What is it about ELMO?

That babies/kids go gaga over?

Add Ava to the list.

Ava has been saying "Mama" for a few months now, but she has really stepped it up and saying it at random times when she is not even looking at me or needing me. For example, when she is playing with a stack of diapers, clean ones, if you were wondering. She'll go on an d on....mamamama.

Not so fast....Elmo is on her diapers. She's not saying "Mama" all the time instead she has learned to say "Elmo", but it it more of a "Momo" which in turn, sounds like "Mama". So, she hasn't really been saying "Mama" (though she does say it), but really she is saying her BFF's name...."Momo".

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view&current=Videosayelmo2.flv

Randomness....

Just some new pics of Ava.


Umm, this is what she likes to do. Throws her blankie over her head and just blindly walks. I wonder where she gets her sense of adventure? Not me.

She loves to wear her shades.

Ava and daddy

Where did my baby go?

I was looking at pictures that I took the other day and I came across this one where Ava looks more like a little girl to me than a baby. I don't know if it the teeth or more hair (humor me!), but she looks like such a little girl.

And....she's OFF!!!

My goodness, just look at her go!

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view&current=MOV05879.flv

Cram Session: Ava's Tricks

I thought I would try to cram into one video, for our viewing pleasure (and convenience), some of the new things that Ava is doing:

Body parts: head, tummy (not seen), mouth, and nose

Waving

Sounds of a snake.

Take a look!

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view&current=video10monthtricks.flv

Spaghetti 1 vs. Ava 0

I have to pinch myself...

....to really believe I'm looking at my baby as she's wobbling on two legs across the room! I just can't fathom that this is my Ava, the helpless little baby who has depended on me for 10 months. I just wanted to share a few pics of the walking Ava. She is such a tough little cookie as you can see in the last pic, that was quite a spill!

BIG NEWS on the eve of her 10 months bday....

We have a walker! I guess I can officially call Ava a walker. She can stand up on her own and go forward, several steps. She just keeps at it, trying and trying. She is still wobbly, but what can you expect? I have several videos, none perfect, but I got so teary eyed when I watched my BABY walk into the kitchen!!! What???

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


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


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

Video: First Steps!

While she is not a full-blown walker yet, Ava is attempting to walk by taking 3, 4, 5 steps at a time. Here she is on Christmas Eve w/ Daddy and I, practicing. She was trying so hard and we actually got it on camera.

http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i146/mnallen79/?action=view¤t=videowalking.flv

We WON!!

Thanks to all our friends and family for your effort in securing a win! We had nearly 400 votes! WOW!! Thanks again!

We Need Your Vote!

The company who did our Christmas Cards, secretstorksurprise.com, has a Holiday Photo contest going on. As a customer, through a consent form, I gave my permission to them to use our photo in the contest.

Soooo, thanks to the determination of Ryan and myself, my MIL (MOSTLY), and now BIL (Uncle Aaron), we are currently a contender for first place. We need to pull through to close the deal!

Here is the website:

http://secretstorksurprise.com/gpage10.html

We are picture #9.

Sadly, voting is limited to 1 per IP address so feel free to email this to your friends and family!

Thanks so much!!

I promise I've been good, Santa

Pleeeeeeease don't put me on the naughty list. I'll work on my sleep, I promise. My mommy says I am so so good!

Listen to what Ava has to say....

She has learned something new....

I wasn't quite sure that she put two and two together w/ Santa and "ho, ho, ho", but it was confirmed this morning while we were at the grocery store.

We were at the grocery store and just cruising around, I'm all in my element and just jibber-jabbering back and forth w/ baby girl. She was holding the grocery list for me. All of a sudden she starts in on her "ho ho ho ho" thing. Once she starts, she does it for like 5 minutes. There was no Santa around so I figure, well, I guess she doesn't quite get that "ho ho ho" goes w/ Santa, but whatever, it must just be a new word/sound. Well, about 3 minutes later I look down while she is still saying it and she is concentrating so hard on the shopping list and what do I see at the bottom of the paper? A santa hat! It was on the SPCA note pad we got and it had a dog w/ a santa hat! So she DOES get it! She was saying "ho ho ho ho" to the santa dog. So CUTE!!

Getting ready for the Holidays!

We actually decorated for Christmas this year in a timely manner, so we get to enjoy the decorations for a whole month as opposed to a few weeks. It was so nice, as always, to get the tree out (pre-lit and fake--how very un-green of us) and decorate it. Ava was a big help, as you can see. We listened to Christmas music and thought about making hot chocolate, but since it was in the mid 70's here and we were both sweating, we decided water would suffice. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year and I have such fond memories of it. I can only hope that Ava will one day feel the same way.

Here is Ava "helping" us w/ the ornaments:

Such a Silly Girl

Ava's little personality is so cute these days. She has learned to crinkle her nose and sniff. Check her out in this video. I love it!!

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

We made it!!

Here's the fam at Grandma Laurie's house in Tulsa:

Here we are at Gigi and Poppy's house in Dallas:

We are back in the ATX now after a long journey to Dallas and then on to Tulsa and back to Dallas. Ava hung in there, but by the last day, she was tired and cranky and ready to go home, as were we. She showed off all her new tricks and of course everyone thought she was so cute!

She's waving hi and bye-bye

She's saying "mamama"

She's flipping her lips w/ her fingers and making a humming sound (does that even make sense?)

She's crawling faster than ever

She's pulling up and letting go and standing there for a few seconds

She's semi-signing "milk"

And most importantly, she gave both sets of grandparents KISSES!! Open mouth and all!

She visited w/ a lot of family and friends this Thanksgiving and it was so nice to spend time w/ everyone.

Ava and Grandma Laurie:

4 Generations of Girls: Great Grandma Smalley, Grandma Laurie, Mommy, and Ava

Ava w/ the boys, her daddy and uncle Aaron:

Gigi and Poppy with Ava:

She also got to meet her uncle Austin and Aunt Gretchen (not pictured, oops, I didn't get a picture....darn!) and see her cousin Rylee and Aunt Rachel again:

Happy Turkey Day!

Ava can say this knowing good and well what turkey tastes like, so it will be a happy turkey day for her! She likes to feed herself chicken (in finger food form, not pureed, as I couldn't bring myself to puree meat....yuck!) and tried turkey the other day at Rudy's BBQ. It was seasoned, so I wasn't sure she would like it, but who am I kidding? She LOVED it, of course.

So, in case we don't post for awhile, as we will be heading out to Dallas and Tulsa to visit the grandparents, Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is Ava styling her new onesie created by moi (my "inpiration" came from another mommy on my mommy message board, thanks SAB717)! As you can see, Ava is less than thrilled to be posing right now b/c I couldn't wait to put it on her, even if it was right after she woke up from her nap. She looks cute anyhow.

Oh, and a tooth update for ya!

Not one.

Not two.

Not three.

Not four.

Not just five.

But SIX teeth now!

If you did the math, this little lady got 6 teeth in 6 weeks! She handled it like a trooper though. She is all business when it comes to getting a job done. Determination I tell ya, every once of her, from her crawling to her teeth! This is the best picture I could get. I probably won't be able to get any closer to her mouth until she is about 2!

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.