Life around our house

I am happy to report that I have made a full recovery from the "mystery illness". I am now back at work and Avery seems to be adjusting pretty good to being away from mommy and daddy for a few nights a week.

I was just going through some pictures from the last few weeks and thought I would share. We continue to be amazed by this little girl. She has come so far in the very short time she has been with us and has definitely captured our hearts. I feel pretty safe in saying she has both of us wrapped around her cute little fingers.

Here's Avery just chillin' out with her juice sporting some very fashionable dreadlocks!

For Father's Day we all gathered at Chris and Danette's for dinner and posed for the rare family picture
The whole clan!!

Kelby and Kolin have been the only grand kids on both sides of their family for many years now. Ironically enough they were blessed to have 2 first cousins come into their family very close together. Danette's brother became a father about a week before we left for China. Kelby now always says "man...I had to wait so long for a cousin and then I got 2 of them!"

Avery and Tripp: Kelby and Kolin's long awaited cousins posing together.

A couple of weeks ago we went with Erin and family to a local blueberry patch. We weren't sure how Avery would like it but Mollianne did a fabulous job of teaching her how to pick blueberries. We gathered and gathered to try to fill our buckets. Avery was fascinated with the blueberries and was eating them almost as fast as I was putting them in the bucket.

I did not get a picture of her in the blueberry patch but this was our worn out girl on the way home. Eating all those blueberries must have been very tiring!!

I just have to brag on this fabulous gift we received from one of Paul's coworkers. She took a regular bath towel and sewed a washcloth along the top for the hood. This towel is soooo much more absorbent than those infant bath towels and Avery loves it!
It even has her name embroidered along the top.

We recently got all the "new kids" together for a playdate and swim session. It was very surreal to look around and see that Valerie, Christie, and myself are all moms now while a year ago at this time we were just dreaming of this day!!

Trying to get 4 kids to all look at the camera at the same time!

Trying one more time!!

Valerie and Aubriana

Avery was very intrigued with the waterspout on the steps.

Quint loved hanging out in this little float.

K-man would just cooperate and look at the camera!

I can't wait to see all these kids grow and change together. We are also anxiously awaiting Meisey's referral which should come in the next couple of months and then of course Keira Joy will finish out the "clan" next year.

Wow girls!!!!! We have really come a long way!!!

Thanks for checking in!!

3 Word Sunday!

Thanks for all your suggestions about getting Avery on a sleep schedule!!!! We are slowly but surely making progress. The funny thing is what works for one or two nights doesn't work on night #3 and we are back to square one. Hopefully we are on the right track. And for the record: we are not opposed to letting her "cry it out" but were just leary when those episodes lasted over an hour!! Hey, at this point whatever works!!!!!

Thanks again for all the advice!!!

Have a great Sunday.

3 months ago today.........

We held our daughter for the first time. It has definitely been a wild and crazy 3 months but we can both truly say that on March 24, 2008 our dreams came true.

Avery on Gotcha Day while still at the Civil Affairs Office

And our sweet Avery now:
A couple of weeks ago Papa introduced Avery to red icing on a cupcake and of course a huge mess!!

Hey, this stuff if pretty good!!

Hey papa, how about some more??

Of course after the whole "cupcake episode" we put her straight into the kitchen sink for a quick clean-up.


Mommy and Daddy love you baby girl and we are so lucky to be your parents!!!!

Guess who called 911 today??

That's right this precious bundle of joy!! She has a habit of playing with the phone and usually it's a constant hitting of one number: 555555555 or 222222222 then I will shut it off when the operator comes on and kindly says to dial a number. Evidently I was not paying enough attention today because somehow she hit the magic combination!! After I had shut the phone off it immediately rang back, it was the local 911 operator asking if we had just dialed 911. Uh-oh!!! I profusely apologized and she told me she suspected a child had the phone because she heard the babbling in the background. Luckily she decided to attempt to call us back before she sent police to our house.

I guess we can chalk this one up to Mommy Lesson #965: Don't let Avery play with the phone!!!

Happy Monday!!!!

Sunday 3 word.....

I have 2 three word pictures this week in honor of the 2 big events in our life this week:

Paul and I celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary today, and yes we are:



and of course I have to acknowledge Avery's new "stage" of not wanting to sleep, but she is still pretty freakin' cute!!!!!


Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

17 Years!!!!

17 years ago today I married my best friend. I can honestly say that I can't imagine spending my life with anyone but him. We have definitely had our "ups and downs" but we have faced all the challenges together and have only grown stronger.



I guess we have changed just a little in the past 17 years.

We dropped Avery off at my parents house last night and we had a "date night" to celebrate. We went to a local Hibachi restaurant and had a fabulous time! Of course the whole time we were there we were talking about how Avery would probably be fascinated by the chef's cooking right in front of us.

