Shower for Kendall

My mom, my sister and I with the diaper cake

Pink tutu made by my Mom

the Grandmothers- 'Memaw' and 'Mimi'

My mom, my sister, me, my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law

cute matching dresses for my 2 girls

A week ago Sunday we were blessed to have an awesome baby shower given by the ladies at our church, Southside Church of Christ. My mom and sister, and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were all able to come since we live close to so many family members now, which was really neat. It was a great shower, complete with a huge diaper cake, more yummy desserts than I could manage to stuff my face with, and lots of wonderful gifts. Even Avery got a couple of things--lucky girl! I've finally gotten all the gifts organized and put away, and even made my returns and gift card purchases too. Last week my doctor said I had made a little progress toward the big day-- dilated to 1 cm and 50% effaced. He said he'll check again this week and depending on how much more progress I've made, we might induce Monday the 11th! So in exactly 1 week, I could be holding a baby in my arms! Exciting times!

Game of "Tag"

I was "tagged" by my friend Keri, so I guess I'll play along.
The Rules: Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog. or Share the 5 top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list. or Share 5 things you never pictured being in your future when your were 25 years old. Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. The tagees have a choice of which they want to do.

Since I already wrote quite a few random facts about myself when I did the long list of things about me a few months ago, I opted for 5 places I want to see. In no particular order they are:

1. Yellowstone National Park
2. Hawaii
3. Europe-I'd have to do some research to decide exactly where all I would want to go
4. California/Disney World
5. Cruise to Caribbean

I think I only have 3 people on my links that have not been tagged yet since I took so long to do this. So with that said, I "tag" Amy C., Alexis, and Lindsey.

Dominoes, potty seat, naptime and Kendall's room

Sorry for the crazy title, but this post is just filled with a lot of random stuff that I couldn't seem to pull together. Read on and you'll see what I mean.Question: Is there a developmental "phase" that I am unaware of in which kids keep oddly busy by lining things up, or is my child just showing early signs of OCD? Don't get me wrong, I am thoroughly enjoying Avery's new way of playing because it keeps her occupied so I can get more things done, but it just seems a little strange. I was getting ready for game night at church tonight and so I opened up the dominoes for her to play with while I made her dinner, packed the bag, etc. Probably 10 or 15 minutes later she says, "Look, I make my dominoes," and this is what I found. Maybe she's just destined to be the kid at school with the most organized desk, locker, etc.

She has done 2 other new things lately as well. One is that she tinkled and pooped in the potty today, and the other is falling asleep by herself (no patting!) at naptime. She has been showing a lot of interest and curiosity about going to the potty, so several weeks ago we bought her a potty seat, just to try it out. Honestly, I really don't want to deal with the whole potty training thing until Kendall is a couple months old, but it just didn't seem right to tell Avery "No" when she asks to go in the potty. When we first bought the seat, we tried it out for the weekend, but she just didn't quite grasp the whole concept even though she did go tinkle twice in the potty. But today she asked to go poo-poo in the potty, so I got the seat back out. I sat there with her for a little while and what do you know? She may be forcing me to potty train her despite my previous plan! I guess I'll just "go with the flow" and see what happens. And her falling asleep by herself at naptime could not come at a better time! I have been worrying about how in the world I'm going to pat her to sleep at naptime with Kendall around. She has been falling asleep on her own at night since she was little, but naptime has always been a different story. In the beginning it was bouncing in my arms or the bouncy seat, then we changed to rocking, then patting, and now she is FINALLY to a point where she won't cry when I leave the room and will just lay there playing and talking for 20-30 minutes until she falls asleep. I am just crossing my fingers that Kendall's birth won't disrupt the whole thing and cause her to quit taking a nap altogether or something.

Speaking of Kendall, I included a few pics of her room. The only thing we have left to do is hang her curtain. We used the same nursery bedding, but I did get several new things to hang on the walls. Obviously the "K", which I painted myself, is new, and then one of the signs above the rocker that says "Luv ya to the moon and back" I got at Canton, and then the 2 mirrors on either side of her dresser are new too. All we need now is a baby! Any birth date guesses?

Don't look now. . .

