Ava Marie - 7 Months Old!

Happy 7 Months Ava Marie!!

The months just keep flying by and Ava is growing and developing so fast now I can barely keep up with her :) Here are some of the things Ava has been up to lately:



** I have some more pictures I'll try and put up soon... these are just a few of the ones from the last couple of weeks! I love the ones of her Dan having fun at the beach!

• She is crawling (FAST!)

• Loves to explore anything and everything she can get her sweet little hands on

• Can pull herself to her knees and even to her feet now

• Sadly enough was sick for the first time a few days ago with some sort of stomach virus :( it was so sad and a little scary for us (well mostly me hehe her Dad was very good about the whole thing) but she's feeling much better now (thanks to God for watching over her and helping her to get better so quickly!)

• Loves spending as much time as possible outside

• Enjoys playing with our pups Rico and Marley (she gets SO excited when she sees them, it's really cute)

• Has fun meeting other kiddos at our Mommies Group at church

• Trying out different solid tried foods (she just tried some little cereal puffs this week and also some small chunks of banana. She's getting very good at mushing the food up all on her own.)

• Moved from using her Bumbo at breakfast and dinner time to a highchair!
  

• Crawls over to her Dad and I to say "hi" and crawl on us and even give us kisses sometimes :) This makes my heart melt...
  

• Is fascinated by blinds and the chords that pull them up

• Is a tricky one when it comes to changing her diapers and getting her dressed these days... she is wild and tries to roll everywhere!
  

• We've started using the word "no" more and more these days and she's starting to understand what it means I think... sometimes she does great and stops what she's doing and other times she will stop, give me a sneaky but sweet little smile and after a few seconds she will proceed with attempting to do what she was doing when I told her "no. Then I repeat the process hehe quite the adventure this is going to be! But Dan and I read in Proverbs this morning that "Those who love their children care enough to discipline them." Proverbs 13:24. I love this passage and I'm sure this is one of the passages Dan and I will come back to again and again as Ava is growing up.

• She has started to wake up at night occasionally... no pattern to it all really. I usually feed her and she'll go right back to sleep. I think it's just a stage she's going through ... she's learning and growing so much and I think she even wakes up to practice her crawling, rolling and standing sometimes, she's a funny girl!
  

• As I posted before she has both of her top two teeth coming in now :) It's been pretty painless it seems like and it hasn't seemed to bother her much at all (thanks again to God!).
  

• She loves "talking" when she meets new people or sees something that she's excited about. This often times is a high pitched screech or a scream... I think the screeches are so cute that she makes! I always call her a little birdie since that's kind of what she sounds like!
  

• When she thinks she likes to tap her little left foot or scratch her fingernails in a grabbing motion on a surface... preferably on something that makes an interesting noise when she does it. I love when she does this!
  

• She has a new game she loves... playing on her Daddy's back while he lays on his stomach. She pounds her little hand on his back and it makes fun noises! She also enjoys playing with his hair and ears.

• She is growing great and is 17 pounds now and 26 inches long... big girl!
  

• At her last doctors appointment they found a faint heart murmur that they will be checking again in a month and a half or so (if you guys could pray over Ava for this we would appreciate it :) )

• Ava has been really good with people she doesn't know as long as she has a chance to warm up to them which has been very exciting... she's had fun getting used to new people when we go to the Mommies Group at church. She is fearless in approaching the other Moms and hanging out with the other kids. It's fun to watch her play and seeing how she interacts with others for the first time.. I've never really seen this side of her before since she doesn't have any other kids we know to play with. She is very assertive and isn't afraid to jump right in and play with the other kids which is great :) Just have to watch out and make sure she doesn't steal toys other kids are playing with or that she isn't too rough... still getting used to these things :)
  

These are some of the biggest things going on with Ava right now! We love you Ava and it is a joy and a HUGE blessing to have the privilege of not only being your mother but to be able to spend each day with you, share experiences with you, help you learn and watch you learn and explore on your own (I love when I can see those wheels in your head turning :) ) and above all just having the chance to love you :)

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Fall!

Love <3.

Ash, Dan and Ava

Ava's First Tooth!

Hey Everyone!

Just wanted to write a quick post that Ava started to get her first tooth in yesterday! I can't believe how fast she is growing and changing each day! She doesn't seem to be in too much pain from it at this point but we'll see how the rest of this week goes. I hope it continues to be relatively pain free for her! Ava also got to go on her second trip to the beach over the weekend :) She loved actually getting to play in the ocean this time. She got a kick out of the waves, playing in the sand and the breeze. It was a great trip and I will put pictures up soon! She also has her 6 (almost 7) month appointment this week so we'll get to find out her exact weight. I'm guessing it'll be somewhere between 17 and 18 lbs... she's a growing girl that's for sure :)

In other news... Dan and I found a sewing machine that we purchased a few weeks ago and I am going to begin learning how to sew today! Just got the thread all set in the machine last night and now it's ready to go. I am SO excited about the few projects I have lined up so far. I can't wait to get started!! Eventually I'd also like to make a few pillowcase dresses for Ava... but we'll see how these first few projects go :)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Live in Light <3

Ashley

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

Ava Marie - 5 Months

Hey Everyone!!

