Friday, December 2, 2011

One Giant Roll Forward for Mankind

Yesterday Avery went from being a toothless, immobile little baby, to the proud owner of one adorable tooth (does it count if I can't actually see white yet, but a super inflamed pointy gum? Who cares, I'm calling it a tooth!), and completely capable of rolling over! She grew up so much in one small day. I am a little nervous about the said tooth since I'm still nursing the darling girl, but I am stoked about the rolling over business. I have been waiting for this day for MONTHS, really I thought she would roll over at a month old. Silly me. What do I know about babies? Just learning as I go here. I try to do a few minutes tops of "tummy time" everyday, even though the child seriously detests being on her belly. A minute is about all she can handle before she starts screaming her head off. So, doing some fun tummy time last night, one second I'm looking at the back of her head, the next I'm looking at her smiling face. It took me about 10 seconds to realize she rolled over. I'm not the quickest, especially at night. She did it so elegantly (yes, my baby is elegant) and smoothly I didn't even notice she moved. It was as though she has been rolling over her whole life. A natural. She was so proud of herself, it was so cute. Although I didn't snap any pics of her in action rolling over, I did take some pictures today in our backyard that I can't help but post.

Good gracious I love this girl! I wish there was some way to keep her this little forever and not feel guilty about depriving her of living her own life. I guess we'll just have to keep having more babies =)

Monday, November 14, 2011

Getting Better with Time

This post will probably embarrass my husband, so my apologies Stephen, but you shouldn't be so adorable!
The other day I was wearing my grumpy pants, for no apparent reason. I watched Steve change Avery's diaper, and scowled. (Sometimes I could just kick myself.) Anyway, I'm frowning, then Steve started to play with Avery. It looked like this.

You know that nursery song, "If you chance to meet a frown do not let is stay, quickly turn it upsidedown and smile that frown away!" As you can guess, this scene in front of me instantly chased my frown away.
I am so blessed to have Steve as my husband and the father of my baby. He makes me so happy. He works so hard and we sure appreciate him.
Its amazing how the more time we are together, the more I realize how lucky I really am. Having Avery has made me fall even more in love with him.
I love watching him interact with Avery. In our ward, I have had several older women approach me and tell me how much they love watching my husband in church when he is holding Avery. Its like nothing else exists in his world besides her. Its adorable.
What is more attractive than a man who happily changes diapers, watches me bathe Avery just because he loves to see how much she loves it, makes dinner when I just can't face the thought of whipping up a meal, helps me clean the house because I'm a slacker, wins the bread for our family, and goes to school at night so he can earn better bread some day? Nothing. The answer is nothing is more attractive than that, but it certainly helps to have a face like his :)

(Sorry this post is so braggy - but its not a crime to be proud and in love with ones' husband, right?)

Monday, October 31, 2011

The Inevitable Halloween Post

Surprise, surprise, I'm posting Halloween Pics! Babies make Halloween so much fun. I even dressed up this year! I was attempting to be Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's (Yes, I totally stole that idea from you Rebecca dear, circa 2006). No body knew who I was. Lame.
Anyway, enough about me, Avery was a smash hit at our ward chili cook off. Her costume was stinking adorable. I crocheted it, and (here comes my horn tooting) I made up the pattern!
From my head.
For anyone who crochets, I'm sure you can appreciate what a feat it is to make up a pattern and have it turn out exactly like you want it to. It was a giant leap for my skills. Here are the pics to prove it.

Only in Arizona could you pull off a baby mermaid costume with bare skin...much to my niece's' chagrin, they thought Avery was immodest. Gotta love 8 year old girls.
That sums up our Halloween night, hope yours was just as great as ours!

Friday, October 28, 2011

What a way to celebrate...

Happy 4Th month birthday Avery! We celebrated your 1/3 year of life by taking your unknowing, happy self down to the county vaccine place, where you got poked by scary needles. It was awful. You cried, and I wanted to.

