Halloween # 6

She loves her Mummy :)





Her first time napping in her crib
Her Halloween sleeper :)

Halloween # 5

What A Wonderful Week

Avery has been home a week today, and it has just flew by. She has been such a joy, and even though I was with her everyday in the NICU it's completely different having her home. There's no alarms going off, there's not 5 babies crying, and I get to do everything when she and I want. I love that I'm there to comfort her every time she cries. I know her wonderful nurses did and I'm thankful for that but I'm so glad it's my job 24/7.
We've learned the things she likes and things she doesn't. She loves to be snuggled on our chest's and I think that it's from kangaroo care when she was really tiny and that's all we could do. She loves wub and will wake up crying for it. TV is still one of her favorite things. She hates her vitamin and it's a chore to get her to take it, thankfully it's once a day. She doesn't like having her diaper changed one bit, sometimes I feel like the neighbors can hear her scream.
She sleeps in her bassinet by our bed, or by the couch if we're taking shifts. She's been in her crib once for about 5 seconds, just long enough for me to take some pics.
I'm a bit more comfortable sleeping when she sleeps but not completely. I still check on her all the time, and probably average 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night. I would rather have piece of mind than sleep. Hopefully soon I will get more comfortable.
She sleeps a lot especially during the day. She pretty much wakes up to eat, have her diaper changed, have some Mommy-Avery time and then she sleeps for 2 hours or so. This repeats all day. At night however she's ready for attention and wide awake.
I have taken tons of pictures. Sometimes I feel like I'm always looking at her through the camera lens. I have to make myself put down the camera and just enjoy the moment and have that memory. Everything does not have to be caught on camera. lol
I love this beautiful girl more than she'll ever know. She won't know the love I feel for her until she's a mother herself.

Halloween # 4

Little Pumpkin :)

Halloween # 3

Our sweet Princess in her Grandma's little pumpkin outfit :)




my little piggy with milk on her lips
we couldn't leave out wub :)

Halloween #2

Here is her second outfit for our week of Halloween! The pics aren't as good as yesterday. I'll do better tomorrow :)



Here is my Dad visiting Avery for the first time at home :) She liked him lots!

First Dr. Visit

Today was Avery's first time to her Pediatrician, and it went great. We didn't have to wait in the waiting room, they let us in through the side door straight to our room. That was very nice and one of my musts when I was looking for a Dr.
Our Pediatrician is fabulous and came highly recommended. She's great with Avery and answers all my questions and listens to all my concerns. Love her! I even have her personal number and can call her anytime. She has had 2 preemies herself and has tons in her practice. I feel really comfortable and know that Avery is in great hands.
I was nervous about today, not really sure why but everything went well. She said Avery looks great and she doesn't have any concerns. She weighs 7 # 13 oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. She's going to be a petite little girl.
She did say she's already had 3 cases of RSV and it's not even in full swing yet, so she expects it's going to be a bad year for it. She said not to have ANY visitors and keep Avery inside, which is fully what I expect to do aside from the no visitors. My immediate family can visit, I know they won't come if they've been sick or around anyone who's been sick. I have gloves and masks if need be :)
We go back in 2 weeks for another check up just to make sure all is well, then after that we'll space it out more between visits.

Halloween #1

For everyday leading up to Halloween starting today, Avery has a Halloween related outfit. Here is the first :)

Snuza

This little device has been what's allowed me to get what little sleep I've gotten since Avery has been home. You attach it to her diaper or pants and it detects her every breath. If she were to stop breathing it will vibrate to stimulate her to hopefully get her to breath. If that doesn't work then the alarm will go off. We haven't had a false alarm or any alarm thus far, thank God :) It has a little flashing green light to let me know she's breathing. If her breathing gets really shallow like she's in a deep sleep the light will be orange and if she's not breathing the light would be red and the alarm will go off. This is my security blanket, and I don't trust it 100 % because I would rather see for myself that yep she's still breathing but it does make me feel at ease. She pretty much has it on all the time because I never know when she'll fall asleep. I actually feel comfortable enough to leave her in her bassinet and go put in a load of laundry or do the dishes. Without it I would seriously stare at her 24/7. Money well spent in my opinion. I highly recommend it to all you paranoid parents like myself, if I'm not the only one!

Home Sweet Home

We've been home for 2 days now and every second seems like a dream. We are enjoying every single minute with our baby girl. She has just done great. She's on her same schedule she was on in the NICU, and so far it's working great. I set an alarm about 15 minutes before she's supposed to get up to warm her bottle because she has lost all the patience she once had. Not that I really need an alarm to get me up because I'm already up. I have probably only gotten 7 hours of sleep total over the last 3 nights but that's my fault because I constantly stare at her just to make sure she's breathing. Every night I get a little more comfortable sleeping when she sleeps, but for the most part Josh and I sleep in shifts. I even have a monitor but I still have to physically check and see for myself that all is well.
She loves all of her stuff, like her bouncer, boppy, play mat, and mobile. She also loves TV! If we're playing with her and she can see the TV we may as well give it up or turn her so that she can't see it. She is memorized by it and it doesn't even matter what's on. Josh is watching Harry Potter right now and so is Avery. I'm afraid something is going to scare her but it hasn't thus far. I guess she doesn't know to be scared of things yet, is why?
She HATES to be hot. She would rather be cold than hot just like her Momma. A few minutes ago she was screaming at the top of her lungs, and I tried to give her "wub", rubbed her head, talked to her all while cooking dinner and nothing was working. When Josh picked her up he said he thinks she's hot so we stripped her down and that's exactly what it was. The minute the pants came off she was just fine and smiling.
She is the sweetest and happiest baby ever. She's always smiling and she listens intently to our every word. This has been such a long road to getting her home but I would go through every day again just to have her here.