we've moved!

just in blogging world :)

www.beforeweturnaround.blogspot.com

the adventures of the ellis girls...

emery is four weeks old today - we have gone out several times since she was born, and i've even taken the girls out by myself several times. it usually goes well, but sometimes its stressful. today was not - we woke up and got ready right away to go to the SS office to apply for emery's SS#. when we got there, though, it was 20 minutes before it opens, and there was a line of about 30 people already. emery hates her car seat, and i didnt' want to wait in the line that was in the parking lot with avery, so we drove up to peter's work to drop off his water bottle (where he told me i could apply by mail for her SS...yay!). so we left there, and went to the grocery store. avery was wonderful in the carriage, and since emery slept in the sling the whole time, i was able to focus on keeping avery occupied. when we left, though, emery woke up and started crying, which quickly escalated into screaming, so i decided i'd have to pull over and feed her. i stopped by a park that was on our way so that avery could play while i was feeding emery. this is the first time i've really nursed in front of people - there were two mommies with their kids and one daddy. awkward when the daddy's little girl came right over to me and was trying to talk to the baby and touch her, so then the daddy came over....but i don't think he knew what i was doing until he was right next to us (yay to me for discreet nursing) and then he was just talking to his little girl and they went and played on the playground...avery was great, going up the stairs and down the slides and talking to me while doing both :) then we came home, where i was able to put away all the groceries, even washing and slicing all the vegetables to go into tupperware in the fridge for easy access. emery went down for a nap, and avery and i ate lunch (on time...wow!) and then avery went to bed. and here i am, when i should probably be sleeping myself. but instead am fiddling around on the computer...oh well. life is good today.

and then there were four....

emery was born at 8:45 am on Tuesday, April 14th. she weighed 8.12 when she was born, which is so funny, because that's exactly how much avery weighed when she was born, but emery measured about 2 inches shorter!

the labor went classically perfect - i couldn't have asked for a more amazing experience. giving birth was by far the coolest thing i've ever done. although she slept through most of the labor, avery was awake and in the living room with us, watching, for almost 2 hours before nana came and picked her up. it was exactly what i'd hoped for. she just sat, quietly watching, asking questions - not at all scared or worried. and her pajama shirt was a curious george shirt that said " i'm feeling curious.." - i think that was incredibly appropriate!

avery loves being a big sister - she is definitely adjusting because she's alot more emotional than before, and her tantrums come alot faster than before, but she absolutely loves "her baby" and likes to give emery lots and lots of kisses and hugs. she knows she can't touch the baby's head, so she touches her ears. if you ask her the baby's name, she knows it's emery, but she usually calls the baby "Q" or "baby Q" - i wonder how long that nickname will last! :)

bye lo my baby

just like daddy

avery has a toddler bed in her room that she does a great job of sleeping in, but sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night, and we usually just bring her into our bed. she is a big snuggler, which daddy & mommy love, love, love!







suprisingly, she slept through daddy's snoring right in her ear. although, she snores too... :)






i can't get over how long her legs and arms are. she's growing so fast! i love the moments where we get a glimpse of the baby she used to be... but even more precious are the tiny indications of who she will become. being a parent is the most exciting, rewarding, challenging thing ever!

soon to be four

i do it myself!

avery loves to dress herself...but especially in the case of pants,

it doesn't always work out so well for her...

baby belly

i know this is "avery's blog", but i thought maybe you'd like to see a recent picture of baby Q... we are 33 weeks pregnant!

happy birthday baby!

avery's 2!
birthday kisses!

papa & van came over for a little breakfast celebration - we had a waffle "cake" and a few presents and balloons!

daddy got "finding nemo"
she had no idea what it was, but was excited all the same :)

fancy candy jewelry- thank you Kitty!!

isn't she beautiful?

she has really made the last two years of our lives the most incredible, wonderful times - we never could have imagined how amazing it would be! we are so blessed!

in recent news...

we've been really low-key lately due to my being bedridden for the last month (baby Q is fine, but my body is a little broken :) SI joint dysfunction sure takes a long time to heal...) thank God for peter, family & friends who have kept me going :) anyways, because of that, we haven't had alot going on.

here's a peekaboo video:

avery playing with her hat & gloves this morning:

avi & daddy a couple days ago:

nana brought over some disguises for avery & mommy to play with:

and these are a little bit older...

from when i could still feed avery lunch in the kitchen, and not off my bed :), i think she looks adorable, and she was so funny checking herself out in the mirror.

we sure do love that she is such a snuggler!

children's museum

we went to the children's museum last friday with our friends chloe, elise & issac, and their moms christina and leah. so much fun! we went into a huge climbing structure, where of course avery had to go to the very top and get herself stuck up there...so 7 months pregnant, i had to squeeze into these spaces obviously meant for toddlers, and rescue my poor baby girl :) of course, when i fit through, i felt empowered and continued to climb through the rest of it...it was (besides the elastic on my jeans rolling down)alot of fun!

we also played with the water table, the frozen shadows, the make believe neighborhood, music room, the bubbles, the curvy crawler and avery's favorite: the ambulance! some pictures are blurry, but that's because we couldn't get the girls to stop moving!

this is the climbing structure...


avi & mommy

avery & chloe to the rescue!



bubbles!




chloe, avery & elise


she was loving the water!

happy new year!

we hope everyone had wonderful holidays - we sure did!
avery is so much fun. christmas day started at 7am when she came to our bed as usual. we snuggled for a couple minutes, and then went to get breakfast and open presents. when we finally went into the living room, she said "oh my god, christmas tree!" and pointed at the tree, like she does every time she sees a christmas tree. we had to point out the presents, even though the easel from grandma and grandpa was huge, and so was the stove that daddy finished for her. she was definitely overwhelmed - i think one gift would have been just fine with her. i love it!

avery & bailee

checking out the new stove

thanks grandma & grandpa!

when we were done at our house, we drove over to nana & papa's for all the excitement there. avery was definitely overwhelmed at this point, and just wanted to play. we went home for naps and relaxing before going back over to nana's for dinner. i don't have any pictures yet, but her favorite gifts from nana & papa were her very own bitty baby doll, wooden "animalz" and a nightgown with matching slippers. it was a merry christmas :)

here is avery enjoying some of her christmas presents:

she loves her easel!

a penguin towel from uncle mike & auntie heather

in their beautiful christmas dresses,
avery + chloe = bff

this is from a little before Christmas, Avery wanted to demonstrate what an amazing musician she is already...