What we hear at our house

Ok, Sally - you asked for it - you got it! Here is a video of Ava's little "noise"! She used to sound like this when she cried as a newborn. I guess this is "her sound"! :) It makes me smile!

P.S. - In the beginning you can hear her stuffy breathing!

Here we go again..

Sometimes I wish Ava could talk to us and tell us what is wrong with her. We've known something was wrong with her, just not what. Last Tuesday she had shots and that night, she started waking up ALL. NIGHT. LONG. We haven't dealt with that in a long time. Well, it's been happening ever since. She's also teething so it's always hard to know what's what - shots, teeth, something more? Last night during the middle of the night, she kept getting really upset and didn't sleep well. My mom called me early this afternoon as I was getting back from lunch to tell me Ava was running a fever, so I called the dr. Thankfully, they were kind enough to see us tonight at 5:40. She has her first ear infection. I am very grateful it's only in one ear. She is back on the same antibiotic as she was a couple of weeks ago and got some ear drops so we're hoping the combo of those will help her (and us!) a good night's sleep tonight. I know we all need it!

You can see the poor baby doesn't feel well!

Circle of Life

Today was a bittersweet day. This picture (which is priceless to me) is of Ava with her great-great-great uncle, Fr. Placidus. This man has given his life to the Lord and is one of the Godliest people I know. He has served as a priest for his life and it was an honor to have him serve as the priest of our church for many of my younger years. Our family has been blessed tremendously by him through the years and he means so much to all of us. We went to visit him today as he is ill and is preparing to go Home. This was the first time for Ava to meet him and she just took to him. He loves children and I was so glad she let him hold her. She was SO calm with him and I think it is because she could feel Jesus. :) That's how you feel around him. It's sad to think his time here with us is nearing an end, but he seems at peace and I am prayerful that he does not have to endure much pain. I'm so thankful we had today.

What a giveaway!!!

I came across a very fun giveaway that is a little different. It is sponsored by Barking Mad! and she is giving away A $250 TARGET GIFT CARD!!!



So, here's the deal. To participate in this giveaway, I have to create a post which links to my Top 5 or 10 Favorite Posts. It has been fun looking back through my (albeit short) blog history. And here are my favorite posts:

1. Introducing Miss Ava Mackenzie - This was the post where I first got to show off my precious baby to the world and talk about her arrival.

2. Wordless Wednesday #2 - The pictures pretty much speak for themselves here!

3. 1 week old - I love looking back at these pictures and seeing how small Ava used to be. This seems like yesterday and forever ago, all at the same time.

4. SO thankful! - After two weeks of being sick, I was so glad to have a happy baby again.

5. 2008 - The Year in Review - 2008 was a great year for us and I am glad to be able to look back and relive the good (and bad) moments.

I think I will stick with 5! I hope you enjoyed reading some of the things that I cherish!

Five months old

My sweet Ava is 5 months old today! It just amazes me how fast the time we've had her has flown. I sometimes think I couldn't possibly love her or the next stage of her life more, but I'm always wrong.

She makes my heart melt! ♥

I can't believe I forgot!

Friday night Zach was at the store and I was playing with Ava and she was talking and making noises and all of a sudden I heard "Mama"! I was excited because most of the time, babies say Da-da first. Zach kept telling me that while he was home with her all summer he was going to teach her to say Da-da and not Mama, but I guess she showed him! She also said it again on Saturday and he heard her then!

Sunday morning before church, I brought Ava into our room when she woke up and we were playing with her and she was jabbering and I kept saying her name and said, "Can you say Ava?" and she sounded her name! It was too cute! We both just laughed. Of course her name is very easy to say so it was easy for her to make the sound. It was just funny the way she said it right after I asked her if she could.

Just another little thing about my girl I don't want to forget!

**EDIT** This morning when I dropped Ava off at school, they told me she'd been saying Mama there too! Maybe that means I'm doing something right! :)

And the growing up continues..

So, I guess it's time for an update on the Little Miss. First and foremost, I noticed last week that her 2nd tooth was getting ready to break through! I wish she would just slow down (although, it's not really like she had a say in these teeth coming in). But seriously, she has two teeth and she's not even five months old yet!

