Our babe is almost 12 weeks old! Happy 2012!

happy girl when she's up with Dad in the mornings

Getting changed at Grandma's house!

Whoops, I fell over

Fancy girl outfit

This is her "i'm in hog heaven" look

Sleepy girl with the chubby cheeks = my heart

She has crazy good neck strength

Not a happy girl at 3 AM and Mom wants to play photographer

"Seriously Mama??"

Hi everyone!! Sorry it's been so long for me to post... we've had a lot going on in the household, mostly just me working more than I had anticipated (thank you Jesus!) Avery is doing SO WELL, and continues to amaze us every single day. I have a feeling she's close to 8 and a half pounds now, can you believe it! Our girl is getting so big right before our eyes. She got to meet the rest of her cousins on New Year's Eve over at CJ's parents house, which was a lot of fun. Gma, Gdad, and Aunt Carly love to snuggle her and judging from the way she absolutely melts in their arms, she quite enjoys it too! We can't wait until she, Cara and Lily get older and can all run around and play together. That is going to be so much fun for lil miss!

Avery is now eating every 2-3 hours (absolutely no later during the day) and is taking between 110-130 mL's per bottle. Basically 4 ounces.... which would explain her triple threat of a chin. Hey, I wanted a fat baby more than anything, and I got her!! I'm a happy mama. So if she still gets in 8 bottles a day (sometimes 9), she gets anywhere from 28-36 ounces... sometimes she will scream with hunger and only take 3 ounces or go longer at night between bottles so only eat 8 bottles. It really depends on her moods. She hadn't thrown up at all or even spit up really (before this morning) in about 2 weeks or so. I really think we conquered the problem with figuring out about my soapy breast milk. Now unless she has to poop or burp, she sucks down her bottles with ease and comfort. She did projectile vomit this morning with me  (only about an ounce of 4 ounces though) b/c I could not for the love get a burp out of the kid! She was hanging on to it with all her might. Lo and behold when I went to burp her for the 4th attempt nearing the end of her bottle, she gave me back a little more than I bargained for. But she's mostly unfazed by this and ended up finishing the bottle after the little throw up episode with no problems. I am not near producing as much milk as I have been, and it's really frustrating to now have to sit for 30 min in order to get out 6-7 ounces as opposed to having previously pumped for 15 minutes and getting 8-10 oz, sometimes more. Part of me really wants to give this pumping thing up, mostly due to the huge inconvience it causes everyone ( I can only do things in 5 hour spans away from home), and now with me being back at work and busy, it's not really easy to break away more than once. But then I think about all the wonderful benefits Avery is getting from even the small amount I'm producing, and I know that I would do it forever if I have to. I have a feeling my body will tell me when it's not going to work with me anymore on this... I'm debating on whether or not to take an herbal supplement, Fenugreek, to try and get my production back up. I just really have to weigh all the benefits and the negatives. Right now, I'm supplementing about an ounce or so of each bottle with formula, which she takes with no problem (again, thank you Jesus!!) So i don't think that IF we had to switch to formula, she would be a finicky eater with that. Good news!

Sleeping... well, we have good days and bad nights, haha! Sometimes she will sleep 4-5 hours at night, and sometimes stay awake through the 3 hour time span that flies by between feedings. It really is a crapshoot. She still only wants to sleep on CJ and I's chest or with us holding her. Sometimes when she is in a deep milk coma, she will let us put her in the newborn napper or carseat for an hour or so in the evenings/early morning hours. During the day, she's much more pliable and accepting to sleeping in different places. It's something to do with the evening that is tricking her up! But I have to say, I am more than willing and happy to have this babe sleep on me as much as she wants. I know before I blink my eyes, she will be too big and that will kill me! I'm soaking up every single moment. I know eventually she will get on her own schedule and it will all fall into place. She can't really even self soothe yet, so I think that we will probably wait until she's old enough to do that until we really try and make her sleep in her crib/napper. She has been more awake and alert during the day lately, and really enjoys doing tummy time and laying on her activity mat looking at the lights and listening to the music. I've even caught her watching tv!! It was definitely funny. Her favorite shows include Friends, Law and Order: SVU and anything on the Cartoon Network : )

