Baby's First Christmas!

Avery and I were up for awhile on Christmas Eve and never ran into Santa, so he must have snuck in after we went to bed. I was thinking how much fun it will be next year to see her excitement over everything Christmas! Thankfully it will be a few years until she asks me how Santa is going to get into our apartment without a chimney....hmmm...I'll have to get creative. Speaking of Santa, I am a bit bummed that Avery didn't get a picture with the roley poley man this year, but there is always next! Mollie sent me a picture of Benson with Santa and it is just too cute not to share!

We spent our first family Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Brausa's. She slept the entire time we were opening gifts and we made a lot of noise and she never woke up! As you can see in the pictures below she was very sleepy.




Despite the fact that we ran out of diapers, wipes AND formula (we thought we came prepared!) overall we had a great Christmas spending time with the family and I stuffed my face with some delicious mashed potatoes, ham and some jubilee!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and now it's time to ring in the New Year!!!

2 Months!

Doesn't her hair look red in natural light? Not to mention she has her mama's pale skin!

I cannot believe Avery is already 2 months old, where has the time gone? Overall, we have had a good month 2! Highlights of this month are definitely Avery's weight gain (and she is putting on an average of an ounce a day...you go girl!), learning to suck a pacifier, learning to drink out of a bottle (these are huge people...huge accomplishments that took practice!), she is more aware of her surroundings, and my personal favorite...she is smiling! I still have yet to figure out exactly what makes her smile as she does it at random times like when I'm changing her diaper or she is staring into space, but it's really cute :) I am still waiting for the perfect moment to catch it in a photo.


Speaking of Avery's weight gain, we have been hitting up the pediatrician's office weekly and had the wonderful opportunity this past Saturday to wait for 2 hours...and we had an appointment. Although very frustrating, we like the practice and the Doctor we have been seeing is very knowledgeable and he educates us (which as first time parents we need!). He told me that I need more fat in my diet (there goes my weight post pregnancy weight loss) and to eat more butter and olive oil. So, I have tried my best...and it wasn't hard at all...to add more fat! This will hopefully translate to Avery getting more calories from my milk, we'll see how it goes.
Andrew picked up a tree for us a few weeks ago, and even though I really wanted Avery to go to her first tree picking we had to refrain because it was too cold...there is always next year! She loves looking at the lights and some of the shiny bulbs.



We are headed to Long Island tomorrow to spend Christmas with Andrew's family. I'm hoping she won't do a numero dos in the car on the way there because there is really no good place to pull over to change her, and with her diapers these days...well, let's just say changing her on my lap will be a no go. :)
Below are pictures from Avery's 3 week photo shoot. We are really happy with them and she did wonderfully despite peeing and pooing on us, but hey, that's to be expected when you have a naked baby, right?





We wish everyone a happy holiday and safe travels to wherever you are spending Christmas this year!

Eat, Sleep, Poop

I'm certainly not traveling the world to find myself as is the character in the book, "Eat, Love, Pray". My book right now if I were to write one could be titled, "Eat, Sleep, Poop". That seems to be the world of baby and that is all she does. I'm not complaining, but out lives do revolve around those 3 words. It occurred to me last Sunday when Andrew was at the Giants game with his Dad that our dialogue (even texting dialogue) has greatly changed. We had added Avery to formula after she was not gaining enough weight (I'll get to that story later) and she had not gone number 2 in a day (this involves the 'Poop' part of our self entitled book). Well, she ended up going and I was so excited that I texted Andrew, "Avery pooped!", he replied, "That makes me so happy, it totally made my day!". Ha, all I can do is laugh because this is what our conversations, emails and texts now revolve around. Who knew we would be so excited to talk about bowel movements? Speaking of (I'm sorry...just one more poop story) Avery had a MASSIVE blowout the other day. I won't go into detail because non-parents reading this just don't get it, but let me just say it was so mind blowing to me that this little body could produce such...how do I even describe it...explosive and abundant poop. I had to take a picture of her clothing to show Andrew because I was in complete and udder shock, and let's just leave it at that. :)
So, back to little Miss Avery's weight. I have been religiously feeding her every 2-3 hours (once in a great while 4) and I was so excited to go to our pediatrician appointment to see how much weight she had gained. Andrew and I thought she was filling out her newborn clothes and gaining weight...wrong. I put her on the scale at the doctor's office and I was dumbfounded when the scale read 5lbs 12 oz...say what?! That is what she weighed at her last appointment, how could this be? She's grown in length and her head had even grown, I just didn't understand. I insisted to the woman that was weighing her that we have to do it again, there is just no way that scaled is right. I return to the appointment room and wait for the Doctor to come in and I am just shaking my head, wondering what the heck is going on. The Doctor enters and she asks how we are, and I tell her I am concerned about her weight...and as I'm saying this I feel my lip quiver and a big knot in my throat develops and....you got it...I started bawling! Oh my goodness...hold it together Megan! Nope, I just kept crying and saying, "I don't get it", "I feel so bad", "How has she not gained any weight?". I finally calm down and the Doctor suggests we add formula to her diet since she is obviously not getting enough milk from me. Fast forward 5 days and we are back at the Dr. office and the Doctor walks in and looks at me and says, "How are you doing?" I thought...does she mean am I going to cry again this time? :) I am happy to report that she had gained 6 oz and we are back on track...whew! The only hurdle to get over at this appointment now was Avery's Hep B shot and I was so nervous. Thankfully I did not cry (probably because Andrew was there with us) and Avery was so brave! She cried for a minute and then that was it. I guess I was worried for nothing. Hopefully the rest of her shots go the same way!
Overall, I would have to say that we have had a good past few weeks. We have conquered the pacifier, and by this I mean she finally found one she likes. Andrew had bought every pacifier known to man and she hated them all...we finally found one she liked, and this makes for a happier family. :) We have also just recently conquered the bottle, which makes mama extra happy because this means that Andrew can feed her now too...and I can get some extra sleep!
I have found that finding time to write on this blog has proven itself challenging. When I have a free moment (a rare occasion), sleep usually trumps blogging. The fact that Avery is going to be 2 months next week and I haven't even written one thing about our adventures in the 1st month is...well...reality I guess. I know I am constantly saying I will be better about updating the blog so I am going to work on doing that.
Avery's first month has been both challenging and rewarding. We are head over heels in L-O-V-E with her and often find ourselves just staring at her while she sleeps and we still can't believe that she is ours, we feel so lucky! She is a very good baby, and now that we know that her fussiness earlier in the month was probably because she wanted more to eat (still shocking since she was attached to my boob hours on end) brings the near closing of the second month to a wonderful end. AHHHH! Sigh of relief!
Another sigh of relief is that my Dad is home from the hospital! Yeah! After 5 1/2 weeks of ups and downs he is finally in the comfort of his new home. I am so thankful for the thoughts and prayers from so many wonderful friends and family. Keep the prayers up as he still has a hill to climb but at least it's not the mountain he had to overcome in the past month!
Below are some pictures from Avery's first month...


Her first shampoo was a success....but her first bath was not such a happy occasion



Tummy time with Dad...has paid off!





Happy 1 Month Birthday to our little peanut!


Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa Brausa's...Avery's first outing! I thought this picture was hilarious, everyone huddled around Avery to see her for the first time :) She was a celebrity for a day!

Grandma Brausa and Great Grandma Minoo

Grandpa Brausa taking a break from cooking Thanksgiving dinner to sing to Avery

Whew, Thanksgiving wore me out!
Grandma & Grandpa Brausa got me an ornament for their tree! Daddy hanging it up for me while I eat!

Life as We Now Know it

It's not a big surprise that our lives have completely changed...for the better of course! We have had an exciting, emotional, and tiring first 2 weeks but we are learning so much about Avery and we can't believe how much she is changing everyday. She has been gaining weight and we can tell as her cheeks are filling out a bit! I am surprisingly getting very used to my 1 hour chunks of sleep 4-5 times a day too...this may come as a shock to those of you that know I used to need 9 hours a night! It's pretty easy to get used to sleep deprivation when you love the little person to death that you are up at all hours with :)
I got some old photos of Andrew and I when we were babies and thought it would be fun to compare with Avery. I think the picture of when Andrew was born looks a lot like Avery but I think her profile looks a lot like me. What do you think?










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Above is Avery at week 1
Below is Avery week 2


I originally had the text in the correct places but somehow it didn't end up exactly where I wanted it to go...but the Halloween "costume" above was the only outfit I could find for a baby not quite 6 lbs. She was a trooper although I think the one picture with her facial expression says it all..."Seriously Mom?" I'm looking forward to more options for next year :)

On another note, I wanted to update you on my Dad's situation. For those of you that don't know, my Dad was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance last Wednesday because he was having difficulty breathing. Apparently he hadn't been feeling well for the few days leading up to this. At the time we thought the worst as his health went downhill quickly. It's been an emotional week not knowing what the next day was going to bring for him but I'm happy to say he is improving day by day. Mollie flew down to Florida to be with him last Thursday and came home on Sunday. I debated on whether or not to go but since Avery was only a week old I decided against it. Without going into detail (of which I am not even sure I could explain everything properly) he is off the ventilator and eating ice chips. He still has a long way to go but I wanted to thank those of you who have kept him in your thoughts and prayers. Claudia continues to call Mollie and I with updates so I will keep you posted.