I am a little late on the 5 month post but better late than never, right :) There's lots going on these days with Ava and our little family! The biggest news of all is... Ava's CRAWLING... can you believe it?! Here are a few pictures of our sweet girl...

Our family :)

My family with Ava!

Daddy and Ava ready to go for a swim at the pool! Love that smile!

This is during her backwards crawling phase that lasted a few weeks. She thought it was so much fun to scoot her little booty under the coffee table and hang out under there. We call it her cave. Such a cutie!


In the Ava cave!


Cutie patootie having some cereal and bananas, YUM!


Probably the funniest picture I have of Ava :) Quite the expression huh? It's like she's saying "what are you lookin; at?". This was during her first green bean experience... she loves them!


Ava with her Uncle Connor, they had so much fun during his visit! She loves when he quotes the movie Despicable Me... "It's SO fluffy!"


Ava practicing her crawling :) So proud of her! She started crawling at exactly 5 months and hasn't slowed down... she goes further and further everyday. She has also become quite adept at rolling which is fun to see her do!

This has been a busy month so far with Dan starting language school - he's learning Pashto which is a kind of Arabic. Ava and I have been keeping busy and having lots of fun at home going for runs in the morning (Ava likes to nap while I run), crawling, trying new foods (peaches, pear, green beans and watermelon), rolling around, learning how to drink out of a cup, swimming on the weekends, reading books, jumping in her jumperoo, standing while holding onto the couch, chewing on all sorts of things and lots of other things... she keeps me on my toes that's for sure and I love every minute of it :) It has been so much fun to see her personality really shine through these last couple of weeks. Ava no longer likes to be held or snuggled for any longer than is necessary. She would much rather be on her own... quite the little miss independent she is :) She loves exploring the world around her and is very interested in everything she sees. She is VERY excited about food... especially whatever Mom and Dad are eating hehe she will lean towards our food or drink and try to grab for it. If you're drinking she will also hold the bottom of the glass and tip it into your mouth for you :) She is very helpful! She has really gotten the hang of crawling and reaching for objects. It is so much fun seeing her grow and change every single day... she is changing so fast though I can hardly believe it! I always ask her "where did my baby go?" and I'm serious she doesn't seem like a baby to me anymore. She seems so grown up and full of ideas already and she's only 5 months old... so amazing and a little scary all at the same time :) I am excited for the day, months and years to come though... we are so proud of Ava already and can't wait to see what God has in store for her life... it's going to be great :) Hope you all are doing great and I will try to do another update before another month flies by! Off to have some brownies and ice cream with Dan :)

<3 Ash, Dan and Ava

1 year ago - July 14th 2009

A year ago tomorrow we found out that we were expecting our very first baby :)

I can not believe that it was a year ago already! That was such a special, exciting and unbelievable moment when we found out. I remember waiting for the test to read the results... I had my eyes covered I was so excited and all of sudden Dan grabbed the test from the counter and hid it behind his back with a huge smile on his face and we both just started laughing, smiling and hugging each other... I don't think he believed his eyes at first! How time flies though... Ava has been developing for over a year now and has grown into quite the sweet little character and is so full of personality :) It is so much fun to see her grow and learn every single day! I could not imagine what our lives would be like without her and we are SO glad she's here (on the outside of my belly) for us to hug, kiss on and love... we love Ava Marie!

Ava Marie - 4 Months Old!

Wow... I can hardly believe it but our little girl is already four months old!!! Here are a few of the most recent pictures of Ava

Ava Marie on Fourth of July weekend - hanging out with Dad outside. She's about to tell us all about it... just look at that face!

Ava Marie - Fourth of July 2010


I love this picture of Ava SO much! It just shows so much of her personality... she is the sweetest, most patient baby I have ever met and we are so blessed to have her in our lives!


Ava and her Daddy having fun together on her changing table :) She sure loves that Daddy of hers (I can't blame her, I love him lots too!).


Ava sleeping on Daddy's chest at church on the Fourth of July


Mama and Ava before church


Ava tries her first official solid food - BANANAS!


They were a pretty huge success :)


Me and Ava after having her yummy banana mush!

As you can see it's been an eventful month for us :) She had a lot of fun on her first fourth of July weekend. We tried to several fun family outing which didn't really work out so well but that's ok cause I had a great weekend just spending time with Dan and Ava even if we didn't make it to the places we planned to go. On the 3rd we went to a little arcade, batting cage place near our house which was a lot fun and brought back a lot fo childhood memories for both of us and Dan discovered that he stills has it when it comes to baseball :) I hope he starts playing on team soon... it's was a lot of fun seeing him in the batting cages and I would love to see him actually get to play. It just makes him so happy! Then when we came home we decided it was time to give Ava her first solid - bananas! She loved them and did a great job right off the bat of swallowing. Since then we have also tried sweet potatoes and also sweet potato and banana mixed together. We've decided that we're going to try our hand at making all of Ava's baby food which I am REALLY excited about and have been having a lot of fun with it already. We went to the Reilly Rd. Farmer's Market the other day to check out their produce for baby food - they have really great prices and a lot of their stuff is locally grown :) Then on the fourth we spent the day relaxing and went to see the fireworks on base at night. Ava enjoyed watching them from the car... she loved the bright colors and wasn't scared of the noise at all which i was a little surprised about. The July Fourth weekend was a lot of fun! Since then we've just been spending our days hanging out around the house, having lunch and visiting with some really great friends and today my friend from high school (Chelsa :) ) came to visit. Ava has been working hard on her rolling over and is almost getting it. She also loves to practice her crawling. She has the most beautiful gummy smile that can melt our hearts in second. She's been working on flexing the vocal chords and has been trying all kinds of different sounds out the last couple of days. She enjoys sucking on her thumb as of this week much more than her pacifier. The breastfeeding is going great and it gets easier and easier everyday. We love spending time with Ava and we are so proud of her for everything she learns and accomplishes every single day! Looking forward to all of the fun milestones coming up but also trying to enjoy every single moment and make each one count!

Update - Ava's Almost 4 Months Old!

Hey Everyone!
Wow I can't believe how fast time is flying by... it's been a month since the last time I posted :( Well lots of exciting things have happened so lots to share. I will try to make it short and sweet though!

Just took this picture this morning of our sweet girl :)

First of all I would just like to say a BIG CONGRATS to Mike and Sam on the birth of their baby boy Dean Michael - he was born on June 9th and I was lucky enough to be present at Dean's birth! Sam did such an great job and I'm so glad I was able to be there to see Dean's arrival into this world. Welcome baby Dean, you are such a handsome boy and we can't wait to see you grow over the coming months!

Dean and Ava's first time meeting each other... they were pretty hilarious together :)

As for other exciting news from this past month:

• Ava met her great grandparents for the first time - they drove all the way to North Carolina from Arizona! They also brought along my old rocking horse for her to have.... I am so thankful that they kept it for me all of these years so Ava can have it :)

• We took a trip to Maryland for my little brother's graduation from high school. While we were there Ava got to participate in her first 5k race! Her Dad pushed her in the jogging stroller and she had a great time! Ava also went swimming for the first time while we were in Maryland. She seemed to love the water and enjoyed bobbing up and down and kicking her legs while swimming on her belly. Excited to do more of this sometime soon! She had a great time getting to see her grandparents and her uncle Connor again too... she really enjoyed spending time with Grandpa Troy watching Madagascar and sleeping in his lap.
• When we got home from Maryland Ava started sleeping in her big girl crib for naps and at night time. She has slept through the night still without any problem... we are so proud of her!! We bought an AngelCare Baby Monitor that we love. It monitors her breathing, movement and sound. It really does help me sleep better at night knowing that she's ok and if she does stop moving for more than 20 seconds the alarm goes off till we go turn it off. So happy we bought the monitor... it definitely gives us peace of mind. She seems to love sleeping in her crib and also enjoys scooting her cute little booty around while she sleeps too! Every morning when I go to check on her I find her on the opposite end of the crib where she started and usually against the right hand side. She can definitely scoot herself around that's for sure!
  
• About 2 weeks ago or so we started breastfeeding again!!! I was very nervous for a long time about trying again because it seemed to have gone so horribly wrong in the beginning but Ava is a champ and she has done such a great job with it from the very first day we tried again. My milk has started to increase quite a bit which I am so excited about and I don't have to pump at all for now on most days. Once I am able to make enough milk for each feeding so that we don't have to use any formula I will most likely start to pump again to have extra but for now I am just trying to have as much milk at each feeding as I can to help keep Ava motivated. Once again I am so so so proud of her for how resilient she is and well she adapts to change.
  
• Ava has grown quite a bit over the last month as well... I am not 100% sure about her weight but I am almost positive it's somewhere between 14-15 lbs. She has also started to do many new things such as reaching out for things (to include hair, excess skin, lips, chins, toys and blankets) my favorite is when she holds onto her little snuggle blanket that's a bear with a blanket attached while she's sleeping... it's so cute. She has quite the grip and these grabs can really hurt sometimes... but it's too cute to care much about the pain. She really enjoys sitting on her own pretty much anywhere you put her but especially on the couch, in her bumbo at the kitchen table or watching us make food in the kitchen. She finds lots of things interesting now that she didn't care much about before... especially candles, the dogs, t.v., patterns, etc. She has also started following us around as we go in and out of the room which is really fun to see. She smiles a lot during the day and also will "talk" with us anytime that we engage her... these moments are so much fun! Her little gummy smile melts our hearts every single time :) She has also just started the last couple of days being able to hold her bottle on her own which she loves to do. She finds her hands very interesting and you can find them in her mouth most of the time. There are lots of other things but those are some of the newest things that Ava's been up to lately.
  
• We got to celebrate Dan's first Father's Day :) We made lots of yummy food and heard a great message at church. Ava also gave her Dad a picture frame with a picture of them together and then next to it her hand and foot prints done in ceramic. We had fun making it for him! It was a great day and I'm so glad the three of us got to spend it together.
  

That's all the news for now! Hope you all are doing well and I hope to do a post sooner than a month from now :) Talk to you all soon!

Love <3

Ash