The 12 Month Stats & Some Unfortunate News

It is hard for us to swallow as parents, but Ava has had her first birthday. I remember sitting in the hospital with out little newborn like it was yesterday! What a difference a year makes. It has been a busy week with the 12 month well check at the doctor, professional pictures, and juggling my responsibilities at both the clinic and my job at MN West.

Playing in the pantry with the blanket on her head!

Here is the skinny on Ava at 12 Months

Weight: 22 lbs, 10 oz (75th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (80th percentile)

Teeth: Still 4 on top and 1 on the bottom. The one on the bottom looks to be completely in, but all four on top are not all completely in. It does seem like it is taking forever!

Sleep: Daylight savings time has messed us up a little. Ava goes to bed a little earlier now (around 8 pm) and sleeps until 6:45-7:00 am. She still takes a morning and afternoon nap that totals around 3-4 hours.

Movement: It seems that any minute, Ava could take off walking. She crawls with lightning speed, pulls up on everything, cruises along all the furniture, and will stand for several seconds without holding on to anything. She is into everything right now. There is nothing that holds her back. She is obsessed with how doors work, pulling drawers open and closed, and she loves to get into the bathrooms. Her favorites there are standing next to the tub and standing next to the toilet (which does motivate me to keep things extra clean :)

Eating: Ava will eat just about anything. She loves her oatmeal and bananas for breakfast and eats whatever we eat for lunch and supper. She does not eat any fruit by itself, but eats all veggies we have tried. She also loves hotdishes and soups. She has adjusted to whole milk well and also likes her juice in her sippy cup.

Communication: Ava is quite vocal. It seems she is constantly jabbering about something or trying to get our attention. She tries to copy a lot of words we say and gets pretty close sometimes, but does not say a lot on command yet. She can sign a little...we have taught her "more" and "all done". I am not sure she knows what they mean, but she smiles and copies us when we sign.

Overall, we had a good visit to the doctor this week. Ava seems to be a healthy girl. She did have a slightly low hemoglobin, but nothing to be alarmed about. We will recheck it in 5-6 weeks. We also found out that the dreaded clogged tear duct is not going to improve on its own just as I had expected. We were referred to Dr. West in Sioux Falls who is a pediatric opthamologist. He recommended that we do surgery to open her tear duct or she would be plagued with a constant infection in her eye. The chances of it clearing up on its own are very slim after one year of age. The surgery sounds pretty routine and brief, so hopefully Ava will tolerate it well. We are only supposed to be at the hospital 2-3 hours and then sent home with no pain medications, just antibiotic eye drops. The surgery date is set for December 12th. Please keep us in your prayers that day.

Ava's 1st Birthday Party

We had a little party for Ava's 1st Birthday on Sunday, November 2nd. Those in attendance were Mom and Dad, Jason, Shelly, and the kids, Gary, Joyce, & Joe, Brittany and Zach Looosbrock, and Stacie Menken. It was a bit unfortunate that Ava was not in a better mood for her party. We had a very difficult night before as she was up crying for several hours throughout the night so none of us got any sleep. We are not sure if it was her teeth bothering her or what the problem was. She did take a couple of good naps and was only up for about an hour and a half while everyone was at our house. We had cake and ice cream and enjoyed time with family. It was my first attempt at decorating a cake. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it turned out okay. Ava didn't know what to think of her cupcake. She just touched it ever so gently, but didn't seem to think it was there for eating. Eventually, Brad broke it down for her and fed it to her, and she did like the chocolate frosting as evidenced by the picture. Ava recieved lots of very nice gifts. We are so thankful to everyone for coming and sharing her special day.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was an absolute gorgeous day this year. Our little "butterfly" was a little warm in her costume sitting in the sun. Ava didn't seem to mind being in her costume. I thought she'd want to take the hat part off, but she didn't seem to care one way or the other if she had it on. We ended up taking her to Adrian trick or treating to see a few relatives and then home to bed to get her rested up for her first birthday! Brad and I were recalling that a year ago on Halloween we were the nervous "parents-to-be" and lamenting at how fast the year went....

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch,,,

On Saturday, we spent the rather windy day with a bunch of friends at the Pumpkin Patch in Lakefield. There were tons of activites for kids from hay rides to pumpkin painting. Despite the very windy day, the temperatures were pretty pleasant. We even managed to select a couple of pumpkins to take home from the rather "picked over" patch. Definitely something we will have to attend again when Ava is a little older. She enjoyed being outside as she always does and remained in good spirits despite not getting her nap.

Fall is Here...

This is my favorite time of year with all the beautiful colors and the weather starting to change. We have had an exceptionally nice fall this year in my opinion. Highs in the 60's and lows around freezing are perfect for me. Ava and I took a trip to the park to check out the leaves yesterday and enjoy a nice walk. Ava didn't know quite what to think of the leaves. She just sat there. It was like she forgot that she could move around and explore. Of course, we had to go to the park for her to see any leaves because we don't have any trees! It is kind of nice because Brad and I both hate to rake! Halloween will be here before we know it...

Having fun with Daddy and another tooth...

Daddy and Ava have a lot of fun these days playing around on the floor. He chases her, throws her in the air, and scares her. You name it, she loves it! Ava lights up when she hears the door slam and she knows Daddy is home. She can't wait for the "horse play" to begin.

Ava has another tooth that has just poked through on the bottom. This makes tooth #5 and I think #6 will be close behind with the one next to it on the bottom. She is doing better with the teething. She is back to sleeping through the night again which is great for everyone:))

We are enjoying watching Ava's personality evolve. It seems that she is always grinning which we hope continues. She is doing a lot more talking. She uses much more inflection in her voice, so you know when she means business and when she is excited. She has learned to wave "bye, bye" and she can also say it, but not on command yet. She also says "ball" and will go and get it if you ask her.

Ava seems to love pretty much all foods right now. She still eats a jar of baby food here and there if we are not eating at the same time, but for the most part, she eats off the table. Her favorites lately are oatmeal with bananas, spaghetti, chicken and rice hotdish, garlic bread, and squash. I also save little portions of the veggies we eat, mash them a little with a fork, and reheat them for her meals and she loves them. She is pretty easy to please so we are not complaining.

Ava is Finally Getting Teeth & We Have a Popeye Impersonater

Well, the day has arrived. At 11 months and one week, Ava is finally getting teeth. Of course, she is not getting just one, but four teeth coming in all on top. The bottom is pretty swollen so I am anticipating those to be coming soon. I had not looked for a couple of days, and Brad noticed on Saturday that she was really knawing on her toys. He took a peek and there were all these teeth coming in all at once. She is doing pretty well with the whole process. There has been some crying in the night off and on, but not terrible. She is not running a fever at all. She does have a nasty diaper rash that will not go away no matter what we try. Hopefully, that will pass.

As for the popeye picture, Ava found a new favorite toy. Grandma Chris bought dart guns for my nephews this summer when they stayed with us, and Ava found one of the darts in the toy basket. Well, needless to say, she loved it and insisted on having it stick out of her mouth for hours while she chewed on it. Eventually, we had to toss it for the choking hazard. She was not happy to have to say goodbye.

Our little monkey is everywhere! She is pulling up on everything, even on toys in the middle of the room. She is getting pretty fast at crawling too. She loves her new found skills. Each time she pulls up on a piece of furniture, she grins with delight. We are adjusting to the change of having a child that moves quickly.