Poor girl. Tomorrow will be a much better day. Promise.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

I Speak Idiot

So Steve was reading my last blog post, and informed me that I spelled "definitely" wrong. I spelled it "definately". At first I argued, because the latter is how I have ALWAYS spelled that word. My whole life. So I googled it to prove him wrong and this is the first thing that came up.
"'Definately'. Idiot-speak for 'definitely'. One of the most common moronic misspellings found on the internet."
Apparently I am an idiot speaker/writer. Great. And moronic, according to Google.I don't think I have ever felt more insulted by a computer.
Lessons learned: Utilize the spellcheck before clicking that little orange "publish post" button, and not allow Steve to read "our" blog. I was happily oblivious to my idiot speaking before he enlightened me.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Avery the Vampire

Yes, that is my nape. Don't look too closely at my freakishly pale skin (its too hot to go outside and greet the sunshine!), instead focus in on that dark red spot. I know what you're thinking:
"Why is Ginger showing us her gross hickey?"
Correction. No, actually you are right, it is a hickey, but it was not given in the manner in which you may be thinking. This hickey was given by none other, than Avery the Vampire! (or leach, whichever you prefer. I was holding her up on my shoulder and was...well you can see how this could happen. Apparantly she was a very hungry little girl. Thank goodness for long hair, because it is definately, definately NOT turtle neck weather (nor will it ever be by the looks of this #$%! weather.)

Monday, September 12, 2011

ZZZzzzz

Hold the phone!! Big news. Little Miss Avery was Little Miss Sleepy last night. That's right folks, she slept through the WHOLE night. 7.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep makes a very happy mommy and wifey. Going for a repeat tonight, woo, woo!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Best Two Years

Monday was our two year anniversary. Basically we were super smart when we chose Sept. 5th for our wedding day - we will get a four day weekend every few years or so because it lands on Labor Day. This year we decided to take a day trip to explore parts of AZ neither of us have every been to. So we drove South. Hard to believe I have lived in AZ my whole life and have never been to Tuscon - I've just never had a reason or desire to go. Our destination was Bisbee. And Tuscon just happened to be on the way. I wasn't missing out on anything. Tuscon is just an uglier version of the valley. We also stopped at Tombstone on the way to Bisbee. It was exactly what we expected, but still pretty cool.
Steve in front of the famous O.K. Corral gunfight sight.
Avery and I in front of the surprisingly beautiful Tombstone Courthouse
Bisbee was the real highlight of the trip, besides trying to discreetly nurse in odd locations including in the car in a Subway parking lot where I am 100% sure a strange man saw more than he bargained for...sorry for the peep show Mr.Stranger! Anyway Bisbee was a fun town to visit. It is a lot like Jerome, but it isn't a ghost town. It has a very unique atmosphere and its just fun to walk around. Highly recommend to anyone who hasn't been there.
Look at that handsome guy! Don't know how I got so lucky. I have him to thank for giving me the best two years of my life and hopefully many, many more.
Avery was a little peach the whole trip. We are so blessed to have this little girl make our good life that much better and meaningful.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

What Dads Will Never Understand

I have an addiction to buying baby clothes and getting great deals, get the two together and it is the perfect storm. The other day I was at Kohls, pretty much hyperventilating with excitement when I discovered they were having and 80% off sale for baby summer clothes, when Steve called. I instantly confessed to him where I was and that I was in TROUBLE with this amazing sale. He then informed me I could only get ONE item. With that news, I looked at my stroller and counted 14 outfits hanging off of it that I could not live without. Using my quick critical thinking skills for a situation so dire, I came up with a solution. My birthday was two weeks ago (I am now a whopping 23!) and Steve's kind parents gave me $$. Just enough to cover the cost of all those beautiful outfits. I told Steve my plan and he was impressed, and sincerely said, "you are so selfless, using your birthday money to buy things for Avery." What dads just don't get is this: The clothes I buy for my baby are to cover her bare skin, yes, but they are REALLY for ME. I don't think I enjoy anything more than buying baby clothes, especially baby GIRL clothes. Here is a snippet of some of the outfits I got from this amazing sale!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Trying not to make this a photo blog of my baby...

