One month old and more......................

Ava is already 5 1/2 weeks old! Here are some pictures from her one month photo shoot done by grandma and mom. :)

 
Grandma has been staying with us for a few weeks helping take care of Ava and also taking care of Ava's mom and dad. She has been an amazing help and we (me) don't know what we are going to do without her when she leaves next week. At least we still have another week of fun with grandma and grandpa will be joining us in a few days as well! Ava is very excited to meet her grandpa!

Sleeping Beauty

Playing with grandma

Bruce says, "Don't forget about me!"

First shopping trip to the Grove with mom and grandma. We managed to get a little shopping done, but spent most of the time in the woman's lounge at nordstroms feeding and changing Ava.

Since Ava was early she was able to attend her own baby shower. She did have to stay upstairs to avoid catching any germs down at the party, but she did get to open her presents with mom and dad after the party! I brought my camera to the shower to capture the event, but had way too much fun chatting with guests and completely forgot to take any pictures. Here is one of the three of us getting ready to head over to grandma and grandpa's for the party. 

Life at home with Ava

Ava has been home about 2 weeks and we couldn't be happier. Every sound, movement, and facial expression she makes we find so fascinating and of course we are always taking her picture. Steve surprised me with a new camera for Valentine's day, so I am even more obsessed with taking her picture. At the last pediatrician visit Ava was doing great! She now weighs 5 pounds, 10 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. She is now out of preemie clothes and fitting into newborn clothes. Since she is gaining weight at the appropriate rate the doctor said we could finally start keeping her up more in the day and letting her sleep longer at night. Her first week home she didn't gain a lot of weight, so we were instructed to wake her every 2 1/2 - 3 hours around the clock, which was very tiring!  Now we are getting at least one 4 hour stretch of sleep a night, which is amazing. I never thought getting a 4 hour chunk of sleep would be amazing....in the olden days (before Ava) that would have been a terrible night's sleep, but now 4 hours is a good night's sleep. Wow, life has changed!

Here are some pictures from her first day home................

First day home. Trying out the bouncy seat. She liked it for about 5 minutes and hasn't liked it since. We think she needs to grow into it a little more.

Bruce loves his little sister and the boppy pillow. He is always laying on it....I think he believes we bought it for him and not for Ava!

Being the protective big brother that he is!

Our first night home Steve had to leave for a basketball game, so Aunt Jamie came over to see Ava and keep me company.

First bath at home. Happy now that she is out of the bath, but not so happy a few minutes earlier while the bath was going on. I hope her dislike for baths is only temporary!

Pictures from the past two weeks..................

Ava is the spitting image of Steve. They make the same facial expressions and have very similar features. I know I am a part of that child somewhere.....I just have yet to find it!

Falling asleep with mom and dad is one of Ava's favorite things to do!

Our little Valentine! :) Best gift we could ever ask for.

I am woman hear me roar!!

Could they possibly look anymore alike??? Spitting image of her father. :) 

"Mom, enough pictures already!" I can foresee this look coming back sometime when Ava is in her teens.

Ava and Claire! Claire is 1 week old and Ava is 1 month old in this picture. Claire's mom and I had way to much fun taking pictures of the girls. I don't think the babies enjoyed it as much as we did!

Grandma time!

Aunt Beth and Ava! Aunt Beth came to stay with us for the first week we had Ava home. She was such a big help and helped us survive our first week of sleepless nights.

Aunt Beth had to go home, but grandma stayed to help us out. Ava loves being held by her grandma. :)

Bath time! We started doing developmental baths....recommended by one of my nicu friends. Ava is wrapped in a towel and we put her in the water while nice and cozy in the towel. We wash one body part at a time while keeping the rest of her wrapped up. She actually enjoyed her bath for a change instead of crying the entire time.

Nice and cozy after bath time.

Now it's time to snuggle with daddy!

Our little family!! :)

Coming home from the hospital!!

After 20 long days in the NICU Ava got to come home on February 7th. Heading into the hospital that day we knew that if she lost weight over night or struggled to eat at all they would delay her homecoming another 24 hours. We tried to contain our excitement and prepare ourselves for the worst, but as soon as we entered the NICU we saw the nurses getting her all packed up and we could no longer contain our excitement! :)

Getting Ava dressed in her going home outfit. They let me unhook her from all monitors! It felt good to pick her up without any cords!!! :)

Ava with one of her favorite nurses. She was so good to Ava and taught me so much about caring for Ava!

Getting ready to leave. Hospital requires all moms to be wheeled out with infants, even though I was already wheeled out when I was discharged from the hospital. This time felt so much better since I had Ava in my arms. Last time I was wheeled out I was empty handed and it did not feel very good.

Car ride home. Ava was not so sure about the car seat. I sat in the back with her and dad SLOWLY drove us home. :) I have never seen Steve drive so slow in my life!

Proud daddy! 

Life in the NICU

Life in the NICU was an experience I will never forget, but also one I would prefer not to have again. We are lucky for how quickly Ava made progress and  I am so grateful that we had more good days than bad. Ava was a rock star from day one! She made progress every day and proved to her parents she is one strong little girl. Here are some pictures capturing her first 20 days of life in the NICU.

Day 1: First time holding Ava after she was born. It was hard seeing her all hooked up to machines and IV's, but it felt good to be holding her again!  

Steve holding Ava for the first time. He wasn't able to hold her after she was born and he waited very patiently until the end of the day to have his turn. He didn't take his eyes off of her the whole time. :) 

Staying warm in the incubator

Day 2: Hanging out with mom and dad. 

 Day 3: Finally we see those beautiful eyes!

Day 4: Mom learning how to burp me after my first try at a bottle. 

California girl tanning already! :) Under the special light to help her jaundice

Snuggle time with daddy!

Last day with the IV. 

                           Sleeping the day away. Ava loved her corner of the NICU. She graduated to an open crib after about a week, but they still made sure to keep her nice and warm!

 

Another NICU mom told me to take a picture of Ava next to the Sohpie doll to show her size......And this was taken after 2 weeks in the NICU. 

 

 After 2 weeks in the NICU Steve and I decided to take the day off and enjoy the beautiful weather and a couples massage at Terranea Resort. The weekend I went into labor we were suppose to have our mini "baby moon"at Terranea and since that didn't happen we decided to reschedule it while Ava was still growing in the NICU. 

Mom, where did my feeding tube go? Thanks to wonderful nurse Kathleen Ava got her feeding tube out. It was a Sunday and the doctor was not there, but Kathleen reviewed Ava's chart and made the decision that she was ready to get that tube out! If it weren't for that nurse our stay would have probably been a few days longer. This experience has taught me how important nurses are to your stay and recovery in the hospital.

Day 2 without a feeding tube. This was the day we got the amazing news that Ava would be coming home the next day. I just love her face in this picture....I'm sure when she gets a little older that "pout" face will no longer be as cute, but for now I love it! :)