Avery's Blessing Day

What a wonderful day! Kris gave a beautiful blessing to our baby girl this Sunday. We were so happy to have loved ones there with us to share in the event. Afterwards we all visited with each other at our house over dinner. Of course, everyone wanted to hold the girl of the hour, and she was happy to smile and coo for them. Trent hopped from person to person giving hugs, sitting on laps, and (of course) sharing food. It really was a beautiful, happy, peaceful, special day.

Avery's First Smile

Ok, this isn't really her first smile. I didn't catch that one on camera. But she did start smiling for the first time today!

Male Bonding

I'm very fortunate to work at a company that gives paid time off to fathers when they have a new baby. I was able to take Trent down to Tucson to spend a little time with my mom on a Friday. We went to the Tucson zoo for a few hours. The weather was great and we had a lot of fun.




Here's one of Trent recently at the dinner table. When he doesn't get an early nap, you can never tell when sleep will strike...


This is probably one of those photos that can be pulled out when he's a teenager and his female friends come over. I'm sure we'll archive this one for just the right moment.

Over the past year, I've been working with Jake Johnson, another local photographer, to take action photos of kids playing various sports. We've got a deal with the city for all city-sponsored sports. We've done flag football, soccer and basketball. Right now is spring soccer and tackle football season. I've spent about half a day over each of the past four Saturdays taking pictures.



I think baseball is next, then another basketball season, then we start over again. It's been fun, and a little extra money on the side makes it worthwhile.

First Day of School

This is Trent at his new school, Maricopa Elementary. He began on his his birthday at the end of March. He goes to a developmental preschool where half the students are typical kids and half have developmental delays like him. So far he seems to really like it. When I drop him off he just gives me a hug and then holds his teacher's hand as she takes him into the classroom.

Trent was diagnosed with mild Autism a couple of months ago, and has since started in the Jumpstart program at SARRC (Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center). It's a four week program that teaches the parents how to use Applied Behavior Analysis principals to help the children progress in communication and in learning other skills. They also work with the kids in a preschool-type setting, demonstrating these techniques while the parents observe. It's a great program and well worth the drive all the way to downtown Phoenix.

So we've been very busy with preschool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Jumpstart on Tuesdays and Thursdays (all while trying to get the hang of caring for a newborn). But Trent seems to be doing well and we are so happy that he has all these resources available to help him.

She's here!

Here she is, our little Avery Brooke Downey. It seems like we were waiting for her forever, and then suddenly she was here. And I really mean suddenly! My labor with Trent lasted 22 hours, but this little girl was in a hurry and the labor was only 3 hours long. Everything happened so fast that they weren't able to give me an epidural until about 15 minutes before she was born, and it never really kicked in so it was basically a natural, painful birth and I wasn't really prepared for that. But at least it was over quickly.

So she was born March 16th at 2:56 am. She was 7 lbs. 11 oz. and 21 inches long. She has dark blue eyes like Trent, and her hair is dark blonde with a little red. So far she shows no signs of being colicky like Trent was (thank goodness!) and she's a great sleeper. We look forward to getting to know her more as her little personality grows and develops!

Due Date Update

Today is my due date, but I haven't gone into labor yet. At my doctor's appointment this afternoon, she said I hadn't progressed so she stripped my membranes. This could cause me to go into labor in the next couple of days. She also made an appointment for us at the hospital on Saturday to be induced with prostaglandin gels (the same as with Trent's delivery).

We'll keep you updated! One way or another, it looks like this baby will be born before the weekend is over.

It's That Time Again...

Our neighbor just got us to order some Girl Scout Cookies. We had to get some Thin Mints because I've been dying to try this recipe from The Picky Palate:

Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Cheesecake Cups

13 Thin Mint Cookies, ground in food processor or blender (you can also use the mint Oreos)
2 Tablespoons melted butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 Cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 Tablespoons buttermilk
5 Thin mint cookies coarsely crumbled
1/4 Cup chocolate chips
2-3 Tablespoons heavy cream
3-5 Thin mint cookies, crumbled (for top of cups)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Combine ground cookies and butter in a medium bowl. Drop about 1 Tablespoon of cookie mixture into 24 mini cupcake tins that has been sprayed with cooking spray. (If you have mini cupcake paper wrappers I'd use them, it was difficult to remove my cheesecake cups from the tin itself). Press crust into cups with back of a spoon.

2. In an electric or stand mixer cream the cream cheese and sugar until well combined. Add egg and buttermilk until well combined as well. Stir in crumbled cookies. Pour cheesecake mixture into cupcake tins filled almost to the very top. Bake for 25-28 minutes or until cooked through. Remove and cool for 15 minutes. Melt chocolate chips in microwave until melted and smooth. Stir in heavy cream until smooth and shiny. Spoon about 1 Tablespoon over each cheesecake cup and sprinkle with additional crumbled cookies.

24 mini cheesecake cups