Christmas Eve/Morning

Our family Christmas picture.

Santa was outside in the sky (he really was, I don't know what is was, but it really looked like Santa). She was mesmerized.

Where she spent most of her time chasing the dog.

Some of my family.

Avery and her great grandparents- The Seals

Avery posing with her loot

Saying "cheese" with her new doll

She loves her daddy

Hanging the candy canes on the tree

Obviously her favorite gift---lipgloss!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve/Day this year. Christmas Eve morning we started out by going to Wes' grandparents (since we were going to miss the nightly festivities) and visiting with his family that were in from out of town. Then we went home to take a "nap" which never happened. We then went to visit my mom and then were off to my aunts house to have the annual Mier family Christmas Eve. Our family tradition is to have my grandfathers garbonzo bean soup and tamales. It is something I have had since I was a kid, and is a definite treat once a year. Since my grandfather is no longer alive to prepare it, my aunt and uncle make it. I should have taken a picture of the pot, you would not believe how big it is. I do however come from a very large family. Christmas morning she woke up and was so excited to open her stocking and all of her presents. She didn't really get a big gift, just a few small things that she loved. We then made a family breakfast and RELAXED. That was so nice. I don't really remember doing that in a long time and I have to say it was quite nice. We then went to Wes' sisters for a ham dinner (so yummy) and I snuck off to work that night. Such a fun Christmas. It is hard to believe that we will have two kids next year. So exciting. I hope everyone has a blessed year.

Christmas festivities

Her favorite thing....frosting (she never even touched the cookie)

More frosting....please

Doing it herself, followed by licking of the spoon

Just some of the kids that were there

Avery, Grace and Caleb (her cousins)

Avery trying so hard to wake Maeve up.

The "kid" table She loved it.

Cookie decorating at our house

The kids decorating.

So we had two cookie decorating parties and an early Christmas celebration already this past two weeks. We started out by going to a pj's and pancake party at a friends house. I thought it was such a cute idea. All the kids/adults had to dress up in Christmas pj's and we had pancakes and decorated cookies. The kids loved it. Then we had an early Christmas celebration with Wes' aunts. Avery had the best time playing with her cousins (whom she adores). Today we had our usual small group (although half of the group was missing) over and the kids played with dough, cookie cutters and decorated cookies. She is really into Christmas, especially Santa. I am making sure she gets plenty of teaching on the true meaning of Christmas though. I can't wait for that face on Christmas morning. I know she is going to love it.

It's a.....

19 weeks

Another girl!!!

So it's another girl for the Schmidt family! I was VERY convinced it was a boy for sure, but I guess I was soooo wrong. We are still in shock, but so excited for Avery to have a sister. The ultrasound went great and the baby looks healthy which is all that matters anyway.

Thanksgiving 2010

Messy pumpkin pie face. (She was sooo tired in the pic)

Huh?

This is her "what's that" sound face. Love it.

Avery and her cousin Luke whom she adores

"What's that. what's that."

Running around dancing and playing.

So for Thanksgiving we made our annual trek to Las Vegas. As usual we had a great time and enjoyed spending time with family. Wes did get into a car accident with my car, by himself thankfully, We left on Wed. morning and took our time getting there. Avery did soooo much better this year than last, and that was such a relief. She did not do well with the sleeping part of the trip, but we expected that. It was so cold when we were there (highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's). Super cold for us. Despite this, I still did my 4am Target/Kohls Black friday shopping. My aunt and I always have a great time and enjoyed our together. We took our annual Christmas card pic and they came out pretty cute (minus my chubby pregnancy face). Avery is always cute of course. We then went to my other aunt and uncles house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time in my life that I have sat at one table with everyone to have Thanksgiving. Usually there are so many of us and we are scattered all over. It was quiet except for Avery yelling "Tada" everytime she made a ball in the hole while pretending to play pool. Anyways, here are a few of the pics from the week.

October 2010

The "punktin patch" as Avery says

Hi daddy

Too many to choose from

She bounced for 45 minutes and loved it

"Petting" the chicken

Mommy and Avery

We tried, she just wouldn't look

Wow, a monkey

Too cute

The giraffes

The famous S.B. zoo turtle.

The big girls, and one sad Molly

"I painted"

All the girls painting

Hi Strawberry butterfly

Love this one

So proud of her pumpkin just before we left for dinner and trick or treating

Walking with daddy to the next house

All by herself

So our computer was broken for a while and now it is fixed!!!! I have been waiting to upload lots of cute pics, so I just decided to condense the whole month. We stared out the month by going to the pumpkin patch. She loved it especially the bounce house part. She LOVES animals so the feeding/petting zoo part was fun too. I had an ultrasound a few weeks ago and Wes decided to take the day off and we went to the zoo. We just love the Santa Barbara Zoo and she hadn't been there yet. She loved it and asks to go back all the time. When you ask her what her favorite animal was she says "the ducks." Silly girl. She really loved the monkeys and the lions. It was a beautiful day out, I don't think we could have gone on a more perfect day. We then had a little pumpkin painting party at out girls small group. Most of the kids dressed up and they all looked so cute. I just love having these girls in my life. Soon there will be 5 adults and 10 kids, almost all girls, so far just one boy on the way! The kids picked out pumpkins and then finger painted them. They all loved it. Next, Avery and daddy carved pumpkins. She loved it. This year she really understood the concept and really wanted to get in and help. Finally, on Halloween our neighbors had a party and we were invited for dinner and Trick or Treating afterward. I was so impressed with how she did. She walked around collecting candy for almost an hour! She kept up with the kids pretty well. She said "trick or treat" most of the time and always said "thank you and bye-bye." Lets just say she won a lot of peoples hearts, especially her mommy's. What a fun month it was.

New Ultrasound pics/11 weeks

This is the baby looking directly at us.

Resting comfortably in the womb.

Since the last post was not the best ultrasound picture I thought I would put up a couple of new ones. So far I have had three ultrasounds because I have had some bleeding and then they saw something they were concerned with. Everything has since resolved and the baby is looking great. The baby is just really low and so is my placenta. At this point I have placenta previa but this diagnosis is not official until the 28th week. So at this point the placenta still has plenty of time to move and my Dr. is sure it will. Other than that I have had a hard week with nausea, mostly in the afternoon, but the last two days have been better. I am just so happy that the baby is looking good. So it is all worth it, just ready for that part to be behind me. I haven't taken any new pics of Avery lately so I will just update you via script.

Avery update : So she discovered how to get out of her crib (we had been dreading this day). It is really hard for her to resist, but she is learning that we are not messing around when we mean it is time for bed. She is probably ready for a big girl bed, but we want to wait a few more months for that. She is talking like crazy. Today I was putting away laundry in her room and told her, "Avery I am putting away laundry in your room." She promptly answered me, "Ok, mom, I am eating some cereal." It is just so funny to hear that come from her. Now she speaks in sentences a lot, but this was just funny to me (maybe you had to be there). She loves it when Wes and I are in the room or outside when she is playing. She always says, "C'mon mommy/daddy." It is so sweet. Anyways, she is kind of getting the fact that there is a baby in mommy's tummy, but I am sure she will get it more once my tummy gets a lot bigger. Anyways, I am sure the next pics will be from the next ultrasound (the 25th) or from Halloween. Until then......And no, I have no clue still what she is going to be. :)