Avery's Blessing

Avery in her blessing dress that was once mine- isn't she adorable?!

My two favorite people looking as good as ever.

Me and my sweet baby- too bad I didn't look a little better...

Look at her blue eyes! I love them! She is just so sweet!

She definitely had enough of the picture taking.

Avery Faith Adams
Blessed December 30, 2007
By Michael C Adams

We blessed Avery on Sunday evening at Michael's parents home. We had his family (wish mine was there too, but we can only be so blessed) and his friends that he grew up with and their wives. Michael and I made pulled-pork sandwiches for dinner. We had a great time. Michael gave a beautifully inspired blessing. We are lucky to have him! We love our little Avery and hope that she is a good girl and receives all the blessings the Lord has in store for her!

Sunday was an interesting day, as all days are that have some big event. It was our first time back to church, so that was a big step. I only brought one dress for me to wear and come to find out it is permanently wrinkled, but what can you do Sunday morning. I had to wear the dress. Then come to find out I didn't pack my black heels or my jewelry. I was running late and Marilyn had to give the opening prayer. Needless to say I was stressed and on the verge of tears. We finally made it to church and it was a pretty good day, but Avery stayed awake the WHOLE time. We had church 1-4 and then we were blessing Avery at 5. She had only taken and hour nap before church, so pretty much she had NO sleep. I tried to put her down for the hour before but she wouldn't. She just laid there and looked around. I finally decided to nurse her because that is the only way to get her to relax and close her eyes. I nursed (I was pretty much a binky) her for 30 min more and she fell asleep and stayed asleep until the last person left. The blessing and dinner went great. So after looking back on the day, even though I was a mess, everything else was absolutely wonderful.

Michael is a true trooper, he handles me and my many many emotions very well. I am lucky to have him!

Our FIrst Family Christmas

Avery loves her Grandpa Adams. She spent Christmas morning on his lap and that is one of her presents to the side of her! She had a great first Christmas!

Aren't I beautiful and isn't Avery a cute Santa? Michael is our stud!

Christmas loves with Sadie and Isabell.

And with cousin Lauren.
Adams' family first Christmas.

It is crazy to think that last Christmas Michael was in Idaho and I was in Alabama and we were newly engaged! This year we are married with our little baby Avery! What blessings a year can bring!

We had such a good Christmas. Christmas morning it was quiet, Grandma and Grandpa Adams and our little family. We were soon joined by all the cousins so we had a grand ole time.

Aunt Becca bought us this cute first Christmas outfit and it fit Avery perfect! She looked so cute. Lacey, she wore the red sweat suit on Christmas Eve, I just don't have pictures of it but I think Marilyn does. I'll look for them and post them!

We missed my family this year for Christmas. This is my first year not being with them. It was sad, but I am lucky to have such wonderful in-laws who actually have a lot of the same traditions the Haynies have. We had such a wonderful time here but we are looking forward to next year when we will be with my family in Oklahoma!

Christmas Eve

Momma and baby

Our sweet little family


Avery in her tight little jammies from Grandma Adams

STRETCH!

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. Avery got to meet all of her cousins on the Adams' side. We had a yummy fondue dinner and really enjoyed seeing all of Mike's family. We did the Nativity scene and Michael was Joseph, I was Mary, and Avery was baby Jesus. I'll get the pictures from Grandma and post them later. We read some family stories and then opened up one present. Avery got her pajamas for Saint Nicholas day so she opened up a booster seat from Grandma Adams. What fun! That night Avery projectile vomited so we had to change her and wash her jammies that night so she could wear them Christmas morning. It was an interesting nightt, but all in all it was GREAT!

Hanging out with Avery!

Mommy and Avery after a good feeding.

Sweet cousin Emmaline. She held her one day for an hour just so Avery could get some good sleep!

Helping Grandma Adams with some business.

Taking it easy with Daddy.

