TWO

This month has not been a great one for blogging! I have fallen even farther behind than I ever thought possible and sometimes I just want to give up and forget this blog exists.... but I love it too much! It has replaced my scrapbooking addiction (for now) and is the place that I do the best about recording family events and all those moments I want to never forget. So, I will return... eventually.

Things are a little crazy at the moment. We just returned from my FAVORITE vacation ever where we spent 4 magical days at the Happiest Place on Earth and loved every minute! I can't wait to blog all about it.... But I took over 2000 pictures.... so it may take awhile.

We returned and ONE day later, Darren had reconstructive surgery to replace his torn ACL. I didn't think it was such a big deal, but it has been! I guess I didn't realize how much it would take him out and how little he would be able to do. And in return, how MUCH I have had to do. I have a very helpful hubby, which I probably take for granted WAY too often, and I am really starting to realize how much I appreciate all that help because I don't have it. It has been hard for me to keep up. The day of his surgery, I tried to be brave and make it through everything at the hospital, which is very hard for me. Ever since I was a little kid, hospitals have done something to me physically which frequently result in me passing out, or nearly passing out. Well... it happened again! I was SO close to making it through the day and as the nurse was giving me all the discharge instructions, I started to have THAT feeling. Maybe most people wouldn't know the feeling, but having passed out more than my fair share of times (including in sacrament meeting), I immediately knew the feeling and asked the nurse for some juice and told her what was about to happen and tried to put my head between my knees as I have learned to do, but my head didn't make it that far. It instead fell onto Darren's bed... unconscious... At least I warned them and I was sitting down! I then spent the next half hour puking in the recovery room and we had to call my little brother to come and pick us BOTH up because I couldn't drive home. Awesomeness! I felt so weird for the rest of the day and couldn't really recover. Darren and I were both on the couch while total chaos was going on all around us and the next day I realized how much damage was done! It left me so much to catch up on, especially since I wasn't totally done unpacking and because I had a birthday party to get ready for and NO hubby to help. Luckily, some friends were amazing and did a lot to help me and somehow, the party happened. And we got through the week. And I survived.

Which brings me to the REAL reason I sat down at the computer to post.... TWO years ago yesterday, this happened. Our sweet Avery came into our family and forever changed our lives, like all babies do.
Sometimes it feels like this baby was SO long ago, and other days, it feels like just yesterday. It is hard to explain, unless you have your own babies that grow up much too quickly, and then you know just what I mean.

Is she not the sweetest thing ever???
And... 2 years go by and she is practically a little girl! I can't believe how grown up she seems all of a sudden. She is talking SO much and even making full sentences these days. She loves her friend "Hal" and asks to see her just about every day. She is SO independent and says, "No, Avery do it" about 100 times a day, especially when it involves buckles, which she is somewhat obsessed with. She has started to love to really play with Logan and Rylee and I love watching them interact. When they are not fighting, of course. She LOVES to tease and has the funniest sense of humor and she now scrunches her face up and closes her eyes in just about every picture I have. She asks to "nuggle" and it melts your heart. She asks for "God" every night when you tuck her in, which means "I am a Child of God" and it is so sweet! She is the funniest little story teller and uses her hands and her facial expressions so cute. It just cracks me up! I just don't know what we would do without her! I will hopefully catch up and get all her birthday stuff posted...someday.... But, I just wanted to say how much we love our baby girl! Happy #2 Avery!!! Please stop growing up so fast!

And one more quick thing. I went to the Relief Society broadcast on Saturday and it was Fabulous! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Elder Uchtdorf's talk and really want to read it again soon. If you missed it, READ it! It is amazing! I loved the part about being happy NOW and about making the RIGHT sacrifices and his amazing testimony of the Lord's love for us. Truly inspiring stuff!