2! (I'm holding back the tears...)

Oh man. I seriously never thought that my baby girl would ever turn 2. I remember talking to Lacey about Chase turning 2 when I was holding Avery as a newborn and thinking that she would always be my little baby, but alas, 2 she is in every sense of the word. She is a whopping 27 lbs and 33 in tall, making it into the 50th percentile for both.


If I had to describe Avery in one word it would be pure girl (I guess that is two). She loves all things pink and all things pretty. She loves having pretties in her hair and always has, putting on mommy's pretties, and wearing pink (it seriously has to be in EVERY outfit she wears). She loves babies and is so good at taking care of them and her new baby brother who she LOVES. She is kind and compassionate. I think she is going to be great at making friends with everyone and making sure everyone can find a friend in her. She is concerned with other's well being. When playing she will get in the other kids face and say "fun? fun?" to make sure they are having fun or when Pierson criess she will tell me and then go to him and pat him and say "its okay baby, its okay Pierses". She is "well composed" as her doctor put it. She is so so so incredibly good for other people and will go with the flow (unless it's mom's flow and mom really needs her to go with it, then its melt down). Today her nursery leader told me just how cute she thought Avery was and how sweet she is to everyone. This girl can seriously capture anyone's heart.

For her birthday her cousins sent her a princess jewelry game. Avery put on every piece except for the 4 pairs of earrings... her ears are only big enough for one. We also got her the play kitchen behind her. I have enjoyed many yummy meals since :)

We started off Avery's birthday party with making Christmas tree party hats and then went straight to dinner. Homemade individual pizzas to top, pasta salad, jello jigglers, and clementines (Ave's favorite). The kids played around the block as everyone ate.

Then we brought out the birthday cake! Super artistic, right ;)

Avery was really excited about the birthday cake. She had kind of been out of it until the cake and presents came into play.

I have to give myself some props for this cake because I cooked it using only one pan (other one is in the freezer full of lasagna) and it took FOREVER oh and I started at 10:30 at night... not the smartest idea ever.

Avery got a lot of fun presents at her party, but her favorite is her new bitty baby, Katie, from Grandma and Grandpa Adams. It has taken the place of Abby, former fave baby doll. Sorry Abby, but Katie is the new and improved version of baby doll.

We ended the night with a pinata! Avery was really excited about the pinata and its not really a party without it!

We had a fun birthday and it reminded us of how lucky we are to live where we do. There aren't many pluses to apartment living, but here it is so nice because all of Avery's friends share the same front lawn. We literally walk out of our house and have tons of fun things to do and people to play with. I really love it here!

Here is Ave's Happy BIrthday video. Watch her blow out the candles... it's my favorite part.

Did I mention how much I LOVE this little girl?

Thanksgiving Turkeys

We went Michael's Aunt Marcia's house for Thanksgiving. She only lives about 45 minutes northeast (?) of us. She is the sweetest lady and has such a fun family. I forgot my camera (of course) but Aunt Marcia was nice enough to take picturse of us when Santa (yes, Santa on Thanksgiving) visited. She even bought Avery and Pierson the cutest little pj's. It was a great Thanksgiving!
Avery did really well on Santa's lap (she was even the first one). She held it all together until Mike walked up to get her and she had a strained smile... I guess she could only hold the fear in for so long, but she did smile for this picture. Right after she broke down. Sweet girl.

Here is little P and Santa and me. I told him I wanted a new sewing machine and to go to Utah... maybe I'll get one of those :)

By the time the we got home the kids had had it. No naps (yikes!) and a short snooze on our way home did not put kids in happy moods, especially when we tell an almost 2 year old she has to go to bed. I love Michael's face.

Pierson was HUNGRY. Why do mom and dad always take pictures when he's sleepy and/or hungry? What turkeys!

Eye Candy...

Morning smiles!

Avery is such a good mommy to her baby named Abby. She LOVES Abby.

What a shot! No idea what she is doing but I got it on camera :)

Oh man I love this crazy little girl.

I think this was his 7 week birthday. He is such a good baby.

Sweet smiles!

Avery loves to hold Pierson and everytime she asks me to take a picture... silly.

Avery put on my sunglasses to "weed" her thank you note from Alexis...

8 weeks old!

He better love his mommy because his mommy loves him!

