Avi's WWII Experience (And First Solo)

Yesterday (Saturday February 19, 2011) was Aviel's 9 month birthday. As her gift of reaching that pinnacle, we took her to the Legacy Flight Museum to try her hand at a few of the planes and jeeps.


First Chantal and I put her in the Mormon Mustang, to get her revved up for this year's airshow season. I was impressed that as soon as she hopped in the Mustang, she immediately familiarized herself with the plane. As you can see, she got a feel for the throttle and the stick.
She insisted we take up the plane, so we let her. Here's some in-flight pictures of Aviel flying the Mormon Mustang.
In the Picture above, Aviel is taxiing for take-off. Note that the canopy is open and she is looking to the side, as she S-turns to see over the long nose.This is Aviel pulling out of a loop. The strain in her face is due to the high G-loading.

At the end of her flight, we thought it appropriate to take a nostalgic fighter-pilot picture at the side of her plane.
We thought she looked rather heroic in this picture.
When she was done flying, she told us she was hungry, so to top off the WWII experience she drove the WWII Willies Jeep to get some food.

Blood clots and a new job...

My poor mother noticed her leg was a little tight about a month ago. She decided to take it easy and only run 3 miles a day instead of her regular 7. And then her right shoulder began to hurt very badly. Mom had a hard time sleeping because of the pain. She thought it was a pinched nerve, and, having no insurance, tried to tough it out. Last Tuesday I called her about getting Veronica on some kind of state insurance and my poor Mother Dearest could barely talk. She claimed it felt like her lungs were always tired. She couldn't bend down to kneel and pray. She could barely stand up once she had sat in a chair. And yet she refused to go in and see what was happening. I talked to her about it being a problem that she could barely breathe. Breathing is a big part of my life. She finally went in Tuesday afternoon. She saw a regular doctor, but was quickly rushed to the ER. They did x-rays and found that her lungs were almost completely full of blood clots. Her shoulder hurt because there were blood clots lined up in her arteries trying to make it into her lungs. Her left leg was completely full of clots. She had to have a line ran into her veins from her hip into her calf. The line whipped up the blood clots and got the blood thinners directly into the middle of all the mess. 5 days in the ICU and she was discharged; feeling much better and being able to breath pretty well. She still has a filter in her chest to prevent clots from getting into her heart. I love my mommy and I am glad she is ok.
And Shawn got a new job that he absolutely loves. We are a very blessed family.

Can't Get Enough of Aviel Marie

As the mother, I get to stay home and take care of this little bundle of joy. In Shawn's words, she is pretty stinking cute. She is becoming mobile and loves rolling everywhere. I have to keep an eye on her or she will get herself hurt. She rolled into the stair railing today and hooked her leg. She had the saddest little cry but luckily I got to her before she got hurt. Her personality is coming out. She seems like a pretty happy little baby.

Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas this year. Growing up, my mom always did two things around Christmas time. She baked treats for the neighbors and we lit candles every Sunday and on Christmas Eve. Having more Davison in the house with my little sister coming to live with us, we decided to keep with the traditions.

Aviel got a lot of cool presents. I hope she doesn't become spoiled. Her is a picture of her and a little present from her fav Grandpa. Shawn has a mustang silver tie pin and I have a matching necklace. And now Aviel has a little piece as well.

Holding Her Own

Shawn's birthday was yesterday. He turned 25. In the last year he has graduated college, gotten a job, and acquired a baby and a 16-year old. My little sister Veronica is living with us for the next two years.
And then there is Aviel holding her bottle like a big girl. She has gotten to where she loves to hold our fingers and walk around the house. It is pretty cute to see. She looks like a newborn walking around.

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving, we all went down to Orem, UT. Utah was supposed to have the storm of the century. Hospitals, colleges, and roads were closed down. When the storm did eventually hit, it was pathetic. Orem received a 'trace' of snow. My youngest sister, Olivia, was so disappointed.
Grandpa Hart made a delicious ham and turkey. Poor man. He is a great cook, but the doctors told him to lose the weight and go in for back surgery. He was about 276 and he made it down to the 230's Thanksgiving morning. 239.5, but the 230's non the less. As someone who loves good food, I feel for you Grandpa.
Nacelle, his wife, made the best yams, which just happens to be my personal favorite.
Olivia, Kamilla, Veronica, and I played football all morning. We got a little carried away with the face paint. Then we went and visited the Davisons. They absolutely love Shawn. They ask his opinion on everything. We don't know what he did to make them worship him, but its all good.
Curtis and Melanie came over with their girls to salvage what leftover they could. At about 5 o'clock, most of the girls under 25 went for a walk to try and work some of the food off. It was so cold. The little girls, Sara, 5, and Brynn, 9, did great. It ended up being about 1.5 miles. Felt good though.
Black Friday came and went with our family only spending 50 dollars on new work shirts for Shawn and a onsie for Aviel. The onsie says,"Party. My crib. 3 a.m.". Its so true we couldn't pass it up.
Friday night we went to the temple to see all the Christmas lights. Breathtaking.
We left Saturday morning and beat the blizzard home.

Before:1 Month-After: 6 Months

Here is Aviel at about 5 weeks when she had only been home for two days. So different and yet her personality really hasn't changed. Still curious and cute. She weighed a little over 3 lbs. and was about 17 inches long. She had to eat 1.5 oz of high calorie mix of milk and formula every 3 hours. She slept about 2 hours and would be awake for about 30 minutes at a time. Shawn and I were still getting used to being able to hold without having to worry about pulling monitors off of her body. We had to visit the doctors twice a week.


Here she is today. She has been talking a lot lately. She is also sleeping about 5 hours at a time during the night. This is so nice for both Shawn and me. She will take about three 2 hour naps throughout the day. She eats one jar of solids every day and about 6 oz of milk every 3 hours. She has normal check-ups like any other baby.