MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We were decorating the tree late in December this year and Avery found the perfect box to play in! She asked Santa for extenion cords, wrapping paper tubes, empty boxes, paper, phone cords, and anything otherwise dangerous! HA! She gets into lots these days! There is LOTS going on here these days.... Avery and the kids all had a great Christmas! We love all the festivities, religious traditions, and especially the time spent with Family. We have a BIG celebration on Christmas eve with the Hynes'- 56 people and counting! It is the highlight of our Christmas! The kids look forward to how dressy it is, the nummy food, all the fun and laughter. Santa shows up and this year the late night entertainment was Karaoke. Fun was had by all...

This one is too funny for words... Even Avery has a funny face. The only one smiling is Gracie Kate! At least no one is screaming in this photo... I won't mention any names EJH!
The Little guys is cousin Joey, son to my brother Jamey and his wife Erin, Middle guy is Ethan and he is the son to my next in line brother Steve and his wife Jaimee, and Little Addison who is Avery's playmate belongs to my brother Robbie and his wife Nicole. Nana and Papa went from 4 grandkids to 7 in one year!

This was taken around Thanksgiving time! Just love it of both of them. I did a quick shoot with all the cousins- hilarious to get 7 kids ages 8 and under to all look and be happy!

10 months... where does the time go.. Tonight I was rocking you and you filled up my arms. i remember rocking you the day we brought you home and you were so so tiny... You were so tiny for so long too. Now you are a chunker. 17 lbs at least. You are learning lots and lots of things. You wave bye bye, clap your hands to " when your happy and you know it" you say Dada and look for his picture on the wall when I ask you to say his name. Last night in your room I told you daddy was going to be coming home soon and to please let him hold you. You jumped up and looked around the room.. I think you were looking to see where his picture might me. It was so cute. Your association with Daddy is a picture hanging on the wall. That is a little sad to me, but also so precious. The kids all carry you around and you love it.. I guess mom had gotten a little laxed in these later months.. Today you were in a fashion show walking the runway with the girls. GK always plays a game with you where she sets up pillows and you stand next to the ottoman and then you helps you fall into the pillows. You love it!

Today for the first time you repeated baba.. I have been working with you on this even moving your mouth for you and TODAY you said it... in frustration b/c I wasn't getting your baba fast enough. It was a good sound, but was of course very nasally.. You are beginning to cruise around furniture and getting more daring on walking around the cupboards in the kitchen. You love to bang them open and shut. You hate getting dressed and I need to put your diaper on while you are standing, I cannot even hold you down. You are ready for bed at 7pm and get really hyper and crazy when we are out and you are not in your crib..... Yes, finally consistently sleeping through the night.....
You're eating lots of things now... WE threw out that baby mush that made you miserable and now you eat : Cheerios, puffs, green beans, bread, yogurt melts, string cheese smashed up, french fries, crackers cut into small pieces. Anything that you can mash in your gums and then swallow. I am working on getting my milk supply up.. I just don't want to give up just yet.... I have been battling complications of being on antibiotics that have resulted in difficulty pumping.., but with only 2 months to go I'd love to make it to surgery....... I am just not sure that will be possible.... Below are a few pictures in Avery's room with mom practicing with her new lens.

Outside for a stroll! Pretty in Pink!!! Poiled poiled is what we call you! Grammy and Grandpa bought you this stroller! You are just learning the word No... we also say Ta Ta when we mean no- our friends in Canada taught us this! Up until now when we'd tell you no touching or ta ta you'd just laugh at us... no you are finally getting it! You have also found a new affection for the fireplace b/c you can see your reflection in it and also find me in it too. I need to keep you away from the TV stand b/c it has glass in it and I am afraid you'll crash your head into it. You are getting lots of bottles a day and I put cereal in several of them... you also are eating food. I just decided it won't kill you so lets just try. Things that don't crumble are best. Cheerios work great, those puffs from Gerber, toast, noodles, I even gave you a small piece of lunch meat. We are taking this food stuff slow... but finally we can put something on your tray at meal time. It makes you VERY happy. You are also drinking out of a big girl cut. you sip and everything. sometimes it all run out of your mouth and other it comes out the nose, but I think you actually are drinking it too. You are still getting breast milk, but sadly not as much as mom would like... I am hoping to make it to my goal of one year and after your next surgery........ Just wish you'd take all the stuff in the freezer, I'd quit pumping now! I'd be done now if it weren't for the spending surgery in Jan... I really want you to have all those antibodies while in the hospital.

