Videos {May #2}

Tonight I learned that Ava loves popcorn! I would bite off the little pieces with the kernels and she would eat the little "balls." She was like a little bottomless pit!

We took Ava to the pool at our complex and, as usual, she LOVED it! She was splashing and laughing. She definitely loves water.

Ava has been an extra "spaz" in her jumper thing lately. 

Ava riding on her Daddy's shoulders. I love that she holds onto his hair haha.

This just makes me laugh. She's a good sport. :)

Videos {May #1}

I know I've showed this before, but here is a video of Ava giving kisses. She opens her mouth and goes right in for your mouth. She is getting better at this every day because she gets a lot practice (considering we ask her for kisses every 5 minutes or so). :)

Here's a video of Ava in the bath. She LOVES the water, wether that be bath water or swimming pools water. This was the first time she was on her tummy in the bath. Cute!

This video shows Ava's new "trick" of blowing raspberries. She just discovered that she can do this and she has done it nonstop for the last 2 days. 

Ava is trying SO hard to crawl and move around. She wants to SO bad, but her little baby body just isn't there quite yet. She is getting better at baby push-ups though. 

I sat Ava down this morning and when I looked up, she had pulled herself over to her bouncer and was pulling herself up. Getting stronger!

This made me laugh so hard! First of all, she was little Miss Cranky Pants because it was almost nap time, but I couldn't help but take a video. She was "standing up" by herself for a few seconds at a time. This might not seem like a big deal, but she never was able to do this before, so it's a new development. 

Here she is again doing the same thing:

And this one needs no explanation. Just sweet as can be. Love my 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. 

Freeee!

This is how Ava wakes up every morning:

I unswaddle her and she thinks, "I'm Freeeeeee!" and she stretches for 10 minutes straight! She refuses to open her eyes and grunts and squeaks. I love it!

Sleep!?

Ava slept for 8 hours last night!! 

Then she woke up, ate for 15 minutes and went back to sleep for 4 more hours! 

12 hours of sleep?? Yes please!! 

I kept waking up and making sure she was breathing.

When we both woke up for good, this is how we felt:

I called my dad, emailed a friend and looked it up online just to make sure it's "normal" and okay for my 6 1/2 week old baby to sleep for so long! haha

Unanimously, everyone reassured me and said, "Enjoy it!"

It must be her 6 week growth spurt - she's growing, growing, growing! :) :)

I guess while they sleep, they grow.

Ava has always been a great sleeper, which I have always been thankful for. 

But, it just keeps getting better. 

(knock on wood)

Whenever I feel tired or overwhelmed, I have to remind myself how LUCKY I am because Ava really is a great baby! 

I am VERY thankful and LOVE my sweet, sweet, sweet baby girl. :)

I'm a believer!

I believe in the power of swaddling haha. 

I'm really not kidding. 

Ava sleeps SO much better, quieter and longer when she is swaddled. 

We have a couple of those "SwaddleMe" things and a "Woombie" and LOVE them, as well as those nice stretchy blankets. Bryson is an EXPERT swaddler - much better than me! I love to ask him, "Honey, will you do me a favor and swaddle the baby?" when I am done nursing. I think he is secretly proud of his super-power swaddling techniques. :)

Sometimes Ava will seem annoyed when we first swaddle her...she will grunt and try to wiggle her arms free. But then the magic happens and she falls asleep so quickly and stays asleep much longer than when her hands are free. A few times I will hear her waking up from a nap only to see she has wiggled one of her hands out and she's moving her hand all over the place, scratching her face and everything...which is what was waking her up. So, I will tuck her arm back in her blanket and she falls back asleep instantly. 

This is my little nugget all nice and cozy, swaddled in her little SwaddleMe thing.

Also, Ava has been SMILING lately! I caught one on camera on my iphone. Ignore my annoying "Hiii, Hiii there."hahaha

So strong

Ava is really good at holding her head up. Whenever she lays on Bryson's chest or I am burping her, she holds her little head up and looks all around. What a sweetie. 

I love how at the end of this video, she lays her little head on Bryson's shoulder. She LOVES to cuddle with her daddy and will lay on his chest forever and ever. 

3 weeks

Today Ava is 3 weeks old. 

3 weeks!? 

Time is going by too fast, but at the same time I feel like I've known this little person forever...

like I've known her little face, her little hands and little toes forever and ever. 

I never knew I could love anything as much as I love my sweet Ava. 

I love seeing her little eyes staring up at me as she's eating, I love that her one hand always finds a way to sneak its way out of her blanket when she's swaddled, I love her fuzzy hair and I love her soft baby skin. I love how happy she is getting her diaper changed, how she just softly fusses when she's hungry, and I love that she smiles and giggles in her sleep. 

