It has been a whirl wind since we have moved to Beaumont. Busy, busy, busy. Avery has given us a run for our money again with ear infection after ear infection after ear infection. And oh the teething! Whatever doctor believes that those two things don't go hand in hand obviously doesn't have children. Besides the few sleepless nights, it truly has been a joy to see all the new developments. Avery is crawling, pulling up, standing up, and into everything. And no matter how clean I keep my house, leave it to her to find the one crumb or fuzz to stick in her mouth. We surely love seeing her personality develop and learning her likes and dislikes. We started table food not too long ago and she will eat just about anything and before she puts it in her mouth she whispers to it ever so softly like she's telling her food a secret. It is absolutely adorable! But boy does she hate, and when I say hate I mean LOATHE, to have her clothes changed. She screams and squirms through the whole ordeal. When I put something over her head, you would think I was slaughtering a pig. It's THAT painful it is!!!

Well now on to Josh and I. We're both doing great as well. Josh is getting home almost 2 hours earlier than when we lived in Houston, which is such a blessing for our family. He loves his new position too. As for me, I have really been getting into photography lately. We just got a new camera and I am trying to learn all there is to know. I also really have gotten back into reading. My goal was to read 12 books this year, not including children's book, and I think I am going to make it. In fact, if anyone has any suggestions for me I would love to hear some other good picks. Well that's all for now, I will try and update again during my Christmas break.

Wow It's Been A While

Wow, it has definitely been a while! I guess we have a lot of news to share. First and foremost, we are officially moving to Beaumont, Texas. Secondly, Josh got a promotion as District Manager with Chase and as of today I will be a teaching kindergarten here in Beaumont. Yay for us! God is so good. As for Avery, well she has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve these days. She can roll over both ways, she sleeps 10 hours a night, she is eating solid food (even her green veggies), she can sit up all by herself, and she is very chatty too! Getting to six months has been fun and very rewarding, she has reached so many milestones and it's so amazing to see. I love being a mom! Although this next phase in our lives is exciting, we will surely miss all of our friends in Houston. Well, I think that's all my brain can handle right now so I will leave it by saying that there is more to come soon!

Sleeping Through the Night and Rolling Over

Can you believe it? In one 24 hour period, Avery slept through the night and rolled over from tummy to back! Of course, they both could be flukes and tonight she could wake up three times during the night and she might possibly not roll over again until she's five months. But for today I get to be a proud Mama, who gets to brag about her developing little one. Yay! 

Now for every parent, sleeping through the night can mean whatever you want to classify it as. As for my definition, it means that she has to sleep until 5am. And she did just that. I put her down last night at 10pm and she didn't wake up to eat again until 5:30am. That's right 7 and 1/2 hours of sleep. Well... minus 15 minutes to pump because as a breast feeding mama you can't go that long without feeling like you're gonna bust, but never-the-less more than 3 hours of sleep in row is a major accomplishment. 

As for the breast feeding aspect, it has been a major challenge because of all the obstacles I went through in the beginning. Mostly, I feed Avery from a bottle, but I nurse her a least once a day. I just can't bring myself to let that go just yet, but I'll be going back to work soon and I may have to. I'm quite surprised that I have lasted this long because there are definitely moments that I have wanted to throw in the towel. Moments where I thought I couldn't last one more minute, one more second even, but I've had some great encouragers (thanks Starting Point Mamas) that made me feel good no matter what I decided! So for now I'm sticking with it, but ask me tomorrow I may have changed my mind!

Post Surgery Check-up

So today, Avery, my mother-in-law, and I traveled down to Texas Children's Hospital to have Avery's post-op check up. Of course you only get to visit with the doctor for a very brief time, but he checked her and said that everything looked great! She hasn't vomitted since before the surgery and she has already gained 3 pounds since birth, which makes her a whopping 9 pounds already.   I guess that really means that we officially need to move up to a size 1 diaper (they really do grow so fast!).  Then the doctor asked the oh so scary question of how many ounces is she eating? And I have to admit that I was a little nervous to answer because she eats between 3 1/2  and 4 ounces and I feel like that's a lot compared to others, but he said it was fine and that all babies are different. Whew! I guess I dodged that one... besides they say you can't overfeed a baby. 

Here is our little Hollywood Starlet under the lights for her jaundice at TCH (pre-surgery).

Little Miss Piggy

All bundled up!

She's getting so big!

Avery's First Photo Shoot

Here is a sneak peak into the photo shoot was had last week. Josh and I visited a studio in Old Town Spring called "True Expressions" and the photographer Nicole did an amazing job. Here are two of the proofs to peek at and I hope you love them. We are so pleased with the results, and Avery looks so cute in them. 

Baby Avery Morgan Rathweg

Well, she's finally here... a little early, but when you're pregnant and expecting your first born it can feel like forever. So here's the story: My water broke at 4:12 Saturday morning and we drove to the hospital and we were checked in by 5:30am 4 cm dilated. A few painful contractions later, I got my epidural and all was well again minus the fact that I couldn't feel my legs. One of my legs fell off the bed and I couldn't pick it up to put it back on the bed by myself : ). By 8:30 I was 6 cm and feeling pretty good about the pace of my progress. By 10:00am the delivery nurse, whom by the way was awesome, came and checked me and it was time. We couldn't believe it was finally time, and I didn't feel nervous at all, but more excited than anything to get to see my little girl for the first time! I started to push soon after for about 20 minutes and out she popped at 10:32am. Our perfect little girl born Saturday, January 31, 2009. She weighed a whopping 6lbs even and measured 18.5 inches long. Now what you've all been waiting for, if you even bothered to read my post first! Here are some pictures:

Update of the Rathweg's

So we have been working very hard on getting ready for Baby Girl Rathweg that we haven't been able to share a lot about what's going on outside of that. I guess it is time to fill you in. I saw my first snow since moving to Houston and it was definitely exciting. And those of you who know me, know that I long for the snow especially at Christmas. It wasn't exactly like an Ohio snow, but I guess beggers can't be choosers. On to NASA... while I was having my Christmas break from school (isn't great to be a teacher) Josh took a week off to hang out with me. We decided to take a little field trip to NASA and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Considering we have lived in Houston for about 3 1/2 years now, it seemed about time to go and see some of the great attractions this city has to offer! 

And for those of you who are wondering, the baby will be here on February 5th via induction. We are in full count down mode with less than 4 weeks to go, and I am very ready to hold my little girl. Also, since it seems to be the most common question I get as a pregnant woman - I am feeling pretty good aside from the inability to sleep comfortably I really can't complain. I have a little bit of swelling in my hands, but my shoes still fit great. Oh but I certainly have those pregnancy moments. Just today, I realized in the tub I can no longer shave my legs by myself nor can I put my shoes and socks on without help. So many people have really made me feel good about how I look saying things like, "you're all belly" or "you look small for how far along you are," but I guess I have underestimated how far my ALL belly sticks out (or maybe my arms are just short). Who knows? I just know that there are many things that I am struggling with these days. But I know it will all be worth it in the end!

This one is from back in December, but those of you who know me just have to know how excited I was to see it snow in Houston!

Here we are at NASA, what a neat field trip!

Cheeburger Cheeburger. Yum!

Michael surely enjoyed his 1 pound burger and they even took a picture and posted it on their wall of fun. What an honor!