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's First Day at Home

Avery spent her first night at home last night we've remembered how much work newborns are. Other than one two hour stretch, Avery was up almost every hour. She's eating very well and very often which is good, other than the getting up every hour. She's doing great though and continues to have a sweet disposition.

Nanny and Poppy (Robyn's parents) are both here now and are having a ball. It's been great having them here for the birth, and Jack's been excited to have more people to play with too.

I've been getting to take Jack to school and pick him up which has been fun as well. Jack's become quite the social guy. Today he needed to say goodbye to nearly every kid in his class before he left and he had two little girls following him around to give him a hug.

I've added a few more pictures from the hospital. They can be found by clicking the picture below.

Avery's Birth

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.

Easter Egg Hunt

Jack got invited to an Easter egg hunt at his friend Zion's house and he had a blast. Before the egg hunt, Jack played and swam in the pool in the pool with Daddy. The actual egg hunt went really quickly (that's what happens when you have lots of three year olds), but they all still had fun.

Robyn's doing great and we found out on Friday that the baby is growing fine. She's still a bit small for her age, but the doctors aren't concerned anymore.

Robyn & a funny Jack story

This is probably the one and only time we'll be excited to point out that Robyn has gotten bigger. The full story is that she's put on a pound and her abdomen has gotten bigger since last week, both of which are good signs that the baby is putting on weight as well. We get the baby weight measured again tomorrow, but things look pretty good for now.

Jack had a classic line tonight. We were signing some documents to increase our home equity loan in preparation for remodeling the house. The notary was here and as part of the process we had to put our thumbprints on a few of the documents. Jack thought this was neat and wanted to do it too, so we grabbed a blank sheet of one of the forms and let him do it. After he'd stamped a few, the notary made a joke that Jack now had to help pay back the loan, and I then asked him if he was ready to go to work. He responded saying, "Noooo, I'm not a man, I'm just a kid!!" He was pretty adamant about it and it took a minute to convince him that we were joking and that he didn't actually have to work. He's becoming quite the funny little guy!

Baby #2 Update 2

Robyn's been feeling a bit exhausted recently and had some contractions Friday while she was being monitored. As a result, the doctor wants her taking it easy and resting 2 to 4 hours a day. Needless to say, this is not the easiest thing to do with active Jackie running around and while she is trying to finish up her last script. Over the weekend, she was able to rest and at least not be on her feet much. This seemed to pay off as she has felt much better the last two days and had only one contraction while being monitored today. That is great news and means we're less likely to have to have the baby earlier than we'd planned. She goes to a different doctor on Friday to have the baby measured again. As long as the baby's growing well, we'll be able to wait at least another week to have the baby.