My new favorite sound

Like I have said before...I'm the WORST blogger! I know that I do have time to do this, but I always find excuses. Can't tell you why, but I'm constantly finding other things that need to be done. So, I'll try to make this as good as I can.

My little Avelyn has grown up so much! She is now 5 months old and really developing quite a little personality. Today, Jeff and I took my car in to get an oil change. Avelyn waited very patiently for 1 hour 1/2. During that time, she decided to change up her sounds a little bit. Before her thing was to just scream at the top of her lungs like a little bird squaking. Today her new sound was to pierce her lips together and blow. Spit flying every where. I honestly believe it is my favorite sound right now. I know it certainly is hers. She has also enjoyed putting her mouth up to my cheeks and talking into it. I love it! It tickled my cheeks and she was cracking up.
Here's a little clip of what she did...


Avelyn has also turned into quite the little diva (probably Mom made, but...). A couple of weeks ago, we tried taking her to our local department store to get some photos done. We were 3 minutes late for our appointment and the cancelled it. Then they informed us that they only do 10 minute sessions. Who does a 10 minute photo session? I was really irrate with them. Anyways, to get back to the story, Jeff and I decided to do things at home. I set up white sheets as a back drop for her. I made her this adorable (at least I think) tutu and matching headbow. Avelyn absolutely loved it! She was having such a time and loved every minute of it. When we tried to take it off and put her in something else, she threw a fit! Here are the photos to prove it...
Avelyn with her tutu.

Avelyn without her tutu!

Just a little gas!

Ok...so Jeff and I had just finished giving Avelyn her bath and had put on her towel, when Jeff picked her up and Avelyn gave a squishy little fart. It cracked both of us up (yes, we're 12) and when Avelyn saw us laughing she decided to give a little squeak herself. She tried to laugh at the best of her little ability and thought it was hilarious. Then as we're putting on her diaper, she gave another little poot, this time with diaper powder and created a little cloud in the air. Again...laughter errupted. Early this morning though, I could have sworn she tooted and I heard, "squiiirrrreelll" come from her tush. Great birthday present Avelyn! :)

2 Months Later and So Much Growing!

Ok...I admit...I'm the WORST blogger! It's been nearly 2 months since my last post. I'll try to add everything I can.
Here we go...Avelyn is nearly 3 months old now. She's currently 11 lbs 5 oz and 23 inches long. She's just grown so much! Within those 3 months, she can now hold up her own head and can even sit up without much support now. She's also beginning to try and grab things. The other day she was in her bouncer and she was determined to grab her little lion to make him sing. I turned around for a split second and low and behold, she got it! She was so proud of herself and made the cutest little laugh. Avelyn is also trying to roll now. She still has a way to go, but she certainly is trying. My daughter is also a talker. Specially first thing in the morning. I believe my daughter LOVES the morning and that's just not me. I am probably the worst morning person alive. I'm not afraid to admit that, but...more and more, she's turning me into that way. She starts my day with the biggest smile on earth. It melts my heart and I look forward waking up to her (even when it's 4 am). Along with melting my heart, it also makes it very difficult to go to work every day.
I started back to work about a month ago. My job has been very demanding ever since. I got a phone call a few days before I was scheduled to go back and they informed me that I was now going to be teaching a K/1 split class (1/2 Kindergarten, 1/2 1st Grade) and that I needed to move rooms. It's been such a drain, but I do have to say that I have a great class. I am very blessed by them. It's a challenge, but well worth it (with them). It hasn't been well worth it with our new principal. He's really put a lot of work on us. He says its for the kiddos, but how can the kids benefit and learn, if their teachers are tired, torn down, & can't teach the way they like? It's very uniformed and not always for the best. At least that's the way I see it. Enough of this though...back to my girl!
So, Jeff went and purchased the Baby First channel on Dish today. Avelyn can not get enough of it! I have to say, I love it too. It's got some great family interactive stuff to do together. Highly recommend it if you've been looking at getting it.
There's a ton more, but I'm getting really tired now. Here are some photos of our precious little angel. Isn't she getting big??

Avelyn at a month old and she had just started smiling.

One of the few times she's happy during "Tummy Time."

My baby girl spending time in her room.

My sweetie at 2 months and yes that is drool. :)

Mommy and Avelyn out at the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth. This also happened to be the day I found out I was doing a K/1 split. Ugh!! Such a great day and such a sucky day!

Avelyn with her cousins Landon & Ashton (Ashton had to throw himself in the pictures. The kids such a photo hog, but I love him!)

Like my belly??

Aren't I cute Mommy? I can hold my head up now!

Ok...I know I look just like Daddy!

Having fun!

