California Fall

The leaves start falling a little later here in California.
Ava has the BEST time exploring, picking up and just playing in all the leaves.
And she looks SO dang cute in her little red coat from Auntie Kait - almost like a mini adult.
It is VERY hard to take pictures of her these days as she is so active and all over the place.
Getting her to look at the camera is almost impossible because she is so distracted by everything around her.
So I usually just give up after 10 minutes and call it good.

14 months

Just a quick update on my sweet Ava Sophia. 

On the 29th she will be 14 months and I am constantly amazed by all that she is learning. 

I'm positive it's just because I am her mom and I am completely and utterly biased...

...but sometimes it baffles me how smart she really is. 

She picks up on things so quickly now, I never know what she will learn next.

For example...she has a little video that teaches her baby sign language. 

I also teach her baby sign language and sign to her during the day...words like "drink" and "milk" and "up" - words that I think are relevant to her very complex life. :)

Well on the video, they briefly mention the word "potty" and show the sign for it.

I never in a million years thought to even try to reinforce the word "potty" because...well, she's nowhere near being potty trained. 

Anyway, the other day I was in the bathroom getting ready and she was pointing to everything in the room and I was telling her what everything was called.
She pointed to the toilet and I said, "potty."

And just like that she signed potty. Perfectly signed, like she had been doing it for months. 

Genius, I tell you. haha
See, I told you...biased. :)

These are the words she says on a regular basis: 

cracker (ca ca) (her favorite right now) 

shoes (shees) 

apple (appie)

mama

hi

bye

thank you (tay too)

more

uh oh 

wow 

cheese 

book (dook)

please (says very, very rarely)

These are the words she can sign: 

milk 

drink 

mama 

daddy 

up 

ball 

banana 

cracker 

fish

bath 

tree (thanks to our Christmas tree)

ball 

potty 

more 

grandpa 

cat 

baby

all done

Signs I'm trying to teach her next: Love (or I love you), sleep

Random things she knows/can do:

• Where her belly button is
• Where her head is
• Where her toes are
• How to use a fork (with limited abilities) :)
• Blow kisses
• Whenever she sees a letter of the alphabet, she says "seeee" because I have been showing her the letters A, B and C and I usually say "A, B, C" over and over. So she somehow now thinks all letters are "seee." One time, Bryson was putting Ava in the stroller and the stroller was parked behind the car as he was loading her up. She started pointing to the licence plate and saying "seee" referring to the letters on the licence plate. She also has a big letter "A" in her room and every time she sees it, she points to it and says, "seeee." At least she is recognizing that they are letters - it's a start. 

At this stage in her life, Ava is extremely active. She definitely keeps me busy. She is also very snuggly and loves to stop what she is doing to come lay on my lap or give me a big hug and kiss. She is my little sweetie peetie and I can't wait to share all her sweetness with all our family over the holidays (which can't come soon enough!!).

Love you soooooo much Ava bean bean! :)
Love,
Momma

And just because I have them (I know I take way too many pictures)...
here is some major pictures-of-Ava overload!

Just looking cute...

One of Ava's snuggly moments - she loves to cuddle with me.

This month Ava had a terrible stomach flu - it was horrible and SO sad. 

Ava eating her saltine crackers when her tummy felt a little bit better. 

Ava just hanging out with Mom on the couch.

Decorating her first Christmas tree (right before she ripped all the ornaments off the tree haha). 

Wrestling match ending in hugs and kisses.

Watching the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade.

She LOVES the Christmas tree!

Eating with a fork like a big girl.

Walking to BART to go Black Friday shopping in the city.

My little fashionista. :)

Puzzles at church.

Ava's absolute favorite toy (and probably her BFF). :)

She was such a trooper while we did some Black Friday shopping. 

Helping me make cookies. 

Park Days

Ava is just getting to an age where taking her to the park is actually fun for both her and for me. 