. . . because the belly is in full bloom and getting bigger by the minute it seems! I am 36 weeks now and feeling pretty ready for Miss Kendall to make her debut. My doctor did the measurements on the sono last week and estimated that she was a little over 5 lbs at that point. He said we will keep measuring every week and try to keep her in the high 6's or low 7's (lbs. that is) as to avoid a c-section or another forceps delivery. When we got ready to take the belly pics tonight, Avery lifted her shirt up and started running toward Kendall's room requesting that we take a picture of her belly as well. Pretty funny. I just wonder what she'll say, or if she'll even notice, when we bring Kendall home and my belly isn't as big anymore. Who knows with that girl! We never know what she'll say next.

36 weeks

36 weeks bare belly--Getting scary big!

Avery's 21 month belly shot

Ta Da!

Making dinner when I am home alone with Avery is often a challenge (although she is getting better at playing by herself), but last night she stayed very busy. She kept taking her fridge farm and magnets off and lining them up in different places around the kitchen. At one point she said, " Ta Da! I build a sandcastle!" When I complimented her on it and asked if I could take a picture of it she got so excited and was beaming with pride! Not too sure that it resembles a sandcastle at all, but I was thankful for her imagination and"hard work" that allowed me to cook in peace.
As far as our trip to Oklahoma, we did get to see some friends briefly on Sunday, but our trip was cut short because Avery got sick:( She had just come down with a cold and we had heard her cough a few times Sunday morning, but we weren't concerned enough to bring the nebulizer, albuterol and pulmicort along. BIG MISTAKE! By Sunday night, she was wheezing pretty badly and was having a hard time breathing once we put her to bed. She kept waking up about every hour and even threw up once because of all the phlegm--yuck! Needless to say, none of us were getting any sleep, and around 4:30 Scott made the decision to reschedule his patients and to drive us home so we could get Avery started on her breathing treatments. So we packed up and left around 5:30 AM, got back home by 8:30 and spent the rest of the day taking care of Aves and trying to get caught up on sleep. I think after that experience, we'll just bring the nebulizer and medicine along every time-- whether she is sick or not! Sorry Laura and Jeny that we had to skip out on our plans!

Nothing to do?

Could it really be that I have nothing to do at this particular moment in time? I guess the answer is both yes and no, depending on how you define nothing. Avery is napping, I already did my daily bible study, email and blogs are checked, and my house is completely clean thanks to the cleaning lady that came this morning courtesy of my wonderful parents. Of course there are things I could do, like scrapbook, but even that is somewhat checked off for the day since I am going to a scrapbooking "crop" tonight. I have been busy nesting the past week or two and I've almost got everything ready for Kendall. When we put the Christmas decorations back up in the attic, we got down all the baby stuff--swing, bouncer, toys, blankets-- and i have been busy getting it all organized. We even managed to finally hang things in Avery's room and now we just need to do Kendall's. Despite being nervous about learning to juggle caring for 2 small children, I am rapidly approaching that point where you say, "Get this kid outta me!" Although I am not anywhere near the point I reached when Avery was a week late. Speaking of Avery, I thought I would include a few of her latest sayings, some of which come out at the most random times:
"I love God"
"Love you so much Mommy/Daddy/Kendall/baby/Josie/etc."
"This is Boogie" (our nickname for Josie) followed by "boogie, woogie, boogie, woogie"with a dance
"I can do it all by myself!"
"I"m gonna run like a Cheetah!"
"Don't pat me!" (she told her teachers at school this, probably b/c she knew it would make her fall asleep)
"Daddy wrestle? Daddy tackle you?" Do shoulders?" (sit on Scott's shoulders)
And there are an endless array of others since she is constantly talking, but that's all I can think of for now. We are headed to Oklahoma on Sunday with Scott since he has some patients there on Monday. Maybe I'll remember to take a few pictures and I'll actually have something worthwhile to post.

32 weeks

32 weeks

The torpedo is starting to emerge

As it says on my Lilypie counter at the top, I am just over 32 weeks now. I can't believe how fast it has gone by, but I sure am glad the end is in sight. The aches and pains and difficulty sleeping have officially started now. Kendall should be around 4 1/2 pounds now and she is putting on weight rapidly. In the coming weeks the doctor will be looking at her weight more closely to help us determine if I'll need to have a c-section or not, given the rough delivery I had with Avery at just 7 lbs 14 oz. Now that Christmas is over, I can get back to decorating the girls' rooms and getting everything ready for Kendall. Just for fun, here's a pic of Avery's latest silly face, which she will now do on command for us. What a ham--just like her Daddy!

