I never knew a unibrow could be so cute!

8:04 PM

Livvie had a big accident today that involved her forehead and our glider chair. She just tries to do way too much! As I was on the phone with Sara, not 2 feet from her, Liv did a header into the wood of our glider. I immediately hung up, and for 10 minutes tried to soothe my poor baby. I know this is just one of many owies, but I still HATE it when my girls get hurt! I think it looks kind of like a uni-brow, don't you?
Below is a photo of the part that she banged her forehead on. It's the black and wood piece. Dumb chair...you just wait. When Livvie gets bigger, she's gonna give it to you! :)

Happy 28th my dear Andrea!

8:26 PM

My beautiful and wonderful friend Andrea turns 28 tomorrow! Miss you Andrea! Just think...10 years ago we were getting ready to be college roomates...wow...time sure does fly by! Hope you have a super-de-duper day!

12:58 PM

and she said she didn't need a nap...

venting...

8:54 AM

I'm tired. Not so much that I need to sleep (that would be nice though), but just kind of feeling "tired" in life. I love my husband, love my girls, but today I just got the overwhelming feeling that I just wanted to escape. I want to be alone....all by myself, if only for a few hours. I have no idea what I would do, but that's the joy of it. Too bad I have some sort of phobia about leaving my children with babysitters and my husband works full time...sigh...
I find myself not wanting to clean, not wanting to wash clothes, play with the girls, and I even find it a chore to feed them. I don't want to work, I don't want to talk about princess stuff, I just don't want to be mommy...
I just want one day of "me" time. A totally selfish day where it's all about me, instead of being all about getting this or that for the girls. Is that so wrong? A day to either choose to be alone at home in my bed, or to go out shopping all alone with no set time when I had to be home.
So, there's my heart today. I'm no where near a perfect mom...in fact, I'm probably not that great of one at that. But, I am honest, and I just want a day of rest...is that so much to ask? :)

Splish Splash

1:26 PM

The girls and I went out yesterday in Avery's pool and it was then I decided that I needed a more "baby friendly" pool for Livvie. So, I went out to Walmart last night and found a cutie patootie pool! It has so many cool little gadgets on it! We decided to try it out today!
My loves...

Of course, Livvie just had to see how these new cool toys tasted!

Sometimes I wish she wouldn't need to wear her sunglasses.
I think her eyes are so pretty, but I so seldom catch a peek at them outside!

And, of course, being the baby who always wants to be older than she is,
Liv tried to climb into Avery's pool. I think next time I'll have to station the pools a little farther apart! :)

9:59 PM

Liv has really been enjoying Avery these days. She loves to interact with her, watch her, and laugh at her. I snapped a photo today of Liv trying to play the "play piano" with Avery. I thought it was just such a precious moment to capture...

Our Wisconsin Trip!

10:18 AM

This will be a LONG post, so I apologize in advance...

We had a wonderful time going to see Nana and Bapa. Daddy drove us half way to Blue Earth, MN, the home of the Jolly Green Giant. Avery was too afraid to be next to the giant statue, but she did stand next to Little Sprout...



On Thursday, we had our photo shoot with Jennifer!


It was a wonderful time, and she took some great photos. I hadn't seen her for a l-o-n-g time and it was great to see her and meet her boys Kieran and Cullen. Avery and Kieran had fun playing, and so did Cullen and Livvie.



Her sister Hilary was also there with her son Isaac, so it was nice to see her again too! Here is a photo of all of us...and our moms too!

Next, we went and saw Grandma Vicki. We stayed for about 20 minutes and visited about the weather and flowers...She still looks very frail and fragile.


The next day Mommy, Nana and Livvie went rummaging while Avery got to stay home and play with Bapa. Later that day we went to "Myric Park Zoo", as Avery calls it. We saw some animals, and Livvie had her first experience at a Zoo.


That evening, we met up with Aunt Becky at Rocky Rococo's pizza! IT WAS SOOOO YUMMY! We had a fun time catching up on her girls and chatting about my girls as well.


That evening, Bapa started up the campfire in their backyard. Avery loved "campfiring" as she called it. She said that the fire would talk to her and ask her for another log over and over again. She learned a very important lesson from Bapa...NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON THE FIRE.

On Saturday, after another day of rummaging, the girls and I went over to Kim's house to have some outside fun with her and Landen. It was such a nice day outside, and the girls loved splashing around in the pool! I was surprised at how much Liv loved the water! It was wonderful to see Kim and catch up with her again.


