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!