11 Months!

My beautiful baby girl is 11-months-old!  It is hard to believe, but she gets more delightful and lovely every day.  Thank you, Lord for blessing us with this little one!

10 Months Old

Ten-months-old already - crazy, fun and adorable as ever! As seen above, her new facial expression is the squishy face!  She is crawling, pulling herself up and into absolutely everything.  She hates to be contained or sit still - she only sits on her play mat for periods of 30 seconds to a minute.  The pot of our ficus tree is now in now covered in a trash bag, since the leaves and the dirt are a favorite snack.  Something we had to do with the boys, too.

I am very proud to say that "mama" or "momma" as the case may be, was her first word!  But that has its downside, because when I put her down for her nap and she cries, she says "Maa, maa" - breaks my heart!

Avery thinks that Gabe is the funniest person alive - all he has to do is look at her and she cracks up.  We joke that it is 'cause he's so funny-looking!  She loves to snuggle and she, Dylan and I have lots of family hugs.  We are currently in the 'attachment' phase and even though I feel a little bad when she doesn't want to go to other people, I secretly love it!  I know the time will come all too soon when she will want nothing to do with me and all she will want is her Daddy, so I am trying to soak this in.  Avery is into her hands and loves to clap and poke her fingers into them.  She pats my shoulder a lot and I say "Pat, pat, pat", which makes her laugh and do it more.  She is doing this less than she used to, but she gives me lots of "kisses", very aggressive kisses, where she will grab my face on each side and suck on it, usually on the chin.  It hurts a little, but it's worth it, as I am the only one who gets kissed like that!

She has brought more love and joy to our lives than we could have imagined - we thought our family was already pretty perfect, but now we know it was incomplete.  I thank the Lord every day for my beautiful little girl, my wonderful boys!  I am so very blessed!

Soccer!

On his way to a goal!



Stealing the ball from five other kids? No sweat!



Look at him defending the goal!

Dylan has loved soccer this season! You can see the thrill of it is all over his face. He worked hard, never gave up and wasn't afraid to go up against the entire opposing team!

9 Months Old and on the Move

In a few short weeks, Avery has started crawling and pulling herself up on furniture. The girl is mo-bile! AND she has also started sticking her tongue out in the cutest way...

Avery is honestly the joy of our lives! She just spreads sunshine and happiness wherever we go. All she needs to do is smile at someone and their faces light right up. We are always being told how sweet she is and we couldn't agree more!

First Campout!

7 months!

Sitting up and eating her toes! Avery is a busy, busy girl!

Leapin' Lizards!

Swimming! Or Gabe Was a Fish in Another Life

Long Overdue

We are still pretty blissed out over Avery. She is a little ray of sunshine in our lives and she shares that with everyone she meets. Honestly, you can see peoples' faces light up when she smiles at them and their moods improve. But how could it be any different? Avery Sono is a joy.

Gabe and Dylan have actually gotten into fights over who gets to talk to her and make her smile. They never walk by her without a sweet word, kiss or their declaration of love! Dylan told me he "loves me to the moon and back ten times", but he "loves Avery to the moon and back twenty times." And that "I love her more than anything" "More than me?" "Yes." "Good. Always remember that and look out for her." Said with a smile and nod, "Okay, Mom." I think she is in good hands.



Summer is in full force! We have had lots of fun days and are looking forward to more, now that I can drive! One of the boys' new favorite things is to lay a blanket out on the grass in the backyard (something I did as a kid) and have a snack and read books or play games. We have also had "backwards day" where we ate dessert (brownies) and dinner (homemade Macaroni and cheese) for breakfast and breakfast (French toast) for dinner! Jammie day was a hit, too, although I could only handle it until about noon. We have quite a few more things planned. Lots of fun to post about soon!

Love

My Babies

From an embroidered saying my mom used to have on her wall:

"Cooking and cleaning can wait 'til tomorrow
For babies grow up, I've learned to my sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep"

Things My Boys Are Saying:

Gabe: "Oh, I had no clue..." or when asked something "I have no clue."
Upon having something explained to him: "That makes sense." or "Good point."

He sounds so grow-up in the things he says and the ways in which he says them!

Dylan: "Mom, can I tell you something (but sounds like sum-peen)? (Big sigh) It's just that..." "Mom, can we talk? (Big sigh) It's just that..."

Dylan is so very taken with Avery! Every time she smiles at him, he says "Mom, I made her smile!" And I say "That because she loves you so much." And he smiles a big smile. Or when she smiles or laughs he says, "Isn't she just so adorable?!" And yes, they both are.

