2 months old!

Our baby girl is 2 months old! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Time flies! We went to the pediatrician today for her 2 month check up. You know what that means, shots! I was not looking forward to it but Ava did fine and so did mommy. Ava is growing as she should which is always great news. Here are her stats...

Length: 22 3/4 inches (50-75% percentile)

Weight: 11 lbs. 0.5 ounces (50%)

Head size: 15 1/2 inches (50-75%)

She met all the developmental benchmarks but we are going to continue to assist her with her torticollis. All that means is that we will need to continue to do stretches with her neck and make sure that she turns her head more in the opposite direction of her torticollis to stretch those muscles more. Ava is actually going to start recieving physical therapy through ECI (early childhood intervention) about once a week. A lady is coming to the house next week to do an assessment and write up a plan so that we can get those services started as soon as possible. I can already see an improvement in the way she moves her head but she still prefers to keep her head tilted to her right shoulder. Torticollis can also cause some head and facial deformities so we are watching that closely. Most of the minor deformities she has now, which are barely noticeable, will be corrected as she develops the muscles on the left side of her neck. Ava's right jawline is smaller than her left so our pediatrician wants us to visit with a pediatric cranio-facial specialist (??) to make sure that the bone isn't smaller on that side than the other. Because of her positioning inutero, right cheek pressed to her right shoulder, it might have affected the bone growth of her jaw or it might be that the tissue around her jawline and neck just needs more time to fill out. It all sounds so major but more than likely everything will be fine with her. Our pediatrician is very conservative, which I love, so she wants to make sure that we are finding out as much as we can now and taking the necessary steps while she is so young and these things can be corrected. None of this seems to be affecting Ava in the slightest bit. Thankfully it doesnt cause her any pain. She is such a happy easy going baby (about 95% of the time at least)! Her personality is really starting to show through. She smiles all the time now and is on the verge of a giggle, I just know it! She loves to stare back at Mikey and I and just recently she has started mimicking my facial expressions such as sticking her tongue out and opening and closing her mouth like me. Yesterday I very dramatically opened and closed my eyes right in front of her face and she did it back!! It was the cutest thing! I don't know if I can get her to do it again but it was very intentional and didnt look like a normal blink. She is becoming very interactive and is soaking up the world around her. It is so cool to see her discover new things! On Monday we are going to start the transition from sleeping in her swing to her pack n play. Monday sounded like a good day to start and plus that gives her and I at least a couple more good nights of sleep! She has been such a good sleeper but I have a feeling for the first few days in her pack n play it is going to be a tough adjustment. Eventually we will go to the crib but she is a baby and so we are taking baby steps! She definitely prefers sleeping in the same room as us so we will allow that for a little longer until she has regained those good sleep habits in her pack n play.

The last two months of my life have been total bliss. I am enjoying every second I spend with my Ava. She is my best bud! We have staring contests, read books, play with toys, go for walks, go to the store, watch Ellen and Oprah, and hopefully soon we can find a playgroup to join so we can hang out with other people too. Being a mother to her is the best feeling in the world. Thank you God for my precious gift!

Bath time! She loves it when I put the warm wash cloths on her. I tell her it's her spa treatment! Her musical aquarium is there too, to keep her entertained in her bouncer while I'm showering, so I turn the music on too during bath time. So relaxing!

We found that the best place to put her bathtub is in ours. Plus I have the perfect spot to sit while bathing her.

Smiley

My 1st Mother's Day

I had such a special 1st Mother's Day. It was one I won't forget! I feel so lucky to be Ava (and Macy's) mom! The day started with church and then we came home for lunch and I opened my mother's day gifts. I knew I was in for a real treat because my always creative husband was up to something in the garage on Saturday. He took the girls (you should know by now that includes Macy) one at a time into the garage to help "make" mommy's special gift. Macy was first and then Ava. I could hear Ava crying so I had a feeling whatever was going on probably involved the use of her hand or foot. I was right! My three sweeties made me a stepping stone in the shape of a flower and molded Macy's pawprint and Ava's handprint in it. It wasn't quite dry on Sunday but it is almost ready to take out of the mold so we can put it in the backyard. I absolutely LOVE it! They also made me a mother's day card and Macy and Ava each wrote a special message to me. :) I also got the new Keith Urban CD. It's a good one! After gift opening I went out solo to run a few errands and when I got back we went on a family walk to the park. It was a great day!

We also got video of what happened when Daddy was holding Ava too close to feeding time...

New Hobby??

