10 Months - A Perfect 10

Dear Ava Sophia,

You turned 10 months on July 29, 2012.

This month has been a busy, busy month! You have learned a lot and quite literally started the month a baby and ended it a toddler!

Yep that's right, you're walking! At 9 months and 3 weeks, you just magically started walking. Your dad and I weren't even watching or paying attention and when we looked up, there you went - cruising right across the room like it was nothing. Since then, you've been getting more and more steady. You've even learned how to bend down while you are standing up, pick something up and then stand back up all on your own without holding onto anything.

At the beginning of the month, you flew with me on an airplane across the entire country, all the way to Virginia. I was nervous to fly all by myself with my very, very mobile and wiggly 9 month old (that's you), and although it definitely wasn't smooth sailing flying, you were great and never cried once. In fact, all you wanted to do was stand up on my legs, look at all the seats behind us as wave like a waving maniac. :) After our 5.5-hour flight, several people commented on good you were and I agreed and assured them that you, in fact, cried fewer times than I did. :)

We spent 2 weeks in Virginia and loved every minute of it. It was sad being away from Daddy of course, but you (being the thoughtful, sweet daughter that you are) saved your big milestone achievement (walking) for after we got home so Daddy could see your first steps. While in Virginia, we spent time with Granny, Papa, Auntie Kait, Uncle Jayson, Auntie and Uncle Kent, Karley, Kameron, and the Bunn family (and more family, too!). You ADORED your cousins, Leah and Amy. You somehow thought you were one of the big kids and tried very hard to keep up with them. They were very sweet and loving to you. Granny and Papa watched you several times and you were very good for them. We went to the beach, Busch Gardens, Water Country, museums and the aquarium. We had a great time and were very sad to leave when it came time. You are a very loved (and very spoiled) little girl!

While in Virginia, Granny taught you how to play Patty Cake! As soon as we start singing the song, you instantly start clapping your hands and "rolling it." You still have yet to learn how to "throw it in the pan," but we are working on it. You also learned how to play Peek A Boo. You pull the blanket up over your face and pull it down quickly and smile really big as if to say, "Peek A Boo!"

Other things you do:

• You LOVE to give hugs and kisses and have become very cuddly this month. You will be playing, playing, playing and then stop to walk over to me, squeeze your arms around my neck and plant a big one on my cheek.  
• You love to snuggle with your Daddy. You will just sit on his lap and relax, something you will NOT do with me. :)
• You are the happiest when you are given free roam of the house. I have to watch you very closely because you get into everything. 
• You eat pretty much anything I am eating these days. You have learned how to take bites out of things. So if I hand you a piece of cheese, I don't even have to cut it into little pieces, you just take little bites. 
• You are a beggar when it comes to food. No matter what we are eating, you will stand beside us and try your hardest to grab our food and say, "Ah! Ah! AH!" until you get a little taste of whatever is that you want. 
• You love music and dance the second you hear any music. 
• You love books and will sit in your little corner quietly, thumbing through your books, pointing to the pictures and giggling. 

Things you can't do: baby sign language. I've been working on teaching you "more," "all done," "milk" and "eat," but you have yet to do any of them. You just look at me and smile as if to say, "Silly Mom. You actually think I'm going to do that?"

Phew. You've been up to so much, I almost can't keep up. This has been the biggest month yet! Your little baby brain was working hard to learn so much stuff, and we knew you could do it! Yay!

Ava, I can't believe there will only be ONE more monthly post until you are officially a one year old! Last year at this time, I was pregnant with you and had no idea who you were, what you would look like, what your personality would be like or what I was getting myself into. And now I love and adore this little person so much it hurts. For your Daddy and me, you are our entire world! We love you so much and feel so blessed to call you our baby.

Can't wait to see what you come up with next!

Love,

Momma :)

Happenings

Ava loves to sit with her daddy.

She thinks the outlet covers are her new pacifiers.

Sunday morning snuggles with Daddy.

Ava working on her buns of steel. Doing some squats. 

Yes, this makes my heart go pitter pat.

Bryson has some cool interactive digital storybooks on his iPad. 

Swinging...

 ...swinging...

...swinging.

Ava's strange fasciation with computer cords. 