Pierson :)

I tried to posted this video a while ago and before I actually published it I got sidetracked and Mike shut down the computer so I think this is Pierson at 8 weeks. Enjoy!

6 Weeks!!!

Well before we get to six weeks here are some pictures from the past two weeks. Here is Pierson on his 5 week birthday. I thought he looked like Gaston in this outfit. The little white outfit was tight on him and with the top snap undone he looked like a little man. Oh I love him so much! Look at those sweet cheeks. Oh and not a good idea to take a picture when the baby is hungry :)

Here is a picture of the babies on Sunday. I guess it wasn't the best picture but it wasn't worth trying to trade it. I love Pierson's outfits on Sunday. He always looks like a little stud. I am finding that boys are fun to dress even though there are no bows or bracelets...

Here we are at the 6 week mark. This is Dr. Clayton who delivered Pierson. We forgot to get a picture of them together on the big day so at my check up today (yuck) I made sure to get a picture of Pierson and the doc together. We actually have the same picture of Ave and her doc since we forgot to take it on her birth day too. Oh and look at those big cheeks. He is such a big boy! Oh and I have to say that I loved Dr. Clayton... as much as Dr. Judd. I have been lucky to have two great deliveries with two great doctors and two perfect babies.

Oh man here is the sweet little boy on his 6 week birthday looking all cute! I love snuggling with Pierson and he is for sure a snuggler. He loves to be held and loves to sleep right beside me or in someone's arms. We're working on that... it was easy for Ave to sleep in her crib especially because she was a paci baby... Pierson... not so much. He will take a paci sometimes and suck it for a good while but is very choosey about when he'll take it and he hasn't decided to take it during the night yet :( Any advice? I hate letting babies cry it out, I am way too much of a softie...

Pierson has started smiling a lot more. His first real smile was to Nuna and Alisha on our way home from Disneyland on his 9th day alive and the smiles have just kept coming. I get quite a few of them a day from him and today he even cooed at me. It melted my heart. Oh I love him.

This is the "Mom you are weird" look. I was trying to get him to smile and he was ready to eat. He cracked two smiles and was then done. Michael and I were talking about how sturdy Pierson is and how good he is at holding his head up. He is just a thick strong little boy... just how we like them!

And here is AVery... looking a little 80ish with the hair but still cuter than ever. She keeps us all very busy with stories, questions, demands, cries, and smiles. One of my favorite things she does is asking people if they are having fun. She will get in her friends' faces and say "Fun, fun, hav'n fun?" Silly girl.

Here is a picture of the boys. I have to say that Michael is such a great dad. He is always helping with either Pierson or AVery and does such a good job with them. It is my favorite thing to see Michael and the kids together.

And here are the girls. Surprisingly Avery was not cooperating ;)

And here is the hot couple that started this hot mess :) I feel like we are dating in this picture, except if you were to zoom out you would see Pierce on Mike's lap and Ave crying at my feet... oh what a wonderful life! I love my little family!

Oh and make sure you check out our family video below... we worked really hard choreographing it. We might try out for America's best dance crew or something. Thanks Jana for the link... I laugh everytime!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

23 Months and 4 Weeks!

Oh man I have two kids. Life is definitely a lot more crazy but also a lot more fun! Right? Well we definitely get some good stories, the bad thing is I never have time to sit and write them anymore and don't get enough sleep to function well enough to remember them, but I will try. How Avery LOVES her brother. She can't get enough of him. When she cries she wants a hug from "Pierses" (at least she doesn't RAAR anymore when she says his name), and when baby cries she runs to him and yells "baby cryin"! She tries to comfort him by kissing, squeezing (literally), shoving a pacifier in his mouth, or by giving him a blankie. Sometimes Pierson can handle it and sometimes he just cries more, but no matter what the outcome Avery always reminds us that she is being nice. "I nice mommy... I nice".

Here is AVery on her 23rd month birthday. She was a little distracted and when I asked her to look at me and smile this is what happened:

Oh dear. The terrible twos and new baby issues are surfacing making life SUPER fun. Most of the time Avery is the same sweet little miss but when she wants she can sure push my buttons. Like when she ignores me or when I tell her something and she tells me "no". Or when she whines for no good reason. But for the most part she makes me smile and makes me happy that I have a spunky little girl that is always making me laugh (whether out of funny or frustration).