I'm discovering how very difficult it is to fight the urge to show off my baby at every moment, to everyone! I don't want to jam it down your thoats - but my baby is cute, dang it! Just when I think the "newness" may be wearing off, she changes or does something new. So here is my official apology for all the ensueing pictures that revolve solely around Avery. I'm a little camera happy these days, which is kind of a big deal for me, since I usually take a couple pictures per year. Some recent happenings for us - Avery's blessing was last Sunday, so we had family in town, which was fun. Steve did an amazing job on the blessing, I'm so thankful my mother-in-law wrote it down as he was giving it. That will be fun for Avery to look at when she is older; its fun for me too since I have a horrible memory. (My primary kids can attest to that, I forget the words to the songs I am teaching on a weekly basis, its embarrassing.) Some pictures from the big day......
The Little Dress

The Little Hands The Little Feet The Little Baby

And some more pictures because, lets face it, I just can't stop myself from posting them!

I LOVE this one - she was in the middl eof a yawn, but she just looks crazy cute!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Settling In

A month ago today our little Avery was born. Its amazing how fast time flies, and how fast newborns grow. I know its good that she is growing and filling out, but I can't help but be sad at the same time. I just want her to stay tiny forever! Plus, it was a lot easier on my back and neck when she was only 5lbs. :)
The good news is we love being parents, despite the lack of sleep. We're as happy as little chipmunks over here at the Bell residence.
I took this picture of Avery today and had to share because she is so darn cute! Her little cheeks are starting to fill out - I could kiss on them all day.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Avery Ruth Bell

She's here! We (actually just me, steve didnt really have a baby) had our little baby girl this past Tuesday, June 28th. I had to have a C-Section because she was very breech. We had a scheduled C-Section for July 5th at 9am...but little Avery had plans of her own.
We had a regular doctor's appointment on Tuesday, luckily Steve had the day off so he was able to come, and found out that my amniotic fluid was very low. The reason it was low is because my water broke, and I didn't even know it! I think it broke last Friday....not sure though because it wasn't like I expected "watering breaking" to feel. It was just a very slow, subtle leak. So after my doctor confirmed that, she told us that we were going to have our baby that very afternoon.
I was not ready. I had so many things left to do that I was planning on doing before July 5th, but we went with it and had a beautiful daughter by 3pm on Tuesday.
The C-Section went really well; it was a surreal feeling laying there behind that sheet, feeling the pressure of them cutting away at me, then suddenly hearing Avery screaming. Steve got to see her come out of me, which I am very jealous about. I couldn't even hold her for about 20 minutes after she was born. It was killing me.
She is just a little sprite. 5lbs 14oz, 18 inches long, her head is only 13.25 inches. And she has lots of hair, well not tons, but a lot more than I was expecting. I can actually brush it!
We got home from the hospital yesterday afternoon, and everything is going great. I love being a mom, and am very blessed to have a healthy, good tempered, snuggly baby. Steve and I can't stop staring at her.
One last maternity picture before we walked in the hospital

Monday, May 23, 2011

Tornado!

So yesterday we had an interesting experience. Just to set the scene, it was just like any other Sunday afternoon. I was busy trying (trying but not succeeding) to make up a crochet pattern for little baby loafers, Steve was doing the dishes like a good little husband, and all of the sudden there was literally a tornado in our backyard. I looked outside and saw the little cyclone swirling debris around. Then it was gone, just as fast as it came. The real fun was when we looked outside at our backyard.....our temporary fence was completely destroyed. We had pieces of wood lying all over our lawn and only one panel and a half was able to withstand the rage of the microburst (I say it was a microburst, Steve is adament it was a dust devil).
Honestly I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in a real tornado and to see your entire house destroyed - we were at a total loss just looking at our fence damage trying to figure out what to do. In the end, we decided to do nothing. It was Sunday! So we left our yard in pieces until today after work.
Apparently some of our ward members saw our destroyed fence today and thought we would be the perfect service project for the deacons. Don't they realize it was Sunday and we were just trying not to break the Sabbath? At any rate, we now have a gaping hole in our backyard that you can easily see from Stapley, its a little scary. Thankfully, we got word from the City of Mesa today and that land is finally OURS. So we will be rebuilding the fence this week, permanently. No more make shifty fence, hooray!
Here is a little taste of the damage....

