What's New At the Zoo?

The zoo being the Potter household, of course!

Well, let's see. I recently attend my 2nd birth as a doula, and had a fabulous time, even though it was smack dab in the middle of the night. It was an amazing experience as always, and I was once again honored to be a part of someone else's birth! I have one more birth to go before I will have the complete 3 I need for certification, along with a test and some other stuff I have to do. I also finished a training workshop at Mountain Midwifery, and am now one of their doulas that moms can choose from, and I am way excited about that!!

Doug continues to enjoy his work at Jeppesen, and has interviewed for a supervisor spot within his group. He would be a great fit, and we are really pulling and praying that he gets it. He enjoys his work and his team, so either way, he sees it as a win-win. Being a supervisor would definetely have its challenges, which he knows, but we think it would be a great fit for him. He also continues to stay busy around the house doing all sorts of manly projects, which I totally approve of. :)

Due to the hailstorm this last spring, we recently got our house re-roofed and re-painted, all for free! It was a bit of a headache working with all the contractors and getting it all done, but saved a bundle of money since we were needing to do at least the painting within the next year.

As for Averie, she just had her first day of preschool!! We started her out early at 2 1/2, to give me some more time to focus on Tyler a bit, and get her some time with other kids, which she has been craving. We packed up her back-pack (which I did NOT make her wear, but she wanted to, so no lectures on how I am hurting her back) and we were off. After punching in on the fancy pin pad check-in and taking her to her room, she was quickly whisked in and having fun in no time. I made a hasty departure so as to get out of the way. And no, I DID NOT CRY! A little dust did get in my eye on the way out, causing my eye to get a little moist, but that was all. I picked her up 4 hours later (a time-frame I had thought would go by way to fast but ended up being equal to a biblical 40 years). She was blissfully watching a short movie after lunch with the other kiddos (normally she will only be there 3 hours) and as soon as she saw me, burst into tears and ran to me. Ha ha. She had a wonderful day, and only cried when these other two water-work gals in the class cried, out of sympathy. The teachers said she was so compassionate! Of course I did not need to know this, as she begins sobbing half-way through the book "Are You My Mother?" no matter how many times we read it. She brought home several projects, and was able to remember the letter A and the number 1 at the end of the day. So, I would say she is a genius. Oh, and here are some pics for the grandmas. :)

As for Tyler, he is a happy 8 monther now. He is still a little touchy when it comes to sleeping, but is improving. His preferred method of transportation is rolling, at which he is highly efficient and FAST! He has recently discovered the joys of teething biscuits and of rice puffs, which is fun and very messy.

Curly Shirley Goes Straight

Here are some pictures of Averie after I blow dried AND straightened her hair with a straightener. And still the curl showed up! As the day went on, her hair curled up at the ends, into that perfect super model type hair we all want. Sheesh!

WARNING: These pictures may make you cry because my 2 year old all of a sudden looks like a teenager!

Tyler Goes Under The Knife

This last Wednesday, Tyler went in for surgery to have the cyst on his eyebrow removed. Since we have gone through this before with Averie, we were not too concerned, though no one likes to have their little one have to go under and all. We were most worried about having to deny him any breastmilk for the 4 hours before surgery. But he ended up doing great, and did not make a peep the whole way to the hospital or while we were doing the preparation for him to go into the operating room. Thank you to those who were praying for that! He was in surgery for a little over an hour, and then slowly came out of it. Other than being a little more fussy than normal, he has been doing great. As you can see, he has a great shiner, and is now the coolest kid on the block with both stitches AND a black eye.

4th of July, Ouray Style

So for this year, we decided to spend the 4th of July in Ouray, at Doug's family's cabin. It had been quite a while since we had been there, so it was nice to be going back. The ride over was pretty, and other than us finding out just how much toddler puke it takes to cover the backseat of a car, we made it pretty uneventfully. Needless to say, we were ready for the vacation to begin!

