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!!

Sewing Projects

Okay, I think I am all caught up on my blogging now...

Over Christmas break I worked on these two blankets with my mom and my grandma Louise. These are the fabrics that I bought the day after Thanksgiving. I am really happy about the way the blankets turned out. I finished the boy one first because I just had a feeling...I just love the teddy bear and puppy fabric on James' blanket. Then I finished the watermelon and cherry one and gave it to Avery. She was pretty excited. She calls it her 'special' blanket. She calls the one we made for her last year her 'special' blanket too, so now she says she has two of them. She has been sleeping with both of them on her at night. I think it must be pretty cozy under there.

Going Sledding

We took Avery sledding several times in between Al's travels. She had a blast! She didn't even mind walking up the steep hills because it meant she could stomp around some more in her boots. My job was to sit in the warm car and take pictures. It was fun to watch everybody enjoying themselves. Everybody took turns taking Avery down the hills. Towards the end she rode down some tame hills by herself.

Every time we would come home from sledding Avery would talk about her adventures for the rest of the day...especially the time she hit the 'big bump' when she was riding with Grandpa Dave.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Avery had a great Christmas this year. She was really into it and was very excited for Santa to come. One of the pictures is of Al carrying Avery down the stairs to see if Santa came. When she got to the bottom of the stairs we told her to run and check. She bypassed the pile of presents and instead made a dash to the fireplace. Then she stuck her head in there (it wasn't turned on)and said, "yep, he came!" It was really cute.

Avery finally got the hang of opening presents this year, which made Christmas morning even more fun. She was really excited about all of her gifts, especially the dollhouse and all of the pieces that came with it. Santa was really busy this year wrapping all of those tiny little packages that held lamps, chairs, etc.

I think the biggest hit for Avery was all of the additions to her Littlest Pet Shop collection. She loves those little animals and the clubhouse that Grandma Louona gave her. She has played with it every day since. She also loves her princess dresses that Grandma Nette and Grandpa Dave gave her. I love when she gets all decked out in her gowns.

I just had to get a picture of Avery surrounded by a lot of her treasures, dressed up in a new princess dress, holding the pirate ship and watching Ice Age. It doesn't get much better than that.