I hate it when the weekend is almost over...don't y'all? It's so nice to be together as a family and to leisurely begin your morning with breakfast and some extra time in the ole pj's. That is probably my least favorite thing about being a working Mommy ~ the morning rush and stress it creates for everyone to be out the door and on the way to work and daycare by a certain time. I'm trying to soak up the benefit of not having to do that while on maternity leave...I just wish Tim could have that leave with me too. The weekend is that time for us right now and I LOVE it!

My Dad and Kathy left this morning prior to church in an effort to beat some of the poor weather and arrive home in a timely manner. As is customary for Kathy - there were lots of pictures taken while she was here and I copied them all over to my computer last night. Here are some of my favorites:

The hat in that last picture was a gift from my cousin Maranda ~ isn't it darling? I tried it on for the first time last night and Kathy snapped that photo. Too cute! She has a "rapid fire" option (for lack of more appropriate nomenclature) on her camera and it enables her to get some really good shots. Like with several other friends - I have some pretty intense camera envy. My Powershot is getting the job done but clearly not as well as it could (see above photos). Oh well...one day we'll have a big fancy camera and I'll be able to post incredible pics of my own.

We made it back to church again today. It's a crazy shuffle to get Avery's feedings in and get out the door - hoping that the service lines up with her schedule enough that we'll actually get to enjoy the sermon (it's pretty much like stars aligning frankly) all the while trying to look somewhat decent, but MAN is it worth it. Just to worship and see friends and be spiritually fed. I need that time with my family and with the Lord. It's just refreshing and restorative and helps me to face the week ahead. So..as long as we can make it out the door in one piece we'll keep trying to be there. Avery did really well until right at the end when she started getting hungry - I'd definitely call it a success for sure.

Kennedy is continuing to adjust to "big sisterhood". I took advantage of having my Dad here and left Avery with him on Friday so I could pick Kennedy up and she and I could have some alone Mommy-Daughter time. We got a redbox movie, picked out a "special movie treat" at Walmart and grabbed a happy meal. Once I got home we set up a "picnic" on the air mattress in the play room and she was a happy camper. I think Tim and I will just need to be diligent in ensuring those special moments continue to happen in an effort to communicate to her that she's still our baby too.

My sister Catina, brother-in-law Kevin and their two girls arrive tomorrow and I am most excited about having them here. There are few times I see Kennedy connect with other children the way she does with her cousins. If there were one wish granted to me in life it would be to live closer to my sisters so I could see more of those moments occur. Seriously! I hate not being closer to them but boy it makes the together times sweet so I am really looking forward to having them here with us for a few days. We're going to try to get the girls out and do some fun things like bowling, skating, etc. The weather is so crummy, we'll need to get creative! I want those 70's we had last week back - they were so glorious!

We are off to small group tonight to watch UK play and then listen to a Tommy Nelson lesson. We love that time to fellowship with fellow members of our church family so we always look forward to it. I'm hoping UK pulls out a win or I'll be forced to dine and fellowship with some grumpy Lexingtonians! Go Cats!

Hope y'all have had a great weekend...

Well....Avery turned three weeks on Tuesday. It's hard to believe, except for the fact that she's changing every day. She's getting more attentive and she's starting to try to smile in reaction to us. It's very subtle but it's coming which thrills me to pieces because, hello!!! What could be sweeter? Here is a video clip of she and her Daddy having their one on one time after he gets home from work. Look how she's staring at him! Precious....

Kennedy seems to be adjusting a bit better too. We are making an extreme effort to try to have individual time with just her. It's hard when I'm here with the two of them alone, but we are still trying when we are all here and I try super hard when Avery is napping to totally focus on Kennedy (even if I've not had a shower...so sad, but so true). Here is a sweet moment I captured of the two girls this week:

My Dad and Kathy came in on Wednesday evening and they've been soaking up the grand baby love around here. Kennedy's been keeping them entertained and they've been coloring, playing play dough and anything else she wants to do.

I'm happy to report (despite the constant feeding of Avery) it's getting a bit easier around here. Kennedy's improvement helps immensely and I think we're just "adjusting" to our new normal. Let me give credit where credit is due too - my hubs has  been a HUGE help at night. He's been doing the last feeding around 10-10:30 and letting me go to bed which is glorious! He then does the supplemental feed in the middle of the night after I nurse her and then he wakes up early, gets Kennedy ready for school, then takes her to daycare, and goes to work. I know he's got to be exhausted but he's yet to complain and I can't really describe how thankful I am for his help. Go Daddy! =)

I keep wanting to post about something other than my kiddo's lest I become one of "those bloggers" who abandons her blogging to solely talk about her "chirens" but my blogortunities happen so infrequently lately I hate not to update family members who are DYING to see more pics of this new little one and her big sis.

