We're Home!

Getting ready to leave the hospital. We decided to come home a day early. Scottie and I were both becoming extremely bored at the hospital and we missed Grace a lot. I was also having a lot of trouble with the bed there. It was hands down the worst hospital bed ever created!! Since I was feeling okay, and my incision and blood work were both good the doctor discharged us on Sunday.

Gracie was so happy that we came home early. She was missing us, even though she loved having her Nana at the house. I love this picture. It is too sweet.

I'm sure my dad is going to have a couple of things to say about this picture. But I love it!! Kingsley just sniffed a few times and that was it. When we brought Grace home it was a whole different story. He did not like her, and continued to dislike her for about two years. Now they are buddies. I guess he has learned to just go with the flow. I wish he would feel that way about vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, blenders, brooms, etc.....

I had to show off the many bracelets I had to wear in the hospital. I felt like I was living in the 80's again with my five bracelets up my arm. I couldn't wait to get home and cut these off, they were so annoying!! -- I can't believe how round my belly is in this picture. But I am happy to say as of Friday I have lost twenty pounds!!! Twenty pounds in one week, I'm feeling pretty good. Especially since the weight came off VERY slowly with Grace. I'm hoping I can lose the rest of it pretty quickly!!

What can I say? This is too cute for words!! (except my bloated face in the background. Thank goodness that went away after a few of days.)

Bath Time

This is Avery's first sponge bath. She didn't enjoy it too much. And I am not enjoying the fact that I keep putting not so lovely pictures of myself on here, but it can't be avoided. Hopefully I will have some better pictures of me soon!!

Scottie washed her hair in the sink. Surprisingly she really liked it. She stopped crying and just enjoyed the warm water.

A couple of nights later we gave her a real bath in her new bathtub. You fill the blue part with warm water so it's nice and warm while they are sitting there. There is also a shower attachment but we couldn't get it to work so we used the old reliable plastic cup. Her face doesn't show it, but she actually liked her bath. It looks like we have two water babies. Grace loved taking a bath when she was a baby, and still loves water today.

Avery didn't think her lamb towel was as cute as we did.

All better now!

Big Sister Present

Gracie got a lot of big sister presents, which I think helped her feel special even though the day wasn't about her. From Scottie's parents she got Moon Sand and Mittens the cat from Bolt. Nana got her a t-shirt from her gymnastics class that says "Get a Grip." She loves it. We got her a snowman blanket (that we keep stealing from her - it's so soft) and the new Barbie Christmas Carol movie. Grandma and Grandpa got her some Webkin cards and this painting project. She had it done in one night. She had a blast painting each detail. She even painted the inside of it. I really think she is going to do something with the arts when she grows up. She has such an eye for detail and loves to be creative.

Baby Avery is here!

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We are getting ready

The big day is almost here, and we have been working hard to take care of all the last minute details. In my last post I talked about the disadvantages of being the second baby, but for mom and dad the advantages are that you already have all your stuff from the first baby. We haven't had to go out and buy much, especially since we saved all of Gracie's clothes. ( that doesn't mean we haven't bought some new clothes, we can't help it everything is just too cute!!) We only really went out and purchased two new big things. The first thing we did was replace our stroller and car seat. We didn't really like our old one and we found an unbelievable deal on an amazing stroller set on Craig's List. We love it! I need to take a picture of it. We also bought a new swing. We still have Gracie's, but it is a standard swing and she couldn't sit in it until she was three months old. Even then we had to prop her up with a rolled up blanket. I told Scottie that I couldn't wait that long for the conveniences a swing can give you. I remember how much easier life became for me when I could finally put her in the swing. So we got a swing that cradles a newborn and then adjusts as they get bigger. We will still use the other swing downstairs when Avery gets bigger. Even though we spent more than we should, it is totally worth it to me. I just remember having a crying baby and no where to put her except rock her in my arms. Not a fun thing to do after a c-section. So it seems we are pretty much ready to go, and now we just have to wait until Friday. Hopefully Scottie will be able to post pictures on here after she is born. I can't wait!!!!

