Thanksgiving 2012

We were so blessed to be able to travel again this year to see both of our families for Thanksgiving.  This Thanksgiving was the best one yet due to our precious baby girl.  She was a rock star again as she flew for the 7th and 8th times since she was born!

I know I am a bit late but....

This year I am thankful for:

- Our beautiful, perfect, sweet baby girl.  She is the greatest blessing of all.
- Getting to parent with M.  He is seriously the best new Daddy I have ever seen.
- Our families
- My mom's sweet sister, Aunt Shirley...without her, who knows where my mom might be today.
- Friends in Nashville, Birmingham, Decatur, Houston, Missouri, Colorado, Kentucky, etc...
- A hard-working husband that allows me to stay home with Avery...something I cherish every minute of everyday
- A job that I can work "as needed"
- New job opportunities
- An exciting year to come!


We celebrated Thanksgiving in Cinci first with my fam, Uncle Grady, Aunt Jeannie, Andrew and Keela, Katherine, Ben and Barrett..

Friday we headed to Lexington to have Thanksgiving 2.0 with M's family.  His parents, J, K and Sam.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

A Week In Nashville

While Daddy went to a boring conference in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, Avery and I flew to Nashville to spend time with family and friends.  I pretty much felt like super mom flying with Avery and Lexi all by myself.  I'm pretty sure everyone on my flight thought I was crazy.

While we were there, we were constantly on the go!  I was glad to get home Sunday, not only to see M, but I was definitely ready to get Aves back on her normal schedule.

The first day we were there, Avery and I went to lunch with our best friends!  Two of my best friends have girls around Avery's age.  Heather has Maddie (6 months older than Avery- on the right), and Whitney has Evie (4 months younger- in the middle).  So fun!

Love my Granddaddy!

Honey took me shopping and out to lunch almost everyday!

Then of course we had to go to Granddaddy's office to show me off to all of his co-workers :)

On Saturday, our other best friend Katie Bug came into town from Missouri with her almost year old baby boy Carson!  We went out to lunch with all 4 babies!  We are crazy!

Friday night, Aves and I went to dinner with Heather and Aimee.  Miss my old roomie :)

Sunday afternoon, Honey made a big lunch.  Laura and JP came over to eat too!  Can't wait until I can eat Honey's brisket and homemade baked beans!

Love my sweet, wonderful friend.  

Who loves Aunt Ashley?!

Wonderful week.  We were so, so busy.  And I still didn't get to see everyone that I wanted to.  Thanks to my wonderful parents for putting up with us for a week :).  

Baby Dedication

Sunday, November 4th, we had your baby dedication here in Houston at church.  Here was what Mommy and Daddy sent in for your page in the baby dedication booklet:

Avery,

We are so thankful to God for the blessing he has given us in you.  Your mother and I are amazed at the miracle God has performed by creating you.  Each day with you brings new joys and challenges that are truly a gift from our Father.  We pray that as parents we will love and cherish you and raise you to be a follower of the Lord Almighty.  Avery, our prayer is that you enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and experience the kingdom of Heaven here on earth.  You come from a long line of followers of Christ, both from you mother's and you father's side, and we pray that God draws you to Him and you continue in this heritage of faith.  There will be trying times in your life, but there is nothing you can ever say or do to make us stop loving you.  You are God's child first and our child second. Because God has entrusted you to us, we pray that we are good stewards of this most amazing gift.  We love you.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." - Numbers 6:24-26

Our updated pic for the church directory.  Avery has her little grump face on :)

Beautiful, right?!

6 months

This past Thursday Avery Grace turned 6 months old!  M and I were on opposite sides of the country, so we waited until we were back in Houston together to take her 6 month pic!  What an incredible journey we have had these past 6 months!  So fun, so tiring, so rewarding, and SO worth it.

Avery here are your stats at 6 months:

Height:  26 3/4 inches (90th percentile)

Weight:  15 pounds 15.5 ounces (50th percentile)

Sleep:  You go down consistently between 7:30 and 8:00 every night.  You usually wake up at least once about 2 hours after you've gone down, but you put yourself right back to sleep.  You like to wake up early.. something mommy is not too fond of :)  Usually between 5:30 and 6:00.  Sometimes you will put yourself back to sleep, other times you want to eat and go back to sleep, and sometimes you want to be up for the day.  You are not the greatest napper. Correction.. you are a horrible napper!!!  Mommy is on Operation Nap Training for the next couple of weeks.  We're doing well if you go down for 30 minutes.  Usually it's 20-25 and you wake yourself up and have trouble putting yourself back down.  In order for mommy to do anything around the house, she needs you to take at least one good nap a day.. Please!
       * I asked the pediatrician today about your sleep problems.  He said, "Oh, I wish I could help you!  She just made not need a lot of sleep.  She's just a busy kid"  Ha... Oh Avery.

