We are Family

A couple of people have asked me how Avery compares to Ella as a baby, and I have to say, they are definitely related. Our kiddos sport cute little similarities like kissable cheeks and a full head of hair. I do miss Ella's newborn mohawk, Avery just doesn't have the length yet to pull that off!

Ella Marie

Born Sept. 18, 2005

8 lbs. 7 oz.Avery Elise

Born July 18, 2008

8 lbs. 13 oz.

Ok -- and these might be an invasion of Ella's privacy, but I think the following pics are hilarious. She is watching everything I do with the new baby.

Happy Birth Day

It's three in the morning so I'm not going to even attempt to write complete sentences. Plus, they probably wouldn't make sense anyway with my current lack of brain cells. Here's the basics of our weekend with a lot of pictures.

The Stats: Avery Elise Green was born July 18 at 9:17 a.m. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. Good thing she was a little early :)

So here's our fam on Friday night. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Kathy for watching Ella for pretty much two days straight. Ella loved sleeping over at Brandon's and eating waffles. Sleepy little bug Avery shortly after being born. There was nothing unmedicated about how she got here and I am OK with that. All the action happened in the last 45 minutes of my 8-ish hour delivery. I went from being dilated almost 5 cm to pushing at a +2 within an hour and then she was out in a few pushes. I also exceeded my lifetime quota of root beer popsicles throughout the course of the evening.

Snuggle time before leaving the hospital on Sunday. Avery loves to fall asleep being held after she finishes eating.
Ella loves Avery so much that we have to keep an eye out for Avery's safety. The first night Ella came to visit Avery, she couldn't stop saying, "Her's out now" and "It must have been really hot" because I told her that when it was really hot outside the baby would come out of my tummy. She also likes to discuss the details of how the baby gets out because of some things I told her when she asked if baby Avery was going to come out my belly button. Look out nursery leaders, you may get an earful. Avery's going home outfit. Looks like she may just wear this one once.
I'll post more later, but I wanted to show off my cute little girl!

Tonight is the Night

In about half an hour I'm headed to the hospital for our new baby! I set up the delivery so I would be induced this Sunday -- if I didn't start labor on my own before that time -- but Ashley called me up to say that it's a slow night and they can fit me in. So I'm being induced at midnight and then planning to have little Avery here by Friday morning.

Last belly shot












Wow--so many thoughts, so little time.
#1 It pays to have a friend in the labor & delivery business.
#2 Holy shnikeys, here we go again.
#3 Yea, I made it to all the last-minute parties this week (including fillet mignon at The Ledges tonight)!
#4 I can't wait to not have to go to the bathroom every five seconds.
#5 When can I start running?
#6 Bring on the sleeping drugs...it's been awhile, OK!
#7 (Bryson's) Finally, some time off work
#8 (Ella's) Continuous party with friends!
#9 What if it's a boy?

This pic was taken Thurs. morning. Talk about cutting it close!














Well, gotta run! Next time you see me, we will be a family of 4!

Splish, Splash!

When it's 110 degrees outside every day, we hit the pool A LOT. Probably like once a day. Sometimes more. Here's a clip of Ella and Bryson hanging out in the deep end -- new territory for the munchkin this season. Water wings are definitely a life saver! She also enjoys "Sham-pu" whale rides, playing Sponge Bob, jumping in, and laying out to work on her tan.














I really love these sunglasses. I got them at Walmart for like 5 bucks and they are my favorite. I think it's the bling.

Actually no, Bryson's not wearing a shirt in this picture.

Just Finished Reading

I saw this book on Terri's shelf and decided to give McCarthy a second shot. I absolutely hated All the Pretty Horses and especially main character John Grady Cole, but maybe I just needed something a little darker. This is not a big mover and shaker for plot -- it's definitely a character-driven piece -- but I really liked it. I love the relationship between the father and son as they hang on by a thread, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. I will not write off McCarthy as another Hemingway.

Happy 4th of July

We celebrated this Independence Day with Ella's first campout, which was on Cedar Mountain. Bryson says car camping is not real camping, but when you're 9 months pregnant, hey, it works. Ella loved the FIRE, sleeping all together in a two-man tent (time to upgrade!), and just being outside. She made the bugs little houses to play in out of rocks and sticks and spent a lot of time just throwing rocks in the creek. We also found out that Bryson is an expert marshmallow roaster. Seriously, he made s'mores that were absolutely perfect!

On the 4th, we watched a Country concert and fireworks downtown. Ella is just starting to recognize her letters and every time we'd take her up the stadium stairs she'd point out mommy's special letter ("K"), daddy's special letter ("B"), and Ella's special letter ("E"). She sometimes recognizes Nana's special letter too, but apparently Nana must have a variety of spellings because that one is not always an "N." This was the first year that Ella really got into all the festivities and didn't cry when the fireworks started. She was tickled about sparklers and the big fireworks and she never seems to have a problem staying up late. Since we were directly under the fireworks this year, we had an awesome view, but we also caught a lot of ash. We just put my sunglasses on Ella and she was good to go.

Festive Toes!

I wanted to catch a shot of these jazzed up 4th of July little piggies before the swimming pool got to them first! Happy 4th of July on Friday!

Just Add Baby

Let's be honest -- I've been in the "nesting" phase with this little one practically since I found out that I was pregnant. We've redone a dresser, built an attic, made curtains, washed and ironed all the clothes through 1year old, and now are just setting up the finishing touches to the baby's room. Yep, we are ready.

And I hope it's not inappropriate to post that I'm already dilated to a 1. While that's maybe not that exciting to your average pregnancy, to me it's huge news. I think I was only at a 2 when I went into the hospital after many hours of heavy labor with Ella. The second time around is already going much better! Yea! We may actually have more children one day.