Christmas Pics

The Knudsen clan chillin' after some exhausting present opening. If you haven't seen or been told, Avery has been losing a significant portion of her hair on the top of her head. So we were slightly mortified when we took the sticky bow off her head to find a thick carpeting of hair on the bow which use to be on our kids head.

Avery and Isaac (Avery's cousin) hanging out at the Montgomery's. Isaac's giving Avery a judo chop to the chin.

Making pretty for Nick's company party

My Grandma

My Grandma, Wanda Lee Herold, passed away Tuesday, December 18, 2007. She battled Parkinson's Disease for many years and I'm thankful for the comforting knowledge that she is healthy and restored in Heaven with our Loving Father.
I guess it speaks to the so-called "Circle of Life" to be writing this so shortly after my own daughter was born. One of my great desires throughout my pregnancy was that the two of them would be able to meet- that my Grandma would see Avery and catch a tiny glimpse of the impact of her life. My hope became reality a few weeks ago when I brought Avery over for a visit. My grandparents gushed with praise, talking about how cute and perfect she is, commenting on her hair and her size. As usual, I began nervously bantering about some difficult aspect of parenting, and in true grandma wisdom, she told me that "sometimes you've just got to go with the flow."
We shared a lot of loves, her and I: family, books, shopping, crafting, parties, jewelry, new furniture, a clean house. She taught me random things, like how to embroider (we practiced on paper napkins), how to knit, a way to make cool jewelry out of rolled up magazine pages. Every year she helped me plan my birthday party (themed, with coordinating home made invitations, of course), shop for my "back to school" outfit (we always found the coolest stores:), decide on my Halloween costume (which usually consisted of some aspect of her square dancing wardrobe), and create something new for my Mom's Christmas tree. She was an amazing woman who took what life had dealt her and turned out a large, loving family of healthy, capable, and truly happy people.
Sometimes, it is hard for me to hear her voice now. But, I have flashes of her- the clothes she wore, the way she walked, the way she wore her lipstick, her expressions. Mostly, I have the things she did, the way she loved, and the family she helped shape. And that, I think, is the best legacy of all.

Our little Who. At least that's what I think of when I look at this photo.

Toes

Nick with his little lady. If you look close, you can see that Nick's sprouting a little chest hair. So there's still hope that he may grow up to be a man.

Ninja Babe. Nick still hasn't got the whole swaddling thing down. You really don't know what your going to get when he wraps her up.

Chilling after a suckling session

Avery raising the roof.

The Knudsen Clan

Thanksgiving at the Knudsen's

You guys make me tired

Avery leaving a present in her pants as Stan laughs away.











Why are all these people taking pictures of me?


































Marcus hanging out with his new little cousin.

Rocket Poo!

It was a normal evening when out of nowhere our ears were defiled by a rumbling echo of no small accord. We found ourselves awaking to a vile stench that seemed to be localized to the depths of our little girl’s loin cloth. We quickly sprang into action to remedy the untimely situation by tag teaming the little rascal and her soiled pampers. I assumed the position of handling the legs, which gave Mindy the opportunity to freely mop up the hazardous waste. And then a most surprising thing happened. Our little girl gave a subtle smirk, crunched her belly and released. With that release came a little tiny mortar of liquid poo that went sailing through the air. We made a desperate attempt to flee the little daisy cutter, but to no avail. The damage was done with several casualties. The major areas impacted were Mindy’s pants and our bed. There was a clean up attempt of the aftermath and we believe that the bed may make a full recovery, but it’s looking rather grim for Mindy’s chinos. You may be asking, “what might I do to help this unfortunate Mindy and her pants?” Well I’m glad you asked. We are setting up a nonprofit fund in honor of Mindy’s slacks and others that have suffered from random rocket poo occurrences. Our goal is to bring about healing for these individuals by fostering a loving safe environment, providing funding for the rebuilding of house and home after disastrous rocket poo occurrences, and education and awareness about this increasingly common episode. Please consider donating to our wonderful cause because only you, through education and awareness, can prevent future incidences of this ever so growing epidemic.

Scene 1: Avery assumes the position for commencing burping
















Scene 2: BELCH!!!!!!!


















