Little Miss Sunshine...

Peek-A-Boo!

I love waking up in the mornings...

Sometimes when I get too excited my eyes close up!

Just makin' sure Mommy and Daddy's bed doesn't go anywhere...

Am I a 'Pretty Princess' or what?

This is how I sleep in my crib...

...my Mommy lays me down on my back with my feet pointing towards the top of the picture and I like to roll over and sleep sideways.

Oh no! Mommy caught me!

Have you seen my sock? I seem to be missing it...

Laundry

Matt thought it would be easier to just put Ava in the washing machine instead of giving her a proper bath...

No, he actually wanted to know if I needed anything else folded and walked up to me with the clean clothes hamper. Little did I know that he had our little Slobbersaurus-Rex inside!

If you're wondering why our bed is unmade...it's because we had to change the sheets due to Ava spitting up on them :)

Daddy's Gone

Friday morning at 6am, Matt left for a TDY to Misawa, Japan. After his long week at work and the emotionally/physically draining previous weekend with his trip to Dallas, Matt never got a chance to unwind from everything that's happened in his world this past week. Instead, he got to sit in the middle seat on quite possibly one of the longest flights imaginable--from San Francisco to Tokyo. Technically, it's not the longest flight, but he managed to go from practically the end of the Earth's time zone to the very beginning of it. From Vegas, Tokyo is 16 hours ahead...so in essence, while sitting on the airplane he lost almost a day from his life. But, when he comes home, he'll gain it back (he actually gets back 2 hours earlier on the clock than when he leaves Japan!). He's like a real life time traveller!

Anyhow, with Matt gone, Ava and I manage to do things that we traditionally don't do when Matt's around...like play with puppies at Petland. Today, Ava and I took a 'field trip' to our local Petland to see what kinds of puppies they had to offer. There was a Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier, a Boxer, a Scottish Terrier, a wiener dog, a Boston Terrier, a Sheltie, and all the other standard breeds like Labs and Golden Retrievers.

There was one pup in particular that Ava really thought was funny...an Italian Greyhound. The nice sales people let us play with the Italian Greyhound pup and Ava just smiled and smiled at her (don't worry, she never touched the dog!)--all while making sure that the puppy wasn't going to take her toys!

Here are a few pictures of Ava at Petland today. She really liked the Chocolate Lab, the Wheaton Terrier, the Boxer, and the Italian Greyhound.

I keep telling Matt that we should get a dog, but he thinks Ava Bear is enough for us to handle right now. He's probably right but I want Ava to grow up with animals like we both did.

So, if you were wondering what Ava and I do when Matt's gone...just know that we let our hair down and have fun--at the pet store, at the library, and at the park. The pet store is the only place that we don't get to do when Matt's home. If we did go there while he was here, he would have us by the necks!

Ava's WORST Night

Last night was Ava's absolute worst night since she was born. Before we went to Colorado last week, Ava was sleeping about 7-10 hours in her long stretch, then waking to eat, then going back to sleep for an hour or two. While in Colorado, Ava did fairly well with her sleeping routine, but the high altitude really made it tough for her to breathe (so she would wake up several times in the night gasping for air trying to breathe).

Well, ever since we returned from Colorado, Ava's sleeping routine has been a bit rough. The first night she did pretty well (her long stretch was a little over 7 hours), but the past few nights have been hard--with last night being the worst. Ava Bear woke up screaming just about every hour last night. It seemed like just when Matt and I would get back to sleep, she would wake up again screaming. Sometimes she'll cry in her sleep with her eyes closed, but last night she had full blown tears with her eyes wide open--all while screaming bloody murder. The only thing that would calm her down was nursing her. We tried bouncing her, putting in a pacifier, rocking her, talking to her, and everything else imaginable during the wee hours of the day but nothing would work except for nursing her. The best part of the story is that yesterday I somehow gave myself a crick in my neck and back (I turned my head really quickly and ever since it's been painful), so it's been difficult to turn my head right or left. Just imagine getting up every 45 minutes to an hour to attend to a screaming child all while not being able to move your head! It was fun!

