Be Back Soon

Avery and I were away for a week visiting my parents, and then we jumped right into 2 weeks of extreme busyness. We're only halfway through those 2 weeks...one more to go. I'll be back soon with some cute pics of the girl and to wish her a happy 2nd birthday (coming up on Saturday)!!

Joy

We had our second doctor appointment this morning, wherein we were able to finally meet the doctor (it's a collaborative practice) that made us switch to this practice. We're in an office with midwives and doctors and at a hospital that allows midwives to have delivery rights. I am so thankful for this opportunity, since I'm trying for a VBAC this time around, and the philosophy of this practice fits right in with what I am looking for.

The appointment started off well, with a decent weigh in, especially after my big huge breakfast at Kerbey Lane prior to...I'll be eating post-weigh-in from now on! We met the doctor and immediately liked her - she is fun and passionate and takes the right things seriously and laughs about the rest. Luke has the week off of work, so he and Avery tagged along for the appointment so we could all hear the baby's heartbeat. I'm thinking Avery can stay with a babysitter next time though, because she was NOT on her best behavior. Ugh, I dread doing that again. I think it scared her to see me laying on a table while someone she didn't know poked around at my stomach.

So then, the scariest 3 minutes I've felt in a really, really long time. Avery was so distracting that it was hard to really focus on what was going on, but the doctor's face kept looking more and more worried. She kept checking my pulse against the heartbeat that she was hearing, and kept determining that the only heartbeat she was hearing was MY heartbeat, and that it was getting faster. I told her that yes, of course it is, she's starting to worry me. To which she replied, "Let's rush you over to ultrasound right now, because I'm not comfortable with what's going on right now." Hard praying. Trusting. Barely time to worry because Avery was crying, but Luke and I looked at each other for a moment as we gathered our stuff to head next door. Up on the table, machine flipped on quickly, doctor still looking worried, Avery still crying, me still praying.

I've been reading this book, One Thousand Gifts, you have to check it out. It's amazing. I'll go into it more later. But the past couple of chapters I've read were so applicable to today. It's easy to trust when things are going well, when life is easy, and it's easy to say, "Yes, I trust You, Lord, of course I do," after the fact if things turn out the way you hoped. Yet, is it so easy to say Yes when you're experiencing the hard joy? What is the hard joy? Finding joy still, even with life's down moments, the hard moments. The author is much more eloquent than I am. Can I trust even in the hard joy? Can I confidently say that God is good when life seems bad?

As soon as the screen came up, the doctor said that there was definitely a baby in there. But my mind was still yelling for more answers. Less than 30 seconds later, yes, the baby is fine, she says, there's the heartbeat, the baby is dancing away. We left joyful, relieved. For today, for the moment, we don't have to find out what the hard joy is like. If that day comes, when that day comes, may we face it with grace.

And now, as I sit and type, I'm just starting to process what all happened, what all of this could have meant, because life is always unsure from our viewpoint. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by grace, overwhelmed by joy and sadness and hope and stress. Praise God that He is ever constant.

And praise! We have two new pictures of our baby, an unexpected blessing.

Play Kitchen Wall - After

Finally, done decorating those shelves. For now. I'm still tweaking them, and that top shelf simply has placeholder photos for now - we might move some of the stuffed animals up there later. But they are up, and darn if that top shelf doesn't look a little crooked. We'll just say it's the ceiling.

3 shelves added, plus the picture hanger above the stove

top 2 shelves, detail. the two photos up top were taken of me and my sister Michelle when we were little, by my dad

picture hanger, detail. this is for Avery to hang potholders and orders coming into her restaurant

cloth napkin found at World Market makes for the perfect dishtowel

pantry. I sewed new curtains b/c I didn't like the ones that came with it. From a Liberty London for Target scarf.

shadow box of newborn Avery and her hospital bracelet. also, pic frames to the right, waiting for new photos

egg cups, also from World Market. Perfect colors for her room.

