Soccer

Taylor and Mike continued to play soccer this summer. I thought it was important for her to have some "Daddy time," especially with her new role as big sis. She really loves going and is so excited when she wakes up on Saturday morning and knows she has soccer. When I was pregnant I would crave a slurpee and a pretzel so they would always stop on their way home and surprise me with this as a treat. Now it is an every weekend thing. I think it is cute to have a little routine like this and it might be one of Taylor's favorite parts of the morning!

2 Months!

Well we survived two months. This was just about the time with Taylor I started to come to life however this time around I have had to be "with it" from the beginning... quite a challenge.

Avery is wonderful. She is super pleasant and pretty easy going, minus the dinner time hour. She continues to get lots of love and kisses from her proud big sister. She really likes watching Taylor and listening to her talk. She is turning out to be a good sleeper which is a relief after almost a month of less than one hour increments. She is sleeping from about 8pm- 1 or 2am. I love the extra sleep but have to say I do miss my middle of the night trashy shows that I had been DVRing.

Having two children has proven to be a challege. Our laundry piles are bigger, house is messier, days are longer, and alone time has all but vanished. I do get overwhelmed at times but when I see the two girls together- how happy Taylor gets when Averys holds her hand or how happy Avery gets when Taylor kisses her... it makes all the craziness and dirty toilets worth it!

Photo Shoot

We love when Danielle comes to take our pictures!!

Sisters

I wish I could say that I am not surprised at how well Taylor has taken to Avery but honestly... I am. She is typically very possessive of her mommy and daddy and will have quite the two year old temper tantrum if anyone tries to get between her and parents affection. I guess because she knows that Avery is HER little sister she is willing to share us! Taylor loves her roll as BIG SISTER - which required me doing a lot of wash initially because for the first two weeks Avery was home Taylor would only wear clothing that pointed out that she was in fact a Big Sister.

Taylor's motherly instinct is remarkable. If Avery is napping in another room Taylor will stop playing every few minutes to check on her. She immediately tells me to feed her when she cries and loves helping with the care of her sis. She calls her "AE" and when asked what her middle name is, Taylor responds, "little sister." The hugs and kisses are endless...

Avery Mae Krepps

Avery surprised us with an early arrival. The pre eclampsia stuck again and I had to be induced on 6/20. After a few short hours Avery was born on 6/21 at 5:11am. She weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. Not bad for two and half weeks early!

a little on pregnancy

So Avery has arrived but I will get to that in my next post - first I should mention something about being pregnant since I have neglected to do that over the last 9 months!! Being pregnant and having a 2 year old is tough! There were a few months in the middle there that weren't that bad but between being exhausted in the beginning and being huge and swollen at the end- it was a challenge to say the least although one that was beyond worth it of course!

Throughout the pregnancy we talked with Taylor a lot about having a sister and what it would be like. She gets very jealous when Mike or I show anyone or thing attention so we thought for sure having a baby would be tough on her. We told her how much time Mommy would need to spend holding Avery and most times she responded with an emphatic "NO". I worried constantly about when Avery would arrive and what we would do with Taylor and how she would handle it. Mike just kept telling me to stop worrying because everything would work out but still it kept me up at night. Taylor is my baby and I didn't want anything to upset her life.

Needless to say I was praying for a healthy and early arrive... thankfully Avery agreed.

Soccer

Taylor got her first pair of soccer shoes and pink soccer ball for her second birthday from her Aunt Jen. The following weekend she got to put her new kicks to use! We signed her up for soccer which we thought would be the perfect thing for her to do with her Daddy. Of course we were all hoping that she would love it but I didn't expet her to be such a natural :) She seriously got right out there and starting "dribbling" (not a word I knew/would use but apparently that is what it is called) up and down the field with Mike. She had a blast and I loved watching her... actually I loved watching them together!!