all i want for christmas...

...is you.

I don't want a lot for Christmas
There's just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want Christmas...
You.

Every time I hear this song on the Christmas station I can't help but think of Avery (actually I'm always thinking of her but this song especially reminds me of her). Unfortunately it does not appear as if she will be home for Christmas. There was a chance there early last week that they were telling us they were trying to get her home with us for the holidays but it just didn't happen. She still isn't taking all her feeds by bottle, although today she set a record 3 in a row and then smashed her record 3 hours later with her 4th full bottle feed! She knows the holidays are coming and is doing her best to give me my Christmas wish--to come home.  So even though it won't likely happen by Christmas, we still have New Years to shoot for :)

Yesterday we had a rough day. Avery was put back on the cannula after being off for almost 3 full days. She is at 21% oxygen which is considered room air and only needs 1/2 liter of pressure which is like a soft wiff of air, but she seems to enjoy it. Of course it was hard seeing her put back on it again, but if we have to we'll take her home on oxygen.

We also found out our little lady has kidney stones! What?! How can something so little have kidney stones. They only happened upon them when doing a kidney ultrasound looking for something else.  I of course was worried about how much pain she must be in having had a friend who described her stones as worse than labor.  And she is a full grown adult.  Avery's kidney stone is 3 mm, which is a decent size. Luckily we found out today they think they will just dissolve and we will continue to track them with ultra sounds.

On Tuesday Avery, her nurse Gayle and I did a little Intermediate Nursery photo shoot. I made her a special Christmas tutu and some Christmas tights.  Gayle rigged up some fancy backdrops and Avery did her thing. Below are all the photos from the shoot. Seriously adorable right?!

In case I don't have time to post this upcoming weekend I want to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you enjoy time with your family and friends.  I know this Christmas we have the best present ever in Avery!

I just had my eyes dilated so this is as far as I can open them. 

This unicorn was a gift from the March of Dimes. 

Thank you Nurse Gayle for all your help setting backdrops and posing me