Avas New Room

We have finally finished Avas room. We still have to hang a few things, but all in all its done. See more here: AVAS ROOM

the big Walker

I should let you all know that Ava continues her walking efforts. She now on average takes 13-20 steps at a time. Check out her swivel technique.

Rock-a-bye Baby

I'm not sure how long Ava has been doing this, but as she started stirring at 5.40 this am, Rich brought her into bed with us to see if she would sleep just a LITTLE bit longer. (wishful thinking) She seemed a bit restless and then it happened, she rolled over and it looked like she was going to crawl to the wall, but she went back to a little ball position. Then back to the wall....It was then I realized she was rocking!! Just like I did and my mom did as well. It still amazes me everyday to see her develop so many different skills and awarenesses.

She has also mastered the step between the kitchen and the family room. She can go up and down it just fine. Very cautiously, too. I picked her up at daycare yesterday a little bit early. So I got to talk to her teacher who proceeded to tell me that Ava was standing in the 'pool' today(the pool is this gym mat type pool)and she wanted to get out. So she reached over the edge to find the floor(like she does at home) and she couldn't reach. You know what she did next? She took some toys out of the pool and put them on the floor so she could reach the ground and get out. Which is exactly what she did. This to me seems almost impossible. I'm not sure if its because I still think of her as a little baby, I mean she is right? But she truly is growing up so fast. *sigh*

Christmas Day Morning

Well, we decided that we were not going to get Ava anything for Christmas. We figured she would enjoy the paper and ribbon more than anything else, so why not go with it. Last minute we decided to get her something, just to do that parent kid thing on Christmas morning. Rich set up her 'TUBE WITH A VIEW' before we got downstairs. Its much more exciting that way as I recall my childhood memories of Christmas morning. I've got a video of that as well. The quality is really horrible, I might try and re-compress these so they look better. But until I get to that, you get these.

I must say that Christmas was a big hit and Ava was so good and happy for the most party. She got some really great gifts from her family and friends as well.

Christmas Eve

Avas Grandparents(Pete and Claudia) and Great Grammy(Joyce) came over for Christmas eve dinner and a present exchange! The biggest event of the night was watching Ava open her gifts. She was in heaven! Im pretty sure she enjopyed the wrappings much more than the gifts. Very Cute. Here is a snippet of last night:

Cheeriooooooohhhhhh-s!

This is sort of old, but it must be posted.

Claps, Meatloaf and little teeth

super fans.

So there has been MUCH going on. It has been SO BUSY at work and home. Ava is still a nut. 2 days ago she climbed ALL of the stairs by herself to the second floor. DON'T Get crazy, I was behind her the whole time. I saw her go to the bottom of the stairs and I said to myself, no way she goes up. Then shes up 1 step and i get behind her just to see how far she will go. ALL THE WAY UP. No help from me. And would you believe we still have not purchased any gates? I guess its time. I believe I mentioned she was clapping and waving hello and goodbye.

Its fair to mention we had our first REAL accident the other day, I thank god Annie was there with me. Ava tipped over a small empty trash can and with her new teeth the lip of the can pushed up on her lowed jaw, causing those teeny teeth to bite right onto her upper lip. Now, it sounds like nothing just stating it as that, but as a first time mom and forgetting mouth wounds bleed a lot, I just about had a heart attack. There was so much blood in her mouth on her hands on her pacifier...on me. I thought she lost a finger. Anne calmed me down and said that it was her lip. She encouraged me to sit down and comfort Ava while she got some ice. I am pretty sure I was shaking. Ava really only cried for about 3 minutes. She sucked on one of those meshy bags filled with ice for at least 15 minutes, which really helped with the swelling. But she did get a nice fat lip. Instead of admitting that she fell on the trash can in my presence, I think ill tell people its the new baby botox. The latest thing for babies. In any event it was SO scary and im glad its over. For now. I know its just the beginning esp because she taking more and more steps everyday. We can hold her hands and she will RUN around the house for as long as we hold her hands.

She has also started eating REAL food. Daycare has fed her hotdogs, english muffin pizzas, meatloaf, mac&cheese, potatoes, beans and check this out, at daycare she drinks out a sippy cup by herself with BOTH hands. The cup has NO handles. The things she doesn't tell us when she comes home!

Speaking of the little devil, its 7.45 and she has slept maybe 30 minutes today. And shes WIDE AWAKE. Unreal. I think there was more I wanted to report on, but I cant recall at the moment. Stay tuned for the Christmas morning video though!

