Catch Up

My life seems to be getting ahead of me more and more every day. I can't seem to keep caught up with my mind! Becoming a mother of two has thrown a curve ball at me and staying organized. I am going to just sum up the past few weeks and be done! Dave is almost finished with school! December 6th is his last day of clinical. He will take the boards in February and then ship off to basic training March 5th- April 5th. Then the Air Force will move us to our next adventure. We got a list of four places and ranked them. Dayton, Vegas, Virginia and Northern California were our choices. That is the order that we ranked them in and it is killing me not knowing! I want Dayton so bad it hurts. I know we will go where we are needed, but it doesn't hurt to want to be by family a little does it?! We had a weekend of nice weather so we went to the park one last time and ate lunch and went for a stroll by the creek. Addison loves being outside. This winter is going to be tough. My parents stopped through on their way back from Boston. We went out to Mexican to continue my birthday celebration one more time:) Addison was happy to have a roommate for a few more nights. She talked Papa into reading her lots of books and playing blocks. Grammie was my hero and stayed up with Avery one night so I could try and get over my cold. Almost 2 weeks later and I can finally breathe through my nose. Addison is almost over her cough as well. Avery has a little cough here and there, but cross your fingers that we can stay well this winter! Addison has gotten creative lately and done a lot of coloring on herself. No matter how many times I tell her not to she colors her hands with markers! Good thing it's washable. Addison's hair is long enough now to put in a pony tail and she loves it! She looks so grown up with one it makes me want to cry. I did it again...I put tiger's balm on my face and got a burn. I have been told many times not to, but when I have a terrible headache it is the only thing that will help! One day i'll learn:) 

2 Months Already!

Avery Mae is turning 2 months tomorrow! She had her well visit yesterday and these are the stats:

Weight- 11lbs, 7 oz (69%)

Height- 22.6 in (64%)

Head- 14.9 in (31%)

She took her first round of shots like a champ. A little cry, but no fever or fussiness later (she clearly got my pain tolerance!) She still has a little patch of dark hair on the back of her head and dark eyes. She is growing perfectly and I feel so blessed to have her added to our family. The doctor put her on an antacid medicine and it's like she is a new baby! No more crying from 7pm to midnight!! We put her propped up to sleep now and she doesn't scream til all hours. Unlike Addison , Avery loves to be swaddled up tight at night. I sometimes forget to do it, but as soon as I do she knows it's time to sleep.She is nursing a million times better and seems happier during the day as well. I have even been able to get a few 7 hour stretches of sleep at night. She is starting to go to bed around 10:30 for the most part if she hasn't slept too much during the day. Avery gets to sit in her swing a lot while I try and keep Addison out of trouble. The birdies that hang from the mobile are her favorite. Almost everyday Addison asks to hold Avery on her lap. She will look at her and sing twinkle twinkle little star. It is one of my favorite things to watch. Avery is a very sweet baby who just loves to be held. She will do this fake little cry to coax us to pick her up. She already is a very persuasive little lady!

Happy 27th Birthday!

The big day has come and gone! I am 27 years old now and the scale is tipping toward the big 3-0! I always like to make a huge fuss about my birthday being celebrated. I did really good this year and old reminded Dave the Saturday before that it was coming up. Having a birthday on a Tuesday was kind of a bummer plus I was (and still am) having a terrible cold. I cancelled plans for a birthday lunch since I didn't think my friends wanted me to cough, sneeze and blow my green snot nose on them. Addison still has a gross cough as well. Juana however, still offered to take Addison for a few hours for me. I took really long to get ready and then went out and ran some errands. Addison took a great nap and told me that she would be nice to me all day:) The Quinn's brought over a beautiful and delicious carrot cake the size of the moon! It was very thoughtful and of course my favorite kind of cake. Dave got me an iPhone for my birthday! I am beyond happy and I feel like my life has become a little easier with it for some reason. It is bright green and so light and slim. Addison hasn't gotten a hold of it yet so knock on wood! Dave had cub scouts that evening, but cooked me a nice dinner beforehand. Addison sang her very best version of happy birthday to me and blew out my candle. It was a quiet day, but I felt very loved from all the phone calls and texts!

Thank You!

Avery is seven weeks now and is finally starting to sleep in longer stretches in the night. I don't dread bedtime anymore now that I am figuring out what she likes and needs. Sadly, I had to cut out all soda! I'm not entirely sure that is what made the difference, but it sure has helped. She doesn't scream for hours on end right before she falls asleep now. I want her to know someday how hard it has been to say goodbye to my caffeine boost of diet coke in the mid afternoon! Also, Aunt Tania sent this nice package that had a sleeper sack in it. Every since I started putting her in it and then wrapping her in a blanket the sleep got better as well. She slept from 9 to 5 last night and I kept rolling over and checking the clock. It was glorious!! She is going to bed earlier and earlier and I feel like my life is getting into a better groove. Miss Avery is the smiliest baby ever! Addison and I love to get her to smile in the mornings when we go and get her up. Keep up the good sleep work Avery and your mama will be one happy lady!

And Their Gone...

