Happy Girls!

Good things, good things, good things!!

A - Wynston is HOME! He recently went to Maine for a work trip. He was gone 6 days. Every day we talked about daddy, looked at his picture and called him.
He got home last night and was so excited to see Ava. He couldn't believe how much she'd changed in a week. She's not old enough to show a ton of enthusiasm in a situation like this, but she could NOT take her eyes off of him. Once she settled into the fact that he was back she wallered and wallered and wallered all over Wynston. They were in their own little heaven. In fact, they played so hard that Ava fell asleep for a little bit in her high chair during dinner.

                      

B - It's birthday week! I've mentioned it before and I'm excited! We have some very fun plans in the pipeline.

C - We recently found out our "return to St. Louis" schedule for the next year. I'd been dreading finding out how many follow up appointments we'd need. I had heard "several" but wasn't sure what that meant. Turns out that means the 3 week post op follow up which we've completed, another one in late April, and then one at 1 year post op!! I am so excited. It felt like we were living one trip to another. The next trip in late April is on a Monday. So I'm trying to plan on coming up that weekend and doing some fun things with our good friends Brian and Jen. They have a cutie named Wyatt, and he's 5 months old. Oh how Ava and Wyatt will have fun in the future. I hope we take them camping each summer, which is a tradition with us. If anyone knows of fun, cheap things to do in St. Louis, in springtime, with babies, please let me know!!

D - Our first float trip of the summer is on the books. I took zero (yes ZERO) floats last year. Not a fishing float, not a friends float, not even a me and Wynston hitting the river for the day. That is just something that hasn't happened since I started dating Wynston way back in high school. The 2011 summer was packed full of floats. As in 6 float trips. We knew we'd soon start working on building a family and moving into a new home, so we crammed in as many as we could. It was quite a fun summer.

This was on my 28th birthday. It was a fun day.

Wynston had AMAZING hair that summer. I miss his long hair.

 Wow, these pictures make me long for warm sunny days and a pre-baby body. Now that Wynston is home from Maine we are really excited to get back into eating healthy and working out regularly. :)

Ava - 10 Months Old

Weight: probably somewhere around 19-20 lbs
Height: long enough that the 6-12 month Gymboree pants are now venturing towards capri territory

Diet: Ava still eats pureed fruit + cereal, steamed and diced veggies like broccoli, butternut squash, sweat peas, edamame, green beans (notice a trend?). Her normal dinner is something like cubed chicken, a whole wheat pasta with some sauce (tomato paste, pesto, dijonaiise, teriyaki), some cheese (new, she loves it), all washed down with a 100% juice/water drink. She loves fruit. Puffs are still a saving grace, and who doesn't love the Maple flavored ones that make baby smell like morning deliciousness. Fewer and fewer 4 oz bottles during the day, and a 5 oz bottle before bed. Ava rarely finishes a bottle these days. The girls is in full swing baby-led weaning. Sometimes I might be found sharing the Trader Joe's White Cheddar Corn Puffs with Ava. Opps. They're really not too bad for you though.

Sleep: Still consistently inconsistent. See previous post for an example of a bad night. But those are not the norm and most nights I can put her down around 8 or 8:30 and she'll wake up by 7 am. We're down to 2 naps a day.

What's Going On:
Speed crawling and whole house cruising.
Independent Standing. You'll find Ava standing, all on her own, arms out in the air, looking at you eagerly with a big ol smile on her face, waiting for you to notice her.
High Fiving with enthusiasm.
Maybe I'm imagining things, but I swear the girl can point out nose and feet on her dolls.
We're working on and seeing improvement with blowing kisses.
Master page turner. Even before you've finished reading the page.
A deep dislike for baths. This is new and I do NOT like it. What happened to my little water baby? We've been out to purchase a new bath toy and a silicone bath cup that fits to her head when I rinse out her hair - so you put it up to her forehead, it curves to fit and keeps the water off her face.
Tongue "clucking". This has actually been going on for a while, probably well over a month.
Lots and LOTS of playtime.

Today is 4 weeks post surgery. Ava looks tremendous. Her swelling has subsided so much and most of her stitches are out. Hair is growing back quickly and this Little Miss just never skipped a beat. It's amazing.

She's gonna kill me for this someday. :)

What a Weekend

Friday night Ava and I joined my friend Katie and some friends at her apartment for a knitting party. Hanging out with Ava, knitting needles and balls of yarn can be...interesting. She was NOT lacking in items to investigate. Little Miss is also in a phase where no matter how many finger foods you bring for HER, all she wants is the food on your plate. :) Unfortunately my hands were too full to snap any pictures.

