Our little fiddler

I've started taking a fiddle class on Thursday nights. Audrey thinks she might would like to play as well....

Uncle Brantley and Aunt Becki

We had a great time with Brantley & Becki this weekend (and we are very thankful that they were able to get a flight out of SD back into New Orleans before the storm hit)! On Saturday, we went to Shelter Island to play on the swings and then to the Children's Museum downtown. Audrey had a great time, though I think she would have had more fun if I had let her paint the purple VW bug at the Children's Museum ... her uncle was the one behind that mischief, of course!

Uncle Brantley and Audrey

Brantley and Becki are in town for a couple of days (a trip that will sadly be cut a bit short so that they can get home to get Tucker out of the Big Easy before Hurricane Gustav hits). Here are a couple of pix of Audrey having a good time at the park today ... we'll get some pictures of Avery tomorrow ...

Audrey and Avery

How's that for a title?? It's pretty much the subject of EVERY blog post. =)

Iain took Audrey to Balboa park this afternoon, and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. When she woke up, we put Avery in the crib with her. Here are those cute girls of ours!

Audrey walking backward

Audrey learned how to do this a few weeks ago, but it's nearly impossible to catch her on video without her needing to stop walking and come look at herself on the camera. =)

Video from the Parade of Sail

Here's video that I forgot to post with the picture from August 22.

Family outing

Iain got free passes to the Parade of Sail in San Diego (basically, a bunch of tall sailboats moored up at the Embarcadero and open for tours), so we all went down there for about an hour (well, more like an hour of walking to and from, and about 15 minutes actually on the ships). Anyway, both Audrey and Avery slept from the moment we left the parking lot, so it was really just some fresh air for all of us. Here's a pic of the 5 of us as we were leaving Iain's base.

Today, Avery is 1 week old and Audrey is 18 months old!

HOT!!

Day 5

Audrey and Daddy having fun with stickers. Avery just being beautiful.

Our sweet girls

Here are our two girls in the few minutes after Audrey met Avery for the first time. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out a way to edit myself out of this video, so please only pay attention to the two small angels. =)

Fun times

Here are a few pix from the last couple of days. Notice the new contraption, which stores call a double stroller, and I prefer to call a semi. It's gigantic! The guy holding Avery in one of the pix (the one who's not Iain) is our friend Johnny, Avery's first official non-family visitor.

Welcome Avery Cate

We are ecstatic to announce the arrival of our second daughter, Avery Cate McConnell, born on August 15, 2008 at 1:25am. She was 7lb 8oz and 21 inches long, and is perfect in every way. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and is so sweet. Avery's middle name, Cate, is in honor of Allison's grandmother, Catherine, an amazing woman with a spunk for life that we hope Avery has inherited!

Allison had a quick labor (she's not willing to use the word "easy"), and we were blessed to have her mom in town to be home with Audrey while the two of us were at the hospital. Audrey got to visit her little sister in the hospital on Friday morning ... she sat up on the bed with Allison and Avery, pointed at Avery, and then leaned over and kissed her without any prompting. What an awesome moment! And an incredible answer to prayer has been that (at least so far) Audrey is either extremely gentle and sweet with Avery (kissing her, patting her stomach, trying to share her milk) or she ignores her completely. She hasn't shown any signs of jealousy and we are so thankful. Of course, Avery is not yet 48 hours old, so we're braced for change. =)


Here are some pictures of the joys of our lives, Audrey and Avery.

ONIONS??!! You have to be kidding me

Iain, Audrey, Mim and I went to dinner tonight for what I think was the first craving of either of my pregnancies ... really just some serious red meat. So we went to Kristy's MVP SportsBar just around the corner from our house and got some great burgers. Iain took the raw (and quite potent) onions off of my burger and put them on Audrey's napkin. I didn't think she'd even attempt to eat it, but she DID. And then after she attempted to eat it, I was sure she would immediately spit it out. But she DIDN'T. No. My one and only first-born chowed down on that raw onion, and a couple of minutes later, picked up another piece and ate it too. Unbelievable.

Anyway, I'm actually happy about this because I think it's a disability to go through life not liking onions, since cooks like to put them in everything. So this is good for Audrey in the long run. I just can't believe that I have a daughter who likes them. I quite clearly remember giving birth to her, though ... otherwise, I would question whether she and I are really related. =)

Uh-Oh!

Audrey was reading Paddington Bear this afternoon, and there's a page where his bath water is spilling onto the floor. She kept going back to that page and saying "uh-oh". There is no one who can say uh-oh in a cuter way! =)

Audrey's first day at gymnastics

We took Audrey to her first gymnastics class today. She had a great time, so she's now officially enrolled in the class. Here are a couple of videos of her in action.

A fun day at Balboa Park

Thank you, Gigi!

Here is Audrey, holding presents from Gigi! Thank you!

Just the Three of Us

My mom arrives tomorrow (yeah!) and Baby #2 should arrive sometime in the next week, so tonight was the last night with just Iain, Audrey and I (and Rufus). Here are Audrey and Daddy playing on the couch before bed.

Audrey closing cabinets with her feet

Two days ago, I closed a drawer in the kitchen with my foot. Audrey saw me, and then proceeded to open the same drawer and then close it with her foot. Now she does the same thing with some of the cabinets. (She started petting Rufus with her foot weeks ago after watching me do the same). Here she is in action ... not many smiles. She's all business as she does this!!

Iain's Birthday

A fun day at La Jolla Cove on Iain's birthday!!