Letter for Avery

This is a letter that I have started for Avery so that she can know all the things her daddy did for her while he was still here. It is just something that I wanted to write for her. I have decided to share it just to let other people know how good of a father Matt was for the little time he had to be around Avery. This is something that I will keep adding to as the days go by because I am not able to write down everything in one sitting. For everyone who reads this, this is just a place where I feel I can get my feelings out.


Avery,
I am writing this to you so that you can know how much your dad loved you and how much you meant to him. Right after we brought you home from the hospital, they told us that we needed to take you your doctor so that he could check you out and you would be able to meet each other. We brought you home on a Sunday so we were not able to make an appointment that day, but we needed to take you in to see Dr. Smith within two days of us leaving the hospital at least that is what the nurses said. The next morning right when he woke up, your dad was on the phone calling your doctor to get an appointment for you to come in and we went in to see the doctor at 2 that afternoon. Also before the left the hospital, the nurses said that we need to sit in the sun light of a window for about an hour a day to help with the little bit of jaundice that you had. So, while we were waiting for your appointment, you dad got ready for the day and then sat in the study with you in his arms in front of the window so that you could get some sun. He was so gentle with you. He made sure that you little head, arms and hand were out to be able to absorb the light from the sun. He was so proud of you and wanted to do everything for you. Later right as we were about to leave and go to your first doctor appointment, we heard this loud noise. You had messed your diaper. I turned to your dad and told him it was his turn to change the diaper. He took you into our room where the changer was and set you down and changed your diaper with so much care. He made sure that the wipes were ready to go and the clean diaper was ready to be put on before he started to undress you. He was so cute, I could not help but giggle, but at the same time I was giving you daddy a hard time because he had not changed a dirty diaper. When we were at the hospital, all the diapers he changed were just wet. He got very good at it.
A couple of days later he started singing a song every time you went poopy. He would sing “Poopy time, poop poopy time.” This would get on my nerves because you were not the easiest baby to change a diaper on, but your daddy loved that song and would sing it whenever he knew the diaper was poopy. You daddy also was to started teaching you early. He thought that if we told you we were going to fixe you up every time we changed you diaper, when you got old enough to talk you would come up to us and say, “I need you to fix me up.” He said it every time, I did not remember but I know that if he was still here, he would be saying it to you and he would be reminding me to say it to you.

After you were born and I was staying home with you, dad returned to work so that he could bring home the bacon. After about two weeks you had another doctor’s appointment. Your dad came home and we went to the appointment together. We talked with the doctor and he checked you out and I asked the doctor about tummy time. Dr. Smith said it was very important for us to do tummy time with you since you slept on your back. When you are awake, you needed to be on you tummy so that you could build your back and neck muscles. Also, if you were on your back too much, you would have a flat head. After the appointment, every time you daddy came home from work, he would ask if I had done tummy time with you because he did not want you to have a flat head. Then after he got home from work and ran with Jack, our lab, he would come back in and take care of you while I fixed dinner. He would do tummy time with you and encourage you to lift your head up and turn it from one side to the other. He would lay right next to you on your mat and show you how. I have some pictures and video of this when you would like to see it. Once you got to be a little older, around 4 or 5 weeks old, we were to started giving you bottles so that you would learn how to use then for when you started day care. This was your daddy’s job. He would give you a bottle everyday at 8 PM. That was the schedule we had you on at the time. You would fuss so much and did not want to take it at all. Your daddy was so patient with you, but he did get frustrated. He would talk to you and ask you to take it. Then when you did start taking to the bottle, he would encourage you then too. He was your big cheerleader for drinking out of the bottle. He would set up with the boppy pillow and a burp cloth. I have a picture of you and your daddy feeding you your first bottle. Your daddy was concentrating so hard so that he did not hurt you giving you the bottle, but he did not want you to spit the bottle out everywhere either. Usually when he was giving you the bottle, I would go take my shower. This was your bonding time with daddy. By the time I would come back into the living room, your daddy had you in his arms, holding you close to his chest burping you, or just rocking you in the recliner. You were never a really good burper, but he would always burp you because he did not want your tummy to hurt if you did get gas from the bottle. He loved you so much and could not wait to teach you every thing that he knew.