Church Visiting Experience

I've been meaning to blog about this a while but haven't gotten the chance to so here goes:

A few Sundays ago, John's entire family on his dad's side(minus 2)got together for the weekend. We all went to church that Sunday with Memaw at Jackson Heights. She had 18 visitors with her and we filled up 2 rows! I told her she should've gotten a sticker for the most visitors like kids get at vacation bible school! Anyways, Bonnie is usually good in church but this particular Sunday, she was acting up. I was trying to let her look at a book and I was gonna turn a page for her or something and she got mad and tore the page and was starting to be really defiant. I was so MAD and embarrassed! I jerked her up to take her out and was trying to get out of the pew holding her on one hip and the massive diaper bag on the other shoulder--trying not to hit the person's head in front of me with the bag. I don't know why I even brought the diaper bag with me to take her out. I guess I was confused at which kid I had with me. As I picked her up and put her on my hip, I noticed that she had snuck and put her Elmo pajama shorts on under her dress before we left. Oh well. It was pretty funny to see but I had to stay focused--she was getting a spanking for acting so ugly. So I walk down the stairs trying not to stomp b/c I was so mad at her. I had on 2 1/2 inch heels(first time I'd worn them in a year)and felt like with every step I took, everybody could hear the clunk clunk of them trying to get her down the stairs and to the bathroom so I could spank her.

I got to the bathroom that was in front of the auditorium (the only one I know of) and I see this sign immediately as I go in the door:


I think I said out loud: "Are you seriously kidding me?!!!!???!!!!???!!!" Oh my goodness. Now I couldn't even spank her....where else was I gonna go. I should have gone in the auditorium and interrupted the preacher and asked them where the elders suggested that I go to spank my child in this building. Just kidding... I could've taken her outside but the doors to the church are on a main road and I didn't think I should take her out front and spank her on the steps! :) I calmed down and just talked to Bonnie sternly and thought, 'I've got to take a picture of this sign and blog about it. It's just too hilarious not to.' So, I had my camera in the diaper bag and looked around to make sure nobody was gonna walk in and then a lady did! I held on to it for a few seconds until she got in the stall and then I got the camera ready fast and snapped a picture and RAN out of there. Man, if she heard the camera or saw the flash, I'm sure she was freaking out at who was taking a picture in the women's bathroom! I guess she'll never know.

I talked to the preacher afterwards and we laughed about the sign. I know him well enough to kid about it for those of you who are thinking 'I can't believe she talked to the preacher about it'. I was like, "Where am I supposed to spank my unruly child during church?" It was a pretty funny day! I'm sure God knew that sign would bring a little laughter into the situation so that I wouldn't be too hard on Bonnie!

Just giving you new moms something to look forward to. Man, it's so hard not to laugh when you're having to discipline....I've got some stories about that for another time...................

2 month shots and checkup

The first picture is of Ava after I undressed her and we were waiting on the nurse. The second picture is after I told her why she was there today.

My poor sweet little Ava had her 1st shots today--3 in her little thighs! She cried the most pityful cry, but she's not the breath-holder like Bonnie was, thank goodness! She's been sleeping almost all day and is okay until I change her diaper and I have to move her little legs. They must be really sore! They also gave her another vaccination by mouth for rotovirus. It's a relatively new (2 years) vaccine and I'm glad they have it b/c it would be awful if she got that!

She weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces and is in the 10th percentile. She is 21 1/2 inches long (25th percentile) and her head circumference is 14. She didn't even make the chart for that but John's mom has a little head and so does Bonnie, so nothing to worry about there. She's growing every day and beginning to notice more. She smiles now and Bonnie just absolutely loves it when she smiles at her. Bonnie went up to Ava's carrier when we got back from the doctor and she said, "It's okay Ava. I'm here." I could cry just thinking about it! Bonnie really cares for Ava and she's starting to be a little mommy to her. We have not had any scary raisin incidents lately or anything else potentially dangerous--I'm relaxing a bit more although I don't leave them alone together if I can help it. Bonnie hasn't been given raisins to eat since then--I probably should give her back her raisin privileges (with supervision of course!)

Here are some more pictures from today:

Sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ava has slept through the night for the past 3 nights! I've been afraid to say anything about it in fears that I may be jinxed! (is that how you spell that?) This is how I found her yesterday morning at 5:30 a.m. Her little gown was all the way up to her belly!


