First, and possibly only snow

Here's a rare site in Texas...snow! We had sleet most of the morning and then it started lightly snowing on and off for a few hours this afternoon. It took Ava's breath away...literally. It was COLD! I got Elle all bundled up which took about 10 minutes, and we went outside and she promptly said "It's too cold! I need to go inside!" I didn't argue :)

Jumping on the Trampoline

Here's a short clip of Elle jumping on the trampoline today. Thanks goes out to cousin Riley for helping Elle overcome her fear of jumping by herself! Also when she is picking something up off the trampoline, it's "Barbie" and then when she's throwing something off, that's Barbie too. Funny girl!

Family Pictures

We took these this afternoon. I wanted to get a good picture of our family since we didn't have one. We just threw on white shirts and jeans and grabbed an old blanket and headed out behind our house with the tripod and set the camera on self-timer. Don't be fooled....it took us lots of takes to get 5-10 great pictures. Enjoy!

Name that Picture

Can you come up with the most clever thing Ava is thinking right now?

More Pictures

Playing in the leaves

Riding "Lightning"--she loved this horse!

So Sweet

Relaxing and watching a little TV

Thanksgiving

the money shot

priceless expressions

sniffing our pretty flowers

my personal favorite picture!

shawn teaching elle the finest aspects of golf

Our Thanksgiving was interesting to say the least. Without making it long and drawn out, we didn't get to spend much time with family. It definately challenged my ability to think optimistically but everything is okay and there's always next year! Here are some pictures from our time in Tyler.

I can finally breathe

We just got back from the dr. a little while ago. 11 Days ago Ava weighed 10 lb 13 oz. The problem was not how she looked or her actual weight...it was how much she had gained in 3 weeks prior...only 8 ounces. Today she weighed 11 lb 6.5 oz!!! That's 9 ounces in 11 days!!! She is doing MUCH better on weight gain. I can't tell you how very relieved I am right now. I feel like a heavy weight has been on me for the last 11 days and now it's finally been lifted off. She is also 24 inches long and dr. was very happy with her progress. :) And the best part is I didn't give up on breastfeeding!!! :) So, my children are healthy and momma's happy. Ava also got her shots today and did quite well. Barely cried for the first one but realized what was going on by the 3rd one and didn't think it was too funny. She immediately quit crying as soon as shawn picked her up. Hopefully she won't have any side effects from the medicines but we gave her tylenol to help just in case. So thank you so much for all your prayers over the last 2 weeks. They were answered! Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving and eats until they almost have to go forward on Sunday! We will be seeing some of you in a few short days!

Two cute pictures

What you lookin at?

My what little feet you have! My what hairy hands you have!

Lots to say

Elle told me this morning that she wanted lips for breakfast. I knew she meant something else but I couldn't tell what. Then she said is was a treat she got yesterday. So I thought for a minute and finally put it together...she wanted hershey's kisses. She knew that to get a kiss you needed lips so I guess that's how she ended up calling it lips instead of kisses.

There isn't much going on here right now. I quit supplementing formula yesterday because Ava started refusing to drink it. She did well for a few days but doesn't want it now so it's back to full nursing and hopefully on Monday she will have gained weight.

Yesterday afternoon I went to get my flu shot. Elle wanted to go with me because she wanted to hold my hand while I got the shot. She kept saying "Mommy it only hurts a little bit and then you get a sticker and a lollipop." As soon as I sat down in the chair to get the shot, she grabbed my hand. It was so sweet. Pathetic that I need a 2 year old's support for the shot, but whatever works.

We are headed to Tyler next week to spend time with all the family. Shawn is actually taking the entire week including Sunday off!!! But he really isn't taking Sunday off, he's going to preach at another congregation in the area this Sunday. I have a lot of relatives coming in that I haven't seen in years so I'm excited to see them and catch up. Please continue to pray for Ava that she sleeps well (she hasn't been doing to good in the daytime, and that she eats well...hadn't been doing all that great at that either.) I'm just really hoping that she is doing well when we go to the doctor on monday. Thanks for all the prayers :)

Changes

If you are part of the blogger community, then you have probably seen where it's asked you to switch over to Blogger Beta. It's the exact same as what you have, but hopefully won't crash as often, have problems with uploading pictures, and is just better wired. Blogger is hoping to eliminate all the old blogs eventually by getting everyone that is part of blogger to switch to blogger beta. I think the only new thing you have to do if you don't have it already is have a Google account which is free. I say all this to say, the one thing I've noticed from switching is that at this time, Shawn and I can't comment on your blog if you are switched to the newer version. They are hoping to fix this eventually, but what I'm asking is it's not a big deal to you, could you switch to the blogger beta. Like I said before nothing changes really and it is better as far as how good it runs. You also have the capability to do some personalizing of your blog template which you can't do in the old blogger. Anyways, if you choose to then yeah! we can continue commenting ,but if not then we won't be able to comment on your blog until they make that part of the new blogger.
In other news, Elle got a flu shot today and did STUPENDIOUS! She is way better with the shot thing than me. I was so nervous for her all morning....shawn had to take her. I know it's ridiculous but oh well. She told me she would hold my hand when I got one and then I would get a sticker and a lollipop afterwards like she did. How sweet.

Needs a little sound editing

This video is not really what I wanted you to notice....listen to what is said in the background.

Two months

Ava at 2 months


Elle at 2 months

Pretty in Pink

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Say Elmo!
Can you see the anticipation in her whole body?

