The Big Day

As you know by now, we welcomed little Avery into our family the evening of August 16th. Today, August 22nd, is actually when she was due to come, but she came 6 days early. She's such a good girl! It all began that morning around 5am when the contractions started. By 8am the contractions were 5 minutes apart and we started slightly panicking....we got Addy's things together, my bag finally packed, gave a cookie to Monty, and headed out the door to Grandma Gurr's house. On the way I called my doctor and they said I should come to the hospital to get checked out. I had decided to deliver at the same hospital I delivered Addy at even though it was now further from our house. At this point, this was the first time I was a little concerned about that decision. What if we didn't make it in time? Anything can happen with your second baby, right?! We make it to Grandma's and even have time to take one last family picture before our new arrival.

Addy was thrilled to be at Grandma's that day! They were going to the POOL which she could not stop talking about! She happily waved bye-bye to us and they had a blast all day long. Grandma must have wore her out because she even took a 2 1/2 hour nap!


Meanwhile, we made it to the hospital. I must say I was still concerned about getting there on-time and voiced my frustration of taking the parkway with all the stop lights and not the highway. Doug reassured me it was the best way and we made it in no time ;) We got to the hospital, got checked out, was admitted, and then everything kinda slowed down a bit. My contractions were further apart and not as painful. However, I was adamant that I would have the baby that day! Doug and I took a stroll and it definitely seemed to help. Remember how big I was?!

The contractions got much more painful so an epidural was in order around 3:30pm. I was much happier.

The next time my doctor checked me I was fully dialated and effaced and ready to push! I pushed for 30 minutes tops and baby Avery was born at 6:15pm!








SUPER BIG SISTER Addysen came to visit the following day. She wore her "#1 Big Sister" shirt and Avery wore her "I Love My Big Sister" shirt for the occasion. Addy loved holding Avery and giving her kisses.




Avery and I came home Monday afternoon. It was good to get out of the hospital and back home!





Balloons awaited us upon our arrival...compliments of Daddy!

And since her arrival, Avery's met some wonderful people...





That's all for now folks ~ back to resting for now! :)

Avery Lynn

Hello everyone
Avery was born yesterday evening at 6:15pm. Lyndsey and Baby are tough as can be and had no problems at all! They will be resting one more night at the hospital and then coming home tomorrow afternoon.

Avery is 7 pounds 13 ounces, 20 and 1/4 inches from head to big toe.

I'm pretty sure a huge update with many, many photos will be posted by mid-Tuesday.

Take care and thank you for all of your love and prayers.

d.

Oh Mannn!

Dora & Boots: "Swiper, NO Swiping! Swiper, NO Swiping! Swiper, NOOO Swiping!"

Swiper the Fox: "Oh Mannn!"

Addy: "Oh Mannn, Mama!"

BPA Free is Right!

My friend Tammy informed me of the recent recall of numerous baby bottles which were made with Bisphenol A or BPA. You can read an article on it here (sorry, I have no idea how to hyperlink at this time!) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/04/18/ST2008041803545.html I had no clue about this when she told me. In my defense, Addy was no longer using bottles, I was working full-time and rarely had time to watch the news or read recall notices in my email. My dear friend on the other hand just had a baby (at the time) and kept up on many current baby headlines. At least this was my defense! She also told me that she heard Babies R Us was allowing consumers to bring in bottles containing BPA (no original packaging or receipt required) in exchange for the BPA free bottles. We wondered if this was true and we soon found out! While buying other baby necessities at Babies R Us a couple of days ago, I happened to ask the checkout clerk about this rumor. She said they would indeed take my old bottles and exchange them for the BPA free bottles with no receipt, however, they were changing their exchange policy in 2 days and this would no longer be the case. You can imagine my excitement! I immediately assembled and bagged all Addy's old bottles when we arrived home that evening. The next day Addy and I returned the old bottles with no receipt and got $50 worth of new bottles for free! I'm so proud of our FREE bottles!

