Georgia Girls!

After a VERY long day traveling with thunderstorms, delays and a non-sleeping baby we finally made it to Georgia early Thursday morning. If you remember we left on Wednesday around lunchtime....what a trip! I will say that I have encountered some VERY nice people during my airport travels this summer; perfect strangers who are more than willing to help a solo traveler with a baby. And my baby was wound up this trip and took one nap that lasted about 15 minutes! On one leg of the trip a man with five children of his own scooped Avery out of my arms much to my relief...I mean what harm could he do, we were on a plane and I was sitting right next to him. Avery thought it was fun to have a new face to explore and a big voice to listen to.

It literally took me a day or two to recover from our airport adventures and feel a little guilty I have not seen more friends and family but I am exhausted! I have not done nearly as much as I had wanted to do but I am one person and this one person is running on fumes. Luckily my mom is a big help and I am starting to feel like a functioning human again! In about two weeks Ryan will be home!!!

Clicking my heels...

This baby business is hard work! I love my baby more than the sun, the moon, the stars and a beautiful new Coach handbag but I have never worked so hard in all my days. I really thought I knew what tired was but until I became a mother I did not truely know the meaning!

I worried before Ryan left for this deployment about whether or not I could do this alone. I am pretty proud of all that I have been able to maintain while he is away: the day in and day out, feeding issues, a push for a swallow study, double ear infections, a trip to the ER at 3 am, developmental evaluations, speech evaluations, qualifying for therapy, an upper respiratory infection, breathing treatment, weekly physical therapy, shots, multiple doctors visits, three flights to visit family, a wedding, a family reunion, more feeding issues, pictures, a small medical procedure for me, a birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, introducing solids, developing a mini work from home income (more about this later!) and generally staying busy so I don't think about him so much. I do use the term alone loosely - family and friends have been so supportive and helpful during the last 107 days. Speaking of which...this time tomorrow I will be home sweet home in Georgia and can hardly wait to see my sweet mom and hand over her precious grandbaby so I can take a nap! I am ready to see my puppy dogs too! I have been clicking my heels all afternoon in hopes I would wake up there. The prep work is overwhelming and know tomorrow will be such a long day. I hope to see as many folks as possible while home, however, I am planning on laying low for a majority of the trip and taking advantage of the opportunity to get some rest while there.

Love this picture of the happiest baby!

Beautiful...if I do say so myself!

I took this myself and am so proud of my little girl. I love her big eyes and sweet, chubby hands.

Speaking of beautiful...Avery Beth is in the running for San Antonio's Most Beautiful Baby! Although we don't live there currently we are both permanent residents and would love to earn the $10,000 college scholarship and the photo session that are prizes. The first time you vote is kind of complicated but after you do it once you can save the link and return and vote in seconds. Here is the link and the instructions.

http://www.mix961.com/pages/beautifulbaby.html

Go to the site. Click "Vote Now." A little boys picture will pop up and click "Click Here" to get to the voting pages. Scroll to Page 8. Avery is at the bottom left under with the title "Happy Birthday America." Once you have found her click her picture and vote! Save the link of the exact page and visit daily. Below is the picture you will see! Thank you!

Craigslist.com

So I just cannot get enough of craigslist! I have found just about everything I have ever searched for and cannot help but be proud of the deals. I have gotten several big baby toys and am so thankful I did not have to shell out the full price. I also got six boxes of Simply Thick; a very expensive thickening gel that goes in Avery's every bottle to prevent her from aspirating. The boxes are $61 for a box of 100 packets and I found a lady selling her boxes on the site for $25 a piece! That is a savings of over $200! And my latest and favorite find so far is a jogging stroller. It is a Schwinn and in awesome condition and now we have NO excuse for not exercising. We are already including a daily walk in our routine and the jogging stroller will now allow Ryan to run with Avery in the evenings if he wants. He is in great shape after a four month deployment and he and Avery Beth will have fun going for runs. The best part is I saved about $200 buying it used off of craigslist.com!

