Baby Shower, Easter Dress, and Ultrasound

Yesterday my really good friends Diana, Melissia, and Laura threw me a baby shower. It was a lot of fun! Diana and Melissia did all of the food and it was yummy. I should have taken pictures, but Melissia was being the photographer. Maybe I will get some pictures from her soon. My friend Laura did the invitations and put together some really cute and fun games for everybody to play. I will have to remember them for when I have to give a shower for somebody. Everybody really enjoyed the games and the prizes :) They all three did a fantastic job on the shower. I felt so honored!

It was a lot of fun to just have girls together to chat and eat. We also got some great gifts! Diana and Melissia, along with a few other people, went in together and got us a double stroller! I am so excited and think it will be much easier to get the kids out with this. Our carseat is the same brand, so it snaps right into the stroller, which will be convenient when James is asleep. Then I won't have to wake him up to move him to the stroller. We got lots of cute boy jammies, onesies, bibs, etc. It was a ton of fun to open all of that little boy stuff! Lots of blue :)

Avery was really excited about the double stroller. She wanted to get in it right away. Al put it together when I got home and Avery climbed in the front seat. Then, since there was a snack tray, she wanted to eat her lunch in it as well. She says she is excited to share the stroller with James.

Here are a few quick pictures of Avery in her Easter dress. She looked so pretty today! The back of the dress is really darling too. It dips down into a V and has a big bow in the back. The pictures aren't the best...we are always in such a hurry with 9:00 church! She insisted on making a fish face for the first several pics, and then we were out of time so we quickly snapped a few more and then headed out.

Tuesday I had my ultrasound where they really check everything out and do all of the measurements, etc. It took quite a while to get it all done. They gave us a CD with pictures on it afterwards. And yes, James is a big boy! They estimated that he is already 7 lbs.! But there is also a margin of error of 14 oz, so we'll see how accurate it all is when he's born. It is funny to me that he is already bigger than Avery when she was born though. If the ultrasound is accurate, then I'm guessing James will be born in the 8 1/2 pound range. If I went the full 40 weeks he'd probably be over 9 lbs!

The Easter Bunny Came

Avery was excited to wake up Easter morning and see if the Easter bunny had hidden any eggs for her to find. She was also anxious to see if she had any 'marshmallow birdies' and chocolate in her basket.

The Easter bunny got a fabulous deal on a Webkinz and so he brought that too. Avery loved Grandma Louona's so much. When we explained to her that her turtle played games like Grandma Louona's panda bear Avery got a huge smile on her face. We've spent much of the morning getting 'Pokey' the turtle all set up in a house, trying to earn money to buy more things. I think Al likes it as much as Avery does ;) Avery was really anxious for Pokey to use the 'potty' just like Grandma's panda does.

Before we became glued to the laptop with Webkinz, Avery found all of her Easter eggs that were hidden around the family room. It was too cold here to hide them outside. Al had to help lift her up to get the egg on top of the TV cabinet.

I think Avery had a pretty good Easter this year. Three weeks ago (because of General conference, and then Stake conference) they had the resurrection lesson in Nursery. I was surprised at how much Avery comprehended, and also how much detail they went into...yikes...it was a little heavy for 2 and 3 year olds! We asked Avery about her lesson and she said that, "Jesus got owies on his hands, then he died and they put him in a cave. Then they covered him up with a big rock." Al said, "And then what happened?" And Avery said, "Then he came back! He came out of the cave! And one day I'm going to die too." After that last part Al and I looked at each other with kind of a ?!? look on our faces. It was a little disconcerting to hear our barely 3 year old say something like that...but I guess it's part of everything. She even brought home a cut-out they had made of a cave, with an opening. Then there was a picture of Jesus that you could put in the cave, and a cut-out of a rock that you put on top of the opening to the cave. We got the demonstration several times.

Dyeing Easter Eggs

So...these pictures are just one week late :)

Last Friday night we dyed Easter eggs. We all had a lot of fun. At first we started off with the 5 original colors of dye they gave us, then towards the end we started mixing them to see what colors we could make. We came up with some pretty great, bright colors I think. Al decided that he and Avery needed to complete the activity by eating chocolate marshmallow eggs. Avery inherited the love for marshmallows from Al.

Three Weeks!!

I added a picture from today's ultrasound. I wish it would have come out more clear, but oh well. As you can tell, James was asleep during the ultrasound. It is just a close-up of his face. Can you see the big, chubby cheek? The other one is shadowed.




