"No Mama! Avery do it!"

Ah yes…that is the stage that we are in. Avery is now 2 and has to do EVERYTHING. On one hand, I want her to learn how to do these things and I want her to be independent, but holy cow! Having a 2 year old do everything makes everything take twice as long. In fact, when I was in DC for work the other week – Josh told me that, both mornings I was gone, he didn’t get into work until 10 AM because Avery had to do everything. Now…I will say that most of this has to do with the parenting and the fact that he has a very hard time saying no and listening to her cry (he’s much softer than me in that sense). And, I will admit – it is very hard to know when it would just be faster to let her do it and avoid her freaking or when it is faster to just let her freak for a minute and do it yourself. Not only is it a matter of which is faster, but it is also a matter of the fact that she is 2 years old and she needs to realize that she can’t do everything and that we will say no to some things. Man – this disciplining thing is tricky. Anyway, just an example of some of the things that she needs to do herself:
1. Flush the toilet (regardless of who just went to the bathroom;
2. Turn on the faucet to wash her hands and wash her hands without my assistance;
3. Give Leinie his dinner, his pills and his water;
4. Put her clothes and shoes on;
5. Put toothpaste on the toothbrush. Note – after EVERY time she does this, as I’m brushing her teeth, she exclaims “Avery no walk away from Mama! Make Mama happy!” because, back in the day, she would immediately run the opposite direction when I said it was time to brush her teeth. Until, one day, I told her that it didn’t make Mama happy when she did that - hence, the comment now. I have to admit –it’s pretty cute when she says that;
6. Fill glass with water from the fridge;
7. Walk upstairs and downstairs;
8. Fold clothes (which, she is actually getting pretty good at);
9. Wipe her face and hands after a meal; and the latest…
10. Take Leinie for a walk;





11. Help Josh paint; and…



12. HOLD BABIES!!!


Clearly I’m thrilled with this one. This picture is of Avery and Fitch, my friend Lindsey’s newborn son. She met him for the first time this last weekend and was great with him! She was very gentle and was very intrigued. Granted, Fitch left after 2 hours and clearly this one won’t be leaving any time soon, but still – it was a good first step.
I’m feeling great, still. Although, I’m getting very anxious to meet this child. Just a little more than 2 weeks! I can’t believe it. Here is the latest belly picture of me at 36 weeks. I'm carrying the exact same as I did with Avery, so we'll see if it's another girl!



We’ve got the nursery almost put together - I'll post pictures in the next update. I have washed all of the baby boy clothes that sara has given me and they are in the drawers. I am trying to locate Avery’s baby clothes so that I can get those washed. I figure, I will just split the drawers between girl and boy right now and switch them out when the baby is born.

Oh - and, Avery actually got to feel the baby move the other night! It was great. He/She had hiccups, so there was constant movement - she loved it.



That’s about it. This weekend is free in terms of having nothing planned and then the following weekend, my parents arrive on Sunday and then the following Thursday, this child will make his/her appearance! Crazy…