Favorite Pastime

 Here lately there's nothing Avery enjoys more than strolling her toys. She's not satisfied until every single toy is out of the bins. Once she's emptied a bin and has played with everything or at least licked, chewed, or threw it, she goes on to the next bin and does the exact same thing. After a while I put all the toys back in then she starts all over. It's a game to her and it keeps her occupied for long periods of time. It frees Mommy up to do things such as this blog post or eat breakfast :)

Sweet Summertime

 We are really enjoying our Summer. It was much anticipated so that we could finally get out of the house and not really have to worry about catching some sort of sickness. We've also had tons of fun just being home. We just recently got our new house all together and we're so glad to have more room and a huge yard.
Avery has just took off in her development to this Summer. She crawls everywhere, pulls up, while she's standing she'll let go of what she's holding onto for seconds at a time. She walks behind her walker, and she says so much. She says Mama, Dada and Daddy, hi, baby, bye, bubba (even though she doesn't have one! lol) I believe she's trying to say Nanann which is what my sister is called. She says Nan or nanana so my sister and I like to thing she's trying to say Nanann. She waves and shakes her head no. She's eating bits of food now instead of all pureed food. I could go on and on. She's getting so big and doing so wonderful. I'm such a proud Mama :)

She's having her first "popsicle"

I pureed mango and a bit of prune juice to make her popsicles

She ate every bit of it

Having some summer squash and zucchini from my Mom's garden

I had some too, it was delicious!

playing in her baby pool :)

1st Birthday

Long time no post. I'm back and have lots of things to post. I've actually started to write posts and got too emotional so I would just quit typing. This past month has been such an emotional roller coaster and so stressful. We moved, Josh had to have an MRI of his brain (normal results thank God), had Avery's birthday party, and the 1 year anniversary of losing Adison. I've just been a ball of emotions. All I know is that God won't give me more than I can handle, but I sure wish he didn't trust me so much.

While Avery's birthday was so exciting and lots of fun it was missing one beautiful little girl who also shares this special birthday. Adison is missed everyday but I couldn't get past the fact that she wasn't here to celebrate as well. I took it lots harder than I expected to. I still managed to enjoy Avery's birthday and her birthday party, I'm so glad about that. Anyway...moving on to happier things.

Avery's party was fun and she got to meet lots of people for the first time. She really didn't want anyone holding her and if she let them it was short lived. Everyone understood and was really good with her. She did really well and we didn't have a single meltdown so I would say it was an excellent 1st birthday party. So thankful to be able to celebrate this wonderful miracle God gave me. 

When her party was over and it was just Josh, Mom, Meg, Ethan, Avery and I we did a balloon release for Adison. Avery even helped :) It was so special and oddly therapeutic, it was just what I needed. This will be something we do every year for our Angel in Heaven.

This is Avery's 2nd outfit and she kept pulling the bow off! lol

smash cake

her cake/gift table and a poster I made with a picture at birth and every month

her 1st outfit (this pic refuses to be moved to the top not sure why)

Life Lately

A little update on our little family and our life lately. First of all we finally moved to our new house. We painted every room and it took forever! I'm so glad that's over and we're somewhat settled. We still have tons of stuff to unpack but we're in and that's all that matters. Avery has adjusted extremely well with the move which is a relief. I was worried about it but she doesn't mind one bit. She does get up once during the night now, she didn't do that at our other house. I just give her paci and she goes right back to sleep, so it's not a big deal.
Since my last post Avery has crawled! She's not a crawler, but she crawls on occasion and that is such a blessing. She does army crawl and roll everywhere. Milestones for any baby are exciting but for my little 25 week preemie to crawl at 8 months adjusted is amazing! God has blessed me not only with Avery but also for her to be doing so well. I'm so thankful for her and for her health. God is great!!
In other news, look at Avery's little ticker right above this post. (It shows her actual and adjusted age). Now that you've found that, look how close she is to 12 months! That's right folks, in 11 days I will have a 1 year old :) Ahhh it seems so crazy to type that. I really just can't believe it.
I'm a little ashamed to say I've not been planning her party like I should be. Not because I don't want to it's because we've been so busy moving. Now it's crunch time and I have SO much to do. The only things I've done is order her outfit, made a picture appointment, and made a list of everything I need. I guess that's a start but now I need to put my plans into motion.
Between now and then we go to Nashville for her follow up cardio appointment. Her stubborn PDA is still open a tiny bit. It's not causing her any problems whatsoever, but the Dr. says if it's not closed at this appointment then she'll have to have surgery. I pray it's closed! I'm super nervous about her appointment, if she tells me Avery has to have surgery I just might lose it :( She has been through so much, I just can't stand the thought of her having to go through surgery. Please keep her in your prayers. I know whatever happens God will get us through.
That's just a little rundown of what's been going on lately. I can't find the cord for my camera right now to upload pictures. As soon as I find it I will put a ton some on here ;)