Summer 2011

3 months old!

It's hard to believe that Avery is 3 months old tomorrow. The summer is almost gone and school starts in less than 2 weeks! Avery is becoming quite a little baby rather than a newborn. She is very alert and attentive, especially to keep an eye on all the big kids! She is a smiley little thing and LOVES to be held by anyone. She loves her big sister and brothers most of the time and enjoys watching them play. She likes to be outside, her swing, and to just be part of everything. She recently went to her Aunt Kimberly's wedding and did remarkably well in the car on our trip to Washington DC! Here are a few pictures... until next month!

2 months old

Avery turned 2 months old this past weekend and it seems hardly possible that 9 weeks has passed already! She is doing great! She weighs 10 pounds 9 ounces (50%) and is 22 3/4 inches long (60%). She had her first shots last week, of which she was definately NOT a fan. She has been quite the traveler lately. We visited my parents in Massachusetts and Storyland/Santa's Village last weekend in NH (more of those pictures later), she has been to both the lake and beach and many activities around town! The kids adore her and often fight over who's going to kiss or touch her. Maddie is wonderful with her and Avery just loves her back! Avery loves looking at Maddie and listening to her talk or sing to her. She often smiles at Maddie, which Maddie LOVES of course! Maddie has her own nickname for Avery- "Tiny"- they are very sweet!
Here are some pictures of this past month. Check back- I plan to post monthly with new pictures and updates!

Cute toes!

First smile!

"Super Baby" at Owen's party

At the beach

Not a fan of tummy time

Hanging outside

On the ferris wheel at Storyland

One month old!

Avery is one month old today! Already it seems like she has been part of our lives for longer than that. She is such a good baby- she only fusses when she's hungry, tired or in need of a dry diaper. She LOVES to snuggle and is not picky about who she snuggles with (usually)! Maddie and Owen can't get enough of her- Cole loves her too though he is a bit jealous at times I think. I can tell she's getting bigger- she is much more alert and aware when she's awake and has learned to SMILE!

Here are a few other pictures from the last few weeks.

first bath
brother snuggles

Great Grampa
just chillin

Welcome Avery!

Well, it has been 2 weeks since the arrival of "Baby Avery" and we are all adjusting well. Here is the story of her birth and a few of her first pictures.

Avery's due date was Sunday May 15- which came and went uneventfully. I had a doctors appointment on the 18th and found out I was 3 cm dilated but not very effaced (for those of you who know what that means). Given our history of having large babies (Maddie was 9lbs 7oz and Cole was 9lbs 6oz) the doctor, Ben and I were all a little concerned that Avery would be at least that size since she was already 3 days late. The doctor asked if I'd be willing to get induced. I had, up until this point, not wanted to be induced because I had gone into labor naturally with Cole and it was very fast and kind of fun not having a planned birth- but I agreed because of the above reasons, not to mention not wanting to be pregnant anymore...

We arrived at the hospital at 3pm and got situated in our room. Our nurse (the wife of one of my coworkers) helped get us settled, started my IV and paperwork. She started Pitocin at 3:50pm. Around 5:00 the doctor came and broke my water. I was still 3cm and 75% effaced. Once my water was broken, the contractions became immediately more intense but still were not that bad. Ben's parents brought the kids for a quick visit around 5:30. Around 7pm I decided that I would try some IV pain medicine and to call the anesthesiologist for an epidural since I was only 4cm and figured it would be a while still (I should have known better). The anesthesiologist (another coworker of mine) got there just a few minutes later, I signed the consent and he got everything ready.

I sat up on the edge of the bed for the epidural and the contractions were coming almost continuously. The anesthesiologist was only able to get the local numbing medicine injected (not the actual epidural) before I started yelling at him to "stop touching me"... I feel bad about yelling at him. The nurse told me "that looks like the face of someone about to have a baby" She checked things and said "I don't feel any cervix"- and so I went from 4cm to fully dilated in about 10 minutes with Pitocin and NO epidural. Now despite whatever Ben says I would have much preferred the epidural but it was not to be... for the 2nd time!

