Our First Holiday!

Our little one has a message for you all! Too bad I couldn't get her to open her pretty little brown eyes.

Suck Suck

I have always been obsessed with videos of my nephews and niece, so this little one should get good reviews from family and friends! If you listen closely, you can hear the impressive sucking power of our newest little vaccuum....

Happy Fair and Balanced Halloween!

We are excited to be able to spend Halloween at home with our little one this year. We weren't sure if Avery was going to be with us in time! And what with all of the excitement that has been going on the last day or two, I forgot to display this year's pumpkins. Milli's turned out way better than mine; there's a new champion in the house! There have been several requests made, so here they are (in no particular order).

Travis's

Milli's

(The extent of effort involved in each pumpkin and sheer difference in size of the pumpkins in no way represents the political leanings of our family. Suffice it to say that we will both be plugging our noses when we step into the booth this year. Also of note: Avery could fit inside either of these pumpkins with ease.)

Avery Grace Charles

In the pink corner, weighing in at just 5 lbs, 14 oz., and standing a towering 19 inches tall! The most beautiful little thing we have ever laid eyes on! And no, she just wasn't waiting. Once her birthday came around, she was determined to get out! Milli in fact did have a rough night, and we were able to get the epidural in just in time for her to dilate from a 3 to a 9 in about 20 minutes. Once she got her pain relief, it was all downhill from there! She pushed for about 20 minutes and voila, out she came! The feeding thing took about 15 minutes or so to figure out, and then she just went to town. A good sucker! She is bundled up most of the time, but one of my favorite things about her so far is when her arms get loose, she goes straight for her left fist. She'll have the whole thing in her mouth in no time. As for the name, we figured out a way to use two of the names on our list, so almost half of the votes on the blog are represented. Thanks for the help everyone!

As for this proud father, I couldn't have been more awed by the courage of my sweetheart, and the sheer beauty of our new daughter! There are certain days in life when your blessings are made abundantly clear to you, and this is one of the best of them.

The calm before the storm

The painful portion of the evening!

An adorable cry

Birthday Eve

It's 10:41 PM, October 23rd, 2008. I am sitting here in my uncomfortable-chair-turned-uncomfortable-bed in room 3605 in Overland Park Regional Hospital in Kansas. Today has crept by, it seems as though time stands still when important things are about to happen. Milli and I arrived at the hospital around 4 PM, and as I walked her in, I said, "You know, I always imagined this moment different. I thought you would be waddling in, face and hair all a mess, leaking water, yelling and cussing out me and anyone who dared to get in your way!" No, it was a little bit different, as Milli looks only slightly more prego than I do, and was in no way uncomfortable as we came up to the Labor and Delivery unit.

Well, six hours later, things have changed a bit. I am watching her squirm about on her slightly-more-comfortable-bed-than-mine, trying to find a position of comfort. Those sexy hospital gowns actually seem to make her look like she could be full term. The last couple of hours have been rough on her, as the pre-induction process was started then. Neither of us were aware that the Cervadil stuff can actually kick-start the labor, but we are both well aware of that fact now. I doubt she'll get much sleep tonight, and for that reason I doubt I'll get much, either. But that's ok. I'm a little anxious for her, though. I have always had a hard time when she is in pain, so this won't be an easy experience for either of us tomorrow.

A quick shout out to my sweetheart. I love you, babe. I know you will do great! You have been such a trooper throughout the last nine or so months; you have already been a fantastic mother! And yes, I am sorry for doing this to you.

Any of you who have not seen the blog already today, be sure to read on, as Milli wouldn't like me stealing her thunder after she made such a nice post this afternoon!

I've kind of been a blogging freak lately. I think its a part of the nesting phase. Hope you enjoy yet another one. Last Monday we had a fun Halloween party for Family Home Evening on the street we live on. It was a Halloween progressive dinner. It was put on for the kids, but honestly, I think the adults had more fun. Most everyone came in a costume. We started the night with drinks (not those kind... remember, kid friendly) then went to someones for appetizers, then someones for dinner, then dessert. Sorry if you already knew what a progressive dinner was and had to hear the explanation.

