Saturday, December 28, 2013

8 Months!


Stats:  19.5 lbs.  No clue how long she is.  I'll know officially at her 9 month appointment.


Milestones:  Cruising around like there's no tomorrow.  Avery has also started eating more and more solid food.  She tried her first bites of mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and wasn't really a fan....she'll learn....eventually.

Her top 2 teeth have finally broken through.  Finally.


Behavior:  Still a goober and I love it.  She's a comedian at heart, I'm convinced.  I've repeatedly heard her laughing at herself.


Sleep:  We went back to normal and then she started cutting her top 2 teeth and regularity went flying out the window.  How long does it take for all their teeth to come in?  I'm ready to have my good sleeper back.



Clothes:  9 month everything.


Likes:  Exploring, standing up, reading books, bath time in her big girl rubber ducky tub, school, Ellie, and Sophie the Giraffe.



Dislikes: Staying still, getting into her car seat, getting dressed (it's like trying to lasso a cat.), riding in her car seat, being told "no".


Favorite Moments: First Thanksgiving, first taste of mashed potatoes, gaining independence, wearing shoes (!), increasing interactiveness.



Most Challenging:  Sleep regression, teething, ....gaining independence (it's a double edged sword, really).



Looking Forward To:  First Christmas at GiGi and Granddad's house!


Sunday, December 15, 2013

7 months!


Stats:  Around 19lbs and somewhere in the neighborhood of 26 inches long.  No doctor's appointments this month (can I get a hallelujah) so no official weight/length.

Milestones:  We're now crawling AND pulling up.  Oh- let's not forget walking while holding onto momma or dada.  The speech therapist in me is super proud of the variegated babbling happening since around the 7.5 month mark.  This kid is on the fast track.  Slow up sister.

Still no top teeth.  We've been "expecting" them for almost a month now.  Hopefully soon.


Behavior:  Avery is a ham.  A Christmas ham.  She cheeses it up when a camera is brought out, she laughs at herself, she mocks us laughing at her, and she'll do just about anything to get someone to smile at her.  She's continued with the displeasure scream/whine too.  Avery is super friendly and has yet to meet a stranger.


Sleep:  We went through some sleep regression over the last month, however, she's almost back on track.  Her internal clock is forever messed up because of daylight savings.  What used to be acceptable (6am) as a wake up time has morphed into a "begin to stir" at 4:45, up ready to go by 5:15 type of behavior.  Yeah.  Not happy.  We've started keeping her up a little bit later thinking that would adjust everything, but no.  We're still the earliest of birds..


Clothes:  9 month everything.


Likes:  Exploring, standing up, reading books, bath time in her big girl rubber ducky tub, school, and Sophie the Giraffe.


Dislikes: Staying still, getting into her car seat, getting dressed (it's like trying to lasso a cat.)


Favorite Moments: Reaching a ton of milestones, going to a football game, and celebrating dada's birthday, and our first Halloween!


Most Challenging:  Sleep regression.


Looking Forward To:  First Thanksgiving and growing!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Trick or Treat!

Avery was the cutest little pumpkin I've ever seen for Halloween....

...I mean really.  

Avery's First Pumpkin Patch!


Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Avery's First (of many) Baylor Homecoming!

1. At the parade!  Avery loved the big inflatable bear.  Like loved it enough I'm looking into getting one for her room.  
2. Family picture at the parade!  Don't let her smirk fool you...she was having a great time.
3.  Decked out in Baylor gear!  Her bow was seriously larger than her.
4.  Taking a break from the cold wind in the library where her momma worked all through college.  

1.  Brunch with Aunt Staci and Uncle Chris!  Right before this picture she took her bow off her head and threw it across the room.
2.  Obligatory momma/dada picture in the mirrored ceiling of the Texas Collection elevator.
3.  Tailgating!
4.  Not a fan of the cold wind.  Not.a.fan.

1.  Yay for football!  She was THE hit in our section.  Everyone wanted to see her dress (courtesy of Aunt Staci [online here...].
2.  Someone loved people watching during the game!  
3.  Snuggling with dada during halftime.  
4.  Momma and Aunt Staci ran into Holly Tucker from the Voice in the concourse of the stadium!  

