Brigham City Temple Open House

We went to the Brigham City Temple open house with some of Brad's co-workers on Monday night and had a great time. The temple is so beautiful. But the funniest thing happened!  When we walked into the celestial room (pictured above) it was dark outside and the chandelier was absolutely just glowing and the room looked so amazing, Avery literally gasped. I have never heard her do that before. We don't know exactly what she was looking at when she gasped, but she must have either really like the chandelier, or she felt like she was home. Either way, it was really cute.  

We still spend a lot of time outside in the evenings because it is the one thing that is guaranteed to put her in a good mood (she is still a little crabby patty at night - just generally kind of fussy). We either go on a walk or lay on our picnic blanket in the back yard. Look at those arm rolls!!

She is becoming so skilled on her tummy! She has rolled over from her tummy to her back twice in one session, but we haven't been able to get her to do it again since. We will keep trying. She actually seems to really enjoy tummy-time lately.  I am sure that it is refreshing to be able to see the world from a perspective other than on her back. That is probably also why she loves standing up as well. 

She has also been grabbing at her legs lately as the last picture, and the scratches on her legs, illustrate. Eventually she is going to find her feet and stick them in her mouth like her cousin Lincoln I am sure of it!

Happy 1/4 Birthday to Avery!

(This is a letter to Avery I wrote on her 0.25 birthday. My sisters write letters to their babies every month, and I didn't think that I would, but when you spend so much time with a little person who doesn't understand what is going on, it creates this unfulfilled need to communicate with them.  This is the only way that I can tell her how I feel and even though it will be years before she can read this, it makes me feel better to know that at least if she doesn't get it now, someday she will.)

Dear Avery,

The past three months have been such a fast-paced roller coaster. Who would have thought that the days would fly so quickly when I am spending my time all my time with a person who does nothing but eat and sleep?

We are finally getting settled in.  Only just this week do I feel like life together is regulating. And I am so glad! You go to bed at about 10:30, and wake up at about 7:30.  You usually have a big nap in the morning and increasingly smaller naps every 90 minutes after that.  You are still good at being dragged around places as long as I time it right.  I go on errands almost everyday with you, because being in the stroller sometimes helps you fall asleep, and it gets me out of the house. 

Getting you to fall asleep can still be quite a challenge sometimes though.  If I don't catch you at the right moment, life for both of us gets really hard really fast. I can only rock you for so long before my arms give out, and not being able to soothe you when you are crying is one of the worst feelings in the world. We have had some rough times, but things are definitely getting better. I discovered that you like to go back to sleep really soon after waking up in the morning (thank you Andrea!) and that has helped the days go better. And we are using a swing for the first time today, and you seem to like it.  

You are getting more and more playful everyday! It is so fun :) Your newest trick is blowing bubbles loudly on purpose.  I am pretty sure you think it is a very good way to communicate because you are "talking" a bit less and blowing bubbles more.  It is adorable.  You still love taking baths, and I just bought you a bigger tub because you outgrew the last one. You are just such a great baby - you are always happy as long as you are not hungry or tired, and I am really grateful for that.

Speaking of growing, I love your fatness! I feed you all. the. time. (at least that is what it feels like) and let you nurse for a long time and you are definitely not having any trouble gaining weight.  I think you have to eat so frequently during the day because you go so long at night without eating.  I am okay with it.  It is my job and it is a good one :) Also, I can do other things while you nurse.  Sometimes I eat while you are eating (because I am starving all the time!) and have dropped many a crumb on you. I have also watched almost the entire first season of Reba while nursing you. I love Hulu. And I have figured out how to put on makeup while nursing you.  I am a woman of many talents :) Anyway, you have so many rolls under your chin, it has almost become impossible to clean under all of them.  When we are able to find your neck, it is always surprising to see and it looks so tiny!

My favorite part of the day is every time I go and get you from your crib. You smile so big when you see me and do these huge stretches, and you look so fat and happy, I swear my heart literally gets bigger and warmer just looking at you. I feel so lucky that it is me who gets to spend all day with you and always be there when you wake up. I hope that you enjoy looking at my smitten face because I am always going to be around, grinning at you. I feel like such a love-sick stalker sometimes.  Everywhere you look, there I am! Ha ha!

