9 months!

Avah's 9 month well check is Thursday, cant wait to see how  much she has grown. These days she does not stop moving!! She started walking with a push walker yesterday...walking by Christmas? Thats everyones prediction..

Shes been eating a lot of finger foods. She likes scrambled eggs, toast, french toast, chicken, string cheese, fruit..just to name a few.

8 months!

So I know the picture says 7 months but her 8 month picture must be on the other memory card. I cant believe I havent posted on all the changes that have been going on. UGH, busy at work and busy chasing Avah leads me no time to unwind at night. Thankfully since I am a teacher we are getting 2 really good breaks coming up! 
What new:
Avah crawls EVERYWHERE, room to room leaving us behind :)
She cruises from couch to ottoman, window sill to kitchen chairs & buffet to dining room chairs! 
She can go from standing to sitting by bending her knees AND will pick up a toy she drops.
She LOVES feeding herself by picking up small pieces like cereal puffs and tonight we tried carrots. She mainly just smashed them all over the place and left some for Loki & Lola to eat of the ground.
SAYS "DADA" ALLLLLL the time. I love it but it would be nice to hear some "MAMA" too!
Into everything! I had to move her toys away from one corner of the house to the other because she kept going for all the rocks in the fireplace that was near by. Well we still find her other there so that didnt really work! LOL
She laughs and giggles all the time, loves peek-a-boo.
Exactly one year ago we had moved into our house and 2 weeks ago found out we were having a GIRL!!!
Dressed as Minnie Mouse for Halloween.
Has majorly regressed in sleeping...many nights in our bed..(I know bad mommy) But when Ive got to work I need some kind of sleep so at this point im desperate! Going to try more finger foods..maybe thinking she is hungry. She still doesnt love baby food...I think she would rather feed herself.

This picture was almost a year ago! With sweet lil Avah in mommy's belly. We never knew at the time how much MORE we would smile everyday! Seriously, I've never smiled so much in my life.

Charleston Weekend

If you get a chance to visit Charleston you must check out the South Carolina Aquarium. It has so many great exhibits, beats our Ft. Fisher aquarium out of the ball park!

7 month pictures

So we just got back Avah's 7 month pictures and they are ALL so good we cant decide!! She was so good for the pictures, it was her bed time and all. We got to the beach around 5:30 then we needed to wait an additional 30 minutes for the sun to go down. Avah's typical routine is bath around 6, sleep by 6:30. So you can imagine my anxiety on the drive there. Im thinking crabby, fussy baby- take me home MOMMY! LOL but she loves people and will smile every chance she gets with a little attention :)

We are going to have a crawler soon...

Avah is moving around like crazy these days! I look over and shes getting a toy from her toy basket?! I tell her "stop, Avah mommy wants you to stay little forever!" :) On Sunday we look over and she is attempting to pull herself onto our ottoman, I grabbed a picture of this one. She stood there for a good minute then plopped down.

We have officially stored away 6 month clothing, her swing & baby bath tub. All too small. She is so much fun, I just cant tell everyone enough...she is seriously such a good baby! Scares me to even think about trying for a 2nd..there is no way we could possibly get this lucky again!!

The sleep training no sleep training did not work for us. We both cannot deal with a screaming baby at 3am when its time to sleep and get up for work in 2 hours. It just is not going to work for us. So, even though Dr. said Avah should sleep all night without eating, its not happenin' in this household. In fact, since we tried it that night I feel like her sleep has gotten worse. Some nights she is awake every  3 hours. Last night she'd wake every time we laid her in the crib. So that resulted with David on the couch and us in the big bed! Her normal night is sleeps really well 7-1, then up at 3am and 6am. She eats each time, goes right back to sleep. But recently, shes waking more. From what Ive read it could be teeth or growing-who really knows? Shes drooling a lot though. But I know this will past, she will sleep when shes ready and until then I am tired! Ready for 3 day weekend with my babes! We have 7 month pics at the beach, hitting up the pumpkin patch, cleaning up the beach in our beach sweep, buckeye game and a day off with the hubby! Going to be a good weekend!

*Avah's purple shirt in the pics says- Im the princess, Mommy is the queen and Daddy is around here somewhere. So fitting.. haha..

At 6months...

I weigh 16.12 oz and I am 26 inches!
I can sit-up like a big girl & roll from one side of the room to the other.

Notes from the Dr.-Avah needs to sleep all night, no midnight snacks :) Apparently eating at night is harmful to those pearly whites that should make their debut soon... Ill keep you posted on my lack of sleep beginning tonight! LOL.

 
 

Happy 6 months!

