Our Little Ham - Ava 8 1/2 Months

Ava is developing more and more personality every day. We are amazed at the new things she learns and how fast she seems to be changing. Her new favorite thing to do is tilt her head at us and at different objects she is looking at. She will imitate you if you tilt your head and seems to be quite proud of herself when she does it. She also has taking a liking to balls. She likes it when we sit on the floor with her and roll her the ball. She can "catch" the ball and pick it up, but her throwing needs a little work. We are working on her tummy time so that someday, she may crawl. She still insists on rolling over to her back as soon as she gets the chance. She is getting better at scooting towards her head on her back and can quite a ways this way. She is so much fun right now and we are enjoying every minute of it!

The Herkens Come to Visit from Tucson

Sandy, Zachary, & Toby are here visiting from Tucson. They spent five days with us in Luverne before heading out to Mom & Dad's for the rest of their visit. Highlights for the kids included Brad making a "campfire" as Zachary & Toby referred to it on the 4th of July evening. We all made smores (Zachary & I really liked eating them) sitting by the fire and watching the neighbors shoot off quite a fireworks show. We also went to Blue Mound State Park. We originally went to have a picnic and hike around a little, but we discovered a lake with a nice sandy beach. With the temps being quite warm and the extreme humidity, it was refreshing for everyone. The kids really enjoyed playing in the sand and swimming in the lake. Ava seemed to thoroughly enjoy her new float and kicking her feet in the water. We finished out that day with a hike along the bluff. It was a pretty view as you could see for miles. It would have been a little bit nicer hike had it not been extremely muggy along with the flies and mosquitos eating us alive. All in all it was a very fun day for everyone, but we were all exhausted when we got home. The boys spent most of their time when we were home playing with the tractors out in the dirt (aka our lawn). It was great to have Sandy and the kids come to visit.

Ava is 8 Months Old!

Another month has flown by and Ava is now 8 months old. I cringe at how fast a year is going to be here. As you can see by the pictures, we have a little lawn chair for her. It's designed for a child a little older, but she can sit in it okay. She loves to be outside and look at everything around her. We are amazed at how fast she notices things and grabs for them now. You really can't have anything near her or she will have it and be putting it in her mouth.

Teeth: We are continuing to battle with the puddles of drool but no signs of any teeth. I can still feel a bump on top, but that has been there for about 4 months now.

Sleep: Ava still sleep really well. Usually from 8:30 pm to 7:30 am with a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 plus hour nap in the afternoon.

Food: The solid foods are going well. She is still eating about a half jar of stage 1 baby food once per day. She doesn't seem to want anymore than that at this point. Sometimes, it is a struggle to get her to eat that. She definitely still likes to nurse.

Movement: There are some signs of movement now. Ava is able to scoot across the floor lying on her back using her feet to shove herself towards her head. It is quite comical to watch. She sort of lifts her butt up in the air and then plants her feet and gives herself a good push. She will only go a little ways and then she has to rest and kick her feet for a little while. Heaven forbid she get too much exercise!

Ava Has Some New Habits...

It seems that between 7 and 8 months, Ava has developed a few different behaviors than we are used to. First, she is obsessed with her tongue. She loves to stick it out, and not just a litte bit, but as far as she can. I think it may be so she can spread the drool even more over her chin. She loves when you copy her when she does it. Also, she has some new sleeping habits. She almost always sleeps with a blanket over her head. We have given her a little blankie and she usually has it completey covering her head. When you slide it off of her face, even in a dead sleep, she will almost instinctively grab it and pull it back over her face. Another new thing for Ava is to sleep with the pacifier in her mouth. We have given it to her when she goes down for naps and bedtime since she was probably 3 months old. She would suck on it for a time, and you'd always find it discarded somewhere in her crib. Now, she is excited when she sees it and will fall asleep with it in her mouth. We are not sure if this is good or bad, but she loves the pacifier.

Ava's First Swimming Experience

We took Ava swimming today in the Luverne indoor pool. We just hit the baby pool as that was empty at first. It took her a while to warm up to the environment. It was pretty loud in there and lots of kids running around for her to watch. She didn't seem to mind being in the water, but wasn't in love with it either. She figured out after a while that she could kick her feet and splash a little bit and she liked that. It was entertaining for us to watch her as you could definitely tell she was unsure about what was going on. We will have to take her again soon and maybe try walking around the big pool.

Visiting the Reiters at Their Campsite

Ken & Kelli Reiter & family came back to the area for the weekend. We visited their campsite at Olson Park in Worthington. It was great to see the kids. We had not seen them since Ava was born, so they had certainly grown. It was fun getting Madalyn and Ava together. They are 4 months apart in age (Ava is younger) but you would hardly know it unless you saw Madalyn crawl. The mosquitos nearly picked us up and hauled us away, but other than that the weather was beautiful. It was great catching up.

Father's Day 2008

Father's Day was spent visiting with our families. We first headed to Worthington to meet my mom and dad for dinner. Ava was entertaining as usual, tossing all of her toys on the floor and being quite vocal. We had a nice visit and good food. Then we went to the Sieve's. I think Grandma Joyce enjoyed playing with Ava. It was a lengthy afternoon for Ava with no nap, but she was in fairly good spirits. It was great to see everyone.