The Tufts Family

Guess Who's Two!

2010-02-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Averi turned two on the 31st. She LOVES Spongebob. So she had a Spongebob Squarepants party. Thanks to all of our family and friends that celebrated with us and made the day great for Averi.

Little Lady. No longer a baby.

The cake. Averi loved her cake. My awesome neighbor taught me how to make it. It took me, Rob, and my sister to get it right.

Opening presents

Looking at her new treasures.

Bubbles!!!

Catch up

2009-11-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Averi's Spring and Summer

Summer fun with Sophia

Rob and Averi in St. George

So pretty

First Fudgesicle!

Herriman Beach

Averi started walking March 18th!

Celebrating Averi's one year home with her friends at the Zoo.

Exactly one year after Averi came home they came and picked up all of her oxygen and monitors. Such a great day!

Averi and Milo at our friends cabin in Bear Lake

Easter with Cousins

My cute Monkey

Learning to crawl is tough. Averi fell into a toy and got her first bonk on the face.

Birthday Girl!

2009-02-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

January 31st was Averi's 1st birthday. She had such a fun day.

We had fun going to lunch with some of Averi's nurses. (Especially Rob)

We had a party for her at our house. So many of her friends and family came to wish her a Happy Birthday.

Does this girl know how to party, or what?

Christmas

2009-01-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

This is so late but I had to share some pictures of Averi's first Christmas season. She made this Christmas so fun and exciting for us. We had a pretty interesting year. It makes us so much more grateful that we can spend Christmas together as a family.

Thanksmas- Because there are so many kids in my family and we all live so far apart, we have a tradition where we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas together in a weekend between the two holidays. That way we are always able to spend the holidays together every year. We have such a great time.

Grandpa and the kids in their matching Christmas pj's

Christmas Eve- It wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't visit the people we are so grateful for. So one of our stops was the NICU to visit the people that have become like family to us.

Averi and Linda

Averi with Tawnya and Emily

Christmas Eve party at Grandma Tufts-

Averi and her dad being Santa's helpers

Christmas Day Averi was so excited about her presents under the tree. She knew exactly what to do. She would unwrap one gift, look at it for a second, push it aside, then wait for the next one. She was so fun to watch.
Getting excited to open her present. Showing off her gifts Christmas is exhausting

Averi's First Halloween

2008-11-07T19:50:00.001-08:00

As most of you know, Halloween is my favorite holiday. Averi made it especially fun this year.

We took the girls to a pumpkin patch to get pictures. Of course I went overboard and decided Averi needed to be dressed like a pumpkin. This costume was so cute I made her wear it alot.

The girls in their cute tu tus Marinda made. Averi was sticking her feet in Sophia's face and Sophia was disgusted. Makenzie is oblivious of her cousins drama and just smiling pretty for the camera.

Matching Pumpkins

Ready for trick or treating.

Being so cute.

These are the pumpkins we carved this year.

We had a Halloween party this year. Our friends and family that showed up made it so fun! Our family dressed up as The Incredibles. Rob and Averi looked so cute.

The cake my friend Marinda made. It was so cool nobody wanted to ruin it by eating it.

We played Doughnuts On A String game. The kids and the adults had fun playing.

8 months and 8 pounds

2008-10-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Another month has passed by before I update our blog.

Averi's blessing

Averi was blessed September 7th by Rob's uncles. We did the blessing at our home with close friends and family. We were so happy that so many people shared the special experience with us.

Averi in her blessing dress.

Rob's Aunt Roxy, Uncle John, Uncle Ken and Aunt Joann. His uncles did the blessing. They have been such a wonerful support to our family.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Cutler. (Alicia's Grandma and Grandpa)

A week together.

My sister Brittney got to go to Disneyland for a week so her baby Makenzie stayed at our house. My sister Tiffany came from St. George to help me with two babys and brought her two kids Xavier (3) and Sadie (18mo.). It was so fun having all the kids together. It was even more fun having my sister stay with us because I don't get to see her as often as I would like. She is so funny. She would make me laugh to the point of tears so many times. It was great getting to know my niece and nephew better. I had such a great week with them. We miss them so much.

Averi and her uncle Brandon. My brother came to Herriman from St. George for a couple days to meet Averi.

Best Buds. Xavier and Rob. Xavier loves Rob so much. Whenever he would hear the garage or the front door when Rob would come home from work he would scream and jump on the Rob and want to play.

Great Grandma Cutler holding Makenzie and Averi. We love you Gam Gam!

Sleepover!!! Party in Averi's "crib"

Averi and Makenzie hanging out in their swings.

Sadie's ready to go to the grocery store!

Makenzie's sweet smile. She was so fun to watch.

Trying to take a picture of my sister and the kids. Apparently the t.v. is on. You would never know these kids are related to me.

July/ August Pictures

2008-09-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

We were very busy the end of July and August. Averi is doing so well. She has been off of her oxygen during the day for a few weeks now. It has been so nice not having to take the oxygen tank with us everywhere and its been nice seeing Averi's cute little face without any tubes or tape in it. We went to see some specialist a couple weeks ago. They put her adjusted age at 3 1/2 months. She passed all of developmental tests they gave her. They said she is an "amazing" baby. We are so proud of her. She weighed 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 21 inches.

My friend Marinda and I took six month pictures of our girls. We put them in one of Averi's toy baskets.

Sophia thought Averi was either a doll or a snack.

Averi and Sophia in their cute yellow dresses. My sister brought this dress to me a couple nights after Averi was born. I cried over it because I didn't know if she was ever going to wear it, or if she did, it would be a long time. I was really excited for her to finally fit into it. It only took six months for her to fit into a newborn dress.