Paul and Robyn still going strong after all these years!!!

Love ya babe and remember........You're still the one!

Need sleep advice PLEASE!!!

Okay all you veteran mother's out there, I come to you begging for some help. Our dear precious daughter has decided it's no longer necessary to sleep through the night.

Let me give you some background: when we were in China she was a champion sleeper, no issues at all. Once we came home she had a difficult time adjusting to the time change but with consistent bedtime routines after about 2 weeks we were able to establish a routine and she went to sleep with no little trouble and would sleep through the night. She did great for about 6-7 weeks but now since she is mobile it is a whole different story!!!

We practice our same nighttime routine and she initially goes to sleep pretty easy (around 9pm) but if (I should probably say when) she wakes up during the night she now stands up and proceeds to scream and scream and scream. This usually occurs between 2-3am. I have tried to let her cry for just a little but she WILL NOT lay back down on her own. Once she stands she is there until someone comes in. If I lay her down she immediately stands back up. If I take her out of the crib and rock her she is back to sleep in 1-2 minutes but the moment I lay her back in the crib the above scenario repeats itself. I have even tried rocking her for over 30 minutes to get her into a deeper sleep but she still wakes the moment I lay her in the crib. This is the drama we have had every night for over a week now and I am at such a loss.

Now on to naptime: Once again because she is sitting up, walking around the furniture, crawling she has no desire to nap. The only way we have figured out to get her to nap is to physically lay beside her with one arm lightly over her chest to make her be still enough to nap.

So that's my predicament. If any of you mom's out there have any tips, suggestions, or advice for getting our angel to sleep through the night or take a nap please leave a comment!!!! We are open to try almost anything at this point!!!

Thanks!!!!!

Avery's Crawling!!!!

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the well wishes. I am finally feeling a little better today so hopefully I am on the mend!!! I told Paul the other day that this is how I equate it: Last week I felt like I had been run over by a semi truck, this week it feels more like a Ford Ranger....that's progress!!

Anyway on to the exciting news in our house: yes, Miss Avery is now mobile!!! She is ALL OVER the house with her improvised one knee, one foot crawl. It is just too cute and she is actually pretty fast when she wants to be. She is also now standing for several seconds all on her own and will take one step before she realizes she does it and freaks out. She will however, walk all over with you holding on to just one hand so babyproofing is definitely in our very near future.

I am trying to upload a youtube video of her crawl so that you all can see her in action. Hopefully it works!!



Thanks for checking in!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!!

Paul, I love you so much and there is no one else I would rather be on this adventure with!!! Your an awesome dad!!!!

My week in review:

I have been MIA this week (again!) but this time I have a very good reason. The pics below outline our week in review.

For the past couple of weeks I have been feeling VERY run-down. I have had absolutely no energy to do anything. It became worse last weekend when I started to get dizzy and lightheaded whenever I stood up and could not even walk down our hallway without stopping to rest. I finally "bit the bullet" and called the doctor Monday morning. Paul and I went in told her my symptoms and were just not satisfied with her plan of care. Being a nurse I knew something was just not right and my doctor's instructions of fluids and rest until lab results came back just didn't cut it for us. So we dropped Avery off at my mom's and headed to the ER. We thought at least in the ER you get lab results immediately and they can test for everything.

MONDAY:

Monday we spent 8.5 hours in the ER. When I checked in they took me straight back to a room because I had some symptoms that indicated I might be in some type of cardiac distress. After drawing blood, getting an EKG, CT scan of my chest, and chest Xray it was determined that I was severely dehydrated, had pneumonia in both lungs, and my blood counts were mysteriously low. It was decided I would be admitted for what I thought was ONE night for IV re hydration and IV antibiotics and a watch of my blood counts.

TUESDAY:
Some of the blood results came back even more abnormal so I had to have some electrolyte replacement. Needless to say I was not going home today!

WEDNESDAY:
I was now pretty re hydrated so we were able to get a true blood level (when you are dehydrated your blood is concentrated so sometimes the results aren't totally accurate) and it was not pretty. Since they could not identify any active bleeding this meant another CT scan, this time of my abdomen followed up with a transfusion of 2 units of blood because by this time I was critically low.

THURSDAY:
Well now I am well re hydrated, my blood levels are climbing and the CTs were all negative for any abdominal bleeding. So the smile on my face is indicative that I am going home!!!! So much for my ONE night stay!!

I had quite a few visitors (not to mention a ton of nurse's from my department since I work in that hospital) and of course "my posse" all kept my spirits up with their visits, calls, and emails.

