Avery's Firsts.

A few bubbles and lots of cries. This afternoon was eventful for Miss Avery. She experienced a couple first and also was the star of a photo shoot. Her aunt Carly wanted to capture Avery in the first few days of life. Let's just say that Avery wasn't able to sleep from 12:30 in the afternoon till 5:30. Carly's "supplies" were soiled in the process as well. Poor baby was beyond exhausted by the time we got home. The pictures are well worth it. Check her out here or here.

PICTURES coming Soon!

Besides Avery being tired, her mom was spent as well. Going on a 15 minute walk, not sitting down for three hours while trying to calm a crying baby is hard for anyone, let alone someone who had a C-section six days ago. We both went home and slept. When daddy came home he fixed dinner and then the fun began. We gave AVery her first bath. She did great! Some moments captured by the camera. How can you not love that face?

I would like to announce that she is now warm snuggled in her bed sleeping soundly.

I need to go to bed as well!

Until Avery's next milestone...

Daddy

I have some time on my hands now that I am HOME with Miss Avery. It is so wonderful to be here with her. To take every moment in...

I was thinking about the time that we were able to spend together this past week in the hospital. My dear sweetheart was so very charming catering to mine and his little girls every need. Avery is so very lucky to have a daddy like Mr. Pendleton.
Just a couple of EXAMPLES:

1. During Labor I became a little (understatement) nauseous due to the medications. I only had a few seconds to express the discomfort to my sweetheart and then Mr. Upchuck made himself know. Instead of turning away in discuss, he held out his hands. I love him. The rest of the labor I was dry-heaving and he was there comforting me.
2. He made sure he was up helping me during the nightly feedings, even if he could only offer his reassurance. We had a routine I would nurse our little one, and daddy would take Miss Avery into his arms so her mommy could get some rest. He then would burp her, change her, and rock her back to sleep. I didn't change a diaper until the day we were leaving the hospital, which was about four days.
3. Every night James gets up when his little girl BEGINS to wake up. It takes her mommy until she begins to cry to hear her, but not Mr. Pendleton. He is there at the first coo.
4. He honorably holds the Priesthood. One night during our stay, a nurse came over the intercom asking if there was a Priesthood holder able to help give a blessing to a patient in the ICU. James handed me our little one and headed to the ICU. This is one of the greatest blessings in my life. Thank you sweetheart. Whats the priesthood? check out this website.
5. James loves to cuddle and rock his little girl. Also, since he has become a dad, he is more willing to snuggle up to me as well. Man, I love that!

These are just a few things I was pondering on... Sorry for the mushy parts. I just had a baby and my hormones are still kinda out of whack.

PS I love you, Mr. Pendleton.

She's Here...

Miss peanut isn't a peanut anymore, and we are so THANKFUL for that. We are both thankful she got here safely and James is especially thankful her mom and auntie won't refer to her by Miss Peanut anymore.

Yesterday, I slowly walked over to the couch where James was sitting to snuggle up to him in efforts to take an afternoon nap. I noticed that he was on our blog, but it wasn't the blog page. Instead he had found his way to the Posting tab and was TYPING. My heart jumped. I love reading James' post... they are always a treat for me and it usually means something really significant has just happened. The difference this time was that I didn't even mention or hint to the fact that it would be nice to hear his "version" of the story. Usually I have to coax him to even consider logging on but this time was different. Thank you, babe. I love his version so much that I am not going to add to it. Its perfect... besides he remembers details better than I do most of the time anyways.

I just wanted to talk about the beauty of PARENTHOOD.

It has only been five days in our journey but we have already learned so much. It is amazing how much our love for her can grew each day. Here are a few things that we know about our little one.

The FIRST week:

She doesn't like her hands tucked into a swaddle,

they need to be free to raise over her head.

She is an VERY eager eater, during her nursery days

her sucking ability was the talk of the nursery.

She already can recognize her mom & dad's voice.

She loves to snuggle.

