Houston, how I hate thee

Well, not totally Houston but this time of year! The pollen is just horrible around here and will probably be around a few more weeks. I looked out at Avery's swing today and thought there was a little varmit swinging and low and behold the "worms" have taken over. How gross! I have always called this pollen worms. Josh worked so hard to clean up our yard on Sunday, and it was back with a vengeance the next day.

The other thing I hate this time of year are the GNATS! I know you will think I am nuts, but I am allergic to gnat bites and they love my ears...of all things. Do you know how hard it is to itch your ears and how they can swell? I should take a pic of my ear in the mirror so you could see it. Everyone I tell says "are you sure it isn't mosquitoes?" NO, it is those darn gnats and for me, any kind of OFF doesn't work to keep them away. I have tried all the sprays and the OFF fan. No luck! So if you see me in the coming months, and my ears are swollen, you will know why! By the way, I even changed shampoos thinking that might be the thing they loved so much.

On another note, please pray for our girls who seem to have a little allergy to this weather and are stuffy/runny. I also took Amelia to the doctor today and the doc thinks she might have a milk allergy because she has horrible (to me at least) eczema and still spitting up a lot. So she put her on Nutramigen formula to see if that helps and if so, I can decide if I want to cut out all dairy from my diet or keep her on the formula. We will see. She doesn't love it so hopefully, she will learn to love it. Another thing is her thrush is also back. Poor girl, a diaper rash would be icing on the cake for this week. Please pray for Amelia and Avery.

Have a "sneeze-free" week!!

Three Months Old Today

Amelia is three months old today!  She is smiling, cooing and laughing.  She is also sleeping really good at night.  I am so fortunate.  The only thing she doesn't like is the car seat/car.  She screams and cries every time she is in it.  The two mini road trips we have taken to Beaumont and Galveston have both had construction or a wreck that almost doubled the normal time it takes to get home.  It was pretty rough!!  Hopefully, she will grow out of it more and more.  I just don't get out much so she isn't used to it like Avery was.  It is much harder to get out of the house with two. :) 

On another note, I decided it was time to break Avery of her paci.  She cried on and off today for an hour and half during her nap.  I know it will get better.  I am going to let her have it at night for a few more weeks so this is really just naptime that I am working with now.  Pray for us (or me at least.)

Here is a sweet video that I took today of Amelia cooing and smiling.

Rodeo Time

Josh and I took Avery to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo two weeks ago. Her GiGi and PaPa got her cute pink boots and sparkly shirt. She was all dolled up and ready to go see all the animals.

"Got my boots on and ready to hop on my horse!"

"You can take a ride on my big green tractor."

Just about to break down in a full out cry on the tractor.

Daddy showing Avery the animals.  She wasn't quite sure at first.

Petting a goat (isn't it a goat??  haha)

Petting a potbelly pig. 

Just hanging with the goats. 


Eating her first funnel cake...it was so funny because Josh would try to pull the plate closer to him and she would pull it back.  She has never met a sweet she didn't like. 

Amelia stayed with GiGi and PaPa while we were at the livestock show, but this was later in the day at home.  She is all smiles these days.  Even bigger smiles than this.  More to come!

First trip to Walmart with Both Kids

Today was the big day to take the girls to Walmart for grocery shopping for the first time with two.  I have been up since 4AM so I was prepared.  When the girls woke up at 8:00A, I was already dressed, exercised, did two loads of laundry and emptied the dishwasher.  It felt so very productive, but I feel like I need toothpicks to keep my eyes open now (I know..I should be napping instead of blogging). 

My friend, Sharla, told me yesterday her tip was taking the Baby Bjorn to put the little one in.  I planned for that and packed a very small diaper bag including my wallet, cell and two snacks for Avery (raisins and fruit snacks).  I fed Amelia to make sure she was happy and we were off to Wally Mart!

It took several minutes to get both girls out of the car and Amelia into the carrier.  She fussed a little at first, but then she ended up falling asleep and actually kept her paci in the entire time.  (Side note - with Avery I had cute paci holders with her name on them...with Amelia, I completely didn't even think to bring it...the differences with Number 2).  We left Avery's puppy in the car so I wouldn't have to worry about it falling out of the cart.  Avery held my hand and we walked into the store.  The shopping experience went really well.  I moved slower than normal since I was worried about Amelia in the carrier.  The only downside was trying to put cat litter into the bottom of the shopping cart.  I was having a really hard time and several people walked by but no one offered to help.  What happened to friendly people??

Anyway, all in all, it was a success!  I won't be doing it too often, but it can be done!  Sorry no pictures for this event...too much going on and worried Avery would have a FIT!

On another note, Amelia is sleeping so good.  She sleeps at night from 11 - 6:30 or 7, but I am trying to get her bedtime earlier because I normally wake her at 11 to feed her.  She is such a sweet baby.  She loves to rock in the glider, and she goes down so easily. 

