Headin' Out

Joe, Avery and I are heading out to Utah for my brother David's wedding. This is an extremely exciting event that is YEARS in the making and we wouldn't miss it. It is also our first chance to show off Avery to my side of the family. We will be staying to celebrate Christmas as well, so don't expect any posts for a week or two. Talk to you later!

The Doctor

We went to the doctor's yesterday. Since Avery is 2 months it was time for her immunization shots. I was anticipating that this would be a difficult visit, but it was easier than I thought it would be. My regular doctor (Dr. Apley) was not available until after vacation so I met with Dr. Scharf. I love him. He says all kinds of things that make me laugh and feel like a good parent.

First, Avery has more than doubled her birth weight! She is a solid 9 lbs. 13 oz. and measures 23 inches long. She went from being in the 3rd percentile for her weight to being in the 25th percentile. WONDERFUL! She had a bit of a runny nose and the Doc. said that it seemed she was fighting a bit of a cold (Dad is sick) but that she is otherwise in great health.

Second, he says she looks like she will be a genius. This falls under the heading of "things he says that make me feel like a good parent." He says that because I talk to her so much, sing to her, and make a lot of eye contact that she will develop very quickly mentally. He thinks she already look smart. I love a good doctor!

Third, shots. The nurse was great at this. Avery had to drink one first, harder than I thought, and then get 3 pokes. I couldn't watch but held Avery's hands and looked at her face. In less than 10 seconds, I am not kidding, it was over. Band-aids on and all. Avery screamed the highest little scream I have ever heard and then she calmed down and just cuddled for a while. She then proceeded to sleep the whole rest of the day, except to eat a few times.

Today she is back to her happy, healthy and normal self and we are enjoying the cloudy and cold weather that has finally rolled in.

P.S. I saw Holly Colton there for her first visit with Maggie. Mom and baby looked wonderful and Josh is so excited to have a sister!

"It's a good thing you're cute!"

I say this a lot. Not only to my own child, but to any child I come into contact with whose behavior is less than desirable. Children, and adults, can get away with a whole lot because they are cute or do plenty of cute stuff that make us forget how rotten they can be sometimes. (Jenn, do you remember how Kate would be sitting on the couch and then when I sat down she would want my seat instead and scream until she got it, but then when it would rain she would disappear and we would find her outside dancing in her diaper? Stuff like that.)

Last night, Birdie was less than her normally stellar (and sleepy)self. Not truly horrid, but enough that I was pretty cranky this morning. To make up for it, however, she seemed to be especially cute today. Every time I turned around she was doing something or looking particularly adorable. Like after her shower today, her hair was especially fuzzy. She is in that awkward old-hair-falling-out-and-new-hair-coming-in phase so it can get a little feathery. It is a little hard to see in the photo but, trust me, it is priceless.

Then, I asked Joe to hold her for a few minutes while I got some laundry going before our daily walk. She was all dressed and ready to go just waiting for me to get my stuff going. After about 2 minutes Joe was laughing and I came to see the big joke. In no time flat my little bird had fallen fast asleep-- sitting straight up. I guess all of that staying up at night left her tuckered out this morning. (Or it could have been Dad's soothing bouncing mixed with the tedious computer activities he was doing.)

Later in the afternoon I put her down to play with her stuffed friends that hang from her play mat. She always seems to like them, but today she was OVERJOYED by her little frog, turtle, and fish. She was squealing (not quite laughing yet) and smiling like crazy. I'm not sure I have ever seen her kick her legs and pump her arms quite so hard and fast. That blurry image on the bottom right is her hand!

And if she was not cute enough, I had her taking part in her daily tummy time activities while I cleaned up and I noticed that she was very quiet all of the sudden. Again, she must have been making up for all of the sleep she missed last night.

It is stuff like this, moments as adorable as these, that help us as moms get through the late nights, crying fits, and other not-so-joyous moments of being a parent. Sometimes all we can do is shake our heads and say: "It's a good thing you're cute!" And they can be SO cute.

Christmas Parties

Last Friday Joe, Avery, and I went to Joe's work Christmas party. Of course we forgot the camera so we have no photos, but the night was quite enjoyable. Joe just mentioned the party in passing, really in telling me that he was getting off work early because there was a party that he did not plan on attending. When I heard it was his work Christmas party and that there would be dinner and dancing I told him we were going. I never get dressed up to go out so this was a perfect excuse. Avery was of course a big hit with all of Joe's coworkers and she was held all night by accommodating ladies so that I could eat my dinner and socialize without the baby on my hip. In the end Joe was glad we went and I learned that I can't wear 4 inch heels like I used to.

The next day was our ward Christmas party. I still think it feels a little early to be having Christmas parties already,but the month is FLYING by so I guess it's good they got put in the schedule at all. Instead of a long program our ward did a service project that involved putting together meals and taking them to families we knew of who could use the food this year. After that was the usual yummy dinner and 3 kinds of dessert (I had all three, two of them before I had dinner!). There was a short story time with Santa at the end of the night so Avery got her first Santa picture taken. Keep in mind this is a church event so the Santa does not look like the typical commercial Santa. He is more like a Father Christmas. I'm sure that the big yawn is nothing personal against Santa, it was just a long night.

Bath Time

Avery does not enjoy baths. You may recall seeing this image in an earlier post:

Her attitude did not really change much after her first bath. It is not that she dislikes getting wet or hates to have water in her eyes. It is not that she hates being naked or that she is somehow scared of the tub. Avery just gets COLD. And, honestly, how many of us like to be cold? No matter what I would try to keep her toasty during the process she would still end up shivering in about 10 seconds. I may be pretty fast at getting her clean, but 10 seconds is too fast even for me. The poor little dear just would shake like crazy and cry until I could get her dried off and in her warm clothes. All of this stress was wearing on me as much as it was on her. I needed a new plan. How could I keep her warm enough to get through her whole cleansing process without bursting a lung? Answer: give her a shower.

