When last we left we were coming up on Christmas. We had such a wonderful Christmas this year, of course, because it was our first with Ava! She didn't really know what was going on but was a trooper as we traveled all over western and central Kentucky and southern Indiana visiting families and celebrating Christmas. Ava was spoiled rotten by all her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and of course by mommy and daddy! She loved helping to open her presents and always managed to find the smallest piece of wrapping paper to put in her mouth. It was a wonderful first Christmas as a family of three.
 |
| Waiting in line to see Santa |
 |
| Our favorite present... |
 |
| Much more interested in the bows and paper than the actual presents themselves! |
We then rang in 2013 with a group of friends at an old watering hole of ours;). James and I went to our favorite sushi place, which I had not been to for over a year! It was amazing at usual and we very much enjoyed a night out with just the two of us (thank you YaYa for keeping the little one!).
January also brought with it the beginning of my job search. I have enjoyed the time I have had at home with Ava more than I can ever explain and am so grateful to have been able to do so for so long. But the time has now come for me to head back to work. Still searching but ever hopeful that a wonderful opportunity will be offered to me soon that will allow our family a fairly easy transition.
Ava is growing up so fast! I was just looking at the last post I put up at the end of November and thought how little she was just a few months ago! She will be 9 months old in a couple weeks! Crazy!!! Every day Ava is becoming more and more mobile. I'm getting scared, ya'll. With mobility come the serious baby proofing, and I just haven't gotten there yet! Ava's big "thing" she's doing right now is getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. Sometimes she will launch herself forward when she's doing it and totally face plant. And I just can't help but laugh at her and also be so amazed at her at the same time! The other day she also starting sitting herself up from lying in her crib. So now nap time consists of about 30 minutes of her rocking back and forth, launching herself around her crib, and sitting herself up and playing with her bumper. Oh and launching her pacifiers out if the crib. It's like a paci graveyard back there at the end of the week...
Standing up is one of her new favorite things to do. She hasn't learned how to pull herself up quite yet, although I see that going down very soon, but she loves for someone to stand her up and hold her hand while she bounces and plays and looks quite proud if herself! We got her an activity table for Christmas and she also enjoys standing up and playing on that.
Ava is still nursing 4-5 times a day and eats 3 meals a day as well. And she loves her food!!! We always give her some type of finger food so she can practice feeding herself. Ava's favorite finger foods include puffs, peas, grapes, yogurt drops, banana, pasta, beans. shall i go on, lol?! The girl can eat! We also give her a sippy cup with every meal and she does pretty well with that too.
The beginning of January also brought teething to the Paten household in a serious way! Ava had been quite fussy and temperamental for a couple days in a row and low and behold we discovered a bottom tooth! And a couple days later I noticed a friend popped up right beside that tooth! So far it's just those two teeth but if Ava's mood of late is any indication, more are on their way;). In looking for teething solutions that didn't involve me drugging my child all day every day, a couple friends recommended using an amber teething necklace. It is supposed to be a natural remedy to ease the pain of teething. It is a short necklace that the baby wears around the neck and is made up of Baltic amber beads. It really has seemed to help A LOT for Ava.
Ava is still in 6-9 month clothes and size 2 diapers, although the next box of diapers we have to buy we are going to go up a size. We can tell that she is starting to grow out of her 6-9 month clothes too- starting with her cotton sleepers. Baby clothes sizing should seriously be standardized- am I right mommas?! Ava can wear anything from 6 month to 6-12 month to 6-9 month to 12 month clothing. And it just really bothers the anal person inside of me! But I digress...
That's is a very fast catch up on what has been happening around here the last couple months! Hope everyone is staying warm and healthy! Thanks for catching up with the Paten's!
 |
| Ava looking out over her first snow! |
 |
| Thanks Uncle Dustin and Aunt Sharity for my awesome Yoda hat! |
 |