Christmas with the Bedicheks

"Christmas" morning at our house

Christmas was a lot of fun this year since Avery had some understanding of the whole Santa concept. She kept saying that Santa was going to put presents in her stocking and she even helped make cookies that we left for Santa on a special "Santa" plate. Santa came to our house the night before Christmas Eve, and Christmas Eve morning we had a quick family Christmas with just the 3 1/2 of us before heading over to Coppell to spend time with our families. When we asked Avery if she wanted to see what Santa brought she replied with one of her favorite phrases, "I do!" and ran into the living room, tripping when she got about halfway over to the presents! Unfortunately, Scott just missed getting that part on video. It was definitely different this year just driving across town instead of 3 hours from Oklahoma. On Christmas Eve day we had a big lunch with my family and opened gifts, and then went over to Scott's brother's house that evening. We stayed the night with my parents to minimize the amount of driving back and forth, and then spent Christmas Day with Scott's family at his brother's house (they live about 5 minutes from my parents--so convenient!) Avery got WAY too many presents of course, but she is enjoying playing with them and I guess they'll get used by Kendall eventually too. It took me all day yesterday to reorganize and put everything "away", or at least not in the middle of my living room floor. Scott and I got some nice presents too, some of which include a cleaning service for the house and a gift card to "Super Suppers" to help us out when Kendall gets here. And speaking of Kendall, next post will include belly shots for the curious ones out there. . . the belly is getting a little scary in proportion now, so watch out!

"Play it DJ Avery"

Crazy hair from Uncle Doug and Aunt Sheila's trampoline

Playing cheerleader in her ACU uniform given
to her by her cousins

More pics from the park

Well, after much debating I decided to go with studio pictures of Avery for our Christmas card, which hopefully, you will actually receive before Christmas. So in light of that decision, I can now post some more pictures from our little portrait session at the park a couple weeks ago. We have been super-busy it seems like this month, and for the first time in a week I'm just now feeling like I've got a grip on things again. I spent a good part of my spare time last week and this past weekend making homemade hot cocoa mix for all of Scott's referring dentists (48!) and for Avery's teachers as well. It was not difficult to make, but the mass quantity thing does make it quite time consuming. So now that that's done, I can get back to finishing my x-mas shopping, wrapping presents, and hopefully decorating the girls' rooms. On a positive note, staying so busy is making my pregnancy fly by-- I'm down into single digits of weeks left now! I went to the Dr. yesterday and everything is looking good. Kendall is looking so big on the ultrasound now and I can tell from her movements that she is getting bigger and stronger every day. I'll try to remember to post a 32 week picture sometime next week.

"Cozy Bed"

This past weekend we moved the crib and nursery furniture out of Avery's room and set up her "big girl" bed and furniture. It looks really good and she is loving it! At bedtime and naptime now she always asks to get in her "cozy bed" and then says "This is cozy!" once she's in it. I don't have any pics to include at the moment, but I will soon. . . I promise! We just haven't had time to hang things on the walls quite yet, but hopefully we'll get around to it this weekend. She has slept in her bed for 3 nights now and has done just great. We are hoping that she doesn't just all of a sudden realize that she can get in and out of bed now as she pleases! I'm sure that day will come, but hopefully it won't be a major problem when it does. Watch future posts for pictures of Avery's and Kendall's rooms!

Pictures at the park

Yesterday morning my sister-in-law, who is a creative memories consultant and a pretty good photographer as well, took some pictures of Avery that we might use for our Christmas card this year. I didn't want to post any of the ones we might use for the card, but I did want to share a few of them. As you can see, Avery had a good time running across the bridge and throwing rocks and pecans into the water below. Sheila also took a few pictures of Avery and I together and some maternity photos of me (and Kendall!) I thought some of them turned out pretty good.

On a side note, I just have to comment on how Avery is amazing me every day with how big she is getting and the things she knows and says. Today after I picked her up from school, I asked her about what she did today and she actually told me! Our conversation went something like this:
Me- What did you do at school today?
Avery- I take a good nap.
I go a chapel and sing.
Me- What else?
Avery- Change diaper. (then a minute later. . .) I sit in chair.
Me- Did you color or make something?
Avery- I make shapes. Put 'em on the paper. (She actually had this paper in her bag)
I paint. Wash hands off.
Avery- (a few minutes later. . .) I love Daddy. I give him hug and kiss.

