Sunday, June 29, 2008

Out of Town Family Invade Dallas :)

We had several out of town visitors this weekend. Jared's dad, Keith, came to visit. Parker has decided that although we call him Grandpa, he shall be known henceforth as Umpa. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the real Umpa, so this will have to suffice. :)

We hope Grandpa does not mind being called Umpa too much. They are quite cute and cuddly. Parker was a bit of a toot while Umpa was here. Parker needs time to warm up and get accustomed to new people in the house and this visit was a bit too short for his defrosting period. Hopefully Umpa will forgive Parker and come back soon to visit. We really enjoyed having him here.

Then, Micaela, Jared's niece arrived. Sunday was spent eating out, swimming and battling at Guitar Hero. Jared is soooo competitive.

We are looking forward to the invasion of the rest of the family this week. Jared's mom's family arrives this week for 4th of July festivities, so I am sure there will be many more pictures to share.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

I am smart!

What do you know? I figured out how to get an enormous video file on my blog through YouTube. So, if your work blocks YouTube like mine does then you will have to watch at home.

Sorry it is kind of long, but exciting to see how much she has grown. She yawns a lot, sticks out her tongue and seems to examine her hands. Too cute. At 1:57 you can see her sweet face really well and around 7:00 you can see her yawning and sticking out her tongue.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

30 week Sonogram

Today we had another sonogram. Avery is 29 weeks and 4 days, but I am rounding up!!! She weighed in at a whopping 3.3 pounds. She's a bit bigger than average, but that is normal for our babies. The good news is that I didn't gain any weight, which is amazing since I am eating so much. Maybe she will keep using all my stored up fat and I'll only gain 20 pounds with this pregnancy. One can only hope. Jared and I had a blast watching her yawn, stick out her tongue, swallow amniotic fluid and practice breathing. Jared said hopefully she will look like one of us, since Parker looks like the mailman :)

We are so thrilled that things are going so well. I must confess that I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and to find out something is wrong, especially with all the complications we had with Parker. But praise God, Avery is perfect and this pregnancy is complication free. (not puke free, but complication free) No swollen legs and high blood pressure. Hooray. So as much as I complain about the puking and feeling tired, I am truly blessed that everything has gone as smoothly as it has.

There is something so exciting about new life and it is surrounding us lately. It seems as though all of our friends are expecting or have recently delivered. We have plenty of playmates for our kids to grow up with, that is for sure.

Just so everyone can see the amazing journey Avery has made... I have attempted the impossible.... uploading videos. Below is her first video on 2/23/2008 at about 12 weeks. The video from today is going to be harder to upload because it wasn't taken on our camera. So, I will try to post it tomorrow so you can see how amazing the change in space and her much more distinct features. It is awesome to see her hiccuping and moving around so freely at this early stage in my pregnancy before I could even feel her.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Father's Day Weekend Festivities


The weekend started off with Parker's first full length movie. Jared and I decided to take him to the dollar theater so we could sneak out if it was disaster... but he loved it! Mostly he loved the popcorn, but he's been talking about Horton and his flower all weekend, so it must have made a big impression.


Then, we spent Saturday swimming at my parent's house and cooking out. He loves swimming and asks to put on his Nemo diapers to go swimin' almost daily. (maybe I will actually get a little tan this summer) After dinner we were entertaining Parker by showing him the piano. My parent's have a nice piano that they converted to a player piano for dinner parties. We put on the player piano and Parker's performer genes came shining through. He started bouncing, dancing, playing along and even took a bow at the end. It was a good 15 minutes of side splitting laughter. I don't know what we did to entertain ourselves before he came along. He seems to have inherited the performer genes from his father.

We then discovered that some of our best friends are expecting this winter... we are thrilled but won't reveal who they are just yet! They decided to make it special by telling everyone in person, which is really neat.

But I really want to dedicate this blog to my awesome husband and Parker's wonderful daddy!

Top Ten Reasons Jared Should Be Father of the Year:
1. He stays home late every morning just so he can see Parker when he wakes up and feed him breakfast.

Can't imagine why he would stay home to see me every morning... how could you resist this wake up smile??


2. He loves to read Parker stories and tuck him into bed at night.
3. He plays football and soccer with Parker anytime he's crabby to cheer him up.
4. He always makes a big deal out of talking to Parker on the phone, even when he's at work.
5. He takes turns cuddling and rocking whenever Parker is sick. He just hates it when the little man feels bad.
6. He does funny voices to make Parker laugh, like Donald Duck.
7. He loves the girl nights I have so he can have alone time with Parker.
8. He kisses my belly good night so that Avery doesn't feel left out.
9. He always says hello to Mommy and kisses her first when he gets home from work.
10. He gives the best tickles and kisses ever!

Happy Father's Day!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Sunny Days


Summer is definitely here. The days of 90-100 degree heat have arrived. Swollen ankles here we come. We decided to take refuge at the nearest waterpark this weekend. Parker had a blast and wore himself out. He kept saying "I swimming Dada, I swimming Mama!" Too cute!





On Sunday, I hosted a baby shower along with some other awesome ladies for my friend Michelle. We have been friends since the 4th grade and it was so exciting to get to be a part of her shower. Not to mention she is having a boy, so Avery will have a boyfriend just a few weeks older than her! Congratulations Chelle!!!

Me, Heather Zisler (another buddy from 4th grade), Michelle, Michelle's mom Lilly, and Michelle's sister Yvette

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Avery's Room

Our Memorial Day weekend was packed full of activities! Painting, painting, and construction in Avery's nursery. I wanted to get as much done as I could before the third trimester fatigue hits. Jared worked his tail off to help me. My parents were great and spent all day Saturday helping me paint the room before Jared did the trim. It turned out even prettier than I had hoped.

The guest bedroom is the only room in our house that we had not re-painted or decorated to fit our taste. We were lazy and saved it for last. We are so glad to be rid of the black and white room.

Here are some before and after shots. The pictures don't do the room justice because it is so hard to fit the room in a picture.... you will just have to come over and visit us to get the full effect!

Before


And After


The best part is that Parker approves. He loves the polka dots and colored knobs to match on her dresser. He keeps wanting to play in Baby Avery's room. He only has to wait 3 more months to meet her!


Monday, May 19, 2008

Still Loving my Hubby!

This looks like a postcard, but Jared took this from our balcony!

Jared and I decided to take a trip to the Lakeway Resort and Spa on Lake Travis in Austin this weekend. My aunt and uncle graciously agreed to keep Parker for 3 nights so we could get away before Avery is born. We read books, that had nothing to do with Mickey or Elmo; we laid out by the pool, without worrying about a little one falling in; we ate good Mexican food; we shopped for houses that were way out of our price range on the lake; we shopped at the outlet malls, mostly for Parker; and we went to a real movie at a real theater!!


The view from our room was wonderful and we even had some visitors our second night. The deer just hung out outside our room for about an hour.


It was all too good to be true, so of course something happened. We laid out for about 45 minutes before lunch and this is not a big deal for me, but my sweet hubby lacks some serious pigmentation. He turned into a lobster within 24 hours. By Sunday he couldn't move without wanting to rip his clothes off. So we cut our trip a little short, which was just fine with us since we missed Parker like crazy.
(this picture is so much less dramatic since I took it after we got back and the burn had faded, but you get the idea)


We decided that we won't survive him going to camp for a week, much less college. It is amazing how hard we tried to not talk about him, but always ended up talking about him anyway. We can't help ourselves!
But we do love each other even more than the day we said I do thanks to the wonderful memories we have made with and without Parker.