Mains Memories: Ava - 9 & 10 Months

February 26, 2014 - 9 Months
March 26, 2014 - 10 Months

Ava Girl,

We're combing your 9 & 10 month updates into one, because you have kept us SO VERY busy these past few months...and, we wouldn't have it any other way.

You crawl at lightening speed, you stand over and over again without pulling up onto anything. You think it's so much fun to treat every piece of furniture in our house as a jungle gym...and with that comes you bumping your head and crying hysterically at least once a day. You never slow down until it's time for a nap...you have this insatiable thirst for learning and exploring, and we just love that about you. We can already tell you are so determined and strong willed and independent. You are a force to be reckoned with ;)

Your smile just continues to get bigger and bigger, and you continue to be such a happy girl...a mischievous girl, but a happy girl! Ha. Your favorite game is being chased throughout the house, while we yell "heyyyyyy, I'm gonna get you!!!" You giggle and giggle and squeal with delight while crawling away faster than we can run after you. You also are incredibly skilled at finding any speck of dirt, bark, table scraps, etc. on the floor and putting it in your mouth. I vacuum on a daily basis now, but still you find things! Speaking of vacuuming....you love, and I mean LOVE, the vacuum. As soon as I bring it out you squeal and smile and run over to it. I have to vacuum with you in the baby carrier, otherwise you cling to it and try to crawl up in while I'm vacuuming, which doesn't work so well ;)

Your Schedule:

6AM - Wake, Breakfast, then lots of playing and maybe a walk
9:30AM - Nap
10AM - Wake from nap, then we run errands
12PM - Lunch
1:30PM - Nap
3:00PM - Wake from Nap, then lots of playing
5PM - Dinner
6PM - Bath, Books, and Bed

You still are very difficult to feed - due to your reflux you'll eat 3-4oz every 2-2.5 hours during the day (and once at night). But, you eat all that you need to, so no one is worried. If anyone tries to feed you more than you can handle, you have no problem letting them know! You scream and squirm and kick your way out of being held with a bottle coming at you.

We started finger foods at 9.5 months...not really by our choice, but yours...you refuse to be fed by anyone but yourself now (did we mention how independent and determined and strong willed you are?!)...it's so incredibly cute watching you put food in your mouth and react to the different tastes and textures.

Your favorite foods lately are:

Avocados (AVAcados)
Spinach & Turkey "meatballs" (I mix oatmeal cereal with cooked pureed spinach and turkey)
Blueberries
Kale
Beets
Eggs
Rice Cakes
Puffs (FYI fellow mommies - Happy Babies makes them without any sugar if you're like me and don't want to feed you baby sugar!)

At around 9 months you started being able to:

Say mama
Say dada
Clap your hands
Wave "hi" and "Bye bye"
Blow kisses (so incredibly cute!!!)
Stand without pulling onto anything, squat to pick up a toy and stand again (I wish my quads were THAT strong!)

Everywhere we take you, you smile at everyone you see and squawk and squeal with delight at them...you are so outgoing and such a social butterfly! A piece of your personality we saw emerge as soon as you were a month old, and your personality just continues to get more and more social as your communication skills grow.

Here are some pics of your 9th and 10th months of this crazy, beautiful life!

Your 9th month formal pic:

Your 10th month formal pic:

On one of our daily walks....puppy didn't want to leave her toy at home either!

Your signature "scrunch-y nose smile"...

Making a crown out of your cloth diaper wrapper...

And this is why Paul can no longer play peek-a-book in your Pat the Bunny book...

Puppy tickling you....

These moments will never get old...the only time you'll slow down enough to snuggle is while drifting off to sleep

You LOVE spinach!

And you LOVE bath time!

You LOVE blueberries too!

At Mother Goose on the Loose (reading/singing time at the library)...

With your buddy Emmie at Mother Goose on the Loose...

Daddy met us at the Fountains one day for lunch, and you were pretty happy about it...

That adorable smile never gets old!

We decided to hike on the dirt trails one day, and you loved it....you got a kick out of puppy chasing all the squirrels (bad puppy!)...

Meeting my old mentor, Julie, at La Provence for lunch...

All smiles while climbing the couch WITH a rice cracker in your mouth!

It's absolutely impossible to get you to sit in the bathtub these days...and I mean IMPOSSIBLE, like bath time lasts 3.5 seconds because it's impossible...