I know she can't really "smile" yet,

but she gives a little grin when she is pleased.

She has the longest eyelashes which her mom is envious of:

Where did they come from?

She is a tooter, I told her dad it was "her" that was gassy

when I was pregnant not me.

She has her mother's nose,

including the big nostrils according to her dad.

She is a good sleeper:

can even sleep through a wash cycle, which sakes the whole house.

Makes the cutest sighs.

Has her parents wrapped around her little finger already.

We love you, little one.

Here is Avery's first portrait taken by Hospital staff.

AVERY LYN PENDLETON

Avery Lyn Pendleton was born on Tuesday Aug. 25th at 12:41 pm. She was 7 lbs. 12 oz and 19 inches long. She is absolutely adorable! Katy has been an amazing mother, which I had no doubt about, that's why I married her. Avery was delivered by C-section after about 10 hours of labor. We went to the hospital after Katy's water broke at 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning. As soon as we got to the hospital Katy started having pretty strong contractions and decided after a few hours that she would have an epidural. She dilated to a 10 at about 10:45 a.m. and because the baby's heart rate had been dropping due to Katy's throwing up all morning the doctor decided to not start pushing and see if Avery would drop down into the birth canal by herself. At about 11:30 the doctor decided to go ahead with the pushing. Katy did great with pushing but our little Avery didn't move, after about 45 mins doctor Harward told Katy she could push for 2 more hours and see what happens or we could go with a c-section right then. Katy chose the C-section which I was completely fine with. I had been planning on that for some time to be honest because our doctor had continually warned us that it was very possible because of Katy's small body frame. At about 12:20 p.m. Katy headed off to the OR and I got dressed in some medical outfit and headed to the OR to meet her. The doctor test the meds to see if Katy could feel things and Katy jumped claiming to feel it, so the anethseciologist suggested to put her all the way under. Because at that point it was a full fledged surgery they asked me to step outside and wait for the baby. I was a nervous husband at that point but I was confident in our doctor. About five mins after i sat down outside I heard a scream and knew that little Avery had made it. The nurse came right out and got me and as I walked in the OR I saw the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. She was completely blue and the doctors seemed a little worried, but after about five minutes everything was great and Avery was laying there on the table still. Katy was still being sown up so they took Avery and I to the nursery for her to be assessed and to get her ready for the room. I spent the next hour with my new daughter in the nursery as she went from screaming from shots to enjoying her first soothing bath. It was a wonderful hour but I was quite worried about my wife at this point. Then the call came to the nursery and it was Katy inquiring about Avery and everything was wonderful from her stand point. I was a happy and proud husband and father at this point and was very excited to start my new life as a dad. I have to say(although I'm sure all dads claim this)Avery is the most beautiful girl ever born. It has now been five days since that all took place and although my body is tired from the lack of sleep I am one very happy man. Katy and Avery are the two most wonderful people ever! Although there is many more things I could say about the past five days I will just post some pictures and let them do the talking.

Katy during labor.

Dot- Katy's mom sleeping during the labor.
Two very eager soon to be parents.
Getting ready to go to the OR
The very first picture taken of baby Avery.

Mom and Avery's first picture together.

Mom's favorite pic of Avery getting ready to go home.

BABY AVERY's STORY

Welcome Home, sweet Angel.

PAST DUE!!!

Notice the babystrology on the side bar says 0, the question is will it say -1 tomorrow. Here it is 11:30 Saturday night the 22nd and NO baby yet. I somewhat feel bad for Katy and her endless stretching skin that she always talks about, but you know its hard for an expectant dad to wait too. The longer we wait the more Katy spends money on clothes and gadgets that she has forgotten to get. The more massages I have to give each night to put Katy to sleep. The more meals I have to prepare so Katy can relax. Not to mention the anticipation of whether my baby girl will be cute or not. My friends always ask me how it is having a pregnant wife, and I have to say Katy has been a wonderful wife during pregnancy. She doesn't complain too much, she still lets me golf (we'll see if that changes next week), and she is still pleasant to be around, but I am ready for this baby to come out. I've made Katy try everything from long walks, to sitting on a ball, riding over bumps, etc but it hasn't worked yet. I guess little Avery will come when she is ready. Hopefully sooner than later!

