September Happenings

The month of September flew by in the blink of an eye!

 I went back to work this month, we celebrated a bunch of birthday, and just continued to get into to the swing of the school year and 2 kids. Here are the girls before church one Sunday. I am seriously loving that our church meets at 12:30 right now. We have time to wake up, eat a nice family breakfast and get ready for church without rushing.

 Football is BACK!!! I loved dressing these two to cheer on our tigers, I am looking forward to MANY more matching outfits in our future.

 On September 10, after Avery's gymnastic class, we loaded up the car and I took the girls to the zoo. The Doc McStuffin's DocMobile was there. Avery LOVES Doc! For some reason I thought that it wasn't going to be too crowded since it was a school day. Boy was I wrong. There were about 1000 people there! It was super hot and we had to wait in line to get to the DocMobile.

 But it was totally worth it to see my sweet girl have fun. Inside the DocMobile, they had little stations where you could give your toy a check-up.

 You can tell she is the daughter of 2 medical professionals, because she was doing an accurate, thorough exam :)

 We even got to see Doc! Of course my child goes "That's not the real Doc, she was just dressed up like her" Nothing gets past this kid.

 That evening we went up to the Danielle Inn to cook Mom dinner and celebrate her birthday. I am so thankful she is close enough for us to pop in and do things like this on the weeknights.

We celebrated Julian's 5th birthday at a splash pad/park. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time swinging, playing in the sand and splashing in the water.

Happy birthday Juju!!!

Sweet cousins!

Baby girl was worn out from all the party excitement.

This little girl LOVES her baby sister. This is just one of many pictures that I have of them cuddling. 

Avery got the crud in the middle of September. She was sick for about a week. But antibiotics, rest and some cuddles on momma fixed her right up.

Which brings us to the end of September and my birthday. I made a big pot of gumbo and we watched LSU get beaten by Bama :(



First Haircut and Zoo trip!

Avery Yvonne got her first hair cut August 30. There is this really cute salon in Covington that caters to the kids.

 I had heard that if I got her curls "shaped" they would be easier to manage.

 Here is our little Curly Q playing at the salon.

 Here is her beautiful blow out. It was so funny, the stylist barely cut anything off. I could tell she felt bad for charging us for a haircut. She did do a great job straightening it out though.

 It was more of an "experience" than an actual haircut. Avery did great. Afterward, she kept saying that she didn't need her hair in a ponytail because it was "short" now. Silly girl!

 

 The next day we went to the Zoo! We had a free Saturday and were trying to decide what to do. Avery said lets go to the zoo, so we went. Even though it was 120 degrees outside.

 We got a see the elephant show, Avery even got to pet one.

 No zoo trip is complete without Roman Candy. Can you tell how hot we were?

 This girl is hilarious!

Little bit was such a trooper. She stayed in her stroller the whole time and didn't even fuss. I took her out in the air conditioned restaurant by the swamp area. Her poor hair in the back was all wet from sweat. I am definitely learning how to be more laid back with baby #2. When Avery was a baby our lives revolved around her nursing schedule. We would always be home for her to eat in private. Now that we have two and are running the roads with Avery, my modesty has gone out the door.

I have fed this child in public these past 2 months more than I did Avery the entire time she was nursing. It was funny though, at the zoo I was feeling self conscious about nursing, when Josh pointed out the table right behind us had 3 mommas all nursing their babies too. Hippy mommas unite :)

Alexa Claire 2 months

Alexa Claire you are 2 months old!

You weigh 11.4 pounds (50%) and are 22.75 inches long (60%) 

You are wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes.

 What are you up to this month?

You are eating every 2-3 hours, with one 4-5 hour stretch of sleep at night.

Your favorite sleep though is cuddling with momma, which I am trying to get out of that habit.

You love your Moby wrap too, its another excuse to cuddle up against me :) I can get lots of stuff done as long as your snuggled in your wrap.