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Follow the Leader

Last week my life became a stressball the minute our Bishopric second counselor asked me if I would be willing to serve as the PRIMARY MUSIC LEADER, I don't know what these people are thinking. I don't sing. And most importantly, I don't sing in front of people.
I went to primary last week, just to observe how the current music leader runs the show, and was completely floored by #1 how many songs I have forgotten or just have flat our never heard, and #2 how huge our primary is. There were over 80 kids in primary last week. That is a lot of people who are going to hear how much I really don't sing.
So this Sunday is my first "try"....yes, EASTER Sunday. Then mother's day is coming up and we have to do TWO songs in sacrament meeting. Ugh! I have been desperately trying to learn all these songs this week - poor Steve has to bear the brunt of it. I hear him walking around the house singing the fourth article of faith - I have played it on the piano about a hundred times since last Sunday.
This week was also stressful because we found out our little baby may not be as perfectly healthy as we thought. I had an ultrasound last week - not even sure why I had it, I thought it was routine, but come to find out most people don't get an ultrasound at 29 weeks unless something is wrong. She is a small baby, which I already knew since my belly is really not that big (I am measuring three weeks behind), but her head is why the doctor is concerned. Apparently the size of her head is measuring in the less than two-percentile.
It could mean a scary word like Dolichocephaly, or maybe it just means she has a small head and I will have an easy delivery. At any rate, my doctor wants me to see a specialist for a level two ultrasound. Steve and I are doing that next Tuesday morning. I am trying my best to not freak myself out, but I just want to know what's going on!
I think I'm in for another stressful week....

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Sisters and babies

This past weekend we travelled up north (through rain and snow!) to go to Kim's newest baby's blessing. It was terrific - I got to see all three of my sisters in one place. Who cares about my bros =). The most amazing thing about the trip is I took pictures! I never take pictures of anything, besides the rooms in my house, so I am quite proud of myself. Kim's baby girl, Cassie Mae, is as cute as babies can be. Just holding her makes me yearn to meet my little baby - I just hope she can hold a candle to Cassie. Those Gardner kids will make us all look ugly!

Cassie Mae - Gardner #3

Blake - Gardner #2 (see what I mean? He looks like a porcelain doll!)

The happy family

Me, wishing my baby would come already!

The original Williams girls

Favorite quote of the weekend.

Me: "Mama, did you spank your kids?"

Mama: "No, I didn't make a cake."

Oh, to be old and on the brink of senileness....

Thursday, March 31, 2011

From bumps to hills

Hooray! I finally look pregnant, not just pudgy. I even feel comfortable parking in the "Expectant Mother's" only parking space at Fry's (which I did this week - it was a happy moment). So here it is, from a bump to a hill. I am good with a hill - not so sure I want a mountain =).

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Result of Boredom

Lately I have been incredibly bored. Steve is going to ASU for his master's degree in Spanish and I never see him anymore. He is only taking two night classes, but on the nights he doesn't have class, he hides in his study room to read. So I am left to my own devices these days and I had some time to do a couple projects, which I will now show off.
Exhibit #1:
I made new curtains for the kitchen.
Exhibit #2:
I also made curtains for the living room along with some misshapen pillows.
Exhibit #3:
I bought a crib for the baby off craig's list (I made that quilt too...and I'm waiting for my seamstress mother to teach me the ways of binding a quilt.)
Exhibit #4:
Isn't SHE adorable? We found out this morning that it is definately a girl - which I knew all along, hence why I made the above quilt long ago. I think she has Steve's perfect nose, and unfortunately my ears, poor thing. I felt her move for the first time a couple weeks ago, and have been enjoying every single bump since; its bliss.
Next project: the nursery; bring on the pink!