Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ava goes big for her first turkey dinner. I think she enjoyed her first Thanksgiving. We did our annual turkey trott in the morning. This was Avas second, if you count I was almost 6 months pregnant last year. It was good fun and Ava was GREAT! Rich did great and we saw many friends as usual at the start and on the course.

She walks. Oh. No.

It happened. We went to the Stroms last night and Ava had a blast playing with Liam. I cant tell you HOW CUTE they were playing together. Liam was so nice to her. She pet her on the head and shared many of his toys without a whimper. Then it happened. Ava saw his push cart thing, she grabbed hold of it and stood up. The wheels started to move...I was like, "oh no here we go flat on her face" and she was soon in step behind it, walking. Unbelievable. With no help at all. I was in shock, mouth agape. So we moved the cart back to see if it was a fluke. Nope. She did it over and over again. And everythime we picked her up to move her back, she had to let go of the cart. - this caused massive irritation and screaming and crying until she was reunited with it again.

On our way home Ava fell asleep in the car and Rich though about stopping by Target to get her a cart of her own. I suggested maybe going home and getting it later. Richs response was, "I want to buy her her first bike though." So we veered off the course home to stop at target and pick up her new cart. Which I have a little snipet of her walking this am. Unfortunately its not her really going strong, but you get the idea. Check out her left foot. Its the ole drag technique! Hahaha!

Check Me Out

This picture cracks me up. I don't know if its her outfit or her face.

Date Night

Rich and I just got home from our first official date night. We left Ava in the hands of one of her favorite daycare providers, which made the transition really easy for all of us. Dinner was fabulous and the movie following was great fun too. I cannot recall the last time we saw a movie out.

Avas greatest achievements to date are that she is standing. This girl is determined to be the smallest walking human ever! I have to say, not as her mom, but as a person watching a baby growing with everyday challenges its totally amazing. As soon as she started crawling she started pulling herself up on anything she could. Immediately, and I mean within a day, she learned that if you let go - you fall. Shes a got a lil' bruise on her forehead for a good fall at daycare. Her solution - slowly lower herself to the floor while holding on with one hand. Then she started doing squats while holding on. Then she started cruising across the furniture. Now, check this out, she lets go and sees how long she can maintain balance. It would be for a split second at first and she'd grab back on to the ottoman/couch/excersaucer. Today she was practicing so intently over and over again, I can say she legitimately stood. She stood for at minimally 5 seconds. Count that out. That IS a long time. This all started with the crawling, 2 WEEKS ago!!! She is a determined little bugger. The best part is, is when she does her stand move she turns to look for recognition, or a "hey, check me out-did you see what I just did. I rock?!" I try putting her in the excersaucer a little more these days. That could slow her development down right? I don't think we are ready for a walker! Gates, we need gates!

turn it UP!

Listen to Ava snore.

Excernutso!

Avas first experience 'bouncing' in the excersaucer. I have about 6 of these videos because this was just so darn funny. I'll give you all the short one, you get the idea.

pics:
Black&White shots at brunch

Barley Teether

Tastes nasty, but looks cuter than ever, eh? We hit a local bakery shop for coffee and snack this am.

Close up crawling

I couldn't find the zoom key to zoom out on this! Its a funny one. She had climbed up the step into the kitchen with her eye on the sparkley water bottles. A favorite of mom and dad too.

Daddy, where are you going?

Rich got up at 5.30 to give Ava her morning bottle, he was spending some quality QT with her. Then I got up and we all played for a bit. Rich then went on the incredibly needed dunks run and ran into our good friend Elly and her son Tynan. LOVE our neighborhood! After he got back he had to run to Home Depot. Ava crawled her way over to the door and watched him drive away. It was the cutest thing I have seen in a long time. Well since maybe a few mins before when she was smiling and laughing with snot hanging out of her nose.

You should all know, it has been a week since she debuted her crawling skills. Everyday they improve with agility and speed. She literally follows me around the house. I have had the comfort of knowing she couldn't get up the step from the family room into the kitchen. That comfort has since gone, disappeared...poof! It took her just a week to decide to explore beyond the crazy flower rug. This is in part due to the fact she is mastering crawling on the wood floors. Slippery fleece or not. We need gates SOON. Unreal.

I dropped her off at daycare Thursday am, as I had a function after work and could not pick her up. So there I am at daycare, putting her bottles away in the bottle fridge. I had plopped Ava on the floor surrounded by a variety of toys of different textures and colors. This will keep her busy until I say goodbye. I hear a few babies crying, not unusual in the infant room. I turn from the fridge to put her bag away and i see her standing - standing over a baby bouncer hanging on to the toys dangling over the seat, with a young baby in it...at least 3 months. The baby is crying. Ava is smiling. It was almost horrifying to think that maybe she poked the baby in the eye, or pushed off of his face to get into a standing position. However, she didn't care. She was so proud. I honestly think he was just crying and maybe a little freaked out. I quickly 'removed' Ava and sat her on the floor with her toys and told her that we didn't climb on other babies to play with their special toys. She nodded in acknowledgment and said 'mommy, i wont do it again. i love you.'. That what she said in my head anyways. It worked for me. With a quick kiss, whisper and head rub I dashed out the door before she saw me leave.

we . are . in . trouble .

Crawler

This is a bad vid of her crawling, shes really much better than this, but her leg kept getting stuck in the body of her jammies. I guess that is what happens when you are a lil bit 'under' weight. If i get another clip that is better, i will update ya'll.


(this is not working right now..hopefully it will remedy itself. Otherwise ill try and figure it out.)

Dancin' Dancin' DAAAAANCIN"

I cant figure out how to rotate this-anyone have any ideas?

Sleeping Beauty

The crazy thing about crawling is how it increases your appetite so! Ava has broken her bottle strike(i think) and is taking in 6-8 oz more a day now!! She also seems to be taking better naps to boot. However our sleeping thru the night phase has seemed to end too. Shes teething and has a bit of a cold that isn't really helping with the sleeping thing.

Swim Class

Today we had our first real kid swim class. We had been attending another swim class previously, but it was geared towards a 'workout' for mom. This will be her official dunk class. Rich came and took a few pics then got ushered to leave the floor.

As punctual as ever.

Ava turned 7 months yesterday and wouldn't you know she started crawling. Shes also teething BIG TIME. Big milestones that seem to be making her sleep thru the night! Yippeee for mom and dad!!!

I should also mention, shes been seen drinking from her sippy cup. We got it to get her used to handling it, but she seems to want to go straight for using it for its intended purpose! Isn't she so *advanced*?!! teehee!