For non-family members who are checking in - I promise a non-kiddo related blog is to come. It's brewing in my mind ;)

Have a great weekend y'all!

Finally!

I think we've officially kicked The Jaundice folks! I'm a bit hesitant to get too excited, but Avery's gained 9 ounces since Friday and her bilirubin level is significantly lower than it was last week. We've been cleared of any heel pricking for at least two weeks when we go back for her next check up. They said to keep supplementing and putting her in the sunshine on these pretty days. I can handle that and so can she apparently:

This past weekend Courtney, Janine and I went to Orange Leaf. Since Janine used to live here she's heard lots about Orange Leaf and was anxious to try it out. It's pretty flippin' amazing if I do say so myself. Courtney was kind enough to babysit and give me a break to shove my face. For those who haven't been - I highly recommend the strawberry + cheesecake yogurts topped with fresh strawberries = INCREDIBLE!

We braved church as a family of four yesterday. I placed Avery snuggly in the sling and hoped for the best. She did wonderfully. It gave me some much needed confidence in taking her out and about and it was good for Kennedy to be back into part of our normal weekend routine. It was good for Mommy & Daddy too. We love our church family! Here's a picture of us girls dressed in our Sunday best afterwards (Aunt Neenie notice Kennedy's super fly kicks!).

We have been incredibly blessed by friends with meals since bringing Avery home. So blessed, in fact, that I can hardly put it into words. We just feel really thankful and humbled by the fact that people have wanted to take time out of their busy lives and schedules to love on us by bringing us a meal. Some friends that we don't get to see very often came over tonight and brought us supper. We had a great time catching up with Eric and Beth and the casserole they cooked us was delicious!



A Sneak Peek

I'm not going to post them all, but here are some of Avery's newborn pictures that my friend Jes took. I'm so incredibly happy with them. As usual - her work never disappoints. Enjoy!

They call me mellow yellow....

We are still fighting The Jaundice around here. I always find it super duper funny when people say things like "The Cancer" and "The Sugar Diabetes" instead of just straight up saying "Cancer" and/or "Diabetes". I enjoy it so much, in fact, that I am going to refer to Avery's current condition as The Jaundice.  Go with me....I need a little comic relief (trust me)!

We went back to the pediatrician yesterday to have her bilirubin level checked and it was the highest it's been. Our instructions from the pediatrician - supplement her with a bottle after each and every nursing and get her in the sunlight when we can. The silver lining: I've been pumping (sorry if that's TMI for any of you non-parental folks) so her bottles are predominately breast milk. I don't have any kind of formula prejudice or anything, but it's introducing something new which is nerve wracking because you don't know how new babies will handle the introduction of new things. Need I say more?

So far she's enjoying her bottles and it's giving other people the chance to have that snuggly intimate time with her.

It was so much fun having Janine here. She and I laughed and laughed and talked and talked and talked some more. It's amazing that our friendship is the result of talking one day after a step aerobics class in college. She has now witnessed the birth of Kennedy, had her own child and now has helped me with my second. It's a crazy beautiful thing and I am so thankful for it! I love that we are going through this parenting journey at the same time and can talk each other through the hard times associated with that as they come. It's just always nice to have someone say "been there, done that" - you know? Thanks for coming Neenie ~ I already miss you and can't wait until we can hang out again - it's hard to believe that it might be Keagan's first birthday when we make that happen (gasp!).

Thank heavens we've had some decent weather and I could follow the pediatrician's second set of instructions:

 Harley and Annie wanted the sunbathing to be a family affair:

 Today was Kennedy's last day of soccer (sniff....sniff). I regretfully share that currently she's just not that into it. Maybe one day she will enjoy it, but right now all she can talk about is how it's almost pool time. Whether she wants to play soccer in the future or not, she was pretty jazzed that she and her team mates were awarded with these sweet season-end trophy's:

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

We've had a pretty good Saint Patty's Day around here.

We had beautiful weather so we got out and enjoyed it and it was so nice.

 I can't get over how big my "big girl" looks in these pictures. I don't know if it's having a younger one now or if it's truly that she is changing at a rapid rate but my oh my how big she looks!