Avery will get these deer-in-headlight eyes (like Michael) every once in a while. We took this picture about eight times and she did it every time. But don't let her fool you, she love her Auntie Chia!

Sleepy Avery

Waiting for Santa to come!
Snoozing away with Grandpa!
Peaceful baby getting some well deserved rest.
Knocked out on her favorite place- Daddy.
Snuggling up to Mommy!

Mom's Blog

Click on my Mom's blog to see a lot more pictures of Avery... She is Avery's personal photographer, I don't know what we are going to do when she is gone!

Our Little LOVEBUG

AVERY FAITH ADAMS
8 lbs 7 oz 21 in
December 4, 2007

She is seriously PERFECT! I know I am her mom and I am totally biased, but Michael, Mom, and I have concluded that she is the best baby ever. She is so content with life. She makes life so wonderful.



I didn't have my digital camera out during our hospital stay, so we missed out on a lot of pictures. Kiara and Mom took tons, so I will have to track them down and download them so I can put some up of her first two days. This experience has been one of the most exciting, fun, scary, exhilarating, and rewarding of my life. Duh. I thought labor was going to be a beast, but I would do it again tomorrow if I had to, especially if it would get me out of the after-labor pains and troubles....



On Wednesday, Nov 28, we went to the doctor and he said that we were 2cm and 80% effaced and that if I made it I could be induced Tuesday. Everyone we talked to told me there was no possible way I would make it through the weekend, but little Avery knew that Michael and I needed my mom here. She waited until Tuesday, thank goodness.




We went in at 5am on Tues to Orem Community Hospital. They started the drip at 6am. When the doctor checked me at 8am I was still 2 and 80%. He broke my water and I put my name on the list to get an epidural. I got it 10 minutes later and after that life was GREAT! I do not understand why people do not get epidurals. I was able to enjoy the whole experience. I loved every minute of it. At 10am the doctor came back and checked and I was 5cm and 90%. At 11 I went through transition and made it to 10cm and 100%- ready to have a baby. My doctors practice "rest and descend" on first time epidural moms. They say that this makes the uterus do all the hard work while I just sit and wait. It helps cut down on pushing and helps to stretch me out so I wouldn't rip as much. I waited for 4 hours. Mom could barely stand it. I was fine because I was so scared to push out the baby. At 3pm the doctor came in and set up camp. He told me that I had the most prominent tailbone he had ever seen and proceeded to tell me that he would have to use forceps to help the baby over my tailbone and that it would inevitably break. That is when I started to cry. 21 minutes later, 6 pushes, and a few tears I had a beautiful little baby (and a broken tailbone- minor details). She had major conehead and the chubbiest cheeks. The doctor kept her upside down because she was a little more mucusy than what they liked. Her little cheeks were so big that they drooped over her little eyes. It is an image that I will never forget.




It took FOREVER (15 min) for the nurses to get her to me. All I kept asking the doctor was when I got to see my baby. He would ask how I was feeling and I would tell him I was anxious to see my baby. They finally brought her over and she was so cute but beat up. She had red marks where the forceps had been and swollen eyes and cheeks but she was so relaxed. She just looked at everything, taking it in, little eyes blinking with no little whimpers. Perfect.

It is no December 10, Avery is 5 days old, and Michael and I have been married for 10 months! HAha! Life is great. Avery loves her momma, daddy, nuna and aunt Chia. She cries when she wants food (she is a GREAT eater, loves to suck), a cozy sleeper, and she will stay awake for 45 minutes at a time just looking around and hanging out with her favorite people. It is so much fun! We have gotten our sleep on a pretty good system. I have her until 7 in the morning, I feed her and she sleeps with me (don't tell the docs) then Mom wakes up and takes her and I sleep until I wake up. I usually can't sleep for very long. It is dumb, but I hate being away from her, even in the other room. I know that I should take advantage of sleep opportunities, but I rarely can. I just can't sleep! Oh well!