Likes:  Bath time, your baby piano, watching people, having people talk/smile at you, going on walks, taking your paci in and out of your mouth, eating!, and sleeping on mommy

Dislikes:  Being left alone unless you are completely engrossed with a toy, being on your stomach, and you get VERY upset if you get overtired.  You've got a little bit of a temper :)  You definitely like letting us know when you are upset.... And it's hard for us not to laugh at you.

Diaper Size- 3

Clothes Size- Depends on the brand.  You can still wear some 3-6 month things (mostly onesies), but you're mostly in 6 months or 6-9 months

Feeding-  You still nurse 5 times a day.  You get oatmeal cereal in the morning mixed with a pureed fruit.  And baby food for lunch and dinner.  We just moved you up to the "2 foods" and you are doing great.  You LOVE sweet potatoes, carrots, all fruits, and peas.  You are still not fond of green beans, something you come by honestly.  Your daddy and I hate them too!  You also think it is hilarious when we use the baby sign language for "All done".  Makes you giggle every time.

Milestones:  You are SITTING UP!  Like completely. You started sitting up for minutes at a time around 5 months and 1 week.  Since then you have gotten to where I can set you down and walk away and you stay upright :)  Of course, you still refuse to roll from your back to your front consistently.  You've done it a few times, but other than that you have absolutely no interest in doing it... most likely because you HATE being on your stomach.

Nug.  We cannot believe it has been 6 months.  A half of a year....  Before we know it, we will be celebrating your birthday.  Time is flying by, and all this momma wants is to snuggle you up close and keep you this size for a while.  We love you! 

I was a happy girl today at the doctor's office!  We love Dr. K!  I barely cried when I got my shots.  I'm a trooper!

Sweet sisters

Houston Visitors and Trip to Birmingham

 *Before I delve into our recent lives, I ask my blogging family to pray for my sweet mom, her siblings, and nieces and nephews.  We lost our sweet Aunt Shirley, mom's oldest sister, last week.  She was the kindest, most selfless woman with a heart of gold.... and she will be greatly missed. 

It's been a while.  We have been super busy the last few weeks.  I cannot seem to wrap my head around the fact that tomorrow is November.  My baby was born in May!  WHAT?!  Recent happenings here in La Casa de Hardison have been M's parents trip here to Houston, this past weekends trip to the Magic City, and drum roll please...my transition from working mom to stay at home mom (plus some PRN work on the side!).  Matthew and I are very excited about this new development in our lives here.  Not that we have to explain ourselves to anyone, but it is just going to make our quality of life here in Houston a lot better.  We feel incredibly blessed that God has given us the opportunity for this to happen.  As a guy I work with said, "My wife stayed at home, we had the oldest cars on the block, but we had a great life"

M's parents came to town the second weekend in OCT.  They arrived on Thursday night and stayed through till Monday morning.  The best way to describe what we did all weekend, relaxed and ate.  I both can't wait and am dreading Avery getting older so it is more fun to get out and do things with her.  I don't think they cared too much, they got to spend time with their granddaughter for 4 days!

This past weekend we headed back "home" to the Magic City to visit friends and family.  We could not wait to touch down in the Southeast and get our hands on some Birmingham eats.  We ate dinner with our wonderful friends Thurs night (Katie, Drew and McNeill, Blake and Holly Beth, and Charles and Cara).  Matthew and I feel so incredibly blessed by these friends.  We always feel refreshed and recharged after a night spent laughing and reminiscing with them!

Avery LOVED McNeill

This pic makes me so happy

Friday, Avery came down with a horrendous case of pink eye, along with an Upper Respiratory Infection.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find a single pediatrician's office to take her Friday afternoon, so we had to take her down to Children's ER to get her seen.  I know, for pink eye, ridiculous... Friday night we stayed with Ed and Shawn and enjoyed a "Shawn dinner".  He is by far the best chef I know.  My mom is the best cook; Shawn is the best chef :)  Geoff and Mollie came over as well and we enjoyed a relaxing evening taking in the Birmingham view.

View from Ed and Shawn's back yard

The Matt and The Ed

Her poor eye.

The rest of the weekend we stayed with Jonathan, Kristen and Sam.  Bless their hearts for again opening their home to the three of us for multiple nights!  Truly grateful for a brother and sister-in-law that we view not as just family but as friends.  For 2 years it was just the 4 of us in the Magic City, and I would not trade those days for anything! Saturday night the boys met Benjamin for the MS State Alabama game.. ROLL TIDE!  Boo on me not getting to go to the game, but Kristen, Morgan and I got some girl time in while they were gone :)

I love my Aunt Kristen.  My onesie says, "Auntie keeps the candy comin" :)

Sweetest little Lady Bug that ever was!

Great friends.

Love my family

 We worshiped with our Homewood family on Sunday morning, and attended their Trunk or Treat Sunday night with J, K, and Sam.  Sam is a bowlful of fun these days!   He LOVES his Uncle MattNo.  And even asked for Ann a few times! Can't wait for Baby Boy #2 to get here in January!

Fun times, great weekend.  Sweet Home Alabama.