OUR DAY.. before the "boss" arrives.

Ok. I got THE CALL thrusday. The call: Dr. Harward (my OB/GYN) called to inform me he scheduled a time for me to go into the hospital to be induced....

THIS MONDAY @ 6:00! Yeah there is an end!

Well, it is actually the beginning of a entirely "new" life for me and James... one that is centered around someone other than each other. Therefore, I decided we needed and would have a

"Katy & James' Day" to celebrate.

James' response: "Why, when everyday is a Katy and James day... we are married" (Context: He wanted to spend the morning playing golf with his brother and dad).But to apease his lovely wife we had our day, which was perfect.
Did a little bit of...

His activities

and Her activities.

Best of all it was "together"

Love you sweetie!

INDUCTION.

Pregnancy is ALMOST to its end. Crossing our fingers.

I am due this SATURDAY, 8.22.09.

Things that I still NEED to be able to have this BUNDLE of JOY.

1. Dilation
2. Effacement
3. Labor pains
4. Broken water
5. Engagement
6. Expanded pelvis

Can YOU help? If so, please give me your advice.

*Note: Things we have tried: maternity massage. walks. spicy food. bouncing on exercise ball. spending "quality" time with the husband- you know what I mean. etc.

For Memories sake... Miss Peanut.

I am not a picture taker when I am 30 lbs overweight.

Pregnancy gives an exception though.

**Enjoy posterity**

NOTE: Going to the DOCTOR in a hour to see if this week we will be meeting our little girl!

The waiting GAME...

Pregnancy. Blogging. And a WHALE. Can they be related? I think with my "creative" mentality they can. Follow me for a moment. Blogging is about new ideas, things close to the heart, and sometimes just down right word vomit. So where am I going with this.... besides the infamous trail of semi-related thoughts: THEY (pregnancy and blogging) both consist of playing the WAITING game.
It doesn't matter if I am waiting for a brilliant idea for a post or the arrival of our little girl. They both involve the patience that I continually lack. It's being worked on.

I was rebuked by my loving sister the other day that there hasn't been an update for quite a while. My response, "but I have five drafts done, just can't seem to 'post' them". Her response, "If I can't see/read them, they do not count". Sadly she is right.

Now, on with the topic: THE WAITING GAME. I am to that point in pregnancy where you have to wait. Graciously enough my doctor might start inducing me on Monday, August 17th. For those who follow, yes I realize I am not due until the 22nd, but with the chain of events that happened about three weeks ago, James' baby weight at birth (9.4 lbs) and my "smaller" frame, the doctor feels that it would be best to start the induction at 39.2 weeks instead of 41. I AGREED. Not to mention, when we went to the specialist for the last checkup to make sure she is A-OK, the tech kept hitting to us how chubby she is. So is that a nice way to say that I should be expecting a whale of a baby? Hmmmmm. Either way I am excited for her to be here.

People at work ask me all the time if I am ready. YES that is right I am STILL working, besides the fact they NEED me and I really enjoy my job, it helps with the whole patience problem. When I am busy at work-- I have less time to over analyze and worry. You ask about what? Well, I am good at conjuring up many "what if scenarios" that don't help with peace of mind. Back to the work question: my usual response is "I am sure ready to be done with this pregnancy state." Ready for motherhood- now that is another story. I am EXCITED about our new journey and life as parents, but READY.... that's a little harder to answer. We will see.

Hope you enjoy this weekend.

I have big plans while James plays golf with his dad. THE NURSERY.

Pictures will come shortly. Probably after the baby is here, to be honest.

till then.

*Note: James got me a dog (lil' Toby) while we were engaged, but I gave it back after a day.