Blessed.

We blessed Avery on Sunday. It was a lovely day and we were fortunate enough to have some family and friends come from far away to celebrate with us. A special shout-out to my brother Tim, who not only flew out, but brought lots of presents. :-) (Mom and Dad and Steve were also appreciated, though they did not give Adam a pair of Nikes.)

Jeff was nervous about blessing her, but he did a great job. We joked about him being inspired to change her name (I suggested "Sary 2"), but luckily, she is still Avery Cynthia. I do still like Sary 2 Carr as a name, so we'll see...

We love her name, but it's been controversial. Sort of. With Adam, I could once in a while tell that someone thought his name was boring or too biblical, but most people had positive reactions. With Avery, we sometimes get people who simply don't like her name, or have never heard of it, or think of it as a boy's name. (It is actually quite popular, and boys are occasionally named Avery, but much less so.) The name Avery spoke to us and was the front-runner for most of my pregnancy, so when I went crazy and named her on the spot, Jeff wasn't surprised that it was Avery. I love the name Avery. I wanted to use it as a character in a book that I dream of writing, but as soon we knew we were pregnant with a girl, I knew that it was a contender. (To clarify, we did not actually name her after Elizabeth Bank's character on 30 Rock, but that was the first time I had really paid attention to the name, so Tina Fey gets some credit for that.) The name Avery makes me think of a confident, smart, and happy person. I want her to be those things.

Only time will tell what traits Avery will develop, but one thing is certain- she is special. She fills our home with a sweetness that I simply did not anticipate. She was wide awake and quiet for her blessing and spent the next half hour just staring at Jeff, almost like she was memorizing his face. While I was watching this, the Bishop was speaking and he said something about how the Lord knows what blessings to give us. This has been true in my life. I didn't know that I needed Avery, but I did. We all did. She has made our family truly blessed. (See title of blog.)

Ok, here are some pictures. Calm down.

The lady of the hour.

Avery's dress was provided by her Grandma Cindy. I had originally asked her to make a dress, but she saw this at City Creek and got it for us, saying "I couldn't have done as good of a job." I don't know about that, but I LOVED what she picked out, so we'll take it! Also, her headband was made by my good friend, Vienna. Basically, every headband you'll see Avery wear was made by her. I think she is crazy talented and I am desperate to buy some more things from her. Just open an Etsy shop, Nen. I'll keep you in business.

Tim and Avery. What an awesome brother he is! We loved having him and Adam is still talking about his uncle.

My mom and Avery. I love this picture.

Jeff and his kids. Adam was pretty good during the blessing, he did call out for Jeff a few times, but he was mostly reverent.

Family picture. Adam is eating a chip and watching Toy Story. That's basically how you can get him to stay still these days.

My dad and Avery. I love how he's holding her hand.

Me and my girl. It's not the most flattering shot of her, but I like the way I look, so I'm gonna post it. She'll have to get used to me throwing her under the bus when I like how I look in a picture.

This is just a sweet picture of her that I took yesterday. She's 2 months old now, by the way. Weight: 8.8 pounds; Height 21.5 inches. 5th and 11th percentile, respectively.

 

She's starting to grace us with more and more of these.