We are doing well at the Adams' house. I am so grateful for Mom and all the help she has given us. If it were only Michael and I we would both be passed out from exhaustion right now. We are able to go to school and take exams and finish school because of her. I just hope that we don't totally bore her, it is a lot more quiet here than in Tulsa. Michael and I can't wait to be done with school so we can dote on Avery all day. Avery is just loving life. Eating, sleeping, and having everyone around her wrapped on her little finger seems to be doing her well.

Prego no mo...

TOday was my last day pregnant with little Avery. I have mixed emotions. I seriously have been a basket case today. She totally dropped more today. I feel like she is right between my legs. Needless to say, I have walked the absolute minimum. My mom just flew in tonight and Michael's parents drove here, so now we are ready to have the baby. We will head to the hospital at 5am tomorrow. Gross.

Here are the reasons I am excited to have Avery:
1. I finally get to see her sweet little face.
2. I get to feel her warm little body.
3. I get to see her and Michael together... the moment I have been waiting for! My two favorite people together and happy!
4. I get to cuddle with her and rub our faces together, she is going to be so soft!
5. NO MORE CANKLES!


Reasons why I want to stay pregnant:
(Listen to Colbie Callait's song 'Capri'... it fits perfectly)
1. I LOVE having her inside of me. She has been the best baby and I have had the best pregnancy, minus cankles.
2. She will no longer be safe inside of me. Things and people can hurt her now, I won't have my protective shield around her 24/7.
3. I love falling asleep with her little wiggles and then waking up and waking her up to start feeling her wiggles again.
4. My stomach will no longer be "cute" but a big BLOB.

There are apparently more reasons to have her than not, so here she comes! We will call and text to get the word out when our little lovebug is here! Woohoo!

Thanksgiving Happenings

Hello all! I hope everyone had a super Thanksgiving! Michael and I sure did! We went to Idaho Falls and spent Thanksgiving with Michael's family. It was so nice to get away and see family and friends and not have to worry about school. Now that it is Sunday though we are starting to worry about school and we wish we didn't put off doing schoolwork over the break. Oh well. Only a couple weeks left!

Going to Idaho for Thanksgiving was kind of a controversial thing in our lives. We went to the doctor and he told us he strongly recommended us staying here, but Michael wasn't satisfied. We set up another appointment for the day we were going to leave to see if I was to far along to go. Well the doctor told me that I had made NO progress except that my cervix had softened. Needless to say, we decided to go. This baby is barricading herself within me. I think she might be afraid to come out.

When we were discussing the pros and cons of going to Idaho Michael turned to me and said, "All I have to do is cut the umbilical cord, right?" It took me by surprise and I asked him what he meant. He explained, "If you have the baby on our way to Idaho, all I have to do is cut the cord..." Um NO! I then proceeded to tell him that the baby has to come out a certain way first and that he has to turn the baby so the shoulders could come out and then there was the birth of the placenta and also stitching me up! That totally put me on the side of not going at all. I realized how bad we needed those dang prenatal classes and I am so sad they were cancelled and how naive Mike (especially) and I am to this whole process. Like I have said before- pray for baby Avery.

Well as you all know I had lost my phone (by the way I have found it) so I had to call everyone from Mike's phone. Anytime I call my girlfriends from his phone they were all thinking it was time to pack bags and head to the hospital. So I needed to ask Ashley a question so I called her from Mike's phone and she didn't answer so we thought it would be funny to leave her a voice message pretending that I was going into labor. Mike and I laughed that we did it and then kind of forgot about it. An hour later (around 10:30pm) we heard a knock at the door, which is pretty late for Wymounters. I opened it to find a breathless Ashley. Haha. She was looking at me with big eyes wondering why I was still big and round and at home. She totally thought we were having the baby. Come to find out she had called us 3 times with no answer (Mike's phone was on vibrate) and called all the hospitals and finally decided to check our house. It made for a really good laugh, though I do feel bad. But it was quite funny.

