Only in Cali can you have a day at the beach in the middle of February!!

Here are some pictures from our afternoon at the beach a few weeks ago. Ava was being such a ham that day I just had to post these pictures.

These were taken by Anna's sister Christina who took some of the best pictures I have ever seen of Ava!

New floors, birthday party, and the Zoo!!

Along with all of the sickness that has been in and out of our house this past month we also decided to put our home through a makeover. After Ava's birthday we realized that with walking just around the corner it was time to finally get new (safer) floors.  Our house had spanish tile floors throughout the whole place except for the bedrooms. Although at times I liked the authentic look it gave the place, most of the time I HATED them!! They were very hard to clean, cold, and not fun for Ava to walk or crawl on. She also could not get her walking toys to move that well over the grooves in the floor. My main concern was how dangerous they were to Ava. True spanish tile is more like cement! We found an amazing company who was able to take out our old floors and put in hardwood throughout the whole house in just under 2 weeks. It may have been the longest 2 weeks of our lives, but it was all worth it in the end. For a few weeks we lived upstairs in the bedrooms and Ava lived at our nanny's apartment during the day. It was definitely a crazy few weeks, but thanks to our wonderful nanny, wonderful grandparents, and a very go with the flow baby we were able to make it work.

Here are some pictures from this past month........

Helping daddy clean the kitchen

Ava getting some love from her bf Asher

At Claire's birthday party Ava wanted to steal the show and her cake. Ava kept trying to climb into Claire's chair and get her cake! 

During construction Ava got to eat in her room. I don't know who liked this more, Ava or Bruce. He was able to jump into her chair afterwards and eat all of her leftovers. 

Happy Valentine's Day.....Even with a fever she is happy to see her daddy and get her Valentine's day stuffed animal. 

Playing with daddy's basketball

Just being cute......beautiful day at the beach 

Pushing the stroller is way more fun than riding in the stroller

Loves to eat!!

Enjoying lunch before heading to the zoo

So BIG

She pointed at every animal and also called it a "woof woof."

Watching the monkeys with dad

Amazed by the flamingos. 

Trying to be as tall as the Giraffes. 

She thought the elephants were pretty cool. 

1 year check up(s)

Yes you read that correct, she had not just one, not two, but three one year check ups! Blogging has taken a back seat to the busy month we have had. First off, Ava was terribly sick (ear infection and virus) at her one year check up so we had to go back two weeks later after she was healthy again. A few days before her second appointment we got a call from the doctor telling us that Ava's blood work showed that she had higher than normal levels of led. Like any new mom would do, I freaked out and immediately brought her into the doctor to get her blood taken again (second visit). The nurse explained to me that many times the high led count is a false/positive and we had nothing to worry about, but I wasn't going to rest easy until I knew for sure. Luckily, the nurse was right and her second blood work came back normal. At her third visit to the doctor she was finally healthy and happy (well at least until the she got her shots). A few weeks after her third visit to the doctor she got sick again with a nasty virus and cough. Since the worst of it came over the weekend we did not take her in, which would have made for a fourth visit in under a month!

Here are the stats on our spunky little one year old.

Weight: 18 pounds, 11 ounces - 25th percentile

Height: 29 1/2 inches - 50th percentile

Head circumference: (I have no idea, but I do know it is the 90th percentile)

- Words she says: mama, dada, brrr (Bruce), bye, hi, no, woof woof (for dogs and pretty much any animals she sees), fafa (fan).

- She is not walking yet, but getting closer everyday. She loves to walk around the house with her musical walker. She also loves cruising around the couch and coffee table.

- She will stand on her own, but only when she doesn't realize it. As soon as she knows there is nothing or nobody holding her she immediately falls to the ground.

- Putting things in a container and taking them out could keep her busy for hours!

- She is eating much better these days. All table food (pretty much whatever we eat cut up into tiny pieces). She loves her morning smoothie that I make her to pack in as many fruits, dairy, and iron fortified cereal as possible.

- Nurses twice a day (We are slowly weaning).

- She has been such a fun little girl these days. She loves to rough house with daddy and cuddle with mommy. She laughs at everything and loves to hear others laugh.

I didn't take any 12 month photos, but did get this cute picture of her the night before her birthday. Opening her first birthday card. :) 

Pre-birthday fun playing with her friend Claire. 

101 fever and still smiling!! 

She was so cuddly when she was sick. I miss my tiny newborn who did this 24/7.  <3