Lessons From My Little Sister

As most of you know by now my sister Jaymie delivered her twins Monday...slightly ahead of schedule (only 25 weeks). Doctors were unable to stop her labor and around midnight on Sunday things had progressed to the point that she had to have them. While there have been some scary moments, the babies have done well. A blog has been set up to keep everyone informed of their progress since they are expected to be at the hospital for a while. The address is http://www.thephillipsphamily.blogspot.com/. Everyone is encouraged to use this as a way to keep up with their progress so that phone time is kept reasonably low. Also, we ask for your prayers... Prayers of healing, comfort and peace. Certainly times like this cause you to be thankful but they also reveal powerful things. Maybe its that we don't typically stop to think or maybe its because in critical moments we only have room for what is important but I have certainly come to understand some things on a greater level in the past few days, that God is powerful, in control, and all-knowing. A lesson I have learned before but not like Saturday night. That Maurine and Avery are precious and shouldn't be taken for granted. That a brother-in-law like Kory provides immeasurable security for an older brother. That my sister is the toughest girl I know. While genetics may lead me to be an emotional vacuum at times, watching my little sister the past few days has shattered any attempt at suppression of feelings I might have otherwise accomplished. Proud is too weak of a description. She is currently my hero. While it doesn't exempt her from future taunting and harassment, I will carry a respect for her that is rivaled by few.

Here is my favorite nephew Kanyon Phillips

and his pretty little sister Jayde

Me with Superwoman

The proud parents and me

Growing, growing, growing...

I blinked and Avery isn't a newborn anymore! What happened? I have to admit though that I'm loving every new stage... I am constantly in awe of how God designed us. It is a joy to be able to stay home with her and just soak it all in. I am so grateful to Clay for working so hard so that I am able to do that. So for those of you who can't stay at our house all day and watch Avery grow, here are some more updates. :)

Avery and her friend Cassidee got to spend a little time together the other day. I think Cassidee is wondering why Avery doesn't actually rock on the rocking horse.Gotta love those cheeks!

Starting to notice those feet.Clay and I got to spend some time at the farm with my parents a few weeks ago and got this sweet picture.Avery has totally found her voice and knows she is in control of it. Here she is during one of her monologues.Avery has also figured out the bedtime routine it seems and knows she's good as long as she keeps that head up. It is one of the sweetest feelings when that little head finally gets heavy and snuggles down into my neck.Clay loves to peek in on her at night to see what kind of crazy sleeping position she is in. I don't know if you can tell but she is sideways in her crib here and her legs are sticking straight up in the air. I love this picture of Grandma Mac (one of her great-grandmothers) feeding her. Here she is again with those feet. Anytime you lay Avery down she either immediately turns over to her tummy or she flips those feet up into the air and starts to play with them.
This last weekend was beautiful and with Clay at the State Basketball Tournament, Aver and I decided to go with Nana and Pop down to the farm. Avery dressed appropriately in her PearlSnap Pros overalls! Look at the back pocket.
Snoozing during a hike with Nana.The four-wheeler is tempting, but will have to wait until she is a little older. I mean, could you resist this girl?
After we got back from the farm, some very dear friends came and visited our family. This is Julie, my first babysitter. I was about Avery's age when she kept me for the first time. We had a great time visiting and can't wait for Avery to meet the rest of the family (hint, hint Sue!).On top of all that, we got to see Aunt Jaymie and the twins again! Avery was shocked at how the twins are growing. They'll be here before she knows it and she has so much to do before they come!

It's been a while...

Well, I know I'm a little late in getting this post out, but we've had some busy times here lately! Avery had her first bout with something other than a cold. Somewhere, somehow she came down with roseola and it was not a pretty sight! One of the nights, when her fever was the highest, the only time she wouldn't scream was when we drove. So drive we did... all night long. I found places I didn't know existed that night. Anyways, she is over that and doing great. Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks...
Presidents' Day weekend we went to Childress to see the Green family. Avery, Roselyn and their friend Ayelan got to hang out a lot! Here's Avery and Roselyn sacked out after a long morning of playing.

Ayelan took Avery under her wing and tried to teach her all the cool big girl tricks... Avery was a little slow to catch on, but she gave it a good shot.
I thought this was too cute.
And this was even cuter. Just to be a tattle-tale, Avery and Ayelan got fussy at the same time. Roselyn was still happy as could be until Rachel made her cry on purpose by picking her nose so we could get this shot.
Now some random pictures. I just had to give a shout out to Camp Deer Run! :)
Here's Avery happy as can be helping me fold laundry.And I couldn't resist this picture!Here she is in her 4 month pictures! I love how expressive she is getting!She always falls on to the giraffe by the end. I think she loves him and just wants a hug.

Birthdays, birthdays everywhere!

What a weekend! There was a lot to celebrate during this short 2-day period. First of all, Trevor is home on leave until he reports to the army base Anchorage, Alaska on the 28th of February. He graduated from Airborne training last week (yes, that means he jumps out of planes now) and is getting to visit before goes off for who knows how long. We are having a wonderful time getting to hang out with him and as you can see here, Avery is pretty fond of her Uncle Trevor! This weekend also marked my Dad's 53rd birthday. When Mom asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate, he said he wanted to go to the farm! We got to spend all of Saturday down in Cleburne. Tara, John Mark and Kellan even surprised everyone by driving in from Abilene to spend a few hours with the rest of us celebrating Daddy's birthday. Here are a few pictures from Saturday...

