Zoo Pictures

Ava & Daddy enjoying the zoo

I love this picture

Look mama it's a "gutt"

I'm scared mama

13 Months

Last Thursday I took Ava to lunch with Sara at Rainforest Cafe. We sat near the tigers and thought she might get a little scared because they roar really loud. She was super happy when we sat her near them in the high chair and said "kitty!" Then the thunder and lightening started and the tigers started roaring. It freaked me out! It was so realistic and Ava just laughed and laughed. She thought it was the best thing ever. Sara took her around after lunch and showed her all of the animals. She is definitely an Animal lover. Afterwards I took her clothes shopping at a few children's stores. She was so tired of being confined that she just wanted to run and be free. Of course she refused to be held or in her stroller and ran straight to the shoes. There she proceeded to take all of the shoes down and throw them on the floor. As I got her away from those she ran to the clothes and started on those. I thought "oh no, I'm one of THOSE moms!" So we very quickly left and she got to run free in the open space instead of ripping through the clothing stores.

Steve and I took her to her very first Astro's game last Friday night. We met our friends Jeremy & Denise and their twin girls Brianna and Sophia (also their 1st game). All babies did great! It was the latest we've ever kept Ava out and she fell asleep on the way home, but she had a blast. Luckily the seats were in the club level so we were able to take her inside and let her run up and down the hall. The twins did great too, not a peep out of them. I think they loved all of the noise. I did get a little worried when Ava saw the girls drinking their bottles. It was the same bottles Ava used and she wanted Brianna's bottle for herself. She said "bot bot" and reached for it. We said "bottles are for babies and you are a big girl now" She seemed to comprehend, but I don't think that changed her mind about wanting the bottle. Luckily she was easy about it and just drank her own milk from her nuby.

First Night Away

Ava spent her very first night away from mommy and daddy. She did great! We did pretty good too. Grandmother took her home Tuesday morning and Steve went and picked her up Wednesday when he got off of work. We weren't too excited about having her gone all night, but decided to take advantage of the free time and go to one of our favorite places, Houstons for dinner. It was kind of weird not doing our usual nightly routine and not hearing her wake up on the monitor the next morning.

Ava got to spend some good quality time with Grandad and Aunt Kristin. Kristin took some really awesome pictures of doodlebug too, as you can see above!

My mom got her a baby doll for her birthday that came with a baby bottle and paci. I tell Ava her baby is hungry and she runs over with the bottle and jabs it in her face. Usually gets her in the eyeball or the nose, but she gets the point! It's so cute. Then I say..okay now baby wants her paci and she runs and finds the paci and brings it to the baby. She's such a sweet girl. She's always happy and loves giving hugs and kisses.

I've been working on getting Ava's 1st year photo album put together. What a task! We took over 1,000 pictures of her 1st year and it's so hard to pick and choose which ones to use. It's amazing to see how much she's changed in such a short period of time and I keep wondering where the last year went.

Our little social butterfly

This weekend we had a very full schedule. Saturday we had two birthday parties to go to. Ava's little friends Maddy turned 3 and Kate turned 1. Maddy's birthday party was first and was at the children's museum. What a great place to have a party and Ava had a blast. She ran around all over the place and had no fear. We had to literally run after her and be on top of her every move, and she moves fast! She loved every minute of it. Here are some pictures of her playing at the party.

Just before she grabbed another kids milk and tried to drink it

Then it was back home for her afternoon nap. She woke up just in time to eat a snack and leave for her 2nd party for little miss Kate. As soon as we got there she immediately wanted down and ran to the play area with the other little kids. It was like "mommy and daddy who?" The theme of Kate's party was poodles in paris so they got all of the little girs their own sippy cups in the shape of the eiffel tower. Ava loves hers! She loves anything with a straw in it. So she played and played and ran around like she owned the place. We left just in time to get home and get her to bed.

Then this morning Ava's little friends Brianna and Sophia had their christening at church. So we figured we would finally be brave and put her in the nursery at church and see how she did. Well we got there 30 minutes early just in case we needed to reassure her or make sure she'd be okay. As soon as we got to the door of nursery and she saw the other kids, she squirmed to get down. I set her down and she was off! She left us in the dust and didn't turn back. They gave us a pager in case she got fussy and it never went off. After the service we went to go get her and she had started to get fussy. She was so excited to see us! Afterwards we went to a small gathering for the twins to celebrate their christening and then she came home and took a very long nap.

We were happy to be able to get Ava out and about and doing fun social activities. Steve has gotten the biggest kick out her love for her Biscuit books. She runs off to her room and in a few seconds she returns with her biscuit book. She hands it to you and then puts her arms up like "okay now put me in your lap" Then when you sit her in your lap she gets the biggest smile on her face and squeals. She LOVES these books.