So, today I'm drinking fully caffeinated coffee (I've been drinking half caf since Ava was born) and trying to function on negative sleep. Ava's smile keeps me going, although there haven't been as many of them as usual today. Neither Matt nor I could remember a night quite like last night. Even when Ava was a newborn, she slept pretty well for her 2-4 hour spurts and never woke us up every single hour. The only thing that we can figure is that she wasn't feeling well. She didn't poo all day yesterday (which is odd for her), so her tummy was quite taut and her gums have been really bothering her. It's been an off day for Ava, especially since she didn't want to play in bed with me this morning (she's never refused that before) and she cried the whole time I un-swaddled her (she usually laughs and smiles and starts to play when we unwrap her). She hasn't even wanted to play with her toys, play in her jumperoo, or lay on her playmat either. Hopefully she'll be back to her normal self soon. Even when she doesn't feel well, she's still a darling little girl. I'm sure the unusually persistent windging she's been doing today is like most peoples' normal day with their baby(or babies). We've just been so lucky to have such a happy baby who rarely ever cries--so when she does, it catches us off guard.

Here's Ava not wanting to play in her jumperoo.

Here are a few pictures I took of her this morning while she was attempting to try to play. I was able to catch a few smiles--despite her lack of sleep, her sour tummy, and her aching gums. Even when she doesn't feel her best, she's still so precious and cute!

I put Ava on her tummy this morning to play hoping it would help it feel better. These pictures were taken right after I layed her down, as her face quickly turned sour moments later!

Ava's 10 new friends...

Over the past 2 weeks, Ava's made 10 new friends that she likes to play with each day. She just thinks these new friends are the greatest things in the world and they provide her with constant entertainment. Sometimes she only wants to play with 5 of her friends at a time, so we've told her that playing with only 5 of them is okay and that the other 5 would just wait their turn. Here are some pictures of Ava playing with her 10 new friends over the past 2 weeks (the first 3 pics were taken in Colorado last week and the rest were taken yesterday after we got back from the Dr's office)...



Here she is playing with only 5 of her new friends...

Ava and her Daddy

It's been a long couple of days with us in Colorado, then Matt in Dallas to see Pa for 18 hours, and then a long work day for Matt yesterday. Ava was missing her Daddy, so she was so excited to see him when he came home last night. She just adores her Daddy and lights up when he enters the room...and her Daddy is just head over heels in love with her. Here are some pictures of my two monkeys playing together. Aren't they cute?

Ava's 4 month Apppointment

Today Ava and I went to see her pediatrician for her 4-month well-baby exam. Unfortunately, in addition to the pediatrician, we also had to go visit the immunizations clinic for her 4-month shots (there's 5 immunizations that she had to get). As always, Ava was such a brave little monkey for the entire visit to both clinics in the hospital. At the immunizations clinic, she was so good that she got not one, but two stickers--a "I was brave when I got my shot" sticker and a purple puppy sticker. Here are some pictures of her getting her shots...

Here she is with her 'Brave' sticker and her puppy dog sticker she picked out at the immunizations clinic...

Here are her 'battle scars'...

Ava now weighs 16 lbs, 2 ounces and is 25.75 inches long and her head is 17 inches in circumference. From her last well-baby exam when she was 2 months old, she has really lengthened out a lot and her weight gain has started to slow down. At her 2-month well-baby appointment, she was in the 95th percentile for her weight (13 lbs, 5.1 oz), in the 75th percentile for her length (23 inches), and in the 75th percentile for her head circumference. Now, she's dropped down to the 90th percentile for her weight, gone up to the 90th percentile for her length, and gone up to the 95th percentile for her head circumference. As you can see, she's growing like a weed!

For the past week or so she's started to teethe, so our sweet little cupcake

has been more like sour lemonade. Matt and I both feel so sorry for her, but know that this first bit of teething should hopefully be over soon. The pediatrician ok'd Infant's Tylenol and teething tablets, so tomorrow Ava and I are going to go hunt the teething tablets down at the pharmacy.

Ava truly amazes Matt and me each day with something new that she's learned to do. All day today she's rolled over (even in her crib during her nap and on the exam table at the pediatrician's office) and she surprised me with a new trick...she's learned how to kick the different buttons on her crib mobile to change the music from Mozart to Beethoven! I thought it was a fluke the first time she did it but then she kept doing it over and over again! Below are pictures of her little foot hitting the buttons on her crib mobile and of her on her tummy after rolling over while napping in her crib. She's a silly but undeniably wonderful little girl. She still is the center of our universe.

Here's another clip of Ava rolling over. I took it this morning while she was playing on her playmat (before going to the DR and getting her shots!).

Here's another video of Ava rolling over. This time she can't decide if she wants to hold on to her toys or roll over. Gravity wins and she rolls over. She's just so cute!