Today we had Grandma, Grandpa, and Kiara over for dinner and it was a lot of fun. We have been promising Gma and Gpa a meal at our house to make up to them a little of the kindness and love they have shown us. It is so wonderful to have such great grandparents! We had a really good time and were able to catch up and hear stories. It was the first time Grandpa had been to our apartment so it was exciting. We can't wait to have them over again, they are such wonderful grandparents. It was also nice having Kiara over, we have been strangers for the past couple months with work and school. I miss her and it is so crazy that we live less than 5 minutes away from each other but barely see one another. Hopefully when the baby comes Kiara will come more often. Let's be honest, the baby is way more exciting than Mike and I.

The last bit of news is good news. My mom is coming in a week! It will be so nice to have her here to help out Michael and I through this process. Lets just hope Avery works with our schedule so Mom's visit will be well worth it. I will need all the help from her I can get. We have a doctors appointment Wednesday, so hopefully I will have made some progress and hopefully they will tell me I can be induced the following week. Cross your fingers!

But anyways these past weeks were of course filled with tests, school, and work as usual. Our little Thanksgiving vacation was a nice way to refresh ourselves and gwet ready to finish off these next couple weeks of school and have a baby. Then it is Christmas! Woohoo!

Bad News

I have lost my cell phone. My life is seriously not the same. It is so hard. How did I ever not have a cell phone. It is my connection to the world. The only number I know that is not long distance (no long distance on our house phone) is Michael's. He is usually in class, at work, or testing so he can't even answer my phone calls. It is sad. I sent out an email to everyone with Mike's number and our house number. Alisha, I need to ask you some questions, so when you can call (if it is Sat call the house number).

Countdown

Well the one month countdown can begin. Michael and I are parents in a month. Holy moly. Pray for the little one.

Today and last Friday I got to work at Kim's office as the secretary, like Pam on the Office. It makes me feel real cool. The best part about it though is working with a friend again. I loved my teaching aide job cause I got to work with Lindsi and now I get to spend a little time with Kim! Work is so fun when you know you have a friend to gossip with in the next room. Too bad this is only temporary.

Kim and I wer just looking in amazement at my feet. They are seriously like two grapefruits. The sad thing is after this I am going to gap for the next 5 hours. They will probably be watermelons. I will try and take a picture for all of you. THey are quite cool.

The most exciting news is that in two weeks we get to have Thanksgiving break! It sounds like the most glorious thing, and it is. We hopefully will go to Idaho for some wonderful food, sleeping in, and hanging out all day. Mike and I don't get to see much of each other daily, so the time we will get that weekend will be priceless, especially with little Avery on the way. We will be sleeping in for sure. Maybe even eating breakfast in bed. That sounds great.

Well once again we have no pictures and not that exciting of a post. Sorry folks. One day we will be better.

Another Week

These past weeks and the week to come have been super busy for Mike and I. We are both schooling full time, working part time, and this past weekend and next weekend we are watching The 4 youngest Trapnells. It is midterm time again so we are taking tests and more tests. Fun fun.

The kids were great this past weekend and Mike and Grandma were lifesavers. I had to work Friday night so Mike took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese by himself (sweet Grandma stayed with Brook). And then I had to work again on Saturday and Mike had to take a test so Grandma came to the rescue and then Mike watched them until I got off. Grandma and I were talking about how great a dad Mike will be. He can handle all 4 kids and they love him. Brooklyn will go to him over me most of the time. I am such a lucky girl. He is seriously like one of the kids and just plays with them and keeps them busy.

Work is going great. I really like my job and it is getting easier every shift because I am learning more about what we have. The Gap is seriously great to work for. I love BabyGap and GapKids. I totally fit in there and my belly starts a lot of conversations with the customers. Some conversations are good some are bad. I usually get asked how far along I am or when my due date is. When I tell them this is the usual answers
"Oh my gosh, are you going to make that?"
"Did you say December????"
"OH wow. Good luck."
Then one day I had this lady who was at least 35 with at least one kid and her belly was like only a little bigger than half of mine. She asked when my due date was and I told her in Dec 9 and she was like "oh that's neat, my due date is Nov 9." I almost started crying. She seriously was so small and only had two weeks left. Sad day.

My body is definitely having a little harder of a time trying to get through shifts. I can totally tell when I only have an hour left because I start waddling and my feet start swelling. I then come home and complain to Mike and he is great and will rub my feet.

Michael still loves his job and I am so glad that he was able to get it. It will really help out with his applications for jobs in the future (and help out the bills now).

We have a dr's appointment on Thursday so I will let you know the updates. This little girl is so high that I know she is not coming anytime soon. The Braxton Hicks keep coming on strong and they are so dang annoying. I will be so glad when they stop and my basketball will not be attached to my body and in the way but cute and cuddly in the bassinet.

Well that is all for now!!

Alisha

I think Alisha is seriously addicted to blogging. I just barely posted before this and I already have a comment from her. Let's see how long it takes for her to comment on this post. It will be my new game. Every time I post I will see how long it takes Alisha to comment. This should be fun!

I also have to say: if you need a good laugh please click on my link to Lindsi's blog. I almost died laughing. Read the one that says something like "Ms. Sullivan's class says the darndest things." It is totally worth it. Thank you Linds.

Back Again!

 

Okay so I finally figured out why I was having so much trouble with Picasa: It isn't made for macs. So i got on Mike's computer and transferred some pictures and I think that I finally figured it out. I just couldn't figure out how to put the pictures in the collage in the order that I wanted them. Oh well, I will save that for another day. These are pictures of a Sunday drive and also of my BIG belly. 38 inches and that was 2 weeks ago. I really am getting big and don't know how I am going to get any bigger!
Michael and I actually have some updates! We both got jobs... not the most exciting news but we are excited. Michael works for the civil engineering lab at BYU. From what I understand the civil engineer students will create project plans and then Michael will make whatever and so the students can test out their projects. At least that is part of his job. I know the other day he had to design a stage and now he is building it. I think it is going to be used for the students to stand on and watch their projects?? I am not the person to ask. Anyways, I got a job at the Gap. Don't ask how because they are hiring for seasonal and I will be out all the month of December, but they did hire me. I work in Baby Gap and Gap Kids. I have only worked one real shift and I really liked it. It is hard to be on my feet for that long but I don't notice it until I am off and have time to sit and think about it. It is so fun to look at all the baby clothes! Fun and tempting! I am being good though. I can't buy anything else for the baby, except I told Michael that I am allowed to buy a Christmas dress for baby, and gap has the cutest Christmas dress! YAY!
I went to the doctor the other day and they told me I was measuring two weeks ahead, but reminded me that this didn't mean I was going to have my baby early, just that she is going to be a big baby. But then I started thinking, the first due date they gave me wasa Nov 25, so Lexi maybe Avery will come on your birthday. I don't know if I will be ready that soon though, I will have a ton of school projects to get out of the way first. I guess we will just have to see. I have been having tons of contractions lately and on Sunday I thought for a second that she was coming. I had an hour worth of 5-minute-apart contractions. Scary. I still have tons of contractions but I think I still have a while, thank goodness.
Michael and I are in the middle of testing again for the next two weeks. I totally hate this time of the school year. It is so nice to know that I will be done in 8 weeks! Poor Michael though, he has a lot more 8 weeks of school. Right now he is also interviewing for internships. It is kind of exciting. He is interviewing for jobs in Las Vegas, Chicago, California, Alaska, Hawaii (I'm not getting my hopes up), and we will also interview for my dad's company in Oklahoma. It will be interesting to see where we end up, he is also interviewing for some in Utah so watch us stay here. Oh well.
So I have a funny story, that only my committed readers can read. This is why I put it on the bottom. It is your reward for making it through the rest of the blog. So I got out of class and was heading down the stairs, reading a text from Ashley. Well when I got to the bottom and took the last step, I realized it wasn't the bottom and totally fell down. In front of tons of people. On my hands and knees. It is bad enough to fall down, but to fall down and be pregnant is even worse. I tried to hide my belly so no one would freak out. They were all asking me if I was okay and I said yes and ran (limped) out. I didn't get hurt, just superbly embarrassed. I wanted to cry I was so embarrassed. Oh man. It was awful.
Here is a Halloween joke I heard from one of my girlfriends: Why can't Frankenstein have kids? Because he has a halloweener (Lacey this is for you: hollow weiner).... haha! Love you all!

