24 & 25 Weeks- 6 months

Ava had her 6 month check up today and her 3rd round of shots. I had a ton of questions for the pediatrician this time and had to come in with my notebook so I wouldn't forget anything. Mostly about how much she should be eating, what and when.

Ava is now
15 lbs 5 oz - 25%
26.5 in long- 75%
16.5 in head circ-45%
Teeth Count- 2

She is a lot smaller in weight than the little boys she knows like her cousin Trent, but the pediatrician said that because she is steadily in the 25th percentile in weight that she is doing fantastic. She also said that Ava has the social/cognitive skills of a 9 month old and is pretty advanced when it comes to her movements and awareness. Dr. Finnila warned us that she did hear a heart murmur today which she hadn't heard before. We started to get a little worried when she spent several minutes listening to Ava's heart. She told us that we shouldn't worry as most children (90%) will have a heart murmur at some point in their childhood. She just wanted us to be aware of it. She said the next time we come that it could be gone and never heard again. She didn't seem to think it was much to worry about right now. Of course at her 9 month appointment I'm going to be so worried that they will hear it again!

Yep you read that right she now has two wittle bottom teeth. One has come through already and the other is almost completely broken through. The teething hasn't been too bad. She still eats and sleeps but is just a little fussier and doesn't nap as long. Ava is rolling all over the place these days. I can hardly get a diaper on her without having to roll her back over 3 or 4 times. She loves to lay on the floor and roll her way around. She now hates getting dressed and anytime we pull anything over her head and start trying to put her arms in the arm holes she starts screaming. She does not want to be interrupted when she's playing. In fact Dr. Finnila had the hardest time listening to her heart today because Ava kept trying to take the stethescope off of her neck. She is such a good eater too! She pretty much gobbles down anything I've given her and this week she's on Carrots.

After some discussion today with the pediatrician we have decided that now is a good time to break the co-sleeping habit and move the doodlebug to her own bed. I am dreading this. I know we will make it through the crying the first few nights, but I can't stand the thought of not having that time with her on the evenings I'm at work. We realize that it's better for her to be in her own crib and able to soothe herself to sleep, it's just me that needs to let go. M-W is going to be even hard for me now when I'm only spending 1 hour in the evening with her before bedtime :( So tomorrow night it is with great sadness for mommy that we begin the sleep training.


Nibbling on toast-oops Dr. Finnila said not until 8 months Ava!

Playing with my cousin Trent (2 mos)

Gig Em

National Lampoons Babysitting Adventure
Last saturday night we had dinner with some friends for my friend Emily's 32nd birthday. My mom is always dying to spend time with Ava so she gladly came over to babysit. She even came over early in the day so Ava could get used to her being there. Well out to door we go and get to dinner and mom calls and says that Ava is already asleep in her crib and that she's watching her on the monitor. 3 minutes later the phone rings again and it's my mom. I though "oh crap Ava is ALREADY awake?" but when I answered all I could hear was the alarm going off, dogs barking and Ava screaming! Apparently Steve was on autopilot on the way out the door and set the alarm before we left. When mom was all smug and proud of herself for getting Ava to bed already she decided to go out on the deck and have a smoke. Well when she opened the back door all hell broke loose. The alarm went off and woke up Ava who was freaking out! Once she got in touch with me and finally got it turned off she ran in to comfort Ava. As soon as she got Ava all quited down and nodding off again the phone rang and up Ava was screaming again. It was Brinks asking for the passcode, mom didn't know it and they hung up. She got Ava quieted down again and the phone rings AGAIN! Brinks again asking some questions which my mom answered over the sound of a very upset baby. So she gets off the phone and soothes Ava back down again and then the police knock on the door. Mom runs to the door and yells "I don't know the code!" and they tell her to open the door anyway. So she does and Magnum gets out and runs down the street. One of the cops chases Magnum down and Ava starts screaming as soon as she sees the cops at the door. The cops come in and ask mom all kinds of questions all the while Ava is screaming and crying. The finally leave and mom is a nervous wreck and so is Ava! When we got home mom was shaking like a leaf and Ava was okay but still doing her little sniffle. Mom said she didn't know she was going to have the Chevy Chase Babysitting adventure that night! LOL!


With Memaw after our National Lampoons Babysitting Adventure

Happy Baby

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24 Weeks

Doodlebug's second week with mommy at work was still a little bumpy but by Friday she was back on her regular routine and schedule! Earlier in the week she had some teething discomfort so that was part of her bumpiness but Grandmother did a great job in helping ease her discomfort during the day. By Wednesday we could feel that little tooth breaking through her gums and since then she's been as cheerful as can be. All we can see is a tiny white speck on her bottom gums, but she feels a lot better. She is still very attached to me and gets upset when I leave the room, even when she's with Steve. Grandmother has found that if she takes her to the back door and let's her look out the window, that I can slip out the front door quietly without too big of a fuss.















When Steve gets home in the evening he always runs to the bedroom and changes clothes real fast before he comes back into the living room. Ava gets so excited when he comes in the door and so angry when walks right by her and into the bedroom. Poor little doodlebug, she just wants her daddy to hold her afterall.