Birthday Days

Lots of good things happening in the Sanders' household! My favorite thing lately was my birthday! It was such a wonderful birthday...we will not discuss which birthday this happens to be but it was great nonetheless. I was so worried I would be sad because I was without my husband and family (particularly my mom who has my whole life made me feel like I was the ONLY person who had a birthday which I have always loved!) but it was so easy to focus on what and who I did have with me! I kept thinking all day long how thankful and blessed I was to be celebrating another birthday and my first as a mother. I have read many stories of women who had HELLP syndrome during pregnancy who passed away or because of the damage done to organs, particularly the liver, had to have transplants and did not live long enough to celebrate another birthday. This year there is so much to be thankful for; another birthday, another moment with my baby, another confirmation that God has given me more than I probably deserve in friends and family. The birthday included a SURPRISE birthday party with 8 of my favorite ladies, the best pizza in town and an ant cake :), a big birthday package from my mom, cards and gifts from my man all the way in Iraq, Pepperidge Farm birthday cake, lots of cards from friends and family and a two hour break from Avery so I could get a pedicure! And my birthday present from Avery was this giggle!

Avery's been in this world longer than she was in my tummy!

Miss Avery Beth is nine months old today! It is hard for me to wrap my brain around that...nine months old. She is changing so quickly now I feel like if I blink I might miss something. It really is a shame mothers go through this special time in such a sleep deprived stupor. We could relish these moments so much more intensely with just a few more hours of sleep! I guess that is why I take so many pictures and videos; I know all of these precious moments will not be a vivid memory in just a few short years.

So we have had a couple of big firsts in the last day or two! AVERY SAID "MA MA!" That's right yesterday as we were getting ready to go I picked her up and said, "Ma Ma" and she said it very clearly right back to me! Then the next time I walked through the room she looked at me with those big blue eyes and reached her little arms up for me to pick her up. She had never done that before either. What tiny little miracles! When Ryan called yesterday I told him about "Ma Ma" and he asked to speak to her. I put the phone up to her hear and I overheard him say, "You aren't supposed to be saying that...you are supposed to be saying Daddy! Da Da Da Da!" So cute. We will start working on that one next. We also had our first upright ride in the grocery cart...not nearly as monumental but another first!
We had our first physical therapy session today. Avery Beth did extremely well for the first 20-25 minutes; she giggled, played and really cooperated so well. And then the therapist tried to get her to do some things that she obviously did NOT want to do and she lost it! I think the combination of not being interested in doing those tasks and being very tired put her over the edge. I really like her therapist and she just loved Avery; she was very patient with her. We will go once a week for now and I look forward to sharing how she changes and grows!

Home Sweet Home

We made it back from our San Antonio voyage and once again Avery Beth was the best traveler. She has flown more as an infant than I did until I graduated from college! We had such a great trip and saw SO many of Ryan's family members. We spent our last weekend at a girl's weekend for Ryan's cousin Jenny who is getting married next weekend. Those girls really knew how to do it! We enjoyed some pool time, margaritas, an accupressure massage, sangria, burgers, fajitas and plenty of help with the smallest girl at the party. She did not sleep much while we were away though and so by the time we got home yesterday I was just about done! We are both happy to be home...Avery slept seven hours straight which she has not done in ten days.

So what is Avery doing? Her favorite thing to do is squeal....really loudly. They are happy squeals that usually make me giggle. They are not so cute when we are in a public place like a restaurant or airplane and folks turn to stare! She is making funny new noises and blowing bubbles; so cute! She is sitting up really well and sat in her first restaurant high chair while in San Antonio; I thought my friend was going to have a heart attack when Avery Beth started gnawing the table but all in all she did well! Feedings are still a struggle. Much improvement from when she was aspirating, however, getting her to take a full feeding is a fight every single time it seems. She is eating rice cereal pretty well and enjoyed her first veggie treat of sweet peas last week. Keep praying for her feeding struggles it is frustrating for both of us.

We miss Ryan so much and I cannot stand to think of how many things he is missing, how many smiles, how many changes. 37 more days. 37 more days. Oh and we start physical therapy on Wednesday.

Summer Gypsies

Packing checklist Onesies -check, bottles - check, Avery Beth - check

Avery Beth and I made it to San Antonio on Wednesday...only 4.5 hours late! We were delayed in Little Rock as well as in Dallas and it took us a total of 8 hours to finally make it to our destination. The good news is Avery is an EXCELLENT traveler. She took everything in stride making friends along the way including a nun who was just smitten. I am going to think I am on vacation when I fly with the child and Ryan to help someday! In all actuality the checking in, manuevering through security with all the baby equipment and actual flying is nothing compared the prep work it takes for packing and actually getting out the door! Whew. Exhausting.