5 Months

Yesterday Avery Grace turned 5 months old.  M looked over at me at dinner last night and said, "It makes me really sad that she is getting so old!"  I feel like this month she really became a baby baby and not so much a tiny little being that only eats, sleeps, and cries .  She's a little person!  With a BIG personality.

Avery, here are your stats at 5 months:

Height and Weight- We didn't go to the doc this month, so we will get an update next month on these!  You are still long and lean!

Sleep-  You consistently go down anywhere between 7:30 and 8:00 and wake up to eat between 5:00 and 6:00AM.  After your early morning feed you will usually go  back to sleep for an hour or two.  On days when you are home with mommy, you take 2 long naps (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) anywhere from 45min to 2 hr plus one catnap (20-30min) a day.

Likes: Your new piano toy daddy bought you, chewing on anything and everything, being sung to (esp during bath time), and going on walks.  You have also started to notice Lexi more this month and like reaching out to touch her.

Dislikes:  You are usually pretty chill.  You don't like being left alone for long periods of time, and you definitely let us know when you are ready for bed.  But on those rare occasions that you are unhappy you go from 0-60 in less than a millisecond.  A slight temper :)

Diaper Size- I wish they had a 2 1/2.  You are getting too long for the 2's.  But the 3's are way too big on your waist.

Clothes Size- 3 to 6 months

Feeding-  This is where this month has gotten fun!  You started eating cereal right after you turned 4 months.  We did that exclusively twice a day for about 3 weeks and have now moved on to green veggies!  We started you on green pees, which you LOVED the first night, then tolerated.  Last night you had your first serving of green beans.  Not too sure what you thought about them.  Otherwise, you are still exclusively nursing or receiving pumped milk. 

Hair Color- I'm going to go with dirty blonde.  But who really knows what color it's going to end up.  I still have people ask me if it has red in it.

Eye Color- Dark blue

Nicknames- Nug/Nugget and Aves

Milestones-  You are getting SO close to rolling from your back to your tummy.  You get halfway and then decide not to :)  This month you have really started noticing objects, reaching out for things, turning to Mommy and Daddy's voices, and looking up when we say your name.  You're getting closer to sitting up, but we're still working on balance!  Your little personality continues to develop.  We love hearing your sweet laugh.

Nugget, each month that goes by we are more in awe of how much we love you.  You are simply the greatest joy.  We are so blessed and proud to be your parents!

My little stinkpot

You can see the bandaids from her 4 month shots on her sweet little legs

"Not too sure Dad"

Two Peas in a Pod

After a long week, this is all this momma needs to look at to feel blessed and happy.  I LOVE my two girls. 

This week started out with me getting called in not once, but twice on Saturday night for work.  I got there the first time at 7PM, got home around 11.  Was just starting to roll over to go to sleep when my phone rang again... UGH.  Turns out the case was for a very little girl, so once I was there, did not care one bit,but just wanted her to feel better.  Got home around 2AM, got a random phone call around 3AM (thought it was work again), finally fell asleep only to have Avery wake me up to eat at about 5.

Then Sunday afternoon, unbeknownst to me, I left my wallet on top of my car while I was pumping gas on my way to a shower at church.  Didn't figure this out until Monday afternoon when I felt like my purse felt lighter than usual.  Awesome.  Credit card, insurance, license, etc.... all gone.  I blame it on how tired I was from the night before, but if I'm being honest, I probably might have done it either way. 

Tuesday morning, I left my breast pump at home and M had to drive an hour in traffic to come bring it to me before he went into work.  At this point, I'm thinking, "seriously, what is wrong with me?!"  He did say it gave him a better appreciation for the traffic I have to deal with going to and from work. :)

Had to get my license replaced Tuesday afternoon... You would normally think this would be an annoyance, but it actually ended up being a fairly ok experience.  Last summer when we got our licenses, we waited for FOUR hours.  This time it only took me an hour!

Now this brings me to yesterday afternoon... I was on the phone with mom while slicing potatoes on our mandolin slicer for some yummy scalloped potatoes... when it happened.  Yes, I sliced my finger, not the potato, like the whole tip of my finger.  I knew at that moment that it was way too deep to stop bleeding on its own, so I call M, knowing full well he's in an afternoon conference.  I tell him that's he's gotta come home, I need to go to the ER.  He's at least 45 minutes away, so I call Kelly and she's a bit closer.  Thankfully, Avery has been down for a LONG nap during this entire debacle.  Kelly arrives, we put Avery in her car, she drives me to the Urgent Care place and waits with me until M arrives, then takes Avery home with her.  Could she be a better friend?!

Unfortunately, I had no skin left to stitch.  So the doc had to burn my wound with silver nitrate to stop the bleeding.  He said, "You have two options, I can numb up your hand with 4 little injections at the base of your finger and then do it, or you can just go for it..it will take about 20-30 sec."  I just went for it... and it hurt....a lot.  After it was all said and done, M looked over at me and said, "Well baby, this has just not been your week."  No, no it's hasn't. 

Thankfully the week is almost over.  If I can just make it to tomorrow night unscathed, we will be golden.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.