Milestones in the Mann Home

Back in pre-pregnancy jeans: Check

Avery rolled over: Check (4 times from belly to back)

Menstrual Cycle: No check( No, I'm not pregnant!)

Avery holding head up: Check

Avery sitting up with mild assistance: Check check

John's back playing soccer and doin' a damn good job at it: Check

Fletcher is a happy camper in Iowa: Check

Hillman back in pre-pregnancy jeans: Check

Avery is cooing sounds such as "ohh" "ahh" "agoo" and when she is upset "DE DE DE DE DE":CK

Avery cries and fusses when strangers hold her: CHECK

We are all sleeping through the night: half of a check

We are loving every minute of life and each other! DOUBLE CHECK!!!!

Love you all! Then Mann Fam!

5 miles down!

Since I have had Avery, I have been slow to get back into running. I love to run and I have really missed it! Not only the way it makes me feel, free, strong, unified, but the camaraderie of it all and,my friends, my crazy friends that run for fun! We run together and talk incessantly about what ever is on our minds, or just laugh and carry on while we plod through a long endurance run for an hour or more. We show up at races bright and early on a Saturday morning just to get our asses kicked in a 5k race that we will hurt from for days. Sometimes will place in them, at least we usually get a t-shirt! We route each other on, we push each other to our limits, we laugh and goof off before and after the races, all business during the race though! Runners are so funny, they are generally pretty happy people, they are happy just to kick them selves in the butt on a perfectly good weekend. My husband and I run together and enjoy each other's company even though he is usually trying to straighten me up or help my form in some way. My best friend Stacey was my #1 running buddy before I got preggers and I was really quite grief stricken when I had to give it up for the baby( she was worth it though). Then, low and behold, she got pregnant! She just had her beautiful bouncing baby boy, Ethan Andrew a week ago. We are already planning our runs out! Now, I've been teaching aerobics for the last 2 months give or take a few days and I am so glad! I tried to run after a month of having Avery and I was HORRIBLE! My hips were not healed from the what ever happened when I was 7 months pregnant and I injured myself. Step aerobics, kick boxing, sculpt, spinn, doesn't bother it, running...OUCH!! I was so bummed after that first try I considered giving running up completely. And then, about 3 weeks ago, I was working out at home on our bike trainer(the thing where you put your bike on the trainer and ride) it's tuff, anyway, I was feeling so good I hopped of the bike an ran right out the front door. I ran a mile down the road and felt only moderate pain in my hip! Started seeing a Chiropractor and he is working on me twice a week and I am really getting better! H and I purchased a baby jogger and Avery loves it! I have been adding mileage now for 2 weeks and I completed 5 miles yesterday! AHHHH! I am so relieved! Now, having said that, I am slow as Christmas! I have to stretch my hip out after every 1.5-2 miles, but the point here folks is...I did it! I'm doing it! I have 6 miles planned for this week and a 5k race planned for the 12th of April. I have been running alone and it is very challenging for me, I mean it took me close to an hour to run 5! Those of you know me well know my love for chatter, I get really bored in my own head sometimes!! Oh! And I forgot to tell you about my minor set back that happened 2 weeks ago! I was at home, working on a step routine and fell, my ankle snapped and I heard a loud POP, after yelling a few expletives! I realized that my ankle was sprained in a bad way! Swelling started immediately, I teach 4 step classes a week! Plus other classes, I didn't know what I was going to do! I put a brace on it and went on about my week and miraculously, it is better, not 100% by any means but I was able to run on it so, as long as it is in a brace while I exercise its good! WHEW! Now if I can just get these last 5 lbs off, Ill be in good shape! Wish me luck! -K

The arm hold

I still cannot master "the arm"hold. My aunt Kristie has it down pat so I tried to take notes, Avery loves that when she is upset. Still...I can't get it just right! Kristie..I think you need to move to Greenbrier!! ;-)

I just got a video camera because still images of my little one..just isn't enough!!! LOL!! Here is the first video footage. It was the first time I used the camera so its a little shaky but she is mezmorized by her moble that has lady bugs on it. Now you can see her giggle even if you haven't gotten to see her in a while or have never met her.

