First Trip, First Word & First Step!

Ava on the flight to LAX
Our little family took our first trip together since Ava was born. The hotel we stayed at the last few nights was in the heart of Beverly Hills, so Ava got to be a Beverly Hills 90210 girl for a few days! As a matter of fact, she took her very first step on Rodeo drive! We were super nervous about how it was going to be with Ava on the plane. We were sure that 3.5 hours would be too much and that she would be squirming and crying because of her ears. We planned to get to the airport early, but due to construction at intercontinental we literally had to RUN to catch our flight and were the last people on the plane. It was hell running through the airport with a 20lb baby, a diaper bag and a 20 lb purse, not to mention Steve had the car seat and the stroller! Steve said the next purse he buys me will have wheels on it. haha! Ava was a champ on the plane both ways! She laughed, she played peek a boo with the girls sitting behind us and she took good naps. Everyone commented about how good and happy she was. We were so proud of her! In fact she was the happiest, sweetest baby the entire trip. We were glad to have a little traveler on our hands. She loves being on the plane and loves being in the same room with us at night. She even slept like a champ in her pack n play.

We decided to keep our watches set to Houston time to keep Ava on her normal schedule. It felt so funny putting her to bed at 4 pm in the afternoon in California and then waking up at 4:30 and 5 a.m. haha. Saturday we took Ava to the carousel in Long Beach. --->

Now on to the most exciting news...Ava said her first word! Now of course she's been saying mama and dada but we've never been too sure if she associated those words with us or if she just said them because it was typical baby babble. Well on our first day in Long Beach, Ava was introduced to Stacey's dog Sophie. As soon as she saw the dog she said "Magum" and Gigi and I both heard it very clearly! We couldn't believe it! Of course she never said it again so we were again left wondering if it was a fluke. Then today when Steve and I got home the dogs were going crazy, Steve was holding Ava while petting the dogs and again Ava said "Magum". So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, our childs first word was the dogs name. For cryin out loud!

Sunday we had brunch in Palos Verdes (beautiful place!) and then headed to Beverly Hills to our hotel (thanks to hotwire.com) which was totally awesome. Then yesterday we found a park to lounge at and Ava was super excited to play and crawl around. Steve and I headed over to Sprinkles cupcakes while Ava played with Gigi and Papi. When we got back we played for a while and in front of all of us she was standing with her hand on my knee, she let go and then took one step forward, then stood for a little bit before she dropped to the ground. Today after we got home she was playing in her room and she did it again! She isn't too confident yet and is just testing that one step but I'm going to keep working with her this week and see what she can do :)

The best part of the trip of course was getting to spend time with Gigi, Papi, Aunt Stacey and Uncle Sean. Ava warmed up to everyone pretty quickly and showed off for them all weekend. When she first met Papi, he stuck his hand out to her to say hi and she inspected him for a second and then reached over and put her pancake in his hand. We were really glad that they were able to spend some time with Ava. We also got to spend some time with our friends Allyson and Josh. It was Josh's first time to meet Ava so of course we were excited to show her off. She always loves Allyson and goes right to her. There must be something about Allyson because Biscuit is pretty much obsessed with her. LOL.

Gigi bought some toys for Ava to keep her busy while we were there. One of which is a freaky looking rubber octopus. Of course that was the toy she loved the most and carried it with her the entire trip home. All of the other babies in the airport had their lovies, silkies and sweet toys and our baby is cruising around with a purple rubber octopus. Geez! We were laughing and everyone else was laughing when they saw her with this stupid thing all cuddled up to her chest with a tentacle in her mouth.

Ava loved goofing off in the hotel room at night with mommy and daddy. She was such a trip.

10 Months

My little princess precious cut another tooth this week! We were wondering why she was being such a bad napper for the last two weeks and now we know! I discovered a top tooth that broke through the gum over the weekend. It's going to be so weird seeing her with top teeth! We just got used to the bottom teeth. Since we were having such a hard time getting her down for her naps, grandmother had to resort to letting her fall asleep in her jumparoo. Ya do what ya gotta do I tell ya!