It was pretty cold (especially riding the 4-wheelers) so Mom bundled up and definitely made a fashion statement. :)
Here's Clay playing in the creek. I made him let me off the 4-wheeler while he was going through the deepest part of the creek so I didn't ruin the camera. That's when I got this picture.
Ever heard of the Barnett Shale? Well, our farm sits right on top of it. The gas company is in the middle of laying pipeline for transporting natural gas. It's a pretty large and impressive project as you can see here. I think it looks like a great waterslide! :)Here's the big party! Dad requested his usual Amaretto chocolate cake (YUM!). Avery really got into the party... she's deep asleep in the car seat.Clay got Daddy his own official PearlSnap Pro hat for his birthday. I think Daddy liked it!I just couldn't resist this picture of Kellan. He's getting so big and so dadgum cute. I can't believe he's going to be a big brother soon!You thought we were done?... Nope! Sunday was my Nanny's birthday so after church we traveled to Whitney to celebrate with her. It was a wonderful day! Here's Nanny and Papaw with Avery.We had a great time! Uncle Darrell brought a birthday cake and we celebrated all afternoon. I'm so thankful to have my family! I wouldn't trade them for the world.Somehow (I think my husband had something to do with it) a rumor started that it was Nanny's 74th birthday. I won't tell how old Nanny is, but I will tell you it is much younger than 74! It wasn't until after the pictures were taken that we realized that Clay had recruited Little Grandma to help him spread the 74 rumor even further. Notice Clay is holding up seven fingers and Little Grandma put up four! You have to watch Little Grandma... she's not scared to stir up a little trouble every once in a while. :)Well, after such an eventful weekend you can imagine that Avery was tired and a little cranky. On our way back home she was loudly voicing her frustration and nothing was calming her down. Trevor pulled out this little toy that Avery is holding here that came with a McDonalds Happy Meal. She LOVED it! She was completely in awe of it the entire rest of the way home! What did the toy do?... It made fart noises! Yes, you heard right! You press down on the arm of the character and it makes three different fart noises. That's my girl! If you don't think fart noises are funny, you've lost a wonderful part of your sense of humor!

I Can't Think of a Title

Well, we went to Paris this weekend and Avery got to hang out with all three of her cousins. Here they are all together for the first time... Avery, Roselyn, and the twins! What a crew there will be in just a few short months.

While we were in Paris I think all the talk about Roselyn rolling over finally got to Avery and she decided she was going to show out and roll over too! Personally, I preferred her completely stationary. It was nice to put her somewhere and know she wasn't going anywhere until you moved her. You wouldn't think she could get very far, but here she is at least three rolls from the middle of her blanket. Way to go Avery!At the moment, Avery mostly rolls back to tummy. The problem is she doesn't like her tummy most of the time (as you can see in this next picture). I keep having to explain to her that tummy time is in her control now and if she puts herself on her tummy then she needs to figure out how to get back around when she wants. Mostly she just cries until I turn her over though. Avery is developing some interests. She has found her voice and likes to yell. She isn't sad or angry most of the time. I just think she likes to make the noise. Here she is very much enjoying the sound of her voice. She also loves her blocks. She will only look at one side though (the side with the ladybugs). She will sit and stare at these bugs for a long time before she gets tired of them. I often wonder what in the world makes these bugs so interesting compared to all the designs on the other side of the blocks. We'll probably never know.

Her newest interest has been her horse blanket. Nana bought it for her a little while ago and she has started to really like to hold on to it. It's so cute to see her wrap her little arms around it before she goes to sleep at night.
And there's really nothing to say about this picture... no story or little quip. I think it's cute so I'm posting it!

Mom's musings...

It is amazing to see how quickly babies catch on to things! I mean, one day Avery is laying there just able to look at her toys and then all of a sudden she realizes she can pick them up and play with them. Granted it seems like a small feat, but it really is incredible to me how their little bodies and brains grow. Avery loves this toy because it has those crinkly sounding wings. This is Clay's favorite game to play with Avery. He loves to lean his head in and try to get her to give him "kisses". He doesn't think it's fair that she always latches on to my cheek, but will only briefly touch his. Can you blame her though? The feeling of whiskers isn't the most inviting.I love the way Avery is looking at the camera here. She can sometimes stare a hole through you!We took Avery's 3 month pictures the other day and it became a photo shoot of sorts. She just kept looking so cute that I kept snapping pictures. Thank goodness for the digital camera!She's definitely finding her fingers on a regular basis. The big mystery is will she choose fingers or thumb over the magical Paci? Isn't this just about the cutest outfit you've seen? Mama Gay gave it to her and I've been waiting to take pictures in it. Her giraffe is the toy we take all of her monthly pictures with so we can see her relative growth. I think she likes him! It looks like they're about to start up a game of patty-cake here. Notice stuffed animal and baby are sitting in the exact same way! :)

Avery decided games were over and reached in to give Mr. Giraffe a big hug!I think we'll have to say good-bye for now with this picture. I can here Avery stirring and I've only got so long before sweet stirring becomes ardent frustration.