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!