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.

Introducing Tyler

Well, finally the little tyke decided to arrive! (Only a week late...) Here are his stats (almost exactly like his sister)

Tyler Kenneth Potter

Born Sunday, December 21st, 3:30 am at Mountain Midwifery in a birthing tub

8lb, 5.5oz

21 1/2 inches long

It was an amazing birth. Contractions started at about 4 pm on Saturday, and continued to get stronger, but were manageable. Finally, at about 1:30, they were 5 minutes apart, and then went to 3 minutes apart as soon as I got up. So, off to the midwifery we went. We arrived at 2:30 am. I got in the tub almost immediately, and we all settled in for what we thought would be another 4-6 hours. Our midwife knew better of course, and sure enough, only an hour and a half later, Tyler was born!! Overall, it was a great labor, and Tyler has been a champ eater.

We of course all love him to death, even his big sister. We will continue to post updates and so forth. Here are a few pics though for the meantime.

Just for Tiffany

Okay, so this post is just for Tiffany, who supposedly is saying I never update this thing. Which has been true. So Tiff, this one's for you!! :)

So, what is new? Well, we got a new house, which has been quite an adventure, and we are trying to find a renter for our old house, since the market to sell it is quite crummy. We love our new digs, and are pretty settled in already, which is good since I am hitting the nesting phase. At this point, we are T minus 9 days and counting before baby arrives. (Hopefully!) I am 2 1/2 cm dilated, which pretty much means nothing at this point, but I am thinking that since Averie was a week and a half late, I deserve to not go past my due date on this one.

Speaking of birth, I got to attend my first birth! I served as labor doula for my friend Jessica Clemence, who gave birth to a beautiful little Brodie Kai on December 2nd. It was so neat and wonderful and amazing, all at the same time. So, only 2 more births to go, and some book reading and test taking, until I get my certification! :)

I would post some pics of the house, but I cannot find them currently, so you will have to wait for now. But, here are some of Averie. The first one is of her in our new kitchen, and the second of her at the park.

Grrrr!

There's a lion prowling around the Potter household! (At least for 30 minutes or so.) Here is Averie in her lion costume, the day after. She did wear it for a bit on Halloween, long enough to make it around the cul-de-sac and come home with a handful of candy.

Jack O' Launch 2008

So, keeping up with our annual tradition (since last year) of attending the annual Aurora Jack O Launch, the Potter family, accompanied by our friend Britni, bundled up and ventured forth into the frosty 40 degree weather to brave the throngs for a 2nd time. Last year we had so much fun, we could not stay away!

This year Averie was able to enjoy the sights and sounds a lot more. We started off in the petting zoo, where Averie was fascinated with the baby cow, donkey, goats, and pony. She actually had enough guts to walk up and pet them, rather than writhing in horror as she has done in the past. She loved it when the cow mooed at her! So, this is where we failed as parents and did not get pictures, but there are more to come.

After winding our way through all the various kid activities (all too old for Averie) we ended up at the pumpkin patch, and this is where Averie got excited. Who knew that round orange vegetables could be so cool?! She wandered into the patch and tried to pick up several pumpkins, with no avail. Here are some pictures:

After leaving the pumpkin patch with the perfect small pumpkin, we headed for the Jack O Launch area, where 15 various contraptions eagerly waited to chuck pumpkins as far as possible. There were trebuchets, air compressor tubes, and other variations. Some only chucked the pumpkins a few feet, but one impressive air compressed launcher launched one 1/2 a mile!! Some exploded in the air (officially called "pie") while others waited until they hit the ground to explode into a orange mess. Averie loved doing the countdowns and watched as the pumpkins passed us, soaring through the air.

Despite how bitter cold it was, Averie refused to wear gloves, and seemed to care less at the purple color they kept trying to turn. She remained happy and entertained throughout, and had a blast regardless. We cannot wait to go again next year with new baby in tow!!

Houston, We Have A......Poop!

In the big girl's potty chair that is.

Now, this might not be groundbreaking blog-worthy news to some, but in reality, what really is? And as a stay-at-home mom, my days are numbered with few big milestones, and I have nothing better to do, so, my vote is that this gets blogged.