I will rock and bounce her endlessly until her eyelids droop and she is fast asleep, but while she is sleeping I miss her and want to wake her up just so I can hold her again.  

Thank you for making these last 3 weeks the BEST of my life, sweet Ava. I love you.

]

On my own...

Today, my Dad and my brother left. 

All of a sudden, my apartment is empty and so quiet. 

I'm not going to lie, I felt a tiny bit of panic as they walked out the door...can I really do this alone?! 

My dad was SO incredibly helpful while he was here. He definitely spoiled me and took such GREAT care of baby Ava. Every morning after I would feed Ava around 8am, he would take her, bounce and rock her, put her to sleep and then watch her and let me go back to sleep or take a shower and get dressed. It was truly a HUGE help and blessing to get just a couple extra hours of sleep every morning! Throughout the week, I watched him calm her and put her to sleep with ease and learned many new "techniques" of taking care of and soothing my baby girl. What a wonderful grandpa! :) 

He made many delicious meals, did dishes, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, replaced the blinker bulb in my car, took me grocery shopping, and helped keep my house semi-orderly (baby stuff has taken over our entire apartment!). 

My dad also helped me learn how to get out of the apartment with a newborn in tow haha. Does it sound pathetic that I needed help doing that? It was nice having him here to help me pack the diaper bag, make sure we had everything, carry the car seat and figure out the stroller, figure out how to put the car seat on the shopping cart and so much more! 

Thank you Dad! 

So, today was the first day that I was truly "on my own." Of course, I'm not actually alone...I have my Ava. My sweet, squishy cheeked, soft, fuzzy-haired Ava who I love so much! Today, I slept for a couple hours while she was sleeping and then she was awake for about an hour in the afternoon. She just hung out with me, happy as can be, sat on my lap and looked around, taking it all in. What a sweetie! 

Then, I put her in her crib for the first time (just for fun haha) and turned on the cute music box thing that Bryson's Aunt Harmony gave us. She just stared at it...completely mesmerized!

Ohh my gosh, I am in love. :)

Now I can start my countdown for when Granny, Papa, Auntie and Karley come! :) Can't wait!

Like father, like daughter

Today, I got an iPhone! Bryson has been SO excited for months and months about getting me an iPhone. I would never, never, EVER have bought myself an iPhone only because they are so expensive and I don't like the idea of paying for a data plan every month...BUT Bryson really encouraged me to get one. So, today we went to the Verizon store and I got a white iPhone 4S. I walked out of the store the same way I walked out of the hospital after I had Ava - walking very slowly, very carefully, afraid I would drop it and break it. 

Everyone said that once I had an iPhone, I wouldn't be able to live without it. My sister said, "Ashley, once you have an iPhone, you'll wonder how you ever did without it!" haha. I'm not going to lie...it is pretty amazing. Much, much better than the piece of junk phone I've had for the last 3 years. :) SO much to do and see while I am nursing in the wee hours of the night!! 

One thing I LOVE about this phone is the camera and video camera! 8 megapixels, 1080p HD video! 

Here's a picture I took on the phone. The room was dark except for a small lamp off to the right hand side. Looks pretty dang good, if you ask me. :) 

(Also the baby's pretty cute, too) 

And even cuter...I took a video on my iPhone of Ava as she was sleeping in her little bassinet. I caught her SNORING up a storm - JUST LIKE HER DADDY. :) :) 

Sweet baby girl! 

It's kind of hard to hear...but if you turn your volume up, you can hear her sweet little baby snore haha. 

Oh my goodness, it does not get much sweeter than that!! haha Ohhh am I a MOM or what??

How did I not know??

I shouldn't admit this. But I am just so happy that I finally figured it out...I have to share! 

SO...I have had my Canon camera for months now. I love it and even though I am not "good" at taking pictures with it, I am slowly learning and enjoying learning as I go. 

When I bought the camera, I knew you could take video with it...but for some reason I never figured out how. I know, I know...how dumb can I be to not know how to figure that out.

BUT...today I did figure it out. 

And I took a very short video of my sweet baby. Horrible lighting and I'm still trying to figure out how to manually focus while shooting, but it doesn't get much cuter than a sweet, innocent, squishy baby girl. (Who, by the way, will be 2 weeks tomorrow). 

2 weeks?!?! Already?

Oh how I love my sweet baby Ava! :) 

Oh Sister

I will never get over how much this video makes me laugh! Nothing better than some horrible dance moves to funny music. :) Kaitlyn always makes fun of me for my "step-clap, step-clap" dance haha. 

Classic! I hope someday I can give my little girl a sister, too! :)

Boys Only

This is something that would ONLY happen to a boy. Okay, okay, probably not every boy...but definitely THIS boy. :)




This boy happens to be...my baby brother. :) Sure love ya Jayson.