9 Months Old!

Ava's 9 Month Stats:

Height: 27 inches, 30% percentile

Weight: 18 pounds, 40% percentile

Head Circumference: 18 1/4 inches, 95% percentile

Ava had her 9 month well visit yesterday. She is doing great! Dr. Emm said she is doing awesome. The only thing I had a question about was her birthmark (s) - she has one on her forehead (angel kisses) and the one on the back of her neck (stork bite). He pressed on them and it shows they disappear so he is confident they will fade. I really don't care one way or another as far as 'looks' go, but had noticed that the one on the back of her neck seemed darker. He said it is still fine and he isn't worried about it. We'll keep an eye on it though.

She of course cried anytime he came near her or touched to (to listen to her breathing, check her ears, etc.). He said he doesn't take anything personally. :-) I really like him. He is young and has 2 daughters himself. The youngest is a few weeks older than Ava so that is cool. She even cried when I put her on the weighing table and just the female nurse was in the room. I wasn't surprised though because she still cries (FREAKS OUT) anytime I try to change her diaper in a public restroom. I am sure the other people in the bathroom think I'm torturing her in there! He said that is pretty normal. She is a little scaredy cat anyway, so I figured. The vacuum freaks her out, too. I was surprised a few weeks ago when I took her to the ISU game that she seemed to enjoy it. She did jump EVERY time the buzzer went off though. :)

She is now TECHNICALLY crawling, however, she still mostly pulls/scoots herself around and like I said, don't let that fool you, she is quick! I guess she is also considered a 'cruiser' because she loves to stand and can even kind of walk around her toys. Here is a little video of her going for the electronics. I can't get a video of her crawling because she usually starts to do it and then decides doing the worm is much more fun! :)

Working Out is Not Working Out...

Welllllllll, I gotta say that the whole working out thing is not 'working out.' I have been doing 'OK' I suppose. It is just really hard to go from working out 5 days a week (pre-pregnancy) to a few. I have to have routine and it is almost like I need to do it every day or I get out of the habit of doing it. No excuses, however, as any working mom would probably agree, it is really hard to make the time to do it (and being dead of winter does NOT help!)...

When Ava and I get home, we usually hang out and play for a while. When she was still taking her evening nap, I would take that time to work out, however, now that she isn't doing that, I'd much rather play with her. Then Travis gets home and we typically do dinner, then it's time to clean up, prepare for the next day (lunches, my coffee, clean up, etc.), then it's bathtime, play, read books, bottle and bed. By this time it is about 8:30 and this is the chance to maaaaaybe get on the computer, watch a couple shows, etc. It is definitely NOT the time to work out. My goal of going to a weekend class is also hard to keep up because apparently I'm kind of busy on weekends! :)

I did have a thought, though and despite my {LOVE} of sleeping, I think I am going to try to get up and go to the gym (YEP...still paying for it) in the morning. Right now, Travis takes Ava to the sitter so I'm thinking there is no reason that I can't get up, head to the gym and get in a 3 mile run. Since the gym is literally about 1 minute from my school, I can just get ready there and still get to school by 7:45 or 8:00. The way I figure it, I will only have to get up about 15 minutes earlier.

I'm going to start this new goal next week (or Friday, we'll see) since I'm at Fairview on Thursdays (not near the gym). If only I could 'watch' what I eat...(I just watch it as I shovel it in...LOL...). No, honestly, I think I do ok, but I do enjoy eating, and working out was my way to allow myself to eat whatever I wanted and lately I've been continuing to eat (almost) whatever I want and not working out as much. Surprisingly, I'm not toooooooo far from my pre-pregnancy weight but the muscle tone I had is definitely NOT there! I don't want summer to arrive and not be toned!!! So looks like I have about 2-3 months to get there! My goal is to get back into my Seven jeans...comfortably!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, the catch?????? Going to bed at a decent time...(It is 10:40pm now, and I'm just chillin' on the couch with my computer and Idol...)

Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday To Me

2 months later...I finally used my birthday money at the Coach outlet yesterday and since I got such a good deal (it was on sale to begin with plus I got another 20% off!), I even have some $ left over. I can't believe I've actually had the money since December! The scarf attached is from "Thirty-One." I'm still trying to get it to look right, it might be too long but I LOOOOOOOVE them both and, of course, they are both GREEN!

