Ava's New Toy!

Over the past week or so, Ava has found a new toy! Her feet! She loves to grab them and even suck on her toes. I can't believe how flexible babies are. Here is a video I took tonight of her playing on the floor. She loves to make all kinds of noises...don't worry, she's not crying!

Wonderful Weather!

The weather has been wonderful here lately. Ava and I have enjoyed taking more walks...some with Shadow, some without. Today we took a walk to the local park and had a little fun on the swings. Ava was a "little" too small for the swing but she loved it anyway. She just thought it was the greatest thing. She is getting so big. She is officially in 6 month clothes now...YEAH!! She eats oatmeal for breakfast and dinner. We will start veggies and fruits starting next week. She is rolling over all of the time now. She has decided that she likes to sleep on her belly (I don't blame her!) and will immediately roll over to her belly after I put her on her back. She really wants to crawl but hasn't figured out how to lift her belly off the floor. We are working with her on trying to sit up by herself. She loves sitting in her bumbo but still falls forward after awhile. She is drooling like crazy and I'm sure there will be teeth popping up soon. She is getting more and more attentive every day. She will follow Shadow and then wonder where she went. She gets so excited to see people, especially Daddy when he gets home from work. I am excited to dress her up for Halloween. We have a Mommy and Me halloween party next Wednesday and she will be a ladybug. She looks so cute in the costume. We also have a cow and chili pepper costume that she will wear just for fun. Thanks Katie!! Well, that is all for now. I'll post more pictures later in the week.

Just Relaxing...5 Months Old

Ava and I were a little tired this morning so we decided to crawl back into bed. She loves to lay in Mommy and Daddy's bed and this time, she wanted to lay on my pillow. I think she is so adorable in this picture and looks so much like Curt here too. She was happy as could be just laying there. And of course, Shadow had to join her on the bed. Shadow thinks that our bed is hers and spends majority of her day on our bed...the reason for the light blue blanket! We've tried to keep her off our bed, but we've basically given up and have considered it an impossible task. :-)

Just an Update!

Here are some pictures that we have taken throughout the past week. Ava has really gotten to love sitting in her Bumbo. This picture was taken right when Curt got home from work and she was so happy to see Daddy. It was adorable. And she's holding her little lobster that Curt gave to her. She's a true Red Lobster fan! :-) Here is Ava with her buddy Nathan. Nathan was born only 8 days after Ava but is about 2 pounds more than Ava. haha :-) Bradley and Nathan came over to our house on Saturday morning while Kiva worked at a vet clinic nearby. We had a great time!
Ava decided to wake Mommy up from her Sunday afternoon nap. She was so happy after her nap and just wanted to snuggle up with Mommy.
This is what Shadow likes to do after we pick Ava up off of the blanket. She thinks it is her turn to lay on the blanket and get attention. It doesn't always work that way though! Shadow has been a little jealous of our attention since we got home from WI. She hasn't done anything too bad but always wants to take walks, get pet, or just talked to. She's spoiled!!!

We're Home!

We are back home in Florida now. We had a safe trip back to Orlando. Ava did not want to sleep on the plane at all. The only thing she wanted to do was to jump up and down the entire 3 hours plane ride. Luckily, the woman next to me was very nice and offered to hold her for awhile so that I could get a break. She even helped me change a dirty diaper on her lap!!! She was a brave woman!!! Curt was very happy to see us. Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip. Sorry there are so many but I had to share all of them. :-) Enjoy!

Ava riding Papa's motorcyle.
Ava with Great Grandpa &Great Grandma Cattanach
Ava with Great-Grandma Goetz
Ava and Great Aunt Judy
Papa, Grandma and Ava ready for a walk.

My Dad and I at the Marshfield Zoo. You can kind of see the tiger in the background.
Ava and I at the zoo. I love the color of the trees!
Great-Grandma June, Ava and I at the park.

Great-Grandma June pushing Ava through the zoo.
Ava Claire with Ava and Claire Critelli. The girls were so excited to meet Ava and thought it was great that they had the same name!
Sisters and cousins! My sister Jenn with her kids Emily and Alexander.

Great-Grandma June with all of the great grandkids.

The Cattanach cousins playing with Ava.

Cousin Emily with Ava.

Ava with Uncle Scott and Aunt Amy.

Ava with Uncle Dave and Aunt Michelle.

