And I Shall Watch The View Every Day

I have decided to stay home.

I gave notice at work yesterday. I will not be returning and I will be accepting the title of Stay At Home Mom. It's been a huge weight lifted off my shoulders too. I'm excited to be able to remain by Avery's side, to watch her grow and help her reach her milestones. I'm excited to be able to spend more time with Ryleigh, to be able to have breakfast together in the mornings and to be able to make dinner together in the evening. Ryleigh will continue to stay in school part-time, as she has since Avery was born.

Jeramy and I have been toying with this idea since last summer, however with his company going through a merger, we just didn't see it as a good idea until we knew what was going on with his job. Last week he was offered a promotion within the new company. This sealed the deal and made our decicison very easy.

We had a great time in West Texas. Avery has started to make lots of cooing noises and follow objects with her eyes. She especially loves to talk to her bugs that Sara and Kalman gave her that hang from her car seat. She has also started smiling a lot. People, her smile could melt the polar ice caps. She is certainly all girl and Jeramy and I were just talking about how we haven't had a single person mistake her for a boy.

Our family computer is temporarily down, but as soon as we get a new battery, I will be posting lots of pics from our vacation.

Conversation

Mom: "Ryleigh, where did you get those scratches on your arm?"

Ryleigh: "Hannah's cat did it."

Mom: "What did you do to the cat?"

Ryleigh: "I didn't do nuthin', she's jest mean."

Mom: "We've officially spent too much time in West Texas, you's talkin' like Grandma."

Why I'm Here

We've now been in West Texas for five fantastic days. The girls seem to really be enjoying their bonding time with their grandparents, uncle, second cousins great aunts and uncles and great grandparents. Ryleigh has spent a lot of time with Papa Dale (my mother's father). He even took her to a basketball game in Ft. Stockton. It's so great to have her at an age where she can kind of do her own thing. She begs everyone she comes across to play with her and usually wins them over with her big smile. There have been many, many bear hunts and lots of hide and go seek. Avery is just hanging out, doing her thing. Her thing includes, eating, sleeping, filling her diaper and puking on my shoulder. Daddy should get her tomorrow and then Aunt Becca and Uncle Blake on Saturday. We're going to really have a full house. Here is our crazy schedule:

Saturday Night: Wood Family Christmas in Midland
Sunday Morning: Church in Monahans
Sunday Afternoon: Robinson Family Christmas in Odessa
Monday Evening: Steen Family Christmas in Monahans followed by the annual viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Tuesday Morning: Presents at my parent's house
Tuesday Afternoon: Combined family dinner for 30 at my parent's house
Wednesday: 6 hour drive to Granbury to visit Richey Family
Thursday: 4 hour drive home to Sugar Land

Merry Freakin' Christmas Everyone!

love, the montgomery clan

Updates

Avery went to the doctor last Thursday for her 2 month check-up. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 21 inches in length with a head measuring at 15 inches around. All her measurements are right where they're supposed to be on the growth curve. Everything else about her checked out just fine as well. I got a little more lecture on why I shouldn't let her sleep with me. However, the doctor at one point looked at me over her glasses and said...you and I both know that babies have been sleeping with their mamas for thousands and thousands of years...yes ma'm, I promise that I am very safe.

On the same day, Ryleigh went and had her eyes checked. All is stable on that front as well. She has a small change in her prescription and we can ease up on the patching a little bit. Of course, the best thing about the appointment is that another surgery was not mentioned. So long as she has her glasses on, her eyes are staying straight.

Currently we are out in West Texas, visiting lots of family. Ryleigh is driving everyone crazy and Avery is winning over all the relatives. The plan for the week is to pretty much just hang out. On Friday we're going to have a birthday party for Jeramy and he should be in that day. I have some pictures that I need to get uploaded, but not today, maybe tomorrow.

Happy Holidays to all...jenn

Reapin' What We Done Already Sowed

As I dropped Ryleigh off at school this morning, her teacher pulled me aside to tell me a little story. Yesterday Ryleigh informed her teacher that she no longer has to do what her parents tell her to do because she is a big girl. Ms. Jo told Ryleigh that she has to do what her parents tell her to do to which she replied that, she is three and that she doesn't have to listed to what her parents say.