I went as Trav and he went as me... he's a hot prego chick and I'm a hot doctor

The kids sang us a cute primary song

Other fun costumes...

Look how creative some people are! That is a cheese dip. Good job Sherry.

During the dinner part of the party; there was a "David and Goliath" play put on for the kids... again though; I think the parents were the one's getting a kick out of it. Great acting Tyler and Ammon.

We had to take a tie picture; those things are NOT comfortable!

We have such a cool neighborhood. The Kau's did amazing with putting it together!

So this has nothing to do with this blog, but here are pictures of the baby's room.

I have this huge fear that Spud might come out as a boy (not that we wouldn't love you Spud) just because of all the troubles with the ultra sounds we had. If this is the case, I hope he doesn't mind pink clothes and a really girlie room. It's not like the baby even knows what is going on. Honestly, the whole room and clothes thing is really for the mother. I have loved showing off the room to my friends. I'm sure the baby wouldn't have a complex if the walls were poo brown and they wore nothing but a paper sack. All they care about is getting changed and fed and sleeping. Whoa... tangent... anyway, hope you like the most expensive room in our house. New furniture, fresh paint and cool toys!

Adventures in KC

I think it is starting to hit us that we will soon be joining the parent club; therefore, we are trying to have all the fun we can. So what do you do in a big city with no kids you may ask? No, we didn't go clubbing... no we didn't go to haunted houses... we went to the Louisburg Cider Mill.

This is a tradition we do every year with the Oman's. We love driving 25 minutes to a farm in Loiusburg, KS to buy homemade apple cider doughnuts, stock up on jams or pancake mixes, see how the apple cider is made and hang out with the country folks. This year was no exception. We did have an extra guest though, and it was the Oman's cute little girl, Evie.

So the plan was, meet at the Oman's Friday evening, have a quick dinner, then drive to the cider mill to enjoy the stuff.

We were pretty mad when we got there and it was CLOSED for the night!!!

Seriously, it was 7:00 pm! Only in rural Kansas does this happen. Oh well, we watched from outside how the cider was made (I think the people inside thought we were stalkers.)

We also enjoyed the ambiance and took some fun pictures. Instead of homemade apple cider donuts, we enjoyed big city ice cream from Baskin Robbins. Maybe next year we will check the hours of operation before we go. I can't believe we aren't getting our donut fix this year!!!

Since we weren't totally fulfilled, we decided to take on another adventure the following week. My friends Daisie, Sarah; and I like to get together once a week during the day. Before I tell you what we did, you have to understand that children are involved. Now that you know, I can say. We drove 45 minutes north to Cameron, MO to go on a tour of the Shatto milk farm.

You may be snickering at this idea, but you must know that Shatto milk is amazing! They sell the milk in KC in bottles just like the good old days. Not only does the milk come in skim, 1%, 2% and whole, but they make different flavors such as banana, orange, strawberry, chocolate and root beer. A big reason to go on the tour is that you get to sample all of those. They were amazing! Trav and I liked the banana the best (and yes, Trav had the day off, so I made him come with us).

After the sampling part of the tour, we got to meet the owner of the cow farm. His name was Leroy Shatto. He was such a nice man. He explained to us how the milk was bottled and processed. It really was interesting. He told us that in 2006, his company won "small business of the year" in Missouri, so he and his wife had the opportunity to fly to Washington D.C. and meet President Bush. Leroy packed president Bush a quart of chocolate milk in a cooler and gave it to him not really expecting that the president could actually drink it, come on it could have been poisonous. Leroy got a phone call about 2 weeks later from the white house saying that President Bush really liked the chocolate milk. Apparently, Dick Chaney and president Bush drank the milk during one of their lunches. Leroy got a letter the next week from the white house. It was a picture of President Bush drinking the chocolate milk. We got to see the picture! It was pretty cool!

(our buddy Leroy)

After chatting it up with Leroy, we got to go see the farm. We met the cows and saw how it all worked. They allowed people to milk and feed the cows.

After we took this last picture, the huge cow behind us stood up and just drizzled poop all over that guy behind us. It was amazing! I hope that guy gets paid a lot of money!!!

