Monday, January 25, 2016

Ava Rose at 9 months...


What. A. Handful.
Nine month facts:

  • Someone is a goofy girl, super social, loves to be around other babies and children.  Loves crowds.
  • Waves hello/goodbye
  • Claps her hands
  • Plays Peekaboo
  • Tries really hard to pull herself up.
  • Still not crawling but she can scoot.  Doesn't seem interested in crawling but she will play on her tummy.
  • Started sleeping in her own room at the end of the month, no more bedside bassinet for this girl.
  • Sleeps in a crib for naps at daycare.
  • Attends chapel on Wednesdays and gets a snack with the big kids at the "table".
  • Still a toothless nugget.
  • Talks and babbles all the time, "sings", giggles, and blows raspberries.


Nicknames: Nugget, Nugs, Nuggie, Rootie Toot, Bunny Rose, and Bear

Weight: 16 lbs 8oz

Length: 28 inches

Eyes:  Brown or Hazel, depends on the lighting

Clothes: 6-9 months for length be we still wear a few 6 month outfits.  I love Gymboree, specifically their generous sizing for 6-12 months - I racked up on the end of season sale.  We bought a few things at Belk for next year too.  She's petite so it can be difficult to buy ahead.  She still wears sleep sacks at night and they size out at 9 months so when we are finished with them it will be PJs only at night.  She's in a size 2 shoe and her fleece Zutanos and Sweet N Swag Moccs fit best.  She has a pair of boots and a pair of Mary Janes, but we can't seem to keep her from pulling them off.

Diapers: Size 2.  It's so odd that size 2 and size 3 overlap so much, we are nervous to buy in bulk because technically we can go to a 3 but they would be big on her.

Sleeping: If she's sick (which happens every other week it seems) then we are up every 2-3 hours. The days following Christmas Eve were HORRIBLE, maybe she was too stimulated or maybe it was teething or a cold, or bad luck...who knows?  What I remember from those weeks was sheer exhaustion because she didn't want to sleep for more than an hour without being held, cuddled, rocked, or nursed- R and I took shifts with her at night. We aim for at least 2 naps per day and 3 on weekends - they don't have to be long naps but she needs some sleep or she falls apart.

Likes: Lavender oil in her humidifier, Pandora Piano Guys station at night, playing in the bathtub, afternoon snack time, "circle time" in class - the teacher calls her "the star student" (insert proud mama smile), a plastic sensory bottle filled with jingle bells.

Dislikes: Playing alone, being ignored, when someone doesn't wave back at her (she doesn't understand why the dog and cat don't reciprocate), lentils, waiting for a meal, having her nose wiped or suctioned, and naptime.

Feeding: She wakes around 5 am for first feeding and usually eats twice before she leaves for school.  She gets three bottles during the school day and free feeds in the afternoon and at bedtime. She gets one jar of food during the day and a snack of puffs or yogurt melts at school.  Sometimes she gets a teething cracker or some pieces of banana after school.  We give her another meal at dinnertime - We like Earths Best for baby food but if we are eating something suitable then we will feed her what we are eating. She is on stage 2 foods but we can break up foods that can be easily "gummed" - she likes meat, turkey, chicken, pork, beef, or fish.  And she likes most vegetables and fruits, and yogurt.  We haven't tried any nut butter, pasta, or cheese with her yet, but that's next.

Ava's Favorites: Baby Stella (we mimic feeding and diaper changing alot), Little People Playhouse, felt play food, Uncle Goose blocks, 3 in 1 bounce stride and ride elephant, Nuk sippy cups, bandana bips, Gerber Puffs, and Happy Baby Teether snacks.

Milestones: 1st Christmas (and all those events that I recapped in the last post), 1st New Years Eve, 1st night in her own room, first school pageant/concert, first visit with Santa, learned how to wave and understands to clap when I say "yay".

Most pictures were shared in the holiday post but here are a few extra from the month.  Most of these were taken with a phone so they're blurry but I love all pictures of my girl, even the blurry ones.








