The Potter's Corkboard

Swim lessons

2010-08-13T14:59:00.001-07:00

Averie just completed her first round of swim lessons. We were a bit nervous that she would be scared, and did not expect much. Come to find out, Averie is a fish, she wants to go first EVERY time, and had a blast the whole time. And she does pretty well with going underwater for a few seconds, and asks to be dunked over and over. Here are a few clips of her at her last lesson.

Fun at Southlands

2010-08-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am surprised I was even able to log into my blog, it has been so long since I posted (Easter apparantly) but I thought I would share these two cute video clips of the kiddos enjoying the fountains at Southlands. I think I have the cutest kids in the world.

2010-04-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some Easter pictures. We had a good holiday, as we expected we would. Festivities started out a few days before when Averie dyed some Easter eggs with daddy.

On the Saturday before Easter, we went to a community Easter egg hunt and Averie and Tyler got to meet the Easter bunny, and made out like bandits!

On Saturday night, we read the Easter story to Averie, and then she promptly took her little kids' Bible and regurgitated the story back to us, Averie style. It was amazing how she simplified the story of Easter but left the essentials, that Jesus hurt, died, and then came back and was not dead anymore, and everyone was happy.

On Sunday morning we had our own Easter egg hunt. It seems the Easter bunny got our colored eggs and left them all over the yard, and then left some other goodies as well.

After church, our neighbors hid eggs for all the little kids in the neighborhood in the front yards of all our houses, and the kids did yet another hunt. (Took some work to explain that egg hunts really are not the focus of Easter) We then had a pot-luck dinner in the front yard with many of the neighbors, complete with ham, mashed potatoes, asparagus, sweet potatoes, butter braid, and some cocktails. :) We all got sunburned cheeks and had a good time.

Tyler's First Haircut

2010-02-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

Ready to see a mini-Doug? Here are some pictures of Tyler's first haircut! Too cute! I think it makes him look like a one year old finally!

Averie's birthday

2010-02-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

Averie had a great 3rd birthday! On the night of her birthday, we took her out for ice cream at Chick Fil-A, and then she opened up her presents from family. Then, on the following Saturday, she had a party with some friends over at our house. They made little cute door hangers, acted out the Going On A Bear Hunt Book, did a go fish game with prizes (Doug was behind the curtain pinning the prizes on the hook) and then cake and presents of course. Here are some pictures of the festivities!

!

Tyler's 1st Birthday

2009-12-22T08:31:00.001-08:00

The night before his birthday, we had a small party for Tyler with a few of our friends that have small boys, and as you can see, Tyler had a blast. It was a bit alarming to see how quickly Tyler sucked down his large chunk of cake. And the two additional pieces that followed. Ha ha. He got a lovely book, a Noah's ark with some animals, and a firetruck to ride on from mom and dad. More presents are on there way from the Durango bunch, and then of course Christmas, so he will quickly get the hang of present opening I am sure.

I cannot believe my little man is already one! He is a peanut, so he looks so much littler than a one year old, but his little brain is already ahead of himself, if you ask me. I cannot wait to see him start to stand up on his own and start running. Crazy, I know, but I just cannot wait. :)

Halloween

2009-11-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of Halloween! Tyler could have cared less, but Averie did not want the trick or treating to end!! We went to Southlands and did there trick or treat during the day (what a zoo!!) and then did 8 or so houses on our street. She wanted to do a lot more, but I think that was enough for a 2 year old. She totally got into the dress up thing this year which was fun.

A Fall Hike

2009-10-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

In order to take advantage of the fall colors, we decided it was time to do a family hike. We decided on the White Ranch Open Space area outside of Golden in the Golden Gate State Park. Although there are not a lot of aspens there, it is closer to town, and offers a lot of smaller, easier hikes that are good for kids. Our plan was to go only a mile or so down one path and then have lunch and come back, but the mile out was all downhill, and to avoid a difficult uphill journey for the way back, we did the full loop, putting us at about 3 miles total.

Averie was a trooper for most of the way, and was way excited starting out. Her temperament waned as we drew halfway there, so we needed to stop for lunch, ASAP. Unfortunately, the only nice shady spot was on a road, so there we camped. It was a bit unromantic, but served its purpose. I was not so comfortable, but the kids did not care a bit, as you can see. Tyler enjoyed his first faceplant from an unattended backpack being accidentally swivelled, and then partook of his first taste of "Rocky Road" by placing a fistful of rocks in his mouth for dessert.

It was a fun time, and to our amazement, Averie walked most of the way (albeit with a little bit of whining, but hey, it was past her nap time as well) and only had to be carried for less than 1/4 mile. The kids slept like rocks on the way home, and we all came home happy from a day outside.

And this has nothing to do with hiking, but I thought it was a cute picture. One of Averie's favorite things to do is to cuddle in blankets. Ha ha.

What's New At the Zoo?

2009-09-09T12:53:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-07T14:17:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-16T15:44:00.001-07:00

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

2009-05-16T15:37:00.001-07:00

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

Snow Day in April

2009-04-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hanging Out During Snow Day

2009-03-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Tyler laughing

2009-03-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Potter Update

2009-03-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-01-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-04T12:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-31T16:13:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-07-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-05-22T10:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, long time no post!! Things have been busy these last 2 months. At the end of April, Averie and I took a trip to Tucson with her mom and sister, and stopped off in Durango too. Then, the following weekend, the whole family trucked over to Fruita to see Doug's folks and for Doug to take a concealed weapons safety class with his sister and dad. In a few days, Doug will be off to Germany for 10 days for work, and so the madness continues. Maybe June will be a bit slower......