Bless her little heart...

Oh gosh! It was so sad. I had to take her for her 2 month checkup which included her first round of immunizations. 3 shots. She is doing well, she has gained 2 lbs from her birth weight. I thought I would be fine, I am so glad Hillman was able to come. When they gave her the shots and I heard her cry, then she looked at me like, "why are you letting them do this to me" the cry just shot right to my soul! I teared up. I had no control. I just held her little hand and then it was over. The nurse was fast. She gave Avery back to me and she started to calm. I just held her tight. Last night she was really fussy. At one point I handed her over to H because he is usually able to calm her better than me. She would not calm down. I took her back and H ran the shower. We sat in the bathroom and I sang her Christmas songs which calmed her right down. I sang her Christmas songs because I sang them to her when she was still in my belly. LOL! She would cry evey time I stopped humming the tune of "O Christmas Tree" She finally dosed off to sleep. What a day! -K

Deep thoughts

I recently had a life awareness sort of epiphany I though I would share with you. It all started last Sunday. I was at my Mom and Dad's with Avery, and we took her to the mall which as you you can see by the picture below, it meant more to mom and I than Ave. When we got home, Mom and I were looking at her, talking about how much she looks like Hillman, when I asked her to dig out some baby pics of me, as you can also, see below. I haven't seen these pictures in many years. It was so fun to look at them and see Oliver and I as little babies. Oliver was sooo freaking cute! I was cute in that chunky baby,big ears, chubby cheek, cute kind of way. I cannot belive how pretty Avery is. I dont mean to sound braggy, I realize I have blinders on. I thought she would be the cute, fat, and you know...baby cute, like me. I didn't expect her to be so beautiful. I mean, compared to me, she is really a pretty baby!! Not that my mom and dad didn't produce a beautiful daughter...he he!!;-)

Anyways, that is not the point. It wasn't until I saw pictures of my parents that I started to feel...a new sense of awareness. I saw my parents with me as a baby and realized that they were my age and younger. Lets face it, Im kind of old for a first time mother. Mom was either 26 or 27 when I was born, I'm 29. I never saw mom as a younger person than myself. I mean, she had that look in her eye in the pictures that I now can relate to, that look, you know, of newness, uncertainty, and exhaustion. My dad, still silly as ever, but with a different stance, a different new, fresh energy, an energy that he still carries, it's just accompanied with a life's worth of wisdom that he passes along to me when ever he can, oh! And a few grey hairs that he blames on Oliver and I, oh... ok, A LOT of grey hairs that he blames on Oliver and I.;-0 I never noticed until last Sunday. It's like, oh wow! I am almost 30. I look at my hands and notice that they are different, older, not OLD, just older. I have little lines of my face ,around my eyes that shows my age, it is much harder to get weight off, although even though I am not as thin, I am in better shape now than I was in high school. ;=) I am not all weepy about it. I really am OK with my age, I just see it differently now. I am a mom. My mom and dad are grandparents and my grandmother is now a GREAT grandmother. WOW. Its like I woke up, and became aware of life's continuas push forward. There is no pausing, no going back. NO matter how how badly things are going, you know life will move on, and you will move through it, just as when precious things happen that you want to hold on to for ever, for instance the first time you hold your precious child in your arms, or when you marry the man of your dreams, you know you have to saver that moment and put it into memory, write it down, tell people about it, so you will have that moment saved in numerous places,so when you want or need to, you can recall them. That's why God gave us a memory huh. I don't know, it's just alot to take in sometimes. This is a life changing realization that I am sure everyone goes through. Right?? Thanks for reading and helping me save my precious moments. -K

Avery's first visit to the mall...

And she sleeps through it, COMPLETELY. Mom and I had fun with it though! ;-)