4 months

Ava Kay is officially 4 months old today.  I know--it's hard to believe!!!  At 4 months Ava:

- sleeps--goes without eating during the night I should say--7-8 hours..she tends to wake up for a paci every few hours
- puts everything in her mouth...she constantly has drool on her hands and face.  She loves her thumb and fingers
- eats 4-5 oz at a time (has had a few 6 oz)
- is starting to giggle
- smiles a lot
- still does not like tummy time
- enjoys her swing and bath time the most
- still has not napped in her crib...we've tried during the day but it has failed every time...but as long as she sleeps there at night I won't push it yet
- still wears 3 month clothing, but some of her onesies are getting tight. (she wore her first pair of 6 month pants today)
- has started touching our faces
- likes to look at "Baby In The Mirror"
- is starting to grab her toes 

4 months TODAY!

She giggled again!!!

No pictures, just need to document two things:

1. Ava giggled again for both Mommy and Daddy today!!!  Yay!!!  I think she is starting to figure out her voice more.

2. We have several extra toys hanging on Ava's jungle gym (play mat) for her to play with and look at.  On there are two toys that you can pull and then the pully vibrates back to the original position.  Well, Ava pulled it all by herself this morning.  And not just once, but several times in a row. 

Major accomplishments this past week!!  Keep it up, Baby Girl!!! 

She did it...She giggled!

She did it...She giggled for Mommy!!!  Daddy has heard it, Grandma Cindy has heard it, daycare has heard it...FINALLY it's Mommy's turn!  Ava giggled three times on her changing table for me this evening and it was the cutest sound.

Ava is doing FANTASTIC with the sleep.  Since I wrote about it in the last post, she has continued to sleep through the night.  In fact, Saturday night we fed her a bottle at 9pm (didn't lay her down until 10pm since we were hanging out with friends) and she didn't eat again until 6:45am!!  Well over 9.5 hours!!!  Way to go, Ava!  Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!  She's been going at least 8 hours in between bottles for well over a week.  We are still waking a few times in the night just to give her a paci, but we all fall right back asleep so we are still counting it as sleeping through the night. 

The last three days have been filled with snuggle and playtime.  Because today was a holiday for me, I actually got a three-day weekend with Ava.  We did lots of tummy and Bumbo time and then two long periods of snuggle time each day during her nap.

Otherwise, no other real updates.  Just wanted to write again about the sleep (so I have it documented and can put in her next album) and then share some pictures from the weekend.

Enjoy!

Uncle Matt came to visit us on Friday!  Yay!  It was so great to see him! :-)  

Ava still always like to have her hands at her face.  She was like that for all her ultrasound pictures and still does it now, especially when she is tired.

 

I LOVE THIS TOY!!!  Thank you, Hudson!!!!

 Uh-oh! I dropped it, Mom!

I'm better now, I got it!

 

Watching Violet while doing a few minutes of Tummy Time

 

Grandma Cindy and Terry stopped over for a while on Sunday

 

This is where we laid for a large amount of time on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Oreo joined the snuggle party every time.  It was the BEST!!!

 

Oreo catching some ZZZZs

 

 Wild hair!!

Strength Training

Ava got in her strength training this evening!  As I said in the last post, we've been working on tummy time and sitting in her new Bumbo.  We were successful with both this evening.  Thanks to daycare--they suggested trying tummy time on the Boppy--Ava doesn't seem to mind tummy time as much.  We had a good 5 minutes in one sitting this evening.  That is almost double how long we usually get.  She seems to still enjoy the chair, too.  She had so many big smiles for me this evening while sitting in the chair.

Making Progress...

