Remember these pictures?

I. AM. BIG!!!!!! Wowza I am humongo.

But, anyway, this was the day Kris and I got married.  Just us two.  It was actually such a bonding and spiritual experience.  We were getting married with none of the excess hoopla and 100K debt.  We were getting married because we are in love.  Because we are each others best friend and we wanted our baby to know that we were committed to each other forever when she was born, and that she was joining a family.  We did it for US.  We got married for love. 

8.18.2011 <3

I am in love with this man.  Forever and ALWAYS.

We had some serious discussions and I think we are going to have a reception/party so all of our friends and family can finally celebrate our union (and so we can have fun planning a party).

Kris' parents took the below pictures yesterday 1/31.  Avery will be 4 months old tomorrow 2/2.  Coincidently, tomorrow marks the 1 year anniversary that Kris and I found out our lives were going to change!  I found out I was pregnant.  I took a pregnancy test at work because I just knew something was different and I couldn’t wait to find out.  I really can't believe how fast the time has gone and how much we love this little baby.  I never knew the amount of love that I am capable of.  I cry right now thinking about how

It is so fun to watch her discover new things.  Last night in the tub she grabbed a rubber ducky from my hand and put it in her mouth.  First time she is done that!  She started reaching out for toys about 2-3 weeks ago, but hasn't quite mastered bringing it to her mouth.

Her fingers are ALWAYS in her mouth.  Always.  She loves those yummy fingers.  And the amount of droll is astronomical.  It's totally unbelievable how much comes out of such a tiny body!  She soaks a bib and the shirt underneath in 10 minutes flat.  No teeth yet...but I bet those are coming soon!

She still isn't sleeping through the night.  NOT even close.  She usually wakes up between 12-1:30 then again at around 3am-5am.  Sometimes there is a third one in there somewhere.  Needless to say...I am exhausted.  I have been working 11 hour days at work with about 5 hours sleep, none of which are consecutive hours.  It has taken it's toll on Kris too.  It's not like he doesn't wake up even though he isn't the one nursing :) 

Last night was the FIRST time we put her in her own big girl crib.  She went down so much easier than usual.  I think that mattress is so much more comfortable then her pack and play.  That thing is hard!  But, her absolute FAV is mommy and daddy's bed.  Yep...she sleeps like a rock in that thing.  Only thing is, mommy and daddy don't!  Kris is constantly waking up and making sure I am not rolling over on her.  And Avery likes to wail her arms back and forth while she sleeps, knocking me in my face.  Our nights are fun.  I am sure you can imagine!

Here is our beautiful baby girl, Avery Charlotte. 

Before I went back to work, Avery and I were out shopping.  I was looking at some items and heard an all too familiar sound.  I looked down at baby girl and...yep, her face was red.  She was pooping.  She didn't care where we were or who was looking at her.  Don't you just love how secure she is with herself?!

I thought to myself, "Of COURSE you are pooping right now.  We are somewhere that does not have a bathroom and we are in a hurry!"

So I hurried and bought my items and had the brilliant idea that I would just change baby in the trunk of my car.  When I finally got her out to the car the wind was blowing pretty cold air.  I knew I had gotten pretty good at changing poopy diapers so I thought I could do it fast without causing too much discomfort to my sweet girl.  I pulled Ave's out of her car seat and immediately felt a wet squishy warmth on my hand.  DANG IT!  It wasn't just a regular little poop that you would expect to come out of such a sweet thing thang.  It was "literally" a TON of poop.  Ugh...
 
I undressed her and got out my wipes.  Perfect, I only had about 4 wipes left and this was for sure a 10 wipe job.  Somehow, the mommy gods opened the heaven and my skills took the gold medal and I got all the poop with 4 wipes.  I then reached into the diaper bag for a clean diaper.  What the heck?  WHY IS IT ALL WET IN HERE?

You guessed it folks (or maybe you didn't because it took me a couple minutes to figure it out), but a whole bottle of precious breast milk had dumped out and soaked all my clean diapers and extra clean clothes.

I thought I was a pretty strong person.  But this little fiasco had me crying in the parking lot. I stood there and looked at my baby.  Naked.  In my trunk.  Just looking at me. Thank goodness she wasn't crying.  I think she knew.  She knew what she had done and she didn't want to make it worse.

So, what else could I do but put baby back in her car seat naked.  I didn't have any other choice.  No diapers or clean clothes.  Thankfully I had a dry burp cloth that I put over her bottom half to protect her from the car seat straps and likewise to protect the car seat straps from her if she decided to pee (again!).

Well, we made it home without so much as a peep from Avery.  I had to take a picture of her.  I couldn't be mad at her.  Not this sweet face. 

After all, everyone poops!

                                      Mom                                                                        Dad

You get to do LOTS of laundry with a little baby.

While I was folding on our bed I put baby girl in front of me and just had to put the piles around her.  She was so cute just watchin mommy!

