Ava & Mila

Ava turned 19 weeks old last Friday… just as her new cousin Nathan was being born. Happy Birthday Nathan!! Congrats to Maryann, Glen and the whole family. She didn’t have a chance to meet Nathan in person yet but here is Ava at the hospital with her Great Aunt Mary, who became a new Grandma today. Ava has a pink hospital bracelet on her wrist so no one can say that we stole her from the hosptial. What do they think she is… a 15 pound newborn from Mexico!?!

While in San Pedro visiting her new cousin, Ava also got a gardening lesson from Grandpa Jack. Here she is about to break off a rose bud and put it in her mouth. Yumm.

Ava also got to sit on grass for the first time. She wasn’t too fond of it… it was a little pokey since we (meaning Dan) did not mow it yet.

Ava would rather bend in half and try to shove her foot into her little mouth.

We spent Memorial Day at the Gamble’s house for some BBQ and beers. Ava had fun staring at her cute future boyfriend Matheus

Ava has become a lot more aware of Rudy and Yoda lately. She follows them with her eyes as they walk around the house and smiles at them when she sees them. So, everytime we come home, I have her greet them as Dan and I do when we get home… with a smile and a hello. Here she is trying to grab Rudy by the nose.

This week was Ava’s 4 month check-up. I can’t beileive how much she has grown. She currently weighs 15 pounds and 4 ounces (which is 72 percentile for her age group), is 25.75 inches long (which is 87 percentile and quickly catching up to Nicole…jk… Dan made me say that) and her head circumfernce is 17 inches (which is 90 percentile… she is quickly becoming a lollipop as predicted… I blame Dan for her big head)

There was quite a wait at the doctor’s office, so Ava entertained herself by crinkling up the paper on the bench and even tried to eat it.

Then she hopped around the room with a rabbit. Her face cracks me up here. She has learned how to use her high pitch voice in the past week or so and here she is using it.

Then, came the shots again. We tried to console her but it wasn’t working too well. Sorry Ava

She didn’t really get a fever from the shots like she did last time. But she was a bit crankier at night and has been waking up for an additional midnight snack thanks to those shots and her new tooth. The next day at daycare she did well. She was a little less talkative but still was a smiling baby who enjoys looking at fishes.

Who put a hippo on her head?!?

I can’t believe it. Ava got her first tooth this week. Dan felt something sharp as Ava was biting down on his finger a few days ago. If you look very closely to this picture, you can see a tiny white cap peeking through her gums just to the left of center. (Her left, your right).

So we spent some time experimenting with different teething rings, blankets, etc… but because this tooth didn’t seem to bother her too much, we mostly left it alone.

Ava is still a little too young to sit alone but if you balance her just right, she seems to do okay holding herself up if she is bent forward.

This past weekend, Ava and I were in San Pedro again. We had an interview to go to at Mary Star for Ava’s baptism. Here she is with her godparents-to-be. She was excited “this much”.

After the interview, the four of us went to Rex’s for breakfast. Watching me eat their yummy stuffed french toast was exhausting for Ava, so she decided to pass out at the table.

Here is Ava with Uncle David. If David was a cupcake, then Ava would be “sprinkles”. hehe.

Ava loves to look at herself and whoever is holding her in the mirror. It was something she first started doing a few weeks back at daycare. Here is Marko and Ava having a giggling contest.

And, Ava still loves making fart sounds. Here she is teaching her new cousin-to-be how to do so…

Alright, it’s time for us to go running… see you next week.

Ava turned 4 months old this week, which happens to be week 17…

A few days before Mother’s Day, Ava and Dan got me a beautiful bouqet of roses.

At Ava’s daycare, they have ‘fun fridays’ and this friday was a Mother’s Day breakfast.

When we got to her classroom later that day, I found a finger-painted bag with her picture on it… and some more paint on her shirt. I guess she tried to eat her hands and when the teacher tried to stop her, she got paint on herself.

And once I opened the bag, I found a cute picture of her sitting in a bucket with a hat on… but she didnt have the happiest look on her face in the picture.

Here is Ava snuggling with her monkey.

One of the milestones Ava reached this week is grabbing her feet. It first started in the sitting postion as she bent forward.

And now she loves grabbing her feet while on her back.

And on the changing table, Ava helps take off her own socks

The second big milestone she reached is making ‘raspberries’.. which is a nice way of saying that Ava makes fart sounds.

We can’t help but laugh when she does it… which means we are going to be in trouble once she starts eating solid foods.

And here she is making fart sounds and flipping us off. Nice one Ava.

And lastly, since the pool at Vegas was too cold for swimming… we filled up the bath tub to see what she would do. Ava loved it! She kicked and splashed and even drank a bit on accident. Most of the time she was in the fetal postion. Not sure if she was in that position because that is how she sits in her little tub or if she thought she was back in the womb. Either way, it was very cute.

This past weekend we had our first vacation with Ava. We decided to tag along on my parent’s Vegas vacation at a resort off of the strip. Our trip started off with a looonnng car ride. The usual 4.5 hour trip turned into a 6 hour trip due to stops for feeding our hungry little girl. She did pretty well in the car since she likes sleeping in her car seat.

Pretty much as soon as we got there, we changed into our swim gear and hit the pool. I was very excited to introduce Ava to the pool and have her splash in it…but once we got there, we realized that the pool was freezing. So there was no swimming that weekend but we did have Ava stand on the steps of the pool. At first she let out a scream… as we all do when we first step into a cool pool. But once she realized that it was one huge bath tub, she relaxed and took it all in…

She even sat down in the pool herself.

