October 2011

October was the last month I got to stay at home with my baby girl. I watched a lot of Law and Order SVU, visited friends and family, and did some shopping. I also played a lot on Pinterest which caused me to be very crafty. I made a fall wreath for my door, made some bows for the girls, and did a lot of photo editing. I finally felt productive with my time off.
As I was exploring the possibilities of Pinterest one day I had Law and Order playing on the TV in the background. The episode was titled "Missing Pieces." In short, the parents in the show had claimed that their baby had been kidnapped. When they finally found the baby and began the autopsy, they could find no cause of death. This caught my attention, because the doctor just kept running tests and could find nothing. I put the computer down and really listened to the ending of the story. I was so curious as to what they'd find. The result was SIDS. The doctor explained that when there is no cause of death to be found, they rule it as SIDS. The parents thought for sure they had done something wrong which is why they were claiming kidnapping in the first place. The police let the parents go without charges. I could not believe what I saw. I could not wrap my head around the fact that SIDS was actually no cause of death. I thought it was suffocation, or choking, or even aspiration. But, no cause of death?? Wow, how unsettling right? There was a reason my TiVo recorded that episode, and there was a reason I watched it. When all of this happened with Avery Kate I totally understood everything the coroner and doctors had told me.
On October 16, 2011 we baptized sweet Avery Kate into the Catholic church at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Lake Charles, LA. It was a wonderful ceremony. Father Keith is just amazing! Avery Kate did not cry a bit nor did she ever make a sound. She wore the same baptism gown that Brandon once wore when he was baptized which is the same one that Hallie wore just two short years ago. Looking at the pictures of Hallie on her baptism day and Avery Kate on hers, you cannot tell them apart! They were both so beautiful and angelic. I picture Avery Kate to be somewhat like that right now. My youngest brother Kyle was the Godfather and Brandon's sister Jenny was the Godmother. Our family and friends came over to our house for gumbo after the ceremony, but the most important guest of all was my paw paw. I never expected him to be able to make the almost two hour drive from New Iberia. I had tears of joy in my eyes to see him walk through my door. It just meant so much to me to have him here.

Thursday, October 27. Avery Kate turned 8 weeks old. I dressed her in our favorite Hallie hand-me-down dress and took her to Accessory Zone to get her ears pierced. She was such a trooper. There were tears, don't get me wrong, but they were dried up by the time we got to the register. We left there and went to visit our friend Lindsey and her new baby Charlie. Avery Kate and Charlie were only 17 days apart. We had a great visit and then came home to show dad the new earrings! We sat out in the driveway on that beautiful afternoon while Hallie drove her little car around and waited for Brandon to drive up.

On Monday, October 31 I had to go to back to work. It was Halloween and we had teacher inservice so I thought that would be the best day to go back. I dressed Avery Kate in a Hallie hand-me-down onesie that said "Baby's 1st Halloween." Of course it had the matching socks and hat. I dropped her off at Honey and Pop's house, the same babysitter Hallie went to when she was a baby. They only keep babies up to 18 months old, so Hallie was no longer there. I was totally comfortable dropping her off there. I went to school, which was literally right around the corner and shed only the smallest tear. I was sad because I felt like time had flown by! She was already 8 weeks old. I knew I wasn't having any more kids, so the thought of my baby growing up so fast just frightened me. Of course she did fine with Honey and Pop that day and I rushed to pick her up the second our meetings were over. We both went to pick up Hallie after and rushed home to get ready for trick or treat! I bathed the girls together and dressed them in their matching Halloween outfits for picture time. After that I changed Hallie into her candy corn dress that Mrs. Christy made. Brandon came home from work and we got in the car to go to Chad and Holly's house in the neighborhood across the street from ours. My mom came and met us there. We went from house to house in the big double stroller and had such a great time. We even got to see Mr. Keith, Mrs. Christy, and Jenny along with many other friends. I sure was exhausted after a long, long day. We came home, changed, and went right to bed. I had to get ready for my first day with kids the next day, and after the sugar-filled night I was sure they all had, I was nervous!