Little Crawfish

Avery is growing so fast I can hardly believe it.  She is getting really good at sitting on her own.  She has also mastered the skill of rolling from her back to her stomach.  Unfortunately she has not figured out how to get back over.  This is the source of much frustration for her.  I don't think she means to roll over most of the time, she just can't help herself, and then she's stuck.  Oh, well she usually makes the best of the situation.  She is really good at turning in a circle with her little pot belly as the pivot.  She tries to use her hands to get somewhere but she pushes back and gets farther away from what she was going for.  Here in the south they call that "crawfish-ing".  Anyway, I try not to laugh too hard at her frustrations.  She'll have it figured out in no time, then what will I do?  Baby-proof the apartment, that's what.



She is also very vocal.  She likes to talk and "sing".  My favorite part of this video is her face at the very end.  Like she isn't sure if she said to much.  I know that feeling.



She is already sitting up pretty well too.  It is fun, but I have to watch her or she will tip over.

Grandparents and a Blessing

Tyler had a week off at the end of October.  It worked out just right to have his parents come visit that week.  We had a great time with them showing them around Houston to all our favorite places, Brazos Bend, Blue Bell Creamery, Galveston, Memorial Park and everywhere in between.  It was fun to have them meet Avery.  We also had her blessed while they were here so Dad Wyatt could join Tyler in the blessing circle.

She's already a fan of Blue Bell ice cream, but who wouldn't be?  Especially with flavors like Gingerbread house, Christmas Cookies and Spiced Pumpkin Pecan.  We love them all!

Here she is in her blessing dress that Grandma Wyatt made for her.  I think she liked it.  She was so happy when we put her in it, plus she kept eating it which is always a stamp of approval. 

 Our baby is growing so fast

Greetings from Avery

This is a video Tyler captured.  (Whenever I pull out the camera she looks at the camera instead of talking.)  Hope you enjoy it!

More Pictures of Avery

 All dressed up for church

 I don't know why these are turned.  The looked right in the file.

she just thinks she is so cool sitting up by herself

she's getting so good at holding up her head

There is a sister serving in our ward named Sister Avery.  "I hope they call me on a mission..." just a few years down the road

Our Future

I can't believe how fast our time in optometry school is going.  This month Tyler had to decide where he wanted to go for his externships next year.  It seems to final that he is already planning his fourth year.  It was a really tough decision because it is so important.  Basically the experience he gets in his externships will be the last thing he gets from school before going out in the big wide world to be an optometrist.  There were a lot of options to chose from, and I am sure that he could have had a good experience wherever he chose.  In the end he got the locations he wanted at the times he wanted them.  So we will be in Houston for the first one from May through August and he will be working at the school clinic, that one was required but we could have done it another semester.  September through December we will be in Salt Lake City and he will be working at a VA hospital, and it sounds like he may also spend some time at the Moran Eye Institute.  January through April we will be in San Antonio at a private practice.
It will be a crazy year moving every three months but we are excited for the adventure, and it is nice to know what the plan is.

August is Over!

We are doing well here in Houston.  We had a "cold" front hit us so the temperatures have dropped into the 80s and it's been wonderful.  We are getting excited for the Houston winter weather, you can't beat it.  

Avery is growing up fast.  She is two months old already!  I don't know exactly how much she weighs but I know it is over 12 lbs.  She is already wearing some of her 3 month clothes.  She has a very strong neck and has rolled from front to back a few times.  Here is a video of her for anyone who is interested.  http://youtu.be/pogIzaE7lbY  She is very good at sleeping in her car seat which means I can take her just about anywhere at just about any time.  She is still figuring out the difference between night and day but we are managing.  :)  I take naps when she does.  

Tyler is getting busy with school.  He spends most of his time in clinic now which he is enjoying.  He still has a few classes though and that means tests.  He will also have his board exams at the end of this year, so he will be studying for those as well.  In just a few months he is going to have to decide where he wants to do his externships next year, so he has a lot on his mind lately.  He is a great dad and Avery is quite the daddy's girl.

I am enjoying my new job as a mom.  I still have a lot to learn but so far it has been fun.  I am actually getting better at cooking dinners which has been a good step for me.  Avery and I go walking in the morning and I am getting back into shape.  I am still a ways away from teaching Spin again though.  

We went to San Antonio over Labor Day weekend for a wedding reception. 

 Avery was a champ and slept almost the whole three hour drive.  While we were there we toured the Alamo and also checked out the San Antonio Riverwalk.  We had a great time.  That last picture is a sign for a creek we crossed on the way to San Antonio, it's called "woman hollering creek".  We wanted to share but I didn't get the camera out quite fast enough.  

Things are going well around here.  Avery will be six weeks old on Monday.  And tomorrow is our four year anniversary!  I can't believe how fast time flies.

I just wanted to share some pictures before I forget.  Also, here is a video of Avery with the wiggles.

