Our Journey to Parenthood: Avery is 2 Weeks Old!

Avery is the perfect two week old baby: sleeps, eats (a lot!), poops, pees, and loves just staring at us! She has been working on building up her neck muscles and she is starting to "watch" Pico! She is beautiful, amazing, and fills our days with smiles and laughs! She eats about 24 oz each day! This of course leads to about 12 diaper changes every day. I have officially switched to pumping breast milk full-time, since my frustration was getting the best of me and I realized that my sanity was at jeopardy! Pumping about 8 to 10 times a day is difficult, but at least I know that Avery is getting enough milk and she and I are staying much happier!

Avery had some out-of-state visitors on Saturday! Jackie and Mike Barrett (from Chicago) and Rachel Dockendorf (from Phoenix) were both in town and we all enjoyed catching up with each other. Jackie and Mike are expecting their first baby (a little boy) on August 23rd! They will make great parents!

Me with Jackie and Rachel

Avery had her two-week check up yesterday with Dr. Wendy Johnson at CentraCare, who confirmed her growth since birth! Her current stats: 8 pounds 5 ounces (48th percentile), 21 1/2 inches (87%), and 37 cm head circumference (74%). She was awake and happy during the entire appointment, Dr. Johnson was very impressed! We questioned the "birthmark" that we noticed on the base of the back of her head. Apparently that is very common and is called the "stork bite" and should disappear by the time she is a toddler.

Milestones for Avery recently:
She had her first tears on day 16, and on the same day she lost part of her umbilical cord (the remainder was taken off by her doctor the next day). Her doctor still recommended waiting about a week before we give her a real bath (not a sponge bath) since there still is just a little scab on her belly button.

PICTURES (from week 2)