At this point the teacher's assistant chimed in, explaining that God teaches us that we must respect our parents and do what they tell us to do, to which Ryleigh replied, God is in heaven and has nothing to do with us.

Ms. Jo just smiled at me to which I replied, we've definitely got our work cut out for us with this one.

Thanksgiving Recap

We just enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving week! Jeramy got home last Monday and has been off work since then. That's 6 days straight of just the four of us hanging out, with the exception of Thanksgiving Day when we went up to Montgomery to see Jeramy's family. (Yes, the Montgomery family lives in Montgomery...charming, I know) We spent a lot of time just hanging around the house and getting the nursery set up. Avery's room is really starting to come together. I need to do a few more decorating type activities, but for the most part it's put together. We also got the tree up last night. And by tree, I mean tree. The lights and ornaments, not so much. Actually, I'm supposed to be on light checking duty right now, but instead I've been taking care of some household secretarial type activities. Seriously, how does anything get done when I'm working!

Avery is still growing like a crazy. Every day she changes and last night we put her mobile up in her bed which she really seems to like. It will keep her happy for a good 10 minutes or so. She's starting to fit in to her 3 month sized stuff. She's our little fat-so!

Ryleigh has been eerily good the last few days. She seems to be getting a bit more girly and must always dress as a princess these days. That means wearing pink and/or a head band. Her favorite thing to do right now is go on a bear hunt. This means that she and her hunting partner each take a flashlight and go looking all over the place for a bear. I stuck a stuffed bear under her covers the other night, thinking that she would find it fun to actually "find" a bear. When she found it, she just looked at me like, silly mom, this is a stuffed bear...don't you know that we're after the real deal???

Time to get the barking dog back in the house and to feed the baby, do some laundry, check the Christmas lights, make some bread, pick up the toddler....seriously, how is it that I manage to squeeze in work? I guess I'll find out in 6 more weeks!

Avery One Month Stats

Weight: 8 lbs. 15 oz.
Length: 20 inches
Head: 14 3/4 inches

Everything looked really good at her one month check up. The doctor wasn't real happy to hear that she's been sleeping in our bed and she gave me some ideas to try and get her in her own bed. Avery gags and coughs and every time I lay her on her back, so the doctor suggested creating an incline out of her mattress. She may have some very mild reflux issues, but nothing to be too concerned about. I love her sleeping all snuggled up next to me, but it is a good idea to start trying to get her over in her own bed.

Check out the new pics!

You Will Listen to me Whine

...and whine I shall, for I have been in this house for a week now, alone (Jeramy has been on the rig since last Monday), with two kids, one of which can not wipe her own ass and one of which just likes to pretend she can't wipe her own ass. I know, I know, mom, you did it for years and years and in greater isolation and with less resouces, and yes, my Nana had 4 children at one time, one of which was my Uncle Wayne and the other which was my Uncle Chad...I feel for both of you. But, this is me and me likes to sit down with her coffee and check her email in silence in the mornings and me likes to keep up with the news and me likes to read for at least a few minutes a day without a child asking to color in my book. Me needs things to do.

That being said, I am having a GREAT time with my girls. I'm getting to know Ryleigh in such a deeper way. She talks to me about her friends and her thoughts and geeze, does this kid have some thoughts. She's learing Spanish at school and so we go around the house singing the same Spanish songs that I learned in high school. She also has a real interest in learning to read right now. She gets very furstrated theat she "doesn't know the words" in her books. So, we read and read and read and memorizing her books seems to pacify her for now. She knows her alphabet and recognizes many letters, so we're working on putting that together in such a way that she can start to sound out words. I think that once she catches on to the sounding out thing, she'll be off to the races with reading. Holy cow...I'm talking about my first baby starting to read. Excuse me while I take a tissue break...