I anticipated that these shelves would be hung in a couple of hours Saturday morning, when we started the project, but they didn't get finished until Sunday afternoon. We had to go back to the hardware store for different screws, and by that time we only had enough time to get one shelf up before Avery went down for a nap. Then, we had to readjust the height of the shelves a couple times when we punched a hole in the wall. In the end, I'd say Luke did a great job at this. We aren't exactly the DIY types, at least not in the home improvement area. Living in rentals for the past 5 and a half years hasn't afforded too many opportunities, either.

Today's project: the closet. Oh my!

Photos!

Okay, so no after photos of the first part of Avery's room change. We enjoyed the sunshine instead. Tomorrow, tomorrow.

But, my friend Anna sent the link to the photo gallery from our mini-session a few weeks ago. Love them! And her - she's great.

http://gallery.me.com/oneofthesedays#100024&view=grid&bgcolor=black&sel=27

Before

Here's a peek into Avery's room these days. We're doing a minorly major overhaul on it to make room for Baby No. 2, meaning, it's time for Meghann to clear all of the crud off of the floor to make it more Avery-friendly, and, we have to fit another bed in there. Oh the joys of living responsibly and staying in this apartment for now.

Stay tuned for the after photos this afternoon, since I can't get in to take pics while Avery is napping.

This is also not at it's cleanest, because Avery kept coming behind me to pull stuff out to play with.

This is the photo to take note of. We made some changes to this wall in a big-for-us way.

I'm including this only to be fully, vulnerably, open. We have a lot of stuff crammed into her closet.  I'm hoping to put the tubs into storage somewhere (Mom?!) so we can move the wagon into the closet. 

To the left when you walk in the room - her book and toy storage. She's (finally) getting the dollhouse for her birthday, so the top will be cleared off, and the dollhouse will reside up here when she's not playing with it.

The right wall when looking into the room. Her new bed will go along this wall.

This was a Round Top find! This will go under the window, where the tee-pee is now.

Her current, and for the next as-many-months-as-I-can-make-her-stay, bed. View from the doorway.

Tee-pee will be folded back up, and the chair will go in it's place. There used to be a glider here, but we moved it into our room for late-night nursing sessions with Little Baby Brother/Sister.

Inspired by my friend Diane, I've been collecting lampshades to hang from the ceiling. Luke doesn't understand the vision, nor does he wish to hang these. They'll be stripped of their shades and simply be wire frames hung by pretty ribbon. I think I'll nix the square shade in favor of odd numbers and similar shapes. Oh, and new curtains, hopefully.

Some Really Awful Photography (with A Really Cute Girl)

Sometimes you have to snap the photo quickly, to catch her in action. This often results in really terrible pictures. But, I still love them, because they tell a story.

Today's first story is about what a big helper Avery is. While I worked on unloading groceries, she decided to help me unload the dishwasher. Her job is to put the silverware back in the drawer, though sometimes we have to make sure that she isn't emptying the dirty dishes. If she is, we tell her that those forks still need a bath, so they have to go back in the dishwasher - she seems to understand that concept just fine. She managed to catch clean dishes this time, thankfully. She can barely see into the drawer, even on tiptoes, so they all just get dumped over the side.

She decided she was all done, because she couldn't get that spatula out, so she shut the door and moved onto something else.

"All done, Mommy. Picture?"

end result - we rushed out the door before I had a chance to look in the drawer, so I had a good chuckle that evening when preparing dinner.

The following photo: we got back really late Sunday night from our trip to Houston. I set Avery down on the floor so I could get her pajamas, and I came back to find her asleep in the same spot I left her.

And these photos: she didn't know I was watching her play dress-up - she had decked herself out in her hat and purse and jewels.

"Oh, hi!"

Updates

We're tackling some big-girl-room projects tomorrow - I'm so excited. It's the beginning of a 6 month long process (because that's how much time we have left, God-willing, of growing this new baby), when I can find time to sew and rearrange and decorate. Avery and the baby will share a room eventually, so we're trying to clear out as much floor space as possible to make room for a big girl bed. Tomorrow we're hanging shelves, and I found the greatest little thing for her play kitchen. I can't wait to show you.

23 Months

Today marks just one month until our sweet girl turns two. TWO. 2. Whoa. It's crazy how fast the time has gone, and it makes me want to stop and cherish every single moment with her. Before we know it, she'll be all grown up, no longer just playing dress-up.