We had the developmental therapists come by yesterday and evaluate Avery. I really didn't know what to expect and she was asleep most of the time so I wasn't sure if they could get an accurate examination. Mostly they just asked us questions about what she's doing and then scored her off our answers. We did lay her down on her belly and she picked up her head and turned it completely to the other side, which was something no one was expecting! I think there was something like 8 categories, ranging from Fine Motor Skills, Gross Motor Skills, Socialization, etc. She should be scoring at Newborn for everything, because at her adjusted age, she is really only 2 and half weeks old. She did score at Newborn on 2 categories, but the rest scored at anywhere from 1.5 months to 4 months old!! We were in shock!! Our preemie baby, who we were scared would fall behind developmentally, is doing things a 4 month old should be doing. I thanked the Lord over and over. This doesn't mean it will always be like this. We will have to work with her and start doing more and more activities with her to ensure she stays ahead of the curve. But what a blessing : ) We just looked at each other in appreciation, like "Hey, we might be actually doing something right with this little one". It was a big sigh of relief. So now, she will be enrolled in the Follow Along program, which is basically a case manager sending us through the mail a list of milestones Avery should be hitting according to her adjusted age. We will mark down the things she is doing and not doing and send it back. The case manager will score it and if she is concerned at all that Avery is falling behind, she will contact us about getting her enrolled in a more direct care program. But so far, so good! Woohoooo!!

She has the 2 follow up ultrasounds of her head and her kidneys next Monday, if anyone could just pray over our babe that everything comes back normal and nothing is troubling or wrong, I would really appreciate it! I know she will be fine, as she has no symptoms of anything being "wrong" with her, but I'm a mom... I still worry. She has a pedi appt and her 3rd RSV shot this month and also her 3rd eye doc appt, which should hopefully be her last. At least, the eye doc had predicted that it would be. Fingers crossed for that!

All in all, Baby Girl is doing great. We are planning a trip up to the NICU soon (I know our nurses are going to love to see Ave, we miss them all SO MUCH!!! I think she was talking about making them some treats too...?) to drop off some preemie clothes for them. I'm going today to do bloodwork to donate all my frozen breastmilk. Gracie girl is such a wonderful, perfect, awesome blessing to CJ and I, and to the rest of her family. She got to go to Grandma's house for the 1st time last week, and she loved it! Grandma has a couple of drawers with stuff for her and she loves to rock AG while Mom caught a cat nap... what would I do without my mother, I never want to have to wonder! She loves Ave so much, and helps me out more than I could ever imagined I needed. She took off a whole weekend next weekend to babysit Avery while I work and CJ is away at drill. What a rockstar she is! Avery has newborn pictures lined up for this coming Sunday and we're excited about that! We will get birth announcements and send those out too. This little one isn't going to miss anything just b/c the 1st couple of months of her life were a little less than "normal".

CJ and I are doing good- he has enrolled in a Captain's course online and is liking it so far. He had to drop out of the previous one when I went into the hospital, so I'm very happy he has the opportunity to do this again. He is very driven and I appreciate that about him! We are currently having to explore options about school, work, houses, etc.... our finances are scary right now! I thought I would be able to stay out of work and only do part time all of January, but that isn't so. CJ might have to put school on hold and drill more or get a full time job. Whatever happens, we are a family, and we make these decisions together and support each other no matter what. No matter if the choices we make are quite scary! I know the Lord has blessed us, and will continue to bless our house and our family. He has always provided, and I have no doubt that will never change. I have a job interview for an Admin/Executive Assistant position @ my company's Corporate headquarters next Tuesday, which I'm SO nervous about! I just feel like I get so nervous and end up not being as well spoken as I'd like. But I need this job... I want this job. It could be a HUGE positive for our family, and a step in the right direction for my career. Please pray with me that if this is the job God has in store for me, that He will throw that door wide open and bless me with the position. I just want His will for our lives, and I hope that this is it. But I will follow where He leads! There are no open positions in any clinics currently, so they can't offer me a job in that aspect. It would be a big change, but I think a good one.

Thank you Lord for all you're continuing to do in our lives! You are working through us and I can feel that every day. Thank you for your blessings, for keeping Avery safe and healthy, for loving us and providing us with guidance on how to live more in your light.

Hope everyone has a wonderful 2012! We will be back within the week to update on Avery's u/s results, and my job interview outcome. xox