Avery Sono, The Prettiest Girl I Know

My baby girl is changing day by day - here are some of my favorite pictures of her:


One week old


My little bug, all swaddled up with Daddy on Christmas morning


Two weeks old and already taken with Daddy


One month

1 1/2 months - look at the difference two weeks makes!


2 1/2 months! Cooing as big brother Dylan sweet-talks her


She's smiling!

The Arrival of Avery Sono

On December 14, 2009, our family was blessed with the arrival of our long-awaited baby girl!



Labor started in the wee hours of the morning, so I did my best to sleep through as much as possible. I got up around 5:00 AM and made sure this was it! We had had a false alarm the week before and I was not in the mood for a repeat of that. After much timing of contractions (and much pleading with God, Avery and my uterus), I realized that it was for real this time and started to get ready. Aaron woke up and the preparations began. My mom came over to sit with the boys and we were on our way!

After having a very tough and painful labor with Dylan due to high amounts of stress (well, and my water breaking and back labor), I was determined to get it right this time. I relaxed with every contraction (a bit of an oxymoron, I know) and just tried to get out of the way and let my body do its thing. It must have been working well, because when I got to the front desk to check in, no one believed I was in heavy labor. I had three separate nurses, as well as the admissions lady, ask if this was my first baby. "Um, no - this is my third."

All was going very well and after about two hours the doctor broke my water. For months I had been having an internal debate about whether or not I would have an epidural this time. I went natural with Gabe and had an epidural with Dylan. This time, I felt fantastic, but after my water was broken, the contractions kicked way up and I got scared. Even though my inner voice told me I could do it and also told me to have them check me before I got the epidural, fear won out and I ignored it and got the shot anyway. About 15 minutes later, I finally listened to that little voice and had them check me: time to push! After another 15 minutes, my doc arrived and three contractions later, with Aaron holding my hand, our baby girl was born! Even though I was disappointed that I got the epidural needlessly, it didn't matter one bit, because lying across my chest was the perfect, healthy 6lb 10oz, 19" little girl I had been waiting for. Another case of true love began immediately...

Early December...

I haven't blogged in a while - I've had one or two things going on. Hee, hee!

Here is what happened the beginning of December:

Well, first of course, we decorated the tree! The boys were equally excited for Christmas and the baby. At least that's what I like to think!




I was able to visit with my dear, dear longtime friend, Erin and her family. She and her parents are among the best people I know.



My sister, Janie, drove down from Idaho to help me get ready and fill my freezer with lots of yummy food! And my Utah friends threw me a baby shower! They took pity on us, knowing we owned no baby girl stuff and they more than fixed that situation.


Dylan and Janie with Dylan's pretzel art and graham cracker house.


The big belly aka hidden basketball!


Some of my lovely friends and my equally lovely sis.


My Mom (who surprised me with blankets and burp cloths out of the fabric that was too expensive for me to buy - very thoughtful!)

It was all a wonderful way to start the month. And then...

Gabe is 8!

Last week on the 18th, my little Gabie turned 8-years-old! I can't believe it - the time has just flown by.

Here are some pictures from his party at the nickel arcade on Saturday:

34 weeks

8 1/2 months. *GULP* Don't get me wrong - that is a very excited gulp, but on the other side of that excitement is the reality of the situation! Labor, delivery and a newborn! Yowza! There is so much to done before that all happens, though, that I haven't had much time to worry about it. There are still new doors and trim to paint, clothes to buy, bedding to wash and a crib to assemble. Not to mention my neurotic need to scrub the house from top to bottom, clean the carpets and have the dog groomed! I won't even get into the fact that I really should finish Christmas shopping, as I am pretty sure I will be too busy next month...

We are just so very excited to meet our little baby girl! As Dylan said yesterday "We are going to have the most wonderfulest baby sister ever and we are going to love her." Just a few weeks to go...

7 months - 3rd trimester!

So happy to be able to write that! We are in the home-stretch now.

Dylan sure is sweet!

The other day we were snuggling and watching a show, when he leaned over, kissed my arm and patted it and said "My cute, little pregnant mommy." How sweet is that?

A few days before that, I was making some lemonade and he said "Wow, a pregnant girl sure is good at squeezing lemons!"

That is sort of the new thing - to say "sure is" - "This dinner sure is tasty", "That sure is nice of you to pick me up from school", "Daddy sure is a nice daddy", "I sure am glad I am having a baby sister" and so on. I know this phase of adorability might be short-lived, so I am soaking it in as much as possible!