Avery Rolling and Stretching

Avery rolling over and stretching after her nap!

ONE MONTH

I cannot believe I have a one month old.... I have and will continue to say that time just goes by so fast! Avery was one month old on Thanksgiving Day. She has changed so much over these past few weeks and I must say it's a little bitter sweet. We love watching her grow, but it makes me sad to think she isn't truly a newborn anymore. Here are a few things Avery is doing at one month:

-her looks are changing every day. For the first week or two I thought she was a "mini-me", but as the weeks go by I see less of myself and more of Chris in her.

-she is getting stronger every day and is able to hold her head up for longer periods of time as each day passes.

-we've heard her make a few "oohs" and "ahhhs"

-eye contact! occasionally she will look at us and we know she isn't staring right through us!

-smiling

-rolling from her stomach to her back

-barely squeezing into our last few newborn diapers (I won't let them go to waste!!!)

-she still sleeps ALL of the time, but we do have a few moments of awake time with her each day. I find that I might be taking all of this sleep for granted, because I know a day will come soon when I will WISH she would go to sleep!!

-She is letting mommy and daddy sleep for 4.5 to 5 hours uniterrupted at night- though this still doesn't happen every night, but we are getting there!

{Here is Avery just a few mintues after she was born}

{Our one month old!}

I told you the girl likes her sleep (just like her mommy). It was impossible to take this picture with her eyes open.

THE BEACH

November 13th-- Avery's first time on the beach!!!

{Toes in the sand}

The sand was pretty cold but I just had to put her toes in the sand for the first time-- poor thing didn't like how cold it was, and who can blame her?!?

We miss the Howell's!!!

This is the surprise we got in the mail today from our friends, the Howell's, who now live out in Washington State:

Thank you for the new onesie, Uncle J!

WE MISS YOU Jordan, Kim and Adalynn!!!

Avery's many visitors

Chris' parents: Ed and Cheryl

{Poppop and Grandmommy}

My Family: David, Valerie and Amanda

{Granddaddy, Mimi, and Aunt Amanda}

{Marilyn (Aunt Mo), Mimi and Avery's Great-Grandmama}

{Avery's Great-Aunt Tara}

{Our sweet friends, Paige and Todd, came to the hospital to meet Avery

just a few hours after she was born!}

{Our MCG buddy, Lauren, came to meet Avery on Tuesday}

{My Nana (Avery's GG) flew in from GA on Tuesday!}

{Me with my daughter and my grandmothers!}

{PawPaw and MawMaw drove down from GA on Thursday to meet Avery. PawPaw loves his great-granddaughter so much he wouldn't even look at the camera for a picture!!}

{Chris' brother, Justin (aka: Uncle J) drove down from Birmingham on Saturday to meet his niece}

{Avery's Great-Aunt Debbie and Great-Uncle Chuck drove up from South Florida for a night with Avery. They definitely traveled the farthest to see Avery- THANK YOU! It was a wonderful surprise for all of us!}

{Our friend, Janie, and her kids, Keller, and twins Kate and Asher came to meet Avery last week. There are actually five kids in this picture as Janie is expecting #4 in June!! Keller, Kate and Asher were Avery's first friends to visit!!}

Chris and I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and family in our lives. Avery is so loved and all of your calls, texts, cards and visits mean so much to us. Thank you to all of you who have helped us welcome Avery into our lives. I can't wait for Avery to meet everyone!!!

Shutterfly

Just wanted to encourage my readers to check out a website known as Shutterfly. I have used shutterfly for storage and sharing of my pictures for years now. With our family and friends spread all across the country, shutterfly allows us to share all of our photos quickly and easily. You can edit your pictures and then have them shipped to you- it's hassle free! Not only can you upload pictures to their website, but you can do so many other creative things with your pictures. In the past I have created several photo books, magnets and puzzles for either myself or as gifts for loved ones and this year I'm using shutterfly for our Christmas pictures. Today I spent time choosing and creating our Christmas card/birth announcement and am so excited about how it has turned out. Shutterfly has so many options to choose from and you can make the card fit you and your family's personality. The other great thing about shutterfly is that they will actually mail the cards to your family and friends, if you so choose. The website is user friendly and I have never had any problems using shutterfly like I have other companies such as Snapfish. Not only have I never had any problems with shutterfly, but I also like their prices. They are the cheapest photo website that I have found and I must admit that I'm slightly obsessed with Shutterfly! :)

Things I like about Shutterfly:

Photo Books

Christmas Cards

Magnets

By they way, bloggers get 50 free holiday cards if you sign up!

Happy sharing and shopping!! You won't regret using shutterfly, I promise!

Thank you!

I cannot begin to explain just how much you all mean to me. In my last post I told you about my difficulties with breastfeeding and the outpour of encouragement from several of you means so much to me. The comments, facebook messages, emails and phone calls have been a huge help in boosting my confidence. Thanks to all of you who have shared your stories with me- they have been very encouraging to me over the past 24 hours. I'm thankful for the "blogging world" and how it is a great outlet for sharing my thoughts with you all. Thanks for being faithful readers - You each mean so much to me!!