Avery has made some good neighborhood friends and loves to play with them. She talks about them all the time and is constantly wanting to go see them. Avery also loves baby dolls. She usually has at least one with her at all times and loves to pretend they are poopy and change their diapers (maybe because that is what mom is doing ALL day long). It is actually kind of embarrassing because she will not keep her baby's clothes on because of the constant poopy changing and she will put diaper cream on the baby so it nether regions are a little dirty and then she bring the baby everywhere. Oh well, what can you do? Avery also loves her ABC's and numbers, especially 2, 8 , and 9. When she sings her ABC's she says "ABC...XY MEEE!" Love it. Avery is also very good at colors. We like to sort things in color piles and when we talk about things she'll tell us what color it is. Avery's new favorite phrases are "'Scuse me" when she needs to get by you or when someone lets out a burp or toot and also "sorry". She'll go around saying "sawy mommy" for no reason at all and just say it over and over. Silly girl.

Last night we went to a friend's wedding reception and they had a dance floor and Avery was the only one out there but she didn't care and danced the night away. I wish I would have had my camera becdause she was so darn cute. Got to love that little girl!

On to Pierson, our little buddy, or as Avery says, "hi buhyee". This little boy is just so darn cuddly and sweet and all I ever want to do is hold him and kiss him. He is a really good baby and puts up with a lot. He is usually pretty content, especially when being held :)

I swear he gets chubbier every day. Out of the 10 babies just born around here he is the youngest and the chubbiest... well close. I mean every day I look at him he is bigger and chubbier than the day before. Slow down baby! I want him to stay little forever so he will cuddle with me and be nice to me.

Michael and I think it is so crazy how much he looks like a little boy. From the second he came out he just looked like a boy. I wrapped him in one of Avery's old blankets that is pink and it just didn't fit him at all. He is all boy! Even his little cry is deeper and raspier than Avery's was, like a little boy's should be. Though I do have to say every once in a while he lets our a high pitched squeal.

Pierson is a good sleeper... mostly if he is sleeping on or near you. He does know his day from night and loves his mom enough to sleep at night. He wakes to eat and is usually asleep before he's finished. We are going to start working on him sleeping in his bassinet for more of the night... wish us luck. But who wouldn't want to cuddle next to this sweet baby?

Pierson is more alert every day. He still sleeps for most of the day (thank heavens) but will be awake for about an hour between most naps. He has the deer in headlights look that Avery did. I love their big eyes! Oh man look at that double chin! We laugh because his chin is usually hidden by his cheeks and the lower chin of the double chin.

Pierson has flashed us quite a few smiles and I love it! They are the real smiles that last a little longer and take some work to get. I love it though and can't wait till he smiles all the time.

Here is Pierson today on his 1 month birthday. 1 month! How did that happen so quickly?! We are so glad that he is here with us and that he is such a darn good baby. We are truly blessed!

Happy Halloween

Boo! He looks like he has been scared... Avery is probably in his sight... jk... he loves her.
Here is Michael and the kids before our neighborhood party last week.



Up close shot:



And here is there look-a-likes. Aunt CHia loves her babies too much and bought them a Mickey and Minnie because "they live by Disneyland and they need it."

Here is our cute little Mickey Mouse!

And our really cute Minnie Mouse!

Michael and I dressed up as John and Kate for our neighborhood party. Nope... I didn't but the Kate wig.

Here is some of the group we went trick or treating with. One of our friends dressed up as a gorilla and freaked Avery out the whole night. Michael had to hold her or she would flip out. By the end of the night we did soften her up a bit and she gave the scary gorilla a high five... while Dad was still holding her. In her defense the gorilla was pretty freaky looking and if I was as little as her I would be scared too.

Here is Avery's loot after trunk or treating and trick or treating... I must say I am excited about all those peanut m&ms!

And here is us today. Avery was so excited to hold her brother for the picture. Believe it or not seconds before (and after) this picture she was throwing a fit.

Here is me and the little guy... giving those chub cheeks the smooches they deserve.

We are all still doing great. In fact, tonight we had both kids fast asleep by 9... I'm hoping we've broken Pierson's 9pm-12am wakeful period... we'll see. Well baby boy just started crying... hope you guys enjoyed Halloween as much as we did!