Postpartum: Following a pump schedule, every 3-4 hours when I'm away from Ava Rose.  Just a weird note - I discovered that my nail polish wasn't staying on my nails...fingers or toes.  I gave up on my hands because I wash my hands 100x a day at work and sometimes Ava puts them in her mouth, but I like my toes to stay painted.  I have deep vertical nail ridges and I've never had them before, after doing some research it seems that it is totally common in the months after having a baby from changing keratin levels.  I have to give my nails a good buffing and use ridge filler now before I apply any color for it to stay on.  I'm feeling good, and ready for the new year; now that Miss Rose is getting some independence I'm hoping to get in more physical activity in 2016.

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Our Holiday 2015 in Review

I did a horrible job of documenting our family holiday, our calendar was full with her school, church, work, parties, weekends full of family events, and R's septoplasty.  At one point we were all sick with a cold and we were all out of commission.  I took this season and enjoyed living it in real time and tonight I finally had a minute to look back at the memories.

November 27- we visited our first neighborhood Christmas lights and Ava Rose rode a carousel and met Santa.  We also wrapped all the gifts I bought on Black Friday and put up our tree that weekend.
yes, it's a picture of a framed picture

December 3 - Town tree lighting

We also visited Daddy at work.

December 5 - The Polar Express











uh huh, another pic of a pic

December 10- Church pageant.  I'm not comfortable posting pictures of the other kiddos but imagine the cutest performance of Jingle Bells ever using 8 infants rigorously shaking plastic water bottles filled with bells along with the music.  My daughter loves music and that bottle of bells?  Yep, it's her favorite toy, trumps anything on her Christmas list.
December 12 - Christmas parade


December 19- Mike's Farm hayride and dinner at The Country Squire







December 20 - Family Christmas with my extended family.  Oh dear Miss Rose was spoiled- books, clothes, her own Scentsy lovey and tart warmer, and toys of course.  Unfortunately I left my camera at home so all the photos are on my moms camera.

December 23 - Miss Rose had her picture in the local paper for her first Christmas.  We also had a holiday party at school.

December 24 - Christmas Eve!  Ava and I made "Polar Express" tea cakes while daddy made his best beer bread and we prepped for Christmas dinner before church service.  After church we set out a snack for Santa, hung our stocking and put our nugget to bed.















Christmas Day - We hosted dinner this year and both our moms came over along with R's sister's family.  It was fantastic and nugget had a blast playing with her toys all day.

Gifts from Santa - play kitchen, Leapfrog picnic basket, and a little people dollhouse.  Mama and daddy gave the rest including bath toys, books, a music mozart box, a Stella doll and a few "practical" gifts.







I regret that I didn't get more pictures when everyone got to our house, it was crazy with everyone around, especially once we were trying to get dinner on the table.  Also, our house was a bit crowded but I did find an adorable one of Ava bear with her aunt Em.

Ava racked up once again with a PB anywhere chair, a ybike, towels for her bathroom, a mound of clothes, several books for our rotation and her own Dumbo plush. Yep, she got toys too.  A lot of toys.  We are not hurting for toys right now.

Christmas Dinner - Prime Rib, twice baked potato casserole, garlic green beans, yeast rolls, corn bread, and cranberry and pear salad with honey dressing.  For dessert we had cherries in the snow, 9 layer chocolate cake, chocolate chess pie and a couple of candy treats handmade by my mother in law.  She does the pie every year too, it's R's favorite.

Holiday Crafts - salt dough hand and foot print, Mistle"toes" on canvas, salt dough santa painted handprint and an construction paper ornament for the daycare tree. She helped me make two tree prints with washi tape and she signed her daycare teacher Christmas cards with ladybug thumbprints.



Special New Ornaments for 2015
 My favorite on the tree because now we are a family of three and hell yes I'm proud that that rhymes.
 R and I get the annual Lenox santa every year, this year he is coming down a chimney!
 Both the giraffe and bear are "baby's 1st Christmas" ornaments that we received this year, the little bear was a gift.
This was a special time for our family, Christmas is always fun in anticipation of the big event but this year, with Ava, we had several big events and we treated each one of them as a memory with her.  We love this nugget and enjoyed the season from beginning to end.