Peek A Boo... Avery's TWO!

We can hardly believe it, yet we know it's true...

Our little girl is officially TWO!

~ Day 1 of Avery's birthday extravaganza ~

Avery's weekend of birthday celebrations started with her friends at Miss Donna's on Thursday, the day before her birthday.

Ave LOVES Miss Donna! And we do too!

She took cake pops to share with her little friends, Miss Donna and Miss Donna's mom, who the girls call "Mamaw."

Want to feel like the coolest person?

Deliver cake pops to a group of 2 & 3 year olds! They were SO excited!

And it was fun to see Avery so proud.

~ Day 2 of Avery's birthday extravaganza ~

Avery's actual birthday was on Friday June 10th. Nana and Papa, Aunt Erin, Uncle Martin and Parker got to town on Thursday evening, and then Grandpa and BeeGee arrived Friday afternoon. Aunt Meg surprised us with her presence at 11:30 Friday night! We had a full house, and love having everyone close to celebrate!

Parker is a little ham - here he shows off his smile when you tell him to "Say CHEESE!"

This is what you get if you wait a couple seconds after the "CHEESE!"

Friday night was all about Minnie Mouse ears and more cake pops!

Ave was in heaven.

She takes her cake-eating seriously.

~ DAY 3 of Avery's birthday extravaganza ~

By Saturday, Avery was getting REALLY good at celebrating her birthday. We found her singing "Happy Birthday to ME" and looking for "more presents?"

Saturday evening we celebrated by hosting a little cookout with friends and family. While I neglected taking photos for a good part of the evening (oops!), we did get some fun ones we wanted to share.

We played some cornhole...

And the kids ended up making a game out of sliding down the cornhole boards.

Avery and her buddies, Sebastian and Parker:

The little ones also had a blast with little ice cream cone shaped BUBBLES.

Logan:

Parker-bear:

Sebastian and his Daddy, George:

Miss Katherine:

Avery got surprisingly talented at blowing the bubbles...

and equally talented at spilling them all over herself!

What?! Mickey on the lemon cake?!

And MORE cake pops?! This birthday stuff is the DEAL.

Nom, nom, nom

If you ask Avery what she got for her birthday she smiles really big and says "CAKES!"

I can't imagine why she would say that, can you?

To the SWEETEST girl we know...

We can't imagine a day without you.

You have given our lives purpose in a whole new way.

Avery, you are one of a kind ~

thoughtful and creative,

sweet and caring.

We love you, you little TWO year old, you!

Birthday Babies...

In honor of our gal, Avery, and her second birthday tomorrow, I am once again sharing pictures that should possibly stay tucked in old photo albums forever. But then some of you would never know how much Avery looks like her DADDY. :)

We cannot believe Avery is turning TWO tomorrow. It's pretty surreal.

Can't wait to celebrate this weekend!

Food's Ready!

Avery does not back down when it is time to feed the cats. Heaven forbid (and it is a rare moment) that Jack is not ready to eat. Here's Ave is chasing him around with his food.

Bon Appetit!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011 recap

Our family spent Memorial Day weekend staying at the "Sun House," which is what Avery started calling her Nana & Papa's house in Sun City Hilton Head. (We were hesitant to say we were going to "Nana & Papa's" because they were not going to be there!)

We loved the BEACH! Though a holiday weekend, we got out to the beach early each day before it got too crazy and we got lots of time to relax and enjoy our family time.

Avery enjoyed getting sand on every last inch of her body, from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. She rubbed it in her mouth and all over her face. It disgusted me, but after a short panic attack I chilled out and realized there was not much I could do. Layering sunscreen on top of sand made a little "Sand-patty baby" out of our girl!

Avery enjoyed wading in the ocean a bit ("I jump the waves!") but more-so enjoyed the tidal pools, which thankfully were a plenty.

Daddy and Avery dug a big hole one day at the beach, which was an ultimate highlight. Avery loved sliding into it and helping scoop the sand. She loved building sand castles, too, but promptly knocked them over with much gusto.

Back at the "Sun House" we set up a backyard blow up pool. Daddy set up the pool inside... which was super fun for lounging in with Daddy and the big stuffed gator.

But it was MUCH more fun once we got it out back in the sunshine!

We took lots of long walks, went out for dinner and ice cream one night, and we even got to see the alligators in the lagoon! We found a Mommy alligator and three babies!

