Avery has definitely found her voice! She loves to scream (happy screams) and talk now. It is the cutest thing. I took a video of it today!

I can't get it to post right, just follow the link!

http://tinyurl.com/6oxyob

WE'RE ON THE CHARTS!!!!

This has been a WONDERFUL day. I deserved it - yesterday was horrible! But today has been much better than yesterday was bad (does that make sense?) Anyway, today is so great b/c at Dr. Pena's office Avery weighed 13 lbs, 0 oz!!! I was amazed. This is nothing short of a miracle. This means since her appt with Dr. Khanfar (11 days ago) she has averaged over 2 oz per day in weight gain. (Before that she was averaging less than 1 oz a day, which is why Dr. Khanfar was concerned). Also, Dr. Pena, the neurologist said that he feels she is completely normal. Her head circumference is on the charts too. He is repeating a routine head sonogram (first done in the NICU) to check on the possible bleed that was reported at that time. This will be done Monday at 2:30. If everything is normal he will see us in 4 mos and release us at that time. If there are problems, he will see us right away. After Dr. Pena we visited Dr. King, the cardiologist. He still hears the murmur but says every 5 month old he listens to has the same murmur and this is not the concern. The concern is the hole in her heart, which everyone is born with but he will check her at 1 year of age and do an echo cardiogram to make sure the hole is closed. If it remained open, this could be linked to migraine and strokes later in life. So we won't see him again until December, if its closed he'll release us, if not we'll see him once a year for an echo. Her EKG was completely normal. At his office on a manual scale she weighed 12 lbs 8 oz (still averaging over 2 oz weight gain per day since June 20th). The other office had a digital scale, maybe that was the difference? Either way I'm ecstatic. In the NICU we were warned it could be a year before she was on the charts for her actual age. But today she is in the 10th percentile for 5 mos (actual age) and in the 50th percentile for adjusted age (3 mos, from her due date). This reminds me of those days in the NICU when she had not gained an ounce in a few days, I think she was stuck at 2 lbs 12 oz for about a week, and the day she got big enough to go to an open crib. I couldn't count all the miracles we've experienced in the last year. Thank you all for your prayers. Since your prayers seem to work so well, feel free to pray that we will sale the house! (THANKS!)

Here's the video of Avery eating her first meal from a spoon!

Charlie took off this weekend and I took off Monday so we could spend a 3 day weekend in Vidalia! It was great! Its so nice to get away every once in a while and its been a long time since Charlie could come since he works weekends. We went to church for the first time at Cornerstone, the church that my dad preaches at, and introduced Avery to a lot of the people that spent many days praying for her. I just realized that of all the pictures I took this weekend, I took none of her first time at church! I hate it when I forget to photograph important events! Oh well, one important event I did photograph, and even took a video, was Avery eating from a spoon! Apparently, you aren't supposed to give a baby rice cereal through a bottle. We tried that this week for weight gain and it kept Avery up half the night screaming, it was not pleasant! After speaking to other moms about it online, apparently you're supposed to start the rice cereal with a spoon! So this morning we got brave and tried it! It went great! We mixed 2 Tbsp of cereal with 4 Tbsp of milk and got it a little warm and fed her about half of it. I'm sure she would've eaten all of it but I didn't want to push it after my experience with feeding it through the bottle. I am very excited about that and I'm going to start trying it every other day. We have follow up appointments with the pediatric neurologist and pediatric cardiologist on Wednesday. I'm not really nervous about these because at the 1st appts both Dr.'s seemed to think these were very common preemie problems that would go away on their own (she had a possible small bleed in her brain and a heart murmur). Well, I guess thats all for now, I have lots of pics from the wkend...none which include me or Charlie...how did that happen!?!

"Hey lady, get that thing outta my face, can't ya see I'm spending quality time with my nonna!"

Chillin with Uncle Mark


This is one cool chick!


Laughing at Poppa


Nonna had to get in on the action, too!


Learning to hold her own ba-ba, like a big girl!


Nonna bought her a silver spoon w/ her name engraved on it


Avery Grace


My favorite scripture for Avery...she is wonderfully made!


Lovin her first meal from a spoon

I Could Not Ask for More!

Wow I'm so proud of myself...3 posts in 3 days! Weekends are just amazing. Mon-Fri is just a blur! Anyway, we just got back from church (and McAllisters) and Avery did wonderfully. She looked ADORABLE (as always!) She got to wear a dress that Calley gave me when she was born. It was beautiful. She also got to wear some special hand knit booties from Mrs. McMurtry, who works w/ mom at VHS and her Tiny Miracle bracelet. Unfortunately, the camera is still out of batteries (on my way to Target after this post) but I did snap some pics w/ Charlie's phone that I'll add to the post later today. I think she really liked the music and the preaching put her to sleep (which I guess is ok until she gets old enough to actually understand : ) We even went to McCalisters afterwards and she sat quietly and watched us eat. Then Charlie wanted to go look at Macs, he's currently trying to persuade me that we need a Mac Notebook, so we went by Basic and played on the Macs. At that point she had had enough and started to get fidgety so we came home.