So we've tried putting Avelyn down on her play set, but she NEVER would lay there and enjoy it. Well, today I decided to try it again because I noticed she's picking up on more visual things lately. She absolutely loved it! She sat there and watched everything for a solid 15 minutes. Avelyn has also started to smile a little bit and coo. I have to say, I've been waiting for that to happen and she just melts my heart every time she does it. I have a video but it won't post on here. If you are my friend on Facebook, you can see it there. Sorry for the inconvience.
My little girl will be turning 1 month old this Thursday! Where in the world did the time go???? Next thing I know, she'll be crawling, then walking, then running, & then running away from me! I'm not ready for that. I'm enjoying every little bit I get with her because I know these moments are fleeting.
Jeff, my in-laws, and I took Avelyn to the circus this weekend. It obviously takes a lot to amuse my little one. She slept through the WHOLE thing! We enjoyed it though. Definitely for kids though. Here's a couple of pictures:

My Sweet Precious Avelyn

Well, Avelyn Marie McLendon finally arrived on July 20, 2009 at 4:30pm. She's actually the heaviest of all of the Lowman grandchildren weighing in at 7 lbs. 6 oz., but is the shortest at only 19 inches. What can I say, she's a healthy baby. I got "induced" on Saturday (July 18th) evening, but really wasn't. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to all the monitors and were about to insert the cervadil. They discovered though that I was already contracting and contracting hard so they were afraid to do anything. Fortunate for me, I wasn't feeling any of them! So the next morning around 6am, they checked me and I was 1 cm dialated and 50% effaced. The doctor on-call made the decision to just try potocin. Around 12pm, I had regressed and completely closed up and off the potocin I went! After she discussed it with the other doctors, she made the decision to use the cervadil at 3pm. On Monday morning at 3am, they got me back on the potocin. My doctor (who is absolutely wonderful!) came in at 8am and I was back to 1 cm 50% effaced. She broke my water and said I could have my epidural when ever I wanted. Mind you this whole time I've been having contractions and not feeling a thing! About 5 minutes later, I was begging for the epidural. My labor went so fast! I was pushing by 3:45 and had her at 4:30pm on the dot that same day.
My dear husband, Jeff, was amazing through this whole thing. He helped me push, cut her cord, and was just so emotional. I know my husband loves me, but to see the love he had all of the sudden for his daughter just overwhelmed me. Let me just say, she's a mini replica of Jeff.
Now my beautiful Avelyn is 2 weeks old and now 8 lbs. As I'm typing this, she's sitting her next to me and I just can't look away from her. She's just so precious and the sweetest thing. Yes, we have our trials at night time and getting her to sleep. Apparently she's a night owl like her mommy was. Yeah for me! My favorite moments with her is while she's sleeping and dreaming. I know it's because of gas, but when she starts smiling, it just cracks me up. She has so many little gas faces, it's adorable.
I haven't taken any pictures since her first week. Such a bad mommy! As soon as I do, I promise to post them!


Jeff's parents, Mike & Ann. This is their first grandchild! Can't you tell?


Don't I look like daddy?

It's about time!

Jeff and I went to the doctor today. 2nd time in a week because of my high blood pressure. I've always had the same BP throughout my entire pregnancy, but I guess in the last 2 weeks my bottom number has increased 20 points (or whatever) so...they have decided to go ahead and induce me on Sunday. I'm a little nervous! Very excited though. They did go ahead and do a sonogram to check on Avelyn and make sure she has enough fluid and was considered full term. She certainly is! We also got a chance to see her sweet little face! We hadn't seen it since she was 20 weeks and here she was at almost 39 weeks! It's very hard to tell who she looks like though. I think she'll come out with my nose. Gosh, how I feel sorry for her! :)
The way Jeff and I figured it, is at least this way we can get prepared. We don't have to worry about timing contractions or my water breaking or heaven forbid...him be out of town on work! That was always my biggest fear. So here's what they're going to do: tomorrow we go to the hospital (Harris Methodist Dowtown)at 6pm and they'll start with Cervadil to soften my cervix and then on Sunday, if things didn't naturally progress, they'll use potosin (sp?) and start inducing me. I really hope that we're able to do this vaginally and don't end up with a C-section. I know though that several people who get induced end up with a c-section because their just not ready. Please pray that doesn't happen in my case. But as long as she's ok, I'll do what ever the doc tells me too!
Well...next post...Avelyn!!!!

Hello All & Waiting!

So I have finally caved in and created a blog to let everyone know what's going on in the McLendon household. Here's the newest information on our little bundle of joy:

Avelyn (our soon-to-be daughter) will NOT COME OUT!!! I'm currently at 37 1/2 weeks and had my second check up to see if we've made any progress. I've gone nowhere! Nada, zip, zilch, zero. In fact the doctor now thinks that I will easily go passed my due date of July 27th. My grandmother has jinxed me! Don't get me wrong, I love my Grandma Peggy, but she made Avelyn this beautiful quilt and on the back, put July 2009. Watch me easily go into August now. Ugh!! But that's OK...according to Dr. Robbins, Avelyn isn't even 6 lbs yet. So she needs just a little bit more baking. She certainly feels bigger than that to me! I will say that I have had a very relatively easy pregnancy. Yes, we had difficulty conceiving her, but I've been so fortunate and couldn't ask for anything better. So in the mean time...we'll keep waiting and dreaming of our precious little girl.

Since I've been out of school, the only thing I've done is work on VBS stuff for church and work on Avelyn's room. Here are some pictures:

Her name & the painting above her crib were made by me.


Cute little dragonflies my aunt bought for me for my shower. They look so cute in her room!

The bow holder was made by my friend Andrea & my friend Marsha, bought her the cute little "Time Out" chair (although I don't know how much Avelyn will appreciate it, I personally love it!).


To the right of her closet is a growth chart my friend Jaci made for her. I have such talented friends & family!

Nana K made her the blanket on the chair.

Her many clothes! We almost have to dip into another closet!

This was her daddy's special project. He did all of the decorating!

Jeff even made the display boxes.



So that's it in a nutshell for now! See 'ya later!