A Busy Bee

Avery is finally starting to feel better. I am sure she will get sick at daycare again soon though because that always seems to happen. She finished her dose of steroids and we are no longer on the albuterol/nebulizer. 

Avery has been really busy the past few days. We went to the St. Charles carnival and got to hang out with my friend, Karen, who now lives in South Carolina. We then had lunch with our friend, Jeremy. He said he doesn't hold babies (see picture below). We went and visited my mom at work on her birthday. Avery had a couple firsts this past week..she went swimming and she went to Kiddie Park. 

She is now sitting up really well and she tries to grab everything she sees. She finally started grabbing her feet. 

I won at bingo at the St Charles carnival! I picked out a little rocking horse!

Mommy's friend, Karen, helped me play bingo.

How can he not want to hold me? I am so cute.

I love hanging out outside.

Everything I grab now goes straight into my mouth.

Kaitlin and I visited grandma at the hospital on her birthday

Us grandkids visiting Grandma

Mommy says when it's sunny out I have to wear this hat

I like to play with my sunglasses but I don't like to wear them

Swimming in the pool

Playing with tub toys in the pool

Riding on my lion

 Mommy put a banana in this mesh thing. Chewie sneaked a couple licks of it when Mommy wasn't looking

I can't wait until I can ride all the rides at Kiddie Park

We rode the Merry Go Round but sat on the bench. I didn't have a very good view...lol

I love watching this barnyard movie

Here is a pic of me smiling since everyone always says I look so worried :-)

Yep, You guessed it...more doctor appointments.

We decided to take Avery to the zoo on Wednesday with my sister and her kids. Avery still had the cough but she seemed to be feeling ok. She seemed to really enjoy the zoo. She loved looking at all the people and animals. I can't wait to take her again. 

She had a follow up appointment for her cough scheduled Wednesday night. We saw Dr Love. She is the one who has been somewhat stuck with us ever since Dr So was out sick one day. She is always running behind but that is because she spends so much time with each patient. She never rushes you and always listens to what you have to say. Our appointment was at 6pm so I knew she would be running behind by then. We got called back around 6:40. She listened to Avery and still heard wheezing so she decided to have Avery get a chest xray.

Wow, I have never seen anything so traumatizing in my life. Seeing her get that xray was horrible. They stick her in this thing where she is somewhat sitting/standing. Tim had to pull her arms above her head and this clamp came around each side of her chest around her ribs. He said it was horrible because she was screaming and was looking at him the whole time. The clamp pulled/got stuck on her g-tube and I was yelling "wait wait, it's stuck!". Avery was screaming the whole time at the top of her lungs. It was horrible. 

This is not a pic of Avery but I wanted you to see what it looks like for a baby to have a chest xray. The plastic part that splits in the middle of her chest is what got caught on her g-tube. Thankfully it didn't get pulled out or we would have had to go to the ER. 

We then went back up to the exam room. Dr Love said the xray looked unremarkable. Her lungs and heart looked good and she didn't see anything else abnormal. She said she doesn't know what is causing the wheezing. It could be a number of different things. It could be allergies, it could be the start of asthma, it could be RSV or it could just be from the Upper Respiratory Infection she had a week and a half ago. She decided she wants to start Avery on steroids for 5 days. She thinks it will help the wheezing. Another benefit is that most of the time, steroids increase your appetite/metabolism so Avery might gain some weight when she is on it. The downside is that steroids sometimes make people a little ornery or mean. 

She got her first dose last night. Today she seemed like she was in a pretty good mood but she did not eat well at all at daycare. When I got her home from daycare, she did end up eating a little over 3 ounces of Pediasure. We go for another follow up on Saturday to see if the wheezing has gone away.

I like to hold on while I get my breathing treatment

Daddy is reading me a book called "Daddy Loves Me". Mommy got it for Daddy for Father's Day so he could read it to me.

Daddy, me, Eddie, Kaitlin and Aunt Janet at looking at the elephants

My cousins are silly

I was having a good time at the zoo. I was awake the whole time!