Ava is loving solid foods. She is such a good eater! So far she hasn't refused anything I've given her although she isn't a big fan of green beans. Last week I gave her a piece of toast to gnaw on and she was just the cutest thing sitting there sucking on her little piece of toast. Of course the first piece I gave her was snatched right out of her hand by Magnum. He has since learned not to do that. Now both dogs sit in front of her like little vultures waiting on her to drop it on the floor so they can gobble it up. With her eating solids she was getting a little backed up so I decided to feed her some prunes on Friday night, woah...I should have only fed her half because she exploded her diaper 4 times on Saturday! I told Steve, well at least she's cleaned out now!

We are those bad parents that bought a walker for our child. I figured that since we don't have stairs and we are sitting with her everytime she's in it, that there really isn't too much to worry about. I'm glad we got it because she absolutely loves sitting in it. It puts her at eye level with the dogs so she scoots around (only backwards so far) and squeals at the top of her lungs in pure joy.

Saturday was my friend Julie's little girl Audrey's 3rd birthday party. Ava was invited and it was at a place called Monkey'n around. Ava had so much fun! She loves being around other little kids and there was so many toys for her to play with. She squealed in delight and rolled around on the floor just having a blast. Here are some pictures from Saturday.

Mommy I'm tired of Daddy

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I'm a working woman again- 23 weeks

Well I returned to work this week after a beautiful 5 months at home with our precious baby. I was actually excited about getting back to work and wearing nice clothes again. Of course I was depressed at the same time about not being with her every day.

The first day was okay on me. I didn't cry, I went to work and got back into the groove of things. It felt like I had never left! Ava did okay in the morning, but Grandmother said she had a really rough afternoon. She didn't nap well all day, barely ate and screamed all afternoon until daddy walked in the door from work. Then she was all smiles and raspberries again. So we all prayed for Tuesday to be better.

Tuesday Grandmother arrived and when I handed her over to leave, Ava started crying and watching me. This broke my heart and cried on the way to work anticipating another rough day on my baby (and Grandmother). Well Grandmother called at lunch and said that she ony cried for a few minutes and that she went down for her nap and slept almost 2 hours! She did great the rest of the day..took a little more of her bottles and took her regular naps. Wednesday she did even better, eating more, napping longer and all around happy. I know I was relieved and so was Grandmother! Grandmother was sweet enough to take pictures of her throughout the day so we could see what she'd been up to.

We've noticed that her baby hair is starting to fall out and she has these little bald spots randomly placed about her head. We are just dying to see what color she ends up with. She must have hit a growth spurt over Christmas because she's suddenly fitting in her 6 month clothes when before Christmas even her 3-6 month clothes were big on her. She can almost sit up by herself, but she'll topple over if you don't help her along. We bought this little mesh teething gadget that you can put frozen fruit or veggies in and she has really enjoyed that thing. Expecially when we put frozen bananas in it. She can munch on it all she wants without us having worry about her choking.

21 & 22 Weeks (5 months)

This has been one of the most exciting weeks for Ava. She had her very first Christmas and she got all kinds of toys to play with. It was exciting for us because she is so interactive now! We lay her on the floor and she can just lay on her belly and play for the longest time. She scoots around to get to stuff and the other day she rolled from the rug in her room all the way to the doorway. She is mobile people! We have these snowmen Christmas sheets on our bed that she loves to roll over on her tummy and grab at the colorful snowmen. I've gone in a couple of times this week to get her from her nap and I'll find her in there playing with her blanket or with this little glow worm that her nana gave her. She just rolls over and starts playing. She is also loving her play mirror that I put in her crib, she'll just stare at herself for the longest time. She is reaching for toys with both hands and bringing everything to her mouth and still sucking on all of her fingers.

Yesterday we took her out to Nana's for a visit and we left her there for about an hour while we ran up to the store. We thought she may do okay now that she's older but she did the same thing she did last time, cried herself to sleep. As soon as she saw Mommy though she was all smiles. I guess the separation anxiety is in full force now. She was doing something similar on Christmas at Grandmother and Grandad's. We told Irene that she's probably going to have a rough couple of weeks when she starts coming next week to watch Ava. She said she is fully prepared :)

Now that Ava is 5 months old we started her on something other than cereal to eat. Her first non cereal solid meal was Avacados and she loved it! I mashed up 1/2 of an avacado and watered it down for her. She ate the entire thing! The next day I fed her the other half but she wasn't as impressed this time and she only ate about 1/4 of it. Yesterday I had a glass that I was drinking out of and she pulled it to her mouth and drank from it. She's such a big girl! Last night I had dinner with friends and Steve stayed home with Ava. When the phone rang during dinner I was sure it was Steve saying "she's crying and I can't get her to stop, when are you coming home?" Instead it was Steve asking me to bring him dinner from the restaurant. He said he was giving Ava a bath and she was playing and happy and to have a good time. Amazing! He even gave her a baby massage after her bath and got her to go night night and take her bottle again. He's getting really good at this daddy thing and he's really enjoying it too. :)

Monday the 5th is my first day back at work. I'm excited to get back into the groove of work but miserable about leaving my baby. The crying started up again yesterday morning. I'm trying to be strong. I'm sure once I get back to work and into my schedule I'll feel better.

While we were at Nana's, Courtney came over with little Trent and we were able to get a few pictures of the babies together. They were too cute. Ava kept trying to touch Trent, but when she gets a hold of something now she puts a death grip on it. We had to watch her closely so she wouldn't bully poor little Trent. They were so cute together though!

Hey You..get over here..I wanna tell you something

Ava's 1st Christmas