TJ and I are very proud of our baby girl this past week.  As you've probably heard me say before, Ava was doing pretty good in the evenings up until she caught her cold at the end of November. Ever since then we have really struggled to get her sleeping in longer stretches again.  It was hard to get past the 2.5-4 hour mark.  Well...this past week Ava was a rock star.  Not once, but TWICE, she slept more than 8 hours!!  Sunday night, January 6 Ava slept for a little over 8 hours (cannot recall the exact time she slept from) and Friday night, January 11th she slept from 9:30-6am (woke up at 3:30 just to give her paci, but she fell right back asleep) then ate her bottle and slept again from 6:20-9am.  AMAZING!  (I am trying to document everything specifically since I still don't have a baby book...I need to use the blog for now. :-))

This past weekend we finally got Ava a Bumbo chair.  I wasn't sure how she was going to do, but she actually really seems to enjoy it.  She is very attentive to everything going on around her, so I think that's why she likes it...she is sitting up and can look around.  We are also trying to work on tummy time a bit more.  Ava really does not like it, but we know she needs to do it so she can work on both her arm and neck strength. 

Finally...we want to give a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout out to Hudson Stickrod who turned 1 today!!  :-) 

 Enjoying her new Bumbo chair

 Grandpa Ralph came to visit for a short time this past Sunday...

...So did Andy and Kim

 

Testing out tummy time using the Boppy pillow...I think Ava likes this a little better than tummy time just on the floor

 

Tried to get a picture with both Ava and Oreo looking...impossible...

 

Happy Birthday, Hudson!  This is one of our favorite pics of the two of them from Thanksgiving

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!  2012 definitely had its ups and downs, but the birth of our baby girl really made the year wonderful!!! We are excited to see what 2013 has in store for us. I am sure it will be quite eventful, especially since Ava appears to be growing by the second.

These past few days we've all been in "recovery" mode....I (Brittany) have been in this mode since last Wednesday evening.  I had a slight cough for the past few weeks, but really thought it was nothing.  Well...that all changed last Wednesday evening as the cough got worse and worse.  I came down with the chills and then ran a temp on and off for two days.  I am just now starting to feel a little better, but I still wake up several times throughout the night with coughing spells.  So, I've just been trying to rest up...Unfortunately, the cold came at a really bad time...I had to miss TJ's extended family Christmas over the weekend and I was super bummed about this.  TJ and Ava still went, which I was so happy everyone finally had a chance to meet Ava, but it was REALLY HARD to say goodbye when they left as this was my first night away from Ava....I survived, though, and TJ was super sweet and sent me pictures and updates throughout the day/evening while they were away.  My cold also came at a bad time for another reason: I have three friends who all had babies within a week and a half of each other and I cannot visit them. :-(  Ava has several new friends who she is wanting to meet real soon!

Ava and TJ have also been in "recovery mode"--Ava for the past two weeks.  Family gatherings are VERY fun and we LOVE spending time with everyone, but I am realizing babies can get out of their routines fairly quickly and this causes them to be fussy and tired.  I think Ava napped 3-4 times both yesterday and today. I think Ava is excited about going back to daycare tomorrow.  TJ, like me, has also been trying to fight a cold.  His isn't quite as bad, but we're trying to keep it that way.

Here are some fun pictures from the past few days: 

On December 30th, we saw Ava grab a toy for the first time on her own, without us presenting her the toy.  This was very exciting!!  

This is one of Ava's favorite toys she got for Christmas. Her friend, Hudson, gave it to her.  She can hold on to it really well and tries to put the whole thing in her mouth.  It's very cute!

TJ got this bear as part of his gift from his family Christmas gift exchange this past weekend.  People thought this would be great for Ava; however, she might have to fight Oreo for it.  He went and sat on it all on his own.  Now this is his "spot" when we rock Ava to sleep.  

 

Sleeping in this morning...

 

Ava also really likes her strawberry teether she got this past weekend from the kids' gift exchange

 

Ava and I snuggling.  She is catching some ZZZs while I am watching Power Rangers--yes, you read that right.  I discovered Netflix has Power Rangers on instant streaming.  Oh the memories!!!  Oreo decided he wanted to join the snuggle party.