Happy Birthday Avery!

Dear Avery,

I cannot believe my little baby is already 3 years old! I remember the moment I found out I was pregnant with you...I remember my first contraction...I remember the moment you were born...I remember bringing you home from the hospital...I remember your first tooth, first step, and first birthday...I remember your second one well and now here we already are at your third birthday! How time flies when you're having fun! You have always been such a joy to your daddy and me. You are so sweet and kind and well-behaved. You never act pushy or rude to any of your friends. You are usually very obedient and love to please. Your favorite color is yellow and you always have to have anything yellow when given a choice! You LOVE to play outside and HATE to come in when it's time! You love to run anywhere. In the house, outside up the hill, anywhere! Your favorite cartoons right now are Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George. You could watch any and all episodes of them all day long if I would let you over and over and over! You recently became a big sister 6 weeks ago and you are such a good one! You are very protective of Bailey and love her so much and you are always telling her that! You get the most smiles from Bailey right now but maybe that's because you get right in her face and kiss her and tell her you love her constantly! You always have to kiss her cheek and recently you have been insisting to hug and hold her by yourself. You soothe Bailey when she cries and HAVE to be up at the changing table on your stool anytime Bailey is getting a diaper change. I pray you and Bailey will be best friends your whole lives! You love to read books before bed, especially the long ones, and you are so funny when you say your prayers. You always start with, "Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Please let this go to the nourishment of our bodies..." and then you finish with different things. I think one night a while back you got bedtime prayers confused with dinnertime prayers, but we never did correct you, so you still say it! You are already asking me questions like What is sin? Where is Heaven? Where is Jesus? I hope you soak it all in, girl, and let Jesus be your Lord and Savior at an early age. I pray for you to accept Him and to live your life for Him always. He loves you more than Daddy or I ever could and that's A WHOLE LOT Avery because I can't imagine a love bigger than what I have for you! I can't wait to teach you so many things and for you to grow and learn by my side. You are so precious sweetheart and your big beautiful brown eyes still make my heart skip a beat sometimes. I thank God every day for putting Avery Grace Alexander in my life!

Love, Mommy

Sorry Ladies, He's Taken!

This post is dedicated solely to bragging on my wonderful husband. Actually, this post should have been written long ago! But I have been reminded how wonderful he is over the last several months. Not very long ago, I was largely pregnant...yes, very large. I hardly ever felt like doing anything--chores, cooking, getting Avery ready for bed, and Craig stepped up like most husbands wouldn't. He never once complained or said he was ready for the pregnancy to be over. He just came home from work and cleaned the kitchen if it needed it, picked up dinner a lot, made dinner for he and Avery if I wasn't feeling like eating, and the list goes on and on. He is so selfless and has such a servant's heart, I could not ask for a better husband! At times when I would apologize for letting the house go or for not cooking dinner in months, he would say, "I don't care...it's no big deal to me!" What a man! Even if he really did care, he never once showed it and was so supportive through the whole thing. He listened to me complain about how uncomfortable I was and he was always ready to play with Avery the second he got home to give me a break. Many Saturday mornings, he would say to Avery after she crawled in bed with us, "Let's get up and let Mommy sleep." What a sweetheart! He has always been the best dad in the world, playing with Avery, giving her a bath almost every night and getting her ready for bed, reading her books and putting her clothes on her when I was running late (Yes that was often :) Lately since Bailey has been born, he has had to endure through more weeks of a not-so-clean house, a little more take-out and quickie dinners, and a lot of extras that he shouldn't have to do. But he still has never complained once or asked me when I was going to get back into the swing of things. Not once. A few days ago when I needed to mail Avery's birthday invitations out that day and realized I had no stamps, he so graciously used his lunch hour to drive the 20 minutes home from work, get the invitations, then take them to the post office to mail them, then drive the 20 minutes back to work, all so I wouldn't have to get both girls and myself ready, in the car, and out to the post office. What an amazing man! Today, Bailey was in need of some medicine for her acid reflux that we are finally figuring out that she has, and so I wouldn't have to wake her up from a nap and again get both girls out into the cold weather, he so selflessly used his lunch hour to drive to Jenks, go to Walgreens to get the medicine, and bring it home to us so she could have the medicine by her next feeding.
I realize you may not still be reading this at this point, but I had to explain to you just how much I love this husband of mine and how grateful for him I am. Later, I hope my girls will look back on this post and understand how wonderful their daddy really is. We could not ask for better. I know by now you are probably very jealous of us :), but sorry ladies, he's taken!!!

Sisters

Why is it that "picture time" always becomes "crying time"? It seems like we always want to get a picture right at feeding time, too!

Not sure if you can read the shirts--they say "Big Sister" and "Little Sister."

Avery has gotten really goofy with her faces lately--and needs to work on supporting her sister's head!

By the end of this photo shoot, Bailey needed her paci!

I really thought I had posted these last week, but I guess not. Look at these two cuties! I love them both so much...when you have a second child, you always wonder how are you going to love this one as much as the first. Well, your heart just grows twice as big and you squeeze the other one right in! These girls are so sweet and I pray they will be as close as best friends. I am already loving dressing them alike, although I think these are two of the only things they have alike. I can't wait to have many more (as my friend Emily says) "matchy-matchy" opportunites!