Last weekend we decided to do a little photo shoot in our extra bedroom... Here is what I came up with...
2.24.2011
2.14.2011
The Past Month...
This has definitely been the craziest month. Ever. Aside from bringing a newborn home, we have been bogged down with doctor visits, trying to get used to life together, and everyone being sick! I will just start from the beginning. So, we all know now that Avery has a cleft lip/pallet. We had no idea what this would affect in terms of eating, sleeping, etc. Well, we came home from the hospital on Friday afternoon. Friday night was the scariest night that I think I will ever experience in my life. Tommy had taken Maddox to a basketball game so my mom and I could hang out before she had to leave the next day. After dinner, we were cleaning up in the kitchen and looked over at Avery in the bouncy seat. Her arms and legs were going crazy. It looked like she was fighting. I went over to her and she was blue. She wasn't breathing. I tried all I could to get her to breath but I was panicking. Luckily my mom was there. I called 911 while she worked on Avery. After suctioning out her nose and mouth my mom got her breathing. The paramedics came and Avery was struggling a little at first but continued to get much better. They suggested we go to the ER. We went.. not really knowing why... there was nothing they could do... I think WE knew why she stopped breathing but we were so shaken up we didn't know what else to do. We went to the ER and they did tests but found nothing. With her cleft pallet, when she has spit up and can come out of the mouth and nose. When I found her, she had a bunch of stuff dripping out of her nose. So.. I think all her airways got clogged up. They suggested we get an apnea machine so that if it happened again at night, we would know. We didn't get the machine until Sunday so Tommy and I took turns staying up making sure it didn't happen again. I love this machine :) I sleep so well at night knowing it will yell at me if something is wrong! Luckily, it has not happened again.
So, we went to meet the plastic surgeon and he told us what to expect over the next 15-18 years. Wow. He gave us a whole list of other specialists we need to see. First, we needed to do weekly weight checks with the pediatrician. Yep, we go in every week to get her weighed (and may I say she is chunking up pretty well.. about an ounce a day!). We have been in to see the feeding specialist twice. The first time was really hard. When we were still in the hospital the pediatrician said he didn't think she would be able to breastfeed. The lactation consultant thought she could. I really enjoyed breastfeeding with Maddox and the thought of not doing it with Avery broke my heart.. Specially since I knew we had a lot of challenges ahead and I was worried about not having that bonding experience with her. So, for the first week I tried. I tried so hard to breastfeed her. It took a VERY long time.. 45min-1hr for one feeding. And even then I knew she wasn't satisfied. So, the feeding specialist told me in her 25 years of doing what she does, she has never seen a cleft baby successfully breastfeed. I think I burst into tears right then. Luckily, being a mom herself, she totally understood. I was a wreck for the rest of the appointment. We talked about pumping and also that formula fed babies do just fine! I think it was hard because breastfeeding was all I knew and I loved it. Pumping.... UGH! I know it is important for her to get breastmilk for as long as possible. I HATE pumping. But I do it. I am surprised I have done is for as long as I have (a whoppin 4 weeks). I got mastitis after the first 2 days of pumping and I wanted to be done right then. Anyway, I am taking it week by week.. we will see how long I go! The feeding specialist also told us the only bottles she should use until her pallet surgery are called the "special needs feeder". Its weird that I got sad that she wouldn't be using the same bottles that Maddox did but I was an emotional wreck and pretty much everything made me cry. These bottles are 20 bucks a bottle!.. Your not even paying for the bottle, your paying for the nipple and all the little parts! I was using the 2 the hospital gave us for the first 2 weeks. My family pulled together and helped us out a ton by buying us a bunch of bottles. This is all new to me.. pumping and feeding and HAND WASHING everything!! It has definitely taken some getting used to and it is sooo time consuming but I'm doing the best I can!
We have a bunch of other appointments scheduled.. ENT and the geneticist. We also have her first surgery scheduled for the end of April! I have mixed feelings... I am excited to get her lip fixed but not excited for the pain my little baby will be going through :(
Anyway, then when Avery was about 3 wks old we all got sick. Even Avery was extremely congested. I took her and Maddox to the doc cause Maddox was REALLY sick. Turns out he had RSV. The first thing the doctor said when he came into the exam room and heard Maddox cough was that I needed to isolate them from each other or Avery would end up in the hospital. (My first thought was how the heck am I going to be able to do this! I was SO emotionally exhausted.. It felt like we couldn't catch a break!) It is VERY hard taking care of a newborn and a very sick little boy when they cannot be anywhere near each other! That was a very trying week and a half. Luckily over the weekend we were able to get Tommy and Maddox into a hotel so that I could disinfect the house and relax a little. I am happy to say that we are all doing much better!
Amidst everything we have had to get used to and the trials we have had to over come this past month.. We have also been able to sneak some fun in...
