Happy and healthy here still! Life is always movin' and a-grovin'. There isn't a weekend that we don't have something planned. We have enjoyed getting to be outside more.

Mike put up his hammock and Avolyns swing a month or so ago and they love to swing together, but separately. Avolyn is so not interested in laying in the hammock for Mike for more than 2.5 seconds. Avolyn and I have enjoyed going on walks around the neighborhood. Many nights after dinner we go out for a short walk. One of the reasons why I enjoy the neighborhood, a safe place to walk, much different than our country house in Bloomington. There will always be a special place in my heart for that house, but where we are now is much more practical. We still haven't met too many of our neighbors, but I am sure we will be now that things are getting nice out, more people are out.

There was a community yard sale a few weekends ago and we scored big. I was in the market for a bed for our baby boy, a mattress and 2 toilet training chairs for Avolyn. WE FOUND EVERYTHING WE WERE LOOKING FOR! I should give credit to Mom. If you are familiar with my mom and her shopping woes you would be very proud. We walked around until I was getting uncomfortable and then Mom went in the car to scope out farther away houses. She got back and had a chair and a mattress and a crib. What a shopper!! :) The crib was the major find. It was only used at a grandmas house maybe 12 times and had a mattress. It actually looks a lot like Avolyns, and is a 4 in 1 bed. Pretty impressive. Mom is taking applications for being the smart garage sale shopper. Let her know what you need, and she will find it for you! :)

Avolyn has loved playing outside at daycare. She is fearless and loves going up and down the slide. I was one my way home one night from work talking to Mike and he asked if I had talked to mom yet. I replied no...and WHY? He said, "well Avolyn got hurt today outside on the slide at daycare." As my heart started racing I asked , "is she okay??" And his reply was, " She broke her arm but is doing alright." Perhaps you have met my husband the joker. And at times like this I do not remember how funny he is. I started freaking out and Mike says, "She just busted her lip, but that now doesn't sound as bad as a broken arm now does it." There was a pause in the conversation. A long pause. Avolyn had her first split lip from going head first in the mulch. She is alright. Mike is alright. I am almost over it.

Avolyn is talking alllllllllllll the time. I feel bad because some time we have no idea what she is talking about. She repeats everything that is said. A few weekends ago I must of called her princess. I was giving her something, and she said "Thank you Princess". I looked at her and said Princess? and she smiled. I asked her if I was Princess did that make her the Queen, and of course she said 'Yes'. At least I know where I stand in this relationship.

We have moved the bedrooms around upstairs. Avolyn was in the smaller room, and now she has the bigger -what was guest room. She loves it. She is still in her crib. She likes the crib and hasn't tried to escape. I think it is pretty crazy to have a newborn and a toddler that has just figured out she can get out of her bed. So until she falls out of her bed from climbing we will keep her in the crib. She also has a few toys and most of her stuffed animals in her room. I would like to get a chair for her room so we can start reading books in her room before bed. We read downstairs a lot before going to bed but winding down upstairs might be a good thing. We will see. Our babes bedroom is for the most part done. We have a bassinet in our room for him, and all of his clothes and blankets, his crib and such are all ready for him. I think this weekend I will put together our hospital bag and a bag for Avolyn.

I think Avolyn is getting this whole new baby thing better. She still has no idea that I am carrying a baby. Even when we talk about baby, or I have her feel him moving...no idea. But since a few weeks ago when we started rearranging the rooms, getting out baby clothes, talking more about Baby Elliott, she understands that there are things around the house for a Baby Elliott. She was in our room and pointed to the bassinet and said "Hi-Ho Baby Elliott?" I still think it is going to be a shock when we bring Elliott home and no one comes a picks him up. I also think that Avolyn is going to be a very loving big sister. Being a mother of two is just the best already, and it just has started.

I go back to the doctor this afternoon. I really think that I am going to have a June baby. Which is just great. I still have the okay for a V-BAC. Which is promising. We had an ultrasound done last week and he is measuring around 7 lbs and has VERY chubby cheeks. I am feeling pretty good. I have uncomfortable moments, but in no way ready for this trip to be over. My back hurts and I know that parts of my body are moving getting ready to deliver. I am exhausted by the end of the day, but every day is totally worth the work that I put into it. Driving back and forth from Bloomington is getting a little old, but the changing in the colors and flowers has helped the commute.

