Nathaniel's words of wisdom...

Nathaniel is my sweet adorable 5 year old wise nephew! He is about to start kindergarten this August and had some wise help for me the other day.... Along with being the most adorable 5 year old helper, who loves to make Avery laugh and give him his bottle and to make presents for us, he decided to help me out yesterday. While pretending to vacuum, he started on my knee. When asked what he was doing, he said :"I'm vacuuming all your hair off your legs..." And that my friend is when you know you need to shave your legs! No excuses, even if your a tired mother of a newborn.. people will notice... especially your 5 year old nephew!

~Beach Bum~

Summer is almost over and I needed to get our sweet boy to the beach! The beach is one of my favorite places. I grew up on Long Island and we spend almost everyday at the beach. My mom grew up sailing and being a beach bum and she wanted the same for us. The beach is a place of prayer and healing for me as well as the years have gone by and I wanted to introduce our boy to the pleasures of the beach. So with granma, Mimi and daddy, Uncle Tom, Aunt Dana and cousin Tammie in tow, we finally made it to the beach. I was a little apprehensive since he is so young. But he LOVED it. I think he must take after my mom! He felt entirely at home in the sand and loved the waves touching his feet! After the beach we headed to the Trumbles hotel to swim in the pool, which I was completely nervous about. Avery wasn't so sure about the water, I don't think he really liked his feet dangling about but we splashed and played for a short time. I wanted him to kick alot since that is all he likes to do in the bath tub, but he didn't. Although he was all kicks once we put him in the bath at home to rinse off, go figure!

Avery is 3months!

Our Avery Bear is 3 months! I can't believe it. The time has flown by! And, for the first time, Avery has slept through the night. (actually two nights in a row) It has been amazing to get 6 hours of sleep uninterrupted. I have handled the sleep deprivation really well over the past three months. Probably because for years I barely got any with going to school and work full time! At this point Avery can:

• Play under his playmat and grasp and pull the dangling toys
• He has found interest in his hands
• Can lay on his belly and hold his head up for a while
• Smiles non stop
• Talks non stop
• Still loves to cuddle!
• Loves singing and dancing together
• Will sit through us reading him a book... he seems to focus on the pictures...

His three month picture next to the bunny ( i take it every month to track the growth)

His three month picture.

At the same token, 3 months also marks a huge change. Its time for me to go back to work. I love my job. But I LOVE spending time with Avery. I have gone back to work twice a week in June, but now, I am going to be away five days a week! Eight hours at a time. I just hope we adjust well. Avery is really comfortable with Brant and other of our family members down here. But I know it is going to be a new adjustment. Even though I am nervous and honestly not happy with the timing of Brant's real estate appraising class, I am hoping that for this short season of life, I will only have to be a working mom, and in two to three years, he will be established to where I only have to work part time if any. Not only am I going back to work, but for July and August, Brant is leaving us for five weekends (thankfully not all in a a row) to go up to Columbia (2 hours away) to take his classes. After August he will hopefully get an internship and will have to take 4 more classes. After the classes, two years and 2000 hours he will be a certified real estate appraiser. I just hope that the two years (it will probably have to be more actually since he has to still work full time) goes by fast and as less stress as possible. I just pray that we all fair well in this transitional time.

Daddy has a secret..

Daddy loves to talk with Avery. Avery is so talkative lately. And Avery tries to mimic what Daddy is saying. I caught a couple of the moments on camera at the park this week!

Talking to each other!

Avery has a secret to share....

And Daddy does too!

For the second day in a row....

Avery took a nap in his crib!
For those who don't know... Avery never used to let us lay him down for naps. So, we would cuddle and nap with him ALL the time. But yesterday, I tried again to lay him down (this time on his tummmy) and he stayed asleep! And again today! This months goal is to get him used to his crib at nap time for a month, then begin switching him there at night. He has so many milestones its crazy! This morning I caught him reaching for his star toy on his play mat. Next month we are also purchasing a jumparoo for him so he can finally jump around as he likes. He was ALWAYS a kicker in the womb and now even more so! Here are some other great pics of this month.