Avery Dancing

She loves spending time with Daddy!

She almost has smiles figured out

but mostly she just sleeps, lots of growing to do!

Welcome Avery! -birth story

It has been a month already, I can't believe it.  I am sorry for not posting more about her.  We have had a very busy summer.  I just wanted to tell the story of how Avery got here for those who are interested.  Just a warning, this is the full detail version so if you don't want to know all the details don't read this post.  Talk to Tyler, he can give you the short version.  :)

Her due date was July 15th.  My last day of work was June 29th, so I figured I would have a chance to rest and catch up on some things before she came.  I got a lot of resting done but I realized there was not much I could do to prepare for her in our one bedroom apartment that we were planning to move out of.  Maybe that was just my excuse to rest more.  :)  In any case I never got that urge to deep clean accompanied by a surge of energy that I hear some women talking about.  As her due date got closer I had to work harder to not get my hopes up for an early delivery.  I tried to tell myself that she would come when she was ready, but I didn't listen to myself very well.  I caught some kind of respiratory infection the week of her due date so that slowed me down and took a tole on my spirits as well.  But I figured it would be best if I recovered from that before I had to deal with a new baby and recovering from the delivery.

On Sunday the 15th I was sick enough that I stayed home from church and slept all day.  That helped a lot and I was feeling much better by the evening.  My brother had told me that they had been eating popcorn the night his wife went into labor.  We eat popcorn a lot and it had not started labor yet but we had popcorn that night anyway.  I figured it couldn't hurt.  At about 1am I felt a sharp kick and made a dash to the bathroom.  I made it just in time because my water broke.  I was not sure what to do at first because I wasn't having any  contractions so I tried to go back to bed.  As soon as I started having contractions I woke up Tyler to ask him what he thought about it.  (mostly I woke him up to calm me down)  We started timing the contractions and realized that they were pretty close together.  I called the doctor's hotline and they told me to come in to the hospital.

We got to the hospital by 2:30.  They checked to make sure my water was really broken.  It was, but I was not dilated.  So they put something in my cervix that would encourage it to dilate.  That was the worst part of the whole thing because I had to stay laying down for two hours without the epidural.  By the time the two hours was up I was having regular contractions and was dilated to a four so it was time for pain killers!  They sent Tyler out to eat breakfast while I got the epidural.  That was about 5am.  Once I had the epidural in I was pretty happy.  The rest of the morning we just dosed and chatted with our nurse.  She was awesome and really made the experience pretty enjoyable.  We didn't get much sleep but everything was progressing as it should.  By 1:30 it was time for me to start pushing.  I was so excited to be able to start doing something but it took a lot longer than anyone really expected.  Apparently I am not very stretchy or something because it took about two hours for her to be in position.  When it was finally time to bring the Doctor in they had pretty much decided that she would need a bit of encouragement to come out.  The doctor use the vacuum extractor but he still had to give me an episiotomy because she just wasn't getting through.

Finally they told me to push once more and look down.  I didn't really get what was going on but I looked down just in time to see them pull her out.  She was tiny and blue and all slimy.  They gave her a quick rub down and handed her to me just as she started to cry.  It was so neat to finally hold her, of course I was crying like crazy but it was wonderful.  We had several minutes to bond while the doctor was finishing up with me.  Those were amazing moments, to realize that I recognized her movements and she recognized my voice or at least my smell.  :)

She was born at 3:37pm and weighed 7lbs 8oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.

Eventually they had to take her to run test and weigh and measure her.  Tyler got to go with her and see what was going on for most of it.  When they brought her back she was ready to eat.  The nurse gave us a quick tutorial and it seemed to go pretty well.  She was a really strong eater.

After that they had to take her to the nursery again.  That was about the time that the nurse broke the news to me about my tear.  She said that I had a fourth degree tear, which she said, "was bad" I guess there is no fifth degree.  But it had stitched up pretty well.  I couldn't feel anything yet because of the epidural though.  They decided to leave the epidural in for pain medication over night because of the tear.  The moved us into the recovery area and we got settled for the night.  I sent Tyler home to sleep because I figured at least one of us should be well rested.  We had the nursery take Avery overnight and asked them to bring her back when she was ready to eat.

We stayed in the hospital that night and the next.  It was pretty rough I didn't sleep well for some reason, I was just jumpy.  I would be about asleep and then I would just jerk awake.  The nurses said it was probably from the pain medication.  It was a rough night and I was relived when Tyler got back.  I slept better with him there and he got to bond with Avery.  I still couldn't get her in and out of her crib by myself so we sent her to the nursery again the second night and Tyler went home to sleep.  That night my milk came in which was pretty uncomfortable.  I felt guilty for letting someone else watch my baby but I still couldn't do it myself.    Plus I had a cough still from the week before and coughing was very painful.  I was exhausted but I couldn't sleep, that was probably the lowest point of the whole experience.  By the time Tyler got there I had come to terms with things again, but I was ready to go home.  When we left the hospital Avery was 7lbs 4oz

Once we got home things were much better.  Avery was sleeping well and eating well.  She would wake up to eat about every three hours and then would sleep some more.  My sister Alexis came from Utah to help out.  It was nice to have her there, hopefully she wasn't too bored with just eating and sleeping all the time.