We spent the remainder of the weekend with my parents. Lots and lots of playtime, Ava's introduction to a few small bites of the goodness that is Oriental Inn (hometown favorite eatery), and an adorable sink bath. My mom and I also spent some time preparing for this week which happens to be a big birthday week. My dad turns 60 and Wynston turns 30 this week. So if you happen to see either of them, wish them "happy birthday"!

While I got a good nap in while at my parents, Ava struggled with sleep Saturday night. Not sure if she had a tummy ache, teething issues, or a sore throat (which I developed over the weekend, yay). Or maybe it's because we just weren't home. But Little Miss didn't go to sleep until after 10, was up from 1:30 till 3ish, 4, 5, etc. Poor girl. NOT the best way to bring in Daylight Savings Time. I brought her into my bed at the 1:30 event, and can't say that I overly minded snuggling with her that night. :)

Here's some pictures of Ava playing in my old bedroom.

My parent's dog Sophie photobombed this one!

Wooden Toys

Lately I've been swooning over some lovely wooden toys. Ava and I stopped into a big ol' flea market recently and picked up a box of wooden shapes for a STEAL. They're waiting on a good spray of Lysol and some little hands to find them, stack them and clap them together!

Here are some others I just love:

Plan Toys Water Blocks

WonderWorld Peek-a-Boo Ball

Melissa and Doug Friendly Fish Grasping Toy

Melissa and Doug Dinosaur Grasping Toy



Haba Fantasy Building Blocks,
pretty much all of the Haba blocks are great.



Wooden Canoe Toy

The Pull Toys, oh the Pull Toys. So many I love. We already own a pull alligator, hippo and goldfish.

Grasshopper Pull Toy

Come Along Aime




Haba Crab Calino Pull Toy

 



Djeco / Scouic Wooden Squirrel Racer Pull Toy.
I love this guy, and there are others in this collection just as cute as him. He reminds me of the Richard Scarry books I read as a kid.

Oh my. I could go on and on. All day long.
Also in digging around for these adorable toys, I found Oompa.com. What an AMAZING selection of children's toys. My catalog request has been sent, and I may even setup a registry on there for Ava around her birthday and Christmas. Love their stuff!

I Miss Cooking

It's true. I miss it. I haven't had the time to cook more than 1 or 2 real meals a week in so long. Life has just been crazy. It's been full of takeout, freezer meals, "search the fridge for leftovers and throw something together" and egg sandwiches. My waistline is probably reflecting these recent events.

Here's what I HAVE been able to make recently:

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Little individual garlic monkey breads. These were easy and crazy good. Make these!!

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Lightened up General Chicken. This was NOT good. Well...it wasn't awful, but it wasn't General Chicken. It was too tomato-y.


Ava's been munching on whole wheat elbow macaroni tossed in either pesto or tomato paste, chicken, edamame, sweet peas, green beans, blueberries and strawberries. That girl hilariously gravitates toward anything green.  During a recent trip to Trader Joe's I picked up the CUTEST tiny ravioli for Ava. It's so adorable.

Tiny Spring Fashions

Cabin Fever hit over the weekend at our house. Saturday Ava and I went for our first big outing since returning from surgery. We did coffee and bagels that morning with a friend; Ava loves Asiago Cheese as much as I do. Next we ventured over to the mall. We needed to buy my niece a birthday present and I had recently found some gift cards so I had the opportunity to spend without spending! Ava did so well at the mall, even though I think about 60% of Springfield's residents were just as stir crazy as we were and also decided to head out for shopping.

I can't resist sharing a few pieces I picked up.

Umm hello LOVE!! I could NOT resist this shirt. When Ava was a newborn we had a flamingo outfit for her that I loved.



Yep, two monkeys holding a heart together. This is actually the 3rd set of monkey pajamas from this line that I've bought for Ava. I love them so much and these were on clearance. 

The layering of the different fabrics in that umbrella are really cute in person. I love applique on these little shirts and think I need to learn how to DIY.

Cute little grey skinnies and a fun bug top.



So ya, we had a pretty fun little trip out of the house.

Happy Weekend!

Ya ya, I know I'm a little early on this weekend thing. But wow, this week has been loooong. I think a combination of not leaving the house much + Ava sleeping some nights, not sleeping the others has me itching for the weekend! We have some very fun things we are looking forward to this weekend, including Daddy finally getting to go fishing again, coffee with a friend, a birthday dinner and a visit to Grandma Cheryl's church!

Even though Ava tried to start our day at 5:30 a.m. (after several late night wake ups), it's still be one of those cheerful mornings full of a fresh pot of coffee, giggles and two-toothed grins for momma. :) Ava must know it's Friday. Or she's still in a good mood from our first visit to Pizza House last night. Ava was sooo good, even without the help of grandparents! Taking her to restaurants may be getting easier.