Whefhoo! No more rambles, I promise.....now PICTURES!

The laughing that was going on in this picture was indescribable.

Grandma Peggy and her special girl

These eggs are with Avolyn 95.5 % of her life right now. Yes, she sleeps with them too.

Grandpa and Avolyn playing copy-cat game

Grand-dude reading to his favs.

A friend from work gave this little table and chair to us. This is the first time that Avolyn checked it out, and obviously LOVES it. She must of just pulled out her hair from a pony...she does that a lot. Anyway, THANKS HOLLY!

Daddy and Avolyn wrestling around. Mike has been getting quite the work out lately.

2 peas in a pod.

Off to the doctor! I will update soon, promise. Perhaps with a new belly picture. Elliott William we already love you so much!

Avolyn the Helper...

One Saturday afternoon Avolyn thought it would be great to help me open up all of our mail. It was pretty funny, but she was very serious the entire time. Here is a glimpse of her hard work...

This is usually how I feel after I open up all of the mail too!!

Doctors visit, Cousins and Snoring...

Today was "great-awesome". Yes, you heard correctly, I actually said that phrase out loud today, and unfortunately Mike heard, which means we have been saying it all day long.

Mike and I both had the day off of work because we had a doctors appointment today. Everything is going well. Our baby boy is weighing in at 2.4 pounds and I am measuring right on target. The heartbeat sounds good, and we had an ultrasound. We had another one because our last ultrasound our babe was laying so that it was not easy to see the spine. We tried again today, and he is pretty much at the exact same spot. The tech did get some pictures, but not ones that the radiologist or doctors would like. So we go in another month and hopefully he will cooperate a little. The tech says that she does not see anything alarming. So I will stop worrying that my dreams are true (My dream that my baby is swimming in just his urine and no fluid because I fell and it all leaked out). Gatta love pregnancy dreams! I start going to the doctor every 2 weeks now. Getting down to the real deal now. I guess we should start working on the room and getting a few things that we will need...but probably not. We are moving Avolyn into the bigger of the 2 other bedrooms, but before we can do that we need to figure out what we are doing with everything that is in the room now. It has been our catch-all room since we have moved. There are a few boxes that need looking at. It will all get done. My nesting stage has not happened yet. Maybe I will just wait until then. Man, I hope I get it or we are going to be in trouble!

Here is a picture of me today. I am 27 weeks and 5 days along and feeling pretty darn good.

Avolyn has been into some pretty funny stuff recently. She is talking more and more. She rattles off these long sentences of gibberish that is the most serious of all topics to her. It is great.

She has a mouth full of teeth. I think right now she is working on 4. It seems like every time I look in her mouth shes starting on a new tooth. She is a pretty good sport, but you can tell when her teeth are hurting her...


Avolyn and her cousin Harper always have fantastic days at daycare together. Most weekends there are together for at least a few hours. They get so excited to see each other. The way Avolyn says Harper is very loving. One night Rose was coming over pick up something. I told Avolyn that Auntie Rose was on her way and she looked at me and thought for a moment and then said "Harper?" Bummer part was that no, Harper was not coming over. But she was pretty please to see Auntie Rose with or without Harper. Here are some recent pictures of Harper and Avolyn doing what they do best...

This video was taken today. Avolyn has started to fake snore and it is pretty funny. I was finally able to capture this....It is a little hard to hear, but it is there...I will try again to capture it.




Enjoy your day to the fullest...

Just a quick update...

Avolyn is napping and I have some pictures I have been wanting to share. The laundry is almost done for the week (even folding and putting away...the much dreaded part). I have gone through most of Avolyns clothes and taken the 12 months out and now am getting the 24 month clothes out. CRAZY! Avolyn is not 24 moths old, she is 16, but with her cloth diapers she tends to wear bigger clothes so that her ghetto cloth diaper booty can fit into clothes.

She is starting to really notice clothes, understanding that socks go on your feet, shirts over your head and she loves shoes. She loves getting her socks and shoes on in the morning, but what is even better is at the end of the day taking off her socks and shoes. She moves her little feet around like FINALLY THEY ARE FREE!!! We have some slippers that she wears around the house sometimes which she likes, but I think mostly because Mike and I usually have ours on.