We had such a blast this past weekend.  It was much MUCH needed "break from the real world" from the previous week.  Now we can tell Avery that she was at the very last homecoming game at Floyd Casey Stadium!  Next year...bigger and better things at the new Baylor Stadium!



Sunday, October 20, 2013

Can You Hear Me Now?

Last Tuesday Avery (hopefully) completed her journey through ear infection land with the placement of tubes.  I thought I would be more anxious about the tubes than I was.  I think that Jacob and I had reached a point of "anything is better than this" in regards to her constant ear infections and crankiness.  Also....we've had enough of antibiotic diapers.  ....you fellow mommas know exactly what I'm talking about.

Our arrival time at the surgery center was 6am and we were there with 10 minutes to spare.  Avery was in a good mood all morning even after having to wake up about 30 minutes earlier than normal.  Even though she's an early riser, she's not a fan of getting up earlier than 5am.  Sorry sister...new ears are waiting for you.

We couldn't give her any formula that morning and could only give her Pedialyte.  She totally knew it wasn't the norm.  Luckily, by the time she finished the bottle in the car, we were at the surgery center and there were people to watch.  Avery is a people watcher at heart....just like her momma.

Getting vitals on a squirmy 6 month old is comical.  The nurse eventually just gave up and said, "As much as you're moving and laughing, I think you're converting enough oxygen to be within normal range."  I agreed and decided to let Avery roll around and play in the hospital crib while we waited for the doctor to come by.

Oh, did I mention tube day was Jacob's birthday too?  Happy birthday- let's get tubes.  :)

Dr. Clark came by and went over the procedure with us.  She said it would take about 15 minutes.  I'm not sure why I translated that to 15 minutes per ear so a grand total surgery time of 30 minutes.  That's not what she meant at all.  She meant 15 minutes start to finish.  Done.

After they took Avery back to the OR, I decided to stretch my legs and go to the bathroom.  I stopped in the waiting room where one of my many "Austin Mommas", Kariss, had come to sit with us.  I told her that they had taken Avery back.  We chatted briefly about getting breakfast after surgery.  I went to the restroom, waved at Kariss as I walked back through the waiting room and then made my way back into the recovery section of the surgery center.  Jacob had been waiting in the room the whole time and when I got back, he said, "The doctor just came in and said everything went well.  They'll have Avery back in a minute."  Wait.  Hold your roll sir.  What?  Done?  They just took her like 3 minutes ago.  Well, it had been 11 in fact.  For some reason I envisioned one of those people doing cattle roping for a time and they clap their hands together and raise them above their head to call for time to stop.  I'm not sure why I pictured Dr. Clark doing that, but it totally popped into my mind.

Avery was cranky when she got back to us, probably because she remember the Pedialyte lie we attempted to pass off as formula.  We gave her a bottle and she calmed down quickly.  When we got home, she slept for almost 3 hours.  She never does that.  Ever.  ....except at night.  I digress.

By that evening, she was "talking" and making more sounds than Jacob or I have ever heard her say before.  The next morning she had a clear-as-a-bell moment of screaming "momma" at me when I took something away from her.  I was so impressed I gave her back the tube of Butt Paste she was trying to eat.  :)  We are believers in ear tubes.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

6 Months!


Stats: 25.75 inches long; 17.5lbs



Milestones:  Someone is a sitter!  She literally started sitting up the night of her infamous ER visit.  She's been getting better and better at it each day.  We are literally days away from crawling.  Like hours.  Minutes.  Seconds.  She's gotten the opposite hand/knee movement down in isolation, she's just got to put the 2 together and BAM! we've got movement.

Avery is doing well with her "big girl food".  This kids looves sweet potatoes like they're going to stop making them yesterday.  She definitely prefers vegetables over fruits.  Go figure.

This month Avery became the proud owner of 2 bottom teeth.  Poor kiddo didn't know what hit her during teething.  Hopefully the rest of her teeth will come in easier.....I'm assuming they won't.



Behavior: We've entered the realm of "I'm really mad that you took that away from me, now I think I'll scream".  Case-in-point: We were getting our Christmas card pictures made and I was wearing a really fantastic necklace.  Avery figured this obviously had to taste as good as it looked therefore she needed to eat it.  I took the necklace away from her and you would have thought I told her that Disney World was closing forever.  She screamed and cried and threw herself onto my should in disbelief of such actions towards her.  Drama.  The kid is drama and I love it.  :)

Catching up on her email.


