Avery to Scale

Here is a picture of Avery next to a wipes container. It gives you a better idea of how squatty she is. She has eaten so much this weekend, must be a growth spurt or all the activity she has had. We visited our long time friends, the Skaja Family, and had a wonderful time. We went to Fort Snelling and visited Great Grandpa Hynes' grave site. What a neat experience for all the kids, especially Hayden. Then we headed over to Nana and Papa's house for an indoor picnic. It must be 45 degrees or so. Burr it's freezing here for end of May.

Avery is 4 1/2 months old!

Weight 11.5lbs 10%

Height 23 1/4 in 10-25%

Head 41 50%

Avery is doing very well. So well I can actually take her places, even multiple places and feeding and gas do not seem to be as much of a problem during the day. When dad has her at night and mom is out running an errand she seems to get gassy and is fussy for Dad. This frustrates Jeff b/c he has always taken care of the kids lots on his own even as small infants. This little one really only prefers mom. She is a funny and finicky baby. She rejects and breast milk that is not fresh. Fridge milk is okay, but any from the freezer - We call it our liquid gold stash, is not what she wants. Avery will eventually take it, but she makes is known she is not happy. She'll chomp on her bottle, then she'll pull away and try again etc. Eventually she will drink it all. She also is starting to fuss when anyone other than mom feeds her. I think we have a system down and we do out little bottle feeding routine all day and then when someone else tries and it's different she squawks. She even cried for my mom the last time she tried to feed her and she has always let my mom do everything with her. Avery, you cannot do this... She is your only babysitter... we need her!

Well, we anticipate a fun summer now that we have a relaxed, happy little butterball to tote around. I don't see too many trips to the beach this summer, but we have lots in store. We decided to take the summer off from sports with the exception of Hayden's baseball and swim lessons. We are going to take that money we would have spent on sports and put it towards other fun activities. We cannot wait to plan out our weeks. we are all looking forward to sleeping, lazy summer days, lunch at the park.
These last few photo's are from my photo shoot with Avery. A little hard to a shoot with an infant and no other adult there to assist. I'll have to do a few more with Jeff. Which reminds me, we really need a family photo. I don't think we have one photo of everybody together. That's crazy! Me, not having enough photos of the fam..... HA! Perhaps we can get one at uncle Rob's wedding in June.

G. K. and Avery!!!! Avery looks huge here, but she is smaller for her age. She is filling out though. At her 4 month appointment she was 11lbs only! She is in the 5-10 percentile for both weight and height and 25th for head. She is 23 inches long.... little shorty!

Avery is 4.5 months old! Where has the time gone! We did another photo shoot and she was so happy, but hard to get shots without her in motion. I'll post a few more and details about speech!

got oatmeal?

Avery had her first taste of cereal the other day.... From past experience with this babies take a few weeks to really like their cereal.. not this baby! She gulped it up like nothing, but it all came right up and out her nose! I think she ingested some! I haven't tried it since. I think I will try again and will give her some each night to start. She sneezes over and over so we'll have to play it by ear and see how much it bothers her. Technically I can wait until she is 6 months to begin solids, but when she turns 6 months she'll be going in for her 2nd surgery. Is it better to start cereal now and then take a break or should I wait until after that next surgery? Maybe our friends in Alabama will be able to help with this question since they are the only other family we know who has been through an adhesion and has had a surgery around 6 months.
Well Avery Cakes, we'll figure this one out together... You'll have to let me know how hungry you are. We'll give it a few nights to see if you tolerate it.

Avery in the kitchen with mom, Hayden and Gracie Kate. We are all taking turns getting her to laugh so we can show off her adorable chubby little face. Her smile warms our hearts! We just cannot resist this adorable chubby little face! Seriously, every time one of the kids walk past her she is, patted, kissed, tickled, or talked to- they all just love her so much! The exersauser is a new to Avery this week and she really likes it! She still loves to stand so this is perfect for her.

Avery is also having problems with her left ear... maybe this is the reason she is not sleeping through the night ...&.... getting up 3x a night. I called Dr. T's office to tell them about the breast milk leaking out her ear and also that I now see yucky green goop coming out too. Dr. T called me back himself... how many doctor's do that these days? He is awesome. Well, we have drops to put in 3x a day and I also need to clean out the goo... poor baby. when I press on her ear and clean with a Q tip ( dr. perscribed) stuff oozes out of that ear. Poor baby! It seems better each day now so I hope the drops continue to help!

Freedom..... Loving life!!!!

Avery enjoying a few new freedoms. The bottom right is Avery's cleft side. It looks great and so much better than before the adhesion. We wonder what the next surgery will bring!! Her nose is really taking shape. The part in the middle is almost straight now and her nostril is really holding it's shape so far. Baby gets crabby... baby gets naked- works every time. We just dug out the old mobile and she went nuts over it, cooing and screaming over it. Avery also enjoyed her first video - The Laurie Berkner Band. She watched the whole thing with big sis GK. This gave me some much needed clean up time in the kitchen. Soon I think Avery will be rolling over. She swings and rocks those little legs back and forth over and over.... She looks to me as if she were saying.. come on mom, can't you see I need help here!

Things are going pretty well here. Avery does still battle with gas which makes her a little like jeckel and hide. One moment Avery will be happy and predictable and the next hour she'll be in agony over gas bubbles. We are tempted to take her off her medication for reflux.. reasons being: 1) her fussiness never seemed to be in conjunction with her spit-up, 2) she spits up the least out of all of our babies 3) I have a hard time believing that breast milk could cause pain due to the fact that it is a bodily fluid.. PH is the same as spit. I have also had a suspicion that Milk is the culprit, and not true reflux. Anyone have any thoughts on this? leave a comment or email me.
We do have a new friend in Alabama whose daughter does have reflux and is breastfed only... She also has a cleft like Avery's.

Avery has been so happy lately I hate to rock the boat with any changes.