More new words & 1 year check-up

Ava had her 1 year appointment and here are are her new stats:

Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz 25%

Height: 30 1/2" 75%

Head Circ: 18" 55%

Well we are officially transitioned from the bottle to the sippy cup with whole milk. Ava likes it with a little orange juice in it so we call it her buggy juice. She gets a huge grin on her face and says "bot bot!" or "bu jooth" now when she sees her cup.

We are now in the testy toddler phase and I am just at a loss sometimes. For example, today I'm trying to get her to eat her lunch. She picks up her chicken and while watching me, holds her hand over the side of her high chair and drops it. I say "no maam Ava, do not throw your food on the floor, Ava eat your food", so then she picks up another piece and eats it and I praise her. Then she picks up another piece of chicken and drops it

on the floor while watching me. I give her a stern look and she giggles at me and does it again. She is testing me!! I am not quite sure what to do about that. She's also starting to throw tantrums. The tantrums although not desirable, crack us up. If she gets mad about something she runs around the house and sporadically throws herself on the floor, then gets up runs around some more and throws herself down again, but only if you are watching. If you try and pick her up she runs away and throws herself down. Fortunately she doesn't throw tantrums very often and when she does it's usually on a day when she's not napped well.

Eating is an entirely separate battle. She would prefer not to eat and if she does eat she would

prefer that it always be Bananas or puffs. Everything else ends up on the floor and the dogs are going to start having to go to doggie weight watchers or boot camp (well biscuit still looks lean, but that's because Magnum is a bully and gets all the goodies that Ava throws down). I know this behavior is characteristic of toddlers so I'm not going to worry too much, but I wish she would eat! I guess she gets it honest though since Steve and I were both terrible eaters.

I have been reading the heck out of her Biscuit books. She has 3 of them and makes me read them over and over again. One book says "Good Night Biscuit, Biscuit wants a kiss" and everytime we get to that part she leans in and gives the puppy on the page a big kiss.

In other family news my beloved kitty, Casper, who I've had for 14 years went missing the other day. I normally don't worry too much because he always comes home or I find him chillin at a neighbors house watchin the game with a beer. This time I was really worried though because of the heat with his age, and the coyote's that have been lurking around here eating neighborhood cats. So this morning I leave and tell Irene and Kristin that Casper is missing and to look out for him if he comes home. As soon as I get into work, Steve calls and says that they found Casper!! Kristin heard him meowing and walked around the house trying to figure out where she heard it coming from. Finally she figured out it was coming from the gunsafe! Steve had gone in there wednesday night and didn't notice Casper getting in! He was stuck in this little cube sized spot for almost 2 days! Luckily he was "safe" and sound. haha! Ava must have missed him too because the rest of the day she would run up to him and kiss him on the head. It was so cute! She loves her pets.

Here is where poor Casper had to live for a couple of days

1 year 2 weeks

We now officially have a toddler on our hands. Not only is she toddling all around the house very confidently, but she's throwing tantrums and showing us what she wants by doing signs and saying words.

One morning she wanted me to read to her so she brought me one book after another. We read goodnight moon about 3 times, but she wanted me to read more so she did the sign for more and then the sign for book "more book" good girl! Then my mom and I went grocery shopping with her and mom was so impressed with her skills. As soon as she saw the banana's in the fruit aisle she pointed at them and did the more sign. She LOVES banana's! She does the sign "more" anytime she wants something.

Her aunt Brenda got her a stuffed jack russell for her birthday and that dog is one of her favorite toys. She can now say puppy and make the puppy sound "woof woof", her version of it is "woo woo" It's too cute. She bounces her puppy up and down and says "woo woo".

Another new word she's trying to say is Balloon. She has a birthday balloon that is still holding on and she see's it and says "boon". She says "bot bot" for her bottle, and "boo" for nursing. As of today she says cracker and keys. Marcella got her first words cards with pictures on them and she loves to have us go through them with her.

For Ava's birthday she received several toys that play music and she has been having a blast with them! She presses the buttons on them until her favorite song comes on and then she bounces up and down dancing. She'll do this over and over again and we get the biggest kick out of it. Must be something with girls, they instantly want to dance.

We are working on getting her transitioned from formula to whole milk and from bottle to sippy cup. So far she loves her sippy cups for water, but not so much for milk. She is drinking the whole milk but isn't too fond of it. I've started mixing it with orange juice and then she'll drink it. As for food, we discovered that she loves queso and charro beans! Definitely a Texas girl. She'll still eat her weight in puffs too.

Steve and I took her to the Tot Spot at the children's museum yesterday she had a blast, okay we ALL had a blast. She ran around there like she owned the place. Went up to other little kids and played with them and shoved a few out of her way so she could get to something. It was a fun family day for us, except that I got my museums confused and we did a lot of walking! I parked at the wrong museum!

Biscuit enjoying Ava's new sofa

Ava at the Totspot

More Totspot fun! This is the toy she knocked other kids out of the way to get to.

Ava sharing her chair with Kate

Hey daddy...wanna go for a ride on my new dora bike?