6 week happenings

We've made it 6 weeks! Supposedly recovery is supposed to be over at this mark, but I think I'll be going for awhile longer still. Friday was my first day home alone with the babe and the dog since my parents went to Florida for awhile. We celebrated by washing hair:

And we've been getting some social smiles over the past week or so. More pics to come as I can capture it.

We still need more recovery time from our 3 Thanksgivings, which were all fabulous.

We took our first walk as a family of three (plus Gracie) to Starbucks yesterday.

It's awfully quiet around here (when she decides to sleep)!

Our Second Child and Other Thanksgivings

We bought a car! God totally provided an amazingly nice 10 year old Saab station wagon with no problemos and low miles for muy cheapo! We are super thankful and will take good care of this new member of our family. We're thinking of naming it "Saabrina." Ha.
Back to child #1, however, Her Royal Cuteness. We are most thankful for this sweet baby, even when she fusses at night and has gas. Sorry. Here she is on her first Thanksgiving, which we celebrated Monday with the Ormsbee side. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving #2 with the Broweleits and Friday is #3 with the Marbles. Talk about a tryptophan coma. Will that transfer to Avery? Maybe that's why she's sleeping better!
God has truly blessed us this year with fabulous memories from Boston, our transition to living with and near family in Colorado, amazing friends by our side, and a beautiful new daughter, (and near complete healing with feeding!). His faithfulness is unending. We are so thankful!

Gifts

Last week, Colorado friends threw Avery her final shower. She is stocked with clothes now! My mom made a fabulous cross-stitch announcement for the nursery.She also presented Avery with the gown I was baptized in, which she made, along with a sweater and bonnet my great grandmother was christened in. WOW!

She also discovered some antique booties that belonged to family members before us.

Obviously the greatest gift is our super babe! She weighs 9lb 1 oz this week, and we are making progress getting back to breastfeeding!

The Crib Arrived!

We finally finished the nursery! We put the crib together this week. Minus a really cool cross-stitch that mom made with her birth information which will soon find its way into the nursery, we like it. There's a lot going on but it totally works:)

I tried taking a one month picture with Avery in her outfit that mom stitched her name on it, the hat that Tim's mom made, and with hear teddy that Uncle Paul and Aunt Jaya gave her on her birthday. This is the best I got, however. She wasn't having it, even after 3 different attempts throughout the day. I think it's the gassy tummy she's been having the past few days. Less happy time:(

Look at her little "mini robot" onesie we found in Paris! It has a robot on the front.
4 week doctor's appointment tomorrow! We'll see how much she weighs since the 2 week 7 lb 12 oz. Keep up the prayers for healing so I can go back to breastfeeding ASAP - that's the main thing consuming us these days!

Four Crazy Weeks.

Our little Button Cutikins Chicalica will be 4 weeks tomorrow. We are celebrating with a Colorado shower! Avery can't wait to see all the new things she will get to wear and play with in the future:) We think we need a celebration for getting through these 4 weeks!

Recovery has been a much slower process than I anticipated, and I've had some very low points along the way. Breastfeeding continues to be a challenge- so much so that I've been on a week+ break from breastfeeding (pumping and giving a bottle instead) in order to allow myself complete healing from some damage done by my Baracuda sucker. Lately I've been wondering if I will ever be healed! As soon as I'm feeling better and let her feed, everything seems to get worse again. But we are on the road to success and are just taking more time to heal.

In the meantime she continues to be a joy to us and is just plain wonderful. I have more help than the average mama with both grandmas living here this week. Hopefully in the next week or two we will be rolling in normalcy and be able to take walks and outings (even if in the snow!) like regular people!

Here are some more pics of Miss Cuteness.