Smith Angels - AVA: June 2005

My mommy and daddy keep sneaking into my room to adore me while I am sleeping. Here is why! This is me at my grandma's house this morning :)

My mommy is usually the one taking the pictures, so she is seldom in them herself. But here grandma Connie took a picture of me with my mommy on the sofa...

The only time I cry or grimace is when I am passing gas - which is a LOT (I'm partially lactose intolerant and yet still on milk!). Here is a funny picture of me during that time. Ha ha :)

My mommy thinks I look a lot like my sister Oliviah when she was this age!

I am three months old now! My hair is still the same, but a tiny bit longer and my eyes are still very dark blue and grey, with tiny specks of green and brown. I can focus on things that are close to me, and I especially love faces. I am starting to play with toys a little (especially by grabbing links) but still not very coordinated. I still wake up every 3 hours at night, but I am so good at putting myself back to sleep, my mommy is so proud. I am totally a daddy's girl, though, he just lights up when I am with him. He sneaks peaks at me when I am napping, and he is very gentle with me. I am getting very used to my new home, and my mommy says that I fit in wonderfully!

Looky, I am so nice and chubby now that I have 2 or 3 chins! Yesterday at the pediatrician's office I weighed 8 and 1/2 pounds. But everyone still says "oh, what a TINY baby" when they see me...

My grandma Connie sees me every day! Sometimes 2 or 3 times. I calm very quickly when I hear her voice, she has a very calming influence on me. She carries me around her house so that I can see all my favorite things (right now I especially like windows, lights, brightly lit items, and faces). Here I am snug in a pouch with her. I am at my absolute happiest when I am in a pouch being carried by someone!

I have *three* great-grandmas, can you believe how lucky I am? Her I am with great-granny Esther (my daddy's grandma). She lives within 1/2 mile of me!

An Early Intervention therapist came to do an assessment of me (it is an optional free program in York county, where an occupational or physical therapist comes to our house and works with me, because I am a preemie), and would you know that I was the BEST 28-weeker they had ever seen! I scored perfectly in all five areas: motor, cognitive, adaptabililty, sociability, and language. Since they cannot find any real "catch up" work to do with me, they are coming every week for the next 4 weeks to teach my mommy how to give me infant massages. My grandma Connie (and great-grandma Esther) come to all of my appointments, and my pediatrician visits, too :)

My grandpa is a SOFTY, just like my daddy. He fell in love with me right away! Within 5 minutes of meeting me he was feeding me my bottle...

Here I am in southern Virginia - my auntie Sassi (Susanne) is giving me a bath! When I was in Roanoke last week my auntie let me sleep in her bed (I was in my co-sleeper) for *three* whole nights... it was my first sleep-over party! She fed me and change my diapers and loved me up, and I *loved* it. Mommy was amazed that my auntie wanted to do that, but I knew she would, she LOVES me THAT much, she wants to spend every minute with me when I am at her house! :)

This week I am in southern Virginia (Roanoke) - my grandfather "Papi" passed away on Wednesday. Mommy and me (it is mommy's daddy) were able to be with him since Monday. Now we are just spending time with the family, enjoying each other's company and reminiscing a lot. We went on a "safari" today and everyone around me protected me from the zebras, bison, etc. sticking their heads in my daddy's car; it was quite an exciting adventure. Yesterday I went on my first hike. We went to Roaring Run and hiked along the waterfalls. I really, really enjoyed that - my mommy carried me in the Solarveil sling (airy and cool, but UV protection for my delicate skin). Today we also went to a German restaurant. We are doing all these fun things because Papi used to do these things with us, and we can remember him that way. Mommy took some pictures of me with Papi when we first visited him 2 weeks ago, and a few from Tuesday, when he was quite peaceful; they will be very special to mommy because she could tell how delighted Papi was by my arrival in the family. My whole family is also very glad at the timing, because without me there would be a lot more sadness; they feel that I bring new life to an otherwise sad time. My auntie Susanne pretty much holds me most of the time... she cannot stand to be without me! Uncles Tommy and Chris also slurped me up these past few days - I took a lot of naps on aunties and uncles. I still LOVE taking naps on people, in fact right now while mommy is typing for me I am on my daddy's chest while *he* is napping!

Mommy will post more pictures of me when she gets back home. She thinks I am almost 8 pounds now, but people still keep saying "wow, what a tiny baby!". To my parents I am *huge* though :) I still wake up every 2-3 hours at night to feed, but every once in a while I give mommy a 3-4 hour longer stretch. Mommy knows that someday she will TREASURE the midnight parties she and I have, although at that time when they occur she seems a little bit tired :) Mommy and daddy are more in love with me than ever before. I am doing new things every day, like holding my head up a little better, and focusing my eyes better. I still do the preemie groaning a *lot*, and it makes everyone laugh. I am still very very gassy because of my lactose intolerance, but everything seems okay. I am finally up to date and caught up with my vaccinations.

