9 weeks 5 days and some lists

Sorry for the lapse in blogging. I have been a bit under the weather. This week has been better. As long as I eat about every 3 hours, I feel ok. If I don't, I get sick. But that's enough about that. Right now, peanut number two is the size of a kumquat, a little over an inch long head to rump. It's funny, this pregnancy seems to be going by much quicker than last time! I don't have nearly as much time to think (or worry) about it!

Avery is still pretending there is no baby coming! But she is in for some major life changes in the next few weeks.

1. She has been climbing out of the crib on a daily basis for the last 2 weeks. Change numero uno is her big girl bed. She is getting a cute little wooden trundle bed so that I can "sleep" next to her to train her to fall asleep without the confines of rails. (If anyone has a better idea, I am ready to hear it!)

2. Obviously (this should have been number one, but I am lazy), she's getting a sibling in a few months.

3. Potting training is about to commence. She has been intrigued with the potty for a while now. She will tell me she needs to go, but has just gone in her "biper". She reads her potty book, and gets really excited when it comes to the part where the little girl finally goes in the potty, and she shouts, "I DID IT!!!" with great enthusiasm. Soooo, all that being said, I think its time to drop the drawers and make it happen. I have been thinking she would just "get it." But, we've waited, and tried, and waited, and tried, and with the new one on the way, I'm looking at changing 2 sets of diapers each day. No thanks. There is a method that parents swear by, where you take the diaper and pants off and let them run naked waist down for a weekend (preferably a warm one), and every time they go, you rush to the potty, so they get to feel and see what happens when they go.

You may be wondering why do all this now???? You still have several months...

1. I am tired, but I will be more tired the bigger I get and the closer to delivery.

2. I don't want her to associate all these difficult changes with the baby, and to assign anger or resentment unduly to it.

3. I want her to be totally over the baby bed by the time we need to use it again.

4. I am not buying a new crib or changing table, nor am I carting Avery into a sleeping baby's room to change her. ( We ALL know she can't be quiet for 5 seconds, much less 5 minutes)

5. I want the new baby's room/guest room done well before I might be in labor.

6. I am a planner. What can I say?

Will all this work like I have planned??? Heck no. Will it be a start?? Hopefully!

Now for the good stuff! Avery photos (bought a new camera charger! yay!)!

This is Ace riding a lion.

This is Ace pushing her baby.
This is RoRo laughing at Ace.
And this is Ace's get-outta-my-way-you're-blocking-Dora-the-Explorer-face.

That is all.

"Him's so little!!"

Avery has been diligently working on her pronouns. She can almost use them in the correct sentence structure now. However, she still occasionally misses one, i.e. " Him's so little!" (what she said about one of her stuffed animals). Throw in something that doesn't have an assigned sex yet, like our newest addition (BABY #2), and you really get her confused.

Sorry I can't figure out how to put it right side up. Not that you could really see much anyway. We are very excited about this new little person (one centimeter long on Monday with a heart rate of 154)! We won't know for a while whether its a girl or boy, but he/she is due December 12th, but will be born no later than December 5th, since we are scheduling a cesarean on that day. So, Avery's going to be a big sister! Ask her where the baby is, and she replies, "right here, in me" and points to her belly. That's all she will say though. She won't actually talk about the baby, or if she wants a brother or sister. I'm calling it "baby denial".

Amazing Ace. How Sweet the Sound. Sort of.

Gingie!

Avery got to meet "Gingie" from Shrek in Fairhope a few weekends ago. Enamored really doesn't describe it. She was smitten. I mean, how could a cookie get so big?? And he can talk, too??? Wow. Move over Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

Someone once asked Avery is she was ready for a baby brother or sister. She replied, "no baby, want BUNNY!". That would be because of this little guy.
Rosemary let Avery hold her first baby rabbit, and again, smitten is the word. Who doesn't love bunnies? Any dreams Hank may have had for a friend of the canine species may have died on that day. Poor Hank. That's all I have for now. Soon to upload the video of Avery singing "Mazing Grace" (if TJ will email it to me, hint, hint).

An update.

Avery and Jake have had some adventures lately. Two weekends ago, they went to the museum! That was all good and well, but the cabinets in the gift shop really made the trip! We almost couldn't get them out.

Then the next weekend, we went to Chappy's for breakfast and then off to the zoo! Avery doesn't yet believe that Mardi Gras is over. She won't take off those beads!
Avery had a little date night with Daddy last night, and they watched Pooh Bear, sang all of Avery's favorite songs (currently no. 1 is "Mazing Grace"), and read about "Lowly" the worm. I'm not sure if you remember how funny Lowly is because of his one foot, and subsequently his one shoe. If you don't, you probably didn't have a Richard Scary obsession like Evan and I did! They sent me this cute photo of their date!

And finally, what fabulous weather have we had lately!?!?! I am loving the warm air and sunshine! Avery is too, because now she can get out and play on her "pway-gwound"!

Hope you are all enjoying it as much as we are!

It's a tough life.

Some days I think Avery lives in a dream world. Maybe not a dream world, but a fantasy land. Where everyone loves her, and most everything goes her way. So I edited these blackberry photos to reflect that.

Eating ice cream in her fabulous back yard (thank you Daddy!). This is her "cheese" face.

Hanging out in Fairhope with Uncle Floyd, headed to go feed the horses.
AAAAND, lounging around in the front yard, without a care in the world.

See what I mean? A very charmed life for such a little girl.

What's been happening around here:

Hello again. Miss me? I have been so busy at work, that I have not had time to play on the Internet and update! Sorry! This being spring break and all, gives me a little bit of slack in the work area, since most people are not trying to view the Alley.

So, that has left time for a little AU/AL baseball game. Avery was much more interested in the dippin' dots and the playground than the game, but, let's be honest, so was I.

The one second we stood by the field instead of the jungle gym.
Friday night, we had the pleasure of a family outing to the rodeo! The little cowgirl told me before we left the house, that she did not have a cowboy hat to go with her boots. First stop after the purchase of a pink hat was to "ride" the bull.
That's a fake bull for those of you that think I have lost my mind. But wouldn't David Smith be proud. Then we watched the steer wrestling, bronco riding, and then we lost interest. I do think the singing of the national anthem was the most exciting for Ace. They turned all the lights off in the Coliseum (it gets really dark in there) and had a mini light show with horses and flags and sequins, oh my!
Then Monday afternoon with the extra hour of afternoon daylight, we played in the mud. Truly, Avery's new favorite past-time.

Avery and GiGi at the mill, after he ground his first fist-full of corn! Yeee-ha!

And, lastly a little photo montage from the beach trip a couple weekends ago.

Aren't they sweet.