Favorite photo friday- UP

The theme for Fav photo Friday is UP...






I took these this fall at my parents house... I love how it looks like Av is UP in the air and almost looks like she is flying... they are some of my favorite pictures!!!

UP also made me think of how quickly she has grown up from not even being able to hold her head up to pulling up and crawling!

BYE BYE

Averi waving "BYE BYE"

Kitchen Redo!!!

our kitchen flooded ruining our floor so we pulled it up, layed new tile and while we were at it we painted!!! We love it it looks SO much bigger!!!

TAG... your it!

I do not usually do these but this one seemed fun so here goes!!!
The RULES:
1.) Go to where you store your digital photos and open the 4Th folder.


2.) Go to the 4Th picture and post it.


3.) Explain the picture.


4.) Tag 4 additional people.



This picture was taken at my friend Abby's lingerie shower when I was about six months pregnant with Averi... I was a bridesmaid (YES WHILE PREGNANT!!!) and Kevin was the best man... we had a lot of fun!
In the picture with me is my sweet friend Sarah!Sarah and I have been friends for a long time and she never hesitates to help us with anything! While Av has been sick this week she did my grocery shopping and cooked us dinner... thank you Sarah!!!

I tag Ruthie, Brooke, Marsha and Carrie.... HAVE FUN!!!

Lately

I am a little behind on some pictures and videos from the last few weeks!!! A couple weeks ago our friends Shawn and Lindsay came over for dinner... we spend a lot of time with this sweet couple but this dinner was especially nice as the boys (mostly Shawn) made dinner!!! Several months ago Shawn ahot a deer and Kevin and him spent hours skinning it and getting the meat out of the woods )gross I know!!!). I was not sure how to cook venican so Shawn took it upon himself and made a suprisingly good Roast, potatos and carrots in the crock pot, I think Kev may have cut a potato...lol!!! Good job boys! We also went to lunch with several sweet friends in order to celebrate Kevins bday!!! We had chilis and it was delicious!!! My best friend Lindsay goes to Western so, sadly, we don't get to spend a lot of time together so why she was home for Christmas break we had dinner with her and her sweet family. This family means so much to both Kevin and I and we are so happy they are playing roles in averi's life... Love you Granny R, Poppy R,, Aunt linz, Uncle Shnookie, and Bubby!!! And as I promised here is the first video of Av scooting forward, she gets further everyday!!! GO AV!!!

Favorite photo friday- NEW

The theme for favorite photo Friday is NEW...
If you have a baby you will quickly learn that one of the ways they learn about "new" things is by tasting them! EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING goes in Averi's mouth! I am constantly vacuuming in hopes that Averi does not discover something "new" that may be dangerous for her to ingest!
Her hands were a new discovery!



Grass was a new discovery, believe me its been in her mouth!


crackers are a new and her favorite discovery!!!


all toys are apparently the best discovery as they are always in her mouth!!

Happy nine months to a sick little girl!

Well as I said in the last post sweet Av was still susceptible to RSV and we were told by her pediatrician to watch for coughing, wheezing and a fever! She seemed to be doing fine until last night, she woke up at eleven (which is pretty uncommon) and was burning up... we took her temp and it was 101.6 we decided to give her Tylenol and call the doctor in the morning.
The poor thing spent the whole night coughing... I checked her temp this morning and it was 102.2 so I gave her more Tylenol and called the pediatrician. Without hesitation they said bring her in. After some poking and prodding and finally a nose swab the results were in and she was positive for RSV. Luckily it has not gone to her lungs, it is still upper respiratory and has not developed into bronchitis. Unfortunately there is not a lot we can do to prevent it from turning into more, we have been told to keep her well hydrated (which means lots of nursing for me), use a cool mist vaporizer in her room, steam showers, Vick's rub, Tylenol and lots saline in her nose. She seems to be feeling pretty rotten right now; she is very fussy and sleeping a lot but we are sure she will be a OK!!!

