Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a great day for Harley and I!
We spent the morning at Grandma and Grandpa Meyers and took Judy to breakfast~then when we got back to the house Kylee wanted to drive Grandpas tractor so...of course Avery wanted a ride too. This made me and Grandma nervous but they did great!

Avery loves Grandma Judy! I think the feeling is mutual!

After becoming a mother myself I have come to REALLY appreciate all the love and sacrifice that my mother had with me and my siblings! Harley and I talk about how poor we were growing up and the things our mothers did for us for entertainment, food, etc...

I love my mother and appreciate all the values and lessons she taught me. I love Judy for helping raise such and awesome guy like Harley! I now know just how much energy it takes to start raising your own family and although it's extremely challenging at times...it is sooooO worth it!
Mothers are great!!!

1 week left!

So, I had my 38 weekly visit to the Dr. yesterday and decided to do an induction at 39 weeks! I'm still a little skeptical about inducing labor but, the more Harley and I talked about it it seems like the best for our situation. Harley is on call Mon. and Tues. for work and 9 times out of 10 he gets a call on Tues. to take a train out of town. It would be our luck that I would go into labor while he's out of town somewhere.
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Onto other news, I'm 3cm dilated and 60% effaced! WOW! We're still wondering if I'll be able to hold off for another week!
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Avery's latest phrases include:
"How you do that?"
"You in time out!"
"OH!"
"Stop whining!"
"Go lay down!"
"Go away!"
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She has a lot to say lately.

Parents watch out!!

Meet Scruff. Our dear friend Corby got Avery some DVDs for her second birthday. I was especially excited for this one because it was about a puppy and Avery loves dogs. I figured this would be very entertaining for her...
turns out it's more than entertaining!
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Yesterday I was down with a bit of a head cold. I put Scruff in the DVD player hoping that Avery and I both could have a nap. Luckily, Avery kept me awake long enough to hear Scruff say the "F" word!!! No, I am not kidding!lol Funny, yet so scary at the same time.
I had sent Harley to the grocery store so I call him up and say "You are NOT going to believe what I just heard on Averys Scruff DVD"! He didn't believe me and told me I'm pregnant and don't know what I'm hearing...Whatever!
When he got home I marched him straight to the movie and made him listen to it. You should have seen the look on his face! There was a little bit of horror and complete amusement.lol
So....
If any of you parents get a new DVD that you have never seen before I strongly recommend watching it with your child or before your child actually views it!! Harley and I plan on going to the web page of the manufacturers of this particular DVD and leaving a few comments;}

Getting closer! 37 weeks today!

I had my 37th week Dr appointment today to check on the pregnancy and baby cash. The progress so far is I'm 50% effaced and 1 1/2 cm dilated! I guess things are just moving right along and it could happen any day now! My belly measures 1 week ahead of my due date but the Dr. thinks there might be a little extra amniotic fluid surrounding Cash....nothing at all to worry about.
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Oh and by the way, I've lost 1 lb. so far and only have like a gazillion more to go after he's born, right!!!

FuN in the SuN!

Grandma Muriel sent Avery a nice birthday card with some spending cash! We decided we would spend the money wisely and finally get Avery the little pool that we've been talking about getting her since last year!!lol We also got her a new swimsuit for the summer....
Thank you Grandma!!

Avery LOVES the pool. At first she was a little timid.

Harley had to physically put her in the pool and she eventually warmed up. We put hot water in hit because it was a little breezy outside and she was in the shade.

At the end of the evening we got her dressed and put a small chair next to the pool. Avery kept putting her feet in the pool and saying "I love it"! It was great.

Happy Birthday Avery! We LOVE you!

Harley and I had a rough time getting Avery here with us. I was told from a few Doctors that I would never be able to carry a child full term...meaning never being able to have a child of my own. This was devastating news for me but, Harley always had more faith than I did. He refused to believe that I was barren. We tried fertility with no luck....
Soon, I started talking about adoption and decided to enroll in school. I figured we could adopt a child when I was finished with my program and had established myself in a job....
Then, the unthinkable happened...
I got knocked up!!!lol

Anyone who knows Avery know how stubborn she is! Avery was full term when she was born but, there were complications. The cord was wrapped around her neck and at the LAST minute of the delivery she went into distress. The NICU code team had to do CPR and intubate her. I remember thinking "We came ALL this way, Avery, PLEASE don't give up on us"!....
....She didn't. She was the biggest baby in the NICU. She weighed 7.4lbs. when she was born. It was tough to watch my baby with all the tubes attached to her. Harley, Avery and I are so lucky to have such wonderful family that were so reassuring during this time.

Finally bringing Avery home was the best yet scariest feeling I've ever had. I thought to myself "We almost lost her at the hospital how do they expect us to take care of her at home"!!!....
....Well, we did! Here she is in her first week at home doing what she loves the most...taking a bath!!!

Avery went camping with the family when she was only 4 months old! She did awesome and we as parents were glad that she seemed to be an outdoor kinda girl!!!;}

Now here she is at her second birthday party! What a beautiful girl!!! It has been so awesome and a huge challenge raising this little stinker so far! She is so much fun, so lovable and such a handful all at the same time!

Harley and I feel so lucky to have such good family and friends and so many people that love our little Avery.

What a big day~it became a little overwhelming for Avery:}Luckily dada is so comforting for her!

Opening presents was a bit of a challenge...I guess when you're 2 the attention span isn't quite as long as a parent wants it to be!!lol

Again, we are so lucky with family and friends! Avery got spoiled!

Avery has been obsessed with Mickey Mouse for a while now...so we did what any parent would do and got her a Mickey Mouse cake! She LOVED it. We sang Happy Birthday to her~twice~and she knew exactly what to do when the song was over...blow out her candles!

Before the festivities really kicked off, Avery had a nap with Aunt Heather on the couch. We were glad to see her get some rest before the big event.

Her cousin Kairene couldn't miss stopping by to see Avery before she had to head off to work.

Thank you to all our family and friends for making Avery's 2nd birthday a fun and memorable one! It was a really fun day and Avery really enjoyed herself! She got to eat whatever she wanted and play with all her favorite people! What more could a 2 year old ask for?!

EaSteR!

Easter morning was really fun! We got up early so we could go to church with my parents. Here's Avery's Easter goodies! What you don't see in this picture is the golf club and ball she got from the Easter Bunnie. She got plenty of candy, eggs, etc...
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Church was pleasant. My parents ward put together a musical program so...not a lot of talks. It was nice.
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Doesn't Avery look darling in her dress?!!!...chewing on a plastic Easter egg!!!lol

My little sister put together an Easter egg hunt for Avery. Here my mom is reading the message the Easter Bunnie left for Avery before her search began.
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We decided to color out eggs the day of Easter. I stripped Avery down to her diaper so she could go buck wild with the colors and have fun!
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Later that afternoon we took a trip to Huntsville to see Grandma and Grandpa Meyer. Avery had a lot of fun with the Easter basket the Easter Bunnie left at their house for her....there was a lot of chocolate in it for her:}
Judy made a wonderful ham an good fixins' for dinner.