Tummy Time

Avery is almost 8 weeks, and is starting to get pretty good at holding her head up. I put her on her play mat for some tummy time for the first time today, and she loved it. Of course, Hayden had to come "help" her play with all the hanging animals. Whatever she is doing, he has to be right there doing it with her. It's cute to watch him try to play with her.

Almost has her head up all the way.

Closest thing to a smile I have been able to catch on camera so far. She smiles all the time in person.

Playing with his sister.

Apparently someone is needing a little attention. Either that or he is trying to reclaim the play mat that used to be his.

A Boy And His Sister

I think it is adorable how much Hayden loves Avery. He always wants to kiss her or pet her. He is so sweet with her, and has to kiss her almost every time he walks by her. He always wants to be touching her, petting her, attempting to pick her up, etc. I'm sure it won't last once she's big enough to get around and want to "share" all his fun toys, but I am going to enjoy his sweetness while it lasts.

Even though it's a little blurry, I just love this picture. It's like she did something that just totally cracked him up. He was laughing like crazy when I took this.

This is what he looks like when he is thinking about picking her up, but he can't really figure out how he would do that. Thank goodness!

Lots of kisses!

Even more kisses.

Cupcakes

More pictures of Avery in another one of her adorable cupcake outfits. I think I am going to be able to make a small album for her just with all the pictures of her in all her cupcake outfits. On second thought, that's a good idea . . . . :)

Family Pictures

After church, everyone came back to my house for dinner. "Everyone" included my parents, Robyn and Jane, Jacob's family, and my Grandpa. I took a TON of family pictures. I'm thankful that everyone was here in town and able to get together and have Avery's blessing, even if the reason they were all here wasn't a happy one. Here are some of my favorites.

John and Avery.

Typical family picture. My hair looks lame, Brooklyn looks like her right arm is amputated, and Austin looks like he really has to pee. Heaven forbid we could get this many people to all look cute at once. Haha

Avery and me. (Man, why didn't someone tell me to fix the front of my hair?!)

Hanging out on Dad's arm.

Avery with Aunt Robyn and cousin Jane. (We missed Uncle Joe and Henry.)

Avery with Aunt Natalie, Uncle Jacob and cousin Preston.

My mom with her girls and their baby girls.

Three generations: My mommy, me and my girls.

Avery with Grandma and Grandpa.

Avery with her Great Grandpa Paul Greer.

This picture gives me such joy every time I look at it. He just looks so happy with her. I only wish that my grandma had been able to still be here and be in the picture with him. I am so glad that he is still here to be a part of Avery's life, and the lives of my other kids.

A Name and A Blessing

I have to divide up the posts about Avery's blessing because I have a ton of pictures, but I also wanted to include this post. After her blessing, a friend of mine came up and said that she had written down some things from Avery's blessing. She said that she had always wished that she had done that with her kids (So had I!) and that she just happened to have a piece of paper and pen in her lap from something else she was working on for Primary. So when John started to bless her, she started writing it down. I am going to save the original paper she gave me to put in her scrapbook, but here is what she wrote down (it's paraphrased from the blessing, not word for word):

- Bless you with a desire and strength to learn about Heavenly Father and gain a testimony of him.

- That you will learn to love the Gospel.

- That you will grow and be a good example to others.

- That you will have the desire to serve a full time mission

- Strive to serve.

- That you will meet a righteous LDS man, and be sealed for time and all eternity.

- As you grow, be successful in life so you can be with Heavenly Father and Savior again.

- Health and Strength

- We love you very much

- We are proud that you chose to come to our family to gain a body.

Her blessing was beautiful. I am so proud of John for doing such a good job, and thankful that my friend had the presence of mind to write it down for me. I think it would have been cool to have a copy of mine to read, so I am excited that I have this for her to read when she is older.

“Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their handsupon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name."

Doctrine and Covenants 20:70

Dressed In White (and a little pink too)

I know that it is pretty unusual for a LDS family to bless their baby in a dress that has pink rosebuds all over it, but this dress is very special to me. It is the dress that I was blessed in. My younger sister Robyn was also blessed in it, and so were all 3 of my older girls and Robyn's daughter. It is really special to me that all 4 of my girls have been able to be blessed in the same dress that I was blessed in. I like creating little traditions like that for my family. Hailey talks about how she is going to bless her daughters in it too, when she has her own family. I think that it's cute that she wants to carry on the tradition.

I thought Avery looked so beautiful in my dress. She is definitely a lot smaller than her sisters were when they were blessed! She was drowning in the dress! That's ok, because I think it's cute. When I first started taking her picture she was sound asleep, which made taking pictures a lot easier. However, a few minutes into my little photo session she woke up and I was able to get some adorable awake pictures too. She is just so cute. This is maybe a tenth of the pictures that I took. I couldn't help myself. At least I will have tons to choose from for her scrapbook!

So Fast

This picture makes me kinda sad. Tomorrow she will be 3 weeks old, and already I feel like she is getting so big and becoming this whole other person. I can look at her earlier pictures, and then look at this one, and it's crazy how much she has already changed. It kind of makes me want to cry when I think about her getting bigger. I almost started bawling when I thought about her being Hayden's age and walking around and talking and everything. John thinks I'm a little crazy (ok maybe more than a little) but I just can't bear the thought right now. It makes me think of that Lonestar song " let them be little, 'cause they're only that way for so long". I know that she will be little for a long time still, but it already seems like it is going too fast.

