It's been so long...

SO, since it's now mid-May and our last posting was December it's pretty obvious that we haven't been keeping up on our blog... Everything is great, but life is busy with an almost 9 month-old baby, work, family, etc.

To that end we wanted to provide some closure to this blog, to those (if there are still any) who are checking in for updates.

Please find us on Facebook, as we are much more dilligent about keeping that updated. Below are a few recent pictures of Avery from Easter Sunday.

So long for now blog...

Merry Christmas

It's been a busy few weeks preparing for Avery's first Christmas and my first days back at work. Thankfully I'm able to ease my way back into work a few days a week. I started back on Tuesday December 16th and will work a few days a week until the first week in January when I will resume working Monday - Thursday.

We are blessed to have both grandmothers willing and able to watch Avery while I work- so she will be spending two days a week with Reed's Mom, two days a week with my Mom and Fridays home with me. Last week she spent a day at each grandma's house, and did wonderfully- I think that I shed more tears then she did.

Avery is growing and thriving and has become quite the little attention-getter. Everywhere we take her we see people smiling at her and commenting on how cute she is. And usually she is happy to smile and talk with anyone.

Fall Recap

Time sure goes by fast, as evidenced by the time elapsed since our last post. Avery is growing and thriving. At her 12 week check-up she was 24 7/8 inches long (97th percentile) and 11 lbs 7 oz (35th percentile). Because she's so long/tall she has already grown into 6-month size sleepers and one piece outfits.

Avery is now one day shy of 15 weeks and her fun, playful personality is emerging. She's been smiling and cooing for quite a while now and recently started laughing outloud when watching daddy and Bailey playing "chase".

Here are some fun pictures of our little sweetie:

Family Trip to Louisiana

Avery went on her first plane ride. Christine, Avery and I went down to Louisiana to visit my family. So being 51 days old we figured it was time for her to get on a plane. She was great just about the whole time. Because of a lot of driving and flying that was needed, we were traveling for a total of 24 hours, and she probably only cried for less then an hour of that. Here are some pictures of our trip:

From Seattle, to Dallas, to Shreveport, to New Orleans

Hangin out with Great Grandpa:

Wearing her LSU outfit while watching the game with Great Grandma:
In Jackson Square, with St. Louis Cathedral in the background in New Orleans:
Just hanging out in the car:

PICTURES!!!!

Avery is growing and developing great. She tracks us, smiles, almost rolled over (she got stuck half way) and laughed in her sleep once. She also has some crazy hair, just like her mom did when she was young. She has also been sleeping through the night. I guess waking up at 3 am, isn't technically through the night, but she is sleeping for 7 hours straight. We are very thankful for that.

Here are some new pictures of our wonderful daughter:

A painful recovery and a growing girl

Sorry, for the lack of updates. Bailey our dog got attacked by a couple of pit bulls on September 6th, so we have busy trying to make him better and taking care of Avery. Thankfully Bailey is alive, though he is very, very lucky to be.

He has about 8 puncture wounds over his whole body, literally from head to toe. Christine was walking him when it happened and probably saved his life by kicking and punching the dogs and holding on to his leash. Thankfully a neighbor came out to help before I rushed out there. Avery was peacefully inside the house during the whole ordeal.

Bailey is physically getting better but mentally he currently is a different dog. Hopefully with time he will be back to the playful loving dog that he is.

On to a much happier topic, Avery. She is getting bigger , giving us smiles, and doing a great job of eating and pooping. The last picture is us trying to find a little bit of joy in Bailey's situation and taking advantage of him being on two different pain meds.

More pictures of sweet baby Avery

We have been home for a few days, and are working on getting into a routine. Avery is doing well- and is eating with a very healthy appetite. I am healing and feeling better every day, especially thanks to my pain medication. It's amazing how much you can love someone you've just met.

Here are some more pictures of Avery from the past couple of days.

Hello World...

...my name is Avery.

And with what only can be discribed as a ROAR, Avery Elizabeth Baker entered the world at 5:16 am on August 20, 2008.

At 12:30 am on August 19th, Christine's water broke, by 4 am we were at the hospital. My 9 am she was on pitocin and the contractions were getting stronger, but then it happened, or it actually wasn't happening. Christine was still only 1 cm dilated, she had been that way since August 18th, and now is was 11:30 pm on the 19th. She was having contractions like she should of been at least 7 cm, but she wasn't dilated any further and apparantly Avery was very happy to be where she was that, thank you very much

So after 11:30 pm, it was decided to give her an epidural to help her possibly relax more and more importantly help her with the pain. Usually they don't give epidurals until one is at least 3 cm, but with Christine's pain becoming more and more unbearable, it was necessary.

After a short little nap, at 4 am, August 20th, Christine was only 2.5 cm dilated; this is not good. So the options were presented which included, wait another 8 hours for a possible non c-section birth, but that was only about 10-15% likely of happening. Also at this point Avery's heart rate was dropping in between contractions making Christine have to frequently change positions. No fun also. So the likely hood of having a c-section was there no matter what, and we decided earlier that this was a good choice if needed.

At 4:30 am she was wheeled into the operating room and at 5:16 am, Avery came into the world. Mom and child are both doing very well. Christine is recovering on schedule and Avery is doing all the things babies do (eating, sleeping, pooping). She was 6 lbs 14 ozs and 19 inchs long, with a head covered in black hair.

We want to thank everybody for the love and support that has given to us and we are excited for Avery to meet you.

It's time

Christine and I are currently at the hospital. We have been here since about 4 am, a few hours after her water broke. Things are progressing slow and steady and hopefully we will have pictures of our little girl soon!

Due date- come & gone

Today is Friday, August 15th - Avery's due date, and no baby yet.

There has been a little more progress this week, and some probable undercover contractions. I've experienced some intermitent lower back aches, that I've been told by several other women are probably the beginings of contractions. So far nothing consistent or what I anticipate full-blown contractions to be. So we pray and wait expectantly for her arrival.

My next appointments (OB and acupuncture) are on Monday the 18th - more info then!

Waiting on baby

I went in yesterday, Monday the 11th for another check-up. Thankfully there was more progress, and even some dilation. For now we are going to stay the course with walking and acupuncture to get labor started.

I am scheduled for my next follow-up appointment next Monday the 18th (if no labor by then). My doctor said that he will look to induce the week of August 25th if Avery hasn't arrived by then.

My last scheduled day of work is this Thursday the 14th- yeah!! We are hoping that Avery arrives soon, so that I can spend my time off with her, instead of waiting for her. :)

The countdown begins

We are less then a week from Avery's due date- Friday August 15th.

At my appointment last Monday, August 4th there was a little bit of "progess". Tomorrow (Monday the 11th) is my next appointment, so I am interested to see what my doctor says at that visit. Last Monday he did suggest trying acupuncture to get things going- so I went once on Thursday and on Saturday, but so far no baby.

Overall I am feeling pretty good besides some swollen feet and hands. We know that Avery will come when she's ready, and we are getting more and more excited to meet her.

Just add baby...

It's 38 weeks and 2 days & we are officially ready for Avery to be born. Her laundry's done, car seat installed, swing assembled and room complete. So now we wait... I did have one contraction on Saturday afternoon, but that was it. I go in Monday afternoon for my 38 week check-up.

Here is a picture from 37 weeks and some pictures of Avery's completed nursery: