Curt's Birthday

Friday was Curt's 31st Birthday! I surprised him by having our friends Jason and Laura come over to the house to babysit Ava while Curt and I went to a movie. Curt has been talking about going to the movies since April but it just wasn't possible now that we have our little bundle of joy! :-) So when he got home from work on Friday, Jason and Laura were already at the house. We all had Subway and then Curt and I left Ava for the first time. We had a great time at the movies watching Incredible Hulk. It seemed really strange to be out of the house without Ava but it was great to go on a date as well.








Ava was a wonderful little girl for her first babysitters. She barely fussed and went straight to bed for them too. We were very happy when we got home to a quiet house and Ava in bed for the night. She then slept until 3:30! :-) Thank you Jason and Laura -- You're the Best!!!












Here is a recent picture of Ava and I. We were just getting ready to go out shopping for a little bit. So far, Ava loves shopping but doesn't really give me her input on anything. I'll have to work with her on that. :-)






This is a picture from Father's Day of our friend Bradley and his son Nathan. Nathan was born 8 days after Ava and they have become very good friends. The dads were very proud to be holding their first child! :-)

Aren't I adorable?

All smiles!



















Time to Sleep. Ava loves to sleep with her hand on her head like an angel. :-)












She's all ready for church! This is a dress that our friends Bradley, Kiva and Nathan got for Ava. She looked so adorable in it and got so many compliments at church.

















Ava is tired but is refusing to go to sleep. She is in a sling carrier that I have and it works like magic. She falls fast asleep within minutes of being in this and will stay asleep for hours if I would let her. It's wonderful for when I want to get things done around the house but she is a little fussy and just wants her mommy.








"I'm getting to be a such a big girl!" She loves to stand on her feet even though she's not really standing on her own.

Play Time!

Just Some Cute Pics

It's Bath Time! Ava loves bath time. :-)


We are headed out to a baby shower for a friend from church. It's Ava's first baby shower! She was very well behaved and slept through almost the whole thing. :-)

Big Yawn!

Nap Time with Daddy! Perfect for Father's Day Weekend!

1 Month Checkup

We have had a very busy week with appointments almost everyday. I have had severe pain when breastfeeding so I went to the doctor on Wednesday to see if something was wrong. Unfortunately, my doctor was out of town so I had to see another doctor in his practice. This new doctor said that nothing was wrong with me so maybe Ava wasn't latching correctly. I started going to a new mother support group on Wednesdays. It is offered through the hospital free of charge and is led by our lamaze coach. That has been a big help with any of my concerns or questions regarding raising a baby. They suggested that I see a lactation consultant to see if they can figure out what was causing all of the pain. So, yesterday Ava and I went to the see the consultant. We figured out a few things. First, Ava is latched correctly! :-) YEAH!! Second, I have a yeast infection which is causing majority of my pain. I got a prescription from my doctor this morning and should be feeling much better by tomorrow. Third, Ava doesn't know how to suck correctly. Because her tongue was tied, she never learned how to suck correctly and now her muscles in her mouth don't work as good as they should. The consultant gave me some oral exercises to do on Ava's mouth to strengthen these muscles and teach her to stick out her tongue. She likes to keep it inside instead. Another option down the road if needed, is to see a oral motor therapist who will determine which muscles aren't working correctly and do more vigorous exercises with her. We are going to try the exercises at home and give her some time to figure it out on her own. If she doesn't figure it out, then we will see the doctor. The bad thing about her not being able to suck is that it takes her forever to eat. It normally takes her at least 1 hour to eat and then when she is finished she is exhausted from all of the work. Poor girl!

Today we had her 1 month checkup with her pediatrician. She weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and is 21 1/2 inches long. She is in the 95th percentile in height but in the 12th percentile in weight. I was concerned with the 12th percentile but our doctor was not concerned at all considering what she has already gone through since birth. She is gaining at a good rate now and that is all that matters. She got her 2nd Hepatitis B shot today. She was all smiles at the beginning and then quickly turned to screaming. Luckily, it was short lived and now she barely knows what happened and has a Bugs Bunny band-aid to show for it. :-)

We don't have big plans for the weekend. We plan on celebrating Curt's 1st Father's Day on Sunday! :-) We aren't sure how we will celebrate yet but we'll make it special somehow. We will try to post some pictures soon. I haven't taken many pictures this week since it's been such a busy week. I will make sure I take some and put them up for you to enjoy. :-)

Doctor's Visit

Ava had her ENT doctor's appointment today. It went very well! The doctor was very friendly and gentle with her. He said that her tongue was really tight to the bottom of her mouth and he suggested that it be cut. So, we decided to have him cut her tongue today while we were there. It took about 5 minutes to do the procedure. It was a little difficult for me as I had to help hold her down so that she wouldn't move. Luckily it didn't take long. She barely knew what was happening and only fussed for a few minutes. I think she was more upset that his fingers were in her mouth than her tongue getting cut. :-) She can now stick out her tongue and move she should be able to. I told her that this is the only time that I will be happy that she sticks her tongue out at me. :-)

We bought a new computer over the weekend. I know some of you are going through Ava withdrawal so I hope this helps. :-) Ava loves to sleep! We have been trying to upload a video of her trying to wake up from a nap but it keeps failing. I'll try to take another video and see if that one will work better. Here is a picture of her all ready for bed. She just had her bath and is ready to go to sleep for the night. You can also see her tongue! YEAH!!!