I love how tiny and cute you are Avery. Please don't grow up too fast. I already feel like your sisters did, and I need you to stay tiny for a while longer.

Avery's First Day of Church

* Disclaimer: I know this is kinda turning into an Avery blog. haha I can't help it. She is so cute, and I don't want to forget anything later. Plus, my other kids aren't being that exciting lately. *

Today was Avery's first day going to church. She was so cute all dressed up. Of course, I had to get a picture of the 2 of us since I actually looked like a human being today and who knows when that will happen again!

Nothing really to blog about, I just like how she matches the sheets on my bed. haha :)

In The Swing Of Things

Avery hung out and slept in her swing for the first time today. It was nice to have her in there, where I could keep an eye on her and get some stuff done around the house.

There are 2 things I especially like about these pictures:

1. I love her swing. It is the same one I had with Hayden, and I just think it is so cute.

2. I just love her jammies. My bff Hailee and I really got into cupcake stuff while pregnant with our girls (her daughter Isabella is 6 weeks older than Avery) and so I have TONS of baby clothes that have cupcakes on them. Every time I put her in one of them, it makes me smile. :)

Giraffe Jammies

I just love her in these giraffe jammies. They are so cute! I had to have them as soon as I saw them. Something about animals on the feeties that just makes them too cute to pass up.

I'm not sure why I only ended up with pictures of my dad and Avery today, but that's ok. I seem to get less pictures of him with the kids than my mom, so I will take as many as I can get. Plus they turned out cute. :)

My dad being silly with Avery.

Now a real smile.

Close up of her adorableness.

Hideous picture of me, but I wanted to make sure I got a picture of her whole body in her cute giraffe jammies. Ignore the fact that I am wearing the same shirt I wore yesterday. Other than on here, no one saw it since I didn't manage to leave the house or anything.

Happy

John took this picture of Avery and I today, and so far it is my favorite of the 2 of us. It makes me smile every time I pull it up and look at it. I made it my profile picture on facebook because I like it so much. Of course, the reason I probably like it so much is because I actually felt like a human being due to the fact that I managed to shower, do my hair and wear non maternity clothes! haha I also like the silly little look on her face. She was making silly faces in most of the ones he took, but this is the one that I look the best in. Sorry Avery! :)

Bathing Beauty

Today I gave Avery her first bath at home. I waited a few days because her skin was kinda peeling and the nurse said she only needed one maybe a couple times a week because more than that would dry out her skin.

As you can tell from the pictures, she thought she was in heaven from the moment I set her in there. Some babies might cry when they are having a bath, but not Avery. Not a peep from her the entire time she was in the tub. She was so happy and content to be in there. The only time she cried was when I took her out. Boy was she not happy then!

Grandpa and Avery

I just thought this picture of my dad and Avery was so cute. I love my dad so much! I might not be a little kid anymore, but he is still my hero and I still look up to him just as much as ever. I am so happy that Avery will have a chance to have someone who is such a great person and an amazing example to me, as her grandpa.

Trying to eat Grandpa.

Looking adorable.

Meet The Grandparents

My parents came over today to meet Avery for the first time. They were so excited. I am a little worried now that they might think that they get to keep her. Ha! ;)

I love watching my parents with my kids. I don't know what it is, but something about watching my kids snuggle with and get loves from my parents just makes me infinitely happy. Maybe it's because my parents were/are so lovey with me that I know how happy I feel when it's me.

Visiting with Grandpa Steve.

Sleeping on Grandma Lisa while she was on the phone with her sister.

Snuggling on the couch with Grandma and Grandpa :)

What's In A Name?

So I just wanted to do a quick little post about Avery's name. I had decided on the middle name Joy as soon as I knew she was a girl. It's my mom's middle name, and I have always loved it and wanted part of her name to be after my mom since I am so close to her.

However, it took FOREVER to come up with her first name, and for a while I was worried that she was going to be born and we still wouldn't be able to come up with one. Well, on Sunday, Aug. 28, I was lying in bed sick and just thinking about what we were going to name her. John and I had gone over and over the list of names I had come up with, and while we liked several of them, none of them had stood out as "The One". You know, the name that you come across and there's that little "Aha" moment where you realize that's it. Well after thinking and looking at my list, I was feeling really discouraged so I finally decided I should pray about it (Duh!). I started telling my Heavenly Father how there were several names that I liked, but none of them felt like her name and I was worried I wasn't going to figure out what her name was supposed to be. Almost immediately, the thought came to me "Her name is Avery". I almost started crying because I felt such peace and relief that I finally knew what her name was. The funny thing was, when I was on the phone with my mom on the drive to the hospital Monday night, I told her we finally knew what we were going to name her. She asked me what, and I said Avery. My mom said "Avery! That's the name I was trying to remember when I talked to you the other day!" I said, well I guess she really was meant to be Avery. Funny how things work out. Now when I look at her, I can't imagine having named her anything else. While I really liked the other names on my list, she is most definitely Avery.