Addysen's First Ambulance Ride

I never thought I'd be saying "Addysen's first ambulance ride" in a post...
I'll start by saying SHE'S OK! But wow, that was not an experience neither Doug nor I would ever like to have again. Addy was at daycare this morning while Doug was at work and I was taking a day off to recover from a weekend of very odd pregnancy cramps, so bad in some instances I could barely walk or lie down comfortably. Anyway, I get a call from Addy's daycare provider at 9am saying that Addy tripped and fell and hit her head, that she's called the ambulance, and they're on their way to the hospital. Trying not to FREAK OUT, I quickly head out the door and call Doug. We meet at the emergency room and get there before the ambulance does. A zillion things are going through our heads...is she OK?...is it just a scratch?...or something more serious?... The ambulance arrives and we head on back to our little room. Addy gets in Daddy's arms and seems to be doing well, but the back of her head and clothes show evidence of the abrasion. It was difficult to see how big or deep the cut was because of all her hair and it was now matted down with blood (sorry). But, the emergency medical team was amazing, the doctor was amazing, and once he took a look at the cut said she'd only need a couple of stitches or staples (yikes!). He said it looked like a clean cut and since she tripped and hit her head on a plastic truck, got up right away, didn't pass out or throw up, and didn't have a fever, she should be just fine. Now this is the crazy part! We have the toughest little girl! We decided on staples instead of stitches and Addy got 3 of them. When she got them she did not cry for one second...not even a tear...not even a whimper! How brave is she! The doctor said she was the bravest 2 year old he had ever met :) We soon headed home and attempted to get a couple of pictures of the experience. Here's Addy smiling and posing with her hospital bracelet.

A close-up of the bracelet. It doesn't appear I can zoom that far in with my camera :)

The back of Addy's head. Can you see the staples? Again, the zoom problem with my camera...

A nap was in order after all that excitement - what an experience for our little girl!

UPDATE ON ADDY
It's 8:45pm and she is safe asleep and happy as a bug in a rug. Daddy arrived home from work with get-well-soon gifts: a Dora balloon bouquet, sheets of stickers, and the most adorable and soft stuffed elephant!


>

Sunday Summer Pool Fun!

Addy LOVES her pool. I mean, she LOVES it. She's always asking to go in the pool. In fact, she woke up this morning and layed down next to me asking if I wanted to go in the pool. 6am pool fun...not really my thing. But, afternoon pool fun is definitely fun! We're thinking we should get a pool membership next summer at our community pool down the street. It's in walking distance and I'm sure Addysen would love it. In the meantime, we have fun in our own backyard pool. I had to throw this one in because it shows how HUGE I am at 37 weeks! Addy's just looking up at me puzzled. I finally figured out how to use the video feature on our camera. Yeah, you'd think it was the most difficult thing... Now if I could only figure out how to edit the video we'd be in good shape!

Addy's Own Playground

Amongst all the other things Doug does for our family, he recently found time to build Addy her very own playground! I thought it would be fun and convenient when the baby comes (and is still small) to have something in our backyard that Addy could play on without walking to the public park. Of course, Doug being the wonderful husband and father, gladly took this task on. It was no small endeavor to say the least. We live at the bottom of a hill so there is very little level ground. He first had to clear out all the overgrowth, bulbs, and grass to the side of our house. Unfortunantely I didn't think to take pictures until he had finished this first step so you'll have to take my word for it :) Then, he had to level the ground by pounding it with this extremely heavy tool!

Take notice of the nice privacy fence with lattice work on the top. We had this installed shortly after we moved into the house a year ago, replacing the previous chain link fence, and extending the backyard around the side of the house.

Doug then layed and nailed this tarp stuff down to prevent any plant growth from coming up, and framed the playground area with wood beams.

Next came the laying of these little stones at the edges and seams. I think these were needed to help keep the tarp down but I can't quite remember the details on this. I know the Home Depot guy recommended them.


Doug then layed mulch to create a soft landing for the playground.

The following weekend I had to work and so Doug and Addy constructed the majority of the playground together. Check out how much they did together!


Here's Addy enjoying the playground in its entirety! It has 2 swings of which 1 Addy has graciously reserved for her baby sister; a cool slide; a hideaway in the bottom; and climbing stairs. Perfect for 3-7 year olds, according to the packaging :) She loves it, especially the swings. Check out these smiles..




Oh, Monty enjoys it too :)

GREAT JOB, DADDY!