 You love bath time! If you are being fussy in the evening, all I have to do is lay you in your tub (even with no water and fully dressed) and you quiet down. Your sister loves to help me wash you hair. You love to kick your feet and splash. You also REALLY want to suck those fingers, but momma won't let you :)

 You have started to socially smile this month! It is so exciting to watch you become more aware and responsive to your surroundings.

Since Avery is back at school, we are trying to get your scheduled down. Right now we do cycles of Eat, play then sleep.

 You absolutely love your sister, it is so sweet to see you respond to her when she talks to you. She absolutely loves you too. Her first question when she wakes up or comes home is "Where is my sister"

You are such a GOOD BABY! I thought your sister was good, but realized she was good because we held her all the time! You are so content to sit in your car seat and travel the world with us. We have been very busy! You went to the Zoo for the first time this month. It was so HOT! but you were a trooper and never even fussed.

Your daddy and I thank God everyday for you! You are such a sweet addition to our family. We love you so much and enjoy every sweet moment with you.

First day of School!

Avery started her second year of preschool on August 19th.

She is in the "Monkey" classroom. Her teachers are Ms. Stacy and Ms. Joy

She is going 3 days a week now Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

 I was so nervous about getting up and ready with two kids, that the Saturday before school started, we had a test run. We all got up and got ready for 7:45 am. We celebrated with a trip to IHOP.

Her real first day went very smoothly. She got up easily, ate a good breakfast.

 And of course we had to take the obligatory front door pictures. I can't wait to look back on these pictures when she is graduating high school.

 Josh was even able to go into work a little later, so we were all able to bring her to school.

 She went right in and sat at her seat. It was an easy transition this year, because all of the kids in her class are the same from last year.

That afternoon when I picked her up, we went to Great American Cookie Co. to decorate cookies. Every Monday they let you decorate your own. Of course my little sweet tooth loved that.

1 Month Old!

Alexa Claire you are 1 month old!

 and obviously not very happy about it :)

 

At your 6 week check up you were 9 pounds 11 ounces (50%)

and 21.5 inches long (50%)

You are filling out your newborn clothes and newborn sized diapers.

We are still working on a routine. I am trying to get you into a wake, eat, sleep schedule.

You are sleeping pretty well at night. You sleep in the rock and play bassinet at our bedside.

My favorite part of the night though is when I put you in bed with me to nurse.



You umbilical cord fell off at 3 weeks, and you have the cutest little belly button.

You are so very alert and don't miss a thing. You like to be in the moby wrap, close to mommy and in the middle of everything.

You are such a blessing to our family. There really was never a transition period or anything. You just came in and made yourself right at home in our family.
Avery LOVES you so much. She will sit and hold you for an entire 30 min show.
I love watching y'all together and cannot wait for you to continue growing and interacting with us.
We love you so much Alexa Claire!

July 2013

We spent the month of July laying low and getting into our new routine of a family of four. I am so thankful that I had Alexa during the summer. Avery was off of school so she got to be home with us all day. It was really good for us all to be home together without as many obligations.

 Avery has been the best big sister. She never passes up a moment to hold her baby, she is so helpful with getting burp clothes, pacifiers, diapers or wipes. She loves talking and singing to her baby sister.

 

July 6-11, Leslie and her gang came in to visit. It was the perfect excuse to get as many of the Danford's together for a crawfish boil.

 

 Boomer and Stacey were even able to come out with Baby Ruby.

 Momma's and their babies! Praying for baby Ben to be home soon to join the mix.

 Avery was non stop! She was so happy to be around so much family. She was swimming and swinging and loving on the babies. She finally passed our kneeling on the sofa.

 

 

 

July 26th Josh went out of town for a Master's seminar. It was my first weekend home alone with the girls! Thankfully Josh's mom took Avery one night so I wasn't totally overwhelmed. I picked her up that Saturday and we had a girls' night!

 Gotta have ice cream!

 That Sunday our church had a Cochon de Lait. It was at a nice park in Covington. One of our church members even brought a miniature horse for pony rides!

And here is a little side by side of our two girls. It is amazing how much they are starting to look like each other!