Avery is 6 Months Old

Avery is six months old!  Sometimes I beg her to slow down and go back to that sweet newborn stage- I loved it so much!  But at the same time I am enjoying her more and more as she grows.  She has become so much FUN!  I feel like she and I understand each other and it is awesome.

At six months she's sitting up really well, she's rolling over, she has one tooth starting to poke out, and she babbles, "ma ma ma" and, "da da da."  And she is squishy and rolly polly as ever.

To celebrate her half birthday we had a picknick.  

Here are a bunch of photos of her for your viewing pleasure:

 

   

  

 

   

Daddy's girl

  

   

   

She wears this shower cap all the time, he he. 

   

 

Awesome Hairdos

   

 

All Clear!

Avery's second MRI came back normal.  I felt like I lost 20 pounds just hearing those words.

My heart really goes out to all moms out there who aren't so fortunate. :(   :(   :(   I didn't realize that the hard part of being a parent would be like this.

I still get nervous when I see her eyes blink asymmetrically. But it is not a brain tumor like they feared.

This MRI was much better.  We asked for sedation BEFORE they started the IV so they squirted some versed in her nose and waited for her to get all loopy and then tried for the IV.  They got one in her ankle on the 3rd try and she hardly seemed to mind.

My poor baby.  What a relief.

New House

We are about to close on a new house!  We needed more than two bedrooms per floor to make it easier to have more kids.  Plus interest rates are really low right now.  Plus we really REALLY wanted a garage. :)

It is 35 years old and 35 years out dated, so we will have to gut the place and start from scratch to make it our dream home.  

Here are some photos:

 

  Notice the green walls and 70's curtains and carpet:

   

 

 Awesome closed off kitchen with antique stove. 

 Huge master bedroom (almost twice as big as our current one.)  And 70's carpets and curtains.

  

Yay!!

Avery

This girl is so much fun.  She gets so excited and happy that she looks like she's going to burst with joy.
 And when she is too excited to laugh all she can get out is this little explosive cough of excitement.

She knows what is coming: 

 

Oh the anticipation: 

 

And the delightful explosion: 

 

Do it again, Daddy! 

Snowman

Look at this picture:

Does it resemble a chubby finger? It came from this photo, I just added the props and the "ground."

 

I can't get enough of this squishy baby!

Las Vegas, Happy Easter

We ventured down to Las Vegas for Easter this year.  And we actually paid for a nice hotel!  We hung out by the pool, ate lots of good food, spent time with our friends, and cheered on Adrianne at her bikini-body competition.  It was a full blown body building comp and let me just say that I've seen enough speedos to last a lifetime, and I know Todd feels the same way!

Avery loves Brooke!

 

Rylee, Zander, and Avery

Enjoying doing nothing:

 

Todd entertaining:

Us girls

I just love this picture:

Zander

The strip

Avery enjoying the strip :)

 

Go Adrianne!

  

See what I mean about the speedos?

The MRI

Sometimes when Avery blinks, her left eye closes all the way but her right only makes it half way down.  And a couple times I have seen her left eye blink (several blinks in a row) with no movement at all in her right eye.

Her pupils are different sizes and her face is a little asymmetric.

All this info worried our pediatrician, so she ordered an emergency brain MRI last week.

We couldn't feed Avery, she couldn't sleep, and she was dehydrated.  She had to have an IV placed, but it was so difficult to find a vein under all her chub that four of us were holding her down while she screamed and they fished around her wrist with a needle hoping to get a vein.  The IV didn't work and they infiltrated saline under her skin.  Her tiny wrist puffed up with fluid and she just writhed in pain.  She kept looking at me like I was a traitor and she was so heartbroken that I wouldn't help her.  It was awful.  I felt so helpless and just cried with her.  Todd did too.

After calling in the IV team and finally getting an IV they sedated her.  She had screamed for about 3 hours straight by that point.  When she finally gave in to the medication she became this limp floppy dead weight in my arms.  It was SO awful.

Going through all that crap with the knowledge that a life threatening diagnosis might be coming was so scary. 

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The MRI came back normal.  (Jump for joy an cry tears of relief.)  And we were told we needed to do a neck MRI next week, just to be sure there's nothing wrong.  (Jump with anger and cry tears of exasperation.)  Really????  You need to do another MRI?????  Why didn't you just scan four inches lower the first time?!  Swearword!!

So we have one scheduled next Monday and I can't wait for it to be over.

Now I understand the phrase, "I love you so much it hurts."

It is so scary being a parent.  I would give anything- even myself- if it meant health and safety for my baby.

 Hot packs taped onto hands and feet with hopes of getting an IV:

She's so small the head holder for the MRI was a complete joke- her whole body fit inside.

Poor baby.

 

Unicorn was so glad everything looked OK!