Giving thanks

Thanksgiving came and went and I just want to say I am very thankful for life. I'm thankful Grandpa is still with us for the holidays-we've spent a lot of time with him lately and he still manages to make me smile. I'm thankful Ava is a happy and healthy baby and that the whole tort issue has come to an end so I can just enjoy my beautiful baby. I'm thankful for having the most awesome 6 year old stepson who is doing great in Kindergarden and got the citizen of the month award for October. I'm thankful for my marriage. I'm thankful for our beautiful home and the new kitchen that should be coming any day. I'm thankful for our dog Rusty although I miss Rambo terribly. I'm thankful for my parents who have really helped me to become who I am and constantly steer me in the right direction. I could go on and on but instead I'm going to go cuddle with my hubby :)

A bit of news

John won!! Yay!! And the good news is Steve mentioned that he would love to have John working with him on upcoming celebrity golf tournaments!

The other news, John lost his job yesterday. It's been months of them putting him through Hell and it's finally come down to this. We're taking the news very well and with the holidays coming up we're going to try and enjoy the break. It's unfortunate that we're unsure of what's going to happen but at the same time I think things can only get better from here.

Cranial Technology Stats

We had our exit appointment last week and I just wanted to write these down in case I ever wonder about them in the future.

At 6 months...cranial width=121mm cranial length=129 mm Cephalic Index 93.79 Cranial Vault Asymmetry 15mm Mid Face 5mm Skull Base 6mm

At 10.75 months...cranial width=123mm cranial length=144 mm Cephalic Index 85.41 Cranial Vault Asymmetry 3mm Mid Face 3mm Skull Base 3mm

Almost 11 months old

Ava is almost 11 months old, she's now a speedy little crawler but still no walking. I'm sure I've written this already, but Ava is my little dancing Queen! She wiggles whenever we sing songs or she hears music, it cracks me up everytime! She was a ladybug for Halloween-it was so cute when she was crawling across the grass, my perfect little ladybug :) Davis and Ava got into their first argument on Halloween, Davis didn't want her playing with the candy and Ava thought it was hilarious whenever he yelled at her. It was pretty darn cute.

I've started reading even more books to Ava lately and she's started to point at familiar pictures and such. She's rarely cuddly these days since she's got so much to explore but Daddy and I sneak in as many cuddles and kisses as we can. Ava also said something close to "mama" last week so I'm counting it! I'm still waiting for when she says it because she actually wants me-that'll be a great day! We're doing MyGym again on Wednesdays and our Miss Tia class is ending next Tuesday.

Last weekend we had a little celebration with the Mothers Haven group for all the babies turning 1. It was so cute to watch them all interact and surprisingly there were still no walkers. I just read on facebook that Lindsey Nelson's little girl Charleigh is walking at 8 months-CRAZY! I'm really looking forward to when Ava can walk and hold my hand. At the same time I know my life is going to get a lot harder so I can wait.

On the home front, we're getting a new kitchen!!! We designed a great plan and I can't wait for everything to be done. Thanks to my wonderful parents, our home is going to be entertainment ready by Christmas. Grandma Marilyn gave all her Christmas stuff to us this year so I'm going full throttle on the decorating for the first time. John says I've got to wait til after Thanksgiving...if it were up to me I'd be doing it right now.

Mindy called today and she's going to come down this week to see little miss Ava. It'll be her first time with Ava so we're very excited to see her! Hopefully Molly can come up too. It's been awesome that all my friends from college have stayed in touch over the years-it's always such a great time when we see eachother, we just seem to pick up right where we left off.

John and I have been perfect. We make a point to remember that our marriage comes first and he's absolutely my best friend in the world. We went to a Stoned Temple Pilots concert a couple weeks ago and we had so much fun together! We're going out with Caitlin and Drew this Friday too so I'm looking forward to that :)

College Reunion 2010

Kelli and Molly came into town and we had a sleepover at Caitlin's--It was a blast!!! I'm so happy for the preggers in my life :) One is 22 weeks and the other is 11 weeks-Yay to more babies!!!!

A little bad, but mostly great

Ava has been so darn cute these past couple weeks-so many changes!!! First of all, Ava's band is OFF!!! Oct. 1st was her last day-it was just getting so tight so I called and they said she was actually done the week before but they wanted to try and stretch it a little longer. It's been so nice to kiss her little head all the time. And we definitely will NOT miss that smell!

So we just got back from Lake Havasu (our best trip yet!) and Ava had an absolute blast!!! She LOVES the water-It was a little chilly but she didn't complain once when we took her in! And when I let her crawl in the sand she kept trying to crawl right into the water-not just a little bit, like she seriously wanted to go ALL the way in. She also has this new thing where she'll sing softly when there's any kind of vibration-when we went fast on the boat she sang the whole time or even now if I'm pushing her in the stroller over gravel she'll sing, I guess she likes the vibration in her voice? She's now standing on EVERYTHING and literally chases John and I around the house crawling like a maniac-but she insists on keeping her feet off the ground! Apparently my little princess doesn't want her feet to get dirty! And food is not a problem in our house, Ava likes to EAT! She eats seaweed, carnitas, sundried tomatoes, hummus, steak, bread-you name it! So today was our first day back and I decided to try out the tunnel again-it's this little play thing that's kinda like a tent. The first time I brought it out a couple weeks ago she went through it once-then went on to something better. Well, not the case tonight! We couldn't get her out of it! She kept crawling back and forth without ever leaving it entirely-like she was protecting her little space.

On a not so happy note-Rambo got in trouble again :( I don't even want to write details but it happened the night of Casey and Ambyr's wedding Sept 25th and John and I are very sad about the whole situation. Also, we've been dealing with a few things with Davis too. We're working on getting more time with him-in writing. Also we met with his school and plan on going to the conf with his mom and teacher next week. I think this will be a great step for all of us-to be the best parents to Davis that we can be :)

Besides Rambo, life has been great! I think the changes with Davis will be wonderful for all of us and I'm really enjoying watching my little girl grow up :)

9 Month Stats

We saw our new Pediatrician, Dr. Rubin today. Ava is still pretty thin! She weighs 16 lbs 14 oz (14th percentile) and is 27.5 inches tall (43rd percentile.) Dr. Rubin suggested adding even more formula to her meals so she gets more calories. Other than that Ava's right on track!!! And to be honest, I'm happy she's thin...much better than being a fatty :)

Clapping with Daddy

I forgot to post this one from last week



So tomorrow is Ava's 9 month birthday! During her 8th month she got 2 teeth, started crawling, clapping and waving! I wonder what the next 30 days will bring?

Updated CT pictures and Crawling for Grapes

Today was THE most amazing day! Yes, Ava is officially crawling!!! But even better, we got the mid treatment photos from Cranial Technology done-so far the results are UNREAL!! See??? The updated pictures are on the right-I can't believe how much better her neck is!!!! All my hard work is FINALLY paying off :)

Crawling and Clapping!

I'm a complete lagger and still have not bought a baby book but I want to make sure I have all these dates! So yesterday, for the first time, Ava was on all 4s and moved her knee forward! She's not crawling all over town but she is finally moving forward!!! Also, she started her version of clapping....which is like a sideways clap-kind of what you would do if you when you say "all done." I'm so proud of my little girl!

Also, this week we took Ava to sushi for her first time! She ate seaweed, rice, cucumber and edamame-and LOVED it all :)