2 weeks

I'm a few days late, but I guess it's better late than never! ;) I cannot believe that Avery is over 2 weeks old already. (Two weeks on Monday November 8th) She is growing and changing every day. Last Friday we went to the pediatrician for her two week check up and here are the stats:

Length: 19 3/4 in. (she was 19in long at birth)

Weight: 7 lbs 2 oz (still under her birth weight which was 7 lbs 4 oz)

I don't think I wrote about her jaundice issues. While we were in the hospital she had very low bilirubin levels (which is great) and there was not a concern for jaundice. We left the hospital on Wednesday and her bili count was 11.1. That Friday we went to the pediatrician for her first check up and the doctor sent us to the hospital to test her bili levels because she was looking a little yellow. Well, her levels had jumped up to 17.5- when they reach 20 they send you back to the hospital so she can sit under the lights in hopes of lowering the bili levels. Anyways, that was Friday. The doctor called us Friday afternoon with the results and told us she wanted us to go back Saturday morning to check the levels again. Praise the Lord her bili level dropped to 16-- we were headed in the right direction! Monday, November 1, we were back at the pediatrician for another weight check (she had dropped to 6 lbs 6 oz) and jaundice check. The doctor said Avery looked a lot better, but just to be sure she sent us back to the hospital for another lab check and thankfully the levels had dropped to 13. Chris and I were absolutely thrilled that Avery didn't end up back in the hospital due to jaundice. I would not have handled that very well... it was stressful just thinking that it was a possibility.

Moving on. I would say that the most difficult, frustrating and PAINFUL part of these past 9.5 months has been breastfeeding. All of my friends make it look so easy, but I'm here to tell you it is NOT easy. Trying to achieve the perfect latch is difficult and when baby doesn't latch on correctly it causes a lot of soreness for mommy. This might be a little TMI, but when my milk came in, Avery decided she only wanted to nurse off one breast at each feeding. That means I'm having to pump the other side at each feeding. This has been quite the challenge now that it's just me and Avery at home. I'm trying to keep her awake while pumping. Not only that, but I believe that just over the last few days mommy and Avery have aquired THRUSH. I cannot even begin to explain just how painful that is! I'm hoping that once we get that cleared up that nursing will come easier for both of us. All of that to say, I went to see the lactation consultant on Monday and she weighed Avery when we first got there. Avery is finally above her birth weight!! She weighed 7 lbs 9.2 oz. This really boosted my confidence and I know that even though Avery is only feeding off one side for maybe 15 mintues, that she is actually getting enough milk.

We go back to the pediatrician on Friday for another weight check then hopefully no more doctor visits until Avery is two months old!!

Micah Henry Ireland

Micah is 7 weeks old and praise the Lord, he was finally able to go home last night! He is absolutely precious and weighs 5 lbs 13 oz. We were able to ichat with Justin, Adriane and Micah last night- it's great to see him at home and no longer in the NICU. Thank you all for your prayers for the little man!

Avery's story

Monday, October 25th, was my due date and also my scheduled induction date. We were scheduled to be at the hospital at 4am- what an early morning. I was afraid that I would not sleep well Sunday night due to my anxiety of all the "unknowns" of labor and delivery. I've never had a broken bone, an IV or any other need for medical attention other than the annual shots and having my blood drawn. SO, the fact that I was about to have an IV, epidural and give birth all at once had me completely freaked out. I had worked myself up so much on Sunday night that I thought for sure I would not sleep... I was wrong. I slept great!! My alarm went off at 2:30am and I showered and got ready for the big day.

{40 weeks preggo- just before leaving for the hospital}

Chris and I left the house just after3:30am and arrived at the hospitalat 4. We went directly to our delivery room and I was changed and filling out paper work within minutes.

{Checked in and ready for the day!)

At this point I was still 3cm and 90% effaced. I was started on pitocin at 5:10am and the contractions started coming every three minutes, but the pain really wasn't too bad. Chris and I actually spent the next few hours watching The Office on our laptop. :) My amazing doctor, Dr. Graham, came in at 7:45 am and broke my water.... within minutes my contractions were much more intense and before she even left my room I was ordering my epidural. Yes, I have a very low pain tolerance!! When the anesthesiologist came in to start my epidural I got really nervous and started shaking... I seriously couldn't stop the shakes, but boy was I a happy camper once the epidural kicked in. It was weird not being able to feel my legs and having to have Chris and the nurse rotate me from side to side every 30 minutes.

{Post epidural and feeling good!}

Our family arrived not long after I got the epidural and it was so great to have their love and support. Around 10:00 am I felt the need to be turned onto my left side. Chris asked the nurse to come in to help rotate me and when she got there she felt the need to check me again. I was already 10cm and the baby was almost crowning. She immediately called the Dr and told me she thought I would be pushing within the hour. Chris and I were shocked!! All of the nurses and even the Dr. had told me they expected it wouldn't be until mid afternoon that I would be ready to push.... well, I was pushing by 10:30 and Avery was born at 11:04!!

{First family photo}

I honestly feel like I had the best labor and delivery and of course the epidural helped a lot. :) Avery is such a huge blessing to us and we are so in love with her. God has trusted us to be her parents and we pray every day that He will guide us through this amazing journey. She is a miracle and we are so grateful for her.

{Family meeting Avery for the first time}