10 weeks

Avery loves her Grandma, Grandpa and her GG Ruth! Avery had her first trip to Moorhead this past weekend. We had a wonderful time playing and watching Isla entertain us! Sunday was Mother's Day and Isla gave me a flower she had planted at daycare! So sweet! It was wonderful to be with my children, husband and my mother! I gave my mom a card with dandelions blowing away in the wind (reference to earlier blog post about teaching Isla about blowing the dandelions!) and she cried!

2 more weeks til I go back to work. This time has been just amazing and wonderful. Avery is such a good baby and I enjoy the times when I can stare at her and make her smile. She continues to coo and laugh at me! She is still full of rolls and she smells so good! I need to remember this forever since this is probably the last time I'll have a little baby of mine to hold and cuddle. I AM SO BLESSED!!!

9 weeks

This is a picture of Avery and her friend Edie. Edie is 2 weeks younger than Avery so you can see where Avery is at on the growth curve!!

Avery rolled over!! I put her down for tummy time and looked away for a second. When I looked back at her she was on her back! So I had her do it a few more times and was able to capture it on video! I can't believe how strong she is!

8 weeks

2 months old! She is looking more like a baby now and less like an infant. The second picture is what happens if you leave a toddler with an infant too long. Isla started decorating Avery with stickers! So funny! Not so funny when she "dumped" Avery out of her chair a couple of weeks ago!
Avery continues to smile lots and even laughed at me today! She is holding her head up pretty well but as you can see isn't quite ready for the bumbo seat full time. A little slouched.
This spring I've had two moments with Isla where I saw her experience something for the first time and it was lovely. The first experience was watching her first thunderstorm together. She was so excited to "see" the thunder. We watched together from the protection of the garage. The second experience was a few days ago when we went into the empty lot next door. There were dandelions with the white fluff and I showed her how to blow the white fluff off. Of course I've done this since I was a little girl but to teach Isla how to do it was really special. I love how naive and innocent she is. I wish they would stay that way forever!

Week 7

The top picture is of Isla and Avery with their GG Edie who is 96 years old! Also in the picture are their second cousins Lauren and Stella. It was fun this week for Isla to play with the girls.

This week Avery went to the beach for the first time and also in the swimming pool. She slept through most of the beach outing but Isla loved it. Isla played in the tidal pools but kept a distance from the waves and actual ocean. We had a nice lunch on the edge of the beach watching a thunderstorm roll in. At the swimming pool Avery was in a cute little swim suit and really seemed to enjoy the water.

Daddy came to Florida on Friday and Isla was SO happy to see him!!

Avery continues to socially smile. She loves the sound of her Grandma Barb's voice and tracks her face as she talks. She is reaching out more, not at anything in particular, but is less of a "ball". Her hands are less clenched. She is still eating and growing like a champ! 5-10pm is still her fussy time but she is taking the pacifier now which helps.

FLORIDA- Week 6

Check out my little chunk-o! She is getting SO big! Bigger every second it seems! The girls are loving Florida! Well, Isla and mommy are enjoying Florida. Avery is enjoying eating and sleeping (during the day!)

We arrived on Monday and Isla has been to the pool almost everyday! A little fish/dancer. Everything is a stage...even the pool stairs, the stairs at GG's house, the bench at the airport...basically any elevated structure is a stage for singing and dancing!

Avery has developed baby acne. I remember Isla having it bad at almost this same age. A preview of the teenage years!

We have seen GG Edie a couple of times and she loves watching Isla dance around. We also had lunch with Great Uncle Ray who's dementia has worsened. So sad but glad I got to see him! He had fun chatting with Isla.

Today we went to a little open house at a swim gym. There was a bouncy tower and face painting. Isla was transformed into a little butterfly!

4-5 weeks old!

Avery had many special visitors in her fourth week of life! Laura and Jon came from Boston and Grandma Barb and Papa Marty finally got to meet their second granddaughter!

Auntie Lou enjoyed every second with Avery, always wanting to hold and kiss her! Isla really enjoyed having Uncle Jon around to play with! We had a campfire in the back yard with s'mores that Isla loved. We also celebrated Easter early and had an Easter egg hunt! There were trips to the Mall of America and I even got a night on the town with Laura and Jon. Mmmm...Chino Latino! While I was out Avery had her second bottle and did a pretty good job once she got the hang of it!

Barb and Marty were so excited to meet little Avery and Isla was so excited to see them too! Barb was very helpful that week coming over often to relieve me from mommy duty a few times to run errands and get away for an hour or two! Barb also got to give her a bottle and I think she is getting the hang of it!

At just over 5 weeks Avery took her first airplane ride! We flew to Florida with Barb and Marty. Thank goodness they were along! I can't imagine the ride alone with the two kids! Isla had a tantrum in the aisle (not the first!) and Avery had a "blow-out" up the back of her shirt! But we made it intact and are really enjoying Florida!

Avery has started to smile a little. My parents say they saw it at week 4 but I didn't see it until recently! She still eats every 3-4 hours. Her fussy time is between 5pm and 11pm! I remember the evenings being a problem with Isla too. She is GROWING so fast! The home nurse came at 4 weeks and weighed her at 10 1/2 pounds! She seems to grow overnight and I'm not surprised with how much she eats! She is such a good baby- really the only time she really cries hard is in the car seat! Otherwise she eats and sleeps most of the time and really isn't awake for more than an hour at a time. Isla is being very helpful although she did "dump" Avery out of the vibrating chair yesterday! Isla has also been pretend breastfeeding her dolls which is so cute!