And another strange fascination...the spices in the kitchen. :)

We go on lots of walks these days. And these days Ava leads the way.

Ava mesmerized by Elmo. 

 Auntie Kait can always make Ava laugh so hard on FaceTime. Wouldn't you laugh, too? :)

Ava has enough hair for teeny tiny pigtails!

Daddy bought Ava her very first soccer ball and he is teaching her how to kick. I had to remind her it's called football all over the world for a reason, but she didn't listen. :)

First visit to ToysRUs. She was pulling toys off the shelf like crazy. 

Pigtails!

Aaaaaand that's all for now!

Thanks for stopping by!

Belly Laughs Times 10

Cute videos

These are just some videos of Ava since we have been home. 

Ava toddling along. 

More toddling. 

Ava's new favorite toy. It was only a matter of time until she found this thing. 

Playing Peek a boo

This is in Virginia. Papa bought her a pool and she loved it. The only thing she loved more was the puppy, which she hurriedly climbed out of the pool to go see every chance she got. 

First steps!

Tonight, Ava took her first real steps all on her own!

She has taken a couple steps here and there, but never anything like this.

We weren't even paying attention at first, and when we looked up there she went!

As Kaitlyn pointed out...she learned to walk 4 days too late to ride all the kiddie rides at Busch Gardens,

since you have to be able to take 3 steps to ride those rides. (haha)

Ava was definitely holding out, waiting to start walking for when she was with her Daddy.

Check out some of her first steps we caught on camera. 

I love that she doesn't bend her knees when she walks.

Since then, she's been cruising all over the apartment all night.
Walking, falling, getting up and walking again.
Does this mean I officially have a toddler?
I'm going to say no, for now...still my baby. haha

So proud of our little baby!

I found this in my baby book written by my mom:

Ashley at 9 Months - Memorable first accomplishments: On September 28th, you began walking all by yourself! Tonight Grandma and Grandpa came over and you walked right across the room to them!

Is it weird that I think it's cute that we both learned to walk at 9 months? haha

Anyway, I have a LOT of blogging to catch up on from our wonderful trip to Virginia. Hopefully I will get to that soon!

Drinking from a straw

This might not seem like a big deal, but we have been trying to teach Ava to drink from a straw for a while now.

When we were at Busch Gardens the other day, she drank from the big straw of our refillable plastic cup, but still couldn't quite get the hang of it when using her sippy cup.

Well today, she finally got it and she guzzled her sippy cup of water - she wouldn't put it down. 

Yay for learning new things!

And I am, yet again, intrigued and fascinated by the LACK of reaction I get when Ava sucks on a lemon or lime. 

Not only does she not react, she seems to love them.

Silly babe. 

Aquarium

Today Papa treated us to a trip to the Virginia Beach Aquarium.

Ava loved trying to touch the sting rays (actually I think she liked splashing in the sting ray pool the best), 

she loved banging on the glass as watching the fish swim by, 

she loved touching the horseshoe crabs and starfish,

and she especially loved waving at every single person who walked by until they smiled at her.

She was worn out by the time we made our way through every exhibit and slept the whole way home. 

Thanks Papa for a great day!

First swim in the ocean

Being from California, Ava has of course been to the beach before.

But the water has always been WAY too cold to actually get in.

So today was Ava's first swim in the ocean. 

She loved it!

Videos {Virginia #1}

Since we are going to be away from Bryson for 2 weeks, I don't want him to miss out on all the funny and cute thing Ava is doing. 

So naturally, I take a video of everything. 

This is Ava dancing while my brother plays the guitar. This is how she dances when she is on all fours haha. 

Riding in the rodeo. Granny got her this fun toy.

Dancing at Busch Gardens...

This was the only ride Ava could ride at Busch Gardens. She loved it.

Ava at the play place in the mall.

Ava loved the splash park at Busch Gardens.

It really was so Hot Hot Hot that day!!

Well, I have many many more, but this is all I will post for now. :)

Our trip to Virginia so far

Busch Gardens

Water Country

Swimming

Lots and lots of family

Good food

Fireworks

Roller coasters

and lots more.

And it's only been 3 days. 

Better make more room on my camera's memory card.