We had a doctors appointment last week for our baby boy, everything is still looking great. We took Avolyn to the appointment for the first time, and she really had no interest in what was going on, but that is alright, it was just fun to go together as a family. This next month we get another ultrasound. Last ultrasound our baby boy was laying so that we couldn't see his spine so we get another one to make the radiologists and drs happy...and Mike and I. Sounds medically necessary to me! He continues to be very active, it was just early night that he went crazy, but now he is active almost all the time. We are both measuring right on schedule and the doctors are pleased. I have an appointment in a month and then I start going every 2 weeks. Crazy to think that we are getting to that point. I am so excited to see our little guy, but sad to think that me carrying him has to come to an end soon. I cherish each and every move that I feel him make. Mike is feeling him more and more each day.

Just a short and sweet update, here are some pictures for you to enjoy...

Avolyn loves to move the kitchen chairs around. It is hard work!HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Busted!

Enjoy each day to the fullest! Until next time...

My Flower...

Today has been a fantastic day, and I know it will just get better. I love the weekends. Bummer part about the weekends is most of the time Mike has to work at least one of the days, which we all hate. But it also allows Avolyn and I to have some time alone. I am still working in Bloomington so that means during the week I wake Avolyn up at 6 (Mike is already at work) and am out the door by 6:15. I get to our amazing daycare (Bakers Dozen) by 6:30ish and then I head down to Bloomington, work until 5 and get home at 6ish. It makes for a long day and more so recently I have been upset that I have to spend so much time away from Mike and Avolyn. Good part about me not getting home until 6ish is that Mike and Avolyn get from about 3 to 6 to hang out together, which I think is so important.

I am so in love with this girl, and just cannot even wait to allow my heart to open up even more for number 2. I was able to rock Avolyn to sleep today. I know I know, she is over one, there is no reason why I need to rock her...it hardly happens, she would rather fall asleep on her own, but today it happened and I loved every moment of the 15 minutes. Watching her beautiful eyes close and then open as she struggled to stay awake, and finally accepting the sleep.

She is one smart cookie. She is picking up on everything, learning new words, making us laugh. When Mike and I are talking about something and then we start to laugh, she joins in and laughs with us. She so very much wants to know everything that we are doing, and help. My my my, does she like to help. She likes to help with the dishes, she likes to help put her cup in the fridge. She likes to help clean up her toys with us before she goes to bed. She likes to help close the kitchen cabinet doors. She likes to help put her pacifier up after her nap or from the morning. I hope this helping mode continues on throughout her life. I think she is going to be a great big sister.

I haven't talked much about Christmas. It was so wonderful. Lots of friends and family. Yummy food and ToNS of laughter. Christmas Eve is really the only day out of the year that all the Baker kids are together (most years) and it is nice for all of us to be together, Mom and Dad LOVE it. It was great seeing everyone. We have amazing friends and family that made this Christmas something special. We have had some trouble with our renters at the Bloomington house and well, it has made for a very tight budget for the past 4 months. I am overwhelmed by the amount of love that we have been shown from so many people this year to make Avolyns Christmas something spectacular. I think she had a great time...so thank you, thank you thank you. The situation with the renters will hopefully be resolved this Friday...EVICTION DAY! I hate to kick people out, but no pay = no house to live in. Without going into the whole long mess of a story, that chapter will be closed on Friday. Hopefully.

Baby number two is moving and growing. We went 2 weeks ago for and ultrasound, and we are having a BOY! I am measuring right on scale and so is our baby boy. The ultrasound was pretty amazing, I could never get tired of seeing our baby. We have some pretty good pictures and video. He is a thumb sucker already. I guess I probably would be too if I was stuck someplace for 9 months. Now the process of choosing a name. We have not come to the perfect name yet, but we still have a little while. It was so easy with Avolyn. We knew many many years ago that if we had a daughter that her name would be Avolyn, this one, not so easy for me this time.

20 weeks...

But all is well is all the babies in the house. I leave you with a short video of a few words that Avolyn has mastered and pictures from Christmas and on...

Avolyn was beating her leg to the music of Tim and Mike

Christmas Morning..a little overstimulated. We ate breakfast and then opened gifts.

Billy, Amy, Wyatt and Avolyn

My New Years Eve Dates. I made it to AFTER midnight. Can you even believe it?Just figuring out how to use a spoon. She could probably be the spokes model for Meijer Organic yogurt. She loves the stuff.
My Flower. Avolyn Rose.