That night Avery and Bapa went on a date to Dairy Queen. Nana, Livvie and I tagged along too. Avery just loves to go on dates...

On our way home, we got to see deer running around. Nana and Bapa live in such a beautiful area that deer walk around all the time. Avery really loves to see them.


And, of course, the day would not be complete with another campfire with Bapa!


Yesterday, we left to come home. We had lunch at Coney Island (soooo yummy) and headed on back to meet up with Daddy at Blue Earth, MN. We had a great time visiting Nana and Bapa, but were glad to be home too!

A Little Mommy Talk

9:56 AM

to join us, head on over to Mommy Talk



What was it like going home from the hospital for you?
Did your baby have any medical issues?

Avery
With Avery, she did have a "medical issue". For her sake, I'll keep that private, but it was a horrible, emotional ordeal that we went through during the first couple days of her life. She was taken out of our arms, and put into the NICU. We had to do a 3 minute scrub to see our child each and every time. She did not feel as if she was "ours". We were at the beckon call of the doctors, and we had to follow their orders, and it seemed as if we had no control. It was awful - just awful... She had to have a surgery at 5 days old, which required her to stay in the NICU for 9 days. They were a very hard 9 days for us. I had to go home without my baby which was heart-breaking.

After Avery got to come home with us, everything fell into place. We got to bring her home on a Sunday morning, so on her first day home she got to go on a trip to church! Daddy had an afternoon nap with her, and we just marveled at our beautiful little girl all day long...

Olivia

With Olivia, we were blessed with a perfectly healthy baby from the beginning. She got to be in our hospital room with us, and it was a wonderful time of bonding. It was like it was the first time all over again, because we didn't know what it was like to be in charge of your baby and have them with you in the hospital room. We changed her diapers, got to dress her in clothes, and "attempted" to nurse her as well.

We went home 2 days after Olivia was born, and it was a bit of an adjustment this time. I was really emotional which surprised me! My mother came home with us, and that was very helpful in caring for Avery as well.



We adore both of our girls, and daily fall in love with them over and over again...

We're home

8:13 PM

Busy unpacking and getting re-settled! We are tired, and are looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow! All I can muster up to post tonight is a photo of our kitchen! PG got all the framing sanded, painted (twice), sanded again, stained (twice), and then 3 coats of polyurethane. It's a long process, but I am a HAPPY LADY!
Be back soon with stories and photos from our trip tomorrow!
(By the way, I HATE this new "word verification" that blogger is doing to us!)

PHOTOS

11:14 AM

Hey y'all! My friend Jennifer just took photos of me and the girls yesterday! I was able to copy some of them to put up here! She did a grrrrrrrrreat job! I asked Avery last night before we went to bed, "What was your favorite thing we did today?" She said "Getting my pictures taken". Thank you Jennifer...it was a lot of fun! (Here is Jennifer's photography site - http://www.jennifermckinneyphotography.blogspot.com )



4 down, "way too many more to go", says PG

8:12 PM

BEFOREAFTER
Well, PG has been hard at work re-doing our cupboards. I think he's done a pretty good job, don't you? He'll be working on it the rest of this week while the girls and I are in Wisconsin! I can't wait to see the finished result!

middle of the night ramblings...

3:57 AM

Don't quite know why I'm up in the middle of the night tonight. Could be that Avery was kicking and waking me up. Or, it could be that Liv needed to be soothed back to sleep too....

So, here I sit at 4 in the morning, blogging...how sad! :)

The other night I had a thought....

When I was little, when I would wake up from a bad dream or if I was lonely, I would go into my parents room and cuddle up with my mom. Suddenly, I was fine. No more boogie-men, and off to sleep I went. I was comforted, I was safe, I was loved. There was no place else I could go that would make me feel safe like being next to mom and dad.

It just hit me the other day that now, I am that mommy. Avery begs every night to sleep with me. At first, it really got annoying to me. "Sleep in your own room honey" I would say. She would beg and plead, and eventually give in and go in her room. But, around 4 AM, here comes little Avery to cuddle up with mommy in bed. It has become a regular thing now a days. I probably should be the good consistent mommy and not let her sleep with me. But, then I remember what it was like when I was a little girl....

It just blows my mind that now I'm the mommy that gives Avery and Liv the comfort and security at night as my mom did to me. I am their "safe place" to land, and I am who they want to fall asleep next to. I have to admit, when all the books tell me that I am to have Avery sleep alone in her own room, my heart just welcomes her in as she cuddles up next to me. I love how she will put her pillow right snug next to mine, put her hand on my face and say "I love you mom".....ahhhh....doesn't get any better than that....