Erin and Kelley stopped by one night on the way to dinner and brought me a juicy new novel I had been wanting as well as some gossip mags. Christie called me everyday and wanted to come but I convinced her not to since Quint had just gotten over being sick and who knew what I was carrying around, and then there's Val......my crazy friend Val, who not only came by but also spent countless hours "googling" my symptoms so she could help the docs diagnose me. Thanks girls ya'll are the best!!!!

Even though I felt like a big load of crap we did manage to have a few laughs in between to pass the slow moving time in the hospital:

Valerie, Gary, and Aubriana came and leave it to Val to provide entertainment!!!!

Paul and Avery found that staring outside passed the time a little!!

I think Avery was more intrigued by her own reflection in the window than worrying about mommy hooked up to all these different wires and tubes!!

Mom and Dad brought this giant Mickey balloon and Avery had a ball playing with it!!

Getting her ready to meet the real thing when we go to Disney in October!

Sandra and Cliff took her shopping so that she could give Paul an early Father's Day present.

Avery was spoiled rotten during this time. She spent time both sets of grandparents as well as one night with Chris and Danette. I would like to think she missed us but she was probably having too much fun to even realize we were not there.

We are all back home now and even though we were never able to pinpoint an exact cause of all this I am feeling much better. The doctor's words were "there are alot of abnormalities but they don't add up together for one specific diagnosis. I just can't put you in common category"......well thanks doc, I could have told you that 5 days and several thousand $$$$ ago.

Thanks for all the calls, good wishes, prayers, and visits from those of you who knew what was going on. Hopefully it was a one time thing and I am on the mend!!!!!

Sunday 3 Word

Thursday we attended Kelby's 8th grade graduation. Not only was he named the best all-around athlete for the 8th grade but also commended on his TAKS scores.

It was bittersweet in a way because it just shows us that he is growing up SOOOO fast. Paul and I dug out old pictures that we had of him coming home from his very first day of kindergarten. It seems like yesterday and now he will be in high school.

Avery is so lucky to have 2 wonderful cousins. I know that Kelby and Kolin will both be great role models and mentors for her!!

Kelby, we are so proud of you and the wonderful young man you are growing up to be!!

More pool fun........

Avery continues to love the pool. She is very content in her little ladybug float just going all over the water.

No pool ensemble is complete without matching sunglasses!!

Kolin was swimming with us and decided that his new cousin could just be prop he needed to show off his diving skills. Here he is using Avery as his target to dive over.
Don't worry daddy was close by to intervene if necessary!!

Here we are doing it again, Kolin wanted us to mover her a little farther out so he could have a bigger challenge.
Avery could obviously care less that she was being used as a prop!!


Here he is: our little daredevil.
Kolin is done with 6th grade now and very excited to be on summer break!!

Another day....another pool ensemble. This time we ditched the shade on the float and the sunglasses and wore the swim hat! Yes, Avery's mom is crazy!!
Kolin and Avery.....wonder what stunts they can do today?

Our little waterbaby!!

We actually got in the pool twice one day and you know Avery had to wear a different swimsuit each time!! Mom makes us take a picture in every different one. Yes, grandma's crazy too!!

Avery standing on the pool steps!

Kolin couldn't resist trying out the ladybug float.

Grandma and Papaw hung Kelby and Kolin's old airplane swing back up for Avery.
She seems to be enjoying it!!

Last weekend we celebrated mom's birthday and mom and dad's anniversary. We all went to eat a local mexican restaurant. Somehow I did not get a picture of the birthday girl! Sorry mom!!!
Kolin and Papaw being their crazy selves!!

Chris and Danette striking a pose!

I went back to work this week and Avery had a wonderful time staying with Grandma and Papaw one night and having Mimi and Poppy come stay with her one night. I know the grandparents all loved their time with Avery and we are so blessed to have them live close by and have the help!!! Thanks so much you guys!!!!!

Thursday was Kelby's 8th grade graduation. For more info see Sunday's 3 work post.
Chris and Kelby........boy, they clean up nice.

Thanks for checking in that about wraps up our week!!!!!

On the Move (sort of).......

Avery has never been a good "napper". Usually her naptime consists of us laying her in the crib where she proceeds to cry for about 5 minutes and then just goes to sleep. Earlier this week I layed her down as normal and then went into our room to turn on the video monitor.
This is the first view I saw. I thought that her head was a little close to the camera but she had been moving herself into a sitting position in the crib for about a week now.

This was the next image I saw:
WAIT!!!!! How come I can see legs?? I had to go investigate this immediately!!

and this my friends is what I walked into her room to find:
that's right my little girl who could not even sit up on her own 10 weeks ago is now standing up in her crib!! Needless to say now that she has discovered this she is no longer willing to lay down and go to sleep she will just stand up and cry, until someone comes and gets her!!

She is changing and advancing so much!!!