Gingerbread House

 We have made it a tradition in our home to build a gingerbread house each year for Christmas.  We have done this since Lily was born.  It is something fun we can sit down and do as a family....too bad this years house collapsed soon after it was built!

Happy 2 Months Avery Grace!

Dear Avery,

Happy 2 month birthday baby girl!  You are doing so well and growing so fast.  Mommy, Daddy, and big sister Lily love you so much.  Mommy is sad to only have one month left of maternity leave at home with you.  I am going to miss you and Lily terribly when I go back to work.  You will both be in good hands with Daddy though while Mommy is at work.  Christmas is right around the corner and we are all excited as this will be your first one.  Mommy is super excited because we will all get to wake up together on Christmas morning as a family for the very first time.  Daddy wrapped all of your's and Lily's presents today and placed them under the Christmas tree.  I wonder what Santa will bring you this year???  You have been such a good little baby, so I'm sure Santa will bring you something extra special!

What you are doing now:

~holding your head up better by yourself

~nursing around 8 times a day

~sleeping better at night...sometimes you wake up twice and sometimes you will sleep for 6-7 hours

~you only take "cat" naps during the day

~smiling all the time...especially in the mornings

~cooing and saying "ah goo" and you like when mommy and daddy say it back to you

~you like your baths a little bit better now

~your big sister loves you so much and first thing every morning when she wakes up she asks mommy "where's Avwee Gwace"

You are loved so much sweet Avery Grace.  You put a smile on my face and in my heart...always.

Love,

Mommy



Avery's 2 Month Check-Up

 Avery's Birthmarks (strawberry hemangiomas)



Hard to believe my baby will be 2 months old tomorrow.  Avery had her two month well baby visit today.  I have been waiting for this for a while now as I have had a few things on my mind...I know worrying doesn't make things better, but how do you help it when you are a mommy?  I went in with 3 main questions today...

1.) Her head

2.) Her birthmarks

3.) Her blocked tear duct

As far as her head goes...Avery was in very "tight" quarters for 9 months (aren't all babies?) and positioned with her head squished up against my uterus and possibly hip bone.  This caused her forehead to be slanted up slightly to the right, and the back of her head is also slightly mishaped (I didn't notice the back of the head like I did the forehead).  My concern is that she would have to wear a helmet to correct the shaping of her head.  Dr. Russell is not concerned at this point as Avery's head circumference is growing normally and she is developmentally appropriate and on track.  The goal for right now is to just watch it and re-evaluate it at her next appointment (4 months).  Dr. Russell is confident that is should correct itself with time as her brain grows and as she grows.  We cannot exclude the possibility of her having to wear a helmet at this point though.  If she has to wear one it has to be done before she is two years old...I prefer it as a baby so she messes with it less...but we will see how things go.  Please pray that it just fixes itself with time!

Avery has two strawberry hemangioma birthmarks on her back.  At birth they were very pale and barely visible.  Now they are hot pink in color, raised and have tripled in size.  This type of birthmark will continue to grow for a while and then start to fade and go away over time.  It should be almost gone by the time she is 5 years old.  There is no treatment for this, and they cause no harm with it being on her back.

Her blocked tear duct is just a nuissance.  It is not harmful in any way.  It is just no fun having to see her little eye all gooped up all the time and matted shut when she wakes up in the morning.  It should open up on its own between 6-12 months or hopefully sooner.  If it does not it requires a simple procedure to open it after she is 12 months of age.

Otherwise...she is a healthy, happy, and BEAUTIFUL baby girl!  She will always be perfect in her mommy's eyes.

Avery's Two Month Stats:

Weight~ 11 pounds 9 ounces (73rd percentile)

Length~ 22 3/4 inches (65th percentile)

Head Circumference~ 15 1/2 inches (63rd percentile)

She is my little peanut and I love her so!

