On the {almost} move...

This is what I mean when I say Ava is more mobile. 

She can go from sitting, to the "crawl" position, back to sitting, to laying on her tummy to rolling to her back, and back again and again and again. 

She's constantly moving around...going, going, going; trying to find the next toy to entertain her.

It's very amusing to watch and so cute to see her learning that she has the ability to get what she wants 

all by herself. 

She is becoming much more fearless and less content to just sit in once spot for more than 30 seconds.

7 months

Dear sweet Ava Sophia,


You turned 7 months on April 29th. What an eventful month it has been! 

This month you were sick or teething 90% of the time. Poor baby girl. You handled it as well as could be expected, and just wanted to be snuggled as much as possible. This, of course, includes in the middle of the night. So, your Daddy and I gave in many more times than we should have and let you sleep with us. I loved having you so close to me all night long, but as soon as you were feeling better, you were back in your own crib. Thankfully, you transitioned back to your crib nicely. 


During one of your doctor's visits, we were surprised to find that you weighed 16.5 pounds (versus the 18.5 pounds you weighed at your 6 month appointment). The doctor said that while you probably lost a little weight because you were sick, he thinks the scale they weighed you on is weighing too heavy. So...I guess we will see about that at your 9 month appointment (the next time you have a well-baby checkup). 

You have become much more mobile and are so close to crawling, I can taste it. You can get into the crawling position by leaning over when you are sitting down. You get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth. You are slowly figuring out how to move your arms forward OR your legs forward, but you can't move them both at the same time. There are a lot of face plants, but you are getting much better! You can turn yourself around in a complete circle, as evidenced by the crazy positions I find you in when you wake up from your naps. 

We are continuing to work on pureed foods. We’ve also introduced you to some finger foods, like bananas, bread, and the almighty PUFFS. You literally go GAGA over puffs. You are slowly learning to feed yourself finger foods, but most of the time the food ends up anywhere but your mouth. I have found puffs on your shoulders, down your shirt, and once even wedged in between your toes. Keep practicing, little girl. Getting that food into your mouth is a skill you will appreciate for your whole life.

You have learned to give kisses. We pucker up and say "kiss kiss" and you lunge forward with your mouth wide open. Those slobbery, open-mouth kisses are cute for now, as long as you promise they are just for Mommy and Daddy until you are at least...25 (maybe older). :) You also wave "bye bye" but you don't know what it means yet. 


You started the month completely toothless. Now you have two tiny, white teeth in the front bottom of your mouth. Those little teeth were sharp and mean as they pushed their way through your baby gums, but now that they are out they are as cute as can be. 

You are wearing size 3 diapers and 9 month or 9-12 month clothes. I like to buy clothes a little big for you so you get more use out of them because you are growing much too fast for your momma's liking.

Here are some skills you have perfected this month:

• Putting your pacifier in your own mouth. 
• Sitting - you are 100% stable and able to sit on your own without falling. 
• You say many consonants now: Da da, ba ba, ma ma, la la. You babble all the time, and loudly too. 
• Falling asleep on your own. Thanks to sleep training I put you down fully awake for naps and at bedtime and you can soothe yourself to sleep every time. 
• Standing while holding onto something without any help. You have even learned how to pull yourself up if (and only if) you are sitting on my lap. 
• Toys hold your interest much better and for longer now. 

You are on a 4-hour feeding schedule now. You eat at 9am, 1pm, 5pm and 9pm. Sometimes you have a small "snack" between 5-7am.  I feed you a jar of baby food twice a day (usually around 10am and then again around 8pm). You always go to bed at 9pm and wake up at 9am. You take two naps, one at 11(1-1.5 hours) and one at 3pm (2-2.5 hours). It is so nice having you on a schedule. 


Ava, you continue to charm every person you come in contact with. The second someone smiles at you, you flash them the biggest baby grin anyone has ever seen and they go nuts over you. You are a very social baby and you love people. Your Daddy and I are so proud to have such a sweet, lovable baby. You are absolute joy. 

We have an fun month planned ahead! You will be taking an airplane ride to Colorado to see your Uncle Jayson graduate high school. It will be your first time away from Daddy, which will be so sad. We will miss him. But as soon as we come back, we will be moving to a new home. How exciting!

Love you so much, sweet Ava Sophia! 

Love, 

Momma

A big change

I know I usually post about baby Ava, 

but today I thought I would share something new about myself. :)

I have been wanting to do something, anything to my hair for a while now. 

My hair grew SO fast when I was pregnant, and I swear it grew even faster after I had Ava. 

It was long, damaged and just...blah.

I have only ever had long hair. 

The last time my hair was "short" was in high school, and even then it wasn't that short.

I've always loved shorter hair on other people, but I was too scared to cut my own.

BUT I decided to just bite the bullet and cut it. 

Why not? I was wearing my hair in a ponytail everyday anyway. 

So...

(Keep in mind these are just pictures from my phone, so they might be blurry or whatever...who cares haha)

What do you think?

I honestly thought I would be panicing, but I haven't looked back once!

I feel like a weight has literally been lifted off my shoulders!

My hair feels SO healthy and bouncy!

Now I just need to invest in a smaller straightener so I can curl it. :)

Also, I decided to try those press-on nail polish strips just for fun. 

They have some cute patterns and colors; I chose gold glitter. 

SO easy, super cute...I love them!

