Photo Shoot

We had our own little photo shoot yesterday. Ava was very good and only cried once. Here are a few of the pictures. Let us know which ones are your favorite.

My Friend Lydia's Visit

My friend Lydia came down for the weekend to visit and meet Ava. We had a great time and Ava fell in love with Lydia. We had a lot of fun shopping, spending time together, working on projects and playing with Ava. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Having Fun!

I actually got her to smile and giggle a little in this video. She loves to lay on the floor and squirm all around. This morning when she woke up, I found her on the opposite end of the crib and completely turned around. She loves to kick her legs and has now figured out that she can move herself around by kicking. We haven't decided if we like this yet! :-) She's getting so big and we can't believe she will be 8 weeks old this week. The last 2 months have gone so fast and she has changed so much. She is finally fitting into her 0-3 month old clothes now. The newborn clothes are actually getting a little tight and we are so excited for her to get a whole new wardrobe. I wish it were that easy for us! I'll take some more videos this week and post them as soon as possible. :-)

Video Problems

Here is a video of Ava we took this morning. For some reason, videos will not upload on our home computer but they will upload on Curt's work computer. I haven't figured this out yet but hopefully we'll be able to post more videos. I'll try to put up a few more this morning. :-)

4th of July

We celebrated 4th of July by inviting our friends Tim, Shari, and Bre over for barbecue pulled pork. Curt did a wonderful job grilling the pork and it tasted awesome! We then walked down to our town center to look at the different vendors and booths. Shari and I thought it was hilarious how much a year can change your lives. This time last year, we were childless and carefree. Now the men are pushing strollers around town and we wouldn't want to change anything. We then walked back to our house to watch the fireworks. They let them off from an open field right down by our house. It was really nice because then we could take care of the babies but still enjoy the fireworks. Our neighbors decided to have their own firework show afterwards which we didn't care for too much. As a result, Ava was up until about midnight but as soon as she finally went to sleep, she was out until 7AM. YEAH!!! Here are some pictures from the evening. We had a great time and Ava did very good.

Happy 4th of July!

Ava wishes everyone a Happy 4th of July!

We will post more pictures later this afternoon.

Happy As Can Be!

Just Chillin' Out

Ava sleeping in her swing. This is one of her favorite places during the day.
















Ava fell sleep on Curt's legs last night. This proves that she can pretty much fall asleep almost anywhere.















This is a gift basket that we received yesterday from one of Curt's bosses. It's a wooden toy box with a picture of a dag and it has her name written on it. Inside of the box was a onesie, book, CD, toys, and a stuffed dog. It was a great surprise!

Ava's Appointment

Ava's appointment went really well today. She did some tests on her mouth and face muscles and ironically determined that her tongue muscles are working great! However, her cheek, jaw, and lip muscles aren't quite working up to par. Because these muscles aren't working correctly, it is causing her to take much longer eating and not being able to suck accurately. She showed me some exercises to do with Ava three times a day to strengthen the muscles. Since Ava is still so young, these muscles should be working accurately in about 3 weeks. If I do not see obvious changes in the next three weeks, I can go back to see her graduate student for free. Ava has decided that she hates these exercises and wants to scream the entire time. Luckily, they don't take too long.

Oral Motor Visit

Tomorrow morning, Ava will be going to see an Oral Motor Specialist. This a common visit for babies who have tongue-tied. Ava is doing much better with moving her tongue but the lactation specialist that I see thought it would be a good idea. The doctor that she is seeing is very well-known throughout the US and is currently doing a research study on babies with oral motor problems. Because she is doing this study, her visits are free of charge as well. According to her previous research, babies who have tongue problems eventually develop problems with speech and texture. We decided to go see her because we don't want any of these problems to come up down the road and since it is free, we didn't see a reason not to take the offer. I will let you all know how the appointment goes and what she says about Ava. Other than that, we are all doing great!