Hello to all of Ava’s friends and followers out there. I can’t believe that Christmas came and went. A New Year is upon us and it seems I can’t keep up! We had a Blessed Christmas! Ava was pretty excited that Santa left her a Dora Kitchen set! She’s been a very good girl… or so she says!
I’d like to bring up a dilemma we went through recently. One of Ava’s photos (a picture of her very near death in the PICU) was stolen and used by a woman. She was claiming Ava’s picture was her sick son that had died of Cancer. I emailed her and asked her to remove it. I also informed the site where the picture was on. I was so disturbed by this. How in the world could anyone use Ava’s pain and our sorrow for their own bizzare pleasure? I was relieved to learn that the site took the picture down after five hours. Thanks to all my great supporters that helped me get it down. I think there are really disturbed people out there that need a lot of help. Ava’s emotional journey is something I wish we didn’t ever have to go through however I am AWARE of many more families we’ve helped along our way by sharing Ava’s story. It is battles like these that make me a bit sad we have those horrid pictures of Ava for people to steal. I keep telling myself that it all happens for a reason.
So now onto the Christmas pictures and all the Joy we shared!
Ava’s Preschool Present to us! I LOVE this so much!
And all the JOY these three bring…
And Ava doing her Santa impression.
Ava’s preschool brought to my attention that Ava’s hand strength is very weak. She has a very hard time even holding a pencil. We have a few ideas of why this is happening, one could be that she is just slower (since birth and being born with cdh … her normal muscle strength has been slow) and it takes her a bit longer to master fine motor skills. It may be due to her arm scar from the burn. She will be seeing a doctor for this very soon. We figure any help we can get will benefit Ava. We started her in hand therapy and she loves it. Her therapists name is Cindy and she is very nice. We go three times a week and each time Ava gets excited. She is gaining strength. We pray that it will return fully.
Here she is doing one of the tests.
And her least favorite…
I was shocked this morning when I weighed Ava.. 36.5 pounds. She gained a WHOLE pound! “Yea! Yea!” is all we kept screaming! We love weight gain of any kind… a pound for her is monumental!
I wish on each and every one of Ava’s fans a Healthy and Blessed 2012. More happy times and great strength to come! Thanks for your love, encouragement and prayers!
I’ll leave you with our Christmas Card Photo. We are Blessed to have these three Miracles in our lives! Each year (after Ava) I sign the cards like this, “Sending Miracles from Our Home to Yours!”
~Terri
