Avery is ONE MONTH OLD!

We cannot believe Avery is one month old! The past month has flown by! As we did with Owen, we are going to take a picture of Avery every month to show her growth. Owen had his picture taken with a ball, Avery will have hers taken with a stuffed bunny and a pillow from her nursery.

Avery is doing great. She has been doing a lot of sleeping and eating during the day. She has her fussy time between 6p and 9p...but we have perfected keeping her quiet during that time (she just fights sleep). She has her last feed of the day at 10p (by bottle) and then wakes mommy up for the first feed of the day sometime between 3am and 4am. Avery goes back to sleep during the feed and then wants to eat more around 6am or 630am. She is quite the little snuggler in the morning. Daddy loves his snuggle time with Avery before work while Owen is eating breakfast (that Daddy prepared for him). Mommy cannot believe her maternity leave will be over in less than two weeks. Again...time is flying by!

Baby Legs

Baby Legs are basically leg/arm warmers for babies. Check out their website and the story behind their development:

In April of 2005, a young mom was confronted with a diaper rash that just wouldn't quit. The rash needed some fresh air to heal, but she was also concerned about keeping her daughter warm. In a moment of inspiration, she snipped the feet off of a pair of socks and fitted her daughter from hip to ankle with a cool set of leg warmers. These leg warmers not only kept her daughter warm, but also protected her from the elements, made diaper changing and potty training easier, and protected her soft knees while crawling. With some fun designs and some grassroots marketing support, the functional and fashionable leg warmers that began as a solution to keep little legs warm quickly became much more.

I heard about Baby Legs through friends on Facebook. I bought a pair for Avery several months before she was born when they were on clearance online. Avery wore her first pair late last week. My friend Kristin reminded me that she made a bunch for her son named Micah. She made them out of children's knee-high socks and used a tutorial found online here. So...off to Target I went to buy some knee-high socks! Here is a picture of Avery in her new "Baby Legs" :)

First Bath

Avery's cord came off when she was 10 days old (Owen's stayed on until he was three and a half weeks old!!!). So, we started real baths. Of course, she hates the bath...but it is so nice to have a clean and good smellin' baby!!

Avery

Sleepy Avery


Happy Avery

"Owen hold the baby"

Lately, Owen has been dictating who should hold the baby. If Mommy is holding Avery, Owen will say "Daddy hold the baby". And vice versa. But, this past weekend, Owen became interested in holding Avery. Yesterday morning, Owen sat on Daddy's lap and Avery laid in Owen's arms for several minutes (a long time for our active little guy). Avery and Owen were both quiet too! It seemed as though Owen enjoyed just looking at Avery and naming all her body parts (eyes, ears, nose, etc.). It was very sweet. Now, anytime someone is holding Avery, Owen wants to "hold the baby". It is not really an issue, unless Owen is eating (with hands and face covered in food) or Mommy is feeding/burping Avery.
This morning, after breakfast (for both Avery and Owen) and before school, Owen wanted to hold Avery. We got a couple of pictures. In the first one, Owen is showing us Avery's nose.

More pics

Asleep Again (after a car ride to drop Owen off at school)

Gettin' Chunky!!!

Ruffle Bum

"Owen's Diaper Off"

For the last week or so, Owen has been telling us he is tired at all times of the day. The child sleeps 11-12 hours at night and takes a two hour nap. He does wear himself out during the day, but that seems to be plenty of sleep for his age (maybe too much?? is that possible at this age?). When bedtime does roll around, Owen seems happy to go to bed. We follow our routine every night. Brush teeth, shower, get a new diaper and PJs on, read a book, flip through the dinosaur book, and say 'night-night' and 'I love you'. Once in his crib, Owen talks/sings for sometimes up to an hour. Last night, I was half-listening to him talk while I fed Avery. I kept hearing one statement over and over...so I started listening more intently to figure out what he was saying. All of the sudden it registered in my brain that he was saying "Owen's Diaper Off". I quickly repeated it to Clint and he went up immediately to check on him. Sure enough, Owen had unzipped his pajamas, took them off (except for the feet) and removed his diaper. He was standing up, naked, in his crib when Clint found him. Clint put Owen's diaper and PJs back on and returned him to his crib. A few minutes later, I heard "Owen's Monkeys Off". Owen's PJs have Monkeys all over them...so we figured he was getting his PJs off again. Clint ran back upstairs and found Owen's PJs half-unzipped. After zipping them back up, Clint secured the zipper to the top of Owen's PJs with a safety pin. It is only a matter of time before Owen figures the pin out! But for now, the PJs and diaper will stay on through the night.
Good times.