28 weeks

28 weeks

bare belly- beginning of 3rd trimester!

I am starting my 29th week of pregnancy now and still feeling pretty good. Some days are a little worse than others and it is getting harder to keep up with Avery now, but no major complaints. In the next couple of weeks we will be setting up Avery's "big girl" furniture and cleaning out the office to make room for Kendall. I've bought just about everything I need to do both girls' rooms, so all that's left is to actually do it! I'm anxious to see how everything comes together. I'll try to remember to post pics when I'm done with it all. I'm hoping that all the busyness (sp?) of the holidays and decorating the girls' rooms will make the time go by fast as I get bigger and more uncomfortable. With Avery, it seemed like those last couple months just dragged on and on. . . which I guess they really did since she was a week late! According to my book, Kendall should be about 2 3/4 lbs now and around 16 inches long. In the coming weeks she will be packing on the pounds and filling out her skin. We are so anxious to see what she looks like and to hold our precious daughter!

The Mystery of "Oh-She-Teekles"

As you have probably surmised from many of my blog entries, Avery is a big talker. She pretty much talks in sentences now, and luckily, we can understand about 95% of what she says. She has one phrase in particular, however, that we have no earthly idea of its meaning. And it may just be jibberish or something from school that she misinterpreted, but it is a mystery nonetheless. Every time she is playing with something long and stick-like, such as a wooden spoon, sucker, long pencil, or stick, she will hold it up and wave it around singing "Oh-she-teekles". And the funny thing is that now she knows that we laugh when she does it, so she'll sing it and then just look at us and laugh. Funny girl! Here are some other funny or cute "Avery-isms" that I have collected over the past month or two:

-Mommy/Daddy hang back here? (referring to the back seat of the car)
-What ya doin' Josie? C'Mere Josie. No digging Josie!
-Avery's stuck (When I'm carrying her and she doesn't want to be carried)
-Alright, OK, or Yes (answering her own questions to us such as "Avery go a park? Alright.")
-Oh Papa, Daddy, Mommy etc. He/she's sooo cute!
- It's OK. Sh,sh,sh. I'll pat you (talking to stuffed animals, dolls, etc)
-Avery's happy! Mommy's happy too!
-Bye! I go to work.
-Thank you very much! (After getting a kiss from her Poppi)
-It's called a nipple (after "learning" the word nickel)

And just for fun I threw in a picture of her double paci trick. Now that's talent!

18 month/Halloween portraits

Here are the 18 month/Halloween portraits that I mentioned earlier. Just wanted to share as promised!

24 weeks

24 weeks

24 weeks bare belly-- not too scary yet!

I almost let the 24 week belly pics slip by with all that's been going on lately. Yesterday I actually stopped for a minute to think, "How many weeks am I again?" and then it hit me that it was time for another belly shot. I'm feeling good so far-- no major complaints-- not even heartburn like w/ Avery. It's flying by so uneventfully that I'm afraid that I'm just going to wake up one day and realize that I only have a few weeks left and still have so much to do before she arrives!
I have to take this opportunity to brag on Avery as well. Yesterday at school she got an award during chapel called Star of the Week for praising God! I was so proud! I just wish I could've seen her in action!

Happy Halloween!

Avery attended her first Halloween carnival last night at Southside Church of Christ. It was kind of small, but she's small, so I guess that's OK. She really enjoyed all the little games-- duck pond, go fishing, bean bag toss, etc and the guy dressed up in a Tigger costume. She was still talking about Tigger bouncing this morning. We also took her over to the only house on our street that had a porch light on to have the experience of trick-or-treating. I've included a few pics from last night. I actually had some of her 18 mo. portraits done in her costume, but my in-laws have the CD right now, so I'll share those later. Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Fall foliage tour PLUS bonus trip to Children's hospital in Tennessee!

