Oh Real World, How I Loathe Thee

Oh Real World, how I loathe thee!! The blog has taken a backseat lately now that I'm back in the working world. There just only seems to be so much time in the day lately. But enough about me and my lacking blogging skills, let's catch up on how life has been treating the Avery's lately.

Chelsea is one growing girl. She's 10 weeks old and the time is going by way too fast! This baby loves to eat and it's apparent by her awesome growth. At her 2 month visit she weighed in at 12 lbs. 4 oz. and was 24 inches long, so she's gained almost 5 lbs. and grown almost 4 inches since birth. She's beginning to master the whole sleeping thing, but still has her moments. I can typically lay her down at 9:30 and she doesn't wake until 4 a.m., which isn't bad at all in my book. She's been flashing a ton of smiles lately and letting out giggles for those she loves most. She's such a sweet baby.

J.K. is one amazing kid. Seriously, I think he may be smarter than me at age 2! I wish I was joking. He's lately been informing me that we live on in the United States of America on planet Earth and then he'll count to 10 in Spanish. I'm not sure if I should thank Dora or his school for that one! The little guy has adapted wonderfully to life as a big brother. The tantrums are slowly getting better and he's grown to be quite the little helper. He's still not a fan of his Daddy holding the baby, but that's to be expected I guess.

As for me, I've recently taken on the roll as coordinator for Footprints Ministry's Birmingham Chapter. I wrote this post a few weeks ago about wanting to devote more time to the Ministry and a few days ago I was approached with the opportunity. God is good. I'm excited about all God has in store for the Ministry. If any of my B'ham friends are interested in volunteering just let me know and I'll keep you in the loop!

So now we're pretty much caught up. Here's a shot of the two that keep you coming back..

You Mean this Blog Won't Write Itself??

I guess I needed to take a blogging hiatus for a while, it wasn't intentional just unavoidable. That's what happens when you combine me with a brand new baby and a two-year old. Life in our world has been great. Chelsea is growing way too fast. At her one month check up she was 1o lbs. 3 oz. and 22 inches long, which means she'd gained almost threes pounds and grew almost 2 inches since birth. If I had my guess she's probably close to 12 pounds by now. The girl loves to eat! J.K. is still being a great big brother. He's an awesome little helper. We've been dealing with more temper tantrums, but he is two and his little world has been turned upside down so it's a bit understandable.

I'm getting ready to head to the lake with the two of them for the weekend so I don't have much time to write this morning, but I wanted to leave you guys with a few pictures of the cuties.


Brother & sister time at the lake.


Daddy/daughter snuggle time.


Sleepy girl.


So sweet.


Fourth of July baby!


Chelsea with her BFF Amelia.


Bath time!


Big girl at 6 weeks.

Wrapping my Mind Around it All

It's been on my heart to write a post about the profoundness of Chelsea's birthday. I haven't really known what to write, but I knew I needed to put it into words so that I could begin to wrap my little human brain around it. I mentioned that she was born 4 years to the day after Olivia passed away, but that's really all I did was mention it. All the while, it's been on my mind since her birthday. I've been trying my best to figure out what this all means, but I also know that I'll never understand.

I knew there was a chance that Chelsea's birthday could be shared with either one of Olivia's special days, but I didn't expect it to actually happen. When we arrived at the hospital on the night of June 4th the hubby and I were at peace about it. The nurses had me walking the halls in order to help me progress and the most surreal moment was when we walked down the skywalk toward the NICU. We talked about how we'd been there experiencing the worst day of our lives and here we were four years later experiencing so much happiness. That night and morning I kept saying that we'd finally come full circle. Not only was the date incredibly special, but we were able to share it with the same doctor and nurse whom were with us on Olivia's birthday.

When we realized that Chelsea would have to go to the NICU, I went from being happy on June 5th for the first time in fours years to being completely distraught again. I knew that we were dealing with very minor problems, but the mere thought of walking through those NICU doors on Olivia's special day was almost more than I could take. However, I held it together and waited until I was alone to have my breakdown. I had a good cry and then pulled myself together. My baby needed me and I needed her. So we made that dreaded journey to the NICU and went through those doors once again. Once I saw her I knew she would be fine. This was NOTHING like our last visit. I tried to spend our few days there to understand what I needed take from this journey and it didn't take long to figure it out. I need to devote more of my time to Footprints. I can now relate to these parents more than I could before. Not only can I support parents who have lost a baby, but I can also relate to those who have unexpected stays for their full-term babies. Now, I just have to make this a priority. :)

So from this experience I've realized once again that God has amazing ways of telling us that Oliva is PERFECT. I know I'll never understand why Chelsea and Olivia share such a special day until I meet Jesus and see our girl again. I've learned that I need to let go of trying to figure it all out and do something productive with that energy, which is to devote that time back to Footprints.

Brother & Sister Love

We just experienced one of life's precious moments that I don't want to forget. We had laid Chelsea down for her tummy time this evening and after a while she started fussing. After a few moments of hearing her cry, J.K. jumped off of the couch, lied down next to his sister and wrapped his little arm around her. Within an instant she was completely calm. It only lasted for a couple of minutes, but it was the sweetest two minutes I've experienced in quite some time.

A Moment of Silence for Cohen

Multi-Tasking at its Best

I've never been as proud of myself and grossed out at the same time as I was Sunday morning. The hubby had to work so I was at home alone with both little ones. We are still in the process of potty training JK and we keep a potty in the living room so that he'll go as soon as he feels the urge, which has worked out really well until Sunday morning. I had just started nursing Chelsea when all of a sudden J runs to the potty screaming "I need go poo poo in da potty!!" Now, typically this would be no problem, but my little diva of a daughter isn't a fan of stopping and restarting the feeding process. She likes to get all done in one quick swoop and I wasn't about to stop her. At this moment my mothering skills grew to a whole new level when after doing the deed I asked J to hand me the box of wipes. I then proceeded to wipe his tiny poopy butt, all while breastfeeding his baby sister. At first I was thinking this was the most disgusting task ever and then I realized just how awesome I was. I don't know many people who have nursed a child and cleaned up a poopy toddler at the same time, or at least I don't know anyone who's willing to publicly admit it! So yeah, it was nasty, but I got both jobs done at the same time. One kid was clean and the other had a full tummy, all thanks to my multi-tasking Mom skills!

Catching Up & Newborn Pics

I know that I've been a complete stranger lately. This little Diva of mine can be quite demanding. I rarely have time to look at my computer, much less blog! So to catch up a bit, Chelsea is three weeks old today. The time has flown by! She's still a pretty good sleeper, only waking every four hours at night. J.K. is a fantastic little helper and is so proud of his baby sister. The only issues he's had is that he's been telling us that he's sick a lot lately. He's constantly telling us that his tummy hurts, his arms/legs hurt, his throat hurts..it's all a ploy for more attention. However, I'm afraid he'll really be sick one day and I won't believe him.

I'm trying my best to balance my time between the two of them. It can be challenging, but I'm trying not to beat myself up too much. The hardest part is avoiding the self-induced guitl trip for taking him to daycare four days a week. I want him to stay on his schedule while I'm on maternity leave, but at the same time I feel like he should be at home with me while I'm here. It's a vicious cycle.

I promised to share the pictures from our newborn/family photoshoot. Can I just mention how much I LOVE Karie Mitchell? She's a fabulous and very affordable photographer. Check her site out at www.kariemitchell.com.
















This precious dress was given to Chelsea by her "Cookie" (aka: my sister Nichole). We used it as her door hanger at the hospital.




Chelsea holding her big sister's teddy bear.