Owen and Avery update

Owen spiked a fever last Friday night around 10pm. He was so upset and would not take any medicine or drink anything for us. All he wanted was to be held by his Mommy. I was nervous about sitting with him, as I had a six day old baby to take care of and could not risk getting either of us sick. It broke my heart. As soon as I sat down with Owen, he calmed down and eventually fell asleep on my chest (well...actually...my neck, chest, belly and thighs...he is SO big!!!). We managed to knock the fever down with Ibuprofen through the night and Saturday morning. Owen did not want to eat much that morning and we soon figured out that his throat was really sore. He went down for his nap at noon and slept for FOUR hours. Of course, by that time, his fever was back up. We made the decision to take him to a doc-in-the-box on Saturday afternoon. Clint took him and found out that he had strep. Antibiotics were prescribed and we started them that night. By Sunday morning, Owen was almost back to his usual self and by that night, he was fever free. Those antibiotics work FAST!

For the last few days, Owen has been coming home from school saying "Catch...Bumble Bee...OUCH...Yucky". And then he laughs and starts again. We play along and we were certain that they must be learning a new song at song. I remembered to ask his teacher (Sarah) yesterday and sure enough...they are learning the "Baby Bumble Bee" song:

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
(Cup hands together as if holding bee)

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Ouch! It stung me!
(Shake hands as if just stung)

I'm squishing up the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
('Squish' bee between palms of hands)

I'm squishing up a baby bumblebee,
Ooh! It's yucky!
(Open up hands to look at 'mess')

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me,
(Wipe hands off on shirt)

I'm wiping off the baby bumblebee,
Now my mommy won't be mad at me!
(Hold hands up to show they are clean)

I remember this song from my childhood. FUN! Now when we sing the whole song, Owen stands (or sits) still and laughs. :)
Owen has also started the 'questioning' phase. He asks "What's that" a lot and has recently started to say "What color, Mommy?" or "What color, Daddy?" while holding up a crayon, piece of paper or a plastic Easter egg (yes...he still plays with his Easter basket and eggs!). The color question is one we have been asking him for months...so he is turning it on us now. HA! Owen can almost say all of his ABCs. He skips "L, M, N, O, P" for some reason. And, he can almost count to 10 (and sometimes 11). He skips 5 and 9, but adds 11 most of the time.

Avery is doing great too. She eats every 2.5 hours during the day and every 3 at night. She is a speed feeder, when compared to Owen. And perhaps as a result, she gets the hiccups a lot. I know they bother us more than her, but I still feel bad when she gets them. So far, she is a good sleeper. We put her down for the night in her crib at 10:30pm after a feed and she barely wakes up for her feeds (at 1am and 4am). I wake her at 7am for her first feed of the day and she typically goes back to sleep until her 9:30am feed.
Her doctor (and parents) are very pleased with her weight gain. Avery was 8lbs 7oz when she was born. When we left the hospital (two days old) she was 7lbs 13oz. Last Thursday, we went for a weight check and she was 8lbs 2oz. And then yesterday, we went for another weight check and she was 9lbs 1oz! She has surpassed her birth weight and is not yet two weeks old. Go Avery!!! Avery is my little snuggler. She loves to just hang out on our chests after eating in a 'frog' position (she keeps her legs tucked up like a frog). Hence, we often call her "froggy bottoms". She is super sweet and as I have said before...we are so in love.

Avery's photo session

Yesterday, Sarah Downey came and took pictures of Avery. Here is a sneak peek that Sarah provided last night. Can't wait to see them all!

Eyes Open!

Avery has spent most of her nine days here sleeping. We are not complaining, but it is hard to get a photo with her eyes open! When she has her eyes open, we "oh and aw" over her and often forget to take a picture. But, here are a couple, as well as my favorite picture so far...

Owen's reaction to Avery

A lot of you have been asking how Owen has reacted to Avery's arrival. Last week, our kiddos did not have too much interaction time, as we were in the hospital over the weekend and then Owen was in school all week.
This weekend was really the first time that Avery and Owen spent some time together.
For the most part, Owen does not notice Avery. Her squeaks and cries catch his attention though. Every time she squeaked this weekend, Owen would say "Avery Baby...sleeping". When she cries (which has not been often), Owen gets upset too. We reassured him that they are both ok and then he goes about his way. The most precious reaction Owen had this weekend to Avery was when she sneezed at dinner last night. Owen clearly stated "Bless you, baby Avery". Super sweet. Owen also likes to point out Avery's features and body parts. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, fingers, toes, etc.

Here are some pictures. The first one is one of Owen's first reactions to Avery. Just kidding. He was pulling a face at just the right time for the photo though....