Avery Abigail Mailloux made her entrance into the world (helped by her daddy) Wednesday May 18, 2011 at 7:44pm. She weighed a healthy 8lbs 9oz (much smaller than anticipated) and was 21 inches long.

Avery has been wonderful! She is a good sleeper and she loves to snuggle. I have needed to remind myself what life with a newborn is like. It takes longer to do anything, including get out of the house- someone is usually whining or crying by the time we get there. I need to remind myself to slow down a bit and be more patient with myself, Ben and the kids. Speaking of the kids- they all love Avery! They are (usually) very big helpers and love giving Avery hugs and kisses- now if I could only get them to do it one at a time!

That is our big news! Here are some of Avery's first pictures. I will try to post more regularly now that the little one is here so you can all see how she grows! Hope everyone is healthy and happy!

Spring has sprung and Happy Birthdays!

Well here it is April again and two of the kids' birthdays are upon us. Madelyn will be FIVE years old on the 21st and Cole will be TWO on the 23rd! I say it all the time but I just don't know where the time goes. It's hard to believe that 5 years ago we were anxiously awaiting our 1st little bundle of joy and had NO IDEA what a ride we were in for. This journey of parenthood has been (and I have no doubt will continue to be) nothing short of a whirlwind. Ups, downs, smiles, tears (sometimes on all of our parts), amazement, disbelief, pride- the list goes on. I've thought this before and it still amazes me- but the song Grenade by Bruno Mars says it all (though I'm not sure the context of the song)- "cause what you don't understand is I’d catch a grenade for you, throw my hand on a blade for you, I’d jump in front of a train for you, you know I'd do anything for you, I would go through all this pain, take a bullet straight through my brain, Yes, I would die for you baby"- I never thought or knew that I could feel that way about another person but I know after having (soon to be) 4 children and a few "close calls" that Mother's Instinct (or whatever it is) takes control and I would do any of the above things for my children- it's pretty powerful stuff! OK enough seriousness. So, Maddie is going to be 5! She continues to blow our minds almost every day with the things she says and knows. She is finishing up her Pre-K program in June and is looking forward to KINDERGARTEN this fall. She knows her letters and numbers and can count to 29 by herself, higher with a little help. She likes to work on (very) basic addition and subtraction and time telling. She is still our little social butterfly and still hasn't stopped talking yet! I felt badly last year when I decided not to do a 4 year old video for her so this years video is actually from age 3-5. The first picture is of her holding a newborn- this is NOT our newest baby, but rather Cole when he was born. Maddie has been asking us to sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" to her a lot lately which is why I picked this song for her video. I really like this version of the song by Israel Kamakawiwo Ole'- It is a bit carefree just like Maddie. Just as the lyrics suggest- "somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, and the dreams that you dreamed of once in a lullaby- dreams really do come true". So Madelyn, my dream for you (one of many) is that you never stop dreaming. Happy Birthday Little Bug! We love you more than you can know.

And Cole... is just as amazing as his sister and brother. He is becoming quite the "big kid". He loves to do anything that the other kids are doing and doesn't miss a thing! He is talking quite a bit now and knows MANY words. Unfortunately, one of his favorite right now is "NO" (usually said with a devilish grin). Cole knows some of his colors and animal sounds. He is especially cute when he says that a donkey says "E.. Awww". He loves day care and his teachers "Looori" and "Nennie" (Lori and Nettie). He is very intuitive and loves to "help". I think that he's going to be a great big brother, just as the older 2 were/are to him.

When Cole was just an infant, a family member told me that she thought that he had the soul of another (deceased) family member because he smiled when she said that person's name. I don't intend to get philosophical or religious or anything like that since I tend NOT to believe in things like that. That said, there IS something about Cole. Sometimes, if you look into his eyes, it's almost like he's smiling to himself saying "I know things that you do not"- it's a little weird. The words to "These are the Days" by Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs made me remember this and that is why I chose this song for his video- "you'll know it's true, that you are blessed and lucky, it's true, that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you". And while Cole, I know that you won't remember these days, "these are the days that (Mommy and Daddy) will remember", and I hope that you WILL always remember how much we love you! Happy Birthday Coley Moley!