Now onto more exciting things in month nine... Averi is finally a scooter (I was beginning to Wonder if this would ever happen!), she has begun to scoot forward all over the place! She does not really like to be fed baby food she would much rather you give her something she can grab with her own two hands and eat all by herself (miss independent!) she is as always full of laughs and loves and is still a mama's girl yet I can see her becoming more and more fond of her "DADADDAAAA" everyday! Most nights she sleeps from 8 til 5 or 6, and then back down until 8... which is fine by us! She is up on all fours and beginning to lift her hands as if to crawl but has not mastered moving her knees, we go to TN the end of the month so I think she is saving that first "real" crawl for Nana and Papa Yates! She is also begun to pull up on everything and LOVES to be stood up against the couch or her play table!!! What a joy you are sweet Averi Noel...even when you are sick! We love you sweet girl! I will post some more pics and videos from the last month soon!

Prayer request

A quick prayer request:
Averi was exposed to RSV (as I understand it in babies a very contagious respiratory condition that can develop in to Pneumonia) twice in the last two weeks... the symptoms to RSV are similar to that of a cold but usually accompanied by a fever. I was not concerned when she started having a runny nose and slight cough until she began to have a small fever on Thursday. Being a first time and maybe a little over concerned mommy I am; I called up her pediatrician who suggested I bring her in (because of the fever) just to be safe. After a quick exam we were glad to know she DOES NOT have RSV, he did suggest we keep an eye on her and watch for a fever because it could still develop but as long as she does not have a fever (which she hasn't since Thursday afternoon) He was certain she was fine and even okay to be around other children!
The prayer request is the doctor he told me that He currently has a patient at Kosairs with RSV. The patient is a three month old baby whom they had to put on a respirator and then "paralyze" so the child would not fight the respirator but allow it to breathe for him and his lungs to heal. The Doctor said this sweet child is in "pretty rough condition". Please pray for this child and their family, we may never know if this baby pulls through or not but we do know that prayer is powerful and our God hears our cries even when it is for someone we do not know personally.

First "favorite photo friday"...EYES

I always enjoy checking the Glas family's blog on Fridays as she faithfully posts her favorite photo Fridays... It is an adorable idea she got from "Kiss the frog for me" blog"
I liked the pictures so much I decided to join in the fun! So here goes my first favorite photo Friday (on Saturday lol) which is "eyes"... ENJOY!!!

Averi hit my pelvic bone on her way into the world and came out with a lovely shiner on her eye! We didn't care we still thought she looked perfect!

Kevin has brown eyes and I have green/gray eyes so I assumed Averi would have brown eyes like her daddy... that is so not the case as our girl is as blue eyed as they come!!!


A couple other blue eyed kiddos we are crazy about are my sweet nephew Corbin and my god-daughter Alayna!!

Kevin's first post...Top 10 Events in '08

Rach has been asking me to post for a long time :)...Unfortunately, I stay pretty busy, as I am sure some of you have read in this blog. So free time is very hard to come by (I just got off of Applebees and Rach is asleep...it is almost 3:30 am as I am posting this). I do very much appreciate Rach's time with this blog. She has so impressed me with learning how to create a wonderfuly artistic blog. I think it is an incredible way to pass things on to our family and friends to let them know about the things in our lives...especially those who do not live here. And her passion (if you cant tell) of pictures has a great place to be displayed.

But I digress...the main purpose of this post is to discuss the top 10 events that affected our lives this past year. Big Al Mohler, our fearless president of the seminary, has his own daily radio show, and I was listening on my way home New Year's eve. The topic of that particular show was to discuss all of the lists in the big time media (as well as his own list) of the top 10 national and international events that impacted the US and the world the most in '08. I know our list is a few days late, but over the past week I took time to make my list and Rach took time to make her list, and this is what I would consider the best combination of these two in the order of biggest impact.

1. Averi’s Birth (an understatement haha)
2. Finances/Rach’s jobs/daycare at home/applebees/bonuses/money management
2b. Trading the truck for the van
3. One year anniversary/love growth/spiritual growth
4. Changes with my job (Merger, moving office locations, Jim’s departure)
5. Weddings, weddings and more weddings
6. Ruthie and Brooke’s miscarriages
7. Mom/Dad and time at their new Farm
8. Relationships changing (With parents, new relationships, friends moving away, the women’s Bible study)
9. Ending Sullivan’s Bible study (after about 3 1/2 years)
10. Rach’s Aunt’s passing

There does not need to be much commentary...most of these speak for themselves.

1. I will say that Averi has been a tremendous blessing.

2. Sorry for the "2b"...I thought I had included that in my final list, but reading over it here realized I did not. It does not necissarily rank that high, but it goes with the creation of the daycare. It was a very sad day for me to say goodbye to my dear old friend "little red" :(.