Last week Steve and I went to dinner with friends so my mom got to watch Ava for several hours. She came over to pick her up and took her over to her house. We were beside ourselves! I thought I heard her crying and would run to the other room to check on her, or I'd think Steve had her outside. We just didn't know what to do without the doodle. Anyway mom said she was upset at first but once she warmed up she was all smiles and laughs. She would chase mom's dog Taz around making kissy noises and once she got a hold of him she would pull on his ears really hard and laugh. Then around 9 or so she put herself to sleep playing on moms bed. When we got there she was all cozy sleeping flat on her back with her arms up in the air. We were so proud of our little doodle and mom was so happy to finally get to babysit again (minus the burglar alarm fiasco).


Now that she is so good about playing in her crib and putting herself to sleep, I've started putting a few toys in there when I know she's going to be a while. Then we'll watch her on the video monitor and one by one she picks up each toy, inspects it and then sticks it through the crib rails and throws it on the floor. Once she's done throwing all of her toys out she rolls over and goes to sleep. When we go in to get her from her nap there is a pile of toys and a paci on the floor next to her crib. It cracks us up and we have no idea why she does it.


She is still loving her swimming pool and she spends lots of time in there on the weekends. She gets so excited when she sees it. We left it in the house with no water and it would keep her entertained for a little while. She just loves to play in it and put her toys in there with her. One day when it was in the house casper was laying in it and boy was Ava excited about that! She crawled over there as fast as she could and got into the pool with Casper. Of course Casper jumped out so fast he poked a hole in it and deflated it. I had to go back up to target and get Ava another one. She just loves it too much not to.

Ava's day with Daddy

9 months & 4 weeks

Last weekend we attended a baby shower for a couple of friends of ours who are expecting in July. We took Ava with us and we had a great time. Ava was a doll but wouldn't let anyone hold her. She would flirt with everyone and be all smiley and cute from my arms, but wasn't going to let anyone else hold her, not even dad. At one point the hostess was taking pictures and Ava literally posed for pictures. This child knows a camera when she sees one and she is not shy either! Everyone was laughing at how she got up close and posed for her picture.

Now that it's summer and she's had so much fun with little Kate in the pool, we decided to get her a baby pool of her own. Yesterday we put it in the front yard so she and I could play while daddy worked on some of the plants. She splished and splashed and yelled for daddy to look at her for a good 45 minutes. Finally I took her out thinking she was probably bored and she squirmed to get down on the ground, so I put her down in the grass and she crawled across the yard and climbed back into her baby pool! We were both cracking up! I couldn't believe that A) she loves it that much and B) she was able to get in it on her own!

We spend a lot of time playing in her room during the day and I've started playing "Mama's gonna get you" where I crawl after her really slowly. She loves this game and squeals while she crawls away from me as fast as she can. Then she'll pull up on something and turn to see me still coming, squeal, giggle and get down and crawl away some more. Sometimes she'll crawl behind something and hide her face thinking I can't see her because she can't see me. Then when I get her I tickle her and shower her with kisses while she squeals and giggles. We have so much fun!

One thing I've never mentioned before is her love for books. Every day she goes to her bookshelf and pulls all of her books off. One by one she chunks them on the floor. Then she'll sit down and start turning all of the pages. Her two favorite books for us to read her are "I love you through and through" and "Biscuit has a picnic" She never gets tired of them. I am so tired of picking up those darn books off the floor every day though. Sometimes her room is just a disaster because I am too tired to do it.

Some new developments this week. She can stand with no hands! We also noticed that Ava is so good in the car now (knock on wood). She hardly ever fusses in her seat and when we look back she's always playing, talking, sleeping or drinking her bottle. We are so excited about this! What a good girl! I guess she's figured out that we are still there, we're going to get her out, and we haven't strapped her down and gone to Alaska. The other new thing she's started is that at night I put her in her crib and she watches her aquarium for a minute, crawls over to turn it off and then rolls over and goes to sleep. oooh they grow so fast but each development is so exciting and fun to watch.