In the last week her "talking" has increased drastically. She loves to chatter and has also discovered how to blow raspberries. She's doing it all the time. She also has developed the cutest little giggle. She sounds like a little lamb. At church this past weekend, she kept doing this giggle and everyone around us was laughing. She's actually doing it at the moment. Too cute. :)

In other news, she got her 2nd round of shots today. I hate the way it makes her scream but I know it's necessary. We got down quickly today and while we were waiting for Zach to get off work (he took off the afternoon to take care of her), we made a trip to Mommy's work. I hadn't taken Ava there since before I went back, and people had been mentioning wanting to see her. So we went in for a little bit and she was a little ham. She plays coy at times and it's hilarious. She would just stare at some people and then smile at some. She didn't cry and even let my cousin I work with hold her. Such a good girl!

Ava on her 1st Valentine's Day

Me with one of my Valentines

Ava cheesing for Uncle Nick yesterday while he and Stephanie baby-sat

Quiet week

It has been a fairly quiet, uneventful week at our house. I'm definitely ready for the weekend and some time away from work!! Here are a few new pics of Miss Ava.

It worries me that crawling won't be far off

Can you see the tiny little mark under eye? Her Grandma accidentally caught her face when she was trying to undo her carseat from the car yesterday. It's obviously not bad, but it is her first mishap. She's fine but I'm not sure who cried harder - Grandma or Ava!


Aunt Stephanie came over for a little while tonight to play with Ava. Monday Zach and I both have to work but daycare is closed and Stephanie is going to watch Ava. She can be a particular little girl though, so we wanted to give her some time getting used to Aunt Steph watching her.

Who doesn't love Buy One, Get One Free?!

I got an email offer today and thought I would share. With everything costing more these days, it's nice to get deals every once in a while!

Buy one, get one free @ TGI Friday's!
Click here!

(The email I received said this coupon could be used as many times as you'd like between now and March 1st, excluding Valentine's Day. It also said to share with your friends!)

Ava's new toy

My mom picks Ava up in the afternoons anywhere from 2-4 days a week. She has a few toys there and they have been sufficient for her... until recently. As Ava has gotten a little older and bigger, she's become bored with a lack of things to do while over there. So, we debated about what to get her to occupy her while there. She loves her exersaucer and we thought about getting one of those to take to my parents house, but I thought it might be fun to get her something else. The final pick:

And let me say - she LOVES it. She has had the best time playing it - so much so that we don't want to take it to Grandma's - we want to keep it at home! But, we are going to pack it up later this afternoon and take it to Mom and Dad's so that Ava can have a little entertainment. Here is the little priss enjoying herself.

A side of cereal with my bottle please!

Now that Ava is finally feeling well and has her appetite back, we tried out cereal for the first time today! She seemed to like it and would even move in for the spoon if I wasn't getting it there fast enough!

She's not so sure about this...

"No more, please. I'm finished!"

SO thankful!

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but it seems like Ava may finally be getting back to normal. She was a little cranky this morning and I thought it was going to be another bad day. She fussed on the way to school, and no kidding, when we walked in, one of her teachers said hi to her and she gave the biggest smile. She definitely has them thinking that she's a little angel.

I actually got to pick her up today (yay!) and when I got there, she was sitting in a bouncy seat, and there were about 3 or 4 of the little kids sitting around her just laughing and giggling at her, and she was laughing and giggling right back. It was adorable. She also gave me a huge grin when she saw me. They said she had a much better day and that she acted much like her old self!

Sooooo, since she hasn't been feeling well it's been hard to get good pictures of her, so the camera came out tonight. It's too cute that when I get it out, she smiles like she knows I want her to. So, here are some pictures of our happy, feeling better little girl!

Giving a smile for the camera

Catching up on lost time with all of her toys

Stretching before bathtime

She loves getting her clothes off at the end of the day (doesn't she look like her daddy?)

This is why she gets her medicine in the bathtub - she's not a fan!

I'm so happy and thankful to have my little girl back!!

Still not better..

There hasn't been much to report lately, mainly because Ava still isn't well. I am SO ready for my little girl to be herself again. This cold she has is taking its sweet time in hitting the highway. Monday afternoon she seemed really bad again and was fussy, cranky and inconsolable. I called the pediatrician because he said if she wasn't noticeably better in 2-3 days to come back. So I took her back Monday after work, and he actually thought her chest sounded better but the poor thing just didn't feel well. She wasn't eating well either, which I was warned could be a side effect of her antibiotic. So, we were just supposed to monitor her and see if she improved.

