Birthday Fun!

A few good ones... and then ALL the pictures in the slideshow below.

We had a BLAST at Avery's 2nd Birthday Party out at Curtis Park! I probably should have rescheduled the party because of the whole Meningitis thing, but we tried to keep it VERY low-key and even though I was wiped out afterwards it was still a wonderful day.

I can't believe she's TWO!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Avery!!

My, how time flies!!...
(Sep. 29, 2006)


(Sep. 29, 2007)


(Sep. 27, 2008)


Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear AVERY!!!
Happy Birthday to you!

We love you LOTS and LOTS, Big Girl!! :)

Spanglish

Avery is getting more and more fun with every phase, but this is by far one of my favorites. She's actually a bit of a conversationalist now! It's GREAT! Speaking in sentences is definitely a step forward, especially since she'll be my only buddy who I can talk to during the day once my Mom goes back home.

But anyway... the reason for the post... One of Avery's favorite things to do right now is to count. She counts on her fingers, out loud from 1 to 10 and it's so much fun to watch. This morning, I was doing her hair and she started counting... "Wonn, dtoo, tree, bour, bive, six, sebben, aett, nine, TEN!" After my "GREAT JOB!!... way to go!... you're so smart!... etc.," she did it again. My Mom was in the adjacent room and after overhearing all of this she told me that Avery's also getting good at counting in Spanish too! I had no idea! So I started counting saying, "Uno, dos..." and then paused and sure enough she said, "tres!" I was amazed. I tried again and paused after "quatro" and Avery followed up with "cinco!" ...By now I'm convinced that it's time to call the Today Show and tell them that I have the smartest one-year-old on the planet! (A sentiment that I'm certain ALL Moms must feel about their own kiddos at some point or another.)

Just as I'm BEAMING with pride about my daughter's incredible grasp of numbers in English and Spanish, I set her down and she followed me into my room and was "helping" me hang up my clean clothes. I decided to give it another shot and said, "Avery- can you count from 1 to 10 in Spanish??" She brought up her cute little pudgy hand and started holding her fingers up one-by-one and said, "wonn, dos, Diego, cinco, BIVE!" (I laughed out loud.)

...Hmmm... better hold off on that Today Show call. Maybe we should take this whole numbers-thing one language at a time. ;)

Getting crafty with Gram!

I don't know what I'm going to do without my live-in "Nanny" when my Mom goes back home next week! I am so thankful for BOTH of our Moms, Collin's and mine, and how much they give and give of themselves when we need them. They are angels. Simple as that.

Gram & Avery went for a walk the other day and came back with a handful of Autumn! They figured it was time to get crafty again so they sat at Avery's play table with a glue stick and made a beautiful piece of art for me! What fun nature is... And how wonderful it was to be able to watch all of this while lying still trying to heal! :) Thanks, Gram! I'll be back in the swing of things as soon as this stupid infection runs it course and decides to move along...



Plus... Avery's even trying to pitch in and help Mommy! She's a big helper... she entertains Julia and even tells me when she thinks she's "hungry!" Precious... I am so thankful for how tenderhearted they are toward one another. They really love each other and it is the joy of my life to watch! Girls are so much fun... for now! (Praying that they'll still love each other at 13 & 14 as much as they do at 0 & 1!) :)

Masked Mommy

...Yeah... not my best accessory, but since the doctors told me to wear a surgical mask anytime I hold the girls for TWO WEEKS, I guess I should start getting used to it, huh? :/ Aren't the flowers Avery picked out for me pretty? Sure help to brighten my days. Too bad Avery was napping when this was taken, otherwise I would have had her in the picture too.

I'm hanging in there!.. Thank you for your prayers! I'm living on small meals, Vicodin and Phenergan for when the meals don't feel like staying put. (I had a lapse in my pain meds today that just reminded me of how thankful I am for Vicodin! Ha! It's doing such a good job for me that when I'm on it I forget the amount of pain it's masking, but when I forgot to take it this afternoon, all that pain came back. Not fun.) I feel like a little old lady these days. I can walk around the house as long as I tip-toe, but if I put weight on my heels my spine hurts. (And that's WITH the Vicodin!) So I hunch and tip-toe and wear a mask. I'm so sexy. :)

Thank you guys for all your encouraging words and gestures! I feel truly loved and blessed to have such amazing friends and family. Please continue to pray for my sweet Mom as she works so hard trying to take care of Avery and Julia... and me too. She's doing such a great job! I know she must be exhausted beyond words but she's not showing it if she is. Just lift her up if you would... she's the glue holding this house together these days. :)

Hugs to all--
Steph

What a headache...

