Lately

I know it has been forever since I have posted an update. Many apologies. Life here has been CRAZY!

We had a few people over the Saturday after Avery's birthday...it was a great turnout, especially since we still don't know that many people here, yet. Billy attempted to do a brisket on the grill and nearly burned down the entire neighborhood. Needless to say, we need a new grill! Luckily I was at Walmart picking up a few last minute provisions for the party when it happened. He called me on my cell phone and asked me to pick up another brisket...but we had not time for that! And I thought he may have been over-exagerating. I was wrong. It looked like a giant charcoal briquet. I managed to trim it up and salvage it. Oddly enough, everyone loved it. I guess it's because we can't really get good BBQ here. Or maybe they just felt sorry for us.

Then on Monday, I started 12s at work. 7am until 7pm until further notice. As if work wasn't stressful enough. I could go on and on with this subject, but I won't. As it is, Billy and I hardly get to see eachother. We have been working opposite shifts since July, and he's in classes at night twice a week working on his degree. So I have to work 4am until 4pm on Mondays and Wednesdays to accomodate his school. So Tuesdays and Thursdays I am dragging because I barely get 8 hours between shifts. What a mess! The only good thing is that I have moved back to day shift.

Avery has been doing really well since her surgery. She is so much more vocal. She has learned to say "Hi!" and loves to say it to anyone and everyone we pass on the street or at the grocery store. It is so cute. She added a Miss America Wave to her "Hi!" and everyone thinks it is so adorable. She loves to be the center of attention and loves all the reactions she gets from everyone. She is certainly our little diva in training!

Tomorrow, the Gazzaway Girls are headed to the arctic north (Idaho) to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and baby sister (she's 20). I am so excited to see them. My Brother and his family will be driving over from Oregon as well...So it will be a houseful of grand-daughters for Grandma and Grandpa. My brother has 3 daughters...I am interested to see how Avery interacts with them. Anyway, poor Billy has to work, so we are going solo. This is Avery's first flight. I will be lap carrying her, so we will see how this works out. It is right at her nap time, so hopefully she will sleep. The flight is only an hour and a half.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family. Until next time.....

The Birthday Princess

I can't believe it was a year ago that we welcomed Avery into our family. It has been an amazing year!! How things change in a year....

We celebrated quietly at home tonight. She got lots of presents from all over. Her Grandma and Grandpa and Nana and Papa got her a wagon. She got a bag full of clothes from Aunt Cynthia, some super cute Texas clothes from her Samoan Cousins, and her very first purse from Aunt Pele. We got her a little mommy doll, which she likes, but is a little afraid of, too.

My favorite part of the day was listening to her make "giraffe noises" with her dad after dinner...And when we went to Toys'r'us this afternoon and I found the Go Gabba Gabba doll, she kinda went a little nutso in the cart over it and did her little Avery dance...andwhen I watched her eat her chocolate birthday cake, I was kind of afraid. It was a little like something out of Wild Safari. I didn't know she could eat so much so fast. She is our little piggy and we love her so much.

Happy Birthday, Princess. Momma and Daddy love you more than words could ever describe. Thank you for all the love you give and all the joy you bring into our lives. Hugs and kisses forever....

All the better to hear you with....

Avery had tubes put in her ears today. Seeing her in that all too familiar little yellow hospital gown with her little tiny ankle ID bracelet was almost too much to bear. I went through all the what-ifs and turned it over to God and prayed. Then I asked her big brother to watch over her since we couldn't be in there with her. After what seemed like an eternity in the waiting room, but was probably only a half hour, we were called back to recovery. The nurse told us to follow the screaming, and there she was, mad as all get out and SO thirsty. No amount of comforting would sooth her, until we walked out into the sunshine, and then it turned off like a light switch.

She took a really long nap today, 4 hours. When she woke up, I fed her until I thought she would burst. An hour later she was ready for round 2. I think she ate more than I did today!! She played long and hard after dinner and is sleeping peacefully in her crib. It is a relief that it is all over.

One of the great things about today was that now that she can hear so much better, she has been more vocal than normal. I hope it lasts. She was singing and dancing and talking up a storm after dinner. I couldn't help all the smiling. It was a perfect end to a not so perfect day. I am so proud of her. She is one tough little cookie.

Tomorrow she will be ONE. It is so hard to believe. Time goes so fast. I look back over the past year and realize how truly blessed I am and have been in my life. To be loved by 2 amazing kids and my amazing husband...I am rich beyond words.

WHOA!

You know it was a great nap, when after more than 3 hours you wake up with hair like this!!!!

Happy Halloweenie

I had forgotten how much fun Halloween is. Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays with Kadin. I thought about him a lot as the day went on. I wondered what he would want to be this year. There were lots of power rangers. There was a really cool Indiana Jones that came around.

For Trick-or-Treating, we went to Tom and Debbie’s house to sit with them and let Avery trick or treat in their neighborhood. Avery’s costume was so cute. She got many compliments on it!! When I saw it, I just knew it was perfect.

All and all it was a pretty successful night. We had been experiencing bad weather all day, and I was in the middle of a phase II exercise at work. The end of the exercise was called at noon and the bad weather cleared out just in time for trick or treating!! It was the perfect end to a perfect day.