"The Little Firecracker"

We joyfully attended the Sorenson Family Reunion (Ryan's family) in Boerne, TX over the 4th of July weekend. It was so fun for Avery to finally meet everybody...aunts, uncles, cousins and even another set of great-grandparents. No one could believe that she was once a two pounder because she is so big, pretty and full of personality. Avery's favorite part of the weekend was swimming in the pool with the float from her Aunt Jill. We will be here the rest of the week and plan on meeting up with old friends from the school I used to teach with here and spending time with Aunt Ally.

6 months old today...kinda sorta

Today is Avery Beth's six month (adjusted age) birthday! That means if she had made it to my due date (January 1st) she would be six months old. She should be doing things that a six month old baby should be doing like grabbing things and putting them in her mouth, passing things between hands, sitting up with some toppling over, social behavior and the possibility of teeth on the way. She is doing all of these things...particularly the social part. What a little charmer she is! Eventually she will need to be doing things closer to her birth age and that is why we will start physical therapy this month as well as continuing to work with her on skills at home. For now I am enjoying the moment and trying not to miss a thing!

Today we head to San Antonio for a visit with Ryan's immediate family as well as a family reunion. It is so hard to be away from our family. We don't like it at all but it certainly makes our visits and phone calls with the grandparents special. Here is a video clip of Avery talking to her Beebe. She loves listening to people on the phone especially familiar voices like Beebe and Daddy. My mom has particular songs that she sings, words and sounds that I'm certain Avery recognizes. So cool!

Cover Girl!

Avery Beth definitely gets the award for the world's most photogenic baby! I just can't believe picture after picture how cute my girl is! I definitely think she should be in magazines...we could start a college fund with that smile. I'm not sure how her daddy would feel about that, however, he's not here right now. Anybody know where to send these pics so we can see her in the next Gymboree catalog? He he he. These are my latest favorites! As you can see we are sitting up and even though we've had many falls we have only had a couple of bumps on the head.

She has an opinion!

Avery Beth had a developmental evaluation with a phyiscal therapist at the Easter Seals office on Thursday. I suspected there were issues with her gross motor skill development (sitting up, prop sitting, laying prone, etc) as well as the cute, persistent need to stand. Well Avery was apparently not in the mood to be messed with and she certainly let the therapist know. She had her very first opinion about something and as embarassed as I was about the temper tantrum I was proud of my girl! She used that normal, functioning brain of hers to let that lady know that she was not interested in an assessment today. Eventually this could become a problem but right now it makes my heart happy.

My suspicions were correct. Avery Beth should be doing many things better and more consistently than she is right now. The standing thing that Avery so loves to do could also be a problem; apparently she is more inclined for extension than flexion (most likely because of positioning and time spent in the isollette in the NICU - she didn't get enough warm, snugly, curled up time in the womb) and this could keep her from progressing to a crawler and eventually a walker. So we will start therapy the week of July 13th one session a week with the possibility of two times a week if necessary. I'm relieved we are getting help; I am doing all I can to stay on top of every developmental step. I am convinced God has been preparing me for this baby my whole life...I don't want to mess it up now!

We've been practicing eating from a spoon and have yet to master it but we are trying. I had no idea eating from a spoon was an acquired skill...hopefully one she will pick up on soon so we can move on to veggies!

The Daddy

Ryan and I are lucky enough to be able to communicate a lot while he is deployed. This deployment seems to be dragging on forever, however, Skype, instant messaging, emails and "Spa Wars" makes our separation a little easier. We have about 7 1/2 weeks to go and I plan on staying busy for just about all of that time! We are planning a visit to San Antonio and another trip to Georgia next month! REALLY looking forward to happy times during both of them.

So for Father's Day Ryan received a hat that says, "I Love Avery" with her picture and as you will see below he is proudly sporting it over the skies of the desert. I am so thankful Avery Beth has a great daddy that loves her...even from so far away. And no I'm not proud of that mustache but apparently he is.

I AM proud of "The Daddy" and know that Avery Beth will be too someday. This is such a cool picture of Ryan and his crew. I couldn't help but show it off.

Easter came early...