To all who know what's been going on with us the past couple of days, THANK YOU for your prayers and encouragement!

A quick update...

• Sunday morning I noticed pain up my spine as I walked in heels (dressed for church.)
• Spinal pain continued as we came home and I took off my heels - thought I might have slept funny.
• Sunday afternoon my Mom and Dad came through town on their way home from visiting my sister in Sherman. During their visit I began to have a really painful headache.
• Sunday night the headache got worse and worse. Spine was hurting too.
• Monday morning Collin called to get a doctor's appointment for me. After describing my symptoms (spinal pains & blistering headache) they wanted to see me right away.
• Saw the Doctor at 10am
• Sent to the ER at 11am for CT scan and spinal tap
• By 5:30pm the results from the spinal tap determined that I have spinal meningitis. (viral)

I'm going to be taking it easy for a while! :/ My Mom is in town taking care of the babies and Collin returned to work for the 2nd half of the day today. He'll probably continue to go to work, but will be "on call" if we need him here at the house. Thank you all for your prayers!... God is good, and there are SO many ways we saw His hand in how He was going before us all day yesterday. Amazing.

I'll post fun things again as soon as more fun things are happening! But for now, we're trying to rest and restore. Hugs to all-- Steph

Our new favorite park...

We love Curtis Park.

We went in the spring for a "Springy Thingy" for Avery's school, but I had forgotten about it until my Mom & Dad mentioned that we might try it again. I'm so glad they jogged my memory because we've been back TWICE this week and I think we'll probably be regulars there until winter. It's beautiful, and it doesn't hurt that the weather's been so gorgeous lately! Avery has a blast going down the slides, running through the grass, playing with the ducks, and of course... swinging.

We hadn't planned to do this, but we had an impromptu photo shoot out there. I am no photographer, but by pure luck I was able to catch some cute moments and I'll post a few of my favorites. Little girls are so much fun... Our sweet sisters...

...Oh yeah!... Labor Day Weekend, Part 2:

I forgot about our fun outing on Monday! Chick-fil-a was giving away free chicken strips to anyone who came in wearing their team's logo! (It was a way to celebrate the kick-off of football season '08, and also promoted their new chicken strips which are DELICIOUS!!!) Since we never turn down free food, we shamelessly threw on all of our Aggie gear and headed to Chick-fil-a. We saw two other families there who are friends of ours-- One family of Aggies and one of Red Raiders. It was hilarious to see everyone there supporting their various teams! I loved it. Fun had by all. ...Maybe if the Aggies had eaten some Chick-fil-a chicken strips they would have played better on Saturday. Better luck next time, Ags! We still love you!

Labor Day Weekend

What a fun weekend! It's almost too much to blog...

Friday afternoon, Avery came back from 3 nights & 4 days in Austin at "Gran Camp" with my Mom and Dad. ("Gran Camp" doesn't actually exist... that's just the cute term we came up with for having Avery go and stay with them all by herself. I'll do a separate post about that...) Saturday night we celebrated Collin's 30th Birthday, and Sunday morning we had Julia's dedication!

Gram & Boppa "earned their stripes" on Saturday night as they took all THREE of their grandchildren from On the Border (where Collin's party was held) back to our house to babysit. By the time Collin, Jen, Andrew & I got back home, Avery and Drew were in bed (Avery had been bathed!) and Julia was fast asleep in Boppa's lap. (Boppa is my Dad... Avery apparently can't say "Grandpoppy" but says "Boppa" instead, so at least for now that's his name.) I was AMAZED! Way to go, super-Grandparents! For a couple who only ever had two kids of their own and had them 4 years apart, I'm sure taking care of a 4-month-old, a 7-month-old and a 1-year-old was a challenge... but you passed with flying colors! :) Many thanks!

Whew... what a whirlwind of a weekend! It all flew by, and I wish I could go back and be more diligent to enjoy each moment we had family together. But at least I can enjoy the pictures! :)

Happy Birthday, Collin! We love you, old man!


(Notice that the confetti has little pictures of Collin in it!!... Thanks Jen!) :)




...And happy dedication, Jules! We love you!



Pictures of the lunch we had for Julia at our house after her dedication...



Avery and Drew were there too!... So were Nana and Aunt Kendra!