I must brag about little Avery before I finish this extremely long post! She loves to sleep. Period. From the day she came home I have only had to wake up once a night to feed her. She doesn't even cry when she is hungary.. I just hear a bunch of sucking noises and I know its time to feed her. She slept through the night for the first time at 3.5weeks. and has done it once again since. I hope to make it a regular thing soon! She loves her swing and loves to be held. Every once in a while I can get away with letting her chill on the floor but she prefers to be swinging or being held. She is a pretty good baby... She can be fussy don't get me wrong but overall pretty easy. Anyway, this has been a very long post and duty calls so I'll wrap it up. I love being a mommy to Maddox and Avery. We have had a few challenges and a lot to get used to but I have found sooo much comfort in prayer. I am very lucky to have these two kiddos and Tommy has been so much help and very supportive. I love my life!
So, we went to meet the plastic surgeon and he told us what to expect over the next 15-18 years. Wow. He gave us a whole list of other specialists we need to see. First, we needed to do weekly weight checks with the pediatrician. Yep, we go in every week to get her weighed (and may I say she is chunking up pretty well.. about an ounce a day!). We have been in to see the feeding specialist twice. The first time was really hard. When we were still in the hospital the pediatrician said he didn't think she would be able to breastfeed. The lactation consultant thought she could. I really enjoyed breastfeeding with Maddox and the thought of not doing it with Avery broke my heart.. Specially since I knew we had a lot of challenges ahead and I was worried about not having that bonding experience with her. So, for the first week I tried. I tried so hard to breastfeed her. It took a VERY long time.. 45min-1hr for one feeding. And even then I knew she wasn't satisfied. So, the feeding specialist told me in her 25 years of doing what she does, she has never seen a cleft baby successfully breastfeed. I think I burst into tears right then. Luckily, being a mom herself, she totally understood. I was a wreck for the rest of the appointment. We talked about pumping and also that formula fed babies do just fine! I think it was hard because breastfeeding was all I knew and I loved it. Pumping.... UGH! I know it is important for her to get breastmilk for as long as possible. I HATE pumping. But I do it. I am surprised I have done is for as long as I have (a whoppin 4 weeks). I got mastitis after the first 2 days of pumping and I wanted to be done right then. Anyway, I am taking it week by week.. we will see how long I go! The feeding specialist also told us the only bottles she should use until her pallet surgery are called the "special needs feeder". Its weird that I got sad that she wouldn't be using the same bottles that Maddox did but I was an emotional wreck and pretty much everything made me cry. These bottles are 20 bucks a bottle!.. Your not even paying for the bottle, your paying for the nipple and all the little parts! I was using the 2 the hospital gave us for the first 2 weeks. My family pulled together and helped us out a ton by buying us a bunch of bottles. This is all new to me.. pumping and feeding and HAND WASHING everything!! It has definitely taken some getting used to and it is sooo time consuming but I'm doing the best I can!
We have a bunch of other appointments scheduled.. ENT and the geneticist. We also have her first surgery scheduled for the end of April! I have mixed feelings... I am excited to get her lip fixed but not excited for the pain my little baby will be going through :(
Anyway, then when Avery was about 3 wks old we all got sick. Even Avery was extremely congested. I took her and Maddox to the doc cause Maddox was REALLY sick. Turns out he had RSV. The first thing the doctor said when he came into the exam room and heard Maddox cough was that I needed to isolate them from each other or Avery would end up in the hospital. (My first thought was how the heck am I going to be able to do this! I was SO emotionally exhausted.. It felt like we couldn't catch a break!) It is VERY hard taking care of a newborn and a very sick little boy when they cannot be anywhere near each other! That was a very trying week and a half. Luckily over the weekend we were able to get Tommy and Maddox into a hotel so that I could disinfect the house and relax a little. I am happy to say that we are all doing much better!
Amidst everything we have had to get used to and the trials we have had to over come this past month.. We have also been able to sneak some fun in...
Here is Tommy loving his TWO kids!
We have been very lucky so far. Maddox has shown no signs of jealousy or anything like that. All he ever says is how cute the baby is and how he loves his sister. :) I'm so grateful for our two precious kids!
Maddox and Avery snuggling in Maddox's bed...
Maddox trying to teach Avery the Texas Longhorns sign with her hands!
When the boys were away at the hotel for the weekend, Avery and I made some yummy banana nut muffins. It got me excited for all the things we will enjoy doing together as a mother and daughter. I hope that we will have as good of a relationship as my mother and I have.
This last weekend we went to Sedona with our friends...
This is what Avery looked like for the whole trip!
We went to visit Montezumas Castle.
Sedona... it was BEAUTIFUL! I want to go back and spend some more time there...
We were pretty exhausted when we got back.. Maddox has been falling asleep in some unusual places recently. Here he is asleep at the computer watching Cars.