It's been a beautiful fall here and a long one for once! It's November and it's just begun to be cold- what a treat.

Avery.. where has the time gone.... Your Dad is still gone in training for his work. We are surviving!!! HA- We are doing really well actually, just have a few crazy nights a week. The Big kids have learned to scatter when mom blows her top. You just laugh! You are saying da da da, and look to Daddy's picture every time we ask you "Where's Daddy" So then we go and kiss the pictures. The pictures all have slobber smudges on them. If I tell you I love you Ava- You immediately give me lots of kisses and still you hug me every time I get you up from nap. You are very affectionate... probably b/c we have showered you with nothing buy affection since the day you were born. When I rock you at night I tell you "take that stinky binki out so mama can give you kisses" then you grab the bink and pluck it out so I can kiss, then you plot it back in. Sometimes you put it in my mouth! In these pictures you love to play near mom so you are always in the kitchen. I give you all the Tupperware and other non toy items to play with. You love them best! You also like to play with my drapes. I have to pin them up for fear you'll putt them down on top of you! You have learned to stand at the patio window and pound, you love to splash on command in the tub. We still use the dish pan in the sink, but have occasionally go to the big tub. As you pull up on everything you have taken some spills and even smacked your lip, but all is well. You never like being far from mom. You always play near me.. or cry out for mom to find you!

Avery in Mom's baby dress. This is the dress I had my picture taken in at 6 months and so did Maddie and Gracie Kate.... This is almost the exact same pose. I love stuff like this.. all the sentimental feelings it hold. We too have saved a few outfits from the girls so that Avery can also get her photo done in them. Well, Things are going smoothly... at the moment. A friend pointed out that all these crazy days will feel like a lifetime ago in just a few short years and I will look back fondly upon all the nuttiness a full house brings. It's so true.... and when it gets crazy I often remind myself about how many years ago I would dream about how I wanted all this!! Before kids, when we were dual income no kids people- we would dream about what our life would be like running a household filled with kids. Okay maybe it was a bit more fantasy than reality, but I have to honestly say I got everything I wanted and more.... I am thrilled to be the mother of 4 living where I am today and doing all things we are doing. I am thankful and blessed to have a supportive husband who works his butt off so that we can carry out our dreams...... Thanks Honey... Avery you are very lucky to have the daddy that you do!!!!


Avery is still jabbering away. I love it! She will only repeat things when she is in her jabber mood. Today we went to the local grocery store and then we shopped a few other stores picking up pizza for dinner and all the way she'd repeat what I asked her- very fun!
When we ask her if she has a bad cough she gives a little cough, ( we've taught all our kids to do this trick) she just learned to wave bye bye, but of course doesn't do this on command every time, but today she waved bye bye to a lady in the store. She is crawling, but is still cautious & has not discovered the steps yet and will still call me to come get her. She will not venture around to find me! Today as I was pumping she was in the pack and play next to me and tried to stand up. She almost had it, but fell. She laughed. She is such a giggler! She will giggle HAHA anytime she thinks she is funny, She always give a giggle when we get home after being gone all day.. as almost to say yea- we are home! At night she is still be big Belly laughter. I need to get a smaller camera so I can video this and put it on the blog! The kids never leave her alone.... poor thing! She knows she is loved!!!!