Scene 3: Aftermath

Avery Paige Knudsen

Avery Paige Knudsen

Our little girl decided to come a little early. Around 5:45 in the morning, as Nick was getting himself pretty for work, Avery gave a little Kung Fu chop to my amniotic sac and got the ball rolling.

Next thing I know, Nick, being the crazy man that he is, went running around the house trying to pack everything that may be of possible use during labor, which included tooth picks, beef jerky and my sewing kit in case his expertise was need for sewing up my incision. After slapping some sense into him, we rounded up the troops (Nick and I) and headed off to the baby mill to pick up ours.

We arrived at the Hospital shortly before 7:00 a.m. and were briskly taken in and shown to our room (pain and delivery suite 512) . I quickly pointed out many of the interior design flaws of our accommodations and was seriously considering vacating our room for greener pastures at another hospital when Nick talked some sense into me and I reluctantly decided to stay. We settled into our room and the next thing I know, I'm being gaffed by 10 gauge needles and hooked up to several black boxes that monitored the baby's heart rate and my contractions.

Upon arriving at the hospital, I was about 2cm dilated. Shortly after, I was hooked up to Pitocin and that's when the fun started. I would liken the experience to being shanked in the belly or listening to Nick sing in the shower-both are not what you would call a pleasant experience. After a few hours of these little unpleasantries, reaching 5cm and Nick being unable to handle my verbal abuse, an epidural was ordered which changed my life. Having the epidural inserted in to my back was less than uneventful. I believe they used a power drill to put that thing in, but after it was in, I was singing the praises of pain meds. and Nick started talking to me again.

Around 1:00 p.m., Dr. Maresh came in and checked me out at 8cm. Not more than 30 minutes later I was at 10cm and started pushing. Avery was born at 2:22 p.m., tipping the scales at 7lbs 1oz.

For the Record...

Probably not my most photogenic moment (my favorite part is the wreath behind my head), but in case I haven't seen you in a while, here are some photos of my belly at 37 1/2 weeks!

So Close!

I guess this phrase applies to several aspects of our lives right now! October's fires came so close to our home and burned so many in our neighborhood. We are so thankful to have been protected from them. Here are some photos of our evacuation. The winds were so intense, it is no wonder the fire spread so rapidly and haphazardly.





Returning home four days later. Difficult to tell from these photos, but those hillsides are all burned.




The view from our bedroom window. The fire came right up through the canyon behind our home. Many of you watched the apartment complex right across from our backyard burn on television. Thank goodness for the HOA maintained iceplant and the unknown heroes (cops, we believe) who used all of the neighborhood garden hoses to keep the flames away from our homes.



But, looking forward, we are so close to having this baby!!!! We can't believe that in a few short days the wait will be over and we'll be holding our precious daughter in our arms. We saw the doctor yesterday and according to him, she's dropping and I'm dilating- so we are on our way! Please pray for a smooth delivery without complication according to His perfect timing.
We see the doctor again Monday so we'll keep you posted!

Friends

A few work friends planned a little baby shower get together for me at Extraordinary Desserts in Little Italy. It was a great time and the desserts (mmmm) and the company were really extraordinary! Thanks Lyn, Kelley, Liana, Jess and Megan!

My Bruin Bro

So, my baby bro isn't a baby anymore, in fact, he's a Bruin:) He starts at UCLA this week. He has surpassed us all on the prestigious school scale. My parents moved him up last weekend- here's a picture of him and my dad chilling in the family minivan on campus. I'm bursting with pride- you'll do awesome Jacob!

I love this kid...

Who can resist this face? Marcus's Second Day of Preschool.

Colorado

Labor Day weekend we found ourselves in Colorado Springs for Nick's Uncle Kerry's 40th birthday party. We had a great time catching up with friends and family and enjoying our last trip without a baby:)

Garden of the Gods


Visiting with the Meuli's





The Kramer's generously threw us a surprise baby shower- check out all her new clothes! Notice her first pair of Crocs (courtesy of the Meulis) and her very first purse (cause she's totally going to need one when she's two...). I don't think she'll ever lack for anything pink or embroidered denim:)