I guess I haven't updated in a while. But I think most people who read this know about the Cholestasis diagnosis. I had the same thing with Avery. Because of the diagnosis the baby is being delivered 3 weeks early. We got everything scheduled and James' new arrival day is Friday, May 1st!! That's only 3 weeks from today! We are super excited. I guess it's time to start getting everything ready...

The testing is going well. I go in every day to the hospital but Thursday, for check-ups and testing. My liver enzymes/bile acid levels were up as of last testing, but they should be much lower next time. I've been on the meds for almost 2 weeks and they really make a difference. The only thing they don't fix is the extreme fatigue :( But all of my other symptoms have been alleviated.

They've been doing ultrasounds with every Non-Stress-Test, so we are working up quite a collection of pictures. James has been passing the tests with flying colors, which is a lot less stressful than when it was with Avery. In fact last time he was moving around so much they had to keep me longer on the NST because they couldn't get a baseline heart rate. My heart rate is still slightly elevated, but they are just keeping a close eye on that as well.

Tuesday is the ultrasound where they do all of the measurements and kind of guesstimate about James' size. I think he is a big boy. He is already a chub, and I keep measuring big. Avery and Al are coming to that ultrasound, so that will be fun.

It is weird how this is all working out. I have mixed feelings about the cholestasis this time. As hard as it is at times, it's been a blessing in a big way. We found out that we have to move to Houston the first week of June, and I don't think I would have been able to do that just two weeks after surgery and having a baby. With this illness and the new delivery date it gives me a month to recover before hitting the road.

We Matched!!

Yesterday was our Match Day and we matched at UT Houston!! We are super excited. I love Texas, and it is a fantastic, competitive program for Al. We spent most of yesterday either at celebrations or on the phone with family and friends relaying the news. There has been so much stress/anticipation building up to this day that we were completely exhausted after we found out our news. It's just been so mentally and emotionally demanding.

So, we are off to Houston for five years. We will more than likely be moving sometime in June, as most residencies start at the beginning of July. I know the Texas heat and humidity will be there to welcome us. I am excited to explore a new, giant city! I found out that Houston is the 4th largest city in the U.S.



This is where Al will be working, the Texas Medical Center...These buildings are all hospitals...I hope I'll be able to find him when he wants us to meet him for lunch...

We're All Set

We got our sign put in our yard this morning. There is a box attached with fliers for people to take. And then the lockbox is on one of the pillars in front. Our Broker brought us the real estate agent sign-in sheet and more fliers that show multiple pictures of the interior for people to take home with them. Al and I think the interior pictures look really good, but we are biased of course. I guess people are allowed to come as early as 9:00am and as late as 8:00 pm. I'm going to have to get myself and Avery ready first thing in the morning, just in case.

Today we bought flowers to go in our flower pot on the front porch and also a plant/tree thing to go on our back porch. We cleaned both areas and tried to create a nice little sitting area in the back. I think it looks really good. Avery was excited to pull out her watering can. One of her jobs is to help us take care of the plants, which she really seems to enjoy.

Bananas, Bunnies, and Brokers

Avery had another cooking class today. While we were waiting for all of the kids to get there the kids made fruit loop bracelets. The class started off by making banana chocolate chip muffins. They got to make regular sized muffins and mini muffins.

After the muffins they made bunnies out of a variety of ingredients. For the first time, in all of our cooking sessions, I was kind of weirded out by the combination of ingredients. In fact, it was a little nauseating to me. But I understand they used what they did so they could get the shape of a bunny. The body was a hot dog bun, then they cut hot dogs for the legs. Then they used powdered donuts, cookies, peanut butter, pretzels, raisins, and a marshmallow to finish off the project. Anyway, the kids loved the results and didn't seem to mind the ingredients that had been put together. Most of the kids polished theirs off. Avery stuck with a hot dog and a powdered donut.

It is so much fun for me to watch Avery during this class. She is always so enthusiastic and happy, loving every second of it.

In other news: We have a real estate broker that we are working with. The townhouse should be 'on the market' by the weekend. He is picking up contracts tomorrow and coming to take pictures and measurements on Friday. It was a good, big step for us...a little depressing since the market is a mess, but necessary. Our broker did tell us that in case it doesn't sell in a reasonable amount of time that they are linked with a rental management company. That made me feel better. I think rental could be a good option for us. This broker really seems like a good guy, and he and his boss came highly recommended to us by our friend that sold their house within the last year. They seem to have a lot of groups/gatherings scheduled with other agents and buyers that will help bring in a lot of traffic.

I am a little worried about keeping the house spotless all of the time. I get tired easily, swollen ankles, hard to bend down, etc. Everything looks pretty fantastic right now, I will just really need to stay on top of it. I have assigned myself a schedule of deep-cleaning a room a day, and doing surface cleaning through the whole house every day. I think that will work out.