Photo shoot at Nana & Papa's

Mom dressed the girls up for nothing.. Fun to play in fancy clothes even when there is no where to go. I never really save the good clothes for special days... Why have pretty clothes them if you can't wear them!

spoiled with attention!

It's official! 8 months old and her first word!

Avery's first word is Mama! She has been kind of saying the sounds for a while, but now when you ask her to say it she repeats! Yeah! She has even done it in the company of others so she hasn't made me look like a liar.. You know when your child has learned something new & cute and does it all the time at home, but when you go somewhere and ask your child to do it they just look at you like they have no idea what you are talking about! HA!

Avery, Mommy is so excited you are on target for speech sounds so far! What a great Birthday present to Mommy! THANK YOU!

I do need to call EI to get an evaluation so that all paperwork is in place for real speech after surgery... I know from experience that it is imperative to get help sooner than later. Kids brains are wired like a computer and if they go years learning all the sounds incorrectly it takes years to undo and rewire the brain to function properly when hearing language!

Well Ava it's been an exciting couple of weeks.. hmmm lets see. Madeline had her first bee sting and it was a bad one so now we need to carry epipens with us, Hayden got large fishing lure in the back of his head and his first trip to the ER, Gum in the dryer... all over the dryer, Gigi got her fingers smashed in the hinge of the front door- no broken bones, mom got a flat tire thanks to a nail, your left ear is infected so we use drops and mom has strep again.... We survived!

Dad has been gone now for 1 month.. we are 1/4 of the way done.. We cannot wait until December 10th.

Funny things you do at 8 Months!!!!! You thrash around your crib... literally I hear you bouncing around in there.. one day you got up with a red mark on your forehead. You like to pinch and scratch things especially faces. You also think it's a game and do not get scared or upset and scary mommy faces. You think it's one big game. I tried to teach you "nice touches", but the minute you get your hands free you go right for my face! Naughty baby!

We think you say na na na nam for your bottle. We also think you know you are saying Hi, but not sure yet! You rock on all fours in the middle of the night when you want to eat... yes you are still getting up on occasion. Still love laurie burkner a lot. Not interested in any other shows yet.. You are scooting, but not officially crawling yet.. any day now!

School has begun and summer is coming to an end. All went well the first week of school. The kids missed Avery and she missed them too. Of course we were up at school helping out two days- Avery sat in her front pack both days and even fell asleep in that noisy lunchroom. Gracie Kate got lost b/c she was chatting with some big kids she knew. I noticed she was missing after I saw her teacher counting the kids over and over... I just knew it was her. Sure enough she comes running across the lunchroom into my arms balling. I am glad I was there. Gracie loves hot lunch.. you'd think it was good or something, but she loves it... I know she eats dessert first- such a sweet tooth. Maddie loves her class and has lots of her friends in her homeroom. Hayden states he as the nicest teacher this year. When I asked why he said b/c she takes us outside for extra recess! So far I have not had to carry him to the bus stop and demand he get on the bus. What a difference a year makes! My little "big"kids are growing up!!! Where did the time go?

Looking Good!

Avery looks really good these days, but you'll find her almost always with a runny nose.

She constantly feels the need to flush out any fluid lurking in her nasal cavity... I would too if I were her. She is still only eating baby food at night- Most nights it goes pretty good and she is letting me use the syringe again. This gets the food a little past the opening by her nose. She loves to eat, but will stop if it gets too annoying. I must wipe her nose 100 times a day... well not really, but it feels like it. I am careful not to wipe too much and I prefer to be the only one who does so. I usually ask people not to wipe her themselves or I remind them to do it gently. I usually use cotton balls- wet or dry. I also use her soft blankets as burp rags and then wash them daily. Occasionally she will develop a little pimple like bump. Her surgeon says this sometimes happens as the internal stitches are still dissolving. This bump comes and goes. I am to keep it clean with peroxide. We think her nose looks better today than it did right after surgery- more symmetrical. We know over time she will change as she grows.
I do pray for her to have a mini miracle and to have the best ever lip repair and no noticeable speech issues. I also pray that she has some extraordinary talent or gift that shines out like a beacon in the night.. that phrase sounds silly, but it's how I feel. I would love for her someday to stand out to her friends for reasons other than her unique look! Everybody has at least one of these talents or gifts.... so it will be our job as her parents to help her discover it and help her make it happen. This is true for all our children, every body's child, but for Avery it just seems so much more essential!

