I love my Daddy!!!

The Top Five Reasons I love My Daddy
by Avaree Grace Barton

1. He makes me laugh!
2. He sings to me!
3. He loves me!
4. He loves my Mama!
5. He gets up at 5:40 am on school mornings to feed me breakfast just so that he can see me, even though he doesn't have to go to work until much later! :)

(p.s. Mama loves Daddy too!)

Happy 8 months, baby girl!!!

Avaree turned 8 months-old on Friday, but I was too tired to stay up even one minute after she went to bed! :) She is feeilng better!! Thank you sooooooooooooo much for praying for Avaree, and for Brandon and me. I stayed home with her on Thursday, Brandon stayed with her on Friday and of course I have been with her all weekend. On top of the bronchitis and her UTI, another tooth is trying to break through on the other side of her mouth, so now she has two teeth coming in at once! She has wanted nothing but Mama the past few days and I have been more than happy to oblige! :)  After those awful pictures the other day, I thought it was time for some of the precious faces that I've gotten over the last few days! :)

This was the sweet face i saw when I got home on Friday afternoon! :)

We dressed up for Daddy on Saturday night! :) (no, we didn't go anywhere--just wanted to suprise him, ha!)

Avaree loves taking a bath in the big bath tub with her friends Ducky, Froggie and Turtle! You can tell that she still wasn't feeling well here. :(

Our little prodigy at work...

It's going to be a "family" business.. :)

"No, Daddy, I want to sing!" :)

I'm sure her next project will include the composition of her first symphony... :)

A day that I will never forget...

Nine days ago, I took Avare to the doctor for a fever over 101 and congestion. The doctor told me that it was a combination of a cold and teething, but that I should bring her back if she is still running fever in a week. The fever continued and on Tuesday night it got to 101.6 and she woke up screaming in the middle of the night. She was pulling her little legs up like her tummy hurt, so I treated her symptoms and rocked and rocked. Wednesday morning her temp was down to 100.4 and I couldn't stay home (maternity leave=no more sick days with being docked significantly) and Daddy has an interview. So, I took her to Mrs. Donna's and then hesitated to leave her b/c she felt like she was getting warmer. But then she started playing with the big girls, so I went to school. I called to check on her around 9am and she was asleep, but then sweet Mrs. Donna called me around noon and told me that her fever was back up to 101.6 and that she just didn't feel good. The earliest appt that I could get with her pediatrician was 4:15 and the doctor ordered a CBC. Daddy walked in right before they drew blood from her big toe and I was so thankful to have him there. The results came back with an elevated white blood cell count (and this scared me), but the doctor said that she couldn't tell much from it and that she wanted us to go to the hospital and get a chest x-ray done. This seemed strange to me, since her lungs were "clear," but we did what we were told! Brandon and I discussed that we both felt like the pediatrician was missing something and I really wanted to just take her to the ER right then. (We were already at the hospital, afterall.) But, we decided that I would take her home and just see how she does. I was convinced that this was something more than a cold and definintely something more than just teething. When we left the doctor's office, Avaree had 100.7, when we left the hospital she had 101.6 and when I got her home, she had 104.0!!! As I pulled her out of the car seat, she was hot to the touch and I knew her fever had spiked, but wasn't prepared for that number! This was terrifying, especially since it went up so quickly. I was home all of ten minutes before I put Avaree back into the car and we headed straight for the emergency room. Brandon left choir and met us there. After reading her chest x-rays from earlier, being cathaterized for a urine test, a flu test, another CBC and getting an IV, the doctor told us
that Avaree had both viral bronchitis and a urinary tract infection. Since she hadn't been eating much lately and refused to eat that night (if you know Ave, you know that this is not like her!) she was a little dehydrated, so they gave her fluids through the IV and then some strong antibiotics as well. Around 11 pm, they sent us home with another antibiotic prescriptions, directions to follow up with our pediatrician and a (still) crying baby. This was such a hard experience for us in a lot of ways. But I couldn't help but think of all the mommies and daddies that sit helplessly in the NICU or cancer center just praying for their sweet children.

When we got home (around 11:30 pm), I was able to feed Avaree a little and get her to sleep, but she soon woke up screaming again and at 6:30 this morning, she still had 102.7. I took her back to the pediatrician this morning and she explained that she thinks Avaree might have urinary reflux and will need to have an ultrasound and some other testing done to confirm it. If this is true, she would be on a daily antibiotic--which comes with its own set of problems too. Brandon and I decided that we wanted to get a second opinion before we put Avaree through any more tests, so Uncle Spencer found us a pediatric urologist at Texas Children's Hospital in Plano. As parents, we only want the very best for our baby, and have realized that we are truly her advocates. For example, I KNEW that something was wrong, and I was right. I have learned to trust my intuition; whereas before I was a little hesitant.