Standing on the pool steps was exhausting, so Ava decided that a nap next to the pool’s waterfall was an excellent idea.

The next morning was Mother’s Day. Ava got me a cool frame with a picture of her, Rudy and Yoda saying Happy Mommy’s Day!

And when Grandma Ester gave me my present, Ava was in love with the pink ribbon.

After that, it was time for the pool again in her polka dot bikini.

We even laid out (in the shade).

During Ava’s pool nap, she gave us a little peep show. Hehe.

We were all exhausted, so we all took naps again…

That evening, we celebrated Mother’s Day with a trip to the Wynn buffet. Yummy. While we were getting ready, Ava and Grandpa Jack watched some tv together. (Yes, that is LifeTime). She loves watching TV so we keep the TV off at home when she is in the living room. I guess Grandpa Jack didn’t know the rules.

Here are 3 generations of ladies, ready to hit the town…

On our last day, we hit the pool again our ‘Moons for Eyes’.

And on our way out to town, Dan and Ava enjoyed a platter of wings at Hooters. Shame on us.

And then we were off on our 6 hour car ride home. We made sure to take plenty of breaks to stretch our legs and laugh.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Great Grandmas, Grandmas, Moms, Aunts, and mommy-to-be’s!!!

Our little Ava is now 16 weeks old.

It’s been hard to get as many clean smiling pictures as before because Ava’s hand is almost always in her mouth. Most of the time she tries to shove her whole hand in there…

Sometimes she tries to shove my hand in there…

Sometimes it is her index finger…

And sometimes it’s her middle finger. I guess she likes ‘birds’ too.

HAAA-CHOOO!!!! Bless you Ava.

Check her out dancing on the couch…

…and dancing with Dad.

We visited Rodrigo’s new place this week. He had some cool toys there for Ava. She had fun watching her Dad make a little plastic ball float magically in the air.

She also had a blast watching a pinwheel spin and spin.

Here is Ava at work, hanging out with our co-worker Jeremie.

Dan and Mikey spent the day sailing the Seas of the ‘Nard…and Ava stopped by to help navigate.

Ava is really grabbing this week. She enjoys laying and sitting in her gym.

Each week, I read a chapter in a baby book that explains weekly changes and milestones. Chapter 16 explained that fussiness will begin when a baby is unhappy about playtime ending or if they are tired of hanging out in a certain position… and just as I was reading about this fussiness… it began. AHHH. Dan and I are still aren’t sure if we are going to stick with the cry it out method or comfort method. But, we better decide quickly because consistency is the key… especially if she gets more fussy in the future.

Ava likes to kick when she is on her stomach… causing her to push herself into things… like right into the crack of the chair.

Oh, and those buggy rides at daycare are getting more fun… especially when she puts her arm out of the driver’s side ‘window’. hehe.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of when Dan and I found out we were pregnant with Ava. I can’t believe it has been a year. Last year at this time I was releasing my first baby hummingbird, Herman, that I hand raised back into the wild… and now I have a slightly bigger ‘bird’ to raise. Here is our Ava at 15 weeks old.

Every time we kiss Ava or bring her close to our faces, she opens her mouth wide to make sure we get a slobbery kiss.

And if she is not slobbering on us, then she is slobbering on herself. Her hands are always in mouth. She hasn’t found her thumb yet, so any number of fingers will do just fine. And occasionally we will find her hands clasped together… sorta looks like she is praying. Great Grandpa Slavo would be very proud.

This week we transitioned Ava from her bassinet to her crib. She was out growing the bassinet and was showing signs of not wanting to be swaddled. The transition went surprisingly smooth for Ava. She really didn’t complain at all. I think it was tougher on me because I miss not having her next to me in my room. I really miss her sleep laughs… they crack me up each time. Here she is during her first real nap in her crib.

Since the swaddling has stopped, we now place Ava in these baby sleeping bags instead of using blankets for safety reasons. I wonder why they don”t make adult sizes…

During her naps, Ava starts off with a pacifier in her mouth. But because of her new grabbing skills, she can pull the pacifier out of her own mouth… sometimes pissing herself off. So to remedy the problem after a few cries, I go into her room and quietly ask her to go back to sleep. But does she go back to sleep? Nope. She stops crying and gives me these great smiles. There goes her nap!

More fun times in the crib…

This past weekend, Mikey came by to play golf with the Dans and reminisce over old pictures. He even sang a song about Ava’s fake jeans by replacing the words from the Cheers theme song.

After hearing Mike call her jeans ‘fake’, Ava got a real pair of jeans. Yippee. But I am not sure if she likes wearing jeans as much as wearing dresses because she can’t lift jeans over her head… so she had to lift her shirt up instead. Dan has turned in her application to an all girls school.

Her grabbing skills are getting much better this week. She loves grabbing the butterfly that is attached to her car seat. (Yes, we are at Chipotle again)

At daycare, they have an aquarium. Ava loves to stand and stare at the fishes with the help from her daddy.

And check out Ava’s first chalk drawing. If you close your left eye and stand on your right foot, you will be able to see that it says “Happy Birthday Nona Ester!”

Ava also got a pair of sunglasses while we went out shopping with Michelle and Grace. Here is Ava practicing to sun bathe.

And check out her new bikini. She tried it on in preparation for our upcoming trip to Las Vegas with her. Vegas Baby Ava, VEGAS!