What's Ava doing now?!

Well little miss Ava is growing so much these days! I was looking back at pictures from when we first came home, and I just can't get over how much she has changed! Her hair is finally starting to grow in, she's getting really tall, and gaining weight--she is in the 90% for both! She is also becoming so much more interactive and staying awake for longer periods of time too! In general she is a very happy baby. She is bonding with both Chris and I very well. She lights up when either of us comes into the room....and she sometimes cries if we leave the room too. She will also reach for us now too! She loves to smile and giggle. Her verbal skills are really starting to shine, particularly in the evening and out at restaurants. We took her to dinner with us and another couple that lives down the street and she talked very loudly the entire time! We thought it was hysterical (the other people around us may not have)! Her favorite toy is this turtle bath toy thingy that she puts the whole head of in her mouth to chew on; it's quite humorous. And although she's chewing on everything in site, she has no teeth to show for it! We keep thinking any day now, but alas, every morning we wake up to no teeth.

Our biggest challenge these days is sleep. She was sleeping through the night when she first came home, but every since she got sick around Christmas, she has not slept through the night. Some nights she wakes only once, other nights 3, 4, or 5 times. We are not sure what's going on, she's not hungry, she's not wet, all her needs are met. The biggest thing is she turns herself over, and while she can roll back over, she won't. She just cries in the crib until we come in and turn her back over. She will usually go back to sleep after that.

We have also recently started her on baby food! So far, she likes everything we've given her--rice cereal, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes. So I'm hoping this easy going gal keeps it up and doesn't develop any picky eating habits! So far so good! She's so cute when she eats too, she's like a little bird and just opens her mouth for you! She continues to take a bottle at each meal and then at bedtime. She's always been a good eater and so far the trend is continuing!

Chris is determined that she will crawl soon. He gets down in the floor with her and puts her in the crawling position and then helps her get to a toy. He does all the work for her, but I'm sure those little wheels are turning and she will figure it out soon! She is also sitting up independently now and has been for several weeks, if not a month! She's really good at it and rarely tumps over.

We are also starting to teach her baby signs. We checked out a Baby Einstein video called My First Signs and have been watching it with her. So we are all learning. So far, she doesn't get it, but they say it will be several months before she will actually sign anything, but this is the perfect age to start teaching them. Their little language centers are starting to develop around 6 months and supposedly can understand almost 400 words! We're hoping that teaching her baby signs will decrease her frustration later as she tries to communicate her needs.

Well, that's about all I can think of for now! Until next time, God bless!!!