Answered Prayer

We are not "out of the woods" yet, but this morning's sonogram brought a real sigh of relief. In fact, we have seen God's fingerprints all over EVERYTHING that's happened since Friday afternoon's initial worry.

The sonogram went perfectly well. Avery took a bottle and was VERY still throughout the process. Her fontanelle (soft spot) was still open enough for them to get a clear view of the brain and the technician was able to take 39 pictures to be sent to the Radiologist for analysis. On the spot, the technician was able to say (after heavy disclaimer reminding us that he was not the doctor) that her ventricles seemed a little dilated, but he would say she was within a normal range. He also said he didn't see any growths or tumors. (PRAISE GOD!)

Avery's pediatrician has already called us at home and his first words were literally, "Prayers were answered." (So thankful for a pediatrician who is also a believer in the power of prayer.) Dr. Nale still wants to go forward with the MRI on May 9th, and we agree. He said that the difference between analyzing the sonogram pictures and seeing MRI images are like trying to view it on your Granny's old black and white TV versus seeing it on a new plasma screen in high definition. The MRI will just give us a much clearer picture of her beautiful little brain (he didn't say "beautiful"... I'm taking some motherly creative license...) and we will know from that if there is ANY reason to be concerned. It was wonderful to hear him say, "The sense of urgency that I felt on Friday is no longer there."

Friends and family.... LOOK what your prayers to a Sovereign, Almighty God have done for our little family! Thank you for going to your knees for us. We may never be able to find the right words to thank you for your sweet prayers and words of encouragement during the past few days. We appreciate your continued prayer support throughout the MRI on May 9th, and we will keep everyone posted until then! We are truly blessed by each of you.

Resting in God's GOODNESS,
Stephanie, Collin and Avery Poage (Howie too!) :)

Encouragement

THANK YOU for your wonderful encouraging e-mails, voicemails, spoken and written words, scripture references, and mostly for your prayer!

We feel "prayed-over" today. Avery is having a wonderful, bright sunshiny day! Looking in her eyes, I keep thinking that everything is okay. That's our prayer.

Feeling VERY loved and lifted up--
Poages

We covet your prayers...

Life can change so suddenly.... I probably won't proofread this, so please forgive me if it's typo-filled and scatterbrained.

At Avery's routine check-up today, her measurements raised some red flags with her pediatrician. For those of you who understand the percentile structure, Avery was 50% on length which was fine, 10% on weight which was odd, and OVER 95th percentile on head circumference which is alarming with such a low weight. Up until now, it had been a little bit of a joke that her head was large since Collin and I both had bigger heads as babies. But with head-growth spiking as weight plummets, her doctor expressed concern that there may be an issue.

Avery will need to have an MRI to receive a diagnosis, and the earliest we could get her scheduled for an MRI was Wednesday, May 9th. There are a number of things that could be occurring here, but the doctor speculates it's Hydrocephalus, or "water on the brain." We have a sonogram scheduled for Monday morning, April 30th. The sonogram could possibly show confirmation of Hydrocephalus, but the MRI will give the doctors a clearer picture of exactly what's going on. An MRI is inevitable. If the sono shows nothing, they'll do it as a precautionary measure. If the sono shows "something" they'll do it to see exactly what we're dealing with.

They will put Avery under anesthesia for the MRI, which will be difficult to watch as her parents. If she does have Hydrocephalus, there is treatment. They will go into her skull and put in a shunt/tube which will remain in her body to redirect the collecting fluid and drain it out through her natural waste. (Frightening to think of this surgery, but we are so thankful to at least know that there is treatment!)

This is all very unexpected/shocking/hard to absorb at this moment, but Collin and I are resting in God's peace and we know that all of this has passed through His hands. This surprised us today-- but it didn't surprise God. There's PEACE in knowing that. It's the kind of peace that allows me to type this with tears running down my cheeks/chin/neck when all I really want to do is go peer into Avery's crib as she sleeps... I may be there all night. I hurt. I'm scared. I'm sad. I don't want anything to be wrong with my precious, seemingly-healthy daughter's brain. Nevertheless-- I have peace.

