Ava's 1st Christmas!!!!

Ava & Bampa
Posing for another picture in her pretty pink dress

Family pic at Papa & Yaya Woodyatt's house

Who could resist those eyes?

Well, we did it! We survived our first Christmas as a family! I am still digesting (not literally) everything that went on. It all went so fast and before we knew it, we had celebrated Christmas 3 different times in two days. Amazingly enough, Ava wasn't worse for wear! She did really good with the difficult napping conditions, all of the different people and numerous costume changes.

Ava got lots of presents, but she enjoyed eating wrapping paper the most..typical 4 month old....geesh! We are still figuring out how to fit all the new toys and clothes in our house. As exciting as her 1st Chirstmas was, we cannot wait for the Christmases to come.

My Child ia a Genius!

That's right! I knew when she first smiled at 1 week and was holding up her head well before other babies her age that Ava was a prodigy. So here is the evidence. Ava was being a little fussy on Saturday (I know you are saying to yourself "This cannot be, Ava is always in a good mood" HA!) so Daddy took her upstairs to play the piano for her (this always seems to calm her down). It soon became obvious to Aaron the she desperately wanted to play herself. So he set her in front of the piano and ...well, you can see what happened.

Other excitement is our days....Ava has become really good at holding up her head and now really enjoys tummy time. She continues to tell stories to us constantly and has figured out how to 'yell'. She really loves bathtime (I would post a video, but apparently obscene videos are not acceptable). She is also getting a handle on the whole sleeping thing. She is starting to fall asleep on her own, although this usually involves a bit of crying. We go to the doctor on Friday for her 4 month check up and I am sure the doctor will be commenting on how perfect and overachieving she is. I will save the bragging though.

Learning to Tell Stories

Ava has started to 'tell stories'. It is funny to see her struggle to 'say' something, she gets so serious and concentrates so hard. She even had something so important to tell us that she woke up and talked for about an hour at midnight one night. She is super cute right now and getting more fun each day. What an exciting time! Recently, she has discovered how tasty her hands are... can't keep them out of her mouth!

She has made leaps and bounds in the sleeping area. She is now sleeping between 10 and 14 hours at night (yes, I said 14...you can be sure that I tiptoe in a make sure she is still breathing) . She still wakes up at least once or twice, but I'm not complaining. We have been working on naps this week and even though there is always crying involved, she has taken every nap in her crib (except one....which was an exception because who could turn down a nap in Aunt Annie's arms?).

I am not sure what to do with all of this extra time, but I like it. Mainly, I have started to bake. Fall is the perfect time for yummy treats. Rested assured, I will be sharing all this sweet goodness with those around me. Also, is you see me slowly gaining more and more weight, you may need to organize a baking intervention.

Need I say more?

Actually, Ava is just modeling my latest creation. I knit this hat for a friend's baby, not for Ava (although I think she is working her way towards one of her own). If you are interested in knitting it yourself (for you crafty types) here is the link. I have enough yarn to make another one, so if you think you know a little one that deserves this lil devil hat, let me know (and give me a month or so) and I can make you one....only catch is the it is sized for 3months (it is a little big for Ava who just happens to be 3 mos.).

Ode to the Mobile

My heart does sommersaults at the sound of your sweet lullabies.
I delight in your bright colors that dance through the air.
And when you play, mommy hears no cries,
Maybe she will have time to blowdry her hair.

Oh, mobile...what would I do with out you!


Well, Ava's cold is finally getting better....13 days later. She seems to be just fine during the day. Now we only to rescue her from coughing fits at night. Other than the humidifier, we are still giving her medicine and sucking out the 'good stuff' from her nose (which you can imagine how much she loves).