We would like to thank you for praying for our sweet baby and ask that you continue to pray for her and for us as we make decisions toward finding the culprit of her illness. I would also like to apologize to those that we were unable to contact yesterday. Please know that I was terrified and did not want to do anything but hold my sweet baby and comfort her as best as I could. Thank you for your prayers and understanding.

I have a few pictures from yesterday that I both don't want to remember and don't want to forget.

This was right after they put her IV in. She (unfortunately) has rolling veins like Mama, so once they stuck her, they had to move the needle around. It was the HARDEST thing to watch and Daddy had to support us all.

Sweet Uncle Spencer brought Mommy and Daddy some food around 9pm, since we hadn't taken any time to eat! Thank you, Uncle Spencer!

This was taken after Avaree had just received her IV fluids and was feeling better! She was our little girl again! (Soon after, though, they brought in the rocephin and I didn't see this sweet little half-smile again until today!)

Pictures from a Sunday morning with a doodle bug... :)

I do realize that I already fulfilled my "weekly post" this morning; however, there are a few more pictures that you just HAVE to see and that cannot wait until next week.

Life with Avaree only continues to get better (and lots more fun) with each passing day. I cannot WAIT to be home with her EVERY DAY in T-3 more weeks!!!!!

I was going to put Avaree in the nursery for the first time this morning, but she woke up soooooo snotty and coughing that I decided to put it off for one more week. I must admit though (before you start clapping for me) that I was going to be in there with her. I am going to serve in the nursery on the 3rd and 5th Sundays of every month now. I would like to clarify my reasoning though! At Pwood North (and most churches around here) the nursery staff is purely volunteer (people that love babies like you and me!!) and I KNOW that they will love on my baby and she will be just fine. For me, the reason that I haven't put her in the nursery yet and the reason that we sit in on the worship service and play in the atrium during the preaching is because I have to voluntarily/involuntarily give Avaree up 45ish (on a good week) hours per week already and it is hard for me to give her up on the weekends too! So, there you have it. As a minister's wife, I know that I cannot hold this perspective for long, but here's hoping that I won't always have to be away from my children during the week!!  I say all that to introduce the next two pictures. One of the (million) reasons that we LOVE our Daddy is that if he can make time to come see us, he will! In between practice with the youth choir and the children's choirs this morning, Daddy came home for an hour to see us! :)

Avaree and I are his #1 fans!! :)

Before lunch, I decided to take Avaree out for a little stroll to soak up some vitamin D! We didn't stay gone long b/c of the frequent times I had to stop and blow her nose, but it was a beautiful day (without any wind--finally) and Avaree loved being outside (and so did I)!!

I put her in the swing at the little park by our house and she was absolutely enamored with the sounds of the birds! :) Poor kid, she doesn't get out much b/c it is always so windy around here!!

She looooooved the swing! :)

Yay for my stroller!!!

Yesterday, I was playing Peek-a-Boo with Avaree after she woke up from her afternoon nap and she REMEMBERED! So, when I went to get her from her nap after lunch, this is what I found!

"I'm breaking outta here!!!" :) haha! She was so proud of herself! Unfortunately, I started laughing (big time), so she is likely to continue this dangerous adventure b/c she wants to make us laugh! (Her cause and effect skills are really growing!) What is my afternoon project? Figure out how to tie this bumper down very tightly! :)

Love it. Love her. Love you all for loving our sweet baby and keeping up with our crazy lives. :)

Teething and Daddy Time!

Mama made Daddy happy the other night by putting Avaree's hair in a mohawk during her bath! :)

You can tell she was running a fever here. Her little eyes look sad! She was up from 12-4am Wednesday night and ran a pretty high (for her) fever. This coupled with snot everywhere and no sleep meant Mama was staying home with her on Thursday. I took her to the doctor and the doctor showed me her bottom right tooth that was breaking through the skin and then said she had some kind of infection on top of that. Her lungs were a little cloudy and she was congested, so we're assuming it is some kind of respiratory infection. Her fever is gone now (and it was too high to be explained away as a side effect of teething), but she has been sooooo cuddly since then. Even more so than usual, which I LOVE! We are officially teething, which I can deal with, I just don't want her to be sick on top of that--since the teething already makes her feel bad!

"I'm going to crawl!"

"Are you watching me, Daddy?"

"Okay...I'm tired."

Reading with Daddy!!!

It cracks me up that Avaree very seldom looks at the actual book. She prefers to watch our facial expressions and listen to our voices! :)

Daddy is great reader!

Love this one!!!

