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

Ava Saying Dada

This isn't the best video but Ava is continuing to say DADA every day now. Travis got the best clips on his phone via an audio recording. I'll have to see if I can upload those but CUTE regardless! :)

Our 8 Month Old!

It was the tiniest thing I ever decided to put my whole life into.

-Terri Guillemets

Well, I don't know how this has happened in the blink of an eye...but our baby is 8 months old! For some reason ALL OF THE SUDDEN, it has hit me that she just isn't a little baby anymore. Could it be that she is enjoying lots of table food? Could it be that she is ALMOST crawling? Could it be that she is sleeping great and even starting to weed out her evening nap (not completely yet...)? That she is saying DADA!? That she is even getting better at holding her own bottle? Could it be that she has started to go to sleep in all kinds of different positions and is pretty much never on her back anymore? Could it be that she is getting better at hanging out by herself and has started to like her jumperoo? That her hair is growing like crazy and is even growing over her ears? Could it be that she is sitting in a high chair now at restaurants and loving it!? That she has figured out that if you open the wipes container and pull on the little wet white thing sticking out, there is another one there and another one and another one and another! Oh I think I could go on an on!

Well, all of the sudden it has hit me that she isn't a newborn anymore. She is a sweet, beautiful, hilarious, little person. I absolutely LOVE newborns---their sweetness, their innocence and it is hard to believe that she was once a tiny little 7 pounds 19 ounces! I still have her outift that she came home from the hospital hanging in her room and tonight I was rocking her and giving her her nighttime bottle and just reminiscing. As cliche as it may sound, I will always tell a pregnant woman or a mother of a newborn to truly cherish every. single. moment with their baby. They grow and change every day and it really does go by in the blink of an eye! I will cherish every video and picture we have and I really do feel like I never took any single moment for granted.


On that note, each new stage is fun and exciting and I LOVE this stage right now too. She is so much fun and Travis and I have noticed that she is really seeming to understand and be communicating with us. Just tonight, we were laughing and she will look right at you and smile or laugh. Her new thing is to close her eyes and give a huge grin! So funny!

Happy 8 month birthday Ava! We LOVE you!