Now that she's teething again, she loves her pacifier

9 months & 3 weeks- Ava's 1st pool party!

Ava had a pool party playdate on Thursday with her little friend Kate. What cutie patooties they were! They had so much fun splashing around and the dogs were super excited about the Huge new water bowl in the yard. Kate has two beagles at home so luckily she is used to dogs. When the dogs decided to assault her with licky loo's she sat there quietly and giggled. It was too cute! After the girls got bored in the pool we took them inside and let them play in Ava's room. They were exhausted and Kate fell right to sleep on the ride home and Ava went took a nice long nap!

I'm innocent mom I sware!

Doodlebug is standing by herself with no hands now. She is still fighting her naps but sleeping awesome at night. When I put her in her crib now I turn on her little aquarium and watch her. She walks up to her aquarium and watches it for a little bit and then she'll push the button to turn it off and lay down and go to sleep.

Steve and I have spent the last couple of weekends on the front flowerbeds. They look so much better than they did before. Will post pictures later.

Ava loved playing in the grass while we worked. We had to remove dirt and rocks from her pretty quickly before she shoved them in her mouth though!

bop bop bop...

Ava's new "word" for the week

"BOP"

She says this from the minute she wakes up to the minute she goes to sleep. All day long we hear bop bop bop bop bop bop BaaaaaawwPPP. She will be falling asleep and suddenly she'll pop up and start up again with bop bop bop bop. Silly girl...she's so proud of her new word she needs to practice it a LOT!

40 weeks- dada, gaga, ca, baba

Ava has added several new words to her vocabulary. In addition to dada she's also saying gaga, baba and ca. She takes turns as to which word is her favorite for the day. We love to hear her saying all of her new words. Every day I wake up and see her and it's like I can tell she is another day older. This morning I was playing with her and realized that she is almost like a toddler now. She's standing up and saying words to me and it's clear she understands most of what we're saying to her.She loves to roam free through the house and you have to keep an eye on her because she'll be out of your sight in a second! Of course she doesn't want to be too far away because if she notices you aren't paying attention she says "huh huh!" to get your attention and make you look at her. Grandmother plays this game with her where she'll pretend to be asleep and Ava will crawl up to her and slap her leg and say "huh!" until grandmother opens her eyes. Some of her new things this week that she enjoys is flushing the toilet, drinking water out of mommy's straw and hitting mommy in the face with a ball. We are still working on that no hitting thing. Last week I put a pair of keds on Ava while she was outside on the driveway in her walker. As soon as I put them on her she was fascinated with these strange things I put on her feet. She kept pulling her feet up to her face so she could check them out. Then I would stand her up and she would look down at her feet like "what are those things!" Now whenever she sees shoes she tries to put them on her feet! It's so cute! She even tried to put Grandmothers shoes on the other day. LOL.

The best thing ever is when Ava is playing with Steve and I walk in the room and she gets a big smile on her face, stops what she's doing, and speed crawls over to me while squealing. I just love it! She does this to Steve when he gets home from work every day. We love watching her express her joy just to see her mommy or daddy.

So Irene and I figured out that Steve isn't very good at relaying messages. Every day she tells Steve a rundown of the day and all the cute things Ava did that day. Each day I come home and ask Steve "what did Irene say" and he always says "nothing" or "oh she napped and drank her bottles" Like I didn't know that already because Irene writes down all of her meals, naps and diapers for us. So she called me on Wednesday at work and gave me the rundown. We decided that she would tell Steve the exact same thing and see if he relays the message. So Irene told Steve that Ava tried putting her shoes on that day, and to watch her left eye because it had been watering a lot. So I get home and ask Steve the usual "what did Irene say today" and he said "nothing she took her naps and drank her bottles" I said "that's it?" and he said "yeah that's it" AGGH!! Can you believe that! Men!!!