Sleep:  Avery graduated from her rock-n-play back to full time crib sleep after we woke up to her attempting to pull herself out of it at night.  She's got muscles...let me tell you.  So far so good.  It's funny to watch her via video monitor at night.  She'll start at one end of the bed and squiggle and squirm her way to the complete other side of the bed within minutes.  She still wakes herself up talking or singing.  I like to think she's talking to her stuffed animals about what she dreamed about.  She has great conversations with those guys.  Oh to be a fly on that wall.

Being a princess and traveling is realllly hard work.  Naps on GiGi are are must.


Clothes: She's leaving 6 month old clothes land just about as quick as she got into it.  Some of her 6 month stuff is getting small.  I'm dying a little on the inside about it.  Just stay little please.



Likes:  Still loving school, she'll drop whatever she's playing with when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on, attempting to crawl, Ellie, bath time has a whole new allure now that she can sit up and splash around without falling over.

(They have a mutual love and it's awesome.)


Dislikes: Staying still.



Favorite Moments: First trip to Louisiana, first plane ride, pooping and laughing at 20,000 ft in the air (more on that here...), meeting her Great Aunt Darleen and second cousin Morgan, going to DFW to see DeDe, Memaw, Pops, Gigi, and Granddady!

Visiting her DeDe.

Most Challenging:  Still the ear infections.  She's scheduled for tubes tomorrow.  I'll be updating as soon as I get a chance to.  She's on her 5th double ear infection since August.  The pediatric ENT told us that the basic criterion for tubes is 4 infections in a 6 month period.....Avery has had 5 in a 2.5 month period.  Looks like we've got an over-achiever on our hands.


Looking Forward To:  First Halloween!  Dada's birthday, first Baylor homecoming (bonfire, parade, football game, you name it- we're doing it.), and crawling!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Avery's Weekend of Firsts!

This past weekend, Jacob and I flew with Avery to Louisiana for her first trip out of the state!  She did so well with flying, I was very very impressed.  Our doctor recommended that she be taking a bottle as we took off and landed to help keep her ears nice and popping.  We did just that and she had no problem at all.  We are so thankful.  Avery did great on the flight, her momma did not.  There's nothing like sitting sideways in a seat, changing a blowout diaper, and going through turbulence.  I was a goner.  There was no saving me at that point.  I laid down across three chair in the Houston airport and tried to remain my normal shade of pale...my dad said I had a green tinge to me.  Yikes.  

While in Louisiana, Avery got to meet her Great-Aunt Darleen, second cousin Morgan, Great Great-Aunt Mary Lou, and Great Great-Aunt Faye.  Not to mention, her Gigi, Granddad, and Uncle Jeremy.  I don't think her feet hit the ground until more than 24 hours after we got there.  She was passed around and loved on continuously.

While we were there, we had pictures made of Avery in a beautiful white dress my MeMe made around 18 years ago for my cousin Morgan to have her picture made in it.  Aunt Darleen and I thought it would be special to have Avery's picture made in the same dress as she's the first great-granddaughter on this side of the family.  So, without further ado, here's just a sampling of the white dress pictures....








We also had our Christmas Card pictures made while we were there....but I'm not showing you those.  I need you to be surprised when you get them in the mail.  :)






Monday, September 23, 2013

First trip to the ER!


As quickly as Avery was reaching milestones, this little epic event came a little too soon in my opinion.  Last Wednesday morning I noticed that Avery started a barking cough.  (Croup exposed momma's know exactly what I'm talking about.)  I called and got her into her pediatrician later that morning, and, just as I had suspected, we were diagnosed with croup.  No more school for little miss the rest of the week.  Her doctor started her on a steroid to help with the inflammation in her throat.  I figured we caught it early enough that we dodged the worse of it.  I was wrong.  The rest of Wednesday was spent keeping a cranky baby happy.  We took 48943523485486 walks around the neighborhood.  Yes, exactly that many.

Wednesday night I went on to choir practice at church.  Avery seemingly felt better and even accompanied me to praise team rehearsal before Jacob came by the church and got her on his was home from work.  She was all smiles when she left me around 6:30.  Jacob said that she cried the  whole way home and stayed upset until she went to sleep.