It used to be that I would take Ava to the park and I would push her in the swing for a few minutes...

she would get bored. 

So I would let her walk around....and I would spend the majority of the time trying to stop her from eating all the wood chips.

I would always leave thinking, "Why do I take Ava to the park again?" 

Now, she definitely is more independent and understands what to do on the playground. 

She LOVES to play with the other kids. That is definitely her favorite thing to do.

Unfortunately for her though, this little park I take her to is usually pretty empty - it is completely fenced in and designated for kids under 5 

(awesome because I don't have to worry about older kids knocking her over on accident).

But that just means she gets free roam of the entire playground.

She climbs up the jungle gym (is that what it's called?) and she can slide down the slide all by herself

(and then tries, and fails, to climb back up the slide). :)

She climbs through all the tunnels.

She runs to the swings and then signs "up, up, up" until I put her in the swing.

Then, she laughs and laughs as I push her higher and higher and when she's ready to get down she signs "all done" and off she goes onto the next activity. 

She still loves the wood chips, and spends a lot of time carefully putting as many wood chips on the benches as she can and then brushing them all of as she claps and smiles and looks at me like "Did you see that, Mom?"

And then she holds my hand as we walk back to the car. 

I love my little bug.

Even though she is growing up way too fast...right before my very eyes. 

5x7 Folded Card

Peppermint Tidings Religious Christmas Card

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Videos (of Ava, who else?)

Here are the most recent videos from my phone:

Ava wrestling with Bryson.

She now will yank the fork out of my hand and only wants to feed herself. I need to go to the store and buy some toddler silverware...

Ava lifting the 15 pound weight...haha jk it's a 5 pound weight. But still...pretty heavy for a 1 year old. 

Ava "talks" and signs all day long. She runs up to me carrying my boots or Bryson's shoes saying "shees, shees, shees." Or she will look at me seriously and say "ca ca" (cracker) or "sheese" (cheese) and then run to the kitchen. She says "tay tay" (thank you) to all the clerks as we are checking out at the grocery store and says "hi" to every. single. person she comes in contact with. She says her little words all the time...except of course when I pull out the camera and ask her on cue "Ava, say...." Then she completely ignores me. So these next videos are the best I could do. 

Some of Ava's "words" ... apple, which sounds like appie, cracker which sounds like ca ca, cheese or "sheese." 

Pregnancy update: {24 weeks}

I haven't done one of these in a long time...so here goes. :)

This is a picture of me a week ago at 23 weeks.

How far along? 24 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: +3 pounds

Maternity clothes? No

Stretch marks? No

Sleep: Sleeping great, just have to get up a lot and use the restroom.

Best moment this week: Just feeling him move all the time. :)

Have you told family and friends: Yessir

Movement: Feel him moving ALL of the time! Very active!

Food cravings: Nothing in particular. I just eat a LOT!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Sickness is gone for the most part!

Have you started to show yet: Yes

Gender prediction: It's a boy!

Labor Signs: No (feeling a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions)

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Weekly Wisdom: Hmm...I don't know. 

Milestones: Baby is about eight and a half inches long and weighs one and a half pounds, gaining steadily at a rate of six ounces per week. Much of that weight comes from accumulating baby fat, as well as from growing organs, bones, and muscle. Those little ears of his are getting sharper and can hear very loud sounds, from a yapping dog to a jackhammer. Also by now, that fabulous face is almost fully formed, complete with eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. Is he is brunette, a blonde, or a redhead? Actually, right now his locks are white since there's no pigment yet.

Here I am 24 weeks pregnant with baby boy:

(please ignore my horribly dirty bathroom mirror) :)

To compare, here is me 23 and 25 weeks pregnant with Ava:

It is so weird to think that I am already 24 weeks. At this time last pregnancy, I felt SO pregnant. This time around, I still feel very "newly" pregnant and I feel like I still have so much time before he comes. But I have a feeling it will go by faster than I am thinking!