Ava's first Christmas!!

We had the most wonderful Christmas this year. My parents and my sister flew in to spend Christmas with us. We even had some "cooler" weather, so it did feel somewhat like a midwest Christmas. I feel so blessed that Ava was able to spend her first Christmas with both of her grandparents and her Aunts. On Christmas Eve we all went to church and surprisingly Ava lasted through most of it. We hosted Christmas Eve at our house and enjoyed a very tasty dinner and a relaxing evening with wonderful company. On Christmas day after opening a few presents under our tree we headed to Grandma and Grampy Scifres' house for more presents, yummy food, and relaxation.

Ava loved opening presents. Everyone said she would love the boxes and paper more than the presents and although she did enjoy eating some paper, she also loved playing with each gift that she opened. Our house currently looks like an aisle at Toys R Us, but Ava is one happy girl so I can deal with the clutter (for now)!

Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Crawling around with daddy before Church

Christmas Eve 

Ava;'s big gift from Santa. Her own Chair! She loves it!!

Opening gifts with Grandma!

Time for her stocking!

 Steve and his sister.

 The grandpas cooking away!

 Ok, sometimes the  box is more fun than the toy!

 Thanks for the table Great Uncle Mike. I love it!!

 Enjoying the blocks that Grammy got Ava for Christmas

Ava LOVES the motorcycle Aunt Beth got her. What Steve and I don't love are the sounds it makes!

11 months........

I have not planned anything for Ava's first birthday and I know it will be here in the blink of an eye. I am putting it off for two reasons......one, this is a crazy time of year with Christmas and New Years and I just haven't had a ton of time to do anything. Two, I get a little sad when I think about the fact that she is going to be one and a part of me knows that if I start planning her party it will actually happen! I know that sounds silly and growing up is a part of life, but geez why did the first year have to go sooooo fast?

Here is what my beautiful, spunky, and talkative little girl has been up to in her 11th month of life.

- Still LOVES music and dances any chance she gets.

- Talking a ton (of course)! mama, dada, yaya, rara, screams, and some new babbling that sounds like talking, except only syllables are still coming out. Occasionally we will get a closed syllable out of her and she will say, dad or dud.

- At her last doctor's appointment on December 14th (a few days before she was 11 months) she weighed 17 pounds, 6 ounces and was 29 inches tall. She didn't gain as much weight as I would have liked, but the doctor said she is still in a normal weight range for her age. 25th percentile for weight, 50th percentile for height, and 90th percentile for head. That head is still growing rapidly!

- She is standing up on everything! Doesn't like to do much cruising yet.

- Plays "peek-a-boo" with anything she can cover her face with. She also likes to hide behind the curtains or door for a more advanced game of "peek-a-boo."

- She is still nursing 5 - 6 times a day. I plan to start weaning her when she turns one.

- Eats 3 meals a day and one dairy snack in the afternoon.

- Loves finger foods and her sippy cup!

- She has been attached to mommy these days. When I get home from work I have about a 30 second window to pick her up before she starts to lose it!

- She gives kisses now and they are the most precious thing on the planet. She will lean over to you with an open mouth and give you a nice slobbery kiss. <3

- At 11 months she has 6 teeth! 4 are fully in and 2 have just started coming in. 4 on the top 2 on the bottom. Crazy, how quickly those suckers make their way in!

Here are some pictures from her 11 month photo shoot......

"Mom I hate these monthly photo sessions!"

"I don't want to sit next to my bear....I want to play with it!"

"You  better stop taking pictures right now or else......"

And this is the or else.........

"Mom, there is no way your going to get me to lay next to that sophie doll!"

Checking out that baby camera. It amazes her! 

So funny! Look at those top teeth. 

Long overdue blog post....our December

December has been a busy month, but a good one at that! Ava experienced her first time seeing Santa, her first Christmas (will make another post for that), and lots of fun with family and friends.

Here are some pictures from the past month. Oh and I almost forgot....she is 11 months old and way too close to turning one! (There will be a separate post with her 11 month photos and up to date stats)

We had professional pictures taken in November. Here is one of them I was able to download off of facebook. 

Ava helping me clean out the cabinets.....more like dumping the flour all over the floor and then climbing into the cabinet. 

Loves Gymboree

Playing the drums with Asher and "Books and Cookies"

Loves the big girl bath!

Our Christmas card. <3 Most of you have already seen it since I actually sent them out and on time!! Wohoo....I was very proud of myself. But on the other hand I did not order nearly enough, so if you didn't get one just know that it is because of that and next year I will know to order enough for all of our friends and family.

So our trip to see santa didn't go that great. At first she was ok with it, but as soon as I tried to put her on his lap she lost it and then you can see the only pic we did get I was holding her as she clung to me with a death grip!

Picking out our tree. No this is not the one we got, but thought this was a pretty one to take pictures in front of. :) I am so glad we decided to go with a small tree this year because Ava was very scared of it. I tried to get her to help put an ornament on and again she leaped into my lap and clung onto me. Maybe next year??

She is ok right now because she is distracted by a present, but as you see below when I tried to get her to help decorate she flipped. 

Not happy. 

Every Friday when I get home from work I take Ava to the open gym time at Gymboree. I love watching her climb around and interact with the other babies. I feel like its a nice "end of the week" activity for Ava and I. With basketball season being in full swing right now Steve has had games on Friday nights which means it's just Ava and I. A few weeks ago Grandma and Grampy Scifres joined us for some Gymboree fun and Grampy took some wonderful pictures of Ava.

How Big is Ava????