Fun with kids...

...need i say more?? :)

Ava's Baptism

Ava was baptized this weekend in the church where Mike grew up. It was a beautiful, private, ceremony. The priest took his time and said lovely things. Ava was quite the ham. At one point in the ceremony we stood in front of our little crowd and each guest came and traced the cross on her forehead. After about the fourth person she thought it was hilarious and started laughing after each person passed. It was so cute. After the water on the head she fell asleep in my arms. The final portion of the ceremony involved placing Ava on the alter where we all stood around her and said a few prayers. Our group had ever seen this done and I have to admit it crossed my mind that she was going to be sacrificed. It was a little odd but she loved it. She just looked around at us all and smiled. Mike's mom thought that was hilarious and carried on the trend by placing her on the dining room table back at the house while everyone ate their meal around her. That ended pretty quickly when she started "taking care of some business" to pass the time.

Ava did great on the road trip, even when we got stuck in traffic and the normally 20 minute drive from Kingdom City to 63 took 1 hour and 15 minutes. The highlight of the trip for her was meeting her cousins. They are 8, 6, and 3. She got a huge kick out of them and I was sad to bring her home where all she has to look at are boring ol' mom and dad. Her cousins were great, they held her, helped me change even the dirtiest of diapers, and read to her. I wish they lived closer!

Mike's mom made this adorable dress just for Ava. The bonnet is an Irish scarf that I carried around my wedding bouquet. It turns into a baptism bonnet. My mom bought that for me when we were in Europe for our wedding. It is wonderful to have such thoughtful things to pass down.

11 weeks old today!

Here she is! She's sporting a onsie decorated by my sister, Emily, at my baby shower.The flip side says "Baby 07".
Tummy-time showdown. Baby vs. Zebra.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a wonderful Turkey Day full of friends, family, and of course, food! Mike worked last night in the kitchen making two(!) pies and arancini (italian rice balls). Sadly, he said I could have neither sweet potato pie nor pumpkin pie for breakfast so I settled for removing them from the fridge, smelling them, and taking a photo.By the way, Ava saw her first snow fall last night! We had a few flurries and even snow on the rooftops this morning!

10 weeks old today!

My how she's grown!

We received the same adorable duck outfit as a gift in two different sizes. Ava had her hospital photos taken in the smaller size and I thought it would be fun to take photos this weekend of her in the same (larger size) outfit. She's changed so much!

Ava's First Parade!

On Sunday we attended the annual holiday parade in downtown Columbia. We watched the festivities from the bridge over Broadway on the Stephens College campus. Mike even caught some candy! The big finale of the parade is none other than Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

Soothing...

Ava has started assuming the most adorable position to soothe herself. She puts her left hand in her mouth (usually sucking on the outside of her thumb as she did in utero) and touches her right hand to the back of her head. Once she gets the dexterity, I bet she'll twirl her hair. Here she's actually found her thumb (cha-ching!). She's only found it twice but bless her, she tries every day!

My tough little cookie...

Closing in on 12 pounds! Ava is 23 inches long and 11 pounds, 15 and 3/4 ounces.

Today Ava had her first round of shots. She was such a brave little girl! She was sound asleep when it was time for the appointment so I had to wake her. She was all smiles getting ready to go. Once in the office she was smiling at all the nurses and really enjoyed the scale. I didn't want to take her off. She was looking around and was clearly very excited. Then, the nurse administered some yummy grape Tylenol which sealed the deal. This place is great! Sadly, things took a turn for the worse when the nurse came in with a bucket of vials. Ava screamed bloody murder. It wasn't fun. I grabbed her, wiped her tears, fed her, and took her home. She stayed asleep in the car seat once we were home. I couldn't bear to disturb her again. She woke up about 40 minutes later and here she is:What a brave little pumpkin! The zebra is giving her lots of kisses and making it all better! We may just be seeing the glorious effects of acetaminophen but I am pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a much rougher afternoon.

9 weeks old today!

Happy Birthday Ava!

2 months old today!
Nothing too exciting to report here. I'm putting plastic over all of our windows today to keep us warm and in the black throughout the winter. I'm more than a little bummed to forgo natural light through the blinds all winter long but I suppose that is all the more reason to continue walking during the day. We took Ava to the library for her birthday and checked out some more baby music and baby books. She enjoys the bright colors, lights and big windows there. It is a beautiful day in Columbia, MO and when she wakes up from her nap we'll go out for a long walk to enjoy this crisp Fall day.

In other news, I seem to have lost my mind. We were at the grocery store the other night and I was trying to pay with my debit card. The machine kept saying "incorrect PIN" but I hadn't entered anything in! I kept trying again and again to cancel and start over. The cashier was confused and asked why I kept cancelling. I told her what was happening. Mike leaned over and looked at the machine and pointed out that it said "input PIN" not "incorrect PIN". I was mortified. I use that very same machine every week to purchase groceries and have never been stumped by it before. Mike said perhaps my brains are leaking out with my breast milk. It is ironic that I'm working so hard to facilitate Ava's learning while my own intellectual health appears to be declining.

8 weeks old today!

In case you are curious, last night was another good sleeping night. She went to bed at 9:30, totally exhausted. She didn't get the daylight savings time memo so she thought it was still 10:30, poor girl. She stirred at 12:30 am and I got up to feed her. By the time I reached into the bassinet to grab her she was out again. She woke up at 3:30 to eat and then slept again until 7:30. Not too bad. I guess Saturday night may not have been a fluke after all!

Ava Flav!

Check out this awesome new onesie Ava acquired from the Hardy's. You'll have to wait until she's in the 6-12 month size to see it in action. Ithink we missed a golden Halloween opportunity. Perhaps next year...

the night we've been waiting for...

Last night a miracle occurred. Ava slept through the night. She fell asleep at about 10:00 pm and I followed about 15 minutes later. I try to go to sleep when she does because until last night she woke every 2-3 hours throughout the night (with the occasional 4 hour stretch). I woke with a start at about 3:00 am, she was still sleeping. I counted my lucky stars that she'd slept for a record 5 hours. I closed my eyes and thought I'd catch a few more z's...she'll be up any second, I thought. I woke up again at 5:30 and she was still sound asleep. This time I started checking her vitals. She seemed okay. I laid down again and this time I couldn't sleep, this was longer than I had slept in over 8 weeks. Long story short, she finally woke up at about 7:40 am, happy and healthy. That is 9 hours folks! I don't know if she'll do a repeat performance tonight or ever again. Fingers crossed!

I had so much energy this morning, I felt like I'd had 3 cups of coffee but without the jitters. We burned off some of that excess with a long walk this afternoon on the local nature trail. Here's some photos: