2...and 1/2

Avery Grace, you are now closer to 3 than 2, and I think Mommy might die a little inside!  Where did my baby girl go?

Avery here are your stats at 30 months:

Sleep:  12 hours at night and still a good 2-3 hour nap during the day.  On days where you stay at preschool past 1, you don't always nap, but your teachers say that you will at least lay on your nap mat quietly :)

Clothes Size: 2T and some 3T, you wear a size 6 shoe.

Favorite Toys: your play kitchen, dollhouse, and your Sophia and Mae dolls

Favorite Books: You honestly love to read more than doing much else.  Sometimes I will just find you in your room curled up in your chair with a bunch of books.  I hope this continues!  You really don't seem to have an ultimate favorite, you are into a new one every few days or so.

Favorite Movie/TV show: Oh my... You have now seen The Little Mermaid, and nothing, and I mean nothing compares to your love for Ariel.  I think you could watch it 5 times a day if Mommy and Daddy would let you.  You still like Frozen and Princess Sophia on occasion.

Favorite Songs: You like to listen to the Frozen soundtrack in the car and will sing along to the whole thing.  Otherwise, you like to sing Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the little Children, Peace in Me, The Lord Told Noah To Build Him and Arky Arky, and The Lord's Army.  

Favorite Foods: My goodness child, there is not much you won't eat.  Something I am very grateful for, but I keep waiting for you to rebel!  One night last week Daddy and I decided we wanted Thai, so we took you along, and you ate about half of my portion!

Milestones:  Yay for being potty trained!  You are also using bigger and bigger words in sentences, the other day I heard you say, "I am flustrated!".  You also speak in sentences of 5-6 words most of the time.  You know you live in Birmingham, AL and the name of the street we live on, and whenever we get on I-65 North you ask if we are going to Nashville, ha.  You can pedal a tricycle, draw a circle, know all your colors and some shapes, and you are getting really good at dressing yourself.  You have great manners and know to say "excuse me", "please and thank you", "May I be excused" when getting up from the table, "bless you", and now we are working on consistently saying, "yes ma'am/no sir".

The Funny Things You Say:  Just yesterday after you got up from nap you went potty, and I left your pull up on since it was dry, about 30 minutes later you went to the potty by yourself and you came out having taken off your pants and pull up, I asked you, "Avery why did you take off your clothes", to which you replied, "Because.... (long pause), I love you?!".  Now when I put you down to sleep you will whisper in my ear, "Mommy, cover up my toesies."  At school one day you told your teacher you really liked the clips she had in her hair and then asked her, "Did your Honey get those for you?".  Too funny :)

Avery we love you and are so thankful for the joy and laughter you bring into our house everyday!  We cannot wait to see you transition into being a big sister in February!

Can we get a "Roll Tide" after yesterday! 

Beginnings of Fall

I know I am falling behind.  I may end up having to make this a quarterly commitment after Burton gets here :)  I am fairly certain that we are in one of the busiest seasons; it seems like we are constantly jumping from one thing to the next.  I am ready for life to slow down a bit, you know, like in a few months when we add a newborn into the mix.  Here is a sampling of some of the things we we've been up to the earlier part of this Fall.  Countdown to Thanksgiving is on... I can already taste Aunt Jeannie's dressing ;)

September we went to Atlanta for the Garth Brooks concert with some of our dear friends Blake and Holly Beth.  

My favorite part of this picture is the photobomb by the girl in blue.

No surprise, he was amazing!

Meanwhile back at Honey and Graygry's... Two peas in a pod.  

Avery's school pictures... She is too cute for words.

I mean, come on?!

Zoo trip one Saturday with Daddy while Mommy studied for school. 

Trip to Granddaddy Wayne's farm the beginning of Oct.  

She rode with him like this for over an hour.  

So the rule in our house is no pacifier except for naptime and bedtime.  This rule is also supposed to apply on days when Avery goes to preschool.  Her teacher sent me this one day when she found Avery hiding in her cubby with her pacifier.  My dad said it's like she is getting her a quick puff of a Virginia Slim... Everybody needs a stress reliever during the day I guess, ha.   

Avery helping me bake cookies for her teacher at preschool for her birthday

Oh Boy Oh Boy!

We found out 2.5 weeks ago that we were going to be welcoming a sweet baby boy into our family in February!  We were both a bit shocked to be honest, even though I was convinced the entire time it was a boy.  But for some reason when the tech said "boy" we were both surprised.  It's possible we felt this way since Avery was convinced that this baby was a sister...and for the last 2.5 weeks since we have known it was a brother has continued to call him a sister (thankfully, we are finally coming around :)  My first thought was, "we have nothing at home for a boy!".  While M's first thought was, "I'm obviously excited, but I hate we are going to have to disappoint Avery.".  Ha!

Obviously with having a baby brother who is 11 years younger than me, I know how wonderful baby boys can be.  This little man is already so loved, and we could not be more excited to raise a son.  We just need to get a few more boy toys in this house, he is already going to be bathed in pink washcloths and towels, bless him.

We have decided to name him Burton Christopher.  Burton after Granddaddy Wayne (Matthew's grandfather) and Christopher after my dad.  We feel so incredibly honored to name our son after them.  We pray Burton will grow up to love the Lord by the example of these two and we cannot imagine naming our son after more deserving men.