Easter 2012

Easter was very special this year as we had our little Avery to celebrate with! She was just over 5 weeks old. Isla also really enjoyed it this year. She woke up to an Easter basket with a bubble machine and a dinosaur in it! We headed over to the Stapleton's and went to church. We then went to their country club for an Easter buffet. The Easter bunny was there and Isla had fun following him around. There was also a petting zoo with baby animals!

3 weeks

At 3 weeks Avery had her first photo shoot! She did very well and slept through most of the poses! Sister Isla helped and was also in some of the shots!

The other big 3 week event was a date night for mommy and daddy. Which means that Avery took her first bottle. Grandma Carol did a great job feeding her! We went to dinner and a movie. I even had sushi and a beer. It's been a long time!

Avery is more awake during the day but still sleeping the majority of the time. She's getting bigger every day it seems and looking more like Isla!

2 weeks old!

Well, we've made it 2 weeks and she is growing like a weed! She weighed in at 8#11oz today so well over her birth weight. This means that I can stop waking her up every 3 hours at night and let her wake me up! Sometimes she will go for 4 hours between feedings. Everyday she looks more like Isla did as a baby. Her jaundice is better, just a little yellow in the eyes still. She's a little more awake during the day but still sleeping the majority of the time. Isla is so cute with her. She asks to hold her and gives her kisses all the time.
The 1st week was difficult with being sore...both from my milk coming in and the delivery. My mom was here that whole week so that helped. Monday was my first day alone. My parents gone and Mark at work. I was mostly anxious about the mornings. With being so tired I didn't know if Isla would sleep in a little and I had to get her off to daycare. Well, daylight savings hit on the perfect day! She had been waking at 6:30 but that time was now 7:30! So perfect! Exactly one hour to get ready and get to school. The first day I brought her and Avery to school all the little toddlers gathered around to look at Avery. Super cute! I did have a panic moment on Tuesday when I had to pick her up from school. Isla tried to run from me the parking lot and I had Avery in the car seat. Fortunately, I caught Isla by the hood of her coat but it made me realize how much harder it can be with two! I really appreciate our after school babysitter picking Isla up 3 days a week. What a help!
One of the things that is hard for me is that I'm so used to rushing around during the day that it is hard for me to do nothing. I have a list of things to do but if I get even one done during the day it feels like a major feat. I remember having this feeling on maternity leave with Isla. So because I am so type A I've started writing something I accomplished during the day on my phone notepad. Even if it is as simple as having a nothing day! I had one of those this week!
So this week....Monday- 1st day without mom, brushed teeth at 3pm!
Tues- My friend Tara and her 2 kids visited
Wed- Major day out since the cleaning lady was here....spent time at a coffee shop reading, walked by the river, met Mark for lunch, Isla parent/teacher conference, napped with Avery. Kicked ball with Mark and Isla after supper!
Thursday- nothing day!
Friday- Laura and Alice came to play and visit. Laura made me lunch! Had Avery's weigh in. Met some neighbors while playing outside!

So that was week 2. I love my baby so much! She is beautiful in every way and I know will grow up to be someone special!

Avery Ruth Stapleton is born 3/2/12!!

Avery's birth story
I was scheduled for a 39 week induction for Friday, 3/2. So at 5:30am I called the OB unit to see if they had room for me that morning and they did! So we took Isla to daycare at 7am and were on our way to Ridgeview Medical Center. First my nurse Shelby started my IV and started my antibiotics since I was Group B Strep positive this time. Then I was hooked up to two monitors- one to measure my contractions and one to measure the baby's heartrate. The Pitossin was started which was the drug that started my contractions. Dr. Meath came at 9am and measured me at 3.5cm and 75% effaced. She broke my water which felt very strange. After that the contractions started pretty regular but weren't that painful. I think part of that was because with Isla I had back labor that was so painful. So around noon Shelby checked me again and I was 5cm. After she checked me things started moving along and the contractions started to be quite painful. Dr. Turner came to do my epidural which was almost the most painful part. He gave me some Fentanyl which is a pain medicine and it caused a horrible itching reaction. So I had Mark and the nursing student itching my back and legs and I was itching my belly. But the epidural worked and I didn't have pain with my contractions. Only about an hour later I felt some pressure and felt her head moving pretty low. Shelby checked me said I was fully dilated. She let me push a couple times and our baby started coming out! Shelby called Dr. Meath to come up quick! By the time she was there it only took a few pushes and she was out! She was born at 2:36pm. Mark cut the cord and they put her right on my chest. I held her for a few minutes and then they took her and cleaned her up. She had a nice loud cry! She weighed 8 pounds and 3 oz, 18 inches long. We named her Avery Ruth after my grandma Ruth. My parents and Isla came up about a hour later with Grandma Ruth. Our new nurse Susanne gave Avery a bath and then Dr. Shrinivasan came to examine her. Everything looked good! So we were transferred to the post-partum room which was very nice. That night Avery went to the nursery but they brought her to me every couple of hours to nurse. Day #2 of Avery's life was full of visitors. Rhonda and Erica came along with baby Madelyn and Loren and Nancy. Amy Whitson also came with her kids. After all the company I was tired and cried a little. I was also in some pain having cramps when I would breastfeed. That evening Amanda and Mel came to visit and finally my dad stopped by on his way back into town. That day they had checked Avery's bilirubin level and it was elevated so that night she started her bili light treatment. The next day the level was still elevated so she was sent home with the bili bed or her "tanning bed" as I liked to call it! We were cleared for discharge on Sunday and Papa Paul came to help move out all the gifts and flowers. By noon we were home and Isla was so happy to see her mom, dad and new baby sister!