The last part of the tour, they showed us how they milked the cows with machines. They had us hold our thumbs out to represent the cow udder. They put the machine on our thumb so we could feel what it would be like to be milked. It was a weird feeling, and I'm glad I'm not a cow.

I think he liked it.

The people who helped with the tour were probably the nicest people I've met in a long time. It makes me wonder what it would be like to grow up in the country. I always wanted to marry a cowboy. Maybe Trav could be a doctor for cowboys? There are a lot of farming accidents.

Now that we have totally lived it up; I think we can say we are ready to have a baby. She will be here any day now. I hope we can look back on our crazy days with no regrets!

Random tid bits

My friend Jill had this tag on her blog, and I thought it was hilarious. What you do is answer the questions and type the answer into "google images." Whatever image pops up; you add to your answer...

My name is: MILLI My middle name is: JONESMy last name is: Charles My favorite vacation spot: LAKE POWELL
How old am I? 25
Where I'd like to go some day: THAILAND
Where I grew up: DRAPER, UT (what a random shot)

Favorite food: THAI FOOD

Favorite treat: BROWNIES WITH ICE CREAM Where I live right now: RIVERSIDE, MO (Wow, is it really this pretty?)

Favorite animal: HORSE Favorite color: Orange
I'm married to: Travis
Describe hubby: Sweet

What do (did) I do for work? Nutritionist

Whoever wants to do this... do it, its fun. I had to edit one picture because it was morbid, so I chose the second option.

Also, a couple of weeks ago Travis and I went to a birthing class at a hospital. Instead of taking a weekly class, we just wanted to go for one day straight; so it was a 4 hour class! We pretty much just learned about labor and delivery and what to expect. There was also a segment on breathing. They showed us some breathing techniques and had us practice. Well, right before I was going to start practicing, Travis conveniently passed some gas. It made it really tough to get through the breathing part. Especially when we both started laughing hard. I think the nurses were kind of bugged at us, but seriously they didn't have to smell it! It might not be so funny during the real deal Trav, so seriously get it out of your system now!

Best parents ever... we got a certificate of completion!

And here are more belly shots. Not too many weeks left.

34 Weeks (I wasn't ready for the pic, so the face shot's a little weird, ps, those are all my shoes)

35 weeks

36 Weeks

Next item is Travis's business... since it is a new month, he started a new rotation. He is doing internal med for October. So far, his hours have rocked again. He leaves at 8:30 and is usually home by 2! He basically goes around and does health histories on patients and checks their vital signs to prep for the doc to come in. He will also help with procedures and stuff like that. On his first day he caught someone with a heart murmur after the Doctor had missed it. He rocks! He comes home with interesting/pretty gross stories sometimes. I think this rotation might motivate him to take better care of himself. Lots of old, obese, diabetic and unhappy people!

Lastly, I had to mention my trip to the Kansas City zoo. I've been here for over two years and have never been. I wasn't working one Monday and my friends in the neighborhood were taking their kids and invited me. Needless to say, I was the 9th wheel, but I had a lot of fun. The first exhibit we came across was the otters. You may think they are cute, but they are vicious. Apparently 5 minutes before we got there, a wild duck flew in their cage. Bad idea wild duck... when we got there; one otter was eating the head of the duck, with its bill hanging out of the otter's mouth. The other otter was eating the body of the duck. There were feathers everywhere! It was one bloody massacre.

If you look closely you will see the bill of the duck.

The last exhibit we went to was the birds (I forgot the species, but they were birds!) You could actually go in the cage and play with them. There was this old "bird man" who would give you sugar water so the birds would land on you. I came to realize that I didn't enjoy this much. Their claws were dang sharp, and they were aggressive. One bird actually bit me and drew blood. The bird man refused to believe that it could be his sweet bird's fault so he said that I must have been "moving a lot." Does it look like I'm moving a lot in this picture?

Bird man was out of his mind. He had names for all the birds and would practically kiss them on the beaks! He may have a disease or two!

Here is the cute group I went with... thanks for the invite! Hopefully next zoo trip I will have a kid to offer!