I will try to update the blog on a weekly basis, so stay tuned!

Avery Joy Brausa - 10/20/10 - 8:18am - 5lbs 12oz - 18 inches

Happy Birthday Avery! SHE'S HERE!!! Our little bundle of joy has arrived and we couldn't be more happy! I would have loved to have posted pics earlier but the maternity ward did not have wifi. So, today is our first full day at home so I can finally share with you our little peanut.






On the way home! She is so lost in her car seat!

I will give you a short rundown of the events that lead up to Avery's birthday. On Tuesday the 19th we had an ultrasound scheduled at 8pm. Andrew and I both came home from work and headed to the hospital to get one last sneak peak at our baby before her arrival. At the ultrasound we were met with the news that she was breach. This was a surprise to us as the past 2 doctor appointments I had I was told that "the head is low". Well, it was actually the butt! We were told to go back and wait in the waiting room and the technician was going to call the doctor to see what he wanted to do. Andrew and I were a little confused because it was 38weeks, 3 days and we still had another week and a half to go. After the doctor spoke to the technician we were told to head to the maternity ward...we thought...ok, this is weird. There, they did a stress test but we still weren't told what was going on. Andrew spoke to the doctor and it was determined that we would be spending the night. The amniotic fluid was a little low so there wasn't a likely hood that she would flip to a normal position. They were also concerned because her stomach circumference was a few weeks behind the rest of her body. With all of this information, the doctors decided to do a C-section the next morning!!! We were both shocked, scared and excited all at the same time...we were going to have a baby in less than 12 hours! Sure enough, at 7:45 we were prepped and headed into the OR and at 8:18 Avery Joy was born!
I have a lot more pictures that I will upload onto Kodak Gallery, so if you are interested in seeing them just let me know.

This is what I wrote on Oct 19th before we went to our ultrasound appointment...I was planning on posting it the 20th...10 day countdown until due date. I thought I would keep it and share what I was going to post anyway...who knew how wrong I would be and that we would see our little peanut the next day!

10 DAYS until our baby's due date?! Where has the time gone? I cannot believe Andrew and I will be parents in less than 3 weeks (I have a feeling she'll be late...maybe a November bay?). This whole experience has been surreal, so to think that we will have a little person joining us soon is just unbelievable!
September and now October have been flying by. Andrew's parents were gracious enough to throw us a baby shower the end of September in Long Island at a French Bistro (think french toast and pressed sandwiches...mmm!). The turnout was great and we had a really good time with friends and family and also received some wonderful things for Baby B.



My friends Erin and Jodi surprised me with a baby shower the first weekend in October which was fun and thoughtful! I thought we were having brunch at Agave (for those of you that know me well, know that this is one of my favorite restaurants...and they have the best margarita in the city...which of course I didn't have, but am looking forward to when I can :)). We had a wonderful brunch with all my favorites from the menu and Erin even made her special sugar cookies...my mouth is watering just thinking of them!

We each attended separate weddings on Oct 9th. Andrew's best friend Bo and his now wife, Laura got married in Savannah, GA. As much as I would have liked to have attended the wedding it was too late in the pregnancy (37 weeks) to fly and I wasn't in the mood to sit in a car for a lengthy road trip. I can't even imagine how many pit stops we would have had to make! Regardless, Andrew had a wonderful time in Savannah and unfortunately I don't have any pictures but I heard it was gorgeous! I stayed in the tri-state area and went to my friend, Emily and Darshan's wedding at a beautiful winery Upstate NY. My friend's Jodi and Jamie drove up with me and we hit some traffic on the way there, but that was the only snag in the trip...oh...except for the fact that we passed a rest stop because we thought it was too crowded. That was a big mistake...we didn't get to another bathroom until probably 30-40 min. later and I thought I was going to burst. Lesson learned, never pass up a restroom! Back to the wedding...the weather that day was perfect and the ceremony was on a hill with the fall foliage as a backdrop...just stunning (as was the bride)! Here are a few pictures of the wedding.


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I was originally going to update everyone from our ultrasound appointment here, but didn't realize that would not happen! I was going to post a picture and everything...now we know you would have only seen her little butt...ha...too cute!!!
We are thankful that everything worked out well, even if it wasn't in our original plan or thoughts. We can't wait to share and spend the rest of our lives with the most important person in the world!
I'll do my best do post more pics weekly...so stay tuned to watch Avery grow :)