Her little face... so sweet. :)

Yes, you guessed it! This is Avaree watching her favorite show on Saturday morning!

How could you not fall in love with this face?

Our little angel girl... :)

(Thanks for the outfit, Gigi and G-Pops! Thank you, Granmama, for my new headband!)

"but Mommy, my tooth hurts! No smiling!"

Silly girl playing!! :)

Perfect. :)

Hi Mama!

Saturday morning was beautiful, but it was sooo windy! So, I put Avaree in her "Little Princess" (that made me think of you, Aunt Jamie!) wind breaker and we went for a ride in her wagon! As you can tell by the looks on her face, she LOVED it! I only went round and round the driveway about 100 times, but she could have gone for more! :)

Avaree was such a trooper this weekend. On Saturday, I had promised my students a last minute AP review (their AP Language test is Wednesday) from 3-5, so guess who got to come with me? :) That's right! She was a little shy at first, but then she thought she should show the kids how she could talk too! She was only slightly distracting while I was trying to teach, but I don't think the kids minded a bit! :) When I am with her, I always give her 100% of my attention, so when she was playing on the floor next to me, but I was up teaching and not looking at her, she wanted me to pick her up! It was precious and I hope the kids got something out of it, but I must say that I certainly did enjoy showing her off to my "big kids." They were my children before I had Avaree, so it was certainly a milestone moment for me! :) If you get a moment, please say a quick prayer for my students on Wednesday. They have worked so hard and just need to be able to transfer the skills that they have learned to new material. It's a hard test: they have 55 multiple choice questions over pre-20th century and modern passages of literature and then have to turn around and write three essays in two hours! Needless to say, I am greatly anticipating being able to breathe a little easier once it is over! :)

After we got home from school, I fed Avaree, we met up with Daddy, and we packed back up to head to Flower Mound to celebrate Paige's dedication!!! Paige is Avaree's 2nd cousin and was born one month and one day after Avaree! This was the first time that they have been around each other since they have begun to interact with the world! :)

"So...your mom does this bow thing too. Interesting."

"Hey...do you want to meet up at Target later? I heard Earth's Best Antioxident Blends were really good. My mom always wants me to eat organic foods. What about you? We could try the real stuff if we can break away!"

"Dane and Paige have such cool toys! I loooove the horsie!"

"Mommy, loooook at me!"

Avaree and Grandmother!

Grandmother with her two great-grandgirls! :)

Grandmother with her great-grandbabies. I think she was in her element! :)

Avaree sharing (at least upon encourgement to do so) her toy with Paige.

This is what I got to look at all day today: A perfect little pumpkin doodle. :)

"Cheese, Mama." Avaree has started posing every time she sees my camera! :)

Avaree in her favorite store: Target! She got to ride in the buggy for the first time!!! SO FUN! :)

These are my two favorite people in the whole wide world.

I had a perfect Mother's Day. :)

Speaking of my two favorite people...Tonight, my sweet little routine-loving baby went to sleep after her bath and feeding at her usual 7:30 and then around 8:15 I heard her grunting on the monitor, so I went in to check on her and quickly changed her diaper (the poop smell was overwhelming). Well...because she is such a routine girl, this threw her off. So what did we do? She and I had the pleasure of a private concert from Daddy!!! We kept the lights down low, turned the tv off and just cuddled as Daddy sang to us! It was the sweetest most precious thing ever! I put her down a few minutes later and went to talk to Aunt LaLa on the phone. I heared her start to whine and cry a bit, but saw Daddy go in and pick her up. What did I hear after that? Giggling. She and Daddy were playing in the living room and watching basketball. I went in the living room and saw them snuggled on the couch. This made my whole day. There is no sweeter sight and no sweeter sound. Happy Mother's Day to me...what a wonderful gift! :)

Cheeser again. :)

I am so blessed. Avaree is the light of our lives and a pure delight. My Mother's Day gift from her was getting to see her CRAWL for the first time. As a working mom, one of my fears is that I will "miss" a milestone, so I was sooo thankful that I got to be with her for this one! When I think about God's plan for our lives, I am so grateful that he chose me to be Avaree's mommy and to do so in His timing, not mine! Being a mom has most certainly changed my life in the best way possible. My life revolves around a perfect little person that loves me unconditionally and what more could I ask for? :) Not one thing.

*Thank you for all the sweet cards, phone calls and text messages wishing me a Happy First Mother's Day! I have so many reflections on motherhood and hope to get to write them all down soon!

Of couse "Mother's Day" wouldn't be complete without a special note to our moms! I guess the whole "you won't understand until you have your own children" thing really is true. Thank you, Mom and Martha, for loving us, caring for us, worrying about us and praying for us all these years. :)

Love, Brandon and Allison