Avah is a half year old already! We spent the day celebrating Ohio State's win :) 

Things Avah is doing...
-can sit up unassisted for a few minutes, then topples over. 
-likes all the food we have made her-sweet potatoes, carrots, peaches, sweet peas, apples.
-scoots backwards on her back from one side of the room to the other.. its quite funny!
-riding in carts and sitting in high chairs out and about
-being a HAPPY baby, everyone says this about her!

1st week away from baby girl...

& I was so foolish to think it would get easier. :( I dont like it, not one bit. I know were fortunate she at least gets to hang with Daddy all day but it doesnt make it easier. If Im not with her it sucks. I really hope Ive made the right decision.I could have stayed home, maybe found another way to make some money but then we wouldnt have our "extra" to travel, save..and frankly the idea of living by the bare minimum freaks me out! So here I am working..and not only working but taking care of 21 other babies ( my class)..when I just want to take care of my own all day. My biggest fear is that I miss one of her firsts, like crawling/walking etc. But enough of the sadness, hoping for a good year & great students!! Who knows, maybe it'll make me a better teacher. I'm sure Ill constantly be thinking "how would I want Avah's teacher to respond" ..time will tell. :)

Last few days of summer..

Teachers go back to work on Friday. Friday will be the first time I've left Avah for more than 4 hours. ugh, sick feeling in my stomach. I am looking forward to returning and seeing all the kiddos but man oh man it is going to be a hard few weeks! Avah will be at home with David until we find someone to come in the house for a few hours in the afternoons. I know she is in good hands but I still dont want to leave her little cute smile all day :) So, we have been enjoying the past week. Avah and I had our first "dinner date" alone at Daddy's restaurant...cant wait for more of those! I pretty much got every pinterest project I wanted to complete done in 3 days, wish I would have been this productive all summer. I still cant believe it has been 5.5 months, wow a half year old already?! Life cannot will not go this fast!!! Although Id love for life to sloooow down I am so ready for fall. For Daddy to be home during the evenings again, cool evening walks and help with dinner/bath time!
I think we are going to head over to the park this afternoon and maybe try out the baby swing...

"Routine" at 5months...

Since mommy hood I have learned I am very much Type A personality. Yes, I am still crazy about Avah's daily routine...getting things done around the house during naps & still trying to maintain a some what clean home. If something is on my mind I have to make a list and GET IT DONE. :) So, her routine is very important to me...

Whenever she wakes she usually eats..here lately she has wanted to wait at least an hour. After eating she plays and then she always has her morning nap. This is usually between 9-10am. After her second feeding she has her rice cereal. I like the eat-play-sleep method so that is what Ive tried enforcing all day. Of course there are still those times her entire day isn't like that. She takes 2 more naps during the day. These can be a different times but usually 1ish and 3ish. Around 6pm she has another tbl spoon of rice cereal with a tsp of mixed sweet pot, takes her bath, nurses and then shes out by 7/8pm. I have exclusively breastfed 99.9% of the time and having her on a routine was kind of calming. I needed to know everyday when I would have "my" time to be productive, get things accomplished and recharge mentally. haha! In our home we dont use the cry it out method and yes I fed her on demand in the beginning. This is just what works/ed for us. Gradually we both just eased in to this routine and it has worked marvelously. :) Now if we are out to dinner and its 7pm Avah is falling asleep. It doesnt matter where she is her body tells her its time to sleeeeeep....

Things are going to change in about week when I go back to work...hoping everything doesnt go to crap..LOL. I am still going to breastfeed, hoping she adjusts well to the sippy cup while I am gone!

Momma is 29 & Baby Girl is 5months!

Today we celebrated my 29th birthday and Avah's 5 months! This has been the best 5 months of life thus far. This week Mimi came in town so we've been doing a lot of shopping, walks and dining out! Daddy and I even got a date "day" in today, we saw the movie Ted and went to K38 for some yummy tacos. Ted is hilarious if you havent seen it...

At 5months Avah is

* rolling over tummy to back and back to front

*grasping for everything in her line of reach

*sleeping all night until 6am (although she still has some growth spurt nights)

*eating rice cereal twice a day

*trying sweet potatoes but not a fan of them yet

*tries to "pet" the dogs when they come near

Giggle, Giggle

Avah loves her Daddy or maybe its his voice she loves so much? Whatever it is, anytime he talks to her she laughs and giggles the entire time! Today we tried a little teaspoon full or sweet potatoes. She was not very thrilled about them....She is still eating rice cereal in the morning.
She has started reaching for everything! 
Her Mimi gets in town Monday! I cant wait, we will probably head to the beach..do some shopping for Avah's 6 mo pics. and eat a lot of yummy food!