Merry Christmas

We had a Very Merry Christmas in the Warren Household!!  We had several different Christmases and still have a few more to go! As always, we spent Christmas Eve at my grandma's house and then opened gifts with my mom and brother Christmas morning.  We then had our first Warren Family Christmas Christmas Day.  We want to make sure that our children open gifts at home on Christmas Day, so we went ahead and started that tradition this year.  Even though Ava is still so little and won't really remember her gifts, we still gave her a few gifts. :-)

 Hanging out with Uncle Matt

Grandma and Ava playing with Violet

 

 Where's Ava?  Can you find her?

 

 Exhausted from all of the celebrations!! 

Oreo enjoying his new toy

3 Months Old and Baptism

Can you believe that Ava is 3 months old already?  Man, oh man, how the time flies!  I felt pregnant forever, but now that she is here the time is just flying by and she's getting sooooo big.  Now that she is 3 months old, she:

~ eats approximately every 3 hours (sometimes sooner...I think she is going through a growth spurt)
~ smiles all the time, especially first thing in the morning (she could lay in her changing table for several minutes just smiling away)
~ loves spending time on the floor in her jungle gym--as we call it--and in her bouncy. 
~ enjoys bath time
~ likes looking at bright lights
~ hold her head up very well.  She is a strong little girl!
~ flies through the air like Supergirl with the help of Daddy
~ likes being sung to (and the best part is, Mommy doesn't have to have all of the words correct)
~ is quite the story-teller, too

Yesterday was Ava's baptism.  She behaved so well.  She had the cutest outfit (see below)!!  She slept through the entire service and ceremony.  We had several friends and family there to witness the baptism; we took up 4 pews!  Then, after the service we had a brunch to help celebrate.  It was such a memoral day.  We are excited for Ava's first Christmas tomorrow...more pictures to come soon!

Oh...in honor of turning 3 months, Ava celebrated by sleeping SEVEN hours during the night!!!  Woo-hoo, Ava!!!  Way to go, especially after we've had many weeks of only 3 hours at a time.

Ava checking out a new toy she got for Christmas

Kevin and Julie

Mommy and Ava before leaving for church

1st Family Picture for the Holidays

Ava wasn't as happy about this picture...

Big yawn!

We got to light the Advent candles during church, too

She liked talking to Larry

Kisses from Aunt Debbie

I love my Aunt Erica!

love, Love, LOVE this picture!!!  Uncle Chris captured this one over the weekend!

Baby's First Cold

These past few weeks have been a little rough in the Warren household.  Over Thanksgiving we noticed that Ava sounded a little congested but nothing too terrible.  However, the day after she went in for her 2 month appointment, her cold symptoms worsened.  She became pretty congested, especially in the evening.  Additionally, she ran a temp off and on for the next few days and also developed a cough.  As new parents, we were really nervous, especially since you really can't do much for little ones when they are sick.  I am pretty sure we called the doctor 4-5 times over the next week and a half.  She is just now finally starting to feel better.  Her stuffiness is gone, but I think it's moved into her throat.  Hopefully it will be completely gone within the next few days.  Ava wasn't the only one sick...I developed a cold, too, the week after Thanksgiving.  I had the stuffiness and a cough.  I started feeling better after 4 or 5 days, but then TJ came down with a cold, only his worse symptom was a sore throat.

Now that Ava is starting to feel better and her stomach meds are kicking in, she is almost a new baby.  Not that she was bad before...she's really never been too fussy for us.  But now that we have her on meds and we re-think how she was before, she is a lot more relaxed.  She isn't as squirmy and her stomach doesn't feel as hard.  She is so much more content playing on the floor.  She also really likes to sit in the bouncy chair and look at the Christmas tree.  Ava is also starting to make more noises, especially in the morning--this is her happiest time of the day.  She is always full of smiles when we first wake her up.  She is getting very strong and is doing really well holding her head up.

We are getting very anxious for the holidays.  We put our tree up several weeks ago and have presents under the tree already.  Even though she won't know the difference, we were so excited to be parents this year that we just had to buy her presents and wrap them and put them under the tree!  We will be very busy over the next few weeks.  We have our first Christmas on the 22nd, Ava gets baptized on the 23rd, we have two more Christmases on the 24th and 25th, and the next two weeks after that we have more holiday gatherings.  We are very excited to see family again and introduce them to our sweet baby girl. 

That's the update for now. I am sure we will have many more pictures to post over the next few weeks!

 

 Just staring at the lights on the tree

 Snuggle time is the BEST!

 Playtime with Daddy!  They are so silly!

 Ava and Sophie

 Ava's only sat in the high chair a few times, but she does pretty well.  Violet helped keep her entertained. 

 Oreo's first experience with snow

 BFF play time!

Thanksgiving

Every year at Thanksgiving time, we always take time to reflect on how thankful we are for all that we are blessed with.  This year, more than ever, we have sooooo much to be thankful for!!  When I think about all that we have in our lives, I feel very overwhelmed.  In fact, last night as I was rocking Ava, I was talking to her and telling her how lucky I am to be her Mommy and I just started crying.  It is amazing how much love I have for our beautiful, precious baby girl.  I feel so extremely blessed to be the mom of our Ava.  And, of course, to be Oreo's Mommy--as you know we consider him our child, too.

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We spent Wednesday evening through Saturday morning with TJ's parents, siblings and their spouses, and our nieces and nephew.  We had a great time catching up, playing games, eating delicious food, and shopping on Black Friday.  Being it was our first overnight visit out of town, I was nervous about how Ava would do.  Overall, she did great.  Grandma Kathy had everything she needed--a pack n play, a play mat for the floor, and all the baby necessities.  Ava enjoyed seeing everyone again as well as meeting some of her uncles and aunt for the first time. Saturday afternoon we headed to visit my side of the family.  We stayed with Grandma Cindy overnight.  She, too, had a pack n play for Ava.  Ava got to meet several other of our great family friends for the first time.  It was so nice to see everyone again as it has been months!  Sunday morning and early afternoon was spent with Grandpa Ralph and Grandma Lynn and my siblings and their spouses/significant others.  Ava got to meet two new aunts and uncles for the first time.  She was sooo well behaved.  No crying/fussing all day!  Oh, another note about Saturday...Ava turned 2 months old!!

Today we took Ava to her pediatrician for her 2 month check up.  It was another good visit.  She now weights 9 lbs and 3 ounces (I may be off by an ounce or two...it might be 4 oz) and is 21.75".  So she has gained a little over 3 pounds and grown 3 inches since birth.  After getting her measurements Ava got 3 shots.  She did much better than I thought. She only cried for a few minutes and then calmed down.  I was so sad to see her get her shots because she was in such a great mood and smiley prior to receiving them.  While at the doctor's office, we spoke with the doctor about some of Ava's tummy issues.  She has been spitting up again--even after we switched formula--and seems to be very uncomfortable at times.  He gave Ava a prescription and we are hopeful this will help and we will see some real changes within the next couple of days.

That's the update for now.  Below are some of the pictures from our Thanksgiving visits. Enjoy!

 2 months old today!!