Avery Grows, Robyn Wins

Avery continues to grow at a rapid pace. At her two month checkup, she checked in at 12 lb. 4 oz and 23 1/2 inches long. That means she's grown almost 6 pounds and 4 inches in only 2 months! She's shot up from 17th percentile to 85 percentile in two months and at this pace, she'll be the biggest three month old around. Needless to say, the doctor was very happy with her progress and said she's doing great! She's super sweet and loves napping in her pink vibrating chair and trying to talk to Mommy, Jackie, and Daddy.

Robyn found out some great news this week. Her script, "The Dog Conspiracy" which is a family comedy, won two awards this week. The first is called Oliver's Prize and is awarded to the best family or kid oriented film. The second one is the National Association of Theater Owners Fellowship in Film and is given by the faculty at UCLA for both an individual script as well as overall great performance in the classroom. It's one of the bigger awards UCLA gives so she's really excited.

Robyn also has a couple of big events this week. The first is the Screenwriters Showcase which is Monday night. At this event, the students and faculty celebrate another good year and showcase a few scripts. It's always fun, most of Robyn's classmates are there, and then there's a big party afterward. The big event though is graduation, which is Friday afternoon. It's hard to believe that three years have past, but they have, and Robyn officially earns her MFA on Friday. She's worked really hard for it and has somehow managed to do it while having one toddler and being pregnant with Avery. Jack, Avery, and I are all very proud of her!

Below are links to some new pictures.

Memorial Day 2008

Avery & Jack, End of May, Early June 2008

Avery's Relaxing, Jack's Playing, Robyn's Writing, Brad's Travelling

That pretty much sums up what each of us has been up to in the last three weeks. Avery continues to be a very mellow baby. She loves to sit in her vibrating pink chair and watch all of us do stuff. She rarely cries and she's sleeping better now that we went back to swaddling her at night. Her long stretch is between 4 and 6 hours every night. That would be even better if Jack would sleep past dawn. Now that the sun comes up early, he generally starts stirring before 6. Apparently, I used to get up early when I was kid so I guess this is my payback. When does fall start again? :-) Avery seems like she's going to be a good eater. We had steak tonight for dinner and she was imitating Robyn bringing her fork to her mouth. She also licked her lips and opened her mouth as if to say, "I'll take some!"

Jack's been doing great, but recently has shown a few signs that he misses being the only child just a tad. He whines a little more than he used to and has become even more particular than he was before, but other than that though, he's great. He gives Avery lots of hugs and kisses and loves talking to her. She stares in amazement at him and likes watching his antics. He's gotten better at hitting the baseball off of the tee and loves playing in the backyard.

Robyn has been working on rewriting one of her scripts for a producer that is interested in seeing it. It's tough to do with the baby around in the morning and impossible when both kids are home in the afternoon, but she's been making some progress and hopes to send it off in the next day or two. She's still doing her Netflix movie reviewing gig and as we speak is watching another classic movie. Not sure if it's just me, but she seems to get allocated a lot of black & white movies to review.

As for me, I did a mad dash to Korea last weekend for work. There aren't any pomegranates in Korea, but there are people who want to buy them and we have to figure out a few things to make that happen. The trip was very short: I left Saturday afternoon LA time, arrived Sunday night Korea time, had meetings Monday and Tuesday morning and then landed back home Tuesday morning LA time. I spent most of the time at the hotel but did get to spend about two hours at this tower on top of a mountain in the middle of Seoul. What a fantastic view!

Well, this entry has gotten a bit long, so I'll sign off. I'll post some pictures of everyone tomorrow.

Brad

Avery: Growing Little Girl

We took Avery in for her four week checkup on Friday and were pretty amazed at how much she has grown. We knew that she'd been often and eating a lot, so we knew she'd grown, but she has REALLY grown. At her four week visit, she was 9lb 4 oz and 21 3/4 inches long. That's almost 2 pounds heavier than she was two weeks ago. Two pounds in two weeks and 2 1/4 inches in 4 weeks! She's gone from being a small baby to being right in the middle of the range in only two weeks. She's clearly following in the footsteps of her big brother!

Speaking of, Jack is doing great and his teachers at school say he has been very happy recently. He really likes being a big brother. He's also been pooping in the potty at school which is a really big step forward. He got the baseball tee out this morning and was smacking the ball all over the backyard. Unlike two weeks ago, he was listening to my suggestions and realized that I can help him hit the ball farther. Moms and Dads do know about some things.

Robyn and I are doing ok and we managed to take the whole family to dinner at our favorite Mexican food place last weekend. This two kid thing is not easy, but it's doable. It's tough on the days that I go to the plant b/c I leave early and can't take Jack to school. Not that it's easy on the other days, but it's tougher then. It's hard to believe it's already been a month since Avery was born. Time really flies.

Below are some pictures.

Settling in at home

Well, we're settling in to life at home with a newborn, at least sort of. Robyn's parents were here for the first weekend at home, and her mom stayed the rest of that week, and then my parents have been here for the last week. Sooooo, we've had a lot of help and that has been fantastic! Thank you, thank you! I'm back at work and the last of our help leaves Saturday morning though, so next week will be the real challenge.

Avery is sleeping better now than the first week, but is still getting up every two to three hours. Poor Robyn! At least it's now every 2 to 3 hours rather than every 1 to 2 hours though. Jack has been enjoying all of the attention from the grandparents and has settled into his role as the big brother. He's very helpful and loves to get things for the baby. We got him some new backyard toys (a baseball glove, some soft baseballs, a tee to hit the balls off of, a little baseball bat, and a new soccer ball). In typical three year old fashion, he'd play with one for about 5 minutes then want to play with something else. Last weekend was really hot so it was a great time to play outside.

Avery Elizabeth Paris - March 29, 2008

The newest member of our family joined us on March 29, 2008 at 2:23pm. After all of our concerns how how small she was, she weighed in at 6 lbs 5 oz and measured 19.5 oz long. There was a bit of confusion about her actual birthweight though. The scale in the delivery room showed 6 lbs 0 oz but she weighed 6 lb 5 oz a few hours later in the nursery and weighed 6 lbs earlier this morning, so everyone has concluded that there is no way she only weighed 6lbs at birth. Regardless of how much she weighs, she's doing great. She wants to eat essentially anytime she's awake so that has been challenging but it's a great sign. Robyn is recovering well and is already free of all tubes, is eating solid foods, and just took a shower. Looks like we'll be at the hospital until Wednesday but Robyn and Avery are doing great. So far, Avery seems to have a very laid back disposition and only cries until she realizes that someone is taking care of whatever ails her (dirty diaper, need for food, etc). She also loves to be held which has been great for dad and Nanny (Robyn's mom).

Jack has been really excited to see Avery and has been really cute around her. He keeps saying, "She's so little" and "she's so cute" and has been talking about her to pretty much everyone we see, nurses, doctors, kids at school, people at the cafeteria, etc. He told us he wants her to come home so that he can show her his toys and teach her to ride his tricycle. Such a good big brother.

Below are some pictures form her first 24 hours.