Cousins

Averi's pouting face

Averi and Pranay. She liked him so much, she wanted to eat him.

Our wonderful friends Kipp and Chelsea let us borrow this bouncer because Averi seemed to like it when she used it at their house. She loves it so much. She will sit in it and talk to the animal friends on it for awile. I am actually able to get things done around the house.

Family

2008-09-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

This cut out Dana. She is our other cat.

Getting So Big!

2008-07-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry this took so long to update. So it will be extra long since there is alot to catch up on. We have been keeping pretty busy. Averi has been home seven weeks now. We are having so much fun with her. She just had surgery on her hernia. Everything went well. We hope this is the last surgery and hospital stay for awhile. She is growing so much. She was 6lbs 4oz now!

Averi smiles all the time. She is such a happy baby. She is probably the happiest when she isn't dressed.

For one of Averi's first outings we took her to the St. Marks' NICU reunion. She had only been out for a month but we missed some of the wonderful staff and wanted them to see how much she had changed since she left. There was a news team there. We got interviewed but apparently Rob and I weren't that interesting because all they showed on the news was a close up shot of Averi. We can't blame them. She is pretty cute.

Averi finally got to meet some of her friends and family that have been waiting so long to see meet our girl.

Averi (5 months) and her cousin Makenzie (3 months).

Averi's cousins Sammy (12), Cameron (7), Sierra (9), and Ashlyn (11). We are so happy to know that Averi is going to grow up with these great kids! They love her so much and we are sure she will love them as much as we do.

More cousins! Averi (5 months), Aiden ( 4 weeks), Sophia (5 months). Sophia is only 2 days older than Averi.

Addie and Emma Ware. I love how cute Emma looks in this picture. She is so excited to get to hold Averi.

Ellie Ware. She was so cute and gentle with Averi.

Grandpa Neil (Chuck Norris).

Great Grandma Cutler. Averi instantly snuggled up and fell asleep in her arms.

Home At Last!

2008-05-30T16:19:00.001-07:00

Averi finally came home Tuesday May 27. She was 4 lbs. 13 oz. 161/2 in. when she left the hospital. She is still on oxygen. We are so excited she is at home with us. We got to spend a couple of nights at the hospital before she left to practice being alone with her and her machines. Her nurses were still there to help us out so it was fun. It was exciting and hard to leave the hospital. We met alot of incredible people and made some long time friendships in the NICU. They made the time we spent there exciting, fun, and a generally good expierience most of the time. We miss them already. Averi misses her friends at the hospital, especially now that she relizes who her real parents are.

Leaving the hospital

Spending the nights at the hospital.

Our huge four pounder

2008-05-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Averi finally hit 4 lbs 3 oz last night. She is taking all of her feedings with a bottle . She is in an open crib so now mom and dad can hold her when we go in to visit her. We are spending more time at the hospital now that we are able to do her cares. Mom spends all day there then comes home long enough to make dinner and get some stuff done around the house, then mom and dad go up at night. We are so excited for the day Averi comes home. That day is getting so close.

What a little ham. We were taking pictures of Averi one night while she was awake. She made so many faces at the camera. These are some of my favorites.

Playing dress up. We got Averi a build a bear with a cute butterfly princess dress. Her resperatory thearapist thought it would be fun to dress Averi in the outfit. Averi hated it, but we got some cute pictures.

Two Months Old!

2008-04-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

Averi is a little over two months old now. She has changed so much. She is weighs 2lbs 6oz and is 14 1/2 inches long. She is getting fat on her body. She has the cutest chubby cheeks. She is off of her ventilator and is on regular oxygen. She is off of most of her medications so she is awake more often. She had her first bottle feeding last Sunday. She loved it.

Averi's first easter. She looked so cute in her bunny ears.

First time in clothes. It almost fits.

Averi Update

2008-03-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

I have been so bad at keeping this page updated. Averi has changed so much. We can't believe she is over a month old now! Since her surgery she has been doing alot better. We were able to hold her a couple times. She was eating really well and gaining weight. She is a little sick now so she has been set back on her feedings. Hopefully she gets better soon so she can go back to her routine. As of today she weighs 1 lb. 10 oz. and is 13" long. Thats pretty big considering she was 1lb. 4 oz. and 11 1/2" when she was born. She is getting so big. She keeps her mom and dad and nurses entertained with things she does in her incubator. When she is on her stomach she pushes her butt up in the air with her wobbly little legs as far as she can like she's trying to crawl out and make her great escape. She tries this for several minutes then she gets frustrated because she cant get her big head to move. Her most favorite thing is her binky. It takes up her whole face but she doesn't seem to mind.

Family photo. We finally got to hold her for the first time on Feb. 18th.

Before binky

After binky

Wearing our rings

"Excuse me, will somebody please take this tape off my face?"

Averi's Valentines Day

2008-02-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day was Averi's 2 week birthday. It was the first day we finally got to hold our little girl. It was also the night her doctors decided she needed to go to Primary Childrens to have her first surgery. She needed to get the PDA closed in her heart so that her levels in her blood and her breathing were normal so she could move on and start eating. It was so hard for us to accept what she was going to go through, but we also knew it was nessessay. They picked her up that night and Mom and Averi got to ride in an ambulance. Averi did really well in the transfer. They preformed the surgery the next morning. It only took about a half an hour but it seemed like eternity. Her surgeon came in the room and said everything went great. We were so reliefed. Averi did really well. Her mom and dad couldn't be prouder of her. She has already had so many challenges in her life and has excelled through all of them. We know she is being helped by all the love, support and prayers from so many friends and family.