This past weekend Avery and I went with my parents to see the fall foliage in the Smoky Mountains. My Dad was doing some business there, so he invited us to fly out with my Mom to North Carolina to enjoy the mountains for the weekend. Boy was it an eventful weekend! Not only did Avery have her first plane ride and travel to 3 different states in 4 days, she also had her first visit to the ER! More on that later. We arrived in Charlotte, NC late Thursday night and spent the night there. Then around noon on Friday when my Dad finished his meetings, we drove to Asheville and then on to Waynesville, NC to spend the night after a shopping and dinner break in Asheville. Our hotel in Waynesville was nestled on a mountainside and had a really pretty view. Saturday we took our time driving through the Smoky Mountains and enjoying the beautiful scenery. Along the way we stopped at a pioneer farmstead, which was an outdoor, walk-through exhibit. Avery really enjoyed seeing and listening to the chickens and roosters in the barn, seeing the hogs, and playing with sticks and leaves! Saturday evening we drove on to Pigeon Forge, TN to spend the night. If you've never heard of it or been there, it's a very touristy, small town that's similar to Branson, Missouri. They've got lots of shows and outlet malls. After doing some shopping Sunday morning at the outlets, we headed to a place called Applewood farm where they have an orchard, a restaurant, and sell apple products. Right when we got there, Avery got sick--yuck! After she got sick again while we were waiting at the restaurant, we decided to leave and just grab some fast food and head to our next destination, which was Chatanooga, TN. Unfotunately, she continued throwing up every 15-30 minutes all afternoon and into the evening. Around 7:00 we decided to take her to an urgent care clinic. They advised us that she needed IV fluids and bloodwork and sent us on the Children's Hospital. So we get to Children's around 9:00 or 10:00 and we begin the grueling process of urine cultures, blood tests, and getting an IV started on a sick baby. I have to say that it was pretty torturous as a mother to have to help restrain her and try to comfort her while all this was going on. But I knew it was for the best and I knew firsthand how much more quickly you recover when you do get the IV meds and fluids. So around 11:30 after listening to her beg for a drink for an hour, she had finally had over half of her IV fluids and they started letting her have a 1 oz. cup of gatorade every 10 minutes. She managed to stay awake for 5 cupfuls of Gatorade and then promptly conked out after saying "Avery go night-night". So we finally returned to our hotel room around 1:00 AM mentally and physically exhausted. Luckily, she did feel better yesterday and we were able to easily make the 1 1/2 hr drive to Atlanta to catch our flight back home. What a weekend! Although we did have a lot of fun, I think it would be an understatement to say that we now need a vacation from our vacation!

view from our hotel balcony in Waynesville, NC

crunching the leaves outside hotel in Waynesville

pioneer farmstead in the Smoky Mountains

pioneer farmstead

State Fair of Texas

Instead of going to the Oklahoma State Fair as we have in the past several years, this year it was the State Fair of Texas. Essentially, we traded in Indian Tacos and Cinnamon Rolls for Corn Dogs (actually sausage on a stick because Kendall and I got too hungry to keep looking for a corn dog stand) and Ice Cream. Avery's favorite parts were the Children's barnyard and a walk-through, hands-on exhibit called Little Hands on the Farm. The Children's barnyard was pretty standard, except they did have some baby zebras, ostriches and a couple kangaroos. But the Little Hands on the Farm thing was really neat. As you can see in the pictures, each kid got to wear a little apron and carry a basket through the exhibit, which had different little buildings and stops where they had to do farm chores like feed animals, plant seeds, gather eggs, drive a tractor, etc. It was really cute and Avery did a great job of following directions and performing her "chores". It was well worth the 10-15 minute wait. After working so hard at her "chores", Avery was exhausted and fell asleep in her stroller before we even got to the car. It was a fun day though, topped off by our Sooners winning another game! We may go to the State Fair of Texas now, but we still say Boomer Sooner! Scooping out her bag of feed for the animals

Feeding the hens and gathering eggs

Checking out the little piglets at the Children's barnyard

#2 has a name!

20 weeks

We officially decided on a name for little girl #2-- Kendall Brooke Bedichek. Even I am impressed with the speed with which we decided. Our list was pretty much the same as with Avery, except Scott added the name Kendall to it. I thought I was kind of set on something else already, but once I started trying the names out, Kendall just felt right and kind of stuck. So Kendall it is! Everything is going well with my pregnancy and I am feeling good. Much to my delight, I have had a lot less hip and lower back pain during the night this time around. Unfortunately, I'm sure it's just because my pelvis and hips are not so resistant to spreading now-- been there, done that. Kendall should weigh about 10 oz. now and be about 7 inches long. I am getting anxious now to start dragging out the tiny clothes and to get the room fixed up especially for her.


Belly rivals-- whose belly is bigger, mine or Avery's?