I must brag about little Avery before I finish this extremely long post! She loves to sleep. Period. From the day she came home I have only had to wake up once a night to feed her. She doesn't even cry when she is hungary.. I just hear a bunch of sucking noises and I know its time to feed her. She slept through the night for the first time at 3.5weeks. and has done it once again since. I hope to make it a regular thing soon! She loves her swing and loves to be held. Every once in a while I can get away with letting her chill on the floor but she prefers to be swinging or being held. She is a pretty good baby... She can be fussy don't get me wrong but overall pretty easy. Anyway, this has been a very long post and duty calls so I'll wrap it up. I love being a mommy to Maddox and Avery. We have had a few challenges and a lot to get used to but I have found sooo much comfort in prayer. I am very lucky to have these two kiddos and Tommy has been so much help and very supportive. I love my life!
1.19.2011
Our Hershey Kiss
Well, we welcomed our sweet little bundle of joy into this world on January 12th. We had decided on a name.. It was going to be Avery Lynn. Back Story: Tommy had a sister who passed away 25 years ago and her name was Christine. I went to the hospital to be induced the morning of the 12th. Tommy's mother called and reminded us that the day we would welcome our sweet baby girl into this world, was the same day that they said goodbye to theirs. I knew immediately that our little girl would be Avery Christine.
Labor was well... labor. A little brutal at first but the miracle of an epideral made it a wonderful (but long) experience. They started the pitocin at 11 am and Avery was born at 8:17pm.
Now to the "Hershey Kiss" part of this post. As she was delivered we discovered that our daughter had a cleft palate. Boy did a gazillion different emotions run through my body.. but we can save that for another time :) Anyway... We call her our hershey kiss because...
Labor was well... labor. A little brutal at first but the miracle of an epideral made it a wonderful (but long) experience. They started the pitocin at 11 am and Avery was born at 8:17pm.
Now to the "Hershey Kiss" part of this post. As she was delivered we discovered that our daughter had a cleft palate. Boy did a gazillion different emotions run through my body.. but we can save that for another time :) Anyway... We call her our hershey kiss because...
.... her mouth is the shape of a hershey kiss :)
Anyway, we went to the specialist today to learn what treatment will be like for her. At about 4 months they will repair her lip (and yes, Tommy and I are actually going to miss the hershey kiss). And then between 8 and 12 months they will repair the palate. Then we will be working with many different doctors for the next 15 years :/. I will be seeing a feeding specialist in the next few days and then we will have an appointment with a genetic doc and eventually an ENT (ear nose throat) doc. And when she is older if needed a speech therapist and orthodontist. Her cleft palate is VERY minor and we are very happy that with today's technology, this birth defect is one that can be corrected.
Avery is such a blessing to our family. We are so lucky to have her and although there will be challenges we know we can get through them together. She has already brought our family closer together.
Sorry this is such a short post, I will do a longer one with more pictures later :)
1.04.2011
I HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW!!!!!!
Just to clear things up, I am not freaking out. We are all so excited and as ready as we can be to bring this little girl (still no name decided) into our family! I just realized that I better like, forget getting rested up and have some fun and do things with Maddox nonstop this week because I know things are about to change. Big time.
So, Tommy is out of town. (Yes, I am due in 6 days and he is in Dallas for a training meeting). We flew his sister, Stacey, out to be with me heaven forbid I go into labor or something! Fine by me... Stacey is just the right person to drag along to do all the things Maddox and I love to do! We have a fun week planned but today we went to the Aquarium. Maddox couldn't wait to go and see all the fishies....
So, Tommy is out of town. (Yes, I am due in 6 days and he is in Dallas for a training meeting). We flew his sister, Stacey, out to be with me heaven forbid I go into labor or something! Fine by me... Stacey is just the right person to drag along to do all the things Maddox and I love to do! We have a fun week planned but today we went to the Aquarium. Maddox couldn't wait to go and see all the fishies....
He had so much fun!!
I love this little guy. As excited as I am to bring baby girl home, I am going to miss the mommy and Maddox time. We have so much fun and we have such a special relationship. I hope he always knows how special he is to me and he will always be my baby!!
*Christmas Fun*
Well, it was an unusual Christmas for us this year.. As many of you know we can hardly keep our feet on the ground and we travel almost non stop. However, with my due date a close 2.5 weeks away, we had to stay home this Christmas. It definitely had its pros and cons but we enjoyed it! My dad, stepmom, and niece ended up driving down for a quick visit. We had to cram as much fun into two days as we could! On Christmas Eve, we took them to do one of Maddox's favorite things... BOWLING! We all had so much fun spending time together!
Later on Christmas we went and saw Gulliver's Travels and then spent the rest of the day stuffing our faces and watching more Christmas movies. It was great! It was wonderful to spend Christmas with my dad (We haven't since we were first married)
We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!