What keeps coming to mind as all of this sets in is something that was laid on my heart weeks, maybe months ago... That God brought Avery through us, not to us. Avery is not ours-- She is God's child. We are praying (and we ask you to pray with us) that the MRI shows a completely healthy baby girl, and that all this worry is for nothing. But even if it does show something is wrong, our position is..... Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Our sincere appreciation for your prayer,
Stephanie, Collin and Avery

Bed Head!

Being a Mom is so strange at times... Mainly because the weirdest, most random things can completely melt your heart. Today I experienced this very thing.

Avery has had a rough couple of nights this week (probably more teeth coming in) and the exhaustion must have finally sunk in because she CRASHED this afternoon and took a long, hard nap. When she woke up all cheery and smiley, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her and her cute little "bed-head" hair! She must have slept on it wrong because I couldn't smooth it... but honestly I didn't care... it was really cute!

Here's a video of her duck-tails hair, and it also shows her sitting up for a couple of seconds! :) (And then she topples over and you'll hear me assure my mother that the edge of the bed is further away than it appears!) :) We all survived!

Bootie-Scootin Boogie!

One step closer to crawling for Avery! She SCOOTS, and she goes backwards, but still it's a form of transportation and it involves hands and knees... so it counts. I hope you have time to watch the top video (2 minutes) that was my attempt at catching the "scoot" on tape. I kept talking and distracting her though, so it's not a very fluid scoot... Must learn to keep quiet while trying to video tape Avery. If you don't have 2 minutes to spare, check out the sped-up version below. We did this for laughs... but it's kind of fun to watch and hits the high points of the full version. (Also, it's oddly reminiscent of my own baby home videos on 8mm film... Sped-up with no sound. Gotta love the early 80's!)

Special thanks to Glen for helping us get these videos to a size that could be posted on the blog! The Grandparents would hug you if they could! They love these videos.

Hope everyone's doing well!

Shower "Power Nap"

This post isn't particularly dignified or news-worthy... but I had a few cute pictures I wanted to post and I thought I should also share the story behind them.

Well, it hasn't happened yet... but Avery is REALLY working towards crawling and at any moment our world could completely change from "She stays where we put her" to "Where in the world is she?! Check the doggie door!"

Now usually this isn't a problem -- the situation that Avery is becoming "mobile" more and more -- because I can keep an eye on her and scoot her back to the middle of the blanket and away from Howie's toys, etc. However, it gets tricky when it's time for me to hop in the shower and there's nobody to keep an eye on our little wiggle-worm. (Howie isn't exactly "babysitter" material.) So I had to resort to putting her in her bouncy seat in front of a Veggie Tales video so that I could feel confident she'd be in the same place I left her when I was through.

When I came back to see if she was still watching, she was napping. But this was no ordinary nap... She was napping like a cute little old man reclining on a Sunday afternoon with her hands folded in her lap and her little head tilted to the side as if on purpose. I thought it was precious! I had to share... No offense to Veggie Tales, of course! I'm sure it was a very entertaining (yet soothing) video.

I'm dreaming of a White.... EASTER??

Ahhhhh... Nothing says "Easter" like being curled up in the living room under a warm blanket watching the snow flurries outside the window and sipping a hot cup of coffee. ...Wait... What?! Sounds crazy, but it's true! SNOW. In TEXAS. In April! Somehow it just felt more like Christmas than Easter, didn't it? Strange...

We invited my Mom and Dad in town for the weekend and had great plans to go see "Dallas Blooms" at the Arboretum, but the weather had a different agenda. Nevertheless, we found lots of ways to make Avery's first Easter a memorable one. (Special thanks to Northpark Mall, Dudley's Dye, Cream of Tartar and Charlie Brown.)

It's always amazing to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and to reflect on what this holiday means. I hope everyone had an incredible Easter Sunday!... Snow and all!

Avery in Aggieland!

The wonderful thing about being a "stay-home Mom" is that you don't HAVE to stay home! :)

Collin had to go to College Station on a recruiting trip last Monday and Tuesday, so Avery and I decided to tag along! Avery had never seen the city where her Mom and Dad went to school, dated, etc... and it was prime time to introduce her to Aggieland! We were barely there for 24 hours, so we didn't get to see or do very much, but we visited some friends and got to see the Bonfire Memorial which was very special to me since my first "real job" was in the Bonfire Memorial Design Competition Office. It's amazing to see it finished! For so long it was just an idea.