Good things coming your way Ava Baby!

Avery got to meet her Great Granparents in Iowa this summer- along with her only Aunt and Uncle and 3 cousins on her Dad's side. We also have lots of 2nd and 3rd cousins whom we always get to see too. We had lots of old fashioned meals made by grandma including home made lemon meringue and peach pies, meatloaf & potatoes are among some of the crowds favorites. Our kids look forward to the late night snacks and staying up late in the hotel. We watched the Olympics this time which made for even later nights! It was a fun filled weekend- great to see everyone again. Hope we get to do it next year!!!!

All sides of Avery! She is really getting a fun personality now! Almost crawling, starting to babble more and makes the sound Na and Ma a lot now. Starts to squeal and jump when we put on Laurie Berkner band and when we sing it she looks at the TV as if she doesn't know we are singing it... or she is just that smart to put it together. Probably so- she is my daughter after all :O)! Is now liking her highchair and also likes car rides better now too. I think this is one of my favorite ages. She has a temper, especially when she is hungry from bed and you don't get the bottle in her mouth fast enough. She clings to the corners of her mattress or hangs on to her monkey when she goes to sleep. Avery also entertains herself quite a bit which is wonderful. Never did I think our fussy buns would ever be this much fun or come this far. Doing great Ava- keep it up.

Avery's 7.5 month photo shoot. This was shot after she had all but quit on me. Maddie took her into her room to cool down for a bit. When she brought her back we quick placed the tutu on her and threw the petals at her. Gk and Madeline got her laughing. Good Job sissies! For more photo's go to www.MMLphotography.blogspot.com

Avery is going to be mobile soon! She is 7.5 months old! She does lots of rocking, scooters backwards, gets mad b/c she cannot get to her toys. She gets up on her feet to bear crawl, but cannot figure out that she needs to move her arms too! So much fun to watch!

Summer 2008 is coming to an end.. where did it go.. oh yeah....., surgeries, sickness, pumping and more pumping, eating ice cream cones & popsicles, playing playing and more playing.... learning new things, trips to Iowa and Denver.

More posts to follow soon!

My one and only turned 7!!!!!!

Celebrating Hayden's Big day by passing out root beer floats to his neighbor friends!

Happy Birthday Rudy! I always wanted a 7 year old boy and now I have one!

Avery is 7 Months!! She can officially roll over "the hard way"- from back to belly! She is doing really well with the exception of a few crabby crabby nights.. We find that too much caffeine that mom drinks makes for a crabby baby.. so much so that we almost started reflux medication again. Then it dawned on me again..... Coffee .. the culprit. I guess I thought b/c Avery had been doing so well that there were not limitations now! I was wrong! One coffee once and a while seems to be fine, but several days in a row can make Avery miserable even when she is getting some formula too! It must irritate her or trigger her reflux to begin again.. b/c she screams like she is in pain.. so sorry Avery... mom will watch it now until you are not longer getting mom's milk.