Yesterday morning she woke up and had some of her fiestiness back and I thought we may have finally been on the track to getting well. She ate ALL day long and was very well behaved.

And now today. I called to check on her before my lunch because I wanted to see if she needed some Butt Paste on her rear. (Antibiotics do not make for pretty side effects, especially in diaper-wearing infants!) I hadn't signed a form yet for them to give her this so if she needed it I would have to go up there. Well, they told me they were worried about her because she had only eaten ONE ounce since I'd dropped her off. ONE - since 6:30 in the morning! I tried feeding her and she wouldn't take much from me. I was going to take her home, but her sweet teachers said she wasn't misbehaving and didn't have fever so they would just watch her and call me if anything changed. She wasn't acting as though she felt bad today; she just wasn't being the normal Ava.

I walked out of there crying. Now I know there are many others who are in situations much worse than mine, but it is SO incredibly hard to see your baby sick and not be able to do anything to make it better. She has been SUCH a trooper and I'm so proud that she's such a good girl. The director of her daycare told me today that Ava is their best and well-behaved baby and it made me so happy. But I feel completely helpless. It just feels like such a roller coaster and I just wish I could make her all better. But, I know healing comes in time and we'll just keep praying that she gets healthy soon.

I almost forgot!

I got my very first bloggy award from Jen. It's the Great Attitude/Gratitude Award! Thanks for sharing this award with me!

All you have to do to pass it along is post the picture, list your nominees with links to their blogs, and notify each of them via comment!

I would like to pass this along to:

Shannon

Katie

Sarah (I know Jen gave you this too, but I wanted to share it with you as well!)

HAPPY MONDAY!!

Another BIG milestone

I thought this warranted its own post. As if being sick, wasn't enough to contend with, something else has been making Ava super clingy, fussy, and cranky. Obviously we attributed this to her feeling bad. But, to make her feel even worse...

She got her first tooth!

We had been wondering if this would be coming soon, due to the increased drool we've been seeing. However, we thought we still had a little time. I had felt her mouth a couple of days ago and not felt anything, and Zach called me on my way to Fayetteville yesterday to ask me if I knew she had a tooth! Nope, sure didn't! It has broken through the gum, but just barely. I tried to get a picture of it but it's a little hard to see. I am sure going to miss those gummy smiles! I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up.

My makeover..

Isn't my new layout fun? The credit goes to Jen at Meet the McFamily for her hard work! I LOVE this look!

It got worse before it got better..

After starting antibiotics on Thursday night, I was hopeful Ava would start feeling a little better. Poor baby has just not felt good for the last week. She was extremely fussy on Friday and we got her home and into bed. Saturday morning she woke up and seemed better. Her appetite had even improved and we thought maybe we were on an upswing..

WRONG!

I had to go to Fayetteville yesterday morning to get fitted for a bridesmaid dress and when I got back we had lunch with my siblings b/c two of my brothers were in town. My parents said we could leave Ava with them, so we did. When we went to pick her up, they said she had been cranky the whole time and very unhappy. So, we loaded her up and brought her home. Her congestion yesterday seemed so much worse than it had been, and it must have been upsetting her poor tummy. I always wondered how you would know the difference between a baby spitting up and vomiting, and let's just say I now know. She threw up all over herself & Zach. And then she acted MUCH better. She didn't sound congested at all. I was worried all of the meds she's had pumped into her had made her sick but my mom seemed to think it was just the drainage upsetting her belly. She went to sleep for a few hours and woke up and seemed fine. We had a birthday dinner at my parent's house for my mom's birthday and she was playing and laughing and was hungry, so we gave her a small bottle of Pedialyte. She was still hungry and my mom said we could probably give her a little formula so we did. I bet she regrets that. She was rocking Ava to sleep and went to get her blanket and all of a sudden we heard "Help me!" Ava threw up again, all over herself and all over my mom. I felt horrible. We packed Ava up brought her home, gave her a bath and a small bottle of Pedialyte and put her to bed. No more milk for her!

She slept until about 5:30 this morning and so far has had 2 Pedialyte bottles and a small 2 oz. bottle of formula. She's kept it down so far, so we hope we're past the worst. She's even been playing some and acting more like her old self. I'm so ready for my sweet girl to feel better! It's horrible seeing her so miserable!