We had a great time with both of Doug's parents and his sister Katie, as well as my mom and sister, who camped out in mom's stylish new camper van in the driveway. We busied ourselves with a lot of nothing, like reading, hanging out in the shade, and bothered with a few fun excursions to town for the parade, and a few adventures up Box Canyon, the flume, and to Cascade Falls. The fireworks were a hoot as well, and Averie loved them, though Tyler really would have rathered the silent variety.

Here is a photo montage of some of our escapades. Enjoy!

Tornado!

No, we have not been "relocated" to Kansas, but we had our own bit of excitement. Here is footage from our front door. It sounds like the tornado touched down at Southlands Mall, and did cause some damage. (Less than a mile east of us) You can see the funnel thickening at the bottom near the end of the video. (We headed downstairs after that!)

Doug's car did get damaged from the golf ball sized hail that we got afterwards, and our roof and window gutters did as well. I guess we will deal with that tomorrow. :)

Front Walk Flowers

Thanks to a sunny afternoon the other day, we finally got our flowers planted in our pots outside. Here are a few pics!

The kiddos

Here are just a few recent pics of the kiddos. Tyler is now almost 5 months!

Snow Day in April

Thanks to our neighbors loaning Averie some snow clothes to use, she had her first snow play experience. She had a blast! We thought for sure she would only last for 5 minutes, as it was freezing, the wind was blowing, and snow was coming down like crazy. Turns out mom pooped out before she did! We were out for about an hour and built a snowman and sledded down our neighbor's driveway. Afterwards, we went in to have some hot cocoa, which Averie also loved. It keeps snowing, and the roads are pretty much undrivable for many, and it's supposed to be 72 degrees in 3 days.....

Easter 2009

Doug had to go away on business Easter morning, but we made the most of it, some while he was still in town. Here are some highlights:

Mom, Josalyn, I and the kiddos made it to church, and then we all had a great Easter dinner that night. On Monday, we had our Easter egg hunt in the front yard, where Averie made out on some more goodies! (We have it on video, so I may have to add that later)

Misuse of a toddler toy

Hanging Out During Snow Day

Tyler laughing

Potter Update

So, I figured it was time for an all-around Potter update, so here it goes:

Doug: He continues to enjoy his work at Jeppessen, and has been given kudos for all the hard work he does there. He has a great boss and a great team, and enjoys calling it his work home. Other than that, he stays busy around the house, coming up with all sorts of projects he wants to do. He is quite handy, and I cannot wait to see the result of his work as things get done.

Tyler: It is amazing how much a baby grows in just a few short months. Now a smiling little 2 month old, it is so fun to see his personality unfolding. We recently went in to the doctor to have his cyst looked at, and it looks like we will be having it removed sometime in late summer. For now, it does not seem to be bothering anything, so we are content to keep it there. I just wish I would not get the strange looks from strangers, thinking it is a goosegg from rolling off the couch or something. Oh well.

Averie: The world of a two year old must be something fantastic. Averie learns more every day, and she seems to be enjoying finding out what things are and what they do. While playing with her the other day, it was quite apparrent that she can recognize and say all of the major shapes and colors, which makes for some fun game times when we are out and about and play things like "I Spy" and little quiz games. And despite the occasional tantrums, she is quite fun to hang out with. Her favorite activities include playdough playtime, going to the park, reading her books, and cartoons!

Jessica: As for me, when I have a few minutes in between watching the kiddos, I have been working on setting up my doula business, which has been fun. Check out my new doula blog at http://birthbeblessed.blogspot.com/. It is only just begun, but should hopefully have more posts as time goes on. I only have a few more books to read, a test, some births to attend, and some classes to attend before I become fully certified. However, I can take on births at any time, so if you know someone who is expecting, pass on my info!!

Tata for now, and hopefully I will meander back here more often in the future.

More Tyler

Nothing much new to report, other than that we have quite an eater on our hands here! Now at almost 4 weeks old, he has definetely surpassed his birth weight, and prefers to eat every 1 1/2 hours. We sort of cannot wait until he starts spacing out his mealtimes......Anyway, in the meantime he is keeping us full of smiles. Above are just a few of our favorite pictures.