Babbling is still going well. She attempts to copy some sounds, but it's early for this anyways so we just practice it. When the Big kids are bored and or lingering around the kitchen I tell them to do speech with Ava!
Hmmm.. what else can we report! We had a Big family reunion- below is just the immediate family. Avery you are so lucky to have such a large and wonderful family!!! They are all behind you and ready to support you in any way!!! We love Big families! We head to Iowa next week for our annual trip to see Jeff's side. We are dreading the nearly 8 hour car ride with Little Miss Fussy Buns- she HATES the car.. Ugh! What will we do? Needless to say we are searching for more Laurie Burkner DVDs!
We are officially trying to get in to a routine of feeding Avery solids... Not needed for nutrition until they are over one year old, but it's good texture experience. I used to use a syringe to get the oatmeal down, but now Avery will not have that. Custard works the best and doesn't come up her nose!
Well, Avery- you are looking good..... Your nose seems to change daily, but it's really holding its shape.. and your scar is thin and looking good- so much so I am afraid to massage it. Dr. L said I could, but not necessary. Think I will wait until 6 weeks post op by the advice of a friend. Seems like a good plan. I see people do the double take at times wondering if there is something different, but sometimes I notice people not even noticing! I don't want you to ever notice either.. I know one day you will, but I hope you never feel different - I only hope you feel beautiful.. like I want all my children to feel! Love you Ava baby! Love Mama

Anyone can leave a comment now! I changed my settings so that everyone can leave a comment...

Speech News!!!!

I can hardly believe it. I just heard Avery utter the sounds of ma....ma...ma and La...La. These are the sound we have been working on since birth under the advisement of Speech Technicians from the hospital where Avery was born. Cleft children can often have a hard time making these sounds due to oral coordination, hearing problems, etc. We had tubes put in early to prevent hearing issues and have been doing what we call "speech lessons" with Avery several times a day- usual when we change diapers. I will also ask the kids to do speech with her too. She always has watched intently and made some motions to get her tongue in the correct place, but never a real sound coming out. Wow, I am shocked - Avery is actually making sounds that any kid her age would make. The next sounds we were instructed to work on are Dah Bah. Here are a few more pictures!

Two weeks post op-pictures!

Avery you're looking great! Here you are sitting like a big girl. Rolling over from back to tummy is what you are working on these days. You get mad when you cannot do it so you arch your back and lift your butt off the ground.

No More NO NO's!!!!

We met with Avery's Surgeon today and he gave the go ahead for taking off the No No's and to resume all regular activities like eating her baby food and playing on her tummy. Avery was just giddy when we took off the No No'and let her have free reign... well almost. Dr. L warned me that her scar will look worse before it gets better. I guess it will get red and we'll see more scar tissue peak about 6 weeks and then it will get much better after that. He also says I can begin massage on the scar with a vitamin E cream or pediatric Mederma. I'll have to research out there to see what all the other mom's have used. Her cleft side also is still a bit swollen or firm. This too will take about 7 weeks or so to go down. It's from all the muscle tissue that was corrected etc. Dr. L also said he thinks we right side of the lip will be fine once she uses her lips as she begins to make movements. Smiling, cooing, talking etc. Any movement to the lip will help straighten out that right side that gets tucked under at times.

I am not letting her dig in her mouth or rub her face on the bed etc. I did let her go to sleep in her belly which she loves. She slept her 3 hour nap and was a new baby when she woke. Back sleeping just doesn't do her justice- she wakes to easily that way. HOPEFULLY we can get back to normal around here. Avery cried and cried when I left this evening. I ducked out with the girls for some needed girl time and Avery wailed for Jeff almost the whole time. The minute I came home she gave me the " I'm mad at you cry" and then was fine!!! UGH! Seriously, this is crazy. All my babies have been very attached to me and anyone who knows me knows I don't mind, but Avery this is a little crazy!

Nighttime is still a mess for Avery. She wants to be up late even when I can see she is dead tired! She gets all reved up when I try to put her down. She looks to see if Gracie Kate will make her giggle- she is a night giggler- belly laughter. She loves to watch the kids do anything silly and then just laughs her head off. As soon as I sit down to rock her legs get kicking and she does some good back bending! Grammy can appreciate that! I am sure it's all due to everything she's been through the past two weeks. I think we'll need to work on a good bedtime routine.. yeah right it's summer :O)
Well, she's down for the night and hopefully won't get up in the night!

