What's in a name?

Recently, I've had people ask me about Avonlea's name. We've gotten so many compliments on her name. I love it! I just love her name.

First off, people always ask me how to pronounce it when they see the spelling. Let's start with what its not:
--Avon-lee-a
--A-Von-lee

It's simple, really. Av-on-lee. Or better yet, Av-in-lee. Sometimes we call her Avon, pronounced Av-in. But mostly she is known around here as sissy or sissy girl.

Where on earth did we come up with such a name, you ask? Well, I didn't come up with it at all. I grew up watching Anne of Green Gables. It was on Channel 11 almost constantly and I loved watching it. There are several movies and one of the sequels is called Anne of Avonlea.

Originally we tossed around the spelling, thinking maybe Avonleigh would be easier for people to figure out how to pronounce her name. But I really loved the look of the original spelling, so that's what we went with.

I love her name and so glad we chose it. It's unique and beautiful and I doubt she will ever have a kid in her class with the same name, which was my goal. And the best part, it completely fits her. A sweet, pretty little girl, with a hint of sass!

Quinn, her middle name was a bit different. I love the name Quinn, but hubby just wasn't a fan. I've brought it up with all three kids and he has shot it down every.single.time.

We had no idea what her name was going to be when my water broke that Sunday night. Thankfully, we had spent most of that Sunday discussing names and coming up with a list. We went to the hospital with a list of first names and a list of middle names, none matched with each other. While I was in active labor, we started to rate names. By the times she was born Monday evening, we had the first names narrowed down to Avonlea and Hadleigh.

We went to the NICU to visit her for the first time around 9pm. My father in law was with us and the first family member to meet her. Hubby and I told him our name choices and he said he really liked Avonlea Quinn. And so it was. So, I guess my father in law chose her name. :)

Funny thing, we actually had two different hospital staff comment on her name and knew where we got it from. Both we huge fans of Anne of Green Gables.

Maybe one day we will do a trip to Prince Edward Island and she can learn all about where her name came from.

Wordless Wednesday

FLASHBACK!

Bennett at 6 months and Peytonn at 18 months. Its hard to believe they were that tiny and now look like this:

 

 

 Man time flies!

8 months old!

Here we are again, another month under our belts. Avonlea is inching ever closer to a year old. *sniff sniff* I'm just not ready for that!

STATS:
Weight: about 19lbs
Length: 26 1/2 inches

This little girl just lights up our house and just about every person that she comes in contact with. Everyone comments how smiley and happy she is. I always get the comment, "Is she like this all the time?" My answer is always, "during the day, absolutely! But she is a different child at night!" Which is sooo true!

Avonlea got to feel the grass for the first time this past week at her Nay Nay and Papa's house. We also took our first walk down  to see the cows that live across the road from my inlaws.

She didn't quite know what to think about the grass.

So, what's up with Avonlea these days:
--still nursing, but gets bottles of breastmilk or a combo with formula when Mommy is at work
--wearing 9-12 or 12-18 month clothes
--size three diapers, but probably ready to move up to 4's.
--Loves to blow raspberries, drool, and put everything in her mouth
--starting to get on her hands and knees from a sitting postion, but no crawling yet.
--trying to pull herself up on toys
--sleeping is so-so. Waking about 1-4 times a night and super particular about who goes in and then screams when you lay her down.
--I can see her bottom two teeth under her  gums, its just a matter of time before they come in.
--Feeding herself now and prefers it over eating pureed foods. She's eating 3 meals a day and nursing in between the meals.

Overall, Avonlea is such a joy to have. She travels well and enjoys watching everything. Her brothers absolutely adore her and kiss and love on her all the time.

Happy 8 months, sissy girl!

I have a feeling...

I have a feeling another round of allergy testing and shots are in the near future for Peytonn. :(  This Spring has really kicked his butt (or maybe I should say eyes).

You can really see in the second picture just how swollen his undereyes get. The bad part is that he also gets eczema in the corner of his eyes, eye lids, and under eyes due to his allergies. We have to put eczema cream and aquafor on his eyes during allergy season.

I called last week to try and get him an appointment sooner with the allergist than his already scheduled follow up appt in May. The soonest they had was tomorrow. I already know he will want to do more allergy testing and he has already mentioned shots as the next possible step.

He is already on a strict regimen of medications. I just feel so bad for him, his little eyes are so red and itchy all the time. But he is such a trooper too! He always begs to go outside even though that is what causes his eyes to swell up and itch.

But I just love my little cowboy!

And my little solider with cowboy boots.

 

I can't believe he is going to be FIVE on Thursday!! Where did the time go?

What mom's do

Ever wonder what mom's do during nap time?

Enjoy this without anybody asking for some or sticking their fingers in it!

......and catch up on DVR!

Hives

Avonlea obviously got into something that her body did not like:

Her face broke out in hives. Then she got them in the bend of her elbow on her right side and then on the top of her left hand. I have gone through everything that she ate yesterday and the only "new" item would be mashed potaotes from Scotty's that she had for lunch.

I ended up calling the doctor's office and they had me give her some benadryl. After a good nights rest she looked much better this morning!

was back to her old self, playing and laughing.

I'm still not sure what caused it. It could be something I touched and then touched her, something airborne, or something she ate. Poor kiddo!

Food for my soul

Let's face it, we're all busy these days. I swear, some days I feel like I hardly get a minute to sit down. I have three children 5 and under, work full time, two kids in preschool (at different schools and different times), and have volunteered for the two co-ops we participate in. I am constantly on the go and in my car.

I really look forward to the weekend when I don't necessarily have to go anywhere and can just hang out at home with the kids.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day! We went to 9am Mass and then headed home. Hubby went to lunch with some friends to discuss their annual "man conference." (yeah, I laughed too!) I decided I wasn't sitting at home on such a gorgeous day, so I loaded all three kids up and we went to lunch at the local drive in (or hot dog house as the boys call it). Then we went to the park. We stayed for about two hours and the kids had a blast! Both boys were red faced by the time we left!

We first started out on a nature walk on the trail:

Along the path, Peytonn found this pretty purple flower. He named it 'Tooney" and carried this things with him. At one point he told me that Tooney was cold and he had to put her in his pocket! I swear, this kid comes up with some of the funniest things! Here is a picture of Tooney, after being in the pocket, of course!

After our walk on the trail, we played on the playground for a while:

Sissy had a great time watching the boys play on the playground:

There is a creek that runs through the park. The creek is dry current, so the bed is full of rocks, which is heaven for little boys who love dirt!

We had such a fun day. Its days like these that truly are food for my soul. Watching my children laugh, play, and discover. After the park, we came home and rested for a bit. The boys played out in the back yard the rest of the day and then we grilled out for dinner. We all slept great last night! We even had the window in our bedroom open all night, which is my most favorite thing!

I can't wait for weather like this all the time!