Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Ava - 7 Months

December 26, 2014

Ava Girl,

I'm not sure why I started your "month" posts as letters to you, since all our other posts are truly blog posts, but I did since your first month and I'm sticking to it! I kind of love that one day, when you're much older, you'll get to look back and read all our thoughts to you.

So, you are SEVEN MONTHS old now...I know we say it every month, but seriously...where does the time go?! It just goes faster and faster.


You're seventh month was definitely the best yet, as you are a serious mover now. And, with that comes lots of exploring and learning, which has been just so much fun to watch and experience with you.

You just barely started to formally crawl, but you've been scooting at lightening speed everywhere. You know, too, where you're not supposed to crawl/scoot, and you'll look back at daddy and me as if to say "want to come try to stop me...good luck!" then smile you're adorable smile and scoot off towards a cord you want to pull on, or the tile you'll roll over and hit your head on, or some other dangerous territory/object. Needless to say, Daddy and I have been getting lots of exercise chasing after you.

Your personality is so lovely - you are such a happy girl. You love to give crinkle-nose smiles and squint your eyes when you do so. It's the cutest thing ever. And you continue to be a huge talker..and singer. This house is NEVER quiet, but we love that it's filled with your sounds! You still rarely cry...we know if you cry it's because you're in pain or WAY overtired. And you love love love your puppy, Paisley. We're trying to teach you not to pull her hair so hard....but, thankfully, Paisley is so patient with you. Speaking of Paisley, she loves you even more now that you get a teething biscuit every day...as soon as she hears the wrapper she'll run to your high chair and sit patiently by it until you're done with the biscuit and then loves that you'll throw it to her :)

You also LOVE solids. Well, the ones that taste good to you at least. Your absolute favorite is avocado...what daddy has aptly named AVA-cados. You would honestly eat a whole one everyday if we let you. You're not crazy about fruits, but you love avacados, butternut squash and pumpkin.

Your silent acid reflux continues to ever-so-slowly improve. Despite our lack of patience in wanting it to be entirely gone for good, we are so thankful that your days of nearly non-stop pain and suffering are gone. You now have only some bad days, few and far between, and those bad days aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. Praise God!

Your 7th month is also the month I went back to work. It was excruciating for me to leave you, and the only way I could do so without sobbing my eyes out was because I was able to go back and work for the same amazing boss I worked for when I went out on maternity leave, at part time, and leave you in the care of an incredible nanny in your own home environment. So, I work 7-1 Mondays-Thursdays. We still get our afternoons and all day Fridays together....it's not enough, and I miss you terribly, but we're making it work for now.

And, we finally reached the milestone of the dreaded first cold in your 7th month...and, it wasn't too bad. You couldn't breathe very well and had lots of congestion, but that was it. No fever, no cough...just had to give you lots of extra love, use a vaporizer every day, and the nose Frida (greatest invention ever) about 500 times a day. It lasted 10 days.
 

We love you little miss Ava Joy! May God continue to bless you and keep you safe and healthy! Here are some pictures from your 7th month of this crazy, beautiful life...

Some of your goofy outtakes from our formal 7th month picture...



 
On your fourth plane ride (going to see Grandmommy and Grandpa in AZ)...
 

At Grandmommy and Grandpa's cabin in Prescott...



Cooking breakfast with Grandmommy (one of my all-time favorite pics!)...

Thanksgiving...

In AZ in your adorable dress and matching headband from Janie and Jack that Grandmommy got for you...
 
And, one with Grandmommy...


You were SO happy to get this super soft and snuggly bear from Uncle Kev!


Being silly as we boarded the plane back to Sacramento after Thanksgiving...


On your FIFTH plane flight...

 
After my first day back at work, I couldn't bear to put you in your crib for your afternoon nap, so I just held you and stared at you the whole time, and loved every second of it. So glad I thought to take a picture of it!...


Your nanny, Kristen, sends me pics all day of you, and I loved this one...


Paisley also loves Kristen too...not just because she's a human (Paisley gets SO excited for people period), but because she takes her on walks with you...

 
I feel bad, but I had to capture a picture of you with your first cold. You look so sad...

 
Looking SO cute in your BumGenius cloth diaper :)...



So happy at your 6th month well-baby check-up (which happened two weeks late, hence the picture in this post)...

 
Teething biscuit aftermath....

 
Despite buying nearly every teether on the market, you insist on chewing on your socks! And, the red mark on your forehead is from you trying to crawl into the side of your playpen face first...poor baby...

 
So excited about your pool floatie for Hawaii....

 
Amazon prime is good for free shipping and free boxes that serve as excellent baby toys...

 
Another teething biscuit moment...


Super excited to open your Christmas presents from Grandma and Papa...