I Love to Sleep!

We are finally getting around to posting new pictures. I am so sorry about the lack of pictures lately but we are finalizing our computer choices and will hopefully make a purchase over the weekend.

Ava made her first visit to school and got to meet my students and some of the teachers and staff. She was loved by all! These are just 2 of the teachers that were fighting over her that day. :-) Ava was very good and even raised her hand a few times...I think she was just stretching but she might have had a question!?!

We are all doing great! We had some friends from church come over to meet Ava last night and they brought us pizza. Curt was very thankful since we haven't had pizza in 3 weeks! I think he was going through pizza withdrawal. :-)

Today we are just relaxing around the house and getting little things done. We are going to attempt our first trip to the grocery store later as well. Luckily, we haven't had to do this yet since my parents stocked our kitchen before they left.

We are also going to attempt church for the first time tomorrow. If Ava sleeps like she did last night (from 9:30pm to 5:00am) then I don't think it will be a problem.

On Monday we have a doctors appointment with an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor. I talked with a lactation consultant on Wednesday about our difficulties with feeding. They ended up telling me that Ava is tongue-tied and that is preventing her from being able to completely suck. They suggested that I immediately see a specialist and have this taken care of so that she can grow at a quicker rate. I called our pediatrician to get a referral and we have an appointment on Monday at 1:00. Hopefully this doctor will cut her tongue (the string that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth) that day. Please pray for us as this will not only be painful for Ava but painful for me to see her go through this procedure at such a young age. I will make another update on Monday night to let you know how the appointment went.

3 Weeks Old

Ava is 3 weeks old today! We can't believe she has already been with us for 3 weeks. She is such a sweet little girl. We have had some difficulties in the past week. It all started last Thursday when our home computer crashed which is why we have not posted any new pictures of updates. On Friday, we went to Ava's 2 week appointment. She weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. which was not quite enough weight gain since our last appointment. Our doctor wanted me to start supplementing formula 3 times a day. So, we started supplementing the formula which we soon found out that Ava did not care for. She got really gassy, fussy and refused to sleep. I quite the formula on Saturday evening in hopes that this would help and get her back on her schedule. It worked! We had hoped to make it to church on Sunday morning but that didn't happen when I woke up with a fever and flu-like symptoms. Luckily, it only lasted for 24 hours and I was much better Monday morning when I woke up. On Monday, we went back to the doctor to check on her weight. She now weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. She is now 1 oz. above her birth weight!!! YEAH!! We officially discontinued the formula and she is doing much better.

Ava has decided that she likes to refuse to sleep about one night a week. She is very content during this time but just wants to be held and stay awake the entire night/day. Luckily, it doesn't last too long but it has been frustrating when this does happen.

We are sorry for the lack of pictures and will hopefully get some pictures up soon. I am updating this using Curt's work computer but I don't have access to that as often or during convenient times. We are searching for a new computer and will hopefully make a purchase in the next week. Ava's next doctor's appointment is on Friday, June 13th. We will keep you updated as much as possible until then. :-)

13 Days Old

Today is my first day home alone with Ava. It has been a very good day so far. We woke up around 7:00 and then napped for majority of the morning. We took a walk to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner. Now we are just hanging out at home waiting for Curt to get done with work. We had a rough day yesterday with Ava not wanting to sleep at all! I think she got a total of about 3 hours of sleep in 36 hours. She was tired!!! She finally went to sleep and did not want to wake up after that.

Here is a picture of Curt with Ava and then another picture of Ava in her first mini-skirt. We received this outfit (and a purple one just like it) from our neighbors. She looks so adorable in it.

I am also including a video I took of her yesterday when she had the hiccups. She gets a little fussy at the end but she is so cute when she has the hiccups.

Our Little Angel

Here are some recent pictures of our little angel. We are all doing great! We are getting into a schedule. Ava loves to sleep which we are taking advantage of. She normally eats around 10-11, 2-3 and then again when we wake up at about 6. We are told that we are very lucky and are hoping that this doesn't change too much in the next few weeks/months.






Shadow is doing great with Ava. She is still getting attention...mostly from Curt. She will lick and smell her but never gets closer.

Curt goes back to work on Tuesday. We aren't looking forward to that but I think Curt is getting a little bored at home. Luckily it's a short week because of Memorial Day so it shouldn't be too bad of a transition. We go back to the doctor on Friday. I'll let you know how that goes on Friday afternoon. Until then, I will keep posting more pictures. :-) Enjoy!