(A good "learning moment" but we were NOT going to get too close! The last picture is the camera zooming in, not us zooming in.)

All in all, our Memorial Day trip was a very fun and relaxing getaway, which i what we all needed.

No one said it would be easy

So, it's about time I give some "blog love" to the baby, AKA "White Baby #2." I have started this update so many times, and just have not been able to put everything into words. Bear with me here - I'm trying! I have now passed the 30-week mark of my pregnancy, and feel like I've hit what could be considered the home stretch. But it has not been easy (As you can tell from the tired-looking photo below, documenting the pregnancy at 30 weeks - yikes. I can tell why Jeff despises taking these pictures - ha).

The second trimester, which most would describe as the easiest, most enjoyable part of pregnancy, was burdened with a lot of worry and stress. As each doctor appointment (with the specialist) approaches I am filled with a mix of excitement and fear. At my previous appointment on April 28th, I met with Dr. Stephenson, another specialist at CMC Women's Institute - I was really hoping to get a better idea of what to expect with the cleft and palate. The ultrasound was fairly inconclusive and we couldn't get any pictures of the cleft to give us a better idea of what to expect. I was extremely frustrated with the whole process (as it was a THREE HOUR process) - especially when I couldn't get the information I wanted. Baby was cute, but NOT very cooperative. As Avery would say "Not nice, baby. Not nice!" The kidneys still had quite a bit of extra fluid at this visit.

Then, on May 9, I added to my stress by failing my O'Sullivan's Test - the initial glucose screening. After fretting for 10 days about how I was going to have to go on some extreme diet and get insulin shots (because in my mind SURELY I had gestational diabetes) I took the three hour glucose test on May 18th and PASSED it. Mark that one off the list, thankfully. Celebrated by eating Starburst candies. Practically an entire bag of starburst. Oops.

Between the glucose tests, visits with my regular midwife at Charlotte OB, and the appointments with the specialists at CMC Women's Center, I have spent a good deal of time down at Morehead Medical Plaza. Thank goodness it's not even a quarter mile from my office! Overall, I feel good, baby is very obviously growing and getting stronger, and we have yet to have an appointment where his or her heartbeat isn't just the healthiest sounding heartbeat I ever did hear. Love love love that strong little heartbeat - never fails to make my own beat a little stronger! Yet, just when we start coming to terms with things, gaining more confidence and hope that all is FINE...

... Yesterday at our 31-week appointment with Dr. Stephenson, we learned an additional detail about the baby that has us worried all over again. They scanned over the baby's hands and showed us what they are fairly certain is an extra digit on the left hand. If isolated this is a cosmetic and easily fixable issue, but you can imagine the overall tone in the room when this was discovered on top of what we already knew - and I was scared to death. Along with the cleft and the extra fluid in the kidneys, the chances of something more medically serious with the baby have been elevated once again. :(

There is no sure knowledge we can gain unless we do an amnio or wait until baby gets here, so at this point we will probably wait. We will go back on June 30th so that they can take another look at the kidneys, but we have chosen to isolate that issue, as the others are cosmetic and repairable. We are just praying steadily that they are not related to any larger issue.

We'd really appreciate the additional prayers for baby and for our family in the coming weeks. We still need to make a final decision about the amnio before this next appointment, and we hope to find peace in our decision whether we move forward with testing or not. And of course, at the end of the day, we pray that we can bring a healthy little baby home from the hospital to put in those cute little newborn diapers, to swaddle in those soft little blankets, to kiss and cuddle constantly. We pray that our baby will come to know an unconditional love no matter what. Please pray that each day we can be reminded about God's love for us and that He may continue to reveal to us signs of a plan that is much bigger than our own.

Many thanks to those of you who are supporting us along the way.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Philippians 4:13

Mother's Day Love

What a nice, simple day! A wonderful Mother's Day, with lots of love.

Only way it could have been any better is if we would have gotten to spend it with ALL of the moms that have made our lives so beautiful!

Here we are at the park reading...

(you also can get a good look at the large-and-in-charge baby belly going on right about now):

Avery going to town on an apple like it's nobody's business:

So dramatic:

This picture makes my heart smile:

I'm such a lucky mommy, and when I think about the fact that I will get to mother another little one here soon, my heart just explodes thinking about it!

There is joy, there is fear, there is - well, frankly a lot we still need to DO!

But undeniably, there is love.

And love is all you need.

(Unless at the moment you are Avery. She would say that you also need cookies and m&m's).