TUMMY TIME


HE LOVES BATHS

My Little Man


With His cousin Ellie!

AVERY IS TWO!

I can't beleive my baby boy is two months old!
Avery can:
*coo and mimick you
*smile
*laugh
*hold his head up while on his tummy
*his eyes follow you around the room
*swats at objects
*turn over
*sleep 4 hours at night
*Weights in at 10.55lb
*Stands at 22in
*and is the cutest baby boy!

Can't wait to see what he does this month!

Gasp.. Daddy and Avery time!

So pretty much I have never left Avery's side since he's been born. Unless it me taking a quick shower or being a room away from him. Oh and once when my parents watched him for a half hour so I could run home to let the dog out. But pretty much I havent been away from him for more than 30 min! And last night, just as I was about to driff off into sleep brant says,

"btw, I want to take avery on my earrands tomorrow" My first reaction was "its ok, its easier to leave him here... " but after some prodding and thinking/sleeping on it, I gave in this am. Its hard to beleive that my leave is almost over! And brant and Avery will need tolearn how to get by without me when I start going back to work.. And Avery also has to learn how to deal when its not mommy/daddy with him either... Breaks my heart! :) Im sure all is fine... brant has it all under control, but I miss my little pirate! I also don't know what to do with myself. I was told no cleaning or organizing while brant was gone since this is him "giving me a break" sooooo... I guess Ill just blog, facebook, take a bath. Although I do have to admit that I did straightenup a little bit! Maybe brant won't notice! hahaha!

I just can't wait for my boys to be back! I think I drove brant crazy this am when I was telling him what not to forget... including... dont forget that you have avery and don't forget him in the car... (its happened toothers before...) anyway.. Im sure all is fine! :) Just another step in parent hood! Tomorrow the grandparents have him so brant and I can celebrate our first wedding anniversy! Hard to believe that its been a year!

~Our Boy~

Its hard to beleive that Avery is already 6 weeks old! It is really true that time goes by fast! These past weeks we have learned so much about ourselves and Avery. He was born April 2nd 2009. My little boy decided to turn breech on me at the last possible second so I needed a C-section. The c-section was a breeze for me, but poor Avery got stuck in my stomach for about 5 minutes. The doctors placed in on Oxygen for the first 24 hours, and then monitored them the second 24 hours in the Level II nursery. It was hard for me the first day because I wasn't able to see him. It got a little easier the second day when I could visit him, and then on Saturday he joined us in the hospital room! We were realeased to go home on sunday! But by wednesday we were back in the dr.'s office because we suspected that Avery had a bad case of jaundice. Unfortunetly we were right and he spent the next 48 hours on a home phototherpy bed. And four days of getting his poor heel pricked! But he was a trouper! Parenting is hard, in the sense that you never want your child to get hurt or be sick and in the first week of his life, i felt so worried and helpless for him. But I guess it comes with the territory! Avery is so sweet and perfect! He even knows to give me the good diapers and daddy the messy ones! :) Even more special to having Avery is watching Brant and him bond. Brant hasn't really been around babies his whole life and was scared to hold any baby. But once Avery came,he knew he couldn't hide forever. I love seeing brant learn to care for him, and become so excited to see him. The look of wonder on brant's and Avery's faces are so adorable and melts my heart. They love to talk to one another, cuddle, and its only daddy that can give avery a bath. If I even try, Avery cries as if I cut off his arm! But Ido have my cuddle time too, and the smiles and I swear he cuckles! Avery is now into his moblie I set up for him and even tries to grab the bears as they swing by! And he loves his belly mat! He has pretty good control of his head too! But all in all, this past month and a half my have flown by but all the sweet memories we have made, the lessons learned and cuddles and kisses given are just a tiny glimpse of what we have in store. Im cherishing today and hoping for many great tomorrows!