 I tried to get a couple of both girls together but Avery wasn't too thrilled with that whole plan (clearly):

Avery had her 2 week well check up yesterday and she's not gained weight like she should have (according to the pediatrician). She still looks a bit "golden" as well so they elected to re-check her bilirubin levels which I found out today have gone up. Moral of the story: she's not getting enough calorically therefore we've been instructed to supplement after feedings and I've been instructed to pump in order to increase milk supply. The child has been eating non-stop so I can only chalk it up to inefficient nursing but regardless we are on a mission now and hopefully we'll only need to supplement for a few days and my body will fill in that gap! We go back tomorrow to have her poor little heel pricked again to see if the supplementing has helped. My fingers are crossed!

She has sucked down those bottles like no body's business though and it's given Tim an opportunity to have that time with her. Of course when he went to feed her for the first time last night the camera battery was dead so those pics are on my cell phone. I'll have to share them at another time.

Janine arrived today with Keagan and we are soooo super excited to have her here. It's going to be so nice to visit and just have lots of "me too" moments over the next few days. 

I will survive

I think. At times, I'm ready to belt that Gloria Gaynor tune out like a pro and at others it's more like a question in my mind...will I really survive???? I'm pretty sure I will. I keep reminding myself that the days of little sleep and constant nursing will end before too long (as long as Avery continues to be different from her sister that is ;). I have the benefit of perspective on my side this time around.

We had a kind of rough weekend. At this point after talking to both my midwife and some friends I've chalked it up to a growth spurt (which apparently occurs for the first time between 7-10 days of age). Let me just tell you in lam ens terms what that means ~ your kiddo is constantly attached fearing that they just might STARVE if you even kind of think about momentarily detaching yourself for I don't know...a shower, a meal, etc. So...it was like a power nursing marathon around here all weekend and I'm not so sure we've reached the finish line but I think we're close. The unfortunate side affect of the increase in night nursing was lack of sleep and a temporary loss of sanity. Thankfully I feel a bit recuperated thanks to my hubby being super hands on helpful at night and of course due in part to the glorious side affect of some much needed shut eye.

Now for some pictures (um...pretty sure that's why family members are here). So without further ado:

Kennedy is still...ahem....adjusting. She is most intrigued by the baby "gadgets" if you will. She asks me about 10-12 times a day: "Momma, why don't we put baby Avery in her swing?". I also get "Momma...I think Avery wants to sit on her play mat or in her bouncy seat". Never mind if she's screaming or nursing - Kennedy's pretty sure she knows what baby sister needs. So..when Avery's content ,we've appeased Kennedy's desire to see her in said gadgets.

She woke up yesterday saying she didn't want to go to school so it was my first official day with both girls alone. We did a lot of this (except more accurately I would be nursing):

Kennedy makes sure to tell me when I need to make an adjustment because "shes just not comfortable". Oh my.....

Being home with both of them made me get a bit creative even just to get in the shower:

Survival mode! I only opened the shower curtain about 532.7 times to check on them. Kennedy would look at me and say "I'm not pushing her Momma, I'm being good". She was not telling a lie either - she was a very big helper while I showered at lightning speed.

Today I've been home alone with both girls again. To keep Kennedy a bit subdued until I had at least my first cup of coffee....this was the seen (sad but true).

That was short lived, my friends. It wasn't long before she needed a little activity in her life. When she appeared in the following outfit, I laughed out loud and asked her to please let me snap some pictures. The poses were created solely by her. She kept saying: "ok take one now...ok...let me see (cue repositioning)...ok take one now....ok....let me see". Wowsers!

Oh yeah...uninhibited raw talent people. Tee hee.

I was excited when it was time for Daddy to get home last night and I'm sure I will be tonight. This job is not for the faint (no matter the enjoyment - it's like a domestic workout of sorts). I mean I held Avery in the crook of my arm today and unloaded the dishwasher, worked 6 puzzles with Kennedy, wiped her poopy but (twice!), and fixed her lunch. At that point my arm and fingers were numb and I had to put her down long enough to regain feeling. She wasn't happy about it, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The girls get excited when Daddy gets home too. It's pretty sweet.

Um...can we talk about those sweet little fingers?

My friend Jes gave me my final maternity pictures last week and after asking her permission yesterday I'm excited to share a few here. It's hard to believe this was exactly 12 days ago.

The main things I told her I wanted were:

~Some really pretty silhouette pictures

~Some pictures that captured Kennedy's fascination with "the belly"

~Some pictures that showed us making light of us not knowing the sex of the baby

I'd say she more than delivered - wouldn't you? I just feel like she captured "us". Mmmmm....makes me happy! =)

I've got a few proofs of our shoot with Avery too but I'm gonna save those for later.