I Need Help

I know I need help with a lot of things but I really need help with Picasa. I totally don't get it. I don't know if it is because of me or because I am using a Mac. I am just plain confused. I don't even really get how to post pictures with text, but it happens. So if any of my wonderful sisters want to call and help me, that would just be wonderful. Mom and I talked about it, but she didn't give too much help. But don't worry, I love you Mom, we are just too much the same.
These pictures are of a few weeks ago (I know I am lame) at a civil engineering banquet. We went with one of Michael's best friends from growing up (David and Stephanie) who is also going into civil engineering at the Y. His other best friend's parents (the Dustins) are on the board so we sat with them. It was a lot of fun and really interesting to hear all of the different ways Michael can go with his degree. It will be exciting when we can finally graduate and and move somewhere and he can start a job and we can start living it up (at least that is what we tell ourselves). But at the banquet they had really good food. One of the guys had just gotten back from Alaska and so there was fresh salmon (not a huge fan) and halibut (pretty darn good) with tons of sides. It helped Michael out in his seminar class and we got a free meal. It was great!
There is also a picture of Kiara, Michael, and I from the Air Force vs. BYU game. We whooped them. Go BYU! (I know my face is fat. It is the only thing that swells. Boo.)
I have some more pictures from last Sunday that are a little more exciting, but I want to use picasa, so sisters: if you want a more interesting post with pictures you better call me and help me out.

Life of the Adams

We haven't posted in a while because we don't have anythong too exciting to talk about. I did however apply to graduate and I am accepted, so come December I will be done with my college career, for now. I think I still have a couple more years of school in my future. We also were accepted by WIC today, which is super great news for us! Free food! Woohoo! We are hoping to hear from Medicaid by the end of the week or atleast the beginning of next week. Hopefully we are accepted for that too. What else? Mike and I have just been taking tests this past week and have another week of tests, so we have been pretty busy. I just got back from a doctor's appointment and the baby is doing great. Growing right along. I am measuring a week ahead of my due date, which is normal, but hopefully that means he will induce me on December 6. I just need to have her on a Thursday so I can get back to school on Wednesday for all my final reviews. Life should be interesting these next couple of months. It's crazy to think that its close to two months away right now... Michael and I are going to be parents... CRAZY! Everyone might want to start praying for our little baby now, that she will turn out normal. Haha. Well anyways, that has been our last week or so. Sorry we don't have any exciting stories.

PICTURES!

Well here are some pictures of Michael and I. This is Mike's new baby. He is doing "trials" on it. He can jump on the back tire for a while. I'm impressed how bike savvy he is. Doesn't his shaved head look good? I got a good looking boy. The last picture is of our little family: Michael, Carly, Baby Avery in the belly and the bike- he doesn't have a name yet. I think I might call him Moto. He is a Motobecane.

Holy Moly

So I never thought this day would come. I have heard about all the blog hype, but I thought it was just a phase that internet geeks went through. But after pretty much my ENTIRE family has a blog, I feel left out. So here goes the Michael and Carly blog. I am sure that it will be super interesting. We have so many things to talk about like school, tests, Michael's new bike (which he gets tomorrow and he can barely stand the wait), baby appointments that tell us the same thing every time, papers, and Michael's new shaved head. Surprise to all of us.