2 Months Old

Ava Lynn!

Well, I guess I'll start by saying that I'm still kinda confused about how you determine your baby's age. Apparently 8 weeks isn't the same as being 2 months old? Anyway, she's past both now. She had her 2 month well check up today and weighs 11 pounds 2 ounces and is 22 1/4 inches long. She is in like the 50 and 55% for weight and length but is in the 90% for her huge head. hehe! Dr. Emm said she is doing great and can't believe how well she is sleeping. He said that 'not all babies are this good.' I guess she's either tricking us so we'll give her a sibling OR it's that Beat Belt!! I asked if she can be sleeping TOO much and he said no, she's normal and to enjoy it! (Trust me, I am!) She's been sleeping from around 10pm until about 5am, give or take a 1/2 hour difference here or there. Then she'll usually wake up to eat, then sleep another couple hours, get up and after maybe getting dressed and playing a little, she's tired again. She is awake a lot more though during the day and is super alert. She likes to look at toys and talk to Mr. Whale and Mr. Octopus on her play mat. We also read stories every night before bed and she loves to look at the pictures.

Funny story, Dr. Emm also started out by saying her head strength was 'ok,' not great but not bad (I guess it's hard to hold your head up when it's so big! hehe!). Then he layed her on her belly and she held her head up and looked all around and he and Travis and I were all like WHOA! I admitted she'd never really done that before and that I'm not great at giving her tummy time. She doesn't usually love it, so what can I say? Anyway, it was pretty funny.

She also had her shots today and she did great. She hardly cried immediately after and then slept for about 3 hours almost. Unfortunately when she woke up, she wasn't too happy. She cried for about 15 minutes, which she never does--and wouldn't eat or take her pacifier. I managed to get some Tylenol in and rocked her til she finally fell asleep. She slept more tonight than normal and I just held her while we watched a movie enjoying her and cuddling with her. When she woke up, she was back to her normal self, thank goodness! I'll probably give her a dose of Tylenol next time before her appt. but am glad I waited to see how she would do first.

Here are some pictures including her 'chair' pics. It took me several different photo shoots to get ONE smile--as you'll see with the different outfits. Of course, as soon as I move her or stop taking pictures, she's smiling up a storm!

"Seriously, Are you done yet?"

"Alright, I'll give you a half smile"

"Just call me Vanna!"

In her bath (just about 2 minutes after the chair photo shoot! :) Check out that smile!

She always kicks one leg out of the hammock part. Cracks me up!

It might be hard to see but I finally got my family tree necklace. It says "Our Family, Travis, Stephanie and Ava" with a tree on it--handmade from Lisa Leonard online. Thanks again Megan for the coupon. I LOVE IT and always get compliments on it.

As you can see we're totally in love with her! Hope you've enjoyed as well!

3 Years

Travis and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on the 21st! I can't believe we've been married 3 years already. We've actually been together for 8 years, which is even crazier! Travis was a baby then! hehe. He's 27 now so you do the math! We had a nice dinner at Biaggi's and I think paid about $10 for the meal (the rest was paid with gift cards) and then went to the mega-screen to see Harry Potter. His parents came up to watch Ava. I feel very blessed to have such a great hubby and having Ava has only made us closer.

8 Weeks

Ava was 8 weeks old yesterday. I still have to take her 'chair' picture but I'm going to do that between now and when she is actually 2 months old. :) I found these pictures of Travis and I when we were about 2 months old. Who do you think she looks like??????

I'd say she's a mini-Travis right now! Look at those EYES!

I can SORT OF see her mommy too??? :-) Looks like my hair had lightened up by this point so maybe she'll actually have dark hair like Trav.

It will be fun to see her continue to grow and see what changes she goes through and who she looks like.

Haircut

Ava had her first haircut today!!!!!!! No more baby mullet! :-) Some of you may have heard me say it but I still just don't know WHEN she had to start growing hair in the womb to have so much hair. Apparently it grows super fast too. Check out the pics below.

BEFORE the haircut...

OK, so I don't have an after pic yet. I'll try to get on that and post it soon. hehe! This picture below is at the hospital probably when she was 2 days old. I was just curious how much her hair had grown in 7 weeks. Wow! Quite a bit apparently!

Super Happy Little Girl!

Another fun week with Ava. :) She was 7 weeks yesterday. I love her with all of my heart and so does her daddy! She's our Super Happy Little Girl!










All ready for our friend Stephanie's bridal shower.