Anyway, I wanted to post this today before I forgot to say this. At one point during the praise and worship I was holding Avery looking around and I remembered one day after I had lost the first baby and I remembered looking around and if felt like every woman in that building had a baby except for me. I also remembered being there shortly after Avery was born and just pleading with God the entire time to let her be ok. Wow, sometimes things are going so well we forget how blessed we are. My heart is so full of happiness right now, I cannot imagine a better life. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows how continually thankful we are for the answered prayers for Avery. I really felt this morning that in some way things have come full circle and I honestly could not ask for more.

5 Months Old Today

Avery Grace is 5 months old today. WOW! Soon we'll be planning a birthday party - I can't believe how quickly time has gone.

I've come up with a solution to the breastfeeding problem. Thanks for all the advice! After thinking and praying all day yesterday I decided I would not feel right to just stop breastfeeding. The next time she got sick I know I would blame myself! So, I'm still going to breastfeed once in the morning and at night until March (I like spending that time w/ her anyway, its great bonding time!) Then instead of making 2 or 3 breastmilk bottles for during the day I'm only going to make one and I'm going to add formula to it (someone told me you can add 1 tsp per 2 oz.) I'm also going to supplement the morning and evening breastfeeding with a formula bottle. That way, she gets formula every feeding but also gets the benefits of the milk! I posted the question on Nest Baby, a website I go to w/ other preemie moms, and they all said that 11 lbs for 3 mos adjusted age seemed pretty normal. Someone said her baby weighed only 10 lbs at 3 mos adjusted. So, I feel much better. Also, I took her 5 month old pics today and dressed her in a 3-6 month dress and it fit! YAY! (see pics below!)

We are going to attempt to go to church tomorrow, pray that she behaves! I'll let you know how it goes!

I couldn't get any great ones of her smiling, da-da is mowing the yard, so she had no entertainment! And then my camera went dead, so these will have to do!






These are adorable little ballerina shoes her mamaw (Charlie's mom) got for her - they finally fit! (This is not the best pic of them, this was right before the camera died so I was rushing but they are too cute!

to breastfeed or not to breastfeed...THAT is the question!

OK....we have some catching up to do! A few days ago Avery started to refuse breastmilk bottles. When I tried to feed her Wednesday morning, after I breastfed her, I gave her the rest of the milk by bottle, as usual, and she started to shake her head and pull away. Normally, she gobbles up anything close to her mouth! I kept trying and she started screaming and pulling her neck away and trying anything to get away from the bottle. I wondered if my supply was back up and she had got a full feeding, but I didn't think it was b/c I haven't been engorged, or even close and when I've been pumping I'm definitely not getting 5 1/2 oz, which is how much she eats... So...I tried a formula bottle, and she gobbled it down. I thought it was strange, but she probably just didn't like what I ate the day I pumped that milk. Well, she did the same thing for Charlie and Gran-gran on Wednesday and Thursday. Then Thursday, she didn't want to eat from 6a-2p which is not at all like her, she is always eating every 4 hours. Then she finally took a full bottle at 2, wanted another at 5. Ate from 5-6 then wanted another at 7 and again at 9. She basically had 3 bottles in a row. At 9 o'clock (before i realized she was hungry again) she had a FIT and it really scared me. I had laid her on the bed and was doing 'bicycle' b/c I thought she had gas and she was SCREAMING and arching her back so much that she was lifting herself off the bed! I gave her Mylocon for gas, but it didn't really help and finally I realized she wanted ANOTHER bottle, she ate the whole thing! If I tried a bottle with milk though, she just wouldn't eat it. She would suck about twice then shake her head and pull it away and eventually cry out of frustration. I was getting nervous about it all, so i took her to Dr. Khanfar today. She weighed 11 lbs, 1oz which is ok but not near where she needs to be. (There was another 5 month old was in the waiting room and I asked what he weighed and it was 16 1/2 lbs!) Dr. Khanfar said she is not gaining weight quickly enough, in his opinion, and the weight gain is vital, so he said I should stop breastmilk and feed Neosure every feeding. This is NOT what I wanted to hear. I guess I just wanted to hear "This is normal, just do such and such and she'll start drinking the milk again".

