Can I handle All of this?

Have you ever asked yourself Can I handle ALL of this? I have found myself asking this question as of late. Not just once a day, but multiple times a day! Up until two weeks ago, I thought I could. Then my baby decided to become a fussy monster. The first day I thought that I had eaten something the night before that had upset her. Then this behavior repeated itself EVERYDAY!

My baby cries and cries and fusses, then cries some more. I have had to place her in her crib and walk away because of the crying. It makes me feel like a bad mother. I have talked to other mothers, asked nurses questions, bugged my mom and I finally got some recommendations on books to read.

I have been reading The Happiest Baby On The Block. It talks about The Cuddle Method. It makes sense. I'm still newly into it, but some of the advice has helped me. I also purchased The Baby Whisperer. I have yet to open it. (Can't find the time.) But, I will let you know what I think once I get to it.

Soooo, bear with me. I am trying to keep up with the blog, but it seems almost impossible.

(To put the icing on the cake, Gracie went into heat last Tuesday. Aaahhhh!!!)

Princess Avery

I was playing with Ave this morning and she started to talk to me. I grabbed my camera and caught the end of it.

She is the best thing to ever happen to me! I get to wake up and spend my entire day with this little ball of fire!

I just LOVE her SO much!!

(She starts to talk at 12 seconds. Please ignore my voice.)

Happy Birthday Aves!

Dear Avery,

Today you are 1 month old! Holy Cow. That went by quick. Too quick. You are such an angel to us. We ask ourselves what our life was like before you were born. The only answer we can come up with is we never knew how to live before. You have blessed our lives in more ways than we could ever have imagined.

You are such a strong little girl. Since the day you were born, you have been able to hold your head up by yourself. We can't explain it, but you seem to not want to miss what is going on around you. Sometimes when you are taking a nap, you will jolt yourself awake. Even if you have only been asleep for five minutes. You are such a night owl too! You started to sleep from 11 PM to 4 AM. But last night, you went to bed at 10 PM. Woke up at 1:30 and stayed up unitl 3:30, then were wide awake at 5:30. I don't know how you do it. Because your Momma is TIRED!!

You have the most beautiful eyes we have ever seen. They are bright blue and so BIG! I love watching you explore what is around you. You have begun to recognize our voices too. When someone new is holding you and we start to talk, you look around feverishly trying to find us.

You love the pupper dogs too! Yesterday you had a REALLY bad tummy ache and cried ALL DAY LONG. Monte is such a protector and would come lie his head on your feet to try to soothe you. Gracie hasn't figured you out quite yet.

You have also begun to smile in the last couple of weeks. It is such a beautiful smile. You make your mommy so happy when you do it. We think you will be a model, since you make so many faces. Even while you are asleep.

You also have begun to talk and tell us stories. We love when you tell us stories. You are so innocent and see the world in a way we never will.

Little Avery Lynn Holt, you will never go a day without being loved. You have such a loving fan base and have each and every one of us wrapped around your long skinny fingers. We love you so much and can't wait for the new developments we will witness in the upcoming minutes, days, weeks, months and years. But please....don't grow up too fast!!

I should be cleaning, showering or unpacking.....

BUT...while Avery is taking a much needed nap (she is CRANKY!!!), I decided to hurry and write a post.

This past weekend was jam packed full of fun, fun, fun. We headed to Salt Lake on Thursday night to start off the fun. We love and miss our house down there SO bad! Nick had a managers meeting on Friday so we were able to have a long weekend down there.

Avery with Grandpa Dale and Grandma Sheri

While he was at work, I had to take the car in to get fixed, visit Nick at work during lunch to show off Miss Avers, meet Erika for shopping and lunch, and have an absolute wonderful dinner with Nick's parents at Cucina Toscana. Yum!! The owner of the restaurant, Valter, absolutely LOVED Avers!! Anthony Hopkins is one of Valter's best friends! We saw a Jazz player, Collins, while we were there and talked to his wife and cooed with his little girl. It was fun.

Avery with Grandpa Steve and Grandma Dee

On Saturday, we met with my Dad, Dee Dee and brothers for breakfast at our favorite place, The Park. Afterwards, my grandparents met us at our house so they could finally meet their great grand daughter. AFTER THAT, I headed to Stansbury with Avery to meet with my girlfriends. (Em and Erika, we MISSED you!!) It was SO fun to finally see Sarah after 5 years and meet her little man Easton. What a doll! I told Avery I had already arranged her marriage with him, so not to worry about her future. I have it taken care of. I of course forgot my camera at home, so I'll have to steal some from Sarah. NEXT, my mom came over that night to babysit so Nick and I could grab a couple of drinks and Wings with our friends at The Wing Company. It was nice to relax, catch up and hear some interesting stories. (Thank you Sarah and Clucker!!)


Avers with Grandma Teri

On Sunday, we met up with Sean, Erika, Clucker and her brother at Over The Counter for breakfast. It was such a dive, but yet so yummy. We went home afterwards and just relaxed. It was the first time since Avery was born that we had been able to just veg at home. We visited Nicks dad once more, bbq'd and hung out as a fam of five.

