Merry Christmas!

Stationery card

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Quilt from NICU Blankets

Well, it is done! Nannie has completed Avery Kate's rag quilt made from all the baby blankets used in the NICU. It turned out fantastic! I am honestly not sure which side I like better. Avery loves it. Thank you Nannie!

On the ragged side Avery's name is monogrammed in green. There are also two special squares, both pictured below. One is Nannie's square, so that Avery grows up knowing who made the quilt for her. The second square has all Avery's birth stats, so that she grows up knowing how started. The flip side of the quilt has Avery's name in brown, also pictured below.

 Avery is growing up so fast. I figured since I seldom post on the blog anymore, that when I do, I better include a picture of Avery in my post. She is 2 1/2 and all caught up. No more adjusted age! She weighs about 29 lbs and is already wearing 3t. She talks up a storm and loves school. She also loves her Nannie and Papa. That is Papa in the picture below with Avery. We stopped by today to see them and were surprised with the finished quilt. This picture is actually from today's visit.

2 Years Old!

Wow, in some ways it feels like it was just yesterday that she was born and we were indoctrinated into the ways of the NICU. But in other ways, it feels like Avery has been here forever. I can barely remember what it was like to not have her around the house. She definitely makes her presence known!

I guess Avery Kate is a full fledged toddler now, and had been for some time I guess. It's amazing when I look at pictures how she no longer looks like a baby! She is a little girl!

She is pretty fantastic. She is becoming such a little love bug. When she was a baby she didn't ever sleep in our arms and really didn't like to be held all that much, however now she likes to be held, cuddled and she likes to give kisses. I often make her bribe me for what she wants with a kiss on the cheek. I can't help it those are the best kisses. Sound effects and all!

Avery has a best friend at school. It's so cute! I don't think the little girl had much of a say in whether the two were going to be friends or not, because I think there is something about C. that Avery just adores. So, C. had no choice but to give into Avery's stubborn ways I'm sure. They are yin and yang. I'd have to say C. is the sweet easy going one, while my little mess is the more opinionated one. If you ask Avery if she wants to go to school the first word out of her mouth will be her friends name. When she gets to school first person she looks for is C. I dropped her off yesterday and all the little kids were sitting around the table and Avery walked in and pointed to her friend and says with sheer glee "C!" and C gets a huge grin and points back to her. I hear they are two peas in a pod. It's just too sweet.

Everyday with Avery Kate I feel so blessed to have her and just in awe of how far she has come. It's hard to believe this is the same little girl born so tiny. However, I have to say she may look different, but even back then it was clear that she was a feisty one and I don't think that has changed one bit. I love the fact she is so feisty. She is just a cute little mess!

2nd Birthday

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Avery Stories

Miss Avery is growing like crazy and has a ton of personality and I thought since I thought I'd tell you some stories and share a few recent pictures....

Red Shoes

A few months ago I bought a pair of red shoes, black shoes, and white shoes I saw online. Avery was in need of some shoes she could wear to school in the next size up. When the shoes arrived Avery Kate was home with me. When she saw the black and white pairs, she barely took notice, really didn't care and I figured when I opened the red ones it would be the same- WRONG! That child's eye's lit up and she made a bee-line right for me, or should I say the shoes! She wanted them on immediately and she did not want them to come off. I don't know what it was about the red shoes, but she LOVED them. It became a daily thing. Avery Kate for weeks and weeks first thing she would do was go find her red shoes and insist they be put on. She would go get the shoes. Throw them at you and then sit down in front of you and put her foot up in the air for you to put it on. And shoes were not willingly taken off her foot unless it was bath time or bed time. She was obsessed with these shoes! Well, she has since lessened her obsession with the red shoes, thankfully because they stink and are too small, however she still has a shoe issue. We call her the Shoe Nazi. She pretty much likes to have shoes on at all times and believes everyone should have shoes on at all times. If your shoes are in a location other than on your feet where she can find them, she will bring them to you and insist that you put them on and I'll assure you it is much easier to just do what she wants then to fight her on it, because she will win. She is a tad head-strong.

C_a-cke_

Avery Kate likes crackers, and I think she associates most food with crackers, since she points to food and says ca-cke. Well cracker without the r's does not sound like something appetizing. All food is ca-cke to Avery. Say it out loud a few times...

Other news....

Now that Miss Avery is walking, trying to talk and communicating very well in her own ways, she is just getting to be more and more fun. She loves to climb and get into just about everything. She is a ham for the camera, usually. She loves to torment Kacey, the dog, and she likes to give kisses. A kiss from Avery Kate is a special treat and just has a way of brightening up the whole day!