Kaley and Maddox
38 Weeks Pregnant... Bowling? No problem.
Loves his green ball!
Cindy and Maddox
So, something that was fun for us this year was doing the whole "milk and cookies" for Santa. I don't know if we haven't really done it before cause Maddox has been so young or if its because we have never been home but we did it this year and it was so cute how excited Maddox was to decorate them and then leave them for Santa.
This is Maddox's note to Santa..... "Thank you for the presents. Love, Maddox" And then he absolutely insisted that his hand print be on there! :)
Here is what we woke up to Christmas morning....
Maddox loved his tool set....
....and his basketball hoop......
He really loved his train. and his train hat. and his train whistle. :)
Grandpa was worn out after all the excitement :)
Later on Christmas we went and saw Gulliver's Travels and then spent the rest of the day stuffing our faces and watching more Christmas movies. It was great! It was wonderful to spend Christmas with my dad (We haven't since we were first married)
We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!
12.02.2010
Halloween Happenings & Thanksgiving Fun
Wow... I REALLY need to get better at blogging! Sorry this is SO late!
We had a really fun Halloween this year. We didn't travel anywhere (which is a first) so we got to take it all in and Maddox really enjoyed it this year! He was a pirate (again). At the beginning of October he began asking me if he could dress up in his pirate costume from last year. He LOVED it. Just as a back up, we got him Buzz and Woody jammies that could easily double up as back up costumes, just in case he changed his mind!
So, for Thanksgiving we went to Las Vegas to see all of Tommy's family and extended family. It was so much fun, as it always is! I am bummed I didn't take more pictures! It was so fun to see everyone. We got there on Tuesday night and spent the night with my roommate from college and it was awesome to catch up with her! Then as family arrived we moved to Tommy's aunts house and settled in. Turkey day was a lot of fun! There was LOTS of food. Maddox played basketball outside almost all day! And after we were all stuffed we went and saw Tangled which was really cute. Then, we started planning our black Friday outing. Little did I know there was a baby shower planned for me. I guess it was supposed to be a surprise but they had to tell me so that I would show up instead of being out shopping! The shower was beautiful and it was great to have all the girls together. We have such a wonderful family and I am grateful for all they do! After the shower, I got some light shopping done and then was beat!! The long days started catching up with me! Saturday we went over to a certain little pawn shop.. Some of you may be familiar with "Pawn Stars". It was fun to go and walk around the shop and see it all... and those were the only pictures I took the whole time!
We had a really fun Halloween this year. We didn't travel anywhere (which is a first) so we got to take it all in and Maddox really enjoyed it this year! He was a pirate (again). At the beginning of October he began asking me if he could dress up in his pirate costume from last year. He LOVED it. Just as a back up, we got him Buzz and Woody jammies that could easily double up as back up costumes, just in case he changed his mind!
We went to our friend Sam's 1st birthday party. He had a bounce house. Maddox was in it the entire time!
Maddox painted a pumpkin that was "just his size".
Here is our little pirate for trunk-or-treat
Here are my boys...
My nerdy hunk of a husband!
Mommy and Maddox
Carving the pumpkin!
Pirate! Arrgg!
So, for Thanksgiving we went to Las Vegas to see all of Tommy's family and extended family. It was so much fun, as it always is! I am bummed I didn't take more pictures! It was so fun to see everyone. We got there on Tuesday night and spent the night with my roommate from college and it was awesome to catch up with her! Then as family arrived we moved to Tommy's aunts house and settled in. Turkey day was a lot of fun! There was LOTS of food. Maddox played basketball outside almost all day! And after we were all stuffed we went and saw Tangled which was really cute. Then, we started planning our black Friday outing. Little did I know there was a baby shower planned for me. I guess it was supposed to be a surprise but they had to tell me so that I would show up instead of being out shopping! The shower was beautiful and it was great to have all the girls together. We have such a wonderful family and I am grateful for all they do! After the shower, I got some light shopping done and then was beat!! The long days started catching up with me! Saturday we went over to a certain little pawn shop.. Some of you may be familiar with "Pawn Stars". It was fun to go and walk around the shop and see it all... and those were the only pictures I took the whole time!
Danny, Pops, and Tommy
Tommy, Maddox, and I
So anyway, there are our last two months. It has been so fun to watch Maddox learn about all these holidays and see how excited he gets about them. I am happy to announce that we won't be going anywhere anytime soon! I am home bound and I am perfectly ok with that! We are excited for the next six weeks. I can't wait for all the baking and wrapping and all the other Christmas things. I can't believe Christmas is so soon... After Christmas, its baby time! Thats right, I am 34.5 weeks pregnant.. I can't believe how quickly it has come upon us but it is time to get ready for this little one to arrive! Hopefully I will be better about updating on our Christmas activities!! Until later.... Merry Christmas!
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