Avery is progressing in her own way as well. She slept for a whole 30 min. in her own bed last night. Woo. I scooped her up, fed her a bit more and then let her sleep on my chest for 5 hours. This means that I slept for 5 hours as well. Woo! Her eyes are staying pretty wide open now. We joke that she's like a puppy dog because she wouldn't open her eyes for two weeks. Nursing is going so extremely well. She just eats me up which has done great things for both of us. She goes to the doctor on Friday for her one month check-up and I can't wait to see how much she weighs. At her one-week check-up she was 7 lbs. 13 oz.

Ryleigh is in school today and Avery and I are about to set out for the grocery store. We're starting to get out a little bit more, but the doctor wants me to keep Avery pretty much only at home until she's 6 weeks old. I'm looking forward to being able to take more outings with both the girls.

Daddy will be home on the 20th and we can't wait...Momma needs to take a nice long, hot bath with a good book. Look for my next post and picutures on Friday after the doctor's appointment.

Night One - Single Mom to Two

Jeramy left for the rig today, which means that for the next two weeks, for all intents and purposes...I am a single parent. Tonight went better than I probably could have expected. I got both of the girls fed, bathed and in bed (though Avery will be back up soon)...and I still feel relatively sane. Our day started off at 7am as we set out to get Jeramy to the airport by 8am. I had Ryleigh at school by 9am and then Avery and I spent just about the whole day sleeping. I picked Ryleigh up at 2:30 and then battled with her over an hour to get her to change her clothes and wash her hands once we got home. (This is to protect Avery from any "germy bugs" that Ryleigh might bring home from school) Once she did agree to those two simple tasks, we made some cookies, then dinner which was followed by baths for both girls. It was Avery's first real bath (she lost her cord yesterday) and she seemd to really enjoy it, though the logistics of bathing both of the girls at the same time didn't fully play itself out in my head until we were past the point of no return.

The house is a complete wreck, even though Jeramy and I did a darn good job cleaning it yesterday. But, I figured that I have all of tomorrow to tidy back up while Ryleigh is in school. This I have found is a good thing about being at home, there is always tomorrow to get done whatever is on my mind the night before. It's 9pm and time to scoot off to bed for a night of feedings and diaper changings.

Enjoying the Family

Avery had her second sponge bath last night. Pics from the event can be seen in the most recent picture link. Avery is 12 days old today and has been an absolute angel of a baby. She never cries, just makes a little noise when she's hungry or when she needs a fresh diaper. She's doing pretty good about getting used to sleeping by herself in her side sleeper. We're keeping her in our room for at least a few months. I sure wish I would have had a side sleeper when Ryleigh was born...it's so great to have her right there and not to have to worry about not being safe in our bed. She's been opening her eyes a lot more the past couple of days.

Ryleigh is adjusting better also. She's definitely had some rough patches during these first few weeks, but she's starting to realize that she has a role in Avery's life too. We both try to do things with Ryleigh that are special to her. Last Saturday I took her to the city's Halloween carnival. Yesterday, Jeramy took her to the park and on Wednesday I'm going to take her to a trick or treating event at the local church. She LOVES her little witch costume and jumps at the opportunity to put it on.

So, here we are, just sitting around, looking at the baby, reading books to the 3 year old and loving every single fleeting second of it.

Avery's Birth Story

At 4:58pm on October 18, 2007, Avery Skye Montgomery entered this world. This is her birth story...


On October 15th at 12:30am, Jearmy and I found ourselves on the way to the hospital feeling quite sure that I was in labor and that we would be welcoming our new baby girl into the world shortly. By the time daylight broke, my contractions had slowed down and my dialation had failed to progress beyond 3 1/2. The doctor suggested that we start Pitocin in order to induce labor, but I opted to head home and give myself a few more days...


On October 18th at 6:00am, we checked into the hospital with the intention of inducing labor. The nurse let me know that I was dilated to a 5, but that there were no rooms available. We held off induction until we got a room. Our room became available at around noon and my doula, Patti, showed up shortly thereafter. Patti immediately began working on my back and hips in preparation for the labor and delivery. At 12:45pm my doctor arrived and broke my water. Labor immediately became intense. At 3:15pm I had only dilated to a 6 and my doctor was ready to begin pitocin. I opted for an epidural first and by 4:45 we were ready to begin pushing. 15 minutes and 4 contractions later, Avery Skye was here.