Avery has finally taken to the fact that she is having a baby brother.  When we ask who is in Mommy's tummy she will now say, "Burtnen"  The other day when I said that Burton will ride in the backseat with her when he gets here she said, "he will be my riding buddy!". Sweet girl.

Here is the video of us telling Avery what the baby was.  She didn't really get it.  She actually sounds like she is saying, "It's a boy!" but really she is saying, "It's balloons!"

20 week ultrasound.  He was not the most cooperative.  This was the best profile shot we could get the entire time we were there.  

On the right, 22 weeks with Avery, left is 22 weeks with Burton.  

Adventures in Potty Training

Avery has officially been potty trained for the last month and half or so.  She kept asking to use the big girl potty, so we figured we might as well roll with it...  She has done (fingers crossed) really well!  She had about a week of semi-frequent accidents, but then seemed to have really figured it out!  We felt extremely lucky about how well she did.... I'm sure next time around it will not be as easy.  Here's hoping she doesn't regress after baby gets here!

I made a big deal about going to pick out her "big girl panties" at the store.  We celebrated with an Icee, which let's be real  was more for pregnant Mommy.  :)  She of course wanted Frozen and Princess Sophia underwear.  

She was so proud.  

Cutie

Next up on the "To Do Before Baby #2" list: move to a big girl bed and get rid of her paci (she only uses it for naps and bedtime....but boy is she ATTACHED).  Stay tuned for what I'm sure will be tales of our failures on this front ;)

Also, I can't believe our baby girl is about to be 2.5 in a few weeks!

Six Years

I almost completely forgot to acknowledge that M and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary a few weeks ago.  I'm shocked we were even able to carve out any time at all with me in the depths of grad school, M in the throws of directing of what started out being 1 lab that is now 2, and you know raising a 2 year old :)  Thankfully, Rachael, the accountant from Matthew's work was able to babysit for us and M set up a reservation at our favorite Birmingham place Highlands Bar and Grill.

We are actually extending the celebration into this coming weekend as we head to Atlanta with friends to see Garth Brooks!  CAN'T WAIT!

What I've learned in 6 years of marriage:

 - M is hands down a way better person than me.
 - You are MOST definitely a product of your upbringing.
 - What you argued about in your 1st year of marriage will essentially be the same things you argue  about in your 6th :)
 - As my parents have always said and M and I have agreed with, "first year is the pits...it just gets better and better".
 - Child free vacations are a must and are worth every dime you spend.
 - Bringing a child into a marriage is HARD
 - Bringing a child into a marriage (after the initial shock and sleep deprivation wears off) makes your   bond even more meaningful
- Being in bed at 8:00 PM and on your 2nd episode of The West Wing is totally acceptable
- Having life-long couple friends is a key to survival
- Getting a good laugh with your spouse, especially at the expense of your unsuspecting toddler makes a bad day immediately good
- Falling asleep next to the same person every single night is about as good as it gets

Happy Anniversary M.  I love you very much and am so thankful to be married to someone as selfless, thoughtful, hardworking, and patient as you.  I feel so very blessed to be your wife!  Here's to another 60 years.
 

Hardison Vacation Pictures

Only almost 2 months later.  Here are some pictures from our vacation with M's family to Destin.  Thanks to David and Sandra for renting a great house for the time we were there!

Beach wore them both out.

Sweet baby Will who will be a big brother in a little over a month!

Aves got a little overheated at the beach one day.... 

Family of 4

Most everyone knows, but we are expecting baby H #2 due in February!  I am currently 17 weeks, so we will know what we are having in about 3 weeks time.

Family of four... that sounds so legit.  It seems as though adding one more to our family makes us a true "Family Unit" as if we have just been playing house for the last 2+ years.  I remember being a family of four with my own parents (before Buddy came along).  I was the child that made my parents become a family of four...how weird.  Family of four means sibling play time, crazy family vacations, getting a much needed bigger car (say no to the mini van!), and matching sibling clothes (I cannot wait!).  I have such wonderful memories of playing outside for hours with my own sister, sharing clothes, making up ridiculous games and forcing our parents to participate, and of course bickering as teenagers :).  Now my sister is my best friend and there is rarely a day that goes by that I don't talk to her.  I want my kids to have those sweet memories too.

Anyway, we are elated and cannot wait for this next bundle to join our family.  Avery is adamant that this baby is in fact a baby sister.  I have asked her numerous times if the baby in Mommy's tummy is a baby brother or baby sister, to which she always replies "baby sister!"  When I say, "but it could be a baby brother and he would be so sweet", she will reply, "No Mommy, don't think so!".  When I ask her with the baby names which one is in Mommy's tummy, she will without fail say the girl name.  Either she will turn out to be a great baby gender predictor or be sorely disappointed for a minute or two.  She LOVES babies no matter what, so I think she will be fine either way ;)

More fun coming our way!

I know that no one else really cares about comparing, but I was curious to see if I was carrying similarly to the way I did with Avery...

7 weeks with Avery and Baby #2

13 weeks comparison

17 weeks comparison.  This was the best I could do with Baby #2 pic wise, M had left for work, and I was headed to clinic.