Church On Sunday

Well, we finally made it back to Church. We had not been since before Morgan was born and we have definitely been missing it. It was one of those things that just nagged at both Heath and I; we wanted to go but knew it would be hard to get everybody ready and out the door, especially with two in tow! Saturday afternoon we decided that this would finally be the weekend we took the plunge and made it back. It was much easier than I thought it would be; but I guess it is all the same as getting ready every morning for work and daycare. One of the things that I loved about Sunday’s when we were going to Church every weekend is that we took a picture of Avery. Heath would hold her and I would take a picture and then I would hold her and he would take the picture. I want to make sure we take pictures every weekend (or as many as we can) because it has been fun looking back at how she changed from week to week. We are going to have to figure out how to work our self timer and find a place to put the camera up on that will work for pictures! Avery has been great at daycare when we drop her off. No crying or tears; she will give us a big smile, a high five and even wave to us when we are driving away. I didn’t think we would be that lucky on Sunday and I was right. She had been without her pacifier the whole weekend (we are trying to wean her off but have been a little slack) and of course she did the little lip roll as soon as we tried to hand her over. She started crying right away but got calmed down once a few other kids came and with some help from her paci. If we can keep going consistently then I am hoping that it will be the same as when we drop her off at daycare. Maybe a smile, high five and a little wave from the windows that line the room. I remember when we first started going and Avery was just a few months old. The kids in the toddler room seemed so big and I always enjoyed them looking through the glass as we all exited the service to pick up our own little one. Now our sweet Avery has joined the ranks of the toddlers who greet us after Church! Of course Morgan was great. She just curled right up to one of the Nursery workers and sacked out. What a great little cuddle bug. Of course everybody at Church loves both the girls and they are quite the addition to the children’s ministry.

Such a Slacker

Ok, so I know I have been a huge slacker when it comes to the blog. I had a friend mention that I did not have any updated pictures of the family and I felt pretty bad. I am sure people think that we dropped off the face of the earth. It’s hard to believe that it has been over 5 months since I have posted anything here. I guess I have a wonderful excuse for being such a bum...the addition if a new baby to the family. I don’t think I ever put up any information on our blog about our new little one that joined the family. Morgan Riley was born on May 17th around 9am. Of course she is a wonderful new addition to the family. As I post this she is quickly approaching 4 months and has already grown so much. She was a solid sleeper from the start but she is getting even better. Normally she will get up only 1 time around 3am and occasionally she will throw in sleeping through the whole night. She just went through a growth spurt that had her up once a night for a while so I am hoping now that she is done growing for a little while that she can give me a few more all night sleep sessions. Morgan is definitely growing faster than Avery did. She is already in 6 month clothes and when she stretches out the footed sleepers are getting a little tight. She can hold her head up and has really started cooing. This past weekend I had to go and check on her in the living room after I had been in the kitchen cooking because she was making so much noise. I thought she was crying but she was just singing to herself…to cute! Avery has officially made the transition from baby to a full on toddler. I know she made the switch so long ago but it is hard to believe how much she has grown. I guess with the addition of a newborn to the house it makes you notice how much things have changed since the beginning. She is running around the house like a maniac and is talking the whole way. She can say so many words and can really understand everything you say. She likes to choose between “miwlk” and “juce” for a drink, will sign for when she is hungry and will ask to get “up” when she wants to snuggle.

She loves her little sister but I think sometimes she gets more excited about her old toys that are being pulled out of storage. Her eyes lit up when the Bumbo came out but we pacified her with a green “throne” of another sort!

Just this weekend we pulled out the jumper that Avery loved so much and put Morgan in for a little while. Morgan is getting so big that she can already touch the floor and she loved to jump around and hear the sounds. The sweetest thing was when Morgan was is in the bouncer and Avery came over to “show” her how to spin the ball at make the toys light up. Morgan just looked up at her sister and a huge smile cracked across her face…I love it! We are in the beginning stages of potty training Avery and I hoping that we can have it finished by her birthday this year (or maybe next year depending on how it goes). She loves sitting on her froggy potty with a book but does not really understand the concept of having to take her pants off to make the next step. My bet is that we soon be having a pants free weekend so we can get some good practice in. I am hoping that even will all the excitement that is happening at our house I can get back to updating the blog. I know that this is the only way some people know what is going on in our life or to see how big the girls are getting. Thanks for sticking with me!

Just A Swingin'

Here in South Carolina we are slowly working our way out of the coldest winter since 1972. Hard to believe but it snowed twice this past winter; once little flake and people seem to panic. Most of the city shuts down (of course not where we work) and the milk and bread at the store are sold out. A couple of weekends ago it had thawed out and was nice enough that we took a trip up to the park to play. I had avoided the park this past winter (because it was too cold) and last summer because I was worried about Avery being too small (and all the germs that were there, eeeewwww). Now that she is a little bigger and can really enjoy it we have been going to the park more often. Back to the real story; we plopped Avery into the swing at the park and she absolutley loved it. We snapped a few pictures of her in the swing with the biggest smile! Trotter even got in a little play time at the park. Looking at the pictures after the fact made me realize how something so small can be such a joy; both Avery and being able to spend time with your wonderful family. Ahhhh, makes you feel so good.

Rumblin' Stumblin' Bumblin'

Folks...we have a walker! Avery has been taking one or two steps at a time for the last couple of weeks but she finally decided that walking might be more fun. On Saturday she decided that she wanted to walk from our coffee table to Heath. The most important part of that was she took 5 steps to get there instead of crawling. Heath and I were both so shocked and proud; it's hard to believe that she has gone from this tiny little thing to walking in just over a year. Of course we had to skype the whole family to show off the new baby tricks and naturally they were just as proud and excited as we are.

Catching Up On Last Week...

As you can tell from all the non-posting that I have been doing that we have been pretty busy at the Stone house. Avery had her first ever bout with the flu last week and it wasn't pretty. I will spare you the yucky details but we did go through every crib sheet in the whole house on Tuesday night and Heath did 10+ loads of laundry on Wednesday when he stayed home from work with the sick one. She is back on the saddle now and doing just fine.

I had to steal this picture from LeeJayne's Blog because I am a bad Mom and don't have another good one to share.

I promise to take some this weekend as well as update you on our lives for the last couple of months. There is some exciting news and lots of pictures to share!

BTW...Tomorrow is Friday, yah!!!!