Avery is saying so many words lately and now, she is really into sentences.  The other day she said "Mommy, Hagee (Hagen the dog) is barking at skirls (squirrels)."  When she hears other kids crying she says "Mommy, what happened?"  She loves reading Bible stories and will tell you when she is ready for her Bible Story.  It is really the sweetest thing.  She is completely into Nemo right now.  We DVRed the movie the other day, and she watches it at least once a day and would like more.

Rodeo pics next blog. :)

First Day Trip

Last Saturday, we took our first road trip with Amelia to Beaumont to meet two of her Great Grandmothers and Great Aunt. The trip there was great. We had a wonderful visit with both of my grandmothers. The trip home was a different story....the drive that should taken around an hour and half, took us three hours. There was a wreck on I-10 and everyone had to exit to the feeder. It was horrible. Thank goodness I had a bag of snacks for Avery and still nursing Amelia. I had to crawl in the backseat between two carseats to get Amelia out to nurse her. It was quite an adventure, but it was well worth the visit. Josh and I are so blessed to have three grandmothers and one grandfather still living to know our baby girls.

My Grammy (My Mom's mom) and Aunt Paula seeing Amelia for the first time. 

Trying to get a picture of my grandmother with her great-granddaughters, but Avery was wiggling down to get to Pistol, the dog. 

Avery loves Pistol!! 

My Nanny (my Dad's mom) with the two girls.  Who knows what they are both looking at. 

We had them all bundled in pajamas to go home.  We thought it would be easier to take a day trip than bring all the stuff to the stay the night.  LOL! 

Fun Day at the Park

I am so behind on posting so I will try to get a few in today. Last week, Avery and I got out while Amelia was sleeping at home with Daddy. We went to the park in my sister's neighborhood to meet her and Carson. They had a ball. Here are a few pics. Enjoy!

I caught this...they looked at each other on their own.  They have a blast together. 

Going in for a hug.  So cute!

Love this video.  Again, this silly video is sideways but too fun not to post.  Avery loves her cousin!

Our girls!

We are just so in love with our two girls. Avery is 22 months and Amelia will be 10 weeks on Wednesday. Time is flying by far too fast. The company that took Amelia's picture in the hospital offered to come to our home to take Amelia's 4-week picture and get a free 8x10...well, of course, you get suckered in by the cute pictures. We just got a few because they were rip-off expensive for the quality, however, we love the subjects. :) Here are a few of the pics.

Avery is keeping us entertained and has such a huge vocabulary. She practically can repeat anything you say and says three - four word sentences. I have been shocked to see how much she is talking before two. We are so proud of her. Today, she wore a dress that her Great, Great Aunt Carol gave her and was dancing on the coffee table singing "uh uh oh....Single Ladies." She loves that song from the Chipmunks. Nothing can melt our heart more than Avery singing "Jesus Loves Me." She sings all the way to "for the bible" and then it trickles off. I will have to video and post it. So precious! She loves her sister and wants to put her pacifier in her mouth all the time even when Amelia doesn't want it.

Amelia is doing great. She is almost 12 lbs and has the most precious expressions. She is cooing and smiling a lot now. At her eight week check-up last week, the doctor was concerned about a birthmark on her lower spine area. She said that often a birthmark in that location could indicate a spinal defect. So we waited almost a week to get an ultrasound to see what was going on...talk about scary! Praise God, it was all normal. I was reminded how faithful God is, and we are so grateful for every moment together. Let me tell you, it is really hard to get a spinal ultrasound on a little baby. She was wiggling everywhere so what I thought would be a quick ultrasound ended up being an hour and half. I had to feed her and put her to sleep on her tummy to get the ultrasound completed. TCH in Sugar Land was awesome and so patient!

I mean...could you just die!  I am so blessed to have these sweet baby girls!

Amelia in her Daddy's hands. 

My Grammy makes the most beautiful afghans.

So, I have to say that we took several pictures with clothes on and when you view the pictures a week later while on a conference call (very weird!), they only showed us one picture that was very mediocre with her clothes on...so we got all the naked ones...LOL!

Carson's 3rd Birthday

My nephew, Carson, celebrated his 3rd birthday last Saturday.  He is such a doll!!! He is in love with Thomas the Train so that is his party theme.  My sister did such a great job planning and the trackless train was a HUGE hit!  Here are a few pictures!  Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Carson, you are growing too fast!!

The cake was so cute! 

My mom made these cookies, and I helped with the blue icing. They turned out really cute!

All the kids got conductor hats. 

All aboard!

Part of our family...my cousin, Wes, is behind me and his little girl Payton. 

They all loved the blue icing!

Avery was so happy...she is definitely a sweets girl. 

This is how Amelia spent most of the party...ASLEEP in someone's arms.