My small bathroom heats up almost instantly when the shower is running. I was thinking one morning, while I was enjoying the warmth, that it would be a perfect time for me to be cleaning Avery as well. The logistics are a little trickier than just popping her into a bathtub, but the outcome is so much better. She LOVES the shower. She just cozies down in my arms and has no problem letting me scrub her and put her under the spray of warm water. This is her new attitude towards cleaning up:

And now I have to go because my now clean little child is talking to herself in her crib. I think that means her nap is over.

Being a Parent

I have a testimony of the Gospel. I believe in God the Eternal Father and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. Today was Fast and Testimony meeting in church and I was thinking about all of the things people are thankful for, believe in, and hope for. They tell their stories and share their experiences and then make it all line up with a gospel principle somehow. So, after much ruminating, here is my experience and gospel tie-in:

I remember having a conversation in a Gospel Essentials class (I was there with a new convert friend) about our quest, goal, task, trial, hope to be more like God, to even be gods ourselves one day. The teacher was talking about how we have to struggle and have trials in order to learn so that we can have a knowledge of things like God does. When we stumble and fall, as we all do, we have the gift of the atonement to make things right and to better ourselves. He mentioned that we often don't see these stumbling blocks as opportunities to learn, that we tend to beat ourselves up over mistakes that can potentially make us better. I think that this is true. I had a Bishop tell me once that people take much longer to forgive themselves than it takes God to forgive them. He forgives them as soon as they ask. There is still a process of repentance, but forgiveness is available and God wants so much to grant it to us. Knowing all this, some of us still struggle with the concept of God loving us enough to truly forgive some of the things we have done. We can not see how it is possible. And so we have children.

People ask me a lot why we, being members of the church, want so many kids. We have the Proclamation to the World that emphasises our love of family and belief in the eternal possibilities of them. My mom would talk about the need to raise children in the Gospel, because you know that if they don't come to us these spirits have to go somewhere. How much better for them to grow in the Gospel? But I have discovered another reason for the trial/blessing that is children.

Until now I don't think I could comprehend the infinite love of a parent for their child. I love my family members. My parents and siblings, my husband, are so dear to me. But I could not grasp the overwhelming love that makes you want to so freely forgive, that makes you hope so much that another person is cared for, safe and protected. How can anyone fully understand the gift of the atonement, God's forgiveness and unending love, His devotion as a parent, until they become parents themselves?

We need to be parents to be more like God. We need to know this capacity to love and forgive. We need to know what it is like to love so fully and completely so that we may know better our own worth in God's eyes. We must know that He wants us to learn, progress, and return home because we are His children.

2 Months!

Avery is 2 months old today! In celebration of this event I have put together a slide show that begins with her 1 month photo shoot and ends with her 2 month photo shoot taken this morning. For those of you who are not interested in the whole 85 photos, here are some highlights as well. She has changed so much in this month alone. To see the progression, these are her monthly photos side by side. I know she is still not "big" so do not give me a hard time, but she is getting so much bigger!

She can see objects more than six inches away. She is far more entertained by her play mat with her animal friends now that she can see them! To go along with this is the fact that...

She coos when she is happy. She talks to her little friends and to me when she fancies it. It is too cute to hear her talking to a stuffed frog!

She can track objects. She will watch me now during her diaper changes as I move from one side to the other.

She can lift herself up really high! If you read my blog regularly then you have seen her all propped up on her arms. If you missed it then just scroll down a few posts.

She SMILES. This is my favorite part! Oh, the joy of your baby smiling at you when she wakes up in the morning. And you can see in this photo that...

Her eyes have gotten so blue. I know that they say all babies have blue eyes, but her were really dark for a long time. This month they have really lightened up and look a lot like Joe's eyes.

She has gained so much weight! She was 7 1/2 lbs at one month and now she weighs nearly 10 lbs!

I can't wait to see what the next month brings. I love being a mom!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The ASU Art Museum

Stacie called on Wednesday and wanted to show Avery off at her work. I understand such desires and so Avery and I made our way to the ASU Art Museum! Another first for Birdie’s list. After meeting Stacie’s co-workers we had some lunch and then looked around at the displayed pieces. In general Birdie did not love the experience. I think she tried, though. I think she really wanted to give art a chance. She seemed to really take in a few of the pieces while dismissing others immediately. It was no use really. It may have been the time of day, or it may be that she is her father’s daughter, but the happiest she was the whole trip was when she was asleep (like she is usually) or when she was getting her diaper changed. We have noticed this in the last week; she LOVES getting her diaper changed. I’m not sure if it is the experience of being so close to naked or if she just likes to be up high on her changing pad, but she is happiest most of the time when she is laying on that pad. Silly Birdie!

Thanksgiving

It's a cute outfit, right? I bet you are wondering why it is not on Avery for the photo. I'll give you one guess. Like her mother that day, and most people on that day, Avery could not eat enough. It seems like every 45 minutes she wanted to eat...and eat...and eat. I wanted her happy so I accommodated. Silly Mommy. Before we could even get to the main event (for the adults) Avery and I ended up wearing her feast of the day. I never even got a picture of her in this cute little number before it was in the diaper bag waiting to get washed. We both spent the day in PJ's. She in her own, me in borrowed ones. Fun!

All in all it was a pleasant day. We gathered at my in-laws and everyone enjoyed crab dip, fresh fruit and veggies, paninis, turkey, 2 kinds of potatoes, 2 kinds of pie, green bean casserole, the biggest rolls I've ever seen, and lots of gravy. What a day.