Doctor and Children's Museum

Avery went to the dr yesterday for her 4 month check up. She now weighs 6 lbs 14 oz (a gain of 1 whole lb in 2 weeks!) and is 18 1/2 inches long. She got 2 shots and 1 oral vaccine, and her heel was pricked for bloodwork. Once again the dr was pleased with her growth and I got a call today that bloodwork showed levels moving in the right directions so no change in her formula feedings and vitamins for now. We also got the ok to get rid of her home monitor, yay! Her next Dr appointment will be in a month and she goes to the NICU follow up clinic in a couple of weeks.

Caroline and I went to the Children's Museum last Saturday after Travis' plans for taking her to the Dixie Deer Classic were postponed. We had a great time, and she had fun Sunday too!

Just stuff

Avery is continuing to thrive at home. We loaded her in the stroller to enjoy the warm weather outside Sunday.
This is Caroline at supper the other night. When I sat down to eat, she very seriously told me that she had taken all the sausage off her pizza because she's alergic to them! Not sure where she heard that, or a lot of other things she says now that I think about it.

And her truck has been a bigger hit than I could've ever imagined. She and caitlin filled up the back of the truck with lots of stuff from our garage the other day to take on their "campout" in the cul de sac.

We've been working with caroline to get her sleeping in her bed all night all by herself again. She used to do this fine but got out of the habit back when I was in the hospital. Candy has been a good source of bribery, each time she sleeps in her bed all night she can pick out some candy to eat in the morning before breakfast. Worked like a charm the first few nights, then one night she announced her tummy hurt and she didn't want candy, she just wanted to sleep in our bed. Oh well, we're getting closer!

Visitors & truck

Avery continues to grow and thrive at home this week, she'll go back to the doctor next week and I'm looking forward to seeing how much she weighs. She has outgrown most of her preemie size clothes and is officially wearing newborn sizes now, although she can't keep pants on her tiny waist.
Caroline got a new used power wheels this week, and today was the perfect day for a ride. No pink Barbie mustang for her, it's a black Harley Davidson Ford truck :-)

We had a few out of town visitors this week. Uncle Greg came by for a visit after working in Wilmington yesterday. He got to hold Avery for his first time.

Grandma spent Monday night with us and is probably in no hurry to stay overnight again...no one slept well that night. Avery is doing better about sleeping at night now, but just not in her bassinet. Usually she'll sleep in the bouncy seat or swing, but she always sleeps best in someone's arms!

And Buzz Lightyear came for a visit too!!

We have also had some unwanted visitors in the form of days diarrhea for Caroline, a nasty cold for me, and the flu for Travis. Avery has avoided all of our bugs so far, we're praying she continues to do so. The rest of us seem to be on the mend, so here's to hoping for better health next week for us!

Welcome Home Avery!

After 100 days in the NICU, Avery finally came home! We are so excited and yet a little anxious at the same time. So far she's doing well, typical newborn behavior. She sleeps like a champ all day long, not so much at night, but we're learning something new everyday and working on the nighttime routine. Reflux is not fun to deal with...I thought Caroline spit up a lot as a baby, but Avery does more than I ever remember Caroline doing. We go through several clothes, blankets, burp cloths, etc each day. Luckily she does not seem to mind noise at all, when the whole family is here, there are not many quiet moments in the house.

Caroline absolutely loves her, the first thing she wants to do when getting home from daycare is hold Avery (after washing her hands at least of course.) Caroline kisses Avery on her head and even offered to share her favorite pink blanky with her baby sister. She wants Avery to call her "sissy" like Margo calls Madeline. Caroline also enjoys putting dirty diapers in the diaper champ and putting Avery's paci in her mouth when needed or not needed.

Travis noticed there were only a handful of kids in Caroline's class at daycare Friday, the teacher told him something was going around. So we weren't too surprised when Caroline had diarrhea Friday night and Saturday followed by a fever. Now we are praying Avery doesn't catch anything as we take care of our big baby.