Thursday morning rolls around and Jacob gets up and out of the house early for a meeting (early like 5:45) at the church that starts at 6:15.  I woke up right as he was leaving and checked on Avery via the video monitor and all seemed fine.  Avery is a morning person if there ever was one.  I'm not sure who she gets it from because I'm definitely not.  When she wasn't awake and talking to herself like usual by 6:30, I made a quick bottle and then went upstairs to wake her up.  Cue the scariest 15 minutes of my life thus far....

She was roasting when I picked her up.  She wouldn't hold her head up.  I brought her downstairs and took her pajamas off of her hoping that would cool her off.  She still hasn't opened her eyes for more than a few seconds.  I noticed her legs were turning purple.  I counted her respirations per minute and got about 75.  She was panting.  She still hasn't opened her eyes.  I held her out in front of me and began shouting her name at her.  Nothing.  Limp in my arms.  I texted Jacob something along the lines of her feet were purple and I couldn't get her to wake up.  I had already decided in my mind that I was taking into the ER but it was confirmed for me when Jacob called me back and said he was meeting us there.  My fight/flight response kicked in in a major way.  I had Avery in her carseat and walking out of the door within seconds.  The only reason I remembered to grab shoes was only because Ellie followed us to the front door and sat down next to them.  Smart dog.

We can see the hospital from our backyard so it's already a short distance, but going 85mph through our neighborhood and on University made the normally 3 minute drive closer to 30 seconds.  I had my flashers on and "momma on a mission" was not stopping...for anyone....even police.  They could just follow me to the ER and give me a ticket there.  No problem.

I made it inside with her still in the carseat and the nurse in the triage (whom I know) asked what was wrong.  The only thing that would come out of my mouth was "I can't keep her awake".  She took her from me still in the carseat and walked calmly...but briskly...back to a room.  Before I knew it, 3 more nurses and the doctor were in the room with us.  They were hooking Avery up to monitors, checking her temperate, and putting oxygen on her.  She was so out of it the oxygen mask didn't even phase her.  She could have cared less about that thing on her face.  Her temperature was 103.7, heart rate 235, oxygen level 85%.  Not stellar stats.  

Jacob made it there at some point, I lost all track of time honestly.  The doctor's main concern was her high heart rate.  They did a lot of things to try and get her heart rate down....even dunking her face in a bucket of ice water.  Yes, you read that correctly.  They dunked her in ice water.  The doctor explained that the shock of the ice water should....SHOULD....pause her heart long enough for it to re-start at a normal rhythm.  Well, I would love to report that it worked, but it didn't.  Then, we figured her fever may be influencing her heart rate.  They had given her Tylenol right after we had gotten there but it wasn't working.  Next was the Motrin.  The Motrin did work.  Her fever started coming down and so did the heart rate.  



6 hours after the ordeal started, we were heading home.  Severe croup was the diagnosis we walked out with.  I'll be ok if she never gets croup again.  Ever.  One time was enough for this family.

.....and to top it all off,  Avery decides Thursday night is a fantastic night to start sitting up by herself.  Crazy kiddo.  




Saturday, September 14, 2013

5 Months!


Stats: 24.75 inches long; 15lb, 13oz;



Milestones:  Avery is a log rolling machine!  We put her on her back and she immediately flips over to her tummy.  Just in the last few days she has begun to prop herself up for extended periods of time to play on her tummy.  Guess she likes tummy time now.  We're ok with that.  We've been waiting on the 2 illusive bottom teeth to make their appearance since her 4 month birthday.  I can see them just about to break through.  Guess we'll wait some more.




Behavior: This kid is hilarious.  Avery loves to make faces and laugh.  Her personality is definitely shining through more and more.  She loves to let us know that she loves/hates things.  She's started giving "the look" when she's less than impressed and it's hard to just not sit and laugh.



Sleep:  We're back to normal for the most part on sleep.  Avery continues to start her routine around 7 (sometimes earlier if we've reached melt down mode) and is asleep in her crib/rock-n-play by 8.  We've not been able to consistently sleep her in her crib secondary to the consistent ear infections and congestion.  She still wakes up anywhere between 5-6am....usually talking or singing to herself.



