Birthday Bash

What do you get when you add 7 adults, 5 kids 4 years old and under, a community play, and two birthdays?  A birthday bash in Ephrata!  This weekend, we made our first road trip since Avery was born.  Bryan and I have birthdays two days apart (we're two years apart--fun for my mom to plan birthday parties when we were little, I'm sure!).  We had a great time with my family which has added seven family members to the original Johnson Five.  It's pretty fun and we're all blessed!  Rachel was in the Quincy Community Play, "The Wizard of Oz".  My parents and Chad and I (with Avery in tow) attempted to go the play, but our normally laid-back baby wanted nothing of sleeping in her carseat while we watched the play.  We at least got to see Rachel in one scene before heading home to the kids who were kindly being babysat by Bryan and Katie.  It was great to get out of town for a bit, especially since Ephrata was nice and sunny (for February), and Spokane was experiencing yet another snow storm.  :)

 Birthday Buddies

 Bryan showing off his new reading material, head tilt and all.

 The 12 of us.

 This wasn't from this weekend, but too cute not to share. :)  This kid loves his little sister.

Avery and cousin Shannon, almost 2 months apart.

My delightful honey badger and me.

Two Months!

Avery is two months old tomorrow.  We had her well check today, and she is growing well.

Weight: 12 lb. 6 oz (80th percentile)  *She's gained 5 pounds since birth!
Height: 23 3/4 inches (95th percentile)
Head circumference: 15 3/4 in. (90th percentile)

She continues to be delightful--she rarely fusses or cries and is just a content little one.  She smiles easily, coos often, and loves watching her older siblings while they go about their day.  Her night sleep could be a bit more predictable for me, but I try to tell myself that it will even out eventually.  I think the way I feel about have a third child can be summed up in this blog post that my doctor recently shared with me.  Really, you should take a moment to read it if you have three kids, or you're contemplating having three kids


http://momastery.com/blog/2010/07/01/one-two-three-5/

 This is kind of a fuzzy picture, but you can see her little dimple on her right cheek. 

Jack and Haylee love to be around her. Jack is always saying how cute Avery is, and he has little conversations with her.   He's very good about making sure she has her pacifier if she's tired, or that she has a toy next to her when she lays on her blanket on the floor.  I think Haylee's favorite activity is to help me give Avery a bath.  She asks about it every morning.  Grandma LaVine gave her a baby for Christmas that could get wet and so Haylee helps me give Avery a bath, and when we're done, she gives her baby a bath.  She's so cute about it, and has to do everything just like we did during Avery's bath.  (You can see Haylee's baby floating in the water--we don't let Avery float in the water like that...) 

 Jack and Haylee thought Avery should have Lego Star Wars and Princesses read aloud to her.  You can see her rapt attention. :)  The brief interaction allowed me to unload the dishwasher in peace--yeah!

 We love our Baby Avery! 

Scenes from the House

So, we've been a bit house-bound lately.  The weather isn't wonderful, we have a newborn, and the thought of getting three kids out the door just seems like a lot of work! :)  It's just far easier to stay at home and play most of the day.  We've had a few outings, but we've enjoyed being home most days.  This is the last time in life where we'll have such flexibility in our schedules...Jack starts kindergarten in the fall, commencing the start of a schedule determining how we spend our days. 

 Avery helping Haylee wake up in the morning. 

 A similar picture from days gone by. :) Jack and Haylee, May 2009.

 

 Haylee's self portrait...love it.

 Jack has been spending lots of time with Zorro lately.  Here's a rare nap for Jack, with Zorro by his side snoozing away. :)

Zorro is so patient.  Look at that content face.

  Grandpa and Grandma LaVine have provided some fun outings for both the kids and me.  So, that helps a lot! 

We are looking forward to spring and getting outside, but we've found ways to have fun inside, too. :)  

You Be the Judge

I've heard that Avery looks like both Jack and Haylee.  I found some similar pictures of them.  What do you think?

 Haylee

 Avery

Bathtime Jack

Bathtime Avery

And speaking of lookalikes, I've thought cousin Shannon resembles Haylee at the same age. Here they both are at three months.  What do you think? :) (Haylee is the top picture, Shannon is the bottom.)

One Month Old

Avery is one month old today!  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit relieved to it make to this milestone.  The first month is hard for me with all the adjustments to a newborn.  However, Avery is quite the content little lady and the adjustment has gone about as well as could be expected with a baby who is born right before Christmas.  Oh, and we do have a birth announcement to send out with a (very late) Christmas letter.  Hopefully those can go out early next week!  I'm finding it difficult to accomplish many projects with three little ones needing a lot of attention these days.  Thank goodness for supportive friends and family.