Lily's First Christmas Program

Today my little girl made her momma so very proud...so proud it brought tears to my eyes.  This morning Lily sang in the Church Christmas program.  I wasn't sure how she would do because she had only practiced a few Sunday mornings while at Church.  She has never been up in front of a lot of people...who has at the ripe old age of 2?  I thought that she might get scared and come running for mom and dad or that she would just act goofy and mess around.  She did neither.  She stood up front the whole time, she sang the songs, she did the actions and she made her mommy and daddy very proud!  GaGa and Boppa were very proud of her too.  I practiced some of the songs with her at home, but she showed no interest in it at all and she never did any of the cute little actions.  I didn't think she knew them.  She had me fooled.  I was so surprised when she actually sang (she didn't know all of the words but she tried) and did the movements.  AND...she looked so BEAUTIFUL in her Christmas dress!  Love you Lily Rose!

Bumbo!

 Lily at 7ish weeks

 Lily again

 Avery at 7 1/2 weeks

Avery lost her "lunch"

I see some similarities, but I still think they look different.  Definitely like sisters, but they each have their own look.

Lily's Christmas Party

Lily and Avery with the Santa and Mrs. Claus and their teachers Stephanie and Becci

Last night was Lily's daycare Christmas party.  We talked about it all week long and she was so excited to go and she had SO MUCH FUN!  She was so busy playing with all of her friends that she didn't even eat any of her pizza.  Her party was at Sam and Louie's Pizza just right up the street from our house.  Santa and Mrs. Claus even made a special visit to all of the kids and delivered some presents a little early.  Lily and Avery both got presents and they both sat on Santa's lap.  This was a first for Avery and Lily's third time meeting Santa.  I'm still not sure exactly what Lily thought of him.   She crawled right up into his lap, but then she just kind of sat there and stared at him in an uncertain kind of way.  It was pretty cute none the less! 

We have been so pleased with her new daycare.  I feel comfortable dropping her off there in the mornings, and I know that she has fun and that she is well taken care of.  She loves to go and she comes home and tells me all about her friends there.  She talks so much more since she has been going and I have seen an improvement with how she plays with other kids.  She also enjoys going to the daycare at church on Sunday mornings too.  She used to throw a fit and cry the whole time, but now she walks right in and could care less about Mom and Dad.  Some people ask why I still send her since I am home on maternity leave, but she enjoys going and it is good for her to interact with other kids her age...and she only goes 2 days a week.  It is also nice to have time to focus on just Avery too.  I miss Lily while she is gone, and I can't wait to go pick her up at the end of the day and see her little grin and get a hug from her! 

This Sunday Lily will be in the Christmas program at Church.  I'm not sure how it is going to go.  I think more or less she will just stand up front and really do nothing.  I sing the songs to her at home, but she isn't interested.  I just hope she stays up front and behaves herself!  I will post again with how it goes!  Little Avery is just one week away from her 2 month birthday...I can't believe it!  She goes in on the 16th for her appointment and first round of shots...not looking forward to that! 

Weekly Photo Faves

 Avery in rare form

 The 5 Paces grandkids

 Me and my sister with Avery and Presley

 P-Diddy or Chunkasaurus Rex

 My sweet little Avery Grace

 Mommy's little helper

Starting to get some chunk to her!

From the Mouth of a 2 Year Old

Lily has said some pretty funny things lately, and I need to get them in here so they are documented for her someday to go back and read.  I never know what to expect from her anymore when she opens her mouth!

Lily: Mommy...why Little Bill brown? (Little Bill is a cartoon on Nick Jr. with an African American little boy)
Me: People are all different colors Lily
Lily: Oh, yup

Me: Lily, pretty soon Avery will go to school with you
Lily: No, Aveweeee need Mommy milk boobies
Me: Yes, I'll send bottles to school
Lily: No, send pump
*she sees me using my pump all the time, but I have no idea how she knows what it is called

This conversation happened after I put Lily in her room for her nap...
Me: Lily...put those back! (she had gotten all of her underwear out of her drawers)
Lily: NO MINE!   Your room Momma! (as she pointed to my room as if telling me to go there) Dis Dilly's room.

Going to my parents house last night...
Lily: Boppa dotter
Me: What?
Lily: Boppa dotter
Me: I'm boppa's daughter?
Lily: No, boppa dotter he need a shot (Grandpa to the doctor for a shot)
~Not sure why she said this, but still funny

Me: Lily, where do we get tacos?
Lily: Tatoe Belllll!
Me: Lily, what does mommy get to drink there?
Lily: Diet Cooooke
~She can point a Taco Bell out from a mile away...not a good thing, but she is my daughter!

She always says please and thank you and now she says no thank you mommy or no thank you daddy

We've Got Smiles!

Avery has been smiling for about a week or more now.  They are random, but so much fun when she does it!  I had to be very patient with her this morning while trying to get this one on camera!

Weight Check

I took Avery in yesterday for a quick weight check.  She is now 6 weeks old and just for my peace of mind I wanted to make sure she is gaining weight.  The hardest part about breastfeeding for me is not knowing how much they are taking in.  Lily used to nurse for 45 minutes at a time and Avery is done and content after 10 minutes.  Lily would nurse on both sides and Avery only nurses on one side at a time.  It is hard to think that she gets enough milk, but she is content, sleeps well, and poops and pees adequately.  She seems so much smaller to me than Lily was.  Anyways, she is gaining weight and doing well.  She has her 2 month well baby check on December 16th.  I am hoping she is around 11 1/2 pounds by then.  Her chunker cousin was 12 1/2 pounds at 2 months and Lily was exactly 13 pounds at 2 months. 

Birth Weight~ 9 pounds 1.2 ounces

The day we left the hospital weight~ 8 pounds 5 ounces

2 days after coming home weight~ 8 pounds 8 ounces

2 week check up weight~ 9 pounds 2 ounces

6 week weight~ 10 pounds 13 ounces

Tis' the Season!

 Lily has helped her Daddy put the star on the tree since she was 3 months old!

I have been wanting to get our Christmas tree up since before Thanksgiving, but Jason wouldn't let me do it until afterwards.  We got it up and decorated last night.  Lily was a big help with the decorating!  I love this time of year and I'm so excited to celebrate it with my girls...especially Lily as she is older this year and already enjoying everything about the season.  It is going to be a task keeping her away from the ornaments this year.  When we turned the living room lights off Lily walked over to the tree and said "wow" and "oh cool!"  So cute! 

P.S.~I am asking for a bigger Christmas tree for next year!  I have been wanting one (my husband is taller than our tree), but I know this one is just fine for now. 

HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON to ALL!

Much to be Thankful For

We had plans to go back home to Newcastle this Thanksgiving to see Jason's family, but those plans had to be cancelled due to Lily getting ill.  We were supposed to leave on Wednesday afternoon, but on Tuesday morning Lily spiked a temperature of over 103.  It came on out of nowhere.  She was fine the night before and she was fine when she woke up in the morning.  She threw up twice on Wednesday and her temp kept getting higher and higher.  She would break her fever with some Ibupforen and Tylenol.  When her fever was down she was a completely different kid than when she had the fever.  She would play and perk up and drink fluids, but when the fever would return she was listless and didn't want to do anything.  She would just cry and want to lay with mom or dad.  She was miserable.  The meds would keep her fever away for about 2 hours and then it would return again.  I knew it was a virus of some sorts that would just have to run its course.  On day 3 of this when she woke up with a fever of 104.4 I decided we better have her looked at.  This happened to be on Thanksgiving Day.  We had to take her to the Pediatric Express Clinic and of course we waited for two hours before seeing the Dr.  I hesitated to bring her in knowing full well it was a virus and we were doing everything right at home already for her, but with your own child you never want to make a wrong decision and regret it later.  Her ears looked fine, but her throat was red with a pus pocket in the back of it so the Dr. ran a rapid strep test on her.  Thank goodness it was negative.  Mom was right...a nasty virus that has to run its course.  By Friday Lily was already doing much better...still with a fever but lower, and by Saturday she was back to her ornery little self!  So even though we did not make our trip back home and have an entire Thanksgiving dinner (my mom packed us up a plate of their leftovers...YUMMY) we still have so much to be thankful for.  We are thankful that Lily is feeling much better and that Avery didn't get ill too.  We are thankful for our families for understanding.  We are thankful for each other and we are thankful for our faith.  Hopefully she stays well for Christmas so we can make it back home!  Avery will be two months old by then and Grandma Romaine hasn't seen her since she was 14 HOURS old!