She has eaten around 10:30 or 11 p.m. and slept until around 5:30 a.m. Although this is SO early for me to get up, I still consider it sleeping through the night! She goes right back to sleep after she eats too for another 2-3 hours. We are so blessed. The only downfall is feeling so engorged by morning. Hopefully, my body will adjust to a new schedule and this will pass. Bonnie slept through the night at 7 weeks too. I was hoping Ava would do the same but I didn't want to ask for too much! I'm so excited and hope this continues!

Things you'll do when you're sleep deprived with a newborn

I am trying to really multi-task these days. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. I'm trying to be a mother to a 2 year old and a newborn, a wife, and pick out all of the stuff for John's next house he's working on. He is putting it in the Parade of Homes in October and it's GOT to be done! I've got to decide on tile by tomorrow and do a biography write up for John to put in the Parade of Homes booklet. I'm SO busy I can't think straight sometimes. I didn't eat until 1 today! But, I really do better when I keep busy. I don't think I've cooked all week (except for Bunco) but my family has been eating leftovers all week! I don't cook again usually unless all of the leftovers are gone. I hate wasting food! John asked me this morning what we were doing tonight. I told him, "Going out to eat!" John said, "Good...and going to bed at 8:30?" He is exhausted too.I am SOOO tired today!

I think I stayed up all night last night. The other night, Ava slept for 6 hours before waking up to eat. I was so excited. Bonnie started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks so I'm hoping Ava will follow in her footsteps. I think I got my hopes up a little too soon b/c last night, she woke up about every 2 hours to eat. Maybe she's going through a growth spurt? Anyways, I was up a lot. When I have laundry to do, I usually put in a load before I go to bed. That way the washing machine can do the work while I'm sleeping. When I get up sometime in the night to feed Ava or pump, I put that load in the dryer and do another load. Great multi-tasking, right? Last night, I went to put Ava's and Bonnie's clothes in the dryer and I felt something really squishy and nasty on the clothes. I looked and thought, "Oh my goodness. I have washed one of those disposable breast pads and it has busted all over the clothes." You see, I actually did that 3 days ago. I guess I put my nursing bra in to wash and forgot to throw the pads away. Well, that's not even what happened this time. I actually washed on of Bonnie's Pull-ups! The gooey stuff inside the Pull-up that absorbs the pee had busted out and got all inside the washing machine and all over the clothes. I had to take each garmet and rinse it thoroughly in the utility sink and then run an empty hot cycle in the washing machine to get all of the stuff out of it! Then, I had to rewash the clothes. I HAD to go ahead and wash them again b/c Bonnie was completely out of clean panties. She would have freaked out if she didn't have any of her 'special big-girl-panties' to wear when she woke up this morning. She's completely potty trained now by the way! YAY!! I think the whole washing process took about an hour, no lie! Just be careful when you're tired and trying to do something productive when you've had no sleep! Since I was up, I went ahead and washed the dishes in the sink too. I seriously think I stayed up all night! John took Bonnie to Heather's house (my sister) and let her play with John-Parker and I slept until 1. I'm feeling a little more revived now!

Oh, and just another little 'funny' about Bonnie:

Yesterday, Heather called and I let Bonnie answer the phone. I'm assuming Heather asked Bonnie what mommy was doing b/c Bonnie said, "Um....she's pumping her breasts and then she's feeding Ava!" She knows that they're called breasts or boobs b/c I had to tell her when she asked. I also was just honest with her about pumping b/c I thought it's better to tell her in a mature, age appropriate way that mommy's make milk for their babies to eat and that I had to pump mine out to feed to baby Ava. I'm really nervous about the other conversations I'm gonna have to have with her along the road...seriously...VERY nervous! Let me tell you: When they say that "kids are like sponges" and "they repeat everything they hear" and "out of the mouth of babes", they are RIGHT!

Ava at 6 weeks old

Ava will actually be 7 weeks old on Thursday but I'm just now getting a picture posted from last week. My camera or computer has been doing something weird when I try to upload my pictures and this afternoon, I actually lost almost all of the ones I'd taken and not uploaded (about 2 weeks worth). I was so upset about it but I'm trying to remain calm b/c there's nothing I can do to get the pictures back. Anyway, here's the one picture I got of her. She is changing so quickly. I need to make sure I take lots of pictures of her each week. It's hard to do that with the 2nd one!