Surprise Blessing

This morning I went to my Mom2Mom group at church, and they surprised me and another girl with baby gifts. She is due a couple of weeks after me with a little boy. I was so surprised, I didn't expect this at all. My group leader heard me talking to another mom about how sad it was for the second babies because they don't really get celebrated like the first baby does. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone gets excited for the baby, but you don't have the parties like you do with the first one. I was filling out Avery's baby book and it made me a little sad that the baby shower page was going to be empty. I told the mom that I didn't really need/want presents, I just thought it would be nice to celebrate that another baby was coming into the world. I didn't mean that they needed to actually put something together, I was just talking out loud. But they said that they also thought that every baby deserved to be celebrated. It was so nice of them to do this and give us freezer food to have after the baby is born. They went above and beyond. I just have to say what a blessing this group has been for me, as well as the church we go to every Sunday. We are so happy with this church, I'm already sad to think about leaving it when Scottie is done here. I was actually surprised iwth myself when I signed up to join the Mom2Mom group, but I wasn't nervous at all to join a group of strangers. I have felt so welcomed and a part of everything from day one. And let me just say it is a breath of fresh air after struggling in Kirksville for two years. (Not from our church there, they were awesome too!!) I tried to get involved with the spouses group at Scottie's school, but it ended up giving me more grief than relief. No matter how many things I went to, I always felt like an outsider or someone who didn't really belong. That was such a shock for me, I can't remember a time when I didn't fit in with somebody. I was very lonely there, and I was starting to feel like maybe I had lost my abilities to make friends. But in the end I think it came down to the fact that the large majority of the women in that group were from a different religion, and I just never connected with them. They had each other, and since they all believe the same things, it was hard for someone who didn't believe in their doctrine to fit in with their group. But from day one of joining this group I feel normal again. Even though we are from all sorts of different backgrounds, we truly are sisters in Christ and it has been the biggest blessing for me. Not to mention that Grace LOVES her class she goes to while we are having our group time. She gets to play with other kids and have Bible stories along with worship time. I'm so thankful for this group, and not just because they gave me presents. :) I feel loved and supported, and I'm so glad God led us to this church.

Happy Halloween!

We were so excited to have trick-or-treaters this year. In Kirksville we lived on a little side road, and no one ever came to our house. Not this year! We almost ran out of candy. I think Grace had just as much fun passing out candy as she did trick-or-treating herself. In this picture she is waiting for more kids to come. I didn't get a picture of her with her Star Wars bucket. She came home with it completely filled!

This year she really wanted to be a Star Wars character. Toys R Us didn't have the costume she wanted, but they did have Padima. I know I didn't spell that right. All you need to know is that Padima is Luke and Leah's mom in the first three movies.

Here she is demonstrating her light saber skills. Scottie bought this light up one off of Amazon. He said she got a lot of complements on it. I didn't go trick or treating with them, I knew I would just slow them down. But I didn't get to sit and relax at home. Our doorbell was ringing off the hook from 6:00 until about 7:30. Scottie's parents came over and Jeff went with Grace and Scottie while Penny stayed with me. I had fun passing out candy and looking at the kids costume. The only thing I didn't like was when the teenagers would show up with an over sized T-shirt and a little bit of paint on their face, and then expect candy. First of all-you're too old to go trick or treating, but more importantly those were some really LAME costumes. Put some effort into it people!!

Scottie did a little photo shoot and had Grace use the light saber in the dark. I think he took some video. I'll have to ask him and then I can post it on here. She had a lot of fun last night and now she is counting down the days until next year!

Fall Party

Yesterday was Gracie's fall party at school. Her teacher went all out and decorated the room, had games ready, and then they got to decorate cookies. The theme was Western, and everyone had to dress up like cowboys and cowgirls. We didn't have any cowboy boots and I didn't want to buy a pair just so she could wear them for three hours at a party. So I asked the ladies in my Mom2Mom group from church if anyone had some we could borrow. My group leader had a couple of pairs and luckily one pair fit perfectly. She looked so cute with her skirt and horse tights. She was so excited to get dressed up.

Her teacher takes a lot of pictures of the kids and then she will make a photo album for each one at the end of the year. I volunteered for the party and her teacher took a picture of the two of us. I can't believe in three weeks I won't be pregnant anymore. I'm glad I have taken more pictures this time. I don't have very many pictures of me when I was pregnant with Grace.

One of the games they played was barrel racing with stick horses. I think this was her favorite game. They also played pin the tail on the donkey, roping cows, and roping M&Ms.

Each child got a little pumpkin to decorate with markers. Her teacher spends so much money on these kids. But you can tell she loves her job and loves the kids.

At the end of the party they got to decorate cookies. Since I made the cookies, Grace got to pass them out. She loves to get to do stuff like that at school. Another parent brought the frosting and sprinkles. The rest of the kids just smeared their cookies with frosting and then covered it in decorations. Of course Grace was the last one done because she outlined the pumpkin cookie with brown frosting, and then filled in the middle with white. Then she painstakingly put each sprinkle and M&M in the exact spot that she wanted. She was the last one to eat her cookie. Now you know why her teacher told us at the parent/teacher conference that Grace needed to work on getting her work done more quickly. She is always the last one done. We weren't surprised, she is such a perfectionist. Again, she did not get that from me! :) Anyway, we had a good time at the party, and she couldn't wait to get home so she could get ready for trick-or-treating!!