Since I have been home with Ava I have been trying to think of what I can do for fun that involves me creating something. I don't sew, I dont think I have even sewed on a button, I don't draw, I don't scrapbook, but I do like the idea of making crafts. Mikey will probably laugh when he reads this because I have attempted making "crafts" in the past and it was a short lived hobby. Now that I am not working and I am staying home with Ava, I really want to get into something again. Although I don't have tons of free time, she keeps me pretty busy and there is usually housework to do, I think it is important for me to do something for me that I enjoy. I recently found a blog that has inspired me to get crafty!! http://www.graceviolet.com/ She has the cutest crafts on her blog and gives you tutorials you can follow.

I am thinking my first craft is going to be making some cute flower headbands for Ava ( I ordered some off of Etsy that look super easy to recreate) and then these cute decoupaged notebooks. We're starting off easy! Hopefully my crafting hobby wont be a flop!

Sleeping Questions

This is for all my friends who are moms. I need your advice. Ava is 6 1/2 weeks old now and we would like to get her on a better routine in the evenings. She has always been a great sleeper at night, usually sleeping between 6-8 hours in one stretch, but we would like to get her to bed earlier and do so without rocking her to sleep. Here are my questions....

1)If we want to bump up Ava's bedtime, about an hour earlier, do I need to bump up my feeding times as well so that she is getting the same number of feedings before going to sleep?

2)What is your approach when baby cries when putting him/her to sleep for the night? (do you let them cry it out, let them know you are there without picking them up, or pick them up to soothe them)

3)At this age, should I be putting Ava down for a nap even if she isnt acting tired? And do I follow the same approach from #2 if she cries?

I know I have talked to some of you about these things already but would love to know what has worked for the rest of you too. This is all new territory for me and who better to ask for advice then all of you who have been through this already. You can email me or reply in the comments section. Thanks moms! And Happy Mother's Day, a little early! We really do have the toughest and most important job on the planet!

Best Friends

It was a fun filled weekend for us! Our good friends Jenny and Zack came in town because Jenny and I were hosting a baby shower for our friend Amy. It was the first time we got to meet each other's sweet baby and therefore the first time Ava and Rebekah got to meet each other! They are going to be BFF so this was a very memorable moment! Mikey and Zack were on baby duty while Jenny and I were being hostesses at the shower. They stayed in Rebekah and Tom's bedroom with the girls during the shower and we would peek in on them every once in awhile. When they weren't changing diapers or bottle feeding the girls they had them swaddled and placed in their bouncers so they could play wii! It was really cute to see the guys with thier little girls! Zack by the way is the best swaddler I have seen! Rocky, Amy's husband, also joined the guys and we joked that it would be a good time for Mikey and Zack to give Rocky some "baby care tutorials" since he will be a daddy very soon. They were too busy playing wii but I have a feeling that Rocky is going to be a wonderful dad.

On Sunday we also had some special visitors stop by to meet Ava. Chelsea (Aaron's wife) and Mr. Burbach were in town to meet the newest addition to their family so they popped in for a little while. It was great to see them! Dr. Aaron, we missed you!

Amy's Baby Shower (Rebekah, Megan, Erin, Amy, Me, Kim, Jenny)

The dads watching their little girls during the shower

Kristen + Jenny = BFF Ava + Bekah = BFF

Me and Bekah

Jenny and Ava

Jenny and I with our little angels

I feel so blessed to be able to experience motherhood right along side Jenny! We had fun with all our baby talk!



Our little girl is getting so big! Those big blue eyes will make you melt!



She smiles a lot now! She also has started making eye contact and interacting with us more.







Jenny and Bekah

Zack and Bekah

Mr. B and Ava

Chelsea and Ava

Mikey walks around the kitchen to get Ava to stop crying. He is great at it!

One of our favorite things to do together...cuddle!

We love how cute she looks when she is over our shoulder while we are burping her. She has such a strong neck!

Professional Newborn Photos

When Ava was just 10 days old we had a photographer come and take pictures. He got a lot of shots of the family and of course the star, Miss Ava Marie! We don't really like the ones of us, but who cares. As long as we got some good ones of Ava that is all that matters. She is so tiny and frail in these pictures. She has grown SO much! She doesn't even look like the same baby. I am so glad that we have these photos to look back on! :) http://www.poeticexposure.com/

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ava Smiles

I have been waiting for the day that Ava starts to smile and she did for the first time this weekend! I caught some smiles on video this morning. She even has dimples like me! Something else that is new is she has discovered her hands. It's so cute to watch her as she looks at her hands and tries so hard to put them in her mouth.

We got our pictures back from the photographer that came to the house right after Ava was born. I will try and post those this week. It is amazing how much Ava has changed since those pictures!

Papa and Grammielle came to visit us this weekend!




On Saturday night the family went to one of our favorite places, Shake's Frozen Custard! Usually we just drive through but it was such a pretty night that we got out of the car. Macy LOVES the "puppy cups" that they give dogs. Ava wanted some food of her own so we weren't able to stay long but it was fun for all 4 of us to get out of the house for a little bit.