These two are adjusting pretty well to having a little sister around.  The oldest has probably taken it in stride the best, although Haylee is doing quite well, too.  When Avery cries, she alternates between saying, "Oh, my baby sister is crying.  You need to pick her up!" and "No, Avery, DON'T CRY!" ;)   Overall, she's enjoying having a little sister around.  And I'm enjoying the fact that the two older ones play well together most of the time.

(They love sitting at the counter to eat breakfast and lunch.)

Girls' Day

.

 

My blessed in-laws took this guy (who I really miss) for a special day with Grandpa and Grandma today, leaving me with a lot of...

...Sugar

 (Don't you love her hair?  Fresh out of the bath, she is a complete fluff-head.)

And Spice...

And everything nice.

Our Surprise Blessing: Avery Rachel

Wow.  What a year 2011 turned out to be!  I think God is trying to teach me to be a more flexible person. :)   Chad and I had decided that we were done having our own children (well, we hadn't made it final) but in our minds, our next child would be an adopted one.  So, imagine our surprise when we found out we were pregnant.  Then, selling our house, waiting for our new house and moving into this house seven weeks before Avery was born have made me even more certain God was trying to make me more flexible.  

On the day I was being induced with Avery, we had another curve ball thrown our direction.  (Oh, wait, we had two curveballs.  The night before going to the hospital, we found out our computer had contracted a virus and someone was trying to steal our identity.  Really?  Thankfully, we were able to put a stop to that, but this is the reason why this post is so late.) The plan was all set in place: Jack and Haylee were going to stay the night at Grandpa and Grandma LaVine's house the night before, and Chad and I would wake up early the next morning and be at the hospital at 6:30 to begin the induction.  We had a playdate all set up for the kids (Thanks, Carly!) in the morning so Brad and Carol could come see Avery as soon as she was born. This is how things went with Haylee and we had a healthy beautiful baby girl by 12:34 p.m.  

Well, Deaconess called at 5:30 the morning of December 21st and told us that all their labor and delivery rooms were full and would we mind calling back at 9 a.m. to see if any were open?  What?!  When does this happen?  So, Chad and I watched probably 4 episodes of Lost.  Then, we called the hospital at 9 a.m. and they asked us to call back at noon because they still weren't ready.  As my friend Steph wrote in a text to me that morning, "Don't they know you are a planner??"  But, what can you do?  So, we watched more Lost, ate a light meal and finally got the green light to head to the hospital at noon. 

I was hooked up to pitocin at 1:00 and then we waited another 9 hours for Avery to make her appearance.  Apparently, sometimes with the third child, it takes them a while to drop.  Thankfully, I had a lovely epidural and didn't have a lot of pain,  However, I was stressing out a bit because my parents had come to town, Bryan and Rachel had made a quick trip to Spokane to meet Avery, and Brad and Carol were coming to the hospital with Jack and Haylee so they could meet Avery after she was born.  I needed to get this girl out so people could go to bed.  But, everything went well and Avery made her arrival at 10:17 p.m., healthy, beautiful and totally worth it all.  She weighed 7 lb. 5 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Our smallest baby yet.  She reminded us of Jack just moments after birth with both her features and demeanor .  (Later I'll do a blog post about who looks like who.)  We are so thankful for this surprise gift from the Lord.  She's sweet, and while newborn land can be a bit taxing, Chad and I feel more relaxed this time around.  We've both wondered why we couldn't have good perspective with the first child (we were so stressed about every little thing), but we're enjoying this time. Well, so far at least.  We're only two weeks in. :)  Here are the pictures.

 First picture of the new Dad of three. 

 Jack meeting Avery for the first time.  Major props to Grandparents LaVine as the kids were p-e-r-f-e-c-t in the hospital even though it was almost three hours past their bedtime.

 

 Haylee finally has a real Baby Avery.

 The only picture Chad and I are in together.  That is our great doctor who delivered all three LaVine children.

 Grandma LaVine and Avery Rachel.

 Grandma Johnson and Avery.

 Grandpa LaVine.

 Uncle Bryan and Grandpa Johnson.

 Aunt Heidi happened to be in town from Missouri and got to meet brand-new Avery.

 Aunt Rachel: the middle namesake. :)

 Grandparents Johnson.

 Love that little face.

 

At home.

Our dear friend Anna and Avery.

She's the sweetest little baby.