We have already done quite a bit of packing and our garage is filling up. The more I get done now the better...as I won't be allowed to lift anything and will be pretty much out of commission for a few weeks after James is born. As much as we have done, there is still a lot that will need to be done towards the end, things we just can't pack up right now.

It's all starting to feel very real...or kind of surreal...

A Trip to the Zoo

Today was really warm out and Al only had one class in the morning so we decided to make a family trip to the zoo. It was kind of a trip of errors, but we still had fun.

For starters it took us 50 minutes to get there (normally 20) because of the crazy construction, closed freeways, mismarked signs, abscense of signs, etc., but we eventually found the zoo. When we got there we found a great parking spot outside of the lot so we got in to the zoo for free and didn't have to pay for parking!! Because of this free outing Al and I decided we could splurge on a couple of diet cokes.

Our first stop was to the seal statues and huge koi pond. Avery thought the seals were great and had fun climbing on them...until Al noticed all of the signs around asking patrons not to climb on the seals. We quickly took her off and headed on our way.

We headed up the hill to the hippos when I tripped on a pod thing that had fallen off a tree. I mananged to land on my knees, which killed, but avoided my tummy. Thank goodness. Even so I stretched a ligament or something in my lower tummy and have been sore ever since. I also have a good knot/bruise on my knee and ankle. Not to mention there were people around (embarrassing)and I also spilled my diet coke all over my jeans and jacket. One couple was really concerned, but so nice and kept looking back at me and asking if I was okay, the baby was okay, etc. I guess it's been a rough week for me health-wise.

We kind of ambled up the rest of the hill and somewhere along the trail Al proceeded to spill his diet coke. But we made it to the hippos! And they were in fine form. We saw some other popular animals (they were really active today, which made it fun). We even got to see a hyena gnawing on some form of meat/bone...ugh.

The penguin house was great as usual. Avery did her usual calling out to the penguins, squealing, giggling and all of that. She told us she wanted to go swimming with them but we told her that the water was freezing and dirty. After that Al and Avery went on the carousel. We saw a few more animals and then decided it was time to head home. As we were hiking up the hill to 'white rocket' Avery stuck her foot under the foot strap on the stroller and Al accidentally rolled over her foot. This caused some tears and some initial pain, but she walked it off. Her shoe took a beating though.

We managed to make it home without incident and have been lounging on the couch ever since. Avery said her favorite thing at the zoo is still the penguins and her second favorite part was the tiger she rode on the carousel. I think we're all tired and it might be an early bedtime. I tried to bend down to pick something up off of the floor, which started the ligament pain again, so Dr. Al has ordered me to do nothing for the rest of the day. Which gets me off the hook for dinner :)

Little Chef

Yesterday was Avery's first Little Chef class. She was a little shy at first to see her teacher again, but warmed up really quickly and was excited to tell Miss Stephanie that she had turned 3, had her friends over for a party, and had a Tinkerbell party.

The kids made tortillas with refried beans, cheese, and then made faces using sliced olives. I have served Avery refried beans on numerous occasions and she never eats them, but today at cooking class she went to town on them and even licked the spoon off that she was using to spread them on. She still didn't go for the olives though.

After that they made 'bugs' using bananas, pretzels, peaches, and mandarin oranges. They also used peanut butter to 'glue' on some chocolate chips for a face and decorations. Avery ate a ton of everything and had a great time putting hers together. Something new that Avery did today: She sang while she cooked. As she was assembling her items she was singing 'Lay All Your Love On Me' from the Mama Mia soundtrack and then later on she launched into 'Super Trouper.'

Last night when Avery was saying the dinner prayer she said "Thank you for my cooking class." It was so cute! I looked at Al and he had a big grin on his face.

The picture of Al is one that Avery took yesterday by herself. I think she did a pretty good job!

Avery's Dance 'Recital'

Yesterday was Avery's last dance class for Tap and Twirl. She has loved it so much and it has been fun watching her learn new skills and try to get the dance moves down. The teacher called yesterday the 'recital' but it was really pretty much the same as her other practices. I didn't get to go because I have been sick, but Al did a really good job of getting some cute videos. Tomorrow Avery starts another round of cooking classes and then at the very end of March through the month of April she will be taking a tap/ballet combo with her same teacher that she had for tap and twirl.







Sorry, these are all really short, but we were hoping to make it easier to upload them. I'm not sure that it made a difference, but oh well. Avery was really excited about her candy flower bouquet, as I'm sure you could tell at the end of the one video.

28 weeks...