Clothes: All of her 3 month clothes are officially pack away.  :(  I'm not sure why that makes me so sad, maybe it's because she had so many stinking cute 3 month outfits, or it's a reality check that she's growing up and will never be that little again.  6 month clothes are the norm now.  I picked up some of her 6 month footed pajamas and said, "These will be way too long for her."  Nope.  They were perfect.



Likes:  Talking, her lovie, school, shopping at Target, bath time, Ellie, her links toys, Sophie the giraffe, tummy time, grabbing people's hair (and laughing about it), FaceTime, and books.
 




Dislikes: Peaches, pears, and bananas.  Go figure.  Oh- and ear infections.  Everyone dislikes ear infections.


Favorite Moments: Mastering rolling over, having "conversations" with Momma and Dada, Mema and Pops coming for a very overdue visit, visiting momma for lunch a lot at the hospital, Uncle Jeremy and his girlfriend Valerie coming for a visit.



Most Challenging:  Ear infections.  I hoped she wouldn't have this issue, but alas, she does.  We've had one consistent and resistant to antibiotics ear infection for a solid month.  We are on our third round of antibiotics with another check in 2 weeks.  Our doctor says that we will be referred to a pediatric ENT in a couple of weeks to get their opinion.  I see tubes in her future unfortunately, but, I had them and so did Jacob.  I would like to think we turned out pretty ok.  :)  The one thing that has surprised me is how well she's tolerated the infections.  There have only been a handful of days out of the past month that she was miserable enough to act miserable.  Thank you Lord for a happy baby with a high pain tolerance.

(Baby's first gun show)



Looking Forward To:  Our first airplane ride to Louisiana, getting her picture made in the dress my grandmother made, clearing up these ear infections!

(Avery was famous this past month.  Her picture was selected to be "Cuteness of the Week" by a blog I follow.)


Saturday, August 10, 2013

4 Months!

(Pardon the drool mark on her shirt....she's a faucet these days.)


Stats: 23.5 inches long; 14lb 8oz; 41cm head circumference.  She's truly a Terkelsen with head measurements like that, according to Jacob. :)



Milestones:  Avery rolled over!  It's been hard to get her to do it on command, but she's getting there.  She has also learned to prop herself up on her elbows during tummy time.  She's also brought her hands to mid-line and puts EVERYthing in her mouth.  Everything.  Toy?  In her mouth.  Fingers?  In her mouth.  Mom's hand?  In her mouth.  Ellie? In her mou...just kidding.  She hasn't mastered wrangling Ellie yet.  Avery is grabbing everything in sight which has been fun during play time.  She loves to help "turn" the pages in books.




Behavior: We still haven't found our feet, but she'll get there.  Avery loves to be held and "talk" to people.  She learned to "talk" last weekend while Gigi and Graddad were here for a visit.  She literally has woken herself up every morning since then just chatting away.  Her little personality is starting to show more and more as well.  She loves to be entertained and loves to entertain.



Sleep:  We went through some sleep changes this past month.  When Avery learned to roll over, our swaddling days were done.  :(  Upon the advice of my cousin Lauren, we started putting Avery in footy pajamas (side note, how stinkin cute are those...I mean really.) and laying her in the crib hoping she wouldn't notice she wasn't swaddled anymore.  Well, she actually surprised us in how well she slept.  There were a couple of nights that she woke herself up around 4 but was able to go back to sleep with a little reassurance from us.


Clothes: Still in 3 month sized clothes.  Some of her onesies could probably stand to be 6 month sized but I'm not ready to make that leap yet.  I packed away all of her newborn sized clothes with the exception of a couple pairs of leggings.  Her waist is so tiny that 3 month sized pants fall right off of her.



Likes:  Talking, her lovie, school, shopping at Target, bath time, Ellie, her links toys, and books.  This kid loves her some books.



Dislikes: Still not digging tummy time.



Favorite Moments: Learning to "talk", rolling over, seeing that sweet smiling face every morning.




Most Challenging:  Reflux is still with us.  We changed pediatricians (that's worth a whole other blog post, I'll spare you that, though) and we are so pleased with our new Dr.  We've upped her dosage of medicine and have really seen improvement.  Thank goodness.  Hopefully we are on the downhill slide of this reflux nightmare.



Looking Forward To:  Seeing more of her little personality coming through!  We've also booked our first airplane ride for the first of October to Louisiana!


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...