Why, hello there!
It has been far too long since my last post and I do apologize for that. Being a mommy tends to keep me away from my computer and there is that whole without internet thing we've got going on. So, anyways, here we are! Almost through the month of DECEMBER! Whoa! Can you believe that?! Something else that may be hard to believe is that our little Avalyn is FOUR MONTHS OLD!!
That is right, our little munchkin just turned four months old and boy has time flown by since the day that we brought her home from the NICU.
On October 25th, we were able to bring our precious little princess home with us and from that day on, our lives have been nothing but an adventure. I can not get over how quickly the days fly by and turn into months now! Now I look forward to making bottles, washing diapers, Disney movies, and tummy time every single day. Being a parent truly is the most wonderful feeling in the entire world.
But enough of that. ;)
Our first few weeks together were nothing like I thought they were going to be. Brian and I were fully prepared to lose sleep, prepared for the stresses of adjusting to life at home with a baby, etc. But surprisingly, the transition from the NICU to home was incredibly simple! The first night was probably one of the only nights that I did not sleep and that was not because Ava was awake, but because I was so paranoid of something happening to her that I was up literally every 10 minutes checking on her. We have been blessed with a baby who loves to sleep; she probably would sleep throughout most of the night if we did not have to get up to feed her every three hours. So there were several nights that we got five or six hours of sleep total and I was more than okay with that.
Now I do not want you to think that she is the most perfect baby of all time (although I will probably tell you that she is) and that life at the Felda's is all hunky dory because it is not always so. There were some nights that she did not want to sleep and some nights where all she wanted to do was either eat every hour or just sit there and cry unless she was being held. The point being, it was nothing like I expected it to be. I mean, I had the typical mommy issues, like: being completely paranoid about taking her into stores, postpartum depression/baby blues (yes, it is still possible to have even when your baby is two months old), terrified something was wrong with her and wanting to call the doctor every five minutes, not losing baby weight fast enough and dealing with some serious muffin top problems, etc. We also have to deal with having the world's toughest burper! Ava is so difficult to burp and due to that she would get so gassy and fussy that we just were not sure what to do. Eventually Brian ended up calling the doctor and practically begging for advice. We could not stand seeing her in such pain! But with the advice from the doctor and friends and family we were able to pinpoint what we needed to do to help her out. It even came down to switching her to different bottles! But that is a whole different can of worms. ;)
As the weeks began to pass by and life with her home began to seem more real, everything evened out and soon I was ok with everything; we even started to develop somewhat of a routine.
In October we celebrated her first Halloween and she had her first doctor's appointment on base. At that time she weighed roughly 6 pounds, 11 ounces and was looking good for such a premature baby. She was eating about 1.5 to 2 ounces of food per bottle/per feed; which was a very large milestone for us since we had such a hard time getting her to finish her bottles while in the NICU. We began learning how to handle things like baby congestion, how to help a baby poo so she does not get constipated, how to tell when she is getting hungry so as to avoid those little meltdowns, etc. Every thing that she did was so new to us since now we had to take care of her full time instead of just visiting with her and having a nurse take care of her.
By the beginning of November we had learned that Ava loves being in the swing when she is fussy, she loves bath time but hates being naked and hates being cold, the pacifier keeps her occupied in between bottles, and she still loves to sleep. We also experienced some pretty big milestones in November; Ava rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time! I could not believe it when she did do it but she did it again four more times and I was so happy that I cried. She has done it several times since then and every time that she does it I am shocked all over again...I can not believe that my little nugget is capable of such feats!
In November we celebrated the arrival of our good friend's baby, Avalyn's first Thanksgiving, and her first Black Friday outing. Now before anyone gets all anxious over us taking her out on Black Friday, you should know that it was around 1 am, shortly after she goes to sleep and eats, and we only went to Target and Kohls, one of which she stayed in the car with Brian. Over all Black Friday was a total bust and Ava ended up getting a nice car ride out of the deal. What is it about babies and car rides?! Thanksgiving Day itself was quite interesting considering Brian and I cooked an entire Turkey Day meal for ourselves and my sister for the first time. It was a good day overall despite my stress levels being through the roof due to the mass amounts of food we managed to cook.
Some huge milestones that we celebrated with Ava was her being able to hold up her head for a little bit. Every day she would get stronger and stronger and she would hold her head up more and more until before we knew it she was able to hold her head up for several seconds! This was a huge deal to us considering how far she has come already. Another was of course, her growth! By the time her second doctor's appointment came around she was weighing in at about 7 pounds, 5 ounces (give or take a few).
Towards the end of November/beginning of December we were completely comfortable leaving her with her Aunt alone, leaving her in her bassinet to cry/sort things out/self soothe, and taking her out to public places. With the exception of Walmart...I still get a little leery of Walmart. I HATE that place and just try to avoid it as much as I possibly can.
Needless to say, these last few months with her home have definitely been interesting!
Everyone is always asking how do I manage to do some of the things that I do with having Ava home and well, my secret is this...HELP. I had the wonderful opportunity of having my sister there to help me. Sure, she pushed some of my buttons a few times and may have made things a little more stressful on Brian and I than they needed to be, but without her help I would have become a MOMBIE. Seriously, take advantage of all of the help that is offered to you as a new mom. If someone wants to do your laundry, walk your dog, do your dishes, clean your house, bring you food, etc. ACCEPT IT. They would not offer their help if they did not want you to utilize it. And the best words of advice I can give a new mommy with her baby home is, "A mommy without sleep, is a useless one.". You need to sleep! Do not worry about your house looking like a hot mess because everyone expects it to. Do not worry about whether or not your legs have been shaved or if you have showered (although I would not recommend going more than two days without one! =P). You can not function properly and offer your everything to that baby if you can not even stay awake long enough to hold the bottle (or breast!) up to their mouths. There were several nights that I tried to do it all, but I was just not able to. I have given in so many times to that lovely thing called sleep and it is okay if you do too. There would be days I would yell for my sister to come and take Ava and take care of her for a few hours so I could get some sleep. Did I feel guilty about it? Of course! But I got over it very quickly when I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to take on any baby issue thrown my way. I also have a pretty rad husband who helps with Ava throughout the night no matter what the circumstances he has had to deal with at work.
Another thing I have been asked is how do I keep up with cloth diapering? Well, first of all, I am a stay at home mommy so that helps me a great deal. Now I am not implying that mommies who work can not cloth diaper successfully, anyone can do it, but being able to stay home helped out a lot.
I am amazed at how far we have come since August and with how we have endured everything up until this point. We truly have been blessed with such a wonderful little baby girl! I also do not think that we would have gotten through everything without the help of our family (in particular my mom and Aunt) and friends. You all have been so very helpful and understanding when it comes to my silly questions in regards to Avalyn.
I look forward to sharing her growth and development with each and every one of you!
