Belated Halloween pics

Sorry it took awhile to get the pics of the cutest chick in the world on here, but here they finally are. I will also include a link to the Halloween photo book I made for Ava.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/project/8EbsWzZm5aMqO/landing;jsessionid=82C87C4267E0A4D2EB41596336ED5A95

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!

Oh, forgot to mention....

Ava has TWO teeth! How I forgot to update this on our blog is beyond me.

It {the teething process} has been ongoing for about 3 weeks now. The sympoms included very choppy sleep, especially naps. Some days she would even skip naps and her night wakings were every 2-3 hours there for a good week or so. She was not majorly drooling or anything, but everything was going into her mouth, which is normal--teething or not.

In retrospect, I now know why she was up so much and wish I would have known those little bottom teeth were about to come through. I posted about her possibly teething, what? like 2 months ago. So it just seemed that everyday they could or could not be coming. Poor little girl, had I only known. Oh, well. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.

Anyway, the first tooth broke through on Wednesday Sept. 19th and the second was on Friday Sept. 21st (both happen to be birthdays of her grandparents: Gigi and Poppy). By today, they both have completely come through the gum. She has been such a trooper. She was a tiny bit extra cranky on Saturday, but has really been acting normal. She might have her daddy's tolerance for pain.

I can't believe my little baby has TEETH!! What a big girl! Here is the best picture I could get. Look very closely and it is the two bottom teeth you can see.

After uploading this, there is no way for you to see them. After I crop this pic, or get a better one, whichever comes first, I will post about it. Sorry!

The Baby Food Diaries

Dear Diary,

My mom has been working so hard in the kitchen making delicious, wholesome, and nutritious fruits and vegetables for me as an introduction to food, only modified, due to its pureed form. I have been so appreciative of her dedication that I am quick to gobble up everything she has made so far: sweet potatoes, yellow squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, and zucchini.

Mommy thought she would do me a favor this morning and give me a fruit to try. Why she decided to mess with my fondness of vegetables is beyond me, but needless to say, she did. So, as always I was geared up to eat (did I mention that I'm always so quick to gobble up the food?) and try this new fruit called pears. Only this time when the food went into my mouth, I was a bit shocked. This did not taste like those other goodies, rather is was a bit harsh w/ a subtle tartness.

I contemplated if this was something I would like:

Then, the after-taste hit me:

YUCK! NO MORE, MOMMY!

As you can see, the whole pear experience was really quite torturous. I can only hope that tomorrow's meal will be back to normal. I will keep you posted.

Oh, and mom? Try not to do me any more favors!!

She's Crawling!!

What? Yep, that's right....our baby girl is officially a crawler!! We were playing with her on the floor on Saturday morning and something peaked her interest and she decided to go get it, right in front of our eyes. The coolest thing about these major milestones (i.e. rolling over, crawling) is that both Ryan and I have got to see her do them for the first time. So exciting! Here is the link.....

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

Ava's Way of Saying I Love You....

This was cracking me up (and her too!)

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

Get me outta this crib!

Ava decided that an afternoon nap was not going to cut it! I only went in there to check on her and found her standing there talking to herself. I love the part in this video where she gets real still because she hears the song that we rock to before she goes to sleep. I just keep it on repeat during her naps and it was still on and she totally knew it.

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

No one is gonna keep HER down!

Ava has decided to start pulling up on everything!! When I go into her room to pick her up from a nap or for the day, she is just standing there waiting for me. If you click on the picture, there is a video of her standing in her tent, with a little whoop-si-daisy!!

She hasn't got crawling down yet, but she sure does love to stand! Does that mean she is going to be a walker first? Who knows??

My Lil Sweet Potato!

What do you think? Did she like her first solids experience? Well, the proof is in the puddin'......errr, sweet potatoes, that is. Ava loved eating sweet potatoes. We will continue these for 3-5 days to make sure there are no allergies and then move on to squash. It is so fun to experience this with her. So far, we don't have a picky eater. No surprises there.

Boomer Sooner!

We are ready for football season! Here's to hoping the Sooners are ready to show us what they've got!

What goes up, Must come down

Now that she is sitting up, that's all she ever wants to do in her crib. So much so, that yesterday I found her sleeping in her sitting position, just hunched over. Check it out!

There is something new everyday now

Like my sister said, once they hit 5 months, they literally do something new and change so much every week. It's like a lightbulb goes off and Ava is radiating light! I went in today to check on her during her morning nap and this is what I found. To those who might not know what the big deal is, the baby is sitting up!! That is a huge milestone to go from laying down to sitting up unassisted. I thought it might have been a fluke (how, I don't know), but came in to check on her during the afternoon nap and found the same thing. She was so proud of herself, as was her mommy.

Our 1st attempt at rice cereal

We were so sad to watch our baby girl make the chewing motions of eating while watching us chow down. So we decided enough's enough and start her on rice cereal a week before she turns 6 months. She was so obviously ready.

I tell ya, this girl will eat anything (she does get something from her mommy!) It shouldn't have shocked me b/c this is also the baby that surprises the nurses by gulping down any live vaccine that is put into her mouth, they usually have problems with the babies taking it. Not Ava!

Anyway, she did so good. She sat up in her Bumbo, with her bib on, and ate away. We had so much fun taking turns feeding her. She kept wanting more and more (note the picture of her literally licking the bowl). I can't wait for fruits and veggies. I already started making and freezing some food: sweet potatoes and apples....YUM and so easy!

