Spring is Almost Here!

With all the warmer weather we've been having the last week or so, Avery and I have definitely been taking advantage of getting lots of fresh air.  Avery's latest favorite hobby (other than chasing the dogs around the yard with the ball thrower: still an old favorite) is blowing bubbles.  At the end of every Mother Goose session, the teacher blows bubbles on all the kids and Avery seems to enjoy it so much there, we bought some bubble solution of our own to try out.  Well worth the $2.  So much that yesterday we went back out to Walmart and bought a bubble gun and a bubble pail.  We plan on returning to get more bubble accessories as we have the time and the newness of these wears off. 

Here she is chasing some bubbles.  We weren't able to actually capture any of the bubbles in any pictures.  It was a pretty typical windy March day.

Finally getting her own turn with the wand.

But continuing to love the ball thrower.  She's holding it like it's a lacrosse stick or something.  I love how serious she looks!

Other than being outside plenty, not much else has been happening in our household.  Chris and I will make a trip to Wichita on Tuesday for both a sonogram and a regular appointment.  As long as the baby is cooperating, we should be able to find out if we are having a boy or girl!  

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Busy Week!

It's been one of those weeks where we seemed to have something going on every single day.  We started off the week with Daddy leaving Monday afternoon to go to Lawrence for a class for work.  Avery and I had dinner with Mom and then a quiet evening of just the two of us.  I don't think Avery was too impressed with just my company since I'm her companion all day every day already.  Oh well, we had a fine evening even though we missed Daddy like crazy.

Tuesday we waited for Daddy to get home from Lawrence and he surprised us by getting home about an hour before we thought he would!  Wednesday, Mom took a personal day off from school so she, Avery, and I could travel to Salina to go to my Uncle Tom's deployment ceremony.  None of us had been to anything like it before, so it was definitely something to experience.  Over 550 soldiers were being deployed and all their friends and families were in the Bicentennial Center with us.  Pretty neat.

Yesterday was an exciting day because our friends, Seth and Laurie, welcomed twin baby boys into the world!  We can't wait to meet Tyler and Brandon Ek!  And today, Friday, Avery had her 2nd annual preschool (or infant/toddler) screening done through the Early Childhood Center.  Avery went last March when she was 7 months old and I think I will continue to take her once a year just to have the professionals check her hearing, vision, and cognitive skills.  She did great, even impressing one of the teachers to the point where she wrote Avery was above age level on her checkout sheet!  Hooray!  That deserved a frosty from Wendys so that is what we did.

In between all the appointments and traveling, we have been enjoying some warmer weather.  Here's Avery in one of her more springy outfits.  We can't wait until all we are wearing are capris or shorts!

Yes, that is naturally curly hair!!!  Just spritz some water and VOILA!

Making sure the 4 wheeler battery is still running.  It is.

Trying to unzip her coat for the billionth time.  She is working on dressing and undressing herself, and at this point is only really successful at the undressing.  Note Mommy's new ride parked in the garage.  We needed more space pending our new arrival.  We are now a minivan family! 

15 Weeks

Yesterday Chris, Avery, and I traveled to Wichita for my latest doctor's appointment. It was a pretty short one; I just got to hear the heartbeat and have a few questions answered, but it was great to see our doctor again.  We will go back again in 4 weeks, this time for both an appointment and a sonogram.  We plan on finding out whether Avery will have a brother or sister, so we should know in less than a month!  Here I am last night.  Yes, I'm wearing maternity clothes.  It's probably not an absolute necessity, but I'm a lot more comfortable, plus it makes it a little more obvious that I'm pregnant and not just overeating.

Avery and Chris stayed outside and played while I was in the appointment.  It ended up being a beautiful day!  Avery did such a good job riding too.  She slept the whole way there and looked through her books on the way home along with having some snacks.  Such a good girl!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Big News!

Avery is going to be a .....



We found out our big news a few days before my birthday in December but decided to wait until we were further along to spread the news.  Our new baby has a due date of August 17; like Avery, however, this baby will also be born at 36 or 37 weeks.  So we will actually have the baby within the last couple weeks of July.  We are very excited for our new addition and look forward to the next few months of preparation.  In the meantime, we will be possibly beginning potty training with Avery and also transitioning her into a toddler bed.  Neither task to be taken lightly.  Avery has learned how to say baby and also will point to Mommy's tummy when you ask where the baby is.  She will also point to the tummy of any other female around so we are working on helping her learn that it's just Mommy's tummy that it applies to.  We like to think that she is very excited about her new role of being a big sister.

 

Here are several shots of her modeling off her new jacket from Uncle Zach. 

Serious runway stuff.

And here I am at roughly 12 1/2 weeks.  I don't get dressed up too often, so I made Chris take a picture.  I didn't do the weekly picture thing with Avery, so I'm going to do my best to document things better with this pregnancy.

Some Things Never Change

 We had a pretty big weekend.  Mommy went to KC all day Saturday so Chris and Avery spent the whole day together without me.  Very tough on me; Avery apparently did just fine.  Sunday we spent time getting food ready for the Super Bowl, but Avery had to take some time out for a nap with Daddy on the couch.

Here they are when Avery was about a week old.  Guess some things will never change!