Avery Lorette Rice

Today we welcomed Avery Lorette Rice to our family.  She was born at 1:01 pm and weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz.  Her length was 19 3/4 inches long.  She has the cutest chubby cheeks we've ever seen on a baby and she loves her thumb!  The girls are ecstatic! 

Crazy New England Weather

So from 2 weeks of straight rain, to a week of high humidity and almost 90 degrees, to deadly tornado's just a short distance away and now back into the 60's my body is completely confused.  Jerry has even said he is cold.  Really 69 degrees, it's not cold.  I have loved the retreat of temps back into the 60's because it has lead to a return of what I once knew as my ANKLES!  For the last 3 weeks they have been swollen beyond recognition.  It's been so bad that it hurts to walk on them.  Sunday was so bad that I couldn't get my feet into anything but a pair of 2 dollar Old Navy flip flops.  I thought it was something I was just going to have to endure but it seems like it is related to the heat.  Because as of right now (almost 10 pm) I could still pick them out as my own in a lineup.  Something I usually cannot do by 10 am!!  So as far as I'm concerned, it can stay sunny and 60 FOREVER!  Or at least for the remainder of this pregnancy.

Ansley

So today while I was at work Jerry calls me to tell me that Mrs. Oliphant, Ansley's pre-school teacher, made him blush today.  Ansley has a little friend at school who is smitten with her and follows her around.  She is not phased by his undivided attention one bit.  Jerry had no knowledge of this until today.  Apparently it has gotten so bad that his mother told Jerry he only wants to wear one shirt to school everyday because it is Ansley's favorite.  Well today, while out on the playground, he put a flower behind her ear and told her she was as beautiful as an angel.  When the teacher told Jerry this he apparently turned multiple shades of red.  I fear he may be in for some trouble as these girls get older.  They have both had admirers as early as preschool.  Thankfully for now Ansley is still set on marrying her daddy!

Great Day!

Today was storybook character day at school.  Ally went to school dressed as the witch from Snow White.  Ugly nose wart and all.  After school we had Allyson's second parent/teacher conference.  She is improving in almost every area of school, especially reading.  She is now reading at a k level, which at the beginning of the year, looked like it would never happen.  On another fun note, I was able to score 4 packages of diapers, 2 boxes of envelopes, 4 candy bars, and a package of feminine hygiene products for under 10 bucks at Walgreens today!!  I think I have enough diapers to last until the 6 month mark!!

Ansley, oh Ansley

Ansley is obsessed with playing with Jerry's karate sword, (it's a wood practice sword for anyone wondering what the heck is going on at the Rice's).  She is almost as obsessed as he is.  Today she was holding it and says, "Daddy I want to see you fight with your sword for real."
Me, "Ansley, someone could get hurt."
Ansley, "I know, he needs to fight a bad guy."
Me, "But Ansley, daddy could get hurt."
Ansley, "Mommy, Daddy has a sword, a knife and a gun.  He's like a special agent or something.  He could do it."
Jerry, "Well that is true."
Way to encourage her daddy!

During dinner I was reading scriptures.  We were reading  Because I'm not PERFECT!

The black eye

So, my karate instructor approached me last night to inform me that he needed to speak with Jerry. A few days back, Ansley and Ally were taking a shower when a fight ensued about the shower massager.  Ansley, who has taken to arguing with Ally, rather than giving into her every demand got angry when Ally asked for the shower massager back after mere seconds.  She gave into to Ally's demand but more or less threw it at her, hitting her in the left eye. The result was an instantly black eye. Ally screamed and cried for at least 10 minutes.  Some out of pain, but mostly because she was upset about having to go to school with a black eye. 

Fast forward to the next day when the black eye is now cool and she loves and wants to protect Ansley.  I take the girls to karate while Jerry is at school.  Sensei Rod has a very strict no fighting policy, unless of course we are defending ourselves, so when he sees Ally's black eye and says, "It looks like you need to work on your blocking.  Where did you get the black eye?"  Ally, trying to protect Ansley from Sensai says, "My dad gave it to me."  I hear nothing of this and we go home.  That is until last night.  Sensai approaches me about how exactly Jerry gave Ally this black eye.  I am mortified and try to assure him that Ansley was in fact the one that gave her the black eye but that I would speak to Ally as soon as I got home.  Jerry was already at home studying for his comprehensive exam. 

So this morning I sit Ally down to ask her about what she told Sensai. She very proudly said, "Well I didn't want Ansley to get in trouble and I knew daddy couldn't get in trouble so I told Sensai daddy did it."  Sounds perfectly reasonable to me except for the fact that daddy can get in trouble.  So I explain to Ally that we can't go around telling people that.  She was clearly confused so I told her that some daddy's do hit their kids and if she tells people that daddy hit her they can arrest daddy and take her and Ansley away from us.  She immediately teared up and told me she didn't want daddy to get in trouble.  She assured me that Sensai was the only one she told that story too.  I guess for now all we can do is wait and see if DCF shows up.   Poor daddy gets thrown under the bus again!!

Well who will I marry??

So today at dinner Ally informs Ansley that one day she will live with her husband and kids and not Jerry and I.  Her reply to this was "I know, but I am going to marry daddy!"  Very cute indeed but I let her in on a small secret.  "Ansley, daddy is sealed to mommy for eternity.  You will have to find your own husband to take to the temple."
Ansley, "But I want to marry daddy."
Ally, "you can't marry daddy Ansley."
Ansley, "Who will I marry then?"  (Her face is covered in the chocolate pudding we had for dessert, extra cute!)
Me, "I don't know, you will find someone when you get a bit older.  Thankfully you have plenty of time to live with mommy and daddy."
Ansley, smiles :)
It's conversations like these that make being a mom just priceless!!