Drum roll please... Addison is BINKY FREE! I truly didn't think that we would be able to tackle this until she was in kindergarten. She was a binky lover. They were a huge comfort to her and she usually slept with multiple. For the past couple of months she would go sneak one whenever she got in trouble or "was having a hard day". Last week she even started stuffing them down her pants to hide them from view. It was a constant battle to get her to leave them in her bed. That is until she heard that her bff Will was taking his to the store to trade in for a toy. She told Dave and I that she wanted to do the same. I about fell over, but figured we should jump on the thought. We put all the binkys (which was about 7!) in a baggie and went to the toy store. Addison got to pick out her own toy all by herself. We had to keep steering her clear of the $50 giant dolls. She finally settled on a baby that came with a doctor kit. We went to the check out and she handed over her baggie and that was that! She went to bed just fine that evening. Nap times are still a little tricky, but in a week I think we'll be back to normal. I haven't even heard a , "Where's my binky?" when she's crying. Although this special baby doll does come with us just about everywhere! I am so proud of Addison! Next step...potty training...attempt #2!

Special Moments

Right before Dave left for his last week away he gave me a blessing. I was really emotional through it and Addison was very concerned. She sat still during it with her arms folded watching. Afterwards she came  over and asked her daddy if he could give her one. This caught us both off guard, but Dave looked at her and told her of course he would. Having the priesthood in our home is a special blessing that I am grateful for every day. We all said goodbye to Dave and I went to close the door behind him. As I turned around I saw Addison next to Avery who was in the swing with her hands on top of Avery's head. I went to tell her to be soft and to not touch her head. That's when I heard Addison begin to mutter prayer words and then shout, "Amen!" I asked her what she just did and her response was so innocent, "I'm just giving Avery a little blessing." I started to bawl. How often we forget the influence that our actions have on these special little spirits. I tried to explain that only daddy's who hold the priesthood get to give blessings, but it was hard for her to understand. Throughout the week when Avery would cry Addison would run over and put her hands on Avery's head. It makes me smile inside every time it happens. I know this is a little phase, but I want Addison to read this one day and know how special she is!

Last Week

Dave is DONE! He just finished his last week in Rochester and we are finally a happy family of four. It has been a long 10 weeks and we are all glad it's over. Addison is really happy to have her Dad home to give her big bear hugs and to kiss her good night. They went on a big ride right when he got home on Friday. I was actually got a few extra hours of sleep while Dave rocked Avery before she finally fell asleep. Dave has about 5 weeks left of school before he graduates. Yes, I said graduates! It hardly seems real. Hopefully we find out from the Air Force shortly where we'll be stationed.  I took the girls to two Halloween parties this week. One for our music class at the church and the other one was for playgroup. Addison couldn't believe she had to wear her costume again! Halloween night was this past week as well. I debated back and forth whether or not to take Addison out. It ended up being a warmer day so I bundled Avery up and we went to a few houses. We met up with the Quinn's and they helped me chase Addison from house to house. She filled her back up with lots of candy and has already forgotten about it! I'm sure Dave will have it all eaten here soon! We also carved pumpkins for family night. Addison chose to color her and Avery's pumpkin. She drew tons of tiny little circles and was really proud of it. Dave roasted the pumpkin seeds after which turned out really good. Addison picked for Dave to carve a jack o lantern face on our family pumpkin. She loved seeing it lit outside with a candle.

One more Visit

My mom came and stayed with me for one more week before heading up to Boston. Her and Addison were able to do a lot of fun things together. They made Halloween cupcakes and pumpkin jigglers. Addison kept saying that the jigglers were too cold to eat. We went to the carousel and play place at the mall. Lately all Addison will wear at these yellow and pink striped pants. It is driving me crazy! She pulls them out of the dirty basket if I don't hide them.We had our ward Trunk or Treat that Saturday night. It was a Christmas Miracle that we got Addison to wear her costume. All month she refused to even look at it. I ended up cutting an opening up the back and Dave and I managed to wrestle it on her. Addison got the hang of saying trick or treat and enjoyed eating a few pieces. She was the cutest little flapping owl and Avery was a happy pumpkin girl. I was very grateful to have my mom come for another week to help me out while Dave was gone.

One Month

Miss Avery turned a month...a few weeks ago. Time is flying by and I don't even know what day it is because I'm so dang tired!! I was a terrible sleeper as a baby and apparently Avery didn't just get my looks. We went in for her well visit check up and all is well. Avery is packing on the weight...mostly in her cheeks! Here are her stats:

Weight: 10 lbs 3 oz - 72%

Length: 21.46 in - 59%

Head circ: 14.3- 36%

She still gets up every from 1 to 2 hours at night, which is slowly going to kill me. We've had a few miracle nights where she will go 4 hours before waking. Avery is full of smiles and I've been lucky to catch a few on camera. She loves to smile at Addison. While I am cleaning up breakfast and doing the dishes Addison pulls up her stool next to the swing and makes Avery smile. Addison gets really excited when she can get her to smile, that she jumps up and down and screams. It's my favorite part of the morning to watch them interact. I got out the play mat for Avery and she really likes it. She will stay on her tummy for quite if I have the music playing. Addison likes to get under there with her and help her touch things. Avery has ended up in bed with  me a few times in the early morning and falls right back to sleep. This worries me a little bit! Hopefully this doesn't become a habit. She is the biggest cuddle bug ever. She wants to be held all the time and pretty much fusses when I put her down. Needless to say I don't get much done. Happy one month Avery Mae!