So, after cleaning up from breakfast, I went into the living room, where Averie immediately stood up and held her nose. (This means either "I went poop," "I tooted," "I am in the midst of pooping," or some similar variation.) Giving her duff a whiff, I realized it was still empty. Grabbing at opportunity, I asked her if she wanted to use her potty. She thinks this is real fun, and has no idea what it is for, so she readily agreed.

I ran out to the garage, grabbed her potty chair, and we sat outside the bathroom. (Her on potty, me on floor.) She "strained" a little, and then got over the novelty of the potty and stood up. I however, not wanting her to give up so quickly, gave her a makeup brush to play with, and as she sat and dabbed at my face, she went poo without a second thought.

After showing her accomplishment, she backed away in disgust, like "Don't get that near me!" and we waved bye bye to the little package as it twirled down the mighty pipe to nowhere. Then, we cleaned her up, did lots of "Big Girl!" and "Good Girl!" shouts and she got a sticker.

Sorry, I forgot to snag a pic. :) Ha ha.

Now if only we can repeat the process sometime. :)

Home Sweet Pain In The Neck

So, for those of you who do not know.....we are selling our house.

It should hopefully go up on the market on September 2nd or shortly thereafter. In the meantime, we have been madly turning our house upside down trying to get it ready for showings. This included our realtor's mom, who is a professional stager, helping us with tips on staging. That is where the chaos ensues.

Furniture is leaving our house faster than we can snap our fingers. Mulch has been laid in all the gardens, trees are trimmed, the kitchen got a face lift, all rooms are de-personalized and bland like your local Holiday Inn, and things are getting packed so that all shelves and closets are only half full, making it seem that we are selling the house because we have too much room.

It is fun creating this fun "sort of" illusion, but geez, it is a lot of work. Hopefully it is all worth it in the end, and we will not be stuck for months with only half our stuff and in this stressfull state of having a perpetually clean house. (Is this even possible with an 18 month old that can create a mess quicker than you can blink?). Thankfully, we have loved this house a lot, and therefore have already done a lot of improvements to it and so all the stuff is really minor.

Oh yeah, and then we have to find another house to move into. That is within budget, fits our high standards, is with the right schools and in the right neihborhood. And I am due with baby #2 in December, which is also right around all of those big holidays.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out....

The verdict is in

We are having a .................................BABY!

We went in for the 20 week ultrasound today, and everything looks great for baby#2. He/she was measuring right on target, and has all the necessary parts. We even got a fun glimpse of the little one clasping its hands together and then pulling them apart and doing it over and over. Very cute! In this picture, the baby is looking right at the "camera" with an arm showing below and a fist above, and a big baby belly.

First haircut

This post is coming a little late, but here are some pics of Averie's first haircut. We went to Lollilock's, a cute little salon for kids, complete with a fun boutique with a bunch of fun girly stuff. The hairdresser ended up just doing her bangs since the rest of her hair looked good. She did great, and was very engrossed in her toy, as you can see.

Not too much has happened over the last several weeks, other than lazy summer days, which are always fun. I am now 16 weeks along with bambino #2, and feeling much better these days, thank God!

As you can see, I have still managed to stay pretty small and out of maternity, which I was not expecting, since those in the know say you always start blooming like a whale a lot earlier with #2. I guess I am just choosing to do it gracefully. Or maybe it is my aversion to digging out my maternity aka "trying to make a manatee look good in clothes" wear that is keeping me in my regular clothes as long as my belly can stand it.

Doug is doing well at work, and plugging away like normal. We are planning a trip up to Northglenn with our church to watch fireworks and parachuters for the Fourth of July like we did last year. I am most looking forward to the turkey legs and funnel cakes. (Yes, I did put those as plural....)

Averie is growing like a weed, and will be 1 1/2 here in another month and a half. I cannot believe it. Time flies. Here are some pics of her eating (she has acquired a love of using forks and spoons, and does it quite well, I might add ) and one of her in her little green car that her daddy loves to push her around in.