(Please ignore my HORRENDOUS nails. I am in serious, serious need of a manicure obviously.)

And I finally jumped on board the colored denim bandwagon.

I have wanted some pastel pink ones for a while, so when I found the perfect pair I was so excited!

Okay enough about me.
Thanks for humoring me for a little while. :)

One last picture for this post.

I was sitting on the couch holding Ava and I noticed we both had our feet crossed. 

Same legs and everything. 

Love sharing my life with my sweet baby girl!

Videos {April #3}

This is Ava's new trick. She "waves." I'm trying to teach her what that actually means so she can do it on command haha. I say, "Bye bye" whenever she does it. 

Haha This video make me laugh. She LOVES Baby Mozart. LOVES. She can be so fussy, but the moment it comes on, well...see for yourself. :)

I feel like she is SO close to crawling. She still doesn't "get it." She can hold herself up, and she can even move her arms forward OR her legs forward...just not simultaneously. 

Ava loves Puffs! They are like little Cheerios, but they pretty much "melt" in your mouth. She just gums those little suckers to mush. 

 Beautiful day at the beach. 

Ava has learned how to give "kisses." This video makes me laugh because I was trying to catch her giving me a kiss, but she was so distracted and looking all around. But in the next video, she finally gives me a kiss. Big, wet, open-mouth kisses.

 

Another kissing video. Cutie. 

Tooth? Teeth!

Ava's first tooth popped up April 1st. (6 months, 3 days)

It has been slowly, slowly making its little way up, up, up.

Now it looks like a tiny, jagged white Chiclet (you know, the gum you get at Mexican restaurants). 

Daddy threw her up in the air to celebrate this monumental occasion. ;)

And that's not all!
Tonight during bath time, Bryson noticed her second tooth has officially popped through!
(8 days before 7 months)
Pretty soon, we'll have a little chipmunk with two shiny white bottom teeth.
Cute, cute, cute!

4.20.2012

The last two days have been dreamy!
The weather has been perfection, skies vibrant blue and birds chirping endlessly.
Nothing is better than the true realization that summer is just around the corner.

I took Ava outside today, just for a few minutes.
Her eyes were dancing wildly, taking in every single thing.
I could not get her to pause even for a moment to look at me (or the camera).
Summer girl in the making.

Lately

Here's what we've been up to lately...

We are LOVING spring in California! The flowers are in full bloom and the hills are GREEN and beautiful! 

Ava is as happy as ever now that she is over her sickness. :)

We have been to favorite ice cream place in Berkeley several times. 

Ava is learning how to eat finger foods. She can grab the food and move it towards her mouth, but somehow it always ends up on her...shoulder? Yep.

Ava's hair is definitely starting to get longer and it is MUCH blonder than it was when she was born. 

Ava loves to "veg." :)

Ava has become very "snuggly" lately (which I LOVE). She will lay her head on your chest or shoulder and just...well, snuggle. :) Makes my heart melt every.single.time.

Spring brings fresh fruit! I am still in awe every time I see an orange or lemon tree. It must be the "Colorado girl" in me.

Ava is now sitting in a booster seat or high chair when we go out. She is much, much, much, much happer to sit with us and like a "big girl" than she was sitting in her car seat. 

With the warmer weather, we have been taking more walks (which means Ava has been taking more evening naps). :)

We got Ava some coral "skinny" jeans. I have started buying clothes a size or two too big (on purpose). That way, when she first starts wearing them, they are a little loose/baggy but still wearable. Then, she has plenty of room to grow into them and get a lot of wear and tear out of them. Can't handle buying clothes for her to only wear them for a month. 

Ava got caught in her first rain storm. We had to sit in the car to wait it out for a minute, which resulted in Ava's first driving lesson.

Ava has been keeping the tradition of Sunday night Skype sessions with the Websters alive and well. :)

Auntie Kait came to visit and we had SO much fun with her!

Ava is now holding herself in this position and she will rock back and forth. But that's the extent of it for now. I still think crawling is a long way away. 

Sweet little baby girl. 

Ava has found her toes and is all of a sudden incredibly flexible. 

I dare you...

I dare you not to smile while you watch this. 

:)

Videos {April #2}

I love when Kaitlyn comes because she takes so many cute videos of Ava! 

So, here are the most recent videos. :)

This video is cute. Every time we make a "gasping" sound, Ava squeezes her eyes shut because she knows we are about to blow on her. She thinks it's so funny. 

We were at a baby store and we decided to have Ava take this toy for a test drive. She was actually taking little steps on her own using this thing until I took out my camera and she got distracted. 

I am SO grateful for Ava's newfound ability to put her own pacifier back in her mouth. Yay!

This is what I hear anytime we drive anywhere. If only I spoke Ava's "baby-ese." :)

Kaitlyn playing Peek-a-boo while I make dinner.

Ava is getting much "braver" with standing.

I just think this is cute. I would "poof" air on her using the little squirt bottle. 

Haha. Okay, so this video needs a lot of explanation. Ava is getting really good at holding herself in "crawling position." Of course, she just sits there and doesn't crawl yet, but it's still cute. So tonight, right before her bath (which is why she is nakie), we were watching her doing her crawling position and she starting doing this strange "yoga" posing. Seriously? Sooooo funny!

Just a matter of preference...

Ava's favorite toy.

I swear, every time I look up she is holding this little red thing.

I guess it's good she can enjoy the simple things in life. :)