Ava's version of scooting.....

She will do anything and I mean anything to get our cell phones in her hands! We decided to use that as incentive to crawl! She has been acting like she is ready to crawl for a few weeks now, but completely skipped scooting, which made us think that crawling was not going to be in the near future.  However, like always Ava has surprised us! In the last few days she started doing a crawl/scoot. As you can see in the video she uses her arms, legs, and rolling to the side to get to where she is going. We shall see what develops with her in the next few weeks.......but I have a feeling that crawling is in our near future!

View from the front......

View from the back......

Thanks Auntie Sandy for visiting me this weekend!!

8 months old.....

My baby is growing up so fast and is already 8 months old. We saw the pediatrician for a quick check up and a few shots and learned that Ava is finally all caught up!! She weighs 16 pounds 6 ounces and is 26 1/2 inches tall. These numbers put her in the 25th percentile for height, 50th for weight, and 75th for head circumference. We were so pleased to hear this news considering at 4 months she wasn't even on the charts yet. She really has done some major growing in her short 8 months of life. The doctor was pleased with her growth and said everything looks great. We are instructed to start giving her protein which means I get to grind up chicken and fish for dinner every night. This will be interesting! We were also told to get going on the baby proofing since she has become quite mobile and once the crawling starts there will be no stopping her! She is still getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, sometimes so forcefully that she unintentionally moves herself forward. It is so neat to watch her concentrate so hard on something that seems so minor to us. I love her determination!!

Ava loves that she can play with toys now in the bath. 

Sucking the water out of the toys is her favorite. 

Playing with daddy while waiting for Dr. Dimundo. Ava loves her new doctor and so do mommy and daddy. Dr. D's kids go to my school, so luckily I was able to pull the teacher card and we got in even though she wasn't taking any new patients. 

Trying to take her 8 month pictures, but I am learning that as each month goes by taking these pictures gets more and more difficult. 

Attempting a smile....I don't know what it is about the camera but my normally always smiling baby will NOT smile for the camera! 

There is my happy girl!! :) 

Trying so hard to crawl.....

She's got the rock down, but can't quite figure out what to do from there! 

Jump Jump Jumparoo

Somebody LOVES her jumparoo!! 

Tiny Ava (WARNING: this one is a tearjerker)

I have been organizing all of our videos and pictures onto our new computer and in the process I have come across some videos from the day Ava was born and of course I had to watch them!! As you know that day was a day of mixed emotions for us. Happy to meet our little girl, but also sad and scared of her early arrival. This video is of me in the NICU seeing and holding her for the first time after she was born. I did get to hold her for a couple minutes immediately after Birth, but she was all wrapped up like a burrito and rushed out of the room within minutes, so this is the first time I am really seeing her. It was an extremely emotional time, so please be warned this video is a tearjerker (at least it is for me).

We have many more videos of her from that day that I can barely watch myself and one day will probably feel the need to share, but for now here is a little piece of that special and emotional day. Please ignore the fact that I look terrible! Keep in mind I had been in the hospital for a week and had just given birth that morning, so keep your eyes focused on Ava and NOT me!! :) It is hard to believe my big chunky monkey girl was once that tiny!

Who is that adorable baby in the mirror?

I started this video to show you how much she loves the song, "Stuck like Glue" by Sugarland. I am not kidding she will stop whatever she is doing and start dancing and giggling when this song comes on! As you will see though she rolled her way over to the mirror and then discovered the baby on the other side and was fascinated. Kind of a long video, but shows her rolling, dancing, and fascination with the baby in the mirror!

7 months......(a little late in posting)

Next week Ava will be 8 months old, so yes I am a little late in posting her 7 month pictures, but in my defense it has been a busy month in our household!! Steve and I both started back at work days after returning from Hawaii and have had several issues with our laptop, which made it even more challenging to update the blog. We finally gave in last week and bought a new computer!

Ava is growing so quickly and changing every day!! Here are some things she has been up to in her 7th month of life.

- Sleeping 10 - 12 hours a night (with the exception of a few nights a week)
- Weight?? She hasn't been weighed in a while, but we are guessing somewhere around 16 pounds. She is barely fitting into her 6 month clothes and has started wearing 9 month pajamas this week.
- Rolling around like crazy! (Videos to come!!)
- Teething! (Her first tooth started to pop through tonight)
- Loving the homemade food that mom finally got around to making. I was very hesitant about this at first since I didn't think I would have the time nor the patience, but I am so glad that I did because she loves food so much more when mamma makes it!
- Trying to crawl. She tries to get up on all fours and then usually collapses and resorts back to rolling around to get from point A to point B.
- Scooting (backwards). Can't quite figure out how to move forward, but you can tell she is working on it.
- She loves to just roll around on the floor, play with her toys, and try to grab her hairy brother Bruce. I finally gave in and bought a jumparoo, since her new found mobility makes it hard to walk away for even a second.

- And I almost forgot the most important thing that has happened in her 7th month.....she is finally getting some hair!! It is VERY SHORT and VERY BLONDE, so you can't quite see it in the pictures, but it is definitely starting to appear.

Here are some pictures from this past month.

Goofing around with daddy before bed. 

Ava loves to feed herself!

I just couldn't resist posting this adorable picture. Nothing more adorable than a cute naked baby before bath time. 

It seems that she loves turtles just as much as her mom! (And don't worry I disinfected her feet like crazy after this)

The petting zoo!!

Play date with Asher 

Practicing sitting up with daddy spotting just in case. 

This was going to be a great picture until she decided to lunge forward and attempt to grab the camera from mamma. It's a good thing dad was nearby for support!

Chilling in my chair....

Apparently the stuffed animals taste better than they look

Ava and the ocean.....

We took this video on our last day in Hawaii, but with school starting and the computer issues we were having this past month I am just now getting this video uploaded and posted! Ava loved the ocean and especially the waves. I can't wait until next summer when she can be running around in the water! :)