Student of the Week!

Emma was student of the week this past week in her class at school! She had a great time. On Monday she got to bring 5 things that she loved. She chose to bring her American girl doll, her dance trophy, her walkie talkie, an autographed Craig Biggio baseball that her Daddy gave her, and a picture of Avery in the NICU. She said the boys in her class thought the baseball was so cool. She had to take a "Marvelous Me" poster in filled with things she loved (other than people) and places she has gone. So she decorated the poster with photos of cheese nips, cheerios, ice cream, scooters, music, a camera to represent her love of taking pictures, the Mets, Disney World, and Vancouver, Canada! At the end of the week, Sterling went in and read to the class, "Pinkalicious", which is a book about a girl who eats so many pink cupcakes that she turns pink. So she took pink cupcakes with pink icing to share with the class after they read the story. Sterling asked the class what they knew about Emma. They said she was a good student, she never got in trouble, and she was always nice to everyone. She is so precious! She also had to bring in a letter written by me, telling her why she is so special to me. It had to be a short letter because the teacher would read it to the class. It was hard to write a short letter about how special Emma is to me because she is more special to me in more ways I can even count. I talked about how much her Daddy and I love her, and how much she makes us laugh and smile. I talked about how thoughtful she is and how sweet she is to her friends. I talked about how thankful I am that God lets me be her Mommy and what an amazing little and big sister she is. I wanted to share how her very name is so special to me, but I did not in the letter. Before I became pregnant with Avery, I was living a life unpleasing to the Lord. My life was a mess and my marriage was in great turmoil. I hit rock bottom and I prayed to God to help me believe. To help me believe He could satisfy my every longing and give me a better life than I could give myself. From that moment on, God became my everything and He changed my life completely and I have never been the same since. Oh how I love my God and oh how grateful I will forever be for His faithfulness, His mercy, and His GRACE! And not long after this change in me began, did I become pregnant with Avery. Her name, Emma Grace Edwards, is so much more than a beautiful name, but a forever reminder of God's life changing grace upon my life. Oh I pray one day when she is much older, that she will know she is more special to me than I could ever possibly explain or even fully comprehend.

Tune in to TLC Jan.31

I am very interested in tuning into "19 Kids and Counting" on Jan.31, on TLC. Michelle Dugger gave birth to their 19th child mid December, which was 3 months before her due date. Her baby girl, Josie, was born the exact same amount of time premature as Avery was. It was not until recently that viewers learned it was due to Preeclampsia, which is also what caused me to have Avery prematurely.
On Jan.31, they will air the episode when she went into labor and all that led up to it. When I saw the previews for the upcoming show, it was so weird.....so many same emotions we have in common. I am curious to watch and see what they went through. Their baby was born at the same time, yet only weighed 1 lb. 6 oz. Almost a full pound less than Avery, so I can only imagine their sweet baby girl has experienced more difficulties. I can still remember the babies in the Nicu with Avery, who were so much smaller than Avery, and they constantly had doctors rushing in to do emergency procedures. I am so thankful Avery was 2lbs 4 ounces, even though at the time, that seemed so tiny. I am so thankful she 19 lbs 12 ounces today and full of life and full of joy!

Our Trip to Alabama!

The day after Christmas, we headed to Alabama to visit my parents, grandparents, and my sister and her family. We had a wonderful time with them. I am so thankful everything worked out for us to make the trip. It was my grandparents very first time to see Avery, and it was a very special time for us all. Avery sat in my Mamaw's lap constantly and just played and played. She loved being with her Nana, Poppy, Mamaw, and Papaw! Madison and Emma had so much fun with their cousin Anne Blye! I enjoyed spending extra time with my sister and brother in law, Jeff. Jeff and I played spades against Taryn and Sterling, and that was a lot of fun. It had been years since the last time Sterling and I got to play cards. We just had a great time enjoying being with our family, and we hope we get to see them all again very soon....hopefully here in New York soon! :)

Nana & Poppy loving on Avery!
Poppy and Mamaw with Avery!
Avery thinks her Poppy is funny!
So happy holding Avery!
Emma loving her new American Girl doll stroller!
Emma loving on her Mamaw & Papaw!

Madison loves her new shirt from American Eagle!
Of course, every baby loves the boxes!
Nana is more excited than Madison about her new North Face Jacket!
My sweet precious niece, Anne Blye!
My sweet precious Sister with Avery!

Avery loves playing with her Mamaw!

Christmas Miracles!

Merry Christmas Everyone! We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year! In our house today, we have the honor of celebrating 2 very special birthdays! Our Lord and Savior, and our precious princess, Avery Hope! It is hard to believe our little Christmas miracle is 1 year old today. We had a wonderful morning celebrating Avery's first birthday. The nicu specialist said it would be better if Avery did not eat actual birthday cake, because her digestion system is still technically not a year old. So, we decided to have birthday pancakes! She liked the pink plate more than anything else! I can't help but think back to what I was feeling and going through at this time last year. It's still almost surreal to think about. And now as I sit here typing, I am looking down at my precious baby girl playing on the floor, and my heart is over flowing with joy. The words in my mind do not seem big enough somehow to describe how thankful I am to the Lord for all He did through Avery's birth, and all He continues to do each day in her Life. I am so thankful to be enjoying this Christmas day at home with all 3 of my girls and Sterling, rather than in a hospital. God sent us the greatest gift of all, His Son, over 2000 years ago, to be our Hope. As thankful as I am for Avery, nothing compares to the Hope we have in Jesus! Happy Birthday Jesus! Happy 1st Birthday Avery!

Continue to Pray for Avery!

Avery had a check up with the Neurologist this past week, and once again her head has grown to much since the last visit. The doctor is not alarmed at the moment because her soft spot is still soft on her head, which means too much fluid is not pushing on her brain. However, she will watched closely for the next several months by her pediatrician, and will go back to the Neurologist in March. Please pray the excess fluid will decrease and that her head will not grow more than it should in the next 3 months. I know God is in control, and I trust His plan for Avery, but sometimes the anxiety and worry creeps in on me. Please pray when I begin to feel anxious, that I will give those fears right back over to the Lord.

Our First Blizzard!

I must admit I did not believe the weather man when he announced a blizzard warning for Long Island on Saturday. Even mid afternoon we were still doubting because there had only been a few brief moments of light snow. But, starting about 7:30 pm last night, the snow began falling hard with huge snowflakes. About an hour later the real blizzard began. The snow was coming down so hard and so fast and whirling around like a tornado almost. The snow blew and stacked on all of our windows on both stories to where we could not see through the bottom half of the windows. Our entire front porch is covered and we could not open the back screen door. The church has a snow plow company come in whenever there is snow and he got stuck for a while trying to plow the parking lot. He finally managed to get some of it plowed but it was too much to make much difference. We are sadly not equipped with snow gear for the girls or ourselves, but we did not want the girls to miss out playing for a little bit. I bundled them with layer after layer and we made snow pants out of trash bags for Emma's legs. She wore Sterling's huge winter mittens so she could dig in the snow. I told Sterling we need to get some snow boots and snow pants for both the girls before the next time. I am guessing this won't be the last snow of the winter season, considering the official winter season did not begin until today. They did not last long outside because without proper attire they soon became soaked through and freezing. The snow was above Emma's waist out in the church field, and about mid-thigh on me. It was very soft snow, so it was easy for me to walk through, but it was not so easy for Emma to walk through. She was so funny! She is nice and toasty by the fire right now, but ready to go back out again! Sterling had fun with the girls in the snow! What a beautiful, relaxing, and peaceful day! Another adventure and first for us on Long Island! We love it!