After a long day being mommy, and when all I want is to just sleep and start over tomorrow, it's amazing to me what that little hand on my face can do....

A little more "funk"

8:09 PM

BEFOREAFTER
There is more "funk" throughout, but this is just a sneek peak!

A Little Mommy Talk

12:30 PM

(to join us, head on over to Mommy Talk)
Birth Story


AVERY JOY
I was due on July 14th, 2002. I began having contractions a couple weeks before then. Plus, if you know me, I was antsy and anxious to meet this baby! Needless to say, getting my membranes stripped 3 times, eating spicy Mexican food, walking daily, hot baths, and scrubbing the kitchen floor didn't get this baby out! My OB was going to be going on vacation around my due date, so that in combination with my contractions going no where, she decided that I could be induced on July 12th! I was very very very excited!

We had our induction scheduled at noon on July 12th. I was dilated to a 3 at check in time. They broke my water, and I walked for 2 hours with NO CHANGE. Then came pitocin. When people ask me about this drug, I tell them that it is "straight out of hell", because that's the truth! OUCH! The contractions began to come on hard. I decided to go into the tub, because, hey...on TV the tub seems to relax women and make it easier! Um...yeah, not so much! I told my nurse that I wasn't coming out until the epidural man was in the room with the needle in hand.

I got the epidural, and it was a tad better. But, for some reason, I could still feel the contractions, and they were HORRIBLE! I had what I call "butt contractions". It was just awful...really awful.
I got to 6 cm, and then stalled there. Avery's heart rate was doing some dips, and I was just done trying. I was in so much pain, that when my OB said "I think we need a C-section", I was overjoyed! They gave me some sort of medicine that made me super numb, and that was when I finally had some relief.

Back to the OR we went. They kept poking me and asking me "do you feel this" and my answer kept being yes. I guess my numbing meds weren't strong enough. They gave me another big dose, and then I couldn't feel a thing. Those meds did do a number on me, because I was asking the Dr. crazy questions the whole time. My husband was trying to get me to hush up because, after all, she was cutting me open...she did need to concentrate!

At 9:08 pm, our little angel arrived. I think she wasn't ready to emerge yet, because they had to use the forceps to pull her out. WOW...what an amazing experience. PG says it was like being in the "X-Files". It really was an out of body experience. She was 7 lb 3 oz, 19.5 inches long. The first question I asked..."Is it a girl"..."YES" the Dr said. Then, my next question was "Does she have webbed toes"..."NO" the nurse said!

PG held her and brought her over to me while they were finishing up on me. We just looked at her and were in love! When the surgery was over, they took out my epidural line and it was then they noticed that my epidural was kinked like a hose inside of me, and that is why I wasn't getting the right dose of medicine...nice...real nice...We took Avery back to our room where my parents and Gavin's mom and dad and sister were eager to meet our little girl...

I think next week is when I'll explain more about Avery's medical issues and our hospital stay with her :(



OLIVIA LYNN
Olivia was due on November 2, 2006. I elected to have a repeat c-section because I think they are awesome! I will NEVER have a child vaginally after being able to have a c-section. They are FABULOUS..plain and simple!

My surgery was scheduled when I was 38 1/2 weeks, on October 24th at 7:00 am. We had spent the previous night in a hotel in BIG TOWN, and my parents came up from Wisconsin to be there to stay with Avery.

We got to the hospital at 5:00, and by 6:30 they were ready to take me back. I have to say that this time, the birth of Olivia was incredible. I would do it over and over and over again. The nurses were amazing, and they managed my pain so well. The ONLY icky thing that was painful for me was the catheter. That was not very fun at all...

Olivia Lynn was born at 7:09 AM on October 24th, 2006. She was 7 lb 4 oz and 19.5inches long. Again, my first questions were the same..."Is she a girl? Does she have webbed toes?" But this time, we were also looking to see if she was healthy and had all her body parts! She was here, she was beautiful, and we were blessed once again!

We brought Olivia back to our room where Avery and Nana and Bapa were waiting. It took Avery a couple minutes to warm up to Liv, but she did. We were a happy family of 4 now...what a blessing to have 2 adorable girls!

What do ya think?

9:17 AM

I am going to be getting my hair highlighted on Monday, so I need some advice...Should I do something more "safe" and pretty like this gal.....
OR, should I do something a little more crazy like my girl Kelly Clarkson?
OR, better yet! Go searching for a fun "do" for me and send me the link in my comment box, or email me at jennisajoy@juno.com

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