Avery Beth with the Easter Seals

Easter Seals that is! How do they always catch me unprepared!? Avery was scheduled to have a developmental evaluation on Thursday to assess her gross motor skills (her weakest area) and then meet with the Speech Language Pathologist and the therapist who assesses fine motor skills later. However, the "Seals" had a cancellation and despite the fact that I had been working in the yard (covered in grass from raking up old clippings!) and my house was DIRTY they came on over. The SLP said our girl had progressed a great deal in just two weeks since she had seen her last and the PT said Avery was right on track for her fine motor skills on an adjusted age scale (almost 6 months). We will meet with the OT on Thursday to see where we stand on gross motor skills...I'm thinking we will have some work to do.






After the ladies left Avery Beth sat up all by herself!!! That's a developmental milestone that apparently she wanted to keep a secret from the assessment team! Way to go Avery! I can't tell you how watching her develop and grow moves me. When I was told I was going to have a 2 pound baby I could not imagine how she could possibly be a "normal" baby. So proud of her. So proud of Ryan and I. And so happy to have the support from family and friends that have supported and prayed for our girl.

Texas Travels

Ok so two posts today. Can't promise that will ever happen again but wanted to get some things on here for everyone to see! Here are some photos of Avery's first flight (we went to Houston to see Ryan's family) and some family fun!

Dear Lauren, Welcome to 2009!

So I have for months put off the creation of a blog finding reason after reason to keep me from getting busy. No time like the present...and now I'm putting off other jobs! It's not "fancy" yet but with some time it will be! My teacher spirit will just not allow for a simple, run of the mill blog. I will need borders, fonts, pictures and add ins. The only reason I don't have it now is because I haven't figured it out yet! So where am I going with this blog? That's easy. There have been so many intense, moving and memorable moments in my world and I want to share them.

Let me rewind. This time last year I was newly pregnant; just getting over the dreaded "all day sickness" (whoever coined the phrase "morning sickness" had never been pregnant) and dreaming of what was growing inside my belly. We knew of Ryan's upcoming deployment and thought he would return in late December just a week before my due date. I had never been more distraught and upset. I cried for days on end and knew in my heart he would miss the birth of our baby. I knew it deep down in my heart. Then by chance somebody in charge very casually said, "Sanders you're going on a 60 day instead of a 120." Now we are talking! It was still incredibly sad to see him go. Two days before he left we found out God was giving us a baby girl and promised to pick names when he returned in late October. I went home to Georgia and spent some time with my family and friends and when I returned to Little Rock I started feeling not so good and started swelling. I gained 8 pounds in 1 week, started having pain between my ribcage and could almost feel my blood pressure getting higher. The doctor said no big deal...watch what you eat and give yourself a rest sometime throughout the day. Things did not improve and I was increasingly getting sicker, in more pain. I was told I had heartburn, was treated over the phone and in labor and delivery with pain meds, fluids and heartburn remedies. Something wasn't right and I remember sobbing over the phone begging the doctor for relief and being in so much pain I couldn't talk to Ryan when he made his few and far between phone calls from Iraq. Can you imagine the worry for him? Geez. When they finally figured out I had HELLP Syndrome I was promptly taken to the hospital with an impending, immediate delivery. Red Cross and I had a little chat; they were getting Ryan home quickly and I was praying I could make my short 28 week pregnancy last for at least 29 weeks so she could grow a little more and the daddy could be there to help me through. It didn't happen. I knew from the beginning of the pregnancy that he wouldn't make it. So Avery was born on October 15th at 2 pounds 6 ounces with my mom by my side and his family in the waiting room. Ryan found out he was a daddy while on a stop in London and then arrived on the 16th after many cancelled and delayed flights. I remember seeing the quote, "Where there is great love there are always miracles," on a frame that was given as a gift for my baby girl's room. Before I could see Avery in person her nurse in the NICU brought a picture of her and we placed the photo of my tiny, frail baby in the frame and started praying for miracles. We then spent 54 days with Avery Beth in the NICU; it was a very scary and emotional time with many highs and just as many lows.

In my house there is great love and even bigger miracles. Avery Beth turned 8 months last week and is 15 pounds of personality and happiness. Ryan is deployed again and despite my anxiety about his departure we are doing okay. I look forward to sharing our many blessings.