Tuesday mornings with Ava

***Happy 10 month birthday to my little Ava!!!***

Ava's favorite thing to do lately is to be outside and explore. After her morning bottle, she starts banging on the front door like a Gitmo prisoner! My attempts to divert her attention bring on a tantrum, so this morning, I gave in. I got my morning coffee, attempted to put some shoes on her little feet (over her footed pajamas), and we went outside. I walked her around the yard for a bit. She was fascinated by some sort of a weed with white flowers growing next to our little tree. She wandered onto the sidewalk, played with some rocks, traveled up the driveway and eventually back up to our porch.

I sat on the porch at 7am, sipping my coffee, watching the sun come up while my baby girl rolled around in the grass and picked at the dandelions. Is there anything better?? Anywhere else, somewhere more important, that I would have rather been in that moment? Absolutely not. If that's not the best Tuesday morning ever, then I don't know what is!

SHE WALKED!

Okay, so this blog is now officially the "Baby Walk Tracker!" Lol! Today after coming indoors from playing outside, Ava took like 5 steps towards me! We had spent about 30 minutes playing outside, she was holding onto my hands and we walked around the driveway and the sidewalk, periodically stopping so that she could investigate a rock, a flower, a weed! Really when we go outside, it takes about 30 minutes to travel approximately 10 feet because she stops at every little blade of grass or bit of concrete that she sees to touch it and sometimes taste it!! I am so proud of how attentive she is when she's exploring! She really takes her time to feel it, turn it over, throw it, pick it up, taste it, stare at it while rolling it in her hands for at least 5 minutes...I have no idea how her attention span is SO long!

At any rate, she loves playing outside. She loves watching the cars, the neighbor dogs, the bugs and she even saw a butterfly today! Everyday with her is something new!

Ava's FIRST STEPS, for real ya'll!

So yesterday, Ava took her first baby steps in front of Roger and my mom! It was so precious! Roger was coaxing her along with a marker, which she LOVES to chew on. Well she stood there for awhile and then finally took 3 steps towards him! I can't believe we didn't catch it on camera! I am glad though that I wasn't the only one that saw it, sometimes when she does stuff and I am the only one around, I wonder if people actually believe me when I tell them about it! Can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up! :*)

ZOO!!!

Yesterday Ava took her first trip to the Zoo! We went with Roger's family. Ava's Grandma, Aunt, and three of her cousins are in town, so it was a fun day, although very long. And while the sharks, bears, giraffes and lions held her attention momentarily, she was out cold in about 2 hours. I then had to wake her up so that we could go on the train, but she did a great job at the zoo! She was pointing at all of the animals, and some non-specific objects along the way. She also had some of my cheese pizza for lunch and got to be held by everyone along the way:) Of course, I forgot my camera, so hopefully I'll get some pics from Grandma if/when she posts them on Facebook.

Yesterday was also Ava's second time at a water park:) She had some mixed feelings about that. For the first 30 minutes, she was content to splash around in the water, but then started having a few mini-meltdowns, nothing too bad though. I think that some of the shooting fountains scared her a little bit. Overall, she had a great day with the family and did a great job for being out and about all day long with only one very, very short nap.

We got home late, and unfortunately were accosted by our WT neighbor's loose pitbull. I was NOT happy. As we were going up to our front door, the dog literally ran at us and was pushing up on the backs of my legs as I (hands shaking) unlocked the door, rushed in and slammed the door behind me. I am SO OVER their stupid dog. He is always loose and we have had to call Animal Control before when Ava was about 3 months old.

Anyways, what an exhausting day! Luckily Ava didn't even notice the crazy dog, she was passed out and went straight to bed when we got home. Today she has her 9 month doctor's appointment and then we are off for another fun-filled adventure with the family:) Another long day! WOOOOHOOO! :)

I LOVE MY LITTLE BUNNY!! <3

Paci-free!!! Day #1!

I am so proud of myself and Ava!!! She has had a pacifier glued to her face for over 9 months now and I just woke up today and decided, ya know what...let's see what happens without it!!!

Lots of tears, tantrums, rocking, cuddling and comforting today. Oh...and Ava had a hard time too;) I just can't believe how relatively easy it's been, let's hope I can stick with this and be strong! I HATE having to carry around at least 3 or 4 pacis with me everywhere I go, constantly losing them, constantly cleaning them after she chucks 'em across restaurant floors!

I think it has been a success(for now)! Naptime and bedtime were REALLY hard today, but that's to be expected. We made it to the mall, the grocery, and played for hours without it. She is asleep right now and we have had a totally paci-free day! WOOOOHOOOO!

A First - The Volcano Diaper!

So yesterday for some inexplicable reason, Ava's diapers were out of control!
I am feeding (trying to feed) Ava dinner. Roger has bought a new phone and is spending hour #3 searching online and/or playing with a phone at his spot on the couch. Ava is cranky, wiggly, and doesn't really seem to be hungry. In protest she has decided to start smearing peas all over herself, luckily she is only wearing a diaper.
For a moment or so, her face pauses, her eyes become round and dissonant, she is obviously pushing out a good one. I laugh a little and continue to try to give her a spoonful of peas.
Suddenly it happens...like lava oozing out of a volcano, a green and yellow pasty soup spills out over the top of her diaper into the high chair, all over her legs. Screams of horror, cries for help! Roger looks over, yelling, "Stop yelling!". Finally, he gets up and walks to the kitchen and screams, "IS THAT POOP!?!?"
As if stuck in a time warp, I move in slow motion as Ava's little hands curiously grab a fistful of diarrhea. Diarrhea poo dripping everywhere! "AHHHHHHHH!" the horror, I am still screaming and my mind has gone blank!
As if running only on adrenaline, I grab a hold of her arms holding them in the air over her head. Roger aimlessly runs around the house, back and forth, back and forth in a sheer panic. Can anyone help us?? Why is this happening!?! I can't stop screaming!
Now in control of her hands, my senses come to me. Roger is looking for our "dirty towel", the old towel that we use to clean up our nastiest of nasty messes, but we are both too stunned to communicate. I gather my words and yell, "clean, folded, quick!!"
Roger finds the dirty towel, unclicks her high chair tray, and wraps up the poo covered baby in a towel like a little burrito (sorry, burrito is the only thing that comes to mind). Ava, who was initially quieted by the commotion, is now laughing as mom and dad pull themselves together with unsettling shrill exclamations, "It's OK! It's ALRIGHT, EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE OKAY!!! YEYYYY!" He holds baby burrito at arms-length, I hold her hands over her head and we maneuver through the house, over baby gates, down hallways, through doors, the three of us in a locked position.
We make it to the shower, turn the shower on, is it the right temperature?? Okay, put the baby in. Wait, take off the diaper. NOOO, the smell!! Hurry! Poop, poop, never-ending poop! Detach the shower head and hose the baby down. Baby is hosed down, baby is clean, mom and dad are clean! Ahhhhh...sighs of relief and then finally laughter. We are beaming!We survived. We survived!!! WE ARE SUPER PARENTS!!!

Rocking the New Hair-do!

Her hair has gotten to the point that I sometimes can't even see her eyes! The solution...the "sprout". Because every little girl needs to have some style;)

Getting into trouble with the TV stand!

Look how cute I am!

Blowing raspberries at Mama!