Things are looking up!:O)

No more crying baby...
No more strep.. :O)
Avery is doing well. Soon we'll be able to regain our normal routine and attend activities.

Avery- Ava Baby- back to her old tricks

Just a quick update and new pictures. Avery seems to be healing well. We had stitches out yesterday all is well. We go back on Monday for the post op talk. Avery screamed her head off for 3 straight hours last night. Finally fell asleep in mom's arms after standing and rocking her singing Moon Moon Moon- over and over and over! I think it was 1 am when we all got to sleep. Normally mom and dad could handle this just fine, except we both have a bad case of STREP- otherwise known as the virus from hell. We think we picked it up in the dirty hospital room Avery was assigned. It was a nice large room, but boy was is nasty. I took pictures of all the gross areas as more of a joke telling Jeff if we get sick we'll have proof.. HA!!!!

Well, I am not responding well to my meds a.k.a. Deathly Ill ..... in part b/c I went in on Sat. to a local minute clinic and they told me I didn't have strep and to go home and gargle. I begged and pleaded with them to give me meds b/c I was so ill and I had a baby at home who NEEDED me and I was her food source and who cannot possible be exposed to strep for days, but they wouldn't exercise any of their God given common sense and rambled off all the junk about keeping me safe from unnecessarily exposing me to needless antibiotics. Needless to say I rushed in early Monday morning b/c I became so ill. I did indeed have strep. Haven't had it in 15 years. All the big kids are farmed out to Great Aunt Mary and Gagas in hopes that they stay healthy. Now we just need to figure out why Avery will be cooing one minute and the next is screaming. We've been giving her a break from her No No's so maybe she's mad when we put them back on?? She also seems to have an itchy face...loves when
I rub all over her forehead... Allergic to some of the meds or stuff they taped to her face? This is just like last time... Great for 4 -5 days or so and then unruly for another week. God help us figure this out. Today Avery is not screaming, but is fussy. Now we need to watch her for signs of strep. We are taking her in to her pediatrician today!

Avery is looking good, I think she will have a much better scar this time. She didn't like those dissolving stitches from the adhesion last time- made her scar more raised. This time no dissolving were used on the outside. Our only real concern at this time is that the right side of her lip seems to disappear sometimes- like is gets folded under!

3 days post surgery

Avery is doing well just 3 days post -op- we just feel so happy for her. The No No's are okay this time- now we know how to use them properly. Avery is really swollen still on the right side (her left) her cheek is puffy. It's firm to the touch and a bit yellow. The only major issue we are dealing with is constipation/ gas, lack of appetite, and not being able to put her down! Pain seems to be managed pretty well, but we are switching to just the regular Tylenol so we'll see how she does. Sleeping with her is fine, but we wake all the time b/c she still moves quite a bit and tries to itch. I want to capture a video of this b/c it is so funny to see her try to hard to get her arms to her face and one of us try to old her off. She's so strong. It seems to happen more at night. When this happens I usually clean her incision again.

For cleaning we need to use a cotton ball to get all the goop off the corners of her lips, we use sterile water solution and swabs first, then we use a hydrogen peroxide solution they gave us and dab it on the incision area and nose, then we put antibiotic ointment all over. We do this for a week and then we just do antibiotic ointment after that.
Stitches come out on Tuesday and we'll find out more about massage and scar creams then.
We'll post a better picture if we get one!

Video of Avery just before we left the hospital.

Avery had a good night last night. She slept a lot, never got up to eat, but again was up off and on for brief moments. Almost startled at times, but would go right back down. She has strider (croup like sound). She must have a swollen airway from the breathing tube. Her surgeon was not concerned. It seems to come on after she sleeps and gets better when she is awake.

More pix

Resting on Dad here... she is so full of fluid- she looks huge. Here is her cleft side.... looking good - swelling is starting to go down.
Leaving the hospital!