She has made some marked improvements in her vocabulary and is combining words to form these mini-sentences that are just too cute. Most everything she tells us is related to being all-done with something, like "all done with bath", "all done with cleaning", "all done with (insert food here)". She likes to tell us when we're all done with something also.

All day long we hear "help you?", which really means "help me", but she doesn't actually want our help. She wants to do it herself, but we are to be aware that she's struggling and we need to be on stand-by just in case.

All girly things are "oh pweepy" (pretty), and she wears necklaces nonstop. I found some old beaded necklaces and that charming teddy bear on a shoelace necklace, seen in the above pic, at our MOPSwap a few weeks ago and she's been wearing them ever since.

She loves to read her Bible and will bring it to me during random parts of the day to sit and read. She loves the picture of the formation of the sun, moon, and stars the best, because Daddy taught her about those one weekend. She points them out anytime she sees them.

She hates having her face wiped, though she asks to have her hands wiped after every meal.

More often than not, when she says, "uh-oh" and holds her hand out, it's because there is a booger on her finger. And more often than not, I forget this and absentmindedly wipe it off, and then realize I now have a booger on my finger.

Bear and Baby are still her constant companions around the house, and they are propped up in her crib every naptime and bedtime, tucked under their own special "beking" (blanket).

We play outside almost every afternoon with the neighbor kids. We have new neighbors that have a 3 year old daughter and they are quite generous with their toys and snacks. Everyone congregates outside to enjoy the glorious weather, and the parents get to talk and the kids play until dinnertime.

As a consequence of playing outside so much and making friends with the neighbor kids (all but one are girls), we now have 8 and 9 year olds knocking on the door asking if Avery can come out to play. Really, they just want her toys. Last night, they knocked 4 times. I told them twice that we couldn't come out that day, and I just didn't answer the door the other two times.

She is still loving to read to herself, and it's becoming much more involved. Her Yummy, Yucky book is a favorite, and she points out all the yucky things first, though she hasn't been able to name them like the yummy things. Today I overheard her pointing out the "ucky kitty poopoo". It's really labeled kitty litter in the book, but try explaining that one.

Discipline is something I think about all the time, simply because she's pushing boundaries and I'm never sure of myself. We have a system in place, but it's time to re-evaluate it. However, I have noticed that she is responding quicker to my requests, and I praise her a ton for obeying Mommy. Tantrums have decreased, as I'm able to explain why we have to leave, and what we get to go do now.

She seems to be stuck on hot chocolate, though we haven't had it in weeks. It's a constant request. She now seems convinced that Nutella is also hot chocolate, and this paired with some fruit seems to satisfy her.

We've reached a milestone in family relationships. She has been a little wary of some of her aunts and uncles, but she went to them with no problem this past weekend. Hooray!! She's recognizing people that we don't see as often, and it's such a relief for me, and I imagine for them, also.

We are still working on counting, though we only get as far as 2, and then sometimes she throws in the number 9.

On the way home from Bible study today, we talked about the sky, and everywhere we turned, there it was!

She also hops right into nursery, as long as her lovie is in hand. She helped herself to one of the worker's laps as soon as she stepped in the door today. She seems to know that a lap is a safe place until she can gauge the activity level of the other kids.

Anytime we drive somewhere, she asks if we're going to eat, or going to "eat fries?" We don't eat out that much, but she loves her some french fries!

She recognizes common patterns when driving, like going to a favorite friend's house or to pick up Luke from work or when we head back home. If she isn't ready to go home, she starts crying.

We're using training toothpaste now, though it'll be a long time before she understands "spit".

She has this insane laugh when she finds something hysterical; it sounds more like crying, and friends are always telling their own kids to stop pestering her and making her cry.

She loves to color, and she's mostly kept it on the paper, though her table and chair and a favorite book are now sporting some of her artwork.

And, more pictures to come like the one in this post. A friend of mine borrowed her for a practice photo shoot. She's working on building her website right now, so when we get more pics, I'll link to them. Isn't it great?!