Video of our Rocker, as promised

Yesterday I posted that we would try to get her rocking on all fours on video. Mission completed. It is so flippin cute. It's a long video and we are trying everything to get her to get up. I guess it worked. Enjoy. (Oh, again, just click on the picture to see the video).

One more video and I'm through for the night

I just sit a watch Ava sometimes and she continues to amaze me. Here is a video of her "playing" the tamborine. Watch as she drops it, reaches and picks it up, then sits herself back up. She is growing and learning everyday.

Again, another random pic, totally unrelated to the tamborine, but so cute!!

Say Mama....

Okay, so she was just saying it to get me to be quiet and be picked up, but I heard her first "mmmm" sound this week. See for yourself.

Note: This photo was too funny not to share. She gets so frustrated and makes this face. Just click on the pic to see the video clip though totally unrelated.

We had a big day!

So we are just laying on the floor in the office when Ava all of a sudden decides to get up on all fours and starts rocking! We had been waiting for this, but didn't expect it so suddenly. She had been toying with the idea of doing it for a few weeks now, but something clicked today and she realized that she could do something more than just push up with her arms. She only did it for a few seconds though. Now she is back to scooting backwards when she really wants to go forward and just ends up getting frustrated. Boy, this caged tiger is ready to be let loose! EEK! I got it on video once with the regular camcorder but she wouldn't do it again with for the digital camera (the only one I know how to put video on here with), so we will try again tomorrow.

This is so funny!

Ava is starring in her own video (courtesy of Shutterfly):

Fall Fashion Trends 2007: Babies in Chicken Suits

It is a tad early to be thinking about Halloween, yes. But when you have an irresistible and squeezable 5 and 1/2 month-old, you just can't wait for Halloween. When I saw this costume, I knew my cool chick had to have it. Just look at that face.

Enough said.

5 months old and READING?

Gotcha! No, but really, Ava is loving her book with real-life baby pictures in it. She is starting to notice mouths. She will grab peoples mouths while they hold her, anyone really, she doesn't care.

With this book I noticed that she was diligently touching the baby's mouth and opening her own mouth and for the most part I got it on camera. Mommy kept pushing for more body parts, but she was having none of it. Click on the picture to see the video. This is one of my fav's.

Trendy Tadpole

Having looked at numerous baby clothing websites,
I have found a lot of cute onesies and such. There is one site
in particular that caught my attention. It's called
trendytadpole.com, they have THE cutest, most trendiest baby
and toddler clothing. I have to have "Buddha Belly" for my
buddha baby. Also, love the BYOB = CUTE!!

"To the World You Might Be One Person....."

"But To One Person, You Just Might Be the World!!"



Ava just cracks up at anything her daddy does. She loves to watch him doing jumping jacks or any silly antic that he has up his sleeve. Here is a video of them "talking to each other".

(Click on the picture to see the video.)

Our 1st Graduation

Ava has graduated from her first class....MusicTogether! As previously mentioned, Ava and I have been attending a 6 week summer music class called HeartSong MusicTogether. This week was our final class, so sad. Good news is that we will be taking the class again this fall and it is 12 weeks!

I can't say enough wonderful things about this program. They are so child-centered and warm and loving, that I have enjoyed every week there. Carey Youngblood, our instructor, is the best. She makes each and every child (and parent for that matter) feel welcomed, special, and one-of-a-kind. Her voice is amazing and the music that accompanies her is great.

Her we are amongst the infant graduates!

Grumpy Old Man

I don't know if it is teething or what, but cute little Ava has a new face......that of an old man!! For the past several days she is acting like something is going on in her mouth and will clench her gums and lips together and she is the spitting image of an old man. It cracks us up!! All the signs point to teething

- drooling

- sucking on hands

- putting anything and everything in her mouth

- and now this

I still am yet to see or feel swollen gums, and the above symptoms are just what babies do at this age, so who knows???

Looking for something to post about....

I am so proud of myself for starting a blog that I have to write about something, so here it goes. Ava got her first big girl tutu yesterday. Her aunt Jill picked it up at BabyStyle because we had been eyeing it for months. The only problem was that I can't afford retail prices, especially at BabyStyle, who can?? However, it was on clearance and an additional 30% off (bargain shopping runs in our blood, thanks mom!) It is a size 18-month, so it won't fit for awhile. Still, I can't wait to see her prance around in it. Even better, her cousin Abigail got a matching one so the photo opps will be endless.

That's all.

Belly Laugh!!

We got her first REAL belly laugh on video. Although this happened about a month ago, I wanted to post it for all to see.

We were just sitting around with our naked jay-bird, when I decided to let Ava "eat her feet." She thought it was the funniest thing she had ever done! Here is the video clip.

http://tinyurl.com/ysmktm


WARNING: The laugh is highly contagious!

A Musical Prodigy

Ava and I have been attending a music class, Heartsong Music Together, once a week. Although I was skeptical at first.....would a 4 month old really benefit from this?? I had to wonder if I would get my money's worth?

Incredibly, she has enjoyed this class more than I could have imagined. She is fascinated by the rhythms of the guitar and drums, she loves to hear and watch the signs of tone, and now she recalls the songs that we sing with a big smile. Her latest "trick" is mimicking the sounds I make with my mouth and tapping my hand over hers. I cannot describe it, but you'll know what I am talking about when you see it....

http://tinyurl.com/24yz6r

Just wait, when I post again, she will have written her own composition.

We've got a roller!

After many attempts at mastering rolling from tummy to back and back again, Ava finally did it. She had been rolling from tummy to back for a few weeks and now she has got both down. I know, I know.....she IS a genious!