Let me tell you a story.  It's a LONG story and I want to give as much detail as possible so I will tell the story in phases.  To benefit you (and my arthritic hands).

The story of our baby girls birth.  I don't want to forget a moment of it, so I must document it.

For about 4 weeks before the due date of our little girl our doctor had been telling me that she hoped I went into labor soon due to the size of the growing little babe in my belly.  She had been measuring big, about 2 weeks bigger than she should have been.  The doctor even suggested we strip my membranes to help move the labor process along.  She did this 3 times.  It did NOT help put me into labor.  Just a few contractions here and there.

Friday September 30th was my last doctors appointment.  The doctor told me that today should be my last day of work.  It became surreal when I told my employers and sent an email to everyone letting them know that my maternity leave had officially begun.

The next day (Saturday 10/1), Kris had to go to a work convention in downtown Boise.  In hopes to get my labor to start I decided to do my favorite Saturday morning activity, garage selling.  I hit the jackpot and found so many great deals.  Of course, me and my huge belly walking around caused some looks and lots of questions asking when I was due.  I told them in 2 days.  They all couldn't believe I was out looking at other peoples junk.  At about 9:30am I found a house that was selling the most adorable girls clothes for $.50 each.  I was so excited.  I tried to have some self control and only picked out about 20 items.  During my scavenger hunt through the clothes, I dropped a shirt.  I bent down and when I stood back up with the shirt in my hand, I thought to myself "oh crap, I just peed my pants."  My friends, this has happened before during my pregnancy.  Sometimes, a little "dribble" would come out courtesy of the babe.  So, I hurried and paid the fine lady and ran to my car.  I sat down and looked (ok, I felt my crotch because I couldn't see it, obviously) and it was pretty damp.  Could this be my water breaking?  As I started to drive away I called Kris.  I told him "I think my water just broke!"  He couldn't believe it.  I told him to stand by and I would rush home to confirm.
After all, it could just be my poor bladder out of control.

When I got home I pulled up to the house and got out.  I don't know how else to explain it but a RUSH of water flowed out.  I KNEW this had to be my water breaking.  I called Kris to confirm my suspicion and asked him if he wanted to come home or meet me at the hospital (since he was already there at the conference)?  He being the wonderful man he is told me he would rush home and get me.  I then did what any normal technology addicted mother would do.  I posted "My water just broke! We are having a baby today" on Facebook.  The I called my momma (or did I call my Mom first...I don't remember) and yelled "MY WATER BROKE" followed by a scream on the other end.  I got my butt in the shower because I didn't want to have yucky unwashed hair in all the delivery pictures.  While I was in the shower I heard the voice of my mother-in-law Dee.  She said "Steph, Kris called us to come check on you"

After I got out of the shower I had to go get a towel to put under me while I got ready to go because...the water did NOT stop coming.  I would have a little rush here and a little rush there.  It was a very odd feeling.  While I was brushing my hair, Kris got home.  I still don't know how he got home so fast.  He rushes in the bathroom and says "What are you doing??? We have to go!!!"  I told him to just calm down a little bit.  I wasn't in any pain yet and we needed to keep calm.  I told him that this whole process needed to be calm and collected.  I didn't want to freak out and make the pain worse.  So, I put on a little make-up and put my hair back.  Kris made sure that the hospital bag was packed (we learned later that we didn't pack him enough clothes...lesson learned for the next time).  He got the baby bag ready and the car seat in the car and put a towel on the passenger side seat for his waterfall of a wife. We took some pictures kissed his parents and we were off to the hospital. 

The contractions started while we were driving.  They were not too painful yet but just a little uncomfortable.  When we finally got to the hospital after having to take some detours due to construction AND a marathon going on downtown, Kris dropped me off at the front door.  I stood there for a while and the contractions started to become and little more intense and the water kept on-a-flowin.  I was slightly embarrassed and I felt like everyone was looking at me.

When we got to the hospital we knew exactly where to go thanks to the hospital tour we took about a month prior.  We checked in and I got to give a urine sample and then strip down to get checked.  The nurse told me that a lot of women come into the hospital thinking that their water broke, but it really hadn't.  Well...let me just tell you that there was NO doubt that my water broke.  I am pretty sure a janitor had to come and clean the floors in my room after we left because I dribbled water everywhere!!  (listen...if you read my blog we are PAST the point of TMI).  As I was waiting for my nurse to come and get me to take me to my own personal room where I would deliver my contractions started to become stronger and all Kris and I could do was smile.  This was crazy.  We were here. AT. THE. HOSPITAL!!!

My nurse came in and was so sweet and bubbly!  I was excited to get a nurse that seemed excited to take care of us and make this experience the best possible.  She asked me if I could walk to my room and I said "yep!".  As we were walking the strongest contraction I had yet came and I had to pause from walking.  It seemed like we were in the middle of a movie.  It just didn't seem real.

Wishing you a VERY happy Wednesday!

xoxo

A.C.