Big Smiles!

Thought I'd share some first smiles! They came about 2:30am last night after her diaper change! Something must have tickled her (or maybe she was overjoyed to have a clean diaper) because she smiled and cooed for about 15 minutes!

Big Thanksgiving Week

Avery's first Thanksgiving was a big one! We left Monday afternoon for the farm in Cleburne. This is where the McWilliams/Parker family celebrates Thanksgiving each year. We had a great time Monday through Wednesday "helping" Mom get ready to host the family. Thursday morning some of the group got up early to participate in the Turkey Trot in downtown Ft. Worth. God blessed us with amazing weather all week, so Clay and I decided it was nice enough to take Avery out and run. Here are a few pictures from the Trot!

I was going to just walk it but as you can see from my very red face, Avery and I got a little competitive and ended up running most of the way.

This is how Avery looked for the entire race... fast asleep, cuddled up in her stroller. Everyone we passed (a lot of people by my count) kept saying how little she was. Little or not, although I never saw the official results, I'm pretty sure Avery won here age division in the race and I'm almost positive I won the postpartum division! :)I love this shot of our entire family in front of the farm house!

Farm funny picture!

Avery went on several hikes around the farm in her sling. She loves it!

Here is cousin Kellan loving his bath at the farm. Avery couldn't be outdone, so she had to have her first big girl bath.

Avery after her big girl bath. She was a champ since the water heater at the farm wasn't at peak performance while she was bathing.

Here are cousins Gabriel and Sierra at our Thanksgiving bonfire (really just an excuse for the McWilliams brothers to play with fire each year)!

One of Avery's favorite moments at the farm was when she met her Great-Grandma Mac! Here we are at the bonfire. On Friday night we left the farm a little early so we could go to Gilmer to see Nanny Lou. Cousin Roselyn came too and here they are with their very proud great-grandma!

Avery is so blessed to have such wonderful family on both sides! She has all of her grandparents, three great-grandmas, a great-grandpa, and a great-great-grandma! Avery, you are loved!

Avery Meets Roselyn

The cousins finally met this weekend in Paris!!! It took a little while to get both cousins awake at the same time, but it finally happened and we like to think the two had a good baby talk about life so far. The conversation was short lived (after less than 3 weeks of life who really has that much to talk about?), but sweet and very well documented thanks to the moms, grandmother, and aunts lurking around with cameras!

Avery meet Roselyn, Roselyn meet Avery!

Roselyn: "Am I looking in the mirror? No wait... I'm not that bald! What's going on here?"

Avery: "I know you're not calling me bald. I have some nice hair here in the back."

The two cousins watching football together.

Pacifier time

The two very proud daddies

Meeting Aunt Rachel for the first time

Avery in her Sunday best (I love the stick on ribbons!)

Wide awake

Grandparents doing double duty!

Camera, camera... Where is my camera?!?

I never really thought it was that important to be able to multi-task. I come from a family where my mom and sisters are incredible multi-taskers... And somewhere along the way, the boys and I completely missed out on that gene. I've never cared too much before (everyone has their strengths and weaknesses),... until now!!! Now that our beautiful little girl has come along multi-tasking seems to be the must-have talent for all new moms... Except for the fact that no matter how "must-have" it is, I can't make myself have it. Thus, I have forgotten the camera on Avery's first day at church, on Avery's first doctor's appointment (her doctor, Cody Mihills, is a wonderful friend of mine which makes it even worse). I've forgotten the camera on her first trip to the park with me and forgot it again on her second trip to the park which I was going to pretend was her first trip until I no longer could remember it was really her second! In any case, I have had the camera to capture a few sweet moments. Here they are.

Avery after her first appearance at church. Notice she already knows to bring her Bible!

Back in the fetal position This is by far my favorite so far... my two favorite people!
Already very good at expressing her feelings (mostly concerning when she should eat).
Sweet sound of silence
I am happy to report that Avery's two week appointment went very well. She is now 21.5 inches long and weighs 8 pounds 5 ounces. She also made a wonderful first impression on the nurse (whom she peed on) and Dr. Mihills (whom she sort of violently spit up all over). I'm sure they can't wait to see her again for her 2 month appointment. :)

Happy Halloween

Avery celebrated Halloween at Nana and Pop's house with her cousins, Gabriel (aka Spiderman) and Sierra (still saying "meow" three days later!). She was a little sad that she couldn't Trick or Treat with her older cousins, but was happy to help hand out the candy!

"Thanks Aunt Jaymie for my ghost outfit and Tanya Welch for my cute pumpkin booties!"
Sierra was a little upset that we were taking pictures and not out getting the promised candy yet.

Introducing Avery Maurine Spencer...

She's finally here! Avery Maurine Spencer was born on October 24, 2006. She weighed in at 7 pounds and 14.5 ounces (as you can see in the first picture a lot of that is her cheeks!) and is 20.5 inches long. AND... she is the most beautiful little girl her daddy or I have ever seen! :)

The VERY proud parents!

There were so many wonderful people who came and visited us at the hospital and I wish I could post all of the pictures we have of Avery and her new family and friends. Unfortunately, I can't wait for all of those pictures to upload (I have a little girl to take care of!), so I chose my two favorite pictures of Avery and friends. This first one is her cousin Kellan who was far more interested in the balloon on his left than the new cousin on his right! In fact, I'm not sure he even knew she was sitting next to him! :)

I had to post this picture too! It isn't something you see everyday. This is Avery with her great-great grandmother (who we lovingly call Little Grandma). What a blessing for Avery (and the rest of us) to have this wonderful lady in our lives!

This is one of Clay's favorite pictures so far so I had to post it.
We have some great pictures of Avery's first Halloween, but Clay has the camera at work so those will have to come later!