Anyhow, on the BIG NEWS front, we are going to have to change the name of this blog soon. Seems that come December, we will be the 4 Potters. (And yes, for those of you teasing about twins, there is just one, so there!) This whole expecting thing came quite unexpectedly, but hey, we are always game for a few surprises. Besides, it made me have to cancel my wisdom teeth removal until next year, so that was a plus!

Here is a 10 week picture of the new invader. For some reason, Averie is not as excited as we are. She just looks at the picture and points at the blob and frowns. I think she is getting a whiff of a future competitor. Little does she know we will love her just as much as we always have. Actually, it is hard to ponder loving another little person as much as we love Averie, but I think that is how God gives us a glimpse of how he can possibly love all of us broken goods here on earth. It just happens.

Easter!

2008-03-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

Since our church meets on Saturday nights, we dressed Averie up a night early. Of course it had to be cold and snowy, so we had to modify her dress a little with a long-sleeved onesie, but it worked.

On Easter morning, we all went out to breakfast, and then came home for a bit. We then ran some errands and went to the park. Averie loves the slide, and can even do the big ones by herself without us having to hold her all the way down. She loves it.

We got her a swing for the back porch and 2 books, all of which she enjoyed.

Easter night we had some friends over for a pot luck, where we made some marinated pork tenderloin (yum!) and enjoyed some fun conversation.

Almost There!

2008-03-16T18:56:00.001-07:00

A ton of progress was made on the bathroom this weekend, meaning we are almost done!! Here are some pictures of the progress made today. Now, we only need caulking and to hang the towel racks and put up the trim. :)

Getting Closer.......

2008-03-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so here are some updated pictures of the bathroom remodel. It has been a week and a half, so not bad. The plumbing is done, new tub is in, tile is up on the wall and laid on the floor, and the walls are texturized. Now, we just need to grout, paint, put the toilet and sink back in, and hang up the new towel fixtures, shelves, etc. Then, we need to clean up the dump that used to be our guest bedroom and bathroom. :)

Man, I cannot wait to have an upstairs toilet again. Those middle of the night trips to the potty get to be long!

And just because she is so cute, here are some new ones of Averie:

Rub a dub dub, 2 men in a tub

2008-03-01T15:31:00.000-08:00

Our bathroom at the start of day one. (Friday)

Our bathroom in the hands of two destructive men and a baby.

And the end of day 1 was through. And it was good.

Then day 2 and 3 came. (Sigh.) Nothing worked right. Some sub-floor had to be replaced because of water damage. The pipe work went in fine with some assistance from a neighbor, but then had to be re-done when the measurments did not work. Then, the tub was assembled and brought into the garage to dry from the snow, only to find that it has a defect and has to be returned. The end of day 2 left it looking almost the same as day 1, and day 3 might be the same.

Hopefully day 3 (today, which is Sunday) will end with a new tub being right in that corner. The plumbing is complete and beautiful, and assuming Lowes has a new tub instock and we can get help with carrying it upstairs, it should not be a problem :) Doug is doing an awesome job though, and making sure it is all done right, so we have no worries that we will absolutely love our bathroom when it is through.

More to come!

Averie's 1st Birthday

2008-02-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights of the party we had for Averie on Sunday. She enjoyed a lot of cake (though we had to help her chop off pieces.....she is too neat to dig in herself.)

Averie's first surgery

2008-01-09T10:14:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, January 8th, Averie went into surgery to have a cyst removed on her right brow that she has had since birth. Normally, it would be a in and out surgery with only local anasthesia, but because she is little and cannot hold still, she had to be completely knocked out.

She was happy as a lark the morning of, and because we had scheduled the surgery for 7:30, and she normally wakes at 8:00, she was not too hungry. (A middle of the night feeding also helped.) She made all the nurses smile playing peek a boo with her gown and waving at everyone.

The surgery lasted an hour, and she came out great. Her eye is swollen, and her stitches are covered by steri-strips, but other than that, she looks normal! She was of course a little more groggy than normal coming out, but now, a day later, she is just as normal as can be.

Below are some pictures of her after the surgery at our house. We hope to post some additional pictures from the hospital that are on our phones later.

Christmas 2007

2008-01-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas was a blast here in the Potter family, with a long week's vacation to both Durango and Fruita! Doug unfortunately had a cold the entire time, but he managed to hang in there.Averie loved the festivities, the toys, and the pumpkin pie. All the gals did some last minute shopping, as well as some after Christmas sale shopping in Fruita.

Overall, we all felt so blessed to be able to spend so much time with family and for all the neato gifts.

For the New Year, we hung out with Jon and Jessica Clemence and Aaron and Holly Willis, playing board games and chatting it up. Hey, and we even made it past midnight!

And just for some good ol' pickin' on the little sis, here is another cute pic......

2007-12-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

The last month, in review, via mainly photos:

First, some pictures from Thanksgiving at Doug's parents house in Fruita

And here are some more recent ones of Averie (almost 10 months old)

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas so far!

Welcome

2007-12-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Potter's new blog! Life with a little one exponentially increases the number of updates that seem important enough to share (though most are probably only captivating to us) and so we decided to create this nifty space where we can just put it all out there.

So, I cannot promise how often this thing will get updated, but stay tuned.....