day 3

so, i'm think i am actually starting to enjoy this "working" thing. i really think this is something i might like to try and pursue if i have the opportunity again. i'm almost half way done and have really enjoyed the people i am working with. i think avery is over talking to me on skype because all she wants to do is bang on the keyboard and barely looks up. she used to smile and wave, say mama, and do all of her tricks. i think she'll be happy to see me this weekend. avery and i will head to kerrville next week so see the buchanans! karin and i are going to attempt to take all 4 kids to seaworld! i'm really excited to get some quality time with avery. you know those people who buy their kids whatever they want because they feel guilty for something (ie. being gone all week or working) so they try to buy their love. i think if i went back to work i would be one of those! just from being gone a week i have been thinking of ways to make it up to her! i hope she will forgive me with a trip to seaworld! lol! regardless, i think i am proving to myself that i can still work and still be a full-time mom. i just hope i can continue doing this.

still missing avery (and my sweet tea every morning)! :)

day 2

tired. very tired. i got 6 hours of sleep last night which was an improvement from the night before. still getting a lot of work done and feeling good about what i have completed so far. something i never even thought of to be hard is conversation. yes, i can carry on a conversation but i hold back the stories and references about avery. otherwise i'd just be talking to a group of people who couldn't relate and probably are not that interested in the first place. a lot of the people i work with at the client have their children's pictures all around their offices. i find myself wondering if they work because they have to or because they enjoy it. probably both.

i still miss avery. do you think she misses me?

day 1

today i finished my first day back at "work" since avery was born. last week i worked from home which was nice because i was still able to see avery and put her down for naps. but last night i flew to cleveland, landed around 10:45pm, got to the hotel and was in bed at 1am, only to get up at 6am and drive another 3 hours to the client site. it was actually really nice to work. i felt like i hadn't left and had been working this whole time. we went out to lunch and out to dinner. it was great! then after dinner we came back to the hotel and i immediately opened my computer and called home so i could skype with avery. we hung up and that's when it hit me. i miss avery. i miss her so much. i miss her more than i realized. 4 more days until i get to hug her, until i get to kiss her! i am so thankful for skype. although it makes me sad to have to say goodbye i'm so glad i get to see her blow me kisses, hear her say mama, and watch her wave goodbye. she's awesome.

we head to san diego tomorrow, sans avery! :( then the next week i head to new york for work! :( :( i know i'm going to miss avery but i'm going to try and make the most of it! mark is finishing up working so i thought i'd put a picture for me.

happy 13 months old avery! i love you!

life

is what happens when you are married with two kids. it's not being able to plan exactly how things are going to turn out. we had planned to take some pictures and the only available time was yesterday evening (sadly because they are moving). we had planned poses and different things we were going to try but when i got to their house we had a sad stuffy nosed little girl and a little boy who wasn't really into the camera. i was disappointed when i uploaded the pictures because I knew we didn't get one pose we had talked about. but, after sleeping on it and looking at the images today, i realize we captured exactly what life is like with a family of four. here are just a couple of images of what life is like for the roger's.

IT's...

feeding a baby

while including your other "baby"

consoling a helpless baby with a cold

and making boo-boos all better with a kiss

it's walking to the park because a 2 year old doesn't understand or want to take pictures

and making shark faces, because let's face it, it's much more fun than smiling :)

finally, it's just watching your little babies grow bigger and bigger

while i did get those "posed" images i think i like these life photos the best :)

grandma is in town and hopefully having a good time! i went with them to gymnastics today during my lunch break! i should also add the AC was out in the gym so it was a bit hotter than usual. it came back on when the class was almost over! it's really hard to sit in a room and work by yourself but i'm getting stuff done and i think avery and grandma are both enjoying the time! back to work! :(

my little model - she does this pose on command! :)

love their faces. it's a big inflatable air track!

avery woke up from her nap this afternoon and my plan was to continue cleaning. so, we went downstairs in the bathroom and somehow it ended with me, avery, and all of the fake pearls on avery i could find. oh, and my camera of course! i can clean anytime i want, but i can't ever get this fun time back again! :)

so avery is at that stage where you can teach her something in a matter of minutes and she might even remember it! for a while i showed you the sign language for "all done". well i asked her the other day if she was all done and she appeared to be doing her version of the sign!

the first is her saying all done. she says it too but says it super fast so listen closely!

this one is for you grandma gaye...we started working on it today! and if you can't tell, we just started this afternoon walking everywhere on our own. all over the kitchen, opening the cabinets, pulling out all the soda...it's going to get a little more exciting around here! :)

AND, we are finally teething again! the drooling started today so the top teeth should be coming in soon!

we (i with mark's consent :) ) decided that it was time avery have a room to herself. she has her own bedroom but since she is a kid and her job is to play it's only fair for her to have a space that is just for that! so we said goodbye to our dining and hello to our new playroom. it's a work in progress and i realize it will take some time to complete. especially, since we are trying to do it for as little money as possible. but, i can promise you this - when we win the lottery everyone should buy pottery barn stock because that's where i'm going to re-decorate. but, in the mean time we're doing it ourselves (with the help of aunt allison!) i'm still deciding on a color but it will be a shade of yellow! as much as i'd love a pink room, it's not really the color you want to see first thing when you walk into a house! if anyone has any suggestions i am open. i'm also working on a photo collage to go about the cubbies but won't put those up until it's painted!

our new "cubbies" so all the toys have a home! this makes mommy happy! you can also see her new pink rug that she loves. she crawls and just sits on the rug.

the chair from mimi is a nice furniture piece that goes well too!

this table used to be mine when i was a kid. aunt allison and i sanded it down after scraping all of the glue and other crap i had put on it. then this weekend i painted it white!

she's a lover, not a fighter!

i just love her! it's really only the first 10 seconds but i didn't feel like cutting it down! :)

and in case you missed avery's birthday party you can relive the singing! :)

the good news is we're back to our old self around here! avery is back to playing around. the bad news is she has learned to say no to everything. i'll get a video and post it later! she had lasagna for the first time last night with sweet tea! it was a special treat for her. but the party continued to this morning when i gave her a pop tart for breakfast! she almost ate the whole thing and left all of the bananas on her tray.

yummy lasagna with green beans

i'll take a snack and milk please

air comes out the hole and she likes it when it blows her hair!

so cute

we went to corpus for the fourth and got to see some old high school friends and avery got to play with some other babies! while at was at my friend's house we took some pictures of their new little niece. she just turned 6 months old and was in that cute stage of eating everything! :) she also crawled a couple crawls for avery's milk bottle and then avery was so sweet and just handed it to her! :)

her swimsuit is so cute!

making chewing on wood look cute!

i see why 2nd children do things at a slower rate. why crawl when someone will hand it to you?

.

but she still crawled!

happy 4th