Better Late Than Never

     Better late than never.  It seems like this was Avree's motto from the beginning, and nothing has changed there.  These days we are late for everything.  We are late to appointments, late getting birthday cards in the mail, and we even took Natalie to a movie 30 minutes late.  But hey, we made it :)

     As I suspected, things with two children are a lot different than with  one.  It takes us so long to get ready, and we have to carry around so much stuff.  Before my mom left, we attempted to go shopping in Ramstein one day.  It went like this:  change diaper, feed baby, drive, change diaper, feed baby, feed us, change diaper, feed baby, shop, change diaper, feed baby, drive home.  We were gone for nine hours, and might have shopped for two.  It was such an exhausting day!  Since then, we have ventured out as little as possible.

     Since Avree has been born, I think we have been to the doctor almost as many times as I have changes her diaper! First, we had a 5-day check-up.  Then, we went back several times to weigh her because someone was concerned that she was losing too much weight.  Next, she came down with thrush (that adds a lot of stress to an already stressful situation!).  After that, we were back because her belly button got infected.  Yesterday, we took her to get an ultrasound done on her hip (everything turned out ok).  Today, we just got back from the doctor's office to get her seen about being congested, and to check up on everything else.  Hopefully we won't go back until it's time for shots.

     While I was pregnant, Natalie went to several of my appointments with me to "check on sister."  She liked seeing her on the screen.  I think it made it more real to her that she actually was going to have a sister.  We would tell her "See sister's head?  See her foot?" etc.  She always told the doctor, "Thanks for checking on sister."  Yesterday while getting the ultrasound done on Avree's hip, Natalie grew concerned.  "Let's just keep her," she told us.  I guess she thought we were there to drop Avree back off!  As we left with everyone we brought, Natalie once again told the doctor, "Thanks for checking on sister."  She is a great big sister.  She runs to check on her when she hears the slightest peep, covers her up with blankets, and supplies her with toys, even when she is asleep.  I hope they are as close to each other as I am with my sisters.

Take care and God bless,
Staci