Ava

Ava is having fun on her Baby Einstein mat. I will apologize for the horrible camera operating (you'll feel like you are on the water for real...haha) and unfortunately their isn't a mute button for just my voice. :) I tried to make it short but she was just too darn cute! If you start at about 1 minute 25 seconds that is where it starts getting super cute. Enjoy!

6 weeks old!

I am 6 weeks old today!!!!!!!!

How is it possible that my baby is 6 weeks old? She is still proving to be just the sweetest thing ever! She has been sleeping well, eating well, and becomes more and more interactive each day. She is always bright eyed and happy when she wakes up in the mornings, which I love! I always have my phone handy to get some pictures because it snaps faster than my regular camera and it seems to take pretty good pictures. Her little coos and smiles are soooo cute!!!!!!

A Day in the Life of Ava...

I'm sort of copying my friend Heather's blog post. Her little guy Jackson is 3 weeks old!

We'll start with bedtime routine last night. I'm trying to get her on a schedule because I will need it once I go back to school---(which I'm DREADING already). She was going to bed at midnight (yikes) which is fine by me but it won't be come August. So thanks to Kim's advice, I'm getting her bath/bedtime routine done by 10ish and even if she's awake - putting her in her crib. I haven't had to yet really, since she usually falls asleep but typically she'd wake up and be bright eyed until midnight. She would still sleep 5 or so hours but probably not the best schedule. Putting her in her crib is helping and I've tried to get the feedings more routine though with nursing, it's hard.

8:30 pm - Bathtime/laugh and coo with Mommy and Daddy/get lotion and pj's on/Eat

10 pm - asleep in crib

11pm ish - get reswaddled (still asleep but moving around and making noises...TRYING to escape!)

3:00am ish - Eat/diaper change

6am - Time to eat again!

6:30-8:00am - laugh and coo with mommy/get my clothes on for the day

8:00-9:00ish - hang out/nap in the swing

9:30 - have a little snack

10:00am - cry a little/chill in car seat on the way to Kim's pool/sleep

10:15-11:15 - hang out at Kim's/diaper change/eat yet again

11:30-1:00 - lunch at McD's (sleepy time for Ava)

1:30 - get home/snack time!

2:00 - 4:00 - sleep in swing

4:00 - 5:00 - eat/hang out with mommy waiting for daddy to get home from work

5:00 - 6:00 - hang out with daddy while mommy goes to tan--I don't get any sun any other way/cry

6:00 pm - now - sleep in swing

Pretty soon she'll be waking up and it'll be time to eat/hang out/bathtime and then ready to do the same thing all over again! :-)

I'm happy to say that she apparently now likes her swing. She didn't like it much the first few weeks of her life. We tried it a few times but she wasn't too keen.

She has had a few crying 'episodes' but nothing that she can't be calmed down. It's amazing how she can go from so happy one second to TICKED OFF the next. As you can tell from her daily routine, she is often deprived of food to the point of starvation. ha! I think she did have a belly ache one of the times. She hardly ever spits up and after spitting up she was a little fussy. We can't complain though. Her little cry is quite pathetic. She has real tears and even has the saddest little frown. :)

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great time in Chicago! Ava loved it and can't wait to go back!! :)

We drove up on Thursday and checked into our hotel - The Millenium Knickerbocker. It was REALLY nice! Thank you Priceline! The room was pretty small but we managed.



Our friend Jason lives in Chicago so we met up with him and went to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. YUM! Travis even liked it though he didn't get to go to the sushi place. Sorry dear! I'm not 'there' yet with sushi!



Mom and John arrived Friday on the Amtrak and hung out with Ava while we were at the game. :) I officially take TOO many pictures and Travis is officially too tall (or am I too short?). I think I've said this before but it's hard to take vertical pictures of us. Notice his head is usually cut off! (below)

Before we left...Don't you just love Ava's outfit?? And of course, the bow!



Our view from the rooftop...



Some shots from the game...we had a lot of different groups of friends there. We had SOOO much fun!



Happy 4th of July...



We hung out at Kim and Craig's when we got back. Somehow these are the only 3 pics I took--even though I know I just said I officially take too many pictures. hmmmm...

I'm so cute!!!!!!!!

Cousins

Here are the pics from lunch with the cousins. :-) The girls stopped by the house first and we were cracking up at the 3 carseats! So we had to take a picture.

Reddington - Dasani - Ava

The babies and their mommas. :)

Megan - Abi - ME

Megan is married to my cousin though we consider each other cousins and Abi is my cousin. Our other cousin Brock's fiance is also having a baby - due early Sept. Lots of babies in the Bettis fam!