Bath Time Fun!

We left Salty this morning at 6:30 AM for Logan. :-( We will be heading down again on Thursday night, so giddy up!

It was such a fun, fast, jam packed weekend...we can't wait to do it again. Thank you friends for all the laughs, stories and much needed R&R. We love you all!!

A Fountain of Poo!

I completely forgot to type this story. It is so funny.

So the first week we were home as a family, Nick was in the nursery changing Avery's diaper. I was in the kitchen doing dishes when I heard "OH SHIT!!!!" really loud. (Pardon the language, but it goes with the story.) I quickly dropped what I was doing to race into the nursery. I thought Nick had dropped Avery.

When I got in there, Nick was laughing. I asked him what happened. He said "Oh Shit! Literally!". Avery had had an explosion on him. In the midst of him lifting her little legs to put on a diaper, she decided to relieve herself. She had poop everywhere. It landed on the changing table, the wall, the curtains and even the carpet. We measured and it had landed four feet away from her! That is a powerful pooper!

Yesterday, I had an entire day planned. Do our morning routine, get the dogs to Petsmart for a SPA day with Emily, Babies R Us in Ogden, picking the dogs back up and making dinner. All by myself. I thought I could handle it all.

Well....while trying to get out of the door by 10:45, Avery had a messy diaper. While changing her, she had a fountain of poo moment with me. It went everywhere!!! (Word of advice girls, buy waterproof Lap Pads. They save your life!!! I use them under her bum on the changing table for instances like these. They are SO easy to clean!!) I rushed her into the bathtub to clean her up. She even pooped in the tub! Oh my!!

I used to call my dogs pooper dogs, but Avery may have stolen the title Pooper. She is a funny little girl. Never a dull moment with her.

(BTW, while driving back from Ogden, I had a screaming baby from Brigham City ALL the way back to Logan. What a joy that ride was. I think I have the first baby in history who does not enjoy a car ride. HELP!!)

PS: I'll spare you the pictures. She did manage to stain the curtains though! ;)

We are still here!

No we have not fallen off the face of the earth...yet!

Having a baby makes things a little more difficult. I am trying to adjust to "Avery Time". She is still an on demand baby. We have been working on trying to get a routine going, but so far it has not been successful.

This sums up my week pretty well. Avery bossing her mom around.

Love Bug oh so tired from keeping mom and dad up at night.

Our little one will not sleep in her bassinett anymore. Since having a cold, she will only sleep on mine or Nick's chest. I think it soothes her to hear our breathing and heartbeat. She also gets really fussy when I am not holding her....AT ALL TIMES. My mom and grandmother have both assured me I was the same way as a baby. Sorry mom and dad!! Now I do not mind holding my baby girl all the time, but it sure does make it hard to stay up on housework, to take a shower, to make a meal or even to go to the bathroom. My mom told me she would have to wrap me up in a blanket and buckle me in to my carseat so I would think she was holding me. I tried with Ave....and failed. She caught on to what I was up to. Smart one! (I am even holding her right now as I type. She will not let me put her down.)

Miss Ave sleeps during the day. She's got it all backwards.

I have had my mom come up to Logan to help me because I was getting behind on just about everything. Being a mom is so much harder than I ever expected, but so worth it as well. Ave and I are getting better and better at nursing every day. She can't keep up with my milk supply, so I am still pumping all the time. No complaints though. We are slowly getting the hang of it.

Avers LOVES her bathtime!

Nick has been such a wonderful dad. He tries to be as hands on as he can. He is on weekend duty so I can catch up on my sleep. I am SO grateful for weekends!!

We haven't been up to much the last ten days though. The weather was craptastic for a while. We were able to go on a two mile walk through Logan River Golf Course on Easter Sunday.

We also just got back from Salt Lake this morning. We had some errands to run on Saturday, had breakfast with our awesome friends Sean and Erika and then celebrated Easter with Nick's dad yesterday. I was a genius and did not put sunscreen on Avery, so now she has some pretty rosy cheeks and a red nose. I am brilliant I know. We were sitting outside by the pool all day and I thought if I kept her in the shade with a blanket, it was enough protection. Fail!



Anywho, we will be in Salt Lake for the next four weekends. So if you would like to stop by the house, you are more than welcome to. :)


Here are some pictures of our Easter walk through the golf course:

We will try to keep up on the blog as much as possible. We take soooo many pictures, so our posts may just turn into a picture gallery. We hope you all have a wonderful week.

Avery's Two Week Appointment

Holy Cow! Our baby girl is already two weeks old? How did that happen?

We went to the doctor today for her two week appointment. Ave has been suffering from a cold ALL week, so I was anxious to get to the doctor. He gave us some tips on how to help her.