 
Hardly able to contain the excitement!....


Loving your snuggly outfits now that it's freezing cold outside....


Your first starbucks ;)...

 
At urgent care due to a bad vaccination reaction you had to Pediatrix :( ....

 
 

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Merry Christmas!

We're not sure who was more excited for Christmas 2014 - Ava or mom and dad ;-)

Ava's first Christmas was so special for us. One of the many reasons it's such a blessing to work for the same company is that we get the same days off. So, we got to spend all day Christmas Eve together, as well as Christmas and the nearly two weeks following it.

Christmas Eve, we enjoyed just relaxing as family.

So, we munched on a tasty (and ridiculously expensive...since it has to be dairy and egg free for little miss' sensitive tummy) teething biscuit while watching puppy and daddy play in the backyard...

 

Puppy was SO happy to finally get to play outside after nearly a week of non-stop rain....
 
Then, once it got a little warmer, we all went for a family walk around our neighborhood...
 
Then, that evening, we adopted the tradition of allowing for one present (from family...not Santa of course!) to be opened, so she chose the present from Grandmommy and Grandpa (Lohmeier)...a walker that she LOVES! A close second was the bow that she enjoyed playing tug a war with the puppy...
 
 
Before going to bed, I snuck out to the tree and just soaked in the Christmas magic...it's our favorite holiday! And, decided to grab a pic of her very first presents from Santa!...
 

 
At 6:01AM Christmas morning, we awoke to the sound of our precious baby, babbling and singing away in her crib...I ran, so excited for her to see Christmas, to her crib and brought her out to the tree. I enjoyed the special time she and I got to spend together before the morning began. I told her all about how Jesus was born more than 2,000 years ago today and how He is our great Savior. Then, she played happily in front of the tree for an hour until we decided it was time to go wake daddy so we could open the presents!...
 
 
And, boy did we have fun opening all of them...
 
 
after presents and playing, we ate Christmas breakfast...crockpot apple cinnamon oatmeal for mommy and daddy, and nice warm bottle for the baby. Then, we put on the ADORABLE Christmas dress from Grandma and Papa (Mains) and the gorgeous pink sparkly Toms from Auntie Ella and Uncle Johnny, and took Christmas pictures. We just can't get over these pictures...I know we're biased, but seriously...cutest.baby.ever!!!
 
 
 

 


 






 
We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
 

 


Saturday, December 13, 2014

Ava - 6 Months

November 26, 2014

Ava Girl,

Daddy and I cannot believe you are 6 months old already!!!! How has 1/2 a year already flown by? You continue to bring more and more joy into our lives every single day, living up to your name - Ava Joy :)

Your sixth month was chock full of hitting major milestones. You...
  • Cut your first teeth
  • Began to sit on your own
  • Began scooting like crazy
  • Began army crawling
  • Started the beginning stage of crawling - on your hands and knees, rocking back and forth
Your GERD, or silent reflux, has vastly improved this month - we are so thankful, and cannot wait until it is entirely gone! And, you've continued to gain weight like a champ! Here are your measurements from your 6-month check-up:
  • Length: 27 inches (70th percentile)
  • Weight: 18 pounds (95th percentile)
  • Head Circumference: 44.5 (90th percentile)
Your personality continues to emerge - you are SUCH a happy girl, full of the most heart-warming crinkle-nose smiles. You love to giggle, and do so every day. And you LOVE to talk and screech! You've also started to love to blow raspberries..it's your new favorite sound.

We started you on solids at 5.5 months, per advice from your GI. You tried butternut squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, and oatmeal. You only like the butternut squash so far :) I have loved making the food from scratch for you. It helps to heal pain I still have being forced to stop breastfeeding you much earlier than I desired.

We can't wait to see all that the next half of your first year of this beautiful life holds.

Here are some of our favorite pictures and videos from your 6th month of this crazy, beautiful life...

You love going for walks...you don't really love your winter hat though (even though this picture would say otherwise!)

Here's the path in our neighborhood that we walk daily...

With UK's (Uncle Kev's) Jingle Bear that he loved when he was a baby!

At mommy & daddy's work for Halloween...

Grandma reading a bedtime story to you...

One your bigger than life smiles...

You LOVE your big girl carseat...

And you LOVE your jumperoo!!!...
 
After your very first feeding of solids (butternut squash from Grandma and Papa's garden)... 
 
With my boss at HP... 
 
This is how we get housework done, mostly vacuuming... 
 
After trying sweet potatoes.... 
 
So close to crawling!!!.... 

Your adorable teeth finally popped through....

This is how I kept you warm when we flew out of Sacramento and it was freezing cold and raining at 6AM...

Blowing raspberries (which we later learned was part of your teething!)...