Eddie said that if the camel spit at him that he was going to spit at it

Kaitlin was a big help. She pushed me around most of the day!

Look at the big ears she has!

Family photo by the elephants

Eddie riding the turtle

 I liked looking at the swan

Still looking at the swan

Yep, still looking!

 Just monkeying around

The monkey and I

Who is this guy sitting next to me??

This is a picture from when we were at the doctor's on Wednesday. We were there 2 1/2 hours! It was exhausting for everyone

I am getting so good at my breathing treatments that I take it and put it in my mouth 

Doctors doctors doctors

Yep, I think I see doctors more than I see my friends and family these days. Avery had been a little sick since last week. At the weight check the doctor thought she might have heard a little wheezing so she said if it got worse to come back in or go to the ER. Last night, Avery would not stop coughing. I really contemplated taking her to the ER at 2am. I ended up waiting till this morning and made an appointment at her pediatrician's office. The doctor heard wheezing so they did a pulse ox on her and she was 96%. They then did a breathing treatment with albuterol and a nebulizer. What a nebulizer does is turn liquid into a vapor. It produces the vapor and Avery breathes it in. They repeated her pulse ox after the treatment and she was at 98%. The doctor said it helped her so they want us to give Avery a breathing treatment three times a day until she no longer has the cough. 

The doctor called Cleveland Clinic Home Care and I actually met them in the parking lot of CCF Independence. They delivered the nebulizer. Later in the day, my friends Deb and Sharon came over to show me how to use it. Avery did really well with her treatment. We have to give it to her once more today before bedtime. 

We will schedule a follow up on Tuesday or Wednesday this week. 

Here is Kaitlin, Grandpa and I on 4th of July. Kaitlin and I had the same skirt!

Eddie and I 

Family portrait :-)

My buddy Andrew and I

Daddy brought the laundry up from downstairs and showed Mommy. Surprise! I was in the basket 

Watching some fireworks in the back yard. Maybe one day my hometown will have fireworks again. Until then, I just get to watch what the neighbors shoot off.

I love chewing my bibs.

My buddy, Travis, and I. He lives in Atlanta so I don't get to see him much. He is only 8 months old!

Travis and I having fun... Buckets of fun

I love feeling the grass!

Auntie Sharon and Grandma Deb came over to help Mommy with my breathing treatment. 

 

Look how good I am doing with it. (The tears were from before the treatment started)

Happy 4th of July!

Avery is 10 Months Old!

I can't believe Avery is 10 months old. It's hard to believe. She has come such a far way and we can't imagine what life was like before her. She has been doing pretty well since the last update. She had a weight check on Wednesday. The last time she was at the doctor (3 weeks prior) she weighed 11 lbs 6 oz and on Wednesday she weighed 11 lbs 14 oz. They are happy she is gaining weight but they said she should be gaining a 1/2 ounce a day so she should have gained 11 oz instead of 8oz. They want us to see a nutritionist downtown since I said going back to the feeding clinic is not an option. They also want Avery to start drinking Pediasure to get extra calories. They gave us a few sample bottles of the chocolate flavor. We are supposed to give her half a bottle a day and then put the rest in the fridge. She seems to like it when it's room temperature but doesn't like it when it's cold.

She currently is coughing a lot so we are debating on making a doctor's appt for her. We have been running the humidifier at night, put Vapo rub on the bottom's of her feet (google it) and also have tried Hyland's baby cough syrup but she still has the coughing. I think we will give her one more day and then make an appt.

I like to sleep with my butt in the air

This was me waiting for the doctor. Look at my tummy rolls

This was my first happy hour. Notice I was drinking Pediasure.

Chewie and I are exhausted.

Dinner at Olive Garden with Mommy's friend, Jackie.

Dinner at Olive Garden with Mommy's friend, Leanne. Leanne is having a baby in November. Maybe her daughter and I will be BFF's.

Well, hi there!

 Mommy made salt dough and took my foot prints. She isn't really sure what she is going to do with them yet.

This is another pic of me sleeping with my butt in the air

No caption needed for this pic

 Chewie and I hanging out

Yay! I am 10 months old!