3. I could say a lot more about these things, but nothing I could say could do these things enough justice. Our love and spiritual lives have grown tremendously within '08.

8. I made the blanket statement in #8 to cover a lot of things...there have been a lot of relationship changes that have played a huge impact in both of our lives. One big impact has allowed me to live out some outdoor dreams that I have had since my childhood!!

We plan on making a list of the top 5 or 10 things we would like to see happen in '09...I would recommend that everyone take time to look over this past year and do something similar.

-Kevin

Happy birthday Kevin

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN... LOVE YOU!!!








Today is Kevins 33rd birthday (old right? LOL)... we had a mini family party tonight... we had steak and mashed potatos for dinner and then ate Cold Stone! We are having a bigger party on Sunday when we will go out to eat with friends to Chilis!

When will she crawl???

In the last week Averi has gotten so close to crawling! She is now up on all fours and rocking... she has even began lifting a hand and placing it in front of the other alothough when she goes to lift her foot she plops back on her belly where she is EXTREMELY satisfied to just roll to whatever she is after! I think she will be crawling in a the next two weeks... what do you think? Averi also loves to stand up. She is begining to pull up on things and loves to stand up against things and play... it seems our little baby has grown up in a matter of weeks!

Daddys little girl

Kevin had the last two days off and I did not have any extra kiddos to watch so I picked up a couple twelve hour shifts at the nursing home! It has been a while since Kevin watched Averi for more then a couple of hours by himself, but despite that I decided it was time he could handle watching her without me leaving him a thousand notes and laying everything under the sun out "just in case" he would need it, of course my phone was on JUST in case he needed me for support!
I have to brag on him for a few minutes here because He did a GREAT job! He fed her the appropriate amounts, dressed her (in not just suitable clothing but rather cute outfits), made sure she got her naps but did not let her sleep to late in the evening in hopes we would all get a good nights rest! In addition to caring for her he kept up with laundry and cleaning and even had spaghetti ready for dinner on Thursday when I got home!
After spending two days straight with her Daddy I watched Av's interaction with Kevin this morning and although she has always been fond of her Father He has now officially won her over! Their sweet interaction makes me so happy... Kevin ADORES her, he has from the start, and she him!
As most everyone knows our intention was not to get pregnant with Averi in our first two months of marriage and although we counted it a blessing and trusted Gods hand was over both of us and our unborn child finances were scarce and we were admittedly worried! Kevin spent the entire nine months of my pregnancy and the entire eight months of Averi's existence working his regular job and then heading into applebees as a server on the weekend... PRAISE the LORD in February we are finally to a place where he can cut down to one weekend a month! Although Kevin hates to be gone from us he strongly believes it is his duty and responsibility to provide for his family, and despite the long work hours when he is home he is a family man... despite exhaustion he will help when Averi has a bad night, allow me time to myself while he plays with her, lay on the floor and make our sweet girl giggle, help with house work, stay up late just to spend alone time with me and then get up early to do it all over again!
In addition to being a hard worker Kevin is Averi and mines leader and comforter! I remember countless times when I have come to him upset over something and his first response was prayer... even while I was in labor his response was not to just hold my hand and comfort me but it was to pray and read scripture... he leads us in prayer often! He is also sensitive... not in a sissy way because in NO way is he anything but the manliest of men... but he is not scared to show emotion. He teared up on probably the two biggest events of our lives together- June 23rd 2007- our wedding day, and April 21st 2008 the day he first held our sweet girl...this is a quality, among many, I both love and respect in him.
I am looking forward to having Kevin home more and I know Av is going to eat up a little more daddy time! Over the Holidays Averi received her very own camo dress and her very own Auburn sweat suit (WAR EAGLE) truly stamping her as a girl after her Daddy's heart! I know Kevin envisions her loving sports and hunting as she gets older, but even if she is a perfect princess ballerina he will not love her less and whether she is a basketball all star or a cheerleader I know he will be in the front row to cheer her on!
I am so incredibly blessed to have Kevin not only as a husband, best friend and confidant but also as the father to our daughter! Time has seemed to fly since we've been married and especially since Av has arrived I know that before we know it she will be grown up and having her own children. Therefore Kevin and I pray to enjoy everyday the Lord has gifted us with her! As you can see from the slide show Kevin is enjoying his role as a father- I would say more then he ever imagined!