UPdate

Halloween, Thanksgiving and now Christmas happenings are about to begin. We have been enjoying all of the holidays.

It is so fun to see Avolyn develop into a little girl, she is not a baby anymore. She make us laugh constantly. Her vocabulary is developing every day. She says many words....go, yeah-and sometimes she goes crazy and said yeah-yeah, Daddy-which sounds much like - doggy, but there is a difference. Up please, thank you, uh-oh, Abigail-she says Abigail but not Mommy. Hi-ho-when she is ready for a nap or for bed she says hi-ho. Down, no, more, hi, bye, the end- after reading a book, and when singing Old McDonald she sings E-I-E-I-O, get down-to Hunter as he tries to eat the food on her tray, and sit down-when she is in the bath, and we tell her to sit down. She tries new words everyday, she is good at copying us.

She loves to be included in everything. If Mike and I are laughing about something she will throw her head back and laugh so hard. At daycare she will stand in the corner and fake cry, just because that is what the other kids are doing. She loves to help me clean, she always finds the little piece on the floor that the vacuum doesn't. Avolyn loves helping load and put away dishes. Here is a video of her laughing, it sounds much like a dolphin...so funny...at least to me.




For Halloween we started our adventure with Harper and Rose. We went over to the house and tried to take some pictures of the Cousins all dolled up in their costumes, we got a few good ones. Both of the kiddos really did not mind their costumes. We then went to Grandmas and Pops then headed to Monrovia where Great Grandpa Eli, Aunt Sherry, Brooke and a few others all were ready for trick-o-treaters. We successfully bypassed all trick-o-treaters at our new place, at least for this year. I also made my first Halloween costume this year for a three-year-old whose mom works with me. I can't wait until Avolyn is old enough to appreciate a tutu costume too! Word on the street Abby was so excited to be a Garden Fairy and wore the costume proud.



Thanksgiving we spent the day in Monrovia with Mikes whole family. They always have a nice spread of great food. I forgot my camera. But Avolyn and Cameron (a cousin) and Brooke (another cousin) had a great time playing together. Thanksgiving Sunday we went to Bloomington. My brother Tim and friends were playing at a local pub. In the back is a family area, so Avolyn and Harper were able to listen and have a good time with us.

We also have a new addition to the family! That's right, more cousins!!! Mikes brother, Billy and his wife Amy had a baby on November 29 weighing in at 8lbs 9 oz, Wyatt Cooper! We have been able to see the new little babe several times. Each visit he just gets cuter and cuter.


Our Christmas celebration has begun. For the first time in our relationship Mike and I FINALLY have a tree up! One of my co-workers got a new one, so she gave us her old one, and it is perfect. We decided to put it in the dinning room at it looks fantastic. Avolyn had a good time watching Mike and I decorate the tree. After we were done we turned off the lights and sang "O Christmas Tree", but those were the only words we could remember, so we just sang them over and over again. By the end of the song Avolyn had joined in and started her own rendition of the song. It was a great family moment.

We have many fun Christmas gatherings to attend, the first was my work Christmas party. It was so much fun. We went my first year, and last year we didn't go because AV was 3 months old and we didn't want to leave her yet, so we were back at 'em again this year, we left early so we could get AV, but still enjoyed ourselves. To my surprise I received an award. 2 awards are given out each year, one for the outstanding nurse of the year, and one for the outstanding staff of the year. Someone has to nominate you, and well, I was honored to receive this award. It was pretty overwhelming. But something that I will treasure. The best part was that Mike was there, and got to experience it with me. The provider that introduced me asked if I wanted to say anything. I know this will shock most of you, but I said no!

Baby number 2 is doing just fine. I go back to the doctor this Tuesday, next month is the big month for the ultrasound! We are going to find out again if we are having a boy or a girl. I really am not sure yet. With Avolyn I knew that I was having a girl very very early, but I still don't have a for sure feeling yet. All of the dreams that I have had about this babe, they are all girls. So we will just have to wait a few short weeks and we will know! Pretty exciting. Just yesterday I finally starting feeling the baby. It is just nice to every so often feel the little babe, just reassuring. I love being pregnant.

I leave you with a few pictures from the past couple of months...enjoy...

We have such a happy little girl!