So now I'm faced with a hard decision. (At least I get to decide though - and not the NICU Dr's!) I will feel extremely guilty if I quit breastfeeding altogether b/c I know she needs the antibodies and all the other things the breastmilk can give her. But I love Dr. Khanfar and trust him and I know that he has years more experience and education with taking care of preemies. Also, if I ignore his advice and she doesn't start gaining weight well, I'm going to feel guilty too. I also still have the problem that she is not eating breastmilk right now. One other tidbit - if I actually breastfeed her, she'll take it, but if we put expressed milk in a bottle she won't. (The bottles and nipples for formula and milk are the same, so that isn't the problem.) Sorry this is so long but I just want any and all advice that you have. Right now, I've thought about it and prayed about it and I think I may breastfeed before work, after work and before bed. My supply is low so that she may only get 4-6 oz but thats better than nothing. So, WHAT DO YOU THINK! Thanks in advance for the advice to this scared new mommy!

By the way....here are some pics from this week...

This child is a daddy's girl!


I took her to the Olive Garden with some friends from work and was an ANGEL the whole time!


This is Jaden and he is 1 month older than Avery...he looked like a giant compared to her!


Avery ate a ba-ba (bottle) while mommy ate some shrimp - now that's talent! ha!


Happy Birthday Da-da...GO CUBBIES!


Avery's first trip to the mall...it was a spur of the moment thing after grocery shopping, otherwise she and I would've been dressed for the occasion! As you can see, all that shopping really wore her out!

Another week has flewn by! Avery and I went to see Nonna and Poppa this weekend, Charlie had to work, so we got up early this morning to be home for Father's Day. Charlie wanted a hat for father's day so we went to the mall - Avery's first shopping trip! We also needed groceries and figured there wouldn't be too many people at Brookshire's on Sunday morning at 10am, and it wasn't bad at all. Avery was so well behaved the whole time. We are starting Atkins diet tomorrow so it was a very different shopping trip, but it was fun! We are going to start back to church next Sunday and I'm praying that everybody won't try to touch her, or I'll be a nervous wreck. I don't think I'm going to post a "You can look, but you can't touch!" sign on her carrier. That may be a little overboard, but I am covering her w/ a blanket until we find a seat, and if she starts to cry I guess we'll bolt for the door. They record the service for TV at First West, so I can't have her ruining the broadcast! lol. And you couldn't pay me a $1000 to stick her in the church nursery for 10 minutes, so we will see how that goes! Well, I have a million things to do since I wasn't here this weekend so I'll post a few pics and start paying bills - fun, fun, fun!

Wow, she actually looks like she has hair in this one!

Daddy's girl...


HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Fun With Mommy

This is a video of me and Avery playing "I Got Your Nose!" Warning: This may be a pretty boring video except to Nonna and Poppa, who are probably having Avery withdrawals from almost 2 weeks without her! Charlie started playing this game with her this morning and she thought it was hilarious. I was playing with her today and she let out a loud, happy squeal. It shocked me! It was so cute and I was hoping I could catch one on video so I set up the camera, of course, she didn't do it again but you can hear her 'talking' to me a little bit in this one. And she gives one, big cute smile too!

Nonna- this is that cute lil outfit you bought her...remember?

Another week has flown by! Going from sitting at home all day to working has been quite a change. The week seems to go by much quicker. Avery has done well and mamaw and papaw have enjoyed keeping her. Charlie is still doing an amazing job. He says 'there's nothing to it!' I emailed my boss Friday about changing my schedule at the end of this month and it doesn't seem like it's going to be a problem. WHAT A BLESSING! She is growing so much, I'm trying to get her in all her 0-3 month outfits before she is in 3-6 mos. She got two adorable dresses from my friend Benji, who works at Chase.

We have a pretty busy weekend planned. I am hosting a shower for a friend from Chase, Maria. It is going to be at Waterfront Grill in Monroe. I thought about bringing Avery, but I thought that could turn out disastrous (like our little shopping trip), so my mamaw is going to come sit with her while I'm gone tonight.

In other exciting news, a lady looked at our house on Thursday and is supposed to make an offer today or Monday. I'm excited but nervous. (As usual w/ any change in my life!) I have been frantically searching for an apartment and they are much easier to get into than daycare, thank God. But they are much more than our house note. The ones I love are $900/month and Charlie says "that'll be fine, lets live there". Well our house note is only $450 and since I pay the bills I know that we cannot double that. After I explained to him there is no way we can move from $450/month to $900/month, he offered a solution: "We can downgrade the satellite". LOL, poor Charlie, he is clueless! Oh well, its my fault, I really like to do the budgeting around here! Anyway, here are some pics from the week. Enjoy!

A sucker as big as she is

Her little denim overall dress! So cute!

Rolling Over!

Avery has been rolling over the last few days. I finally caught it on video...I'm so excited!