Sleeping is going sooooo much better now. We haven't been doing anything different yet, but I think that getting rid of the cold is the biggest help. She has been sleeping 8-11 hours at night with only one or two wakings. The body snatchers have returned my sweet little girl! You
cannot imagine how much better I have been feeling. So this week we are going to try to work on napping in her crib. Basically, she has been sleeping on my chest for naps because she wakes up after about a half hour in the crib (this does not apply when she is at Nana's where she will sleep for up to 3 hours on Nana's bed...grrrrrr.....). Finally, I see a glimmer of hope!

Obligatory Halloween Pics

Well, here it is...our first Halloween (and our first holiday) as a family. In the search for Halloween costumes, what could be better than a princess outfit? I struggled with getting the cutest/cleverest costume ever, but got burnt out really quickly. Sure I could scour the internet for hours on end, but why bother when Old Navy had this super cute (and cheap) costume? I did have a matching tiera for myself (from my bridal shower) but never got to wear it...

The "scarey" photo is how we spent about 2 hours of Halloween night. After all the trick-or-treaters had gone, we ventured over to Nana & Bampa's house just in time to interrupt their nice quiet evening with cries of sheer terror (now that is what I call scarey). Ava has been sick for the past week and let me tell you , it has been a whole lot of trick and not so much treat around here. On the positive side, she has been sleeping more at night. The trade off is the screaming during the day. More adventures in new parenthood!

So this is Ava's first cold and I thought for sure the Dr. was going to think we were crazy for making an appointment. Much to my relief, we were not the first set of totally paranoid parents he has seen. He was very nice and reassuring, gave us a presription and a lot of piece of mind. I slept a lot better that night even though Ava continued to cough :( I know she has to get sick sometime, but I was hoping she would be a little older and we would have had this whole sleep thing figured out.

Speaking of sleep, no progress since giving up on sleep training. I did go to the library and borrow 4 books on sleeping. I figure when the time is right, I'll be ready.

Goat Lickin' Good!

I'm not sure that Ava actually realized that the goat was trying to lick her, but her face sure has a goofy look on it. Right after this pic was taken, we witnessed why we should never let Ava touch farm animals....let's just say it is too gross to describe and Aaron and I left the barn in search of hand sanitizer. This pic was taken on our obligatory fall trip to Edward's Apple Orchard. We had a lot of fun and can't wait until Ava can actually taste a fresh apple cider donut herself!

Since I have last written we have officially given up on sleep training....I don't know who it was meant for, but definitely not for us (or at least not right now)! I mean....if something makes this little cutie into a monster, you'd stop whatever you were doing too.


Ava has officially found her hands and they have provided hours of chewing entertainment. She doesn't mind gagging herself from time to time, although it drives me nuts. I guess you have to pick your battles....

I still don't get the whole age thing, but as of Tuesday, Ava turned 12 weeks old (in my world, that is 3 months old, but in baby age time, she isn't 3 months old until Nov. 5.....who knows?). We are looking forward to the endless photo opportunities that Halloween will provide. I also realized that I was originally going to go back to work on Monday... I am soooooo glad that I decided to wait until Jan. I just couldn't imagine trying to function in the real world yet. I don't know how some moms do it!

She's got Daddy's eyes

If any of you have tried to take a picture of Aaron, you know exactly what I mean when I say that Ava has got Daddy's eyes. For those of you who don't know, it is virtually impossible to take a picture of Aaron with his eyes completely open. All of Aaron's pictures inevitably end up with half open eyes, making him always look sleepy (I would post an example pic, but I don't think he would appreciate it).

So here are just a couple pictures we took the other night while trying to take an 11 week picture of Ava. Her eyes are mostly open in one of them...that seems like a victory in itself. Although the rest of them may appear like she is just smiling so big that she closes her eyes....you would be mistaken in thinking that. A split second before each shot, her eyes were completely wide open. Well, at least she has got the smiling thing down.

Today, we are in the middle of "sleep training". I am not sure if it is training her or me. This is definitely not fun. She was doing really good with sleeping long stretches at night and taking naps, but we seem to have gone backwards. I 'll let you know how it goes. Wish us luck! (I would take a picture to show you all how Ava is dealing with this...but it does seem a bit cruel and a bright flash while she is screaming bloody murder might not help her calm down).