School Pictures

I never anticipated the day i would be handed Avas school pictures. The white envelope and the crinkly plastic window for a preview! Before I looked at these photos, the ladies at daycare told me they broke a sweat trying to get Ava to smile for the camera, not to mention pulling the props out of her mouth. I mean, come on, don't those apples look DELICIOUS?! Anyhoooooo...here is a previewing of them. All 3. They crack me up every time i look at them. You all know if you click on the photo, you see an enlarged version, right? Check her out. HA!

I forgot to mention this past Friday she started clapping(as far as i know) and shes also waving. Its random wave and she often gets confused by it and is not sure whether she should or she shouldn't. Or she just happens to be shaking her arm at appropriate moments. But we all know how 'gifted' she is. ;)

Unbelievable...

So I was planning on posting to the blog tonight and I got this email today:

" ...And she's off! The stages of crawling usually go something like this: from a sitting position to all fours, to rocking back and forth, to finally pushing off with her knees — and then starting to move forward (or back). But there are plenty of variations on this progression. Many babies never crawl at all. Others develop a crawl style that looks more like soldiers bellying through the brush or monkeys poised on fingertips and tiptoes"

The funny thing is, I was posting to let everyone know she took her first steps last night!! I mean I cannot believe it! We heading out to a friends for a holiday party, Rich was finishing up getting ready upstairs while the babysitter, Monkey(AKA Shaun) and myself were waiting downstairs(plus Ava of course). Now you should all know, our babysitter is a girl from daycare who interacts with Ava every day. So, Ava is pulling herself up on everything and standing holding her toys and such, when Nikki says, "you know shes going to walk any day." And I look at her and say, "DON'T say that!" Of course we smile and turn back to Ava. Out of no-where she takes a few steps. There were legitimately 1 1/2 steps. Probably an additional shuffle before she fell. But it was a shocker non-the-less. My jaw was on the floor, Niki was laughing with her hand over her mouth and Monkey was trying to talk about his job or something of the like. Rich was still upstairs. It was like she did it for Niki. At least people will believe me at daycare now. They all think Im nuts. And well, I guess I am, but listen-she really WAS teething for 4 months! I swear.

Anyhoo-shes pretty much the smallest walking human I have ever seen. I should have known she would be taking her first steps soon. That day she was pretty much running with that little car of hers. It seemed like just yesterday she looked like a cross between Frankenstein and the hunchback of Notre dame.

Shes the cutest!!

Teeth and More

So after 4-5 months of me telling everyone that Ava is teething (which includes 2 ear infections), shes got a teensy mountain range erupting from her lower jaw! It feels like a barbie saw! Her eating has gotten worse. I'm not sure if its due to the tooth or her nose- that is running like the dickens!! I felt like I had some monumental stuff to write tonight, but my brain is mush. Ava woke up last night at 3 and pretty much didn't settle back down until 4.30.

She turned 8 months this past weekend. We got her some fun stuff from Ikea. Namely a large turtle that she is crazy about. I'm not sure if its because its a giant round plush disc that is almost as big as her, but she loves putting it over her head or leaning back on it in her saucer. Then of course over dramatically, throwing her hands above her head. It cracks me up every time. She is also experiencing separation anxiety. Its bad. I could put her on the floor and walk behind the couch and she flips out. Thank god i don't drop her off in the mornings! Rich says shes a little bit clingy and cries just a little bit.

Lights are also a deep fascination of hers. She loves to point at them and touch them. Not the hot part people. Her facial expressions are much more vivid and her smiles and laughs are abundant. Shes still quiet serious though.

Oh! Some new explorations in Ava's world. Crawling UNDER things. She loves to take the route under/through legs versus around them. Also between narrow passages of say the couch and ottoman. Monday morning she got stuck in her excersaucer, or should I say under it. IT was too slippery for her to crawl out. This past weekend we werea t the Rings admiring their new baby, Max, when I noticed Ava was semi lying on the floor attempting to crawl...but an ottoman was in the way. I then realized she was trying to crawl UNDER it, but there was not enough head space so she just stayed there and kept on trying.....I guess thinking if her legs kept moving she eventually would get under there. At some point before or after this attempt, she chucked her paci under it. Either in pure disdain or another reason to attempt getting under that ottoman! Or perhaps it was her way of waiting to watch someone else go get it so she could see how it was done. :)

In any event, she never stops, there are not breaks in her world, just *pitstops* for eating and sleeping. And, you know, shes still tapping a foot, bouncing a leg, rubbing my arm and any number of other things WHILE shes at an ole pitstop.


Rich holding little Max Ring