I had another doctor's appointment this week. Everything is good. When my doctor measured me she laughed because she said that our baby was scrunched all at the top. I told her that explains why I'm having trouble breathing. I measured 29 cm...1 cm bigger than the 28 weeks that I am. She said it doesn't mean anything right now though. Avery was only 6 pounds, 9 oz., but Al was a huge baby. So I'm wondering if this baby takes more after Al...

The most exciting thing is that she scheduled my c-section!! So we have an actual birth-day on the calendar. Our baby is scheduled to arrive the morning after Al's med school graduation, so that will be a super exciting week for us.

For the first time ever, including when I was pregnant with Avery, my fingers swelled up yesterday. I was panicked that I wouldn't be able to get my wedding ring off, but it did with some heavy duty soap and water. My feet were pretty puffy too. But they look a lot better this morning.

The Tinkerbell Party

Avery had a fun, little Tinkerbell party for her friends. She originally said she wanted a green cake, but to my knowledge a green cake mix doesn't exist, not to mention I wasn't sure I wanted to eat a green cake. But she quickly picked out a 'polka-dot' cake (funfetti) for her second choice. And then she got this really big Tinkerbell candle to go on top

For the games we played pin the wings on Tinkerbell. The kids really seemed to enjoy this. I bought the poster for super-cheap at Wal-mart and then cut the wings out of some sparkly scrapbooking paper. After a couple of rounds of that game we moved on to making the ladybugs. In the Tinkerbell movie they have to get the ladybugs ready for spring by putting the spots on them, so I made little ladybugs out of construction paper and then went through all of my kid-crafty stuff to get things to decorate with. We set up Avery's little table and the kids did a great job of getting their ladybugs decked out.

Then came time for cake and ice cream. All the kids were pretty excited for the cake. After cake we did presents. Avery was thrilled when she got some more Littlest Petshops from her friends. And Diana made the cutest set of scrubs for Avery! They are being hemmed up right now, but I will take a picture when we get them back. She also got some My Little Ponies and a set of Tinkerbell sheets for her bed.

The kids were all really cute and well-behaved and it was fun to have their parents (our friends) over too. Avery gave all the kids big hugs before they left and we passed out their Tinkerbell goody bags. This made the kids really excited too. Noah held his for a couple of seconds with a grin on his face and then exclaimed, "And there's even stuff in here too!" I guess just getting a Tinkerbell bag was exciting enough :)

Turning 3

Avery had a great 3rd birthday! Thank you to everybody for the phone calls and the presents. I think Avery was a little overwhelmed with the excitement and wasn't too interested in talking on the phone (not that she loves it on any other day), unfortunately, but we really appreciated the calls.

All day we kept saying to Avery that she was '3' and such a big girl and she would reply that she was almost 3. We would say, no, you are 3! Today is the day! And she would still say, 'almost.' We found out that she wasn't 3 until after her birthday party. Then she would say she was 3.

Avery got so many fun presents. Granny sent her some birthday money and Avery had great fun going shopping and picking out some Littlest Petshop animals. And grandma Louona and grandpa Tanner sent her a beautiful new bedding set with the cutest flowers to hang on the wall. I am so excited about this gift and so is Avery. She had told me a few times now that she can't wait for her room to be pretty. She loves the flowers most of all. I think it's the glitter :) I already have a few ideas for things that I am going to make to accessorize her 'new' room.

Grandma Nette and Grandpa Dave sent her the American Girl Bitty Baby starter set. The baby is darling, but the starter set is on backorder for a couple more weeks, so we will have to wait to open that. But Avery has enjoyed holding and playing with her new baby. We looked at the starter set on-line and I showed her pictures of all of the things that are coming. She seemed really excited to get some clothes and a backpack for the baby. She was interested to see what was underneath the baby's jammies and so we undid the velcro. Underneath is a little cloth diaper. Avery thought that was pretty funny.

Al and I gave Avery a princess bike with the matching helmet and knee pads. Avery was just so excited! She opened the helmet first (we had the bike hiding in the garage) and she couldn't wait to put it on. When it was all secure she said that she needed a bike. Then Al went to the garage and brought it in. Her little face lit up and she smiled so big. She is still working on the peddling and steering, but she loves being up on the bike and riding around. We have been blessed with some warmer weather finally and so it was the perfect weekend to get a bike. Yesterday we took Avery to the park to ride on the trails.

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Avery!!! Avery has been so excited to turn 3 years old and be a 'big girl.' She has been talking about it for weeks and tells anybody that she runs into, including strangers, when her birthday is and how old she'll be.

We love you very much Avery! You have changed so much over the last 3 years. We hope you have a great day and a fantastic 3rd year!!