We went back to see the Pediatrician when Avery was 9 days old.  By then she was 8lbs 4oz and 21 1/2inches long!  The doctor was very impressed with her which was nice to hear.  Since then she has continued to grow and is doing really well.  I will post pictures soon.

It's a Girl!

We are having a girl! It is very exciting. I can't wait for all the cute things to start piling up.

These are the pictures from the ultrasound at 18 weeks. This first one is the face and body. The little dark area in the body is the heart (if I remember right).

This is her leg. The tech kept saying how long they were. She is obviously my daughter!

This is the 3D rendering. Her hand is up next to her face. She was all scrunched in a ball so it was tough to see her face very well, but I'm sure she's cute.

Legs again, from underneath.

These last two are my favorite. It is amazing that she is only the size of a mango and she already has hands and feet.

I couldn't feel her moving yet when we did the ultrasound but since then I have felt her kick. It is so fun to know she is in there! I can't wait! I don't have much of a bump (I just look a bit chubby) yet so I haven't bothered taking pictures of it, but I will soon.

Excited

I am getting an ultrasound today. I am so excited to see our baby! I will be happy with a boy or a girl. I just want to know what it is! I will let you know.

January

January was just as crazy as December I think. In the fitness industry things tend to pick up in January as you may have guessed. It didn't help that I was asked to teach the Boot Camp 101 class at 6:30am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I still had Spin to teach too which is in the afternoon on Tuesday and in the evening on Thursday. So Thursdays I was at work from 6am to 6:30pm. It was rough, but I get to use the extra hours as time off whenever I want so it works out. And luckily it was only a January thing so next month I am back to my usual schedule.

Tyler was not spared either even though it was the beginning of the new semester. As soon as we got back he had his White Coat Ceremony.

They made a big deal about how they are not doctors yet. The white coat just means that they get to start working in the clinic now, on real people instead of each other. It was a very short ceremony, my favorite kind. Every time I tried to take a picture of him someone stood up or walked past. It was pretty funny. So I finally had to grab him and get someone else to take the picture.

Since then he has been in the clinic several days a week doing exams or fitting glasses or whatever. He is really enjoying the hands on learning, as well as getting to apply what he has learned so far. He needs to bring in a few volunteers to do an eye exam on, so if any of you want an exam he can get you a great deal. All you have to do is come to Houston in February or March, which are the best months here anyway. :)

On MLK Day we went with some friends to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory to see how they make the best ice cream in the world. Tyler was sort of half-harted about it though because Blue Bell stopped making his favorite flavor, Carmel Kettle Crunch, after getting him hooked on it. However, it turns out you can still get it in the 3 gallon buckets they sell to ice cream parlors. So he got to have some at the factory. Needless to say, one serving was not enough. He even called the local grocery store to see if they would order a 3 gallon bucket for him. We haven't heard back on that one yet.

We also took a trip to Brazos Bend to check on the alligators. I think it was a bit cold for them because I have never seen so many out of the water. It was pretty awesome.

Once it got dark we heated up some bricketts and roasted some hot dogs and marshmallows.

We had originally planned on camping but it was a busy weekend so we didn't end up reserving a spot. It was probably better anyway because it ended up being a chilly night. This way we got to go home and sleep in a warm soft bed.

In baby news, we find out the gender the second week of February. So we will keep you all in the loop.

I had every intention of blogging at the beginning of January as soon as we got back from our trip to Utah. But the pictures would not upload and what good is a post without pictures? I have too many of those posts anyway. And now I realize that January is almost over!

December was a really crazy month for us, as I'm sure it was for everyone. It started with Tyler in the thick of finals. I think he had 15 all together with classes and labs. It is nice to have one more semester behind us! December was pretty slow for me at work since people are taking their vacations and trying to get Christmas shopping done instead of working out. It was nice to have some time to get caught up on things though. And it was also nice that I could take breaks when I needed to.

We went to Cache Valley this year to see my family. It was really nice, even though it was freezing cold! (I guess we got used to the Houston weather, but I think 10 degrees is cold for anyone)

There was a pretty good inversion going on the first couple days we were there. The hoarfrost made everything very beautiful. It was fun to see, although snow would have been nice too.

Not even the spider webs were spared.

We got to make a trip to SLC to see the lights on temple square which is always nice. Especially since we got to meet up with our friends Robert and Melissa.

We are having a hard time smiling in this one because it was so cold. :)

And of course our good news. That made the whole trip a lot more fun because we had a secret ant then we got to tell it! I am due July 12th and so far I am doing just fine.