Kissing and Flying...I'm multi-tasking
Artistic shot with our new camera
Elle's first time flying a kite and the day she went blind from looking directly at the sun.

We bought Elle an Elmo kite for her birthday back in APRIL! and we have just neglected to look for a sunny and windy lazy saturday afternoon to fly the thing. So, I had been waiting for the right day and today was that day. We all enjoyed flying it but it was kind of funny. We thought Elle would really enjoy it, but she kept saying "Stop flying the kite. Let's go play with my gravel." It's always funny to see what amuses children...it's never what we think it will be.

Dr. Appt

I took Ava all by myself this morning to her 2 month appt. I was nervous from the moment I woke up. I don't like shots at all. Well after getting her undressed and waiting 30 minutes with a cold baby that was very sleepy, dr. finally came in! I guess it was a busy morning. Anyway, he looked at her and said she looked too pale and ordered a blood test to check for low Iron. It was a finger prick test but it was horrible. Her fingers were too cold and so it was extremely hard to get enough blood out. Lots of screaming....very sad. Test came back fine thankgoodness so that was one thing to mark off the list. Next he measured and weighed her. I think she was around 23 inches long and weighed 10 lb. 13 oz. That is not good because that means in 3 weeks she has only gained 8 oz. That's not enough. I am concerned now for real about her weight. After doing the blood test and seeing also that she hasn't gained much, he decided to hold off on the shots he was going to do today. He asked me to supplement formula for the next 10 days and he rescheduled me for Nov 20th to check weight and hopefully see that she's doing better. Also she will get shots then too. He just didn't want to add anything else to whatever is going on with her right now. We need to get her to gain weight. So, I am now suspose to continue breastfeeding and then supplement with formula after I finish which should be interesting since I can't barely get her to eat when she's breastfeeding so how is she going to be hungry enough to eat after I've fed her??? I am flying by the seat of my pants with no controls to hold onto so the next 10 days should be interesting. I'll keep you up to date as things happen. Pray she starts gaining weight and we figure out how we're going to feed her.

Peaceful Moment

Even without any sleep, she still looks as fresh as a daisy.

Nap Mutany

Ava has had a bad day so far. She has "taken" 3 naps today...one lasting 45 minutes, one lasting another maybe 45 minutes and the third lasting 15 minutes. That would be fine if I had nothing else to do during the day and had no problem caring for a majorly cranky baby. BUT I am not fond of cranky babies or getting nothing else done. Many of you may think, wow! that's some great naps...but at my house babies naps last at least an hour and usually 1 1/2 hours no problem. So what's the deal with her today? Let's just hope this is a one day thing and that tomorrow will be better. But, probably not...tomorrow is Ava's dr. appt and 2 month shots. Should be a lot of fun.

Date Night

Shawn took Elle on a big ol' date yesterday. When he came home from work, he had a bouquet of brightly colored daisies for elle and a bouquet of pink tulips for me. Elle was beaming of course. It was the first time she had gotten flowers and you could tell she felt so special. Then Shawn told Elle he was taking her out alone for "shopping" which really meant he needed to take some things back to some stores, but he also planned on doing a little shopping and just spend some one on one time with Elle. They went to Terrell to return a few things at the outlet and then headed to Mesquite were he got some more running shorts and a few christmas presents. He took her out to eat and said later that she was just hugging on him and putting her arms around him and saying "I just love you so much!" over and over. I just thought that was so sweet. When they got home she ran straight up to me and said "Daddy took me on a date!" She was just so excited. What a sweet daddy. My girls are very lucky to have him as their daddy.

Elle and Hiney playing

Who'd have thought a paper bag could be so much fun...simple pleasures

Family Time

Aunt Laura's shoulder was just right for falling asleep.
Elle and Poppy playing...that is my dad's usual pose-turn face as far from camera lense as possible.
Elle showing Hiney how to color at her table.
Me showing Hiney the fun of a trampoline.
I had my parents, sister, and nephew Hiney come in today for a "just because" day. They hadn't seen Ava in a while and had a free day. We had fun just hanging out and watching Elle and Hiney play. She really loves him and has quit getting upset when he swats her. She just looks at whoever is close enough and says "Hiney not mean to do that." Works for me. She also shared quite well with him. Yeah Elle! Enjoy some pics from our fun day.

Insane Japanese Exercise Video

I never add stuff that isn't personal in our lives, but I'm sorry...this is the funniest video I've ever seen in my whole entire life. I saw snips of it on Talk Soup and had to find it and lo and behold it was on YouTube. You will NOT be able to get these sayings out of your head and I'm proud to say Elle walks around the house saying "Spare me my life."

Babies and Bananas

I was just putting Elle down for a nap and part of the routine is to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and then we say a prayer. Lately she had been interjecting while I'm praying to add certain things and say stuff that I didn't say "right" and today as I was praying and telling God what we were thankful for she said "and babies and bananas." If only all of us prayed so simply!

My beautiful girls

Ava wanted to be a witch but we already had the cowgirl costume.
Trying out the camera on my "model" and she really thought she was!
My two sweet girls

I took these shots with my new camera. I think they do a better job of capturing the true color and all of the girls.

Pumpkin Drilling

First I drew the letters on. Then we all cut open the top and pulled out all the guts.
Next Shawn drilled the holes. Fun to watch!


Elle posing....turned out pretty cute.

A view at night

The family pose

More Pictures

Our little cowgirl slept through trick or treating

Elmo and daddy...she kept saying her head was crooked.

The loot..not bad!

FINALLY! Pictures

Elmo
Our little cowgirl

My girls