But in all seriousness, basically I am the biggest sucker for you that I could possibly be. I spoil you so much that many people have looked at me oddly for my doting ways. But I am going to keep on doting. You are my firstborn and therefore it is my right to spoil the crap out of you :) Just know that the past three months have been so happy and I absolutely could not love you more.

P.S. It is true what they say about being a parent.  You will never know what it feels like until you are one. And it is better than you can imagine. Thanks for letting me be yours.

Avery's Blessing + Stats

We blessed Avery on the 16th, and it was such a neat experience.  I loved hearing what was said in the blessing because it was so beautiful.  We really have a special little lady on our hands.  She is going to be beautiful inside and out.   My favorite thing from the blessing was how much it talked about the Savior.  Avery is going to know who He is and that makes me so happy because I know Him, and knowing Him makes me happy and gives me peace and strength.

I am also so happy that we had so many family members there.  Thanks to Lauren for picking out her blessing dress for me.  I loved it!  Gina and Lindsay, and any of my other cousins that end up having girls, if you read my blog this is officially an invitation for your daughters to use the dress.  I would love to have a sisterhood of the traveling blessing dress :) If you don't read my blog, I will talk to you about it later :)

I want to post Avery's stats in case - jk because I know I will eventually - lose the papers they are on.

5/5/12 - 7.19 lbs (41%) - 20" (71%) - 13.7 (68%)
5/15/12 - 7.96 lbs (45%) - 21.5" (96%) - 13.9 (56%)
6/07/12 - 9.81 lbs (55%) - 23" (98.9%) - 14.7 (75%)
7/06/12 - 11.97 lbs (65%) - 23.5" (88%) - 15.2 (60%)

daddy-daughter dancing

i could not love this picture more, so i had to post it

Swimming

Here is some video from swimming! Avery hated it. :)

An Avery Update

So these pictures are not the best quality, but they illustrate two really great things Avery has started doing - sucking her hand to self-soothe, and smiling!  She smiles the most when she is on her changing table.  It is like this magical zone in which she is always in a good mood.  We have no idea why, but we take advantage! We have probably spent hours so far with her on the changing table smiling and talking to each other :) It is so much fun!

Change

(This post is about two weeks behind the times)  

               

 Changes that are happening at our house this week:

·       Brad is starting his new job

·       I am working my last week at Wencor

·       We are moving to North Salt Lake

Let’s start with Brad’s new job because that leads to the other changes. Brad took a job with Accretive Health – a Chicago-based healthcare consulting company - to work with them on their contract with IHC.  He is going to Chicago for training for a few days, and then will continue training in West Valley for a few months before he gets assigned to some physician clinics to work at.  We are excited because he likes consulting and is interested in the healthcare industry, so this is a really good job for him.  There are also going to be opportunities later on to work on other consulting projects that the company has going in various parts of the country, so we might actually get to experience life outside of Utah soon!  That would be exciting.

So we found a really great place to live this past week and are moving on Saturday.  Our new place is a townhouse in North Salt Lake, and I think we are going to like it.  It is a two bedroom that is pretty similar to what we are in now, with the added bonus of a garage! We have already met some of our neighbors, and they are really nice.  We are also right next to a park and our church.  And I am so excited because we are only going to be 10 minutes away from my sister Andrea! Which will be so much fun! I am really excited about that.

So because of all of these changes, I have put in my notice at work.  As of this Friday I will officially be a full-time mommy. I am excited! Also, putting in my notice could not have gone better. My boss was so nice about it, and HR is not going to make us pay for the company’s portion of the insurance for the past 8 weeks, AND they are paying me my full salary for working minimal hours this week.  Thank you Wencor! 

Life is going to be so different with Brad now making the money and me being home all day. But this is how we both want it to be.  I have learned a lot from working full-time, and so I am glad that I had the opportunity to do so and I know that I will be a bit sad to leave. But I am so so so grateful that I get to be with Avery all the time.  I miss her while I am at work. And I know that Brad is going to feel better being the one bringing home the bacon. For the first time since he was 16 he hasn’t had a job the past 6 months.  I think he prefers working as opposed to just studying.  Our roles are becoming more traditional