Cousin Jacob. Jacob loved Ava and just couldn't get enough of her. :-) I'm pretty sure that Ava loved him too.

Grandpa Cattanach

Ava's first bonfire at Great Uncle Dave's house. It was a little cold but we all had fun anyway. Next time she'll get to eat a smore.

Ava and Alexander with Great Uncle Lyle and Great Aunt Faith. Thanks for letting us come stay with you before we came back home. We had a great time and I'm so glad you got to meet the little ones! :-)

Go Packers!!

We are having a great time in Wisconsin! We have been super busy visiting with family and friends. Ava has been a good little girl and has adjusted well to the different surroundings and time change. I had to post this picture as we are currently watching the Green Bay Packers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'm cheering for the Bucs but Ava will be a Packer fan. Isn't she adorable in her cheerleading outfit?!?! I'll post more pictures later on in the week.

4 Month Appointment

On Wednesday, Ava had her 4 month doctor's appointment. Dr. Burzynski was very excited to see how big Ava has gotten since our last visit. She weighed 11 lbs. 14 oz. and was 23 1/2 inches long. She has grown quite a bit since our last visit 2 months ago. Dr. Burzynski said that she is doing great developmentally and couldn't believe how alert she was. Ava has started noticing more and more things that are around her. She has noticed Shadow and will just watch her closely to see what she is going to do. She thinks it is funny when Shadow licks her hands and feet. Ava did get 3 shots while we at the doctors and once again, she didn't react very good. She got another fever and was very cranky for about 36 hours. About 2 weeks ago, Ava was on a feeding schedule of about every 3-4 hours but now she wants to eat at least every 2 sometimes every hour. Because of this, Dr. Burzynski advised us to start her on a "very" little cereal every other day. So, we started some cereal last night and she only had a few bites but seemed to really like it. Shadow wanted to have some too but knew she would get yelled at if she got too close. As you can see in the picture, Shadow tried to take a lick but wasn't close enough to Ava to actually get any. :-) We'll try some more cereal tomorrow night.

Ava's teething has seemed to stop for the time being. Very good timing considering we leave for WI on Tuesday. :-) I am very excited for our trip and can't wait for everyone to see Ava. It will be a very busy 10 days as we have 2 families to see in that time. Luckily, they live in the same town! :-) I will try to upload some more pictures before we leave for WI and then maybe some while we are there as well.

Teething

Ava has officially started teething! She has been drooling like crazy for the past few weeks but until now, she has never been fussy because of her teeth. It all started yesterday after we got home from church. She would not go to sleep for her normal nap time and just could not be consoled. We seemed to try almost everything (including studying with Daddy!) until finally resorting to tylenol and ora-gel. Unfortunately, neither of those seemed to work. She managed to sleep through the night but I was awake every few hours expecting her to wake up in pain. Today she woke up okay but quickly decided that her gums still hurt and she wasn't going to tolerate it today. She threw several fits and all she wanted to do was eat, eat and eat! Lucky me!!! The good thing is that we made it through the day and I got a break when Curt got home from work. A friend of mine recommended teething tables so I ran to CVS and bought a box. They work wonders!!! About 10 minutes after I gave them to Ava, she was back to her normal self and happy as can be. She is now asleep for the night and will most likely sleep until the morning.

Here are just a few pictures from the past week. As you can see in the picture, Ava loves bathtime and is always smiling of laughing. She could stay in there forever! :-) She is continuing to roll over all of the time. She is really good at lifting up her head. She moves her legs like she's going to start crawling but hasn't figured out how to move her arms yet. She likes laying on her belly more and more and has even figured out how to roll from her belly to her back (but not very often). We think she has started teething because she is constantly drooling and needs something (hands, fist, fingers, paci, blanket, shirt, toy, etc.) in her mouth at all times. I got the chance to weigh her yesterday at our Mommy and Me class. She weighs 11 lbs. 10 oz. She's getting bigger and bigger every day but is still our little peanut. :-)

Here is a picture of Ava with her best friend Bre. They are actually holding hands here and we did not stage this picture. It was so cute but it didn't last too long. Bre wanted to play with Ava but Ava just sat there and smiled.


Ava and Daddy!

Ava's Noises

Ava has found a new way to talk. She just makes me laugh every time she does this and it goes on for about 10-15 minutes. It's hilarious. She'll stop if you start talking to her and then as soon as you stop talking she'll start back up again.