We'll have to go back to College Station again soon. I had forgotten how wonderful it is... What a peaceful break from the "big city" lifestyle! It was wonderful.

I'm SIX MONTHS old!!

WOW! Hard to believe that half a year has flown by! Avery turned six months old yesterday, and it has been the most incredible, tender, exhausting, exhilarating, life-changing, meaningful time of our lives! We are truly thankful for each minute of her little life and cannot wait to see what God has in store for our precious daughter.

Happy SIX months, Avery! We love you VERY much!
Love,
Mom & Dad

Avery's Boy Friends :)

On Monday, March 19th, one of Avery's boyfriends was born-- Jake Bryson Misemer! We went to visit him in the hospital Tuesday night... He is absolutely adorable. Congratulations, John & Jennifer! He's perfect.


Then on Wednesday, Avery had a play date with another boyfriend, Drew Farell. It is so much fun to see these two together as their Daddies have been good friends since childhood. Lydia and I had so much fun taking pictures of these two. At one point Avery reached over and grabbed Drew's hand! It was a Kodak moment. (Watch out, Daddy... looks like she might be a flirt! ...I wonder who she gets THAT from?) :) The rest of the time they spent flailing their baby arms into one-another's faces... Hilarious.


Avery has stiff competition for these two stud-muffins!! There are quite a few other baby girls she'll have to share with! ;)

Not a huge fan of carrots...

We are having lots of fun trying new foods with Avery. She makes the cutest little faces when she's tasting something new! Bananas went over pretty well. They didn't catch much of a reaction. Carrots stopped her in her tracks as she tried to figure out what in the world I had just fed her! She didn't hate them at first, but she soon decided she wasn't a huge fan. We caught the "carrot face" on video, and we're so glad we did. So far, her favorite foods are the ones Mom mashes up for her! (Makes me feel good that my child prefers my food over Gerber!) Her ultimate favorite so far is a recipe of bananas & avocado, or what we like to call "banana-guac." One thing's for sure: She's a good eater! (She gets that from both sides of her family!) :)

Bananas = Happy Baby


Carrots = Not-so-happy-Baby

Wedding Weekend

Saturday afternoon was lots of fun since Avery got to go to her first wedding! Lacey Mehlenbacher and Mikey Baird said their "I do's" on St. Patty's Day. It was a truly beautiful event and we had tons of fun getting to introduce her to a lot of Collin's friends. She did GREAT and had a ball! Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Mikey Baird!! Hope you're having a wonderful time in Fiji!

Some pictures and a video clip...

Another tooth!

Avery is cutting tooth #2! (This is one of those posts that will probably only interest the Grandparents... You've been warned.) Amazing how quickly these choppers are coming in!... I didn't see it until this afternoon when she was fussy for no reason and I looked at her tooth (#1 that's already in) and right next to it was #2 that's already cut through the gum in two small areas. Poor kiddo. I think it HURTS.

Her new best friends are Tylenol and chewy teether toys that can go in the refrigerator and get cold. She also really likes it when I hold ice water in a straw and let her chew the straw until the water all drips out. Hopefully it'll be a while before she gets tooth #3. I think we all need a break from teething.

Here are a couple of pictures. The camera didn't pick up tooth #2 yet, of course, but you can see the other one.

Baby's first White Rock

A Saturday evening picnic at sunset by White Rock Lake... Does it get any better than this?

"Poage Vogue" - Strike a Pose...

Friday afternoon Avery had her first "photo shoot" at a studio. It was so much fun! I have to admit, I was a little anxious about the whole situation, but it turned out to be fine. I was reflecting on my younger years when we used to get all dolled up to go to Olan Mills for our yearly portraits. There we were (Jen and I) in our red velvet dresses, hair straight out of the hot rollers and "poof bangs" galore, with the photographer's assistants buzzing around molding us into these strange poses that felt SO awkward! I can almost still hear them... (cut to studio scene in the mid 80's) "Okay, Stephanie... I need you to sit up real straight and put your hands in your lap right over left... now look straight at me... bring your chin down... tilt your head to the left... chin to the right... left shoulder in towards me, and SMIIILE...." Ugh.