Sombody should be sleeping

Ok, so not just somebody, but two somebodies should be sleeping right now! However, I don't believe that is Ava's plan right now. This seems to be her favorite time to be awake...anywhere between 4 and 6 am. So here we are, me at the computer and Ava in her swing. I do see signs of fading though.

This is not pic of us right now.... I would not be smiling so big. Aaron took this a few days ago. It not only show how big Ava is getting, it shows how tired Lizzie is getting. I am going with the "fake til you make it" motto right now. She was doing really good with sleeping (5-6 hour stretches at night) but has seemed to have slipped backwards.

Speaking of slipping, I think she is slipping back into crankiness....I mean sleepiness...I must go and fight the good fight.

Newest project

Ava has been sleeping a little longer during the day so I have been able to find some time to get some 'creative' stuff done. This is a Warhol inspired piece a co-worker wanted Lisa and I to do for her last spring (see how timely we are on getting this done). She gave us pics of her dog and full artistic reign. So here is the result. I really struggled with the colors and still don't know how they are going to print out. We'll see, I guess.

p.s. Thanks to all of you who have been leaving comments...it is really encouraging and fun to read them!

I found the coolest thing....Scrapblog.com

So I found this website where you can basically drag and drop pics into premade tempates and layouts to make cute scrapbook pages.  I think it is pretty cool.  You can even save them as jpegs and print them out yourself....I have much more to discover, but it is pretty awesome so far.  Hope you enjoy the pics of Ava's first month!

my first movie

here it is! my first movie....hope you enjoy watching her as much as i do!

Seven weeks old!

Ava is starting to discover things around her more. Who knew a link could be so entertaining? Although this pic was taken a few weeks ago, it pretty much sums up most of our days. She loves sitting in her bouncy chair, snuggled by Winnie-the-Pooh.

The past week has been a little challenging. I read somewhere that at six weeks babies are the most wakeful and the fussiest. Ava definitely got that memo and continues to take it to heart. While she is still a very good baby, she is beginning to test my sanity.

I just finished her birth announcement and am pretty excited about them...except for addressing all of them. But I think they are pretty cute and I got some flashy hot pink envelopes to go with them. I just love designing things for print. It is a lot of fun and I wish I had an opportunity to do more.

Someday (when I get some extra time, ha ha) I am going to figure out how to post a video... until then, enjoy the pics.

Ava's first dress

This is Ava's first dress. I was surprised at how cute she was. I didn't think I would get so mushy inside at the sight of her in a dress. I've never been a 'girly girl', but this dress was so adorable! It is funny to think that she has never worn a dress before. It is fun to be there for all of her firsts...as cliched as it is. Another first, her first 'social' smiles. She has always been a smiley baby, but I realized last Saturday that she was responding to Aaron's smiles. This little girl is so much fun! I would have never thought that I would be so smitten. I knew having a child would be rewarding, but never dreamed that it could be this good! What did I do to deserve smiles like these?

Looks can be deceiving!

     I know it looks like she is an angel...but looks can be deceiving.  This serene pic was only achived after 2 hours of fusing, crying and screaming bloody murder while taking a bath.  Even though she is 4 weeks old, Ava is far from a routine.  I thought for sure she was tired and would slip right into sleep this morning and that I would be able to go back to bed also.  Was I wrong!  So after a lot of fussing, I decided to give her a bath under the theory that it would wear her out.  Well, it did.  Of course, I had to endure 5 minutes of screaming, but I would say that it was worth it.  

     I also discovered a second use for the baby monitor.  Not only does it help me hear what Ava is up to, it also helps me keep track of the naughty bunny.  He is no longer safe to wreak havoc while I am out of the room....beware bunny, your cord chwing days may be coming to an end!