Nursing has been a challenge this week because poor Avers cannot breathe while nursing. So we have switched from nursing to a bottle every other time she eats. (It gives me a little break too!) She inhales her milk so fast that she throws up at least once a day. And when I say she throws up, I mean she projectile vomits. She soaked her new outfit, burp cloth and baby blanket all in one sitting today! :( It scares her when she does it, so I have to try soothe her and comfort her while suctioning out her little mouth. They suggested that I only feed her for seven minutes on each side since I am producing so much milk. She is getting WAY too much. My mom gave me a new nickname: Bessie. Thanks Mom!

The doctor said Avery looks great. We had to do another biliruben test today. She is still a little yellow and her bili level was at 13.2. They said it may be another couple of weeks until the jaundice is completely gone.

Aver's weight is now at her birth weight of 8.1 lbs putting her at a 68 percentile and her length was the same at 20.5 inches. Putting her at a 70 percentile. Her little cranium measured at a 50 percentile. The doc said she was an average little baby. We quickly corrected him and said she was above average, she was perfect!

Dr. Bell said that RSV is still going around. And since Avery has a cold, we have to take extra precautions. He said no big groups or being around children for atleast two more weeks.

Nick also surprised me with a trip to the salon tomorrow. I am in dire need of a haircut and color. He said I deserve it because I do not get more than two hours of sleep a night due to Avery being so sick. Thank you sweetheart!!

Monte also pulled a muscle in his leg today. He is not putting any weight on it. We are going to keep an eye on it tonight. If it does not get better by tomorrow, we are headed to the vet.

On another note, my best friend Emily has influenza. And since she is preggers, she cannot take any medicine to help her get better. Her 12 year old doggie, Sadie, is also really sick. She is going through a a really tough time right now, so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. We love you Emily!!!

And last but not least, here are some pictures of Avery. We took these the other night while she was napping. She makes some of the funniest faces while sleeping. We secretly wish we knew what exactly she was dreaming about!!

She is always pressing her lips together. 

I love her little pinkie finger!

Oh so tired!

I don't know why, but this is my ALL time favorite picture so far. She looks so innocent and funny. I laugh out loud every time I look at this one!!

Last but not least...

I had to share with you what Nick's latest adventure was.

He decided to shave his head! Aaahhh!! I threatened his life, but he decided to go ahead and chance it.

He actually looks very attractive. (Don't tell him I said so though!)

Before

During. (I was SO scared at this point!)

And finally.....After.

Happy Birthday Gracie

Gracie turned one on the 5th of April. We just wanted to post some pictures of her in her birthday hat.

We love you Gracie. Even when you decide to run away from mom knowing she can't run after you with her stitches and all.

Monte and Gracie have become best friends since Avery came home.

Good Bye Fiji...Hello Mom and Dad!

Avery visiting "Fiji'

Little Avery had a case of jaundice pretty intensely. The day we were released from the hospital, a nurse came and delivered a "Bili" bed for Ave to sleep on. We liked to call it Fiji to make it sound a little more enjoyable. We were instructed to keep her in this straight jacket looking tanning booth at all times unless we needed to feed her or change her diapers.

Nick an I were a little sad because all we wanted to was snuggle our little love bug. The first day was hard. I was worried she was uncomfortable all the time. (Even though she really didn't seem to mind.) We went to the doctor EVERY day last week except for Friday. We had to keep getting her little feet poked at to check her bili levels. On Monday it was 15.4 and by Thursday it had jumped to 17.8. The pediatrician told us we HAD to keep her under the lights at all times! No excuses. :( We sadly sent her back to Fiji to work on her tan a little more. We did good though, and actually followed the doctors orders.

On Friday, the doctor called and said we could interact with her a little more, but still needed to keep her there. By Saturday morning, her color looked well. She was released from Fiji and finally reunited with her mommy and daddy.

Her weight had plummeted pretty fast as well. When she was born she weighed 8.1 lbs. By Wednesday, she was down to under 7.5 lbs. But, by Saturday we had gotten her weight up to 7.11 lbs. Yay!

I also had to go see a lactation specialist. The lady I went to went to Stanford and really knew her stuff. She taught me the proper way to have Ave latch on. We are still learning, but I am not crying every time I think of nursing. When I was released from the hospital, I was already bleeding, blistered and bruised. No joke. It was the most painful feeling ever. I still have to pump because I produce so much. I literally can pump 8 ounces in one sitting. Holy Cow...I am a cow!

Funny story.... I chose a pediatrician by chance and a referral from my OB. When we met him at the hospital, Nick knew the guy. They had grown up together playing baseball. So, I know I can trust this doctor with my daughters life. He even told the lactation specialist to take really good care of us.

So all in all, Ave is looking great. We are still working on our night schedule. I was up from 1 AM to 5:30 AM. My poor baby girl seems to have a cold today. I keep checking her temperature, but she is only registering at 99 degrees. So, if I am a little hard to get a hold of, no worries. I am going full steam ahead trying to nurse Avers back to her healthy self and trying to catch up on my sleep whenever I can.

Thank you everyone for all of your help. Thank you for the dinners, words of support and endless love you have shown our little family. We are so grateful!

Farewell Fiji, hello Mommy and Daddy!