Flower Baby

Look at my pretty little flower! :) She is growing up too fast! Thanks, Mimi, for her cute baby lulu outfit. We love it!

                                        Sitting up on my own! ( only for a minute)

"Making the decision to have a child-- it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

-Elizabeth Stone

A January day at the park...

Gotta love Texas weather. It's 78 degrees in January! We took Avery to the park in our neighborhood and she loved it. She can ride in the stroller like a big girl now and it is so cute. We took turns sliding down the slide with her and she laughed every time. So cute! We got it on video and some day I will figure out how to put video on here. 

Doctor Appt.

For Avery's Grandparents out there who actually want to know this info; Avery had a  five month well check today(she goes every month because we split up her vaccines on a alternate schedule). She weighed in at 14 pounds and 7 ounces. She gained one pound since her appt. at 4 months.(the percentages are only done with the even month well checks) She looks great and is doing well. She got one shot and didn't even cry! What a tough little girl. She even laughed at the nurse after she was done. We are so thankful for our healthy little girl, especially after seeing all the sick little babies in the office today. :(

Five Month Pictures

My baby is 5 months old!

My sweet little Avery Ellen is 5 months old today!! I can't believe it. Once again, I cried while taking your picture in the pink chair. I've been in love with you for 14 months now. I didn't really even know what love was until I met you.  Every day you melt mine and daddy's heart more and more. You are changing so fast. You can hold your toys now and play. You've learned to find your paci and pick it up and put it in your mouth. What a smart girl! You laugh all the time now and love to hear yourself talk. I love the way your sweet little giggles turn into belly laughs. Your personality is too cute! I love the way you grab my face when I give you kisses. I will remember these moments forever. Happy five months baby girl! I love you to the moon and back. 

Momma

Rocking my baby...

I admit that I am a neat freak when it comes to cleaning the house and keeping up with chores. This usually isn't such a bad thing, but ever since Avery came into our lives I don't seem to have much time for all my little cleaning obsessions. I've decided she is way too much fun and way too cute to ignore her while I clean the house for hours.  I'm reminded of this quote my mom used to have hanging up when my sister and I were little.

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, because babies grow up I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."                                             -author unknown

So the little bit of dust and the piles of laundry to do can wait because for now I'm watching Baby Einstein with Avery, helping her play with her toys, reading her books, kissing her cute little feet, singing the silly songs that make her laugh, staring at her while she sleeps, and rocking my baby cause babies don't keep. :) 

Pictures Say A Thousand Words.....

Daddy's girls

                   Best friends in the making!

I took this picture one night of Luke and some of his preacher friends with their little girls. Too cute! Seeing Rick(the preacher at our church) and his daughter, Morgan, makes me realize how fast little girls grow up. :(  Avery is blessed to grow up around these amazing families. These little girls and one grown up girl, are very blessed to have such wonderful dads who are making such a difference for the kingdom of God.

on a side note, GO LONGHORNS!!

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year! I can't believe that it is 2009 already. So many life changing events took place for us in 2008. Moving back to Texas, Luke's new job, and the birth of our precious little girl. Avery has changed our lives in so many ways. Having her makes every thing more fun, every day more meaningful, every happy time even better, and every bad day not quite as bad. We constantly laugh at how different things are now and wonder what we did with all our free time before. Seriously, I never knew how much time I had on my hands before Avery! Now I'm lucky to have time to blow dry my hair and try on more than one outfit when we go somewhere. Going out to dinner is also quite an event. We went out for an early New Year's Eve dinner to The Cheesecake Factory. Avery does well and hardly ever cries, but it is just so different bringing a baby out. First, Luke jokes that I am packing like I'm leaving for a weekend trip when I pack her bag to go somewhere, but you never know what you might need. :) We get there and of course there is a 30 min. wait so we sit and entertain her in her car seat hoping she will stay happy in it long enough so that we can eat. She laughs, smiles and flirts with all the people passing by. We then are seated, and she has had enough of the seat and is ready to get out of course. We take turns holding her until our food comes.  An attempt to put her back in her seat fails b/c she is now hungry. I feed her the bottle and eat with one free hand(an art that I have mastered). She then proceeds to spit up all over herself and my lap. When laugh, clean it up and take turns holding her while trying to keep her from grabbing every thing on the table. We finish and decide to sit at the table a while and talk. Avery had other plans and has a blowout in her diaper so loud I'm sure the booth behind heard. I take her to the crowded bathroom and wait in line for the stall with the changing table. I'm a germ freak so it takes me forever to cover everything before she touches it. I clean her up and change her "Happy New Years" shirt that she got to wear for all of an hour. We decide to leave and push our way through the crowed waiting area of the restaurant. On the way out we manage to loose one sock off her foot which some one was nice enough to return before we get out the door. We walk outside and sigh. "That was fun and exhausting," we both say. 

"I'm tired, what time is it Luke?"  

"It's 7:30."  

Wow, I was ready for bed at 7:30, that's sad! Needless to say having a baby changes everything, but we love her to pieces and wouldn't trade her for the world. Date nights are just more interesting now! I can't wait to spend 2009 with her!