Avery - 3 Weeks

Here's an awake picture of Avery -- She'll be 3 weeks old tomorrow.

(Hooray! We're well on our way to surviving the first month!)

Matt calls Avery 'Mini Me' ;-)

Preppy Girl

Ok, seriously, doesn't she look about ready for kindergarten? She'll be 20 months tomorrow --

In just the few short weeks of having Avery here, Madison has already figured out the concept of swaddling. Here I caught her swaddling Pooh -- she's got it about right too!

A friend recently pointed out I have more pictures of Madison than Avery on here. (Sorry Karen!) I can't help it! Madison is giving me action shots and for the most part, Avery just always looks like this:

Either sleeping or crying. We'll be sure to keep up with photos of her too though! Don't worry!

Irish Dancers

Check out this YouTube video of my sister's Irish dance group performing on St. Patrick's Day --

Post-Partum Waist

Well, I'm two and a half weeks out from giving birth. I finally got around to weighing myself this morning. It was a little more encouraging than my weight when they checked it in the hospital at least. (Matt had commented to the nurse, "How could she give birth to a 9 lb. baby & only lose 5 lbs.??" The answer of course is you're pumped full of fluids with a c-section.) So anyway, so far I've lost 25 lbs. from my weight at the time of giving birth. Not too bad... but I'm still up about 13 lbs. from my pre-pregnancy weight... and that includes about 15 lbs. leftover from having Madison that I never got rid of. Ugh, I hope I have an active, calorie-burning Spring season!

Weekend Review

We made it to church this past Sunday -- first time there with Avery. Madison wore a dress which she hasn't done very often over the winter -- just so cold. So she enjoyed swishing back and forth with her skirt on.



Great Grandma T met Avery (Grandma will be 90 yrs. old in a couple weeks) --



Madison is very into kissing babies --



What a big girl --

All Aboard!

Avery Stats

Avery had her 2 week doctor checkup today. She's growing & gaining weight -- Momma likes that!

AVERY STATISTICS:

AGE/WEIGHT --
Birth - 9 lb. 1 oz.
Hospital Discharge - 8 lb. 6 oz.
4 Days - 8 lb. 10 oz.
2 weeks - 9 lb. 6 oz.

Spring At The Lake

Madison enjoying her time on the lake today with Nana & Boppa --

Missing Madison

Yesterday Madison went to stay with Nana & Boppa for a few days. She'll be back on Wednesday. It was either that or have my mom drive up to Rochester again for the next several days to help out. I figured it would be better to send her down there -- saves on my mom's time & gas and also gives Madison the chance to enjoy the variety of all the animals and gives her the opportunity to be outdoors in the nice weather we've had. I'm definitely a lot better but still feeling like I need to take it easy a little longer -- and taking care of Madison requires a lot of lifting and bending - exactly what I'm not supposed to do. So I'm without my sweet, cheerful little girl for a few days. It's a relief to not have the added worry of taking care of her as I recover... but I'm sad to be without her -- and post-pregnancy hormones have kicked in so everything makes me cry. :-P So here are a few pictures of Madison from the other day... just another thing to make me cry...

(Like the nice boo-boo on the left of her forehead? She fell & wacked her head on a bookshelf the other day... right after I'd commented that we still had to get pictures of her & Avery together. Lovely. So now the first pics we have of them are with Madison's bonk on her head.)

Sister - Take 2

I had the same problem - couldn't get the video past 5 seconds. I'll upload again, see if it works better...

Cousins Come To Visit

We've had several visits from the little cousins this week -- Madison is loving the company

Where did all these little girls come from?!

Avery Rose, Madison Emerick, Lillian Grace, Katrina Rose & Natalie Ruth

Very into shoes & boots lately -

Madison confiscated both new bibs -- hers & Avery's -

Kitty

Look how much cousin Kitty has grown!

About 1 week old --



Almost 5 months old!

Sisters

How sweet is that...

Going Home

Here are some pictures before we went home from the hospital on Sunday --



Ok, so I look pretty tired -- but I have to say, I think I look a lot more human in my going-home pictures than I did with Madison!





"Look at me, I'm a elf" -- quoting Mr. Lundt on Veggie Tales 'Toy That Saved Christmas'. She kind of looks like Mr. Lundt actually...

Guess Who

Name that baby...





Answer: These are all of Madison! See a few similarities? I think they look like sisters for sure!

More Pics

I'm typing one-handed -- holding the baby. Here are a few more pics. Avery definitely looks like her daddy, but as the tone of her skin evens out, she definitely resembles Madison as a newborn.







Wow - look at that tired mama! This (below) was Friday - for the full day after the surgery I was physically unable to open my eyes all the way. Felt ok but looked totally groggy. What a big girl Madison is - now especially.



Dr. Purnell -- a sister in the Lord and the capable hands that cut Avery out of my belly! We really love my doctor --



Proud Boppa & Nana --

Recovery

Just wanted to post a brief note here before I go to bed. Surgery went very well today. I had general anesthesia despite about a half dozen hospital personnel trying to talk me out of it. If someone is going to cut me open, for heavens sake, I don't want to be awake for it! No thanks! So I drifted off to sleep and awoke to our new baby girl.

Other than still being groggy & having heavy eyelids all day, I am feeling exceptionally good - 1000 times better than after the experience with Madison. Granted, I've still got plenty of recovering to do, but I'm feeling mentally alert, not too sore and physically pretty energetic. Praise God! Depending on how I'm doing, I might even request to go home on Sunday instead of Monday -- we'll see.

Nana & Boppa brought Madison to visit her little sister earlier this evening. It was very sweet - Madison loves baby & got so excited every time Avery cried, which, I might add, hasn't been all that often. So far at least, she seems to be a fairly content baby. The nursing is coming slowly -- she's latching on but, unlike Madison who just looooved to eat even at that age, Avery seems very laid back about food & I'm having to work on waking her up every 3 hours to eat - and even then she'd rather suck on her hand. So hopefully as time goes on, she'll catch on a little more.

We'll try & get more pictures posted tomorrow.

Newborn Pics!