The Clark Blog

Last Saturday (5/16) we packed up the car and took Avery on her first road trip to Dallas. Shelley was done with her 2 weeks back at work, so the timing was perfect. Lots of family in Dallas hadn’t met Avery yet, and we wanted to get a quick trip in before our work schedules got crazy as well as moving in to our new home. Normally we can make the drive in about 4 hours, but this trip took almost 7. Avery started getting fussy after an hour in the car seat, so there were a few extra stops for diaper changes and feedings. The trip was a great success and we got lots of wonderful pics of the family, including a few 4th generation shots.

Here’s a shot at our new favorite pit stop… Buc-ee’s in Madisonville! Yeah that’s right, I said Buc-ee’s. It just opened up recently and what a cool place. It’s too bad you can’t hear it in this pic, but Avery is reading all of the words there on the wagon (starting with colic! Haha!). She’s super smart for her age.

This was a pretty special pic. Avery’s great grandmother, grandmother and mom all in one place… that’s 4 generations all together!

Avery said Mamaw… err Great Mamaw did a GREAT job holding her. It’s a compliment she’s only given to a few people!

Avery was able to meet her Great Grandfather for the first time as well. It’s hard to believe they are almost 90 years apart from each other. WOW, almost a century!!! Del and Avery had a GREAT time hanging out.

Shelley brought several wardrobe changes and this one turned out to be a party favorite…

Everyone had to take a pic with Avery, including Mamaw…

Denise (aka Great Aunt Neeser) gets in on the action as well…

Aunt Stacy (aka Avery’s BFF) was able to steal a few hugs from her little niece!

And last but not least, Great Aunt Debbie had the magical touch. Her super secret lullaby song list easily put Ms Avery to sleep…

After having all the fun we could at the Great Grandparent’s house, we headed over to Mamaw’s house for the night. Since she is selling her home and moving to Houston, we took one last pic of her holding Avery in front of the house.

We ended our road trip pics with a shot of Avery in her car seat… and if you look closely, you’ll see Mamaw waving bye from the garage!

What a wonderful trip to Dallas. Avery was just passing the 9 week mark, so unfortunately we had to make it a quick one. Hopefully next time we can visit the rest of our family and friends that we missed!

Baby Avery, Family

Happy Mother’s day to all the mom’s out there! If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be here!! I hope everyone had a great celebration this past weekend. Since this was Shelley’s very first Mother’s Day, it was definitely a special one. Lot’s to be thankful for, and we’ve got some great pics to prove it. Also, as of May 11, Avery is officially 2 months old!!

I think this is one of my all time favorite pics of both my girls!

And here’s another great pic of all the moms… Pssst, hey Avery… the camera’s over here!!

A family pic in the family rose garden!

And to finish off the post, we took some shots before the celebration began… because one never knows when the pretty dress might end in a mess! Ps… is someone about to smile???

Yeahhhh… there we go!!!

Baby Avery, Family, Shelley

There’s a bunch of stuff going on in our lives these days… raising a newborn, building our home, selling our old home, working hard, and all of life’s details in between. Despite all that is happening, Shelley and I feel absolutely blessed to have Avery in our life, and we can’t imagine doing any of this without her. Hopefully next week (fingers crossed) we will get the keys to our new home and things will start to feel a little more normal. Shelley is still on maternity leave, but had to take a quick break to help her company meet a big deadline. Her mom is in town helping with grandma duty until Shelley is home for the remainder of her leave. We took Avery to the new house to see what she thought, and we ended up staying there for more than 3 hours. Fortunately we had plenty of diapers!

This pic is already old… the front porch railing is now painted (same as exterior) and the landscaping plus irrigation will go in on Monday.

Mommy was definitely prepared for this trip… and Avery agrees!

The new kitchen cleans up right nice! It’s been covered with plastic and dust and crud for so long, we didn’t realize how shiny everything would be.

Here’s the master shower… Shelley is super excited about the extra sitting room.

Here’s a little more recent pic of the house… The porch railing is painted and the yard has been cleared for the landscape, irrigation and drainage.

So that’s it for now! If everything goes well, the next batch of house pics will hopefully have a yard… and us living there!!!

Baby Avery, Family, Shelley, Steven

Ok, before you think we’re bad parents for not cleaning our 8 week old, I’m actually posting pics from around the 3-4 week range. I found them on the camera, and they are to cute not to post. The Dr said we had to wait until her belly button fell off, and I swear that thing kept hanging on by a thread for way longer than we expected. LOL. So in the meantime don’t call CPS… she had plenty of sponge baths!!

Mommy poses for a quick pic before the fun begins. No telling how messy this might get!

For some reason, there was way more smooching goin on that actual cleaning…

We weren’t quite sure how she would react, but after the initial surprise of the warm water, Avery really liked it. No crying at all… she’s a natural waterbug!

It was hard to tell which she liked more… sucking water off her arm, or the loud noise it made…

Snug as a bug in a hoodie!

Time for the pijama-jammy-jam! After a nice long bath, Avery enjoys her favorite pj’s…

Baby Avery