lead me into a room.

4. ...the fact that you put me first in everything you do.

5. ...the way you like everything clean and organized (God matched us perfect here!!!!!!)

6. ...the way your hair smells. (stop laughing)

7. ...talking and reading to Avery every night.

8. ...giving me the reassurance of what an amazing dad you are going to be to our children.

9. ...going to ALL the doctor's appointments with me and being so in tune with what is going on.

10. ...how you take pride in everything you do.

11. ...being a man of honor and trustworthiness.

12. ...the big softy you are.

13. ...always making a funny face when you sneeze. :)

14. ...the loyal friend you are.

15. ...the small things you do for me.

16. ...always making me laugh.

17. ...making my life so very happy and making all my dreams come true.

18. ...your sweet moves and your possible career in choreography. Hahaha!

19. ...how you can pull off any surprise for me.

20. ...the way you fell head over heals for Avery the day we found out we were having a girl.

21. ...the way you love to be outdoors.

22. ...the way you piddle in the garage or yard when you have nothing else to do.

23. ...the way you try to con me into helping you wax the cars.

24. ...the way you think my belly is cute.

25. ...the way you love me, unconditionally. (We still need to work on that communication thing though)

26. ...letting me have the last word inside your wedding ring. I will always love you more.

27. ...being you, Jason, you are the man of my dreams and I could not get through life without you. I am so excited about the journey we are getting ready to enter together and could not imagine a better partner to do it with! I love you with all my heart and soul.

Just a few thoughts

In this post I have many things to share. I have not felt the need to really blog while pregnant, except maybe one or two times, but Little Miss Avery is getting ready to make her debut and I want to recall some things both past and present.

I have truly had a wonderful pregnancy as far as morning sickness, discomfort, and problems go. I was sick for my first trimester, but then it was over and it is now a mere memory. I was rather nervous about my back pain during pregnancy due to my previous injury, but once again I have been blessed with maybe one month of true pain that was really not fun. Other than that, this last trimester has brought some swelling in my hands and feet and pressure on my pelvis. Not much to complain about. The one thing that has always come to mind during the last nine months is that any pain or discomfort is completely manageable because there are some women who will never get to experience this true gift of carrying their child. It was a state of mind that gave me patience the first time my pants did not fit, understanding when wearing shoes with strings was no longer an option, and true appreciation for my new figure.

Even though I am ready to reclaim myself physically and emotionally again, I will miss the most wonderful feeling in the world, my precious baby moving in my belly. It is the ultimate reassurance for a mom that everything is ok inside there and always gives me this feeling of bliss.

As far as my current progress, I now go to the doctor every week, which is routine. My doctor started me a week early because of concerns with my swelling in my feet. Everything is ok with the swelling now. However, now I have been placed on bed rest due to being dilated 3 cm and softening of my cervix's at 35 weeks and 4 days. I will be 37 weeks this Sunday (April 25th) and my doctor said that she would feel better if something were to start after 37 weeks. So now I am playing the waiting game that is making me so very anxious. Jason and I are ready to meet our sweet baby girl and get our life started as a family of four (Maddie, our Maltese, is our first born :) Also both of our families are ready to start spoiling our precious Avery!!!!!!!!

That seems to be all I can think of right now......Once she is born we will post pictures and details just as soon as we can. We thank everyone who has prayed and thought of us in this most blessed time in our lives. We feel so lucky to have friends and family who care so much about us.

Avery's room is ready!!!!!!

I think we finally have our sweet baby girl's room finished....for now. We did not paint because we will be moving to Frisco/McKinney in July. Once we buy a house we will be adding color to the walls and making it our home. I wanted to share some pictures of her bedding, her growing collection of bows, and of course, her sweet little face as seen below.

Avery Christine
So true!!!!
Her curtains and lamp

Do we start saving for a prom dress, wedding dress, or a car.......So many decisions.

I sure hope she likes bows and headbands

Her personalized pillow and lullaby bear.

And the bed with the bedding. I know it is a little hard to see.

This was such a cool present. Wendy Aleman, a dear from Sherman, made this for our sweet baby Avery. I love personalized gifts and this is so appropriate for our Miss Avery. Thank you Wendy!