Avery visits her Great Grandfather in Ohio

Avery and I flew to Ohio for 5 days at the beginning of August. Thankfully the days leading up to our trip to, Avery's acid reflux got better and her blocked tear duct opened up. Praise the Lord! After reading about the procedure required if the tear duct doesn't open up (general anesthesia and a probe poked down through the membrane in the duct), I decided really needed to start praying that God would prevent us from going to that. And what do you know, only a few days later and it opened. No more goopy eye! God sure is good!

Avery and I had a wonderful visit with our family up north. She got to meet her great grandpa, her great aunt and her two cousins. She had her fussy moments intermingled with lots of smiles.

Avery meets her great-Papa

Wow! She's amazed at that BIG nose!

Avery and her Great-Aunt Abbey

The many faces of S.K. and Avery!!

Brian and Avery

It's a great life, even on the worst days!

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD--Psalm 127:3

Our little ones sure are a blessing and a gift, even on the worst days. Over the last month Avery has been suffering from acid reflux. This has been pretty miserable for everyone (although it could be much worse than it is). She cries a lot, has trouble eating during the day, and only sleeps 4-5 hours at a time at night. This results in a very tired Momma.

Nonetheless, she is such a joy to us. When she is feeling good, she is full of smiles. She loves to smile most at her big brother. Scott certainly had some adjusting to do when Avery first came around, but now he has warmed toward her and is such a sweet big brother, giving her lots of kisses and always wanting to help her stop crying (usually this means trying to shove a pacifier in her mouth). The other day I thought he was trying to poke her eye out and couldn't figure out why he was being so aggressive. I then realized he was trying to wipe her eye that has the blocked tear duct, like Mike and I do.

So, while I am usually in a sleep-deprived state, sometimes get weary of crying kids, and on occasion think for a moment that putting the kids in daycare and going back to teaching would be easier, I love my days of being at home with these two precious little ones. I wouldn't trade this wonderful life that God has given me for anything.

Scott loves having his picture taken. We call this his cheesy grin.

Avery deep in thought, but not crying, thanks to the hospital pacifier. I hope we never lose it because you can't buy them!

Here's our smiley girl

She sure loves her big brother!

Such a sweet boy!

Visiting Mam-maw in the hospital in San Angelo over the 4th of July weekend

Not sure what this look is all about

Avery and her Grandma

Trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas

At the end of May, Mike and I packed up the Durango (and I mean packed up the Durango), picked up Mom and headed to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We had strategically planned this trip. We knew we would need help adjusting with two kids, so why not invite Grammy and Aunt Linda on a trip with us to be nannies while we adjust.

The six of us spent a week at a great 2-bedroom timeshare right on Lake Hamilton. Scott loved watching the boats.

So Hot Springs National Park of course gets its name from the hot springs found here. In the middle of town is bathhouse row, which is part of the national park. Because of our love of national parks, Mike and I had to try out the traditional bath house located here.

We went early one morning to the "not so private" private bath. Let's just say it was interesting. The pictures below are actually from the visitor's center, but the bathhouse we went to was very similar. Here's how it all went down:

1st: we were told to undress and an attendant wrapped a sheet around us (except that Mike and I were in separate parts of the bathhouse. There's a men's side and a women's side). We were then led to a whirlpool tub like the one above. Then, an attendant used a loofa to bath us--scrubbed our legs, back, arms. This was just too weird.

2nd: Then there was the sitz bath. Yep, just like it sounds, you sit in a hot bath in that sink looking thing. The literature says it's supposed to be good for hemorrhoids. If you don't have those, not sure what it's good for.

3rd: Next you almost die in one of these steam cabinets. At least I felt like I was going to die. Didn't care for this much. You get in there and only your head sticks out the hole in the top.

4th: finally is the needle shower. Not sure why it is called that. It sounds painful, but it was actually very pleasant, a semi-cool shower after that dreaded steam cabinet.

This was the tower overlooking the Oachita mountains.



We went on one of those duck vehicles. Glad ours didn't sink! Scott had been watching all the boats out of our condo for days and would get so excited about them. Then, he fell asleep for the whole boat ride on the duck. Poor guy, he was wiped out!


Scott holding his little sister for the first time.

Avery's first 2 weeks of life

Here are a few pics of Avery's first 2 weeks of life, including a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo.

Trip to the Fort Worth Zoo

The white tigers

Avery slept through her first zoo trip

Scott watching the gibbons, his favorite animal

Avery's first outing...to Target to get her picture taken.

Avery's first bath

Mother's Day Weekend

I got the best gift any mother could ask for for Mother's Day...a new baby girl...along with a really pretty pair of earrings and a necklace! Mema, Papa, Steve, Cindi, Will, and my parents came to Denise's to celebrate.

Here are the pics...





It was not easy at first, but Scott was showing how much he liked his new sister with a kiss on the head.

Mema and Papa with Avery

Avery with her Aunt Cindi
and her Aunt Denise (below)

Grammy reading to Scott and Avery

Watering plants at Aunt Denise's