Well, mommy has to come and get me, it is time for my first (of several) dinner! Lots of love, Ava

Today was my first day in church! I got such a warm and enthusiastic welcome! Mama and daddy did not see me much until I got a little fussy about 1/2 way through the service, but I really wasn't even fussy - I was just preemie "grunting"! My parents have to laugh - although they sat at the back of the church, my grunting makes so much (cute) noise it reverberates through the whole church, ha ha :) You should have seen my mama when I came forward with mommy and daddy for communion (I get a special "kids" blessing), she just could not wipe the smile off her face. It was so special for them to be in church with me!

I think I weigh around 7 1/2 pounds now, my mommy's arms start to get tired when holding me now. I still eat around 2 oz. at a time, every 2-3 hours during the day, and like clockwork I wake mommy up at night every 2.5 - 3 hours to eat. I had two "less good" nights when I tortured mommy a little more than that, but otherwise my sleeping pattern has been great. Thanks to an abundant supply of breast milk (about 1/3 - 1/2 of my total input now) I am no longer badly constipated, although of course I still grunt and groan all the time like I am :)

My mommy and daddy love me more every day... when they think they already love me as much as they possibly can, well the next day they love me even more. I can look into their faces directly for a few seconds at a time now (my focus is better) and I definitely respond to their voices and smells. I still nap a lot with mommy and with daddy too. The two kitties are bored by me (good thing!) and Jessie is very motherly toward me, she becomes concerned when I cry and always lays near me when she can. I only like one of my swings and I do not like my bouncy seat. I want to be in my parents' arms all the time, or in mommy's pouch, or in someone else's arms, and *sometimes* I'm okay in my big swing, but I don't like any of the other gear that mommy bought for me... I'm a "people" person, she says :)

My mommy and daddy feel very blessed to have me! They are so thankful for Jenelle and birth family for giving me to them :)

love, Ava

My first beach walk ever! I'm in the pink striped pouch on mommy's chest...

on vacation with my friend Annalise who was born at Thanksgiving

Oh boy, it has been an exciting 2 weeks! I had a pediatrician appointment yesterday, and I weighed 7 pounds, can you believe it? I gained almost 3 pounds in the last 3 weeks (since discharge). I have to make quite a few pediatrician appointments, because I have what my doctor calls "one shot legs" - my thighs are so tiny that they can only do one vaccination at a time :)

I have travelled a LOT and I really enjoy it, it keeps me stimulated and yet I just love the hum of the car and sleeping in my car seat. I do not use my preemie car bed anymore, I am too big for it, and I don't need it anymore because I am a big girl now. It took a few days to travel home from Louisiana, and then I was only in town for a few hours - enough time to get a few visitors, go to the pediatrician, and catch a good night's sleep and then I was off on the road to visit family and to go to the beach with my soon-to-be best friend Annalise, who is 4 months older than me. That took a week, and now I have been home for a few days. I'll tell you what - my few days home were much more hectic than my time on the road... I've had so many visitors! And my mommy was interviewed for a local newspaper (they will take 3 months to get to know us) and also for a few national women's magazines, which kept her a little stressed. But now things are quieting down. I am really looking forward to going to church this Sunday - I know just how many PRAYERS there were for me there, and I want to show everyone just how their prayers were answered!

I am getting a little better with my sleeping patterns - I am back to only waking every 3 hours at night, and mommy is very, very grateful for that... there were a few nights when I just wanted to party the whole night, and mommy did not really enjoy the partying like I did :)

My days are filled with visits to people that are close to us, lots of walks to grandma Connie's house (a few times a day, because I so LOVE my all-terrain stroller), and my mommy does a lot of baby-wearing with me in a pouch or sling, which I really enjoy. I am getting a little spoiled, amd my mommy worried that she is wearing me *too* much because I get fussy when I am not being held. Mommy is also getting very behind in the house work because she is with me almost all the time (I don't really like my bouncy seats or my swings) but that is okay I don't care what the kitchen looks like, as long as mommy or someone is holding me :) See what I mean by being a little spoiled? :)

I miss my birth family a little, especially Jenelle and nana Patrice and papa David and my sister Oliviah. I can tell they are not around me. But mommy and daddy whisper in my ear that I will likely see them before the year is out, and I think I will really like that.

lots of love, Ava

Mommy promises she will update my blog in the next few days... she is just so exhausted because I have my days and nights mixed up, I am keeping mommy on her toes :) I just wanted you to see me on my visit to my daddy's work at OSRAM Sylvania, I got the most enthusiastic greeting there today!

Smith Angels - AVA

Thursday, June 30

Wednesday, June 29

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Thursday, June 16

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