So-- needless to say, with those memories haunting me I was dragging my feet a little with getting Avery in to have a real portrait made. I was SO pleasantly surprised when the whole event was not only easy, but low-key too. The "digital age" has totally re-vamped studio portraits. It was so nice, and as an added bonus- AVERY LOVED IT! :) She was SUCH a ham!! She LOVED the spotlight and just kept smiling. I was worried she'd scream and cry through the whole thing... I'm so glad she chose to smile instead. Shouldn't surprise me that she felt natural in all those flashes. After all, this kid's no stranger to the camera! I guess my "Mamarazzi" sessions were good for something!

"Rice, Rice, Baby... ding-ding-ding-ding-da-da-ding-ding"

(For anyone reading this and wondering what in the WORLD is up with this title... you must not have grown up in the 90's.)



So we tried rice cereal with Avery the other night! Unless you're a Mom or a Nanny, you are probably clueless (like we were a few days ago) about what "rice cereal" is... and, no, it's not the "Snap-Crackle-Pop" stuff. Rice Cereal is kind of like Instant Mashed Potatoes for babies. It's really just flaky white stuff that you stir into Mom's milk and it thickens it up into a cream-of-wheat type substance. Even though there is a whole long list of nutrients on the box, my Pediatrician says it's not really for nutritional value, but to teach babies how to eat something instead of just drinking their meals. The first few bites were interesting... she has no problem with the whole spoon-to-mouth thing, but doesn't quite get the swallowing part yet. She did REALLY well though, for a first-timer! :)

It's exciting watching her grow up little by little! (I can't believe she's coming up on SIX months.... didn't we JUST bring her home?!) Here are some fun pictures of her first bites!

Nature Walk!

The weather was SO beautiful today that we couldn't help but get out in it. So after a fun few hours walking around Northpark with Andrea and Ella, Howie and I decided that Avery was due for her first "Nature Walk." Just to clarify... we've taken Avery for walks before, of course, but the "Austin" is coming out in me and this one was more centered around introducing Avery to nature; Leaves... trees... grass... bark... etc.

For some reason, this walk was a little nostalgic for me. I'm not sure if everyone has stories like these, or if it's just me, but my Dad LOVED to get my Mom, sister and I outdoors to explore nature. My most vivid childhood memories take me back to warm sunny afternoons spent walking trails at Zilker Park in Austin and feeding ducks with the leftover sandwich bread we kept for such an occasion. I could write forever just about the sights, sounds and smells I remember from those times... and now I appreciate even more the amount of effort my parents poured into making sure I learned from and absorbed my environment at the earliest age possible. So with all that said, it was an especially touching "circle of life" moment to take my baby girl out into nature and put her tiny hands up to plants and textures she's never experienced before just like my parents did with me. Her sweet giggles and gazes upwards to watch tree canopies swaying in the breeze were more of a treat for ME than anything.

It was obvious that she enjoyed her outside time! ...Maybe we have a 3rd generation Landscape Architect on out hands!... :)

I'm 5 Months Old!

Once again, we're late getting this post up but we have a little bit of an excuse in that February 29th didn't occur this year. (Hey, I said "little" excuse!) Happy 5 months, Avery! We love watching you grow!

...getting ready for the blanket photo shoot...


Avery sandwich!!

Teething Bites

It's official! She's got a tooth!

Amazing how time flies... Avery has already cut her first tooth and it's a SHARP little chopper! Didn't seem to bother her too much though. I wouldn't have even checked for a tooth if my Mom hadn't said, "Wash your hands and feel for a tooth..." Sure enough! There it was. It's the bottom right front tooth, for anyone who was curious. This should make feeding her EXTRA fun for me! ;)

She's growing up already!... Crazy.

I'd like to thank the Academy...

Inspired by an evening of watching the stars accept awards for their film performances, I thought it would be appropriate to post our family's "honorable mention" short films:

"Happy Feet"


"Little Miss Sunshine" (A re-make of the original Poage Family Screenplay titled "Peek-a-boo")

"Babble" (....yes, I know it's spelled differently.... it's meant to be punny)


...And the award for "Mom with surprisingly way too much time on her hands who seriously needs to give up the caffeine addiction and go to bed before the sun rises" goes to..... :)