Miss Ava

Peek-a-boo

Chewin' on the funnel

Love the position...and her socky. If she isn't pulling them off, they are falling off anyway!

Pretty girl...

"Check me out..."

Happy Girl!

Playin' with mommy's foot...

Things are getting more and more fun around the Cunningham household. It is REALLY hard to believe that Ava will be 9 months old in 5 days. I actually didn't even realize it was that close until I just looked at the calendar. Even though I feel like winter is never ending and I'm so anxious for spring (so anxious that I painted my toenails for the first time in months), February is FLYING by! Don't you think so? Anyway, here's the latest...

• Ava is now saying "mama" (YAY! :) I was gone yesterday for the day to the outlet mall with Annie and Katie and I came home to her saying it.



• She is also kind of saying a "b" sound (baba?) and the "n" sound too, I think (Nanci??)
  
  


• Her 2 bottom teeth are really coming in and I must say, they are "2 cute!"




• She is still not 'technically' crawling but her version is much more entertaining. She doesn't even really do the army crawl, it is more like the "worm" but today she was even just kind of pushing herself along to where she wanted to go with one leg---almost like the other leg is paralyzed. I need a video for sure! Anyway, if there is anything electronic around (mostly cords), she can get to it in the blink of an eye!



• She L.O.V.E.S. to stand. She giggles when you help her walk and she loves to stand at her musical toys and play. She is getting better at pulling herself up all the way. I have to remind myself not to always do it for her. :-) My friend Jaime got me these things called walking wings. I will definitely have to use them soon. They help you so you don't have to bend over when you are helping little ones walk. How cool!



• I am loving my new camera. I am hoping to take a class on how to use it/photography this summer. (Man, I sooooooo can't wait for SumMeR!!!!!!!!)



• I went to an open house today. I was just browsing FSBO - (For Sale By Owner) and there was an open house going on at that exact time for a house that looked really cute. My friend Kim met me there. We both really liked it. It will probably be SOLD soon because it is in a nice area--Attached garage, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and 4 rooms in the basement (semi finished) and very reasonably priced. Oh well, hopefully it will get the ball rolling for us. We want to move ASAP so I guess we'll be trying to find out our status with our house and maybe put it up for sale. On the drive home, I felt a little guilty (like our house might find out...LOL), but no really, I will miss our house! It is our first home and has so much character. I'll miss that when we move someday.

Happy {Belated} Valentine's Day

XOXO,
Ava

My New Love

Digital Scrapbooking

I have been sooooooooooo addicted to my new digital scrapbooking software: Creative Memories Storybook Creator 3.0. I LOVE IT! It is so nice to be able to do a page quickly and not have to get all of my scrapbooking supplies out. I will still do traditional scrapbooking when I can, but this way I don't have to feel like I will NEVER get Ava's scrapbook done. I can print the pages as 12x12 photos and slide them down in Ava's scrapbook I've already started. How awesome is that!? And this way, I can still save little keepsakes to go in her scrapbook and also have more creative freedom than with online photo books, etc.

Here are a few pages I've done. I'm still learning!

{Sneak Peek}

I took full advantage of our snow day on Tuesday and took some Valentine pictures of Ava in her adorable Valentine outfit I got her. It is a pink tutu with a black onesie with a pink glittery heart on it and the super cute bow that my friend Audra made to match. I used my new camera and then did some editing with my memory manager software from Creative Memories. I think they turned out pretty well for me being an amateur!

I will post more pics soon!

What a sweet face!

Things are going good with us. Ava is getting her TWO bottom teeth and has had a runny nose but for the most part still in a good mood. She doesn't really have much of an apetite for her bottle from time to time and wouldn't take it 2 nights in a row. Travis took her to the dr. yesterday and she is completely fine! Oh well, good to know. The nurse thought maybe ear infection but the dr. said her ears look great. I caught whatever she had, I think, and took a sick day yesterday and slept ALL day. I, too, don't have much of an apetite, so I think she probably just has drainage, etc. and maybe her toothers are bothering her. Otherwise, she is still sleeping through the night, so that is great!

Hope everyone has a fun Valentine's Day weekend. XOXO