8 Weeks and 1 Day old!!

Baby Girl in her fancy pj's

She loves her new swing... thanks Grandma!

Franken-baby!! (her head looks so big!)

Sweet, beautiful birthday girl!!

About to snooze with Grandma and Mommy

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a wonderful Monday so far! We got through the weekend without Dad with success! Luckily, Grandma let me sleep for a few more hours at a time than I normally do... she is the biggest blessing in the world! We are so lucky to have her in our lives, and as much as we do. She loves Avery and would do anything in the world for her, and I see so much of the passion and dedication in her that my own Grandmother possessed. I couldn't ask for anything better.

We kinda had a busy weekend! We had dinner over at a friend of ours house (first time trying chicken parm, it was DELISH!!) and we had a great time. Thank God for new friends! I firmly believe God has so opened my heart in amazing ways to experiences that garner new friendships. Love you Jess!! Grandma stayed with us that night and it was filled with laughter and lots of snuggles. Then Saturday we were able to be a little lazy and Aunt Carly came over and visited with us for about 2 hours. She is also such a blessing! How great to be able to talk to someone who has a daughter so close in age to Avery, and a person I pretty much love a whole lot as well. It was such a nice time for her to come over and kiss on Avery and offered a bit of adult interaction for me. The rest of the evening we just hung out on the couch, and read some bedtime stories too. Avery is doing awesome at holding her head up when she is against your shoulder or on your chest. Who needs traditional Tummy Time?! NOT US!

Sunday I wanted to go to church, but got virtually no sleep and knew I had a long day of driving ahead, so decided to try and catch a couple hours of zzzz's and vowed to watch the service online later when CJ got home with the computer (whose fan is currently whirring at an extremely loud and annoying pitch, making it very hard to concentrate!) My mom and I tagged team Avery and got me showered and ready, Avery bathed and rocked, and her diaper bag packed to go to Grandpa and Mimi's house for the afternoon while I went to Sophia's birthday party. After I fed her her bottle with vitamins in it, I burped her and gave her the second bottle with yummy plain breast milk in it. She was kind of fussy, but she's been having some stomach issues lately, so I went ahead and kept feeding her. Big Mistake. As I tipped her back and put the bottle in her mouth once again, she projectile vomited all over me and the living room. And she started choking on it. It was coming out of her nose and her eyes were huge and I could tell she couldn't breathe. I flipped her over and started hitting her back very hard as we learned in our NICU discharge class. She would cry a little and then continue to not breathe. I was the most scared I'd probably ever been in my life. I'm so thankful she was conscious this whole time, and eventually she let out a big cry and collapsed in my arms, clearly tired from wretching. My poor baby.... it broke my heart to see her like that. I immediately emailed my buddy Hannah from our NICU (you are a lifesaver!!) and asked if the vitamins could have been bad or what could have caused this. I think the best thing for us to do is to start splitting up her dose again. We were giving her the entire 1 mL of vitamin with about 30 mL of breastmilk. But I think that amount of iron at one time is too much for her tummy. So it's back to .5 twice a day. We'll do whatever we have to to keep that from happening again!

We got her all cleaned up and off to Grandpa's house. They were so excited to keep her. I drove an hour out to Tanna's and had the pleasure of spending the afternoon and some evening with her family, whom I fully adopted as my own. How amazing is God, that He has blessed me with a complete set of relatives that I am completely in love with? It was great to see everyone, and especially my little Sophia. Who coincidentally, is not so little anymore. Where did 4 years go?? I still remember holding her when she was born... I remember looking at Tanna and knowing that from now to forever, our lives would never be the same. And being so happy that this little angel was the reason. The way Sophie loves me is awesome.... I haven't been around kids all that often in my adult life, so to build a relationship with her has been a continuous high point in my life. I know that Avery will love me the same way, but even more so, and I look forward to that more than ever. Yesterday was a great day : ) Avery kept down the remainder of her bottles and for the most part slept peacefully through the night. 

I noticed today that she has a rash of some sort on her face and neck and head... I'm thinking it's baby acne, but not sure. She is also having runny poop! But eating and sleeping well- not too many gas issues keeping her awake. We go to the pediatrician tomorrow, and I can't wait to see how much she weighs! I have a list of things to ask her, so I'm sure we'll be there awhile. I believe she will also get her 2 month shots, and I am praying she doesn't have too bad of a reaction to them. I don't want a sick baby : ( 

I'm working at my old job 4 days this month, so thank you Jesus for that!! Hopefully they will find a full time position for me soon, as I definitely need to go back to work. I'd love to stay home with Avery forever, but one of us has to have a job. CJ gets out of school this week, so we will have about 2-3 weeks off together with the baby. 

I've been having a slight slump lately, and I know I need to get my act together (prayer wise). CJ and I are having some hiccups as of late, and I know we are both not dealing with them in the way God wants for us. I know the way that I behave is not pleasing to the Lord, and that makes me sad. It's such a struggle, between doing what comes natural (being human) and leading a life that is, in all ways, makes God happy. My ego says, "No, you are wrong, and you can't give in when you are clearly in the right on this!" But I know that that shouldn't matter. I can feel God telling me I shouldn't let this matter to me. The emotions I'm feeling towards CJ are overwhelming at times, and its in these times, I know more than ever, I need to look to God for guidance... for Him to hold my tongue and soften my heart and speak for me. I pray that we can get through this. I pray that the devil doesn't win this battle. I pray that we are strengthened in our marriage and can find a way to get through to the easy part, of being married, of being parents, of being adults that are responsible for our own actions. I don't know that there is necessarily a magical "easy part", but I've heard rumors. I pray that somehow, we can stay on track and love eachother enough for all the petty things not to matter. I pray for change. I pray for dedication. I pray that no matter what, we are able to bring Avery up in a loving and calm and peaceful home, full of God's love and grace. Would you please pray with me for this? Thank you so much.

I will get this little one all dressed up fancy for her 8 week old picture. Also I want to take a picture of the beautiful gifts that Cindie and Pam made for Avery! Coming soon....xox