Robert Hood Avery

Is here! Born Friday, May 21, 2010 at 10:04 p.m.  8 lbs 1 oz. and 20.5 inches long.  Praise the Lord!

Please pardon the excessively posed and overly "fake" looking smile. I was trying hard to keep my teeth from chattering from the epidural.

Emma LOVES baby Robert.  And she LOVES to give lots and lots of kisses.

Welcome home baby Robert!

We love you!

More to come later on the birth story. But Praise the Lord, He provided for a successful VBAC and 

I've felt 100x better than I did after delivering Emma.

Overtime

Overdue. Overtime. Extra Innings. Encore.  Whatever you want to call it, we're there.  Yesterday came and went.  No baby.  Of course any due date is merely an "Estimated Date of Delivery" and less than 15% of all babies in the U.S. are actually born on their due dates.  Interestingly, some research I've been reading says that gestation peaks at a maternal age of 29.  Lucky me.  So, we wait.

Thank you for all the calls, emails, texts, billboards and other communications to check on us. We're doing good and just trying to be patient to see what the Lord has in store for this baby and our family.  I am fully aware that the longer this pregnancy continues, the more invested the viewing audience becomes...so please know, we'll let everyone know as soon as we have any news!

As far as a "plan" goes, we're just waiting.  If we get to next week, I'll go back to the Dr. for some testing to make sure the baby is ok, and that my placenta is holding up well.  (TMI anyone?) Assuming all the tests indicate complete health for baby and me, we'll keep waiting...at least another week...before throwing in the towel and scheduling a section.

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers.  The Lord certainly has a plan for this dear angel, and I'm continuing to pray that He will align the desires of my heart with His Ways.  The silver lining has definitely been that I've gotten to spend LOTS more quality time with Emma since I sort of think we should something SUPER fun every day (seeing as how it might be the last day it is just the two of us for a little while).

Ok, off to find more things to do...dare I even make a new to-do list?  We'll see!

Big Girl Room and Nursery

First things first. No baby yet.  

Now, since I'm running down the end of my to-do lists (which NEVER happens) as we keep waiting, I thought I'd finally post some long overdue pictures of Emma's big girl room.  It is one big explosion of pink and green and covered with flowers--just as happy as Emma's sweet personality!

The dresser and nightstand I found on craigslist for $100 for BOTH of them!  Then I had Becky and Minerva's in Homewood refinish them, and that's where I found the bed too. Plus, the head board and foot board can be separated if need be for matching twin beds later.

Below is the small baby bed where all of E's "friends" sleep. Not too long ago, they all slept in her bed...

The plaque has the words to "You are my sunshine"--and it came from Minerva's too. Can I say enough good things about that place?  The kid, however, is an original--NOT store bought. :)

Ta-Da!

And in the nursery, we've gone from this:

To:

I LOVE that I didn't have to do much to the nursery (except the cleaning out and organizing). It looks almost just like it did when we brought Emma home. Just sent a few things to the cleaners, and voila.  Insta-nursery.

We did make some minor adjustments--like the addition of a twin bed, where I will sleep for the first 12 weeks or so.

Fyi--don't open that closet door beside the bed. You'll kill yourself with what's crammed inside.  No lie.  

And the last new addition is the Noah's Ark print over the changing table that Ammy and Cece brought us back from Israel.  It tells the story of Noah's Ark in Hebrew. What a treasure! Thank you!

That probably sums it up. Hope you enjoyed the mini-tour.  All that's missing now is the baby!

SHOCKING News

Still. No. Progress.  The vault is closed folks.  This kid ain't escaping anytime soon.

At least I know my womb is hospitable, dare I even say "homey."  I pass some of my time imagining this little guy setting up shop in there--moving in furniture, hanging blinds, finding some ear plugs for when I move in large crowds of loud people.  If any of me thought No. 2 was a girl, I think I'd imagine her learning to knit, or perfecting some other calm and relaxed pastime that in no way indicates ANY INTENTION OF VACATING THE PREMISES SOON.


Well dear No. 2, the Lord is teaching me patience.  And as your mother, I WILL outlast you.   In other words, I will wait as long as they tell me it is medically advisable before evicting you.  So, before you purchase that new in utero baby lounger, you might want to check out a short term rental policy.

Top 10 Things I Learned (from Wednesday)

Believe it or not, I started this post a few days ago. Sorry for the delay...

10. The Target on 150 BLOWS AWAY Hwy. 280.  Seriously. (but shhhhh.  let's keep it a secret. don't want to ruin the new store organization).


9. Chick-fil-a Peach milkshakes are yum-a-licious.

8. Closed garbage bags do NOT adequately protect infant car seats from dust and other grossness while in storage.


7.  Even after asking how far along a I am, AND if it is a boy or a girl, perfect strangers still can't understand that we don't know the gender of this baby.  So they ask the follow up question: "Are you going to find out before the baby gets here?"   Yeah, we just wanted to hold out until 2 weeks before I give birth.  THAT'S what we were waiting for.


6. It is possible to teach the Eminator "sleep rules:"  1. stay in bed; 2. stay quiet; 3. stay still.


5. There is an iphone app called OB Patient Tracker.  It prioritizes patients according to due date (and 3 other criteria) and generates a list for the Dr.'s reference.  Seriously folks.

4. I am #1 on my Doc's. list.

3. Despite my top priority, Doc believes there are at least 3 other patients who will have their babies before me.

2. So, it turns out (contrary to Coach Shoop's mantra), the body WON'T do anything the mind tells it to. I have not progressed at all, i.e. no baby anytime soon.


1. Jason and I have precious little undivided time left with this angel before her world is TOTALLY rocked.