Happy 6 months Ava!

Happy 6 Months to My Lil Sunshine Baby!

She sits up for longer & longer periods everyday...she sat up just like this the entire time I took pictures of her... a couple minutes at least.


Ornery booger ... :) I was happy to be able to put this outfit on her before she grew out of it... this was the first outfit I bought for her the day after I found out we were having a girl ;) I love the light blue & pink together. . .


Smiley face ... I have to turn the flash off the camera nowadays because she closes her eyes for every shot!! Unfortunately, my camera does not take great pics without a flash ...


I don't think she could fit anotheer finger in her mouth ...


I love these 'baby legs' ... they're kind of like knee high socks without the foot part ... just there to keep her chubby baby legs warm & protect her knees from the carpet & hardwood floor. Too cute!


Outside on one of the gorgeous days we had this weekend! She loved going on walks ... I think we took three everyday it was nice!


Her left eye was really boogering up from the pollen, especially since it was so breezy this weekend. Darn tear duct ...


"Gimme those toes!"


I love these cheeks ... and those eyes cannot get any bluer ...


6 month pic 'milestone' pic ... I always seem to take these in the evening--right before her bath--and she always has the most disgruntled look on her face...like, "honestly mom, do you have to do that now? I'm tired and over this day."



My lil peanut at one-day old ... so tiny and fragile.




She snatched my phone out of my hands and ravenously gummed away at it!! She has a serious obsession with our cell phones ... we bought a play phone for her and she just flaps it in the air and flings it across the room ... it was a good attempt.


She loves her toes ... she's always been so long (and chubby) that she could barely reach them for the longest time--now we can't keep these things out of her mouth.


There she goes again ... :)



Well, we're half-way to the 1-year mark!! Half-way! Over the hump, as I like to think of it. Babies seem to get much more interesting it seems from 6 months on. Of course this is just my observation...we could be in for a real treat from here on out. ;)

Anyway, Ava seems to be growing and developing right on target. Where do I begin? I feel like a lot has happened in the last month.

*She eats about 5-6 oz every 3 hours...she also eats cereal or fruit in the morning and a veggie around 7pm. She has eaten peas, green beans, butternut squash, carrots (maybe once or twice, she threw up with those so I thought we'd hold off for a bit) & bananas--she doesn't care much for green beans, but loves peas, squash, and bananas. She only takes a couple teaspoon fulls at a time.

*She rolls all over the place--including in her crib--she'll get stuck in some position in the middle of the night and start wailing away for someone to come rescue her. She's gotten much better now though...she likes sleeping on her side or tummy. It used to be a reflex for her to roll right onto her tummy as soon as I laid her down for a nap and then she would get super mad that she couldn't get turned back over--I thought "girl, you've been rolling over from your tummy for months, just roll back over!" goofball. ;)

*She still takes naps every 2 hours...just like clockwork...a very predictable baby she is. I've been rocking her until she's quite drowsy and then laying her down in her crib. She'll startle awake most of the time but I walk out of her room and she talks herself to sleep ... sometimes whines herself to sleep, but rarely do I let her get into a full blown cry. Her morning nap is the easiest to do this with...as the day goes on she needs more help relaxing before her naps.

*As for bedtime... she still goes down like a peach. :) She is always ready for the craziness of the day to be over. It's never a struggle getting her to sleep...its that 4-5am wake-up call that we dread. It's only dreadful now that we're trying to get her to sleep completely til 7am without a bottle. I tried the baby whisperer technique, which is basically the same technique our pediatrician told us about, where you go in her room every couple minutes and try to soothe her with a pat on the belly and reassuring words, but I feel it is just as evil as letting her cry herself to sleep. My gosh this girl just SCREAMS...and screams...and screams...and my presence in her room every couple minutes only makes her scream louder! She thinks, "MOM what in the world are you doing to me!" Oh and trying to give her a binky just makes her ticked-off! Not just extra fussy...or a little more cranky... she gets absolutely TICKED! So, I'll forgo trying the binky again. I tried this two nights in a row, letting her scream (yes scream, not just cry and whimper) for 20 minutes with my intermittent "shh...shhh...shhhh" and a rub to her head and finally caved and gave her a two oz bottle. Nope, can't do this one ... I'll try reducing the amount of milk I give her ... we're down to 2 oz ... next week we'll go to 1 oz ... then eventually none. Hopefully this works better. However, there are occasions where she sleeps 8pm-7:00-7:30am without waking up for a bottle ... now how do I get that to happen every night? :)

*Whew, now that that's over ... She has an interesting curiousity in her toes... looves her toes, sucking them, chewing them, grabbing them & swinging them around ... its hilarious to watch.

*At her pediatrician appointment yesterday she weighed a healthy 18 lbs 8 oz and was 27 inches long. 95th percentile for both. I know, chunky monkey :) You gotta love those rolls, though. Her doctor said her growth will probably plateau at this point and she'll drop down into the 70th percentile range after awhile.

*Her tear duct is still clogged. It's getting better though so her pediatrician wants to hold off on referring her to an eye surgeon to see if it completely opens on its own.

*She looves Portia ... I just have to mention this because I am amazed at how much she loves to watch animals. She gets up in the morning and as we're walking downstairs she catches a glimpse of Portia and does not take her eyes off her! Thankfully, Portia is a sweetie to Ava :)

Hope you enjoyed the pics! I posted a lot this time ... just can't help myself ;)


Here are the shots I typically get from her ... darned flash!