A day at the park

I forget how beautiful our "autumn" weather is here in Texas for a couple of weeks. We knew we had to do something outside to fully enjoy the season, so Ryan and I took Ava to the park. She loved the swings, especially having her mommy and daddy right there with her. She also loved looking at/eating all that Mother Nature has to offer--rocks, twigs, leaves, etc.

Also, you be able to see a huge difference in the clarity of the pictures because Ryan surprised me with a new camera last week! Our previous one was great, but the shutter speed was a joke and we would miss many opportunities to catch that one special shot b/c it was so slow. This new camera, a Nikon D40, is amazing! It's simple and smart enough to take gorgeous pictures w/out having to do much. But it has the capability to get more complex, none of which I have quite figured out yet.

More fall pumpkin pics

Just because I love this time of year (and Ava was smiling in these!)

Slideshow of Ava's first 7 months

A Case of the Giggles

It's moments like these that make those tough times so worth it. You know, like the countless hours of being woken and kept up at all hours of the night to calm an over-tired baby or when you and the baby are stripped down to nothing so that you are able to rid your clothes of poo just to change a "blowout". This moment that I'm talking about is quite simply a few laughs that Ava and I shared. Nevermind the slobber that was splattered down onto my face, the sound of her giggle is music to my ears.

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view&current=videoflyinghighwmommy.flv

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

While Ava was too busy taking it all in to smile, she had a good time looking at all the orange pumpkins. If you know Ava, you know she is a "thinker". And if you haven't gotten to get to know her quite yet, the look on her face in the pictures say it all. I just love how serious she is and how you can tell she is just absorbing every learning opportunity there is. She is quite the studious one, this girl.

A good shot of her new teeth (darnit, you still can't see them):

The whole fam:

A few more:

A third tooth!

This girl has GOT to slow down! We knew it was coming due to:

a) a slight case of the evening fussies

b) fighting naps for consecutive days

c) that cry in the middle of the night

d) feeling it finally break through the gum

So, it's her front top right tooth that made its' debut. The bottom two came in w/in days of each other, so we'll see if there is more to come.

Another sip please...

While I don't have a picture of it, I did catch it on video. Ava drank from a straw this morning. I have been experimenting w/ ALL SORTS of different sippy cups and tried this (after several failed attempts in the past) and she did it! The look of astonishment on her face when she got water and choked a bit, was amazing! The video I have of her isn't her first time of taking a straw, but you get the idea.

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view&current=videoofdrinkingfromastraw.flv

She's everywhere!!

My life has changed. I had heard that it would, but had to see it to believe it. She is crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything. Gone are the days where we sit and play with toys or sing to one another. Instead, I am chasing and playing "I'm gonna getcha" to avoid any accidents or cat food catastrophes. All. Day. Long.



The silver lining? She is so much fun to play with now!! Oh, and I'm getting my exercise too!

Just watch her......
http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view&current=videocheerleaderbaby.flv

The Baby Food Diaries (Part II)

Dear Diary,

Okay. So now it is going so much better! My mommy went back to feeding me the vegetables that I so dearly love. I didn't show much emotion either way, but this time at least, I was not brought to tears.

Here I am eating green beans. (I'm kind of bored with them already).

Next, I LOVE peas! (Unfortunately my mommy gags when she gives them to me because this is one of the rare foods that mom despises!!)

And finally, zucchini.....YUMMY!!

Now that I'm done with the stage one yellow, orange, and green veggies, I HAVE to try fruits! Mommy was a little nervous about which one(s) to pick due to our "pear incident". So, this morning she gave me peaches to try w/ my morning oatmeal. Gosh, I'm such a big girl, 7 months and all.....

I was taken off-guard a little

But, I insisted that I wanted more and I could finally tolerate them.

So, as you can see, solids are going pretty good for me again. However, now that we are delving into fruits, my attitude might change. We'll just have to see!