We have been taking her to her developmental assessments and thus far they have not identified any issues. When you see and interact with Avery you would never in a million years be able to tell she was a preemie...and we are hoping it stays that way!

Tootles!!

1 Year Home

Can you believe it! Avery has been home 1 full year! And I must say, it has been an absolute wonderful year. We have enjoyed her so so much! It is just amazing what a little light Avery is. She brightens our world beyond belief. So tonight we celebrated!





And to celebrate this milestone we bought Avery Kate a cupcake:








Since she didn't have a smash cake at her birthday party, we decided this was an occasion worthy of one. We really weren't sure what she was going to do with it.



At first she kind of looked at it....








But then the fun began...







And once she got started there was NO holding back...










She definitely smashed the cake...

Needless to say, we finished up the night in the tub...

It was definitely a fun night!

1st Birthday!!

An update on Avery Kate…

Now 1 year old! Can you believe it!!

Avery Kate is growing up so fast! It’s hard to believe she is a year old! Her birthday was April 2nd. We had a party for her on the 11th and she did wonderfully. It was the first time she was around that large of a group of people and children. There were about 10 children and 25 adults at the party. Avery was actually napping right up until party time! When she woke up most of her guests were already here. I wasn’t sure how she was going to respond to that, but after a few minutes of waking up she seemed fine. She actually wanted to get down and go explore the party herself…as long as I was in eyesight that was. I couldn’t hold her, but I couldn’t leave her either. I think all in all she had a good time at her party. Avery is very inquisitive, so having lots of new people and new things around to investigate was very entertaining to her.


Here are a few pictures from her party. Her cake was made by her Grandma (Maw).

On the 14th we took Avery to the developmental specialist for another check up. This time we met with the physical therapist. She did a screening/assessment of where Avery is vs where she should be and she said Avery is right where she is suppose to be and that she was very pleased with her and had zero recommendations. She of course reminded us that they base Avery’s development on her adjusted age up to age 2 and not her birth age. So that means they were looking at how she compared to 9 month old babies, which we knew. Avery is crawling like a normal baby and pulling up on everything.

She has been doing both for quite awhile now, over a month on both. She is also starting to get into finger foods. We went through a spell this last week or two where Miss Avery didn’t want to eat her food. She wanted her milk, just not her food. She drank a ton of milk (formula). She seems like she is over it now.




Avery is definitely a curious little girl. She wants to check into everything. I don’t think she leaves one rock unturned. She goes all over the house looking for anything she can get her hands (and mouth) on. We of course keep all the doors to the rooms we don’t want her in shut. Oh but when one is open on accident and she has to be removed from one of those rooms…MELTDOWN! Avery can have quite a meltdown. It’s usually when she is getting tired. She is winy when she is getting hungry and melts down when she is getting tired. Oh and what a meltdown she can have! She has been known to kick her feet and throw herself backward. She has pretty much stopped the throwing herself backwards, that is unless she is sure she is someplace where it won’t hurt. I noticed in the kitchen where it is tiled she throws herself forward…almost like she is touching her toes. Can you say DRAMA QUEEN!

Avery is definitely getting lots and lots of personality. I think she looks like Daddy and act’s like Mommy. I think if we ever have another we need lots of prayers that that child would act like Daddy, because I don’t think we could handle any more feisty women in this house. Avery is very independent and quite opinionated.

When she is exploring, for the most part she prefers to go off on her own. We always have her in eyesight, but she isn’t crazy about is being on her heels. She has always been good about letting us know what she does and doesn’t want and that hasn’t changed. The only thing that has changed is that she is more vocal about it.

I have to say Avery is a ton of fun. I can play with her and watch her play all day. I love it when she laughs, which is often. Avery smiles and laughs quite a bit. It makes us feel good to know she is a happy baby. It’s really funny when we laugh at her doing something and then she stops and laughs too. You can tell she has no idea what she is laughing about but that she thinks she should laugh because we are. Daddy claims Avery barks at the neighbor’s dogs, but I haven’t seen this so I don’t buy it. He said when their dog or our Kacey dog gets barking like crazy Avery barks back…I’m going to have to test this this weekend. I think he is making it up.

You never know though, babies this age do like to mimic things.

By the way right now Avery is about 18 ½ lbs and 27 inches long. That is what she weighted at the developmental specialist’s. We are due to take her in for her 12 month check up and shots so we will see what she weighs at that appointment.

She has come a long way in the past year. Just look at the difference between Easter pictures. The picture with Avery on the bench in the blue dress is Easter. Look back at the post from last year and you can really see just how far she has come. I have to say we are thankful everyday for Avery and how far she has come and we are so thankful for the people who supported us through Avery's NICU experience. It's been quite a year!!