Ava Marie - 6 Months Old (a little late)!

Sweet girl :)

Ava hanging out in her gift box that Grandma and Grandpa sent... she decided that the box was as fun as the presents that came inside of it!

Big girl practicing her standing with Grandpa... and playing with her Chick Fil A cow :)

Grandpa and Ava

Hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma after the race... she seems to be asking "Mom... what on earth is going on here... these people are crazy!"

Ava learning how to drink out of her sippy cup... she really just likes to chew on it :)

Ava and Dad relaxing on the grass after one of our long Saturday runs!

My crazy girl :) She gets so wild during diaper changing time! Quite the sight that's for sure!

Ava cooling down after an afternoon workout with Mom... a wet paper towel on her head always does the trick!

Beautiful girl showing off her crawling skills!

Too cute! I love that look on her face!

Hey Everyone!

Ava Marie is now over half a year old! How did this happen so fast? I always joke with Ava and ask her "where did my baby go? ... there's no baby here, there's only a big girl here!" And it's so true. She is growing and changing so fast now I can hardly believe it! She can crawl anywhere she feels like going now and once she sets her little eyes on something she'd like to play with she can get there in no time at all. This is fun to watch but can also be tricky because leaving her alone in the living room is no longer a safe option. She definitely keeps me on my toes :) She is constantly on the move when she's not eating or sleeping... once she's done eating she is ready to get down and play. Her favorite things to do right now are to explore by crawling, jumping in her jumperoo and being outside in her jogging stroller. She makes some of the funniest/cutest noises these days... my favorite are the dramatic coughing noises she makes when she gets excited about going to get something she sees that she really likes (a lot of times she makes this noise when she's going to get sometime she's not supposed to be playing with hehe such a character!) and the high pitched squeals she makes when she gets excited! She likes to play with her feet, stick her tongue out to the side when she smiles, blow bubbles when she talks sometimes and lots of other things but those are some of the newest things that she enjoys doing. She just seems so much older now... and the weird thing is I feel like it happened over night! When I watch her facial expressions and her reactions to things they just seem so grown up now compared to before. You can tell she understands so much of what's going on and is absorbing every thing that's going on around her! She's been quite the explorer like I said in the beginning of the post and has been doing some funny things... the other morning Dan and I were eating breakfast and over the baby monitor we heard this weird scratching noise... I could not imagine what the noise could be so I hurried in to Ava's room to make sure she was ok... and there she was... hand underneath the bumper, sticking out the side of the crib, holding onto the baby monitor by the chord and pulling it around like a toy! It was funny enough to see her little hand sticking out the side of the crib but even funnier to see her grabbing at the baby monitor like a toy... Dan and I couldn't stop laughing! And now in the afternoons when she wakes up from her naps I almost always walk into her room and find her pulling down her bumper peeking her little head over the top of it and through the rails to see if I'm coming to get her yet :) I always think this is so cute. And the second I walk into her room and she realizes I'm coming to get her a huge smile comes across her face and she'll usually stick her little tongue out the side of her mouth and start squealing :) This makes me so happy! I love seeing her when she first wakes up! Ava also completed her first 10k this past weekend... she was such a trooper and almost slept the entire race :) And of course had fun after the race hanging out with Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Yost! We love you Ava Marie... you are such a blessing sweet baby girl and we can't imagine what our lives would be like without you... you bring so much joy, laughter and God has taught us so much through you in the short time that you've been here :) You are so beautiful, sweet, adventurous and funny... and we love you SO much! Till next month hope you guys all have a great rest of your September... Fall is almost here :) That means it's almost pumpkin time... you know what that means : pumpkin spice doughnuts, chocolate chip pumpkin cookies and lots of other pumpkin treats :) And of course the beautiful leaves changing colors, giving thanks for everything God has blessed us with and spending quality time with family! Fall is definitely my favorite season and we're looking forward to spending this one with Ava!

<3 Ash