Ten and Eleven Months

Milestones:

In these two months, Ava learned to pull up, cruise, and walk!!  (Walking post coming soon).  Ava is now a champion walker and loves exploring every cabinet, drawer, and box in the house!  We're working on sign language, but so far she has only signed back the signs for "milk", "eat", and "more".  She's a very social girl and charms everyone in any store by waving and smiling and giving cute looks.  She's adopted a "cheesy" smile where she shows her teeth and looks like she's posing for a picture.  Little ham.  

She loves clapping when she likes something or knows she's done something well.  She is definitely understanding more of what we're saying and knows what to do when we say things like "Go get your toy", "Let's take a bath", "Daddy's upstairs" or "Go find Blazer".  If she's in the mood, she can even point to certain pictures in books ("Where's the baby?"  "Where's the rubber ducky?")  I am starting to see her learn new concepts like fitting small things into bigger things and how to stack, knock down, and pass things back and forth.  Our sweet babysitter Jenn taught her to throw her arms up in the air when we ask "How big is Ava?"  She is pretty clingy to mama and daddy, but she loves to go to people with whom she's built trust, and she is getting a little less shy in crowds of strangers.  She's babbling a lot, but no new "real" words.  She does say "mama", "dada", "that", and "hi" on occasion.

Sleeping:

Finally, finally, we have a good sleeper!  All the training and the staying home and the crying and the frustration were worth it.  We still have our bad days (and nights), but sleeping is going well around here.  Ava thrives on her schedule, and when she is put down around her normal time, she has no problem at all going right to sleep, usually with no crying.  She takes two naps a day - usually at 9:30 and 2:30.  On average, she sleeps 1 hour and 15 minutes at each nap.  Sometimes she takes a power nap lasting 2+ hours and sometimes she wakes screaming after 20 minutes, but these times are the exception, not the rule.  We have a solid bedtime routine that starts around 6:50 and ends in a 7:15 bedtime.  Ava LOVES taking baths and reading books before bed.  Usually, she sleeps straight through the night until at least 6:15, but often until 7.  12 hours, baby!!  Never though I'd see the day.  Never.  It is amazing.  She does stir and cry out multiple times in the night, but usually she's just rolling over and she's fine going right back to sleep.

Teeth:

We now have 8 big-girl teeth!  I loved her toothless grin, but the teeth are pretty darn cute.  I wouldn't say teething was horrible, but it wasn't great either.  She was definitely fussy and woke up a lot at night when a tooth was coming in.  And the drool........Oh, the drool.  We're talking multiple outfits a day kind of drool.  Between the spit up and the drool I was about to go crazy from the constant wetness!!  The drool has finally slowed down, and I think we are now waiting on the one year molars to come in next.  I'm going to try and start brushing her teeth this week - fingers crossed that goes well.

Eating: 

Ava is a good eater overall.  Depending on the day, she can be a great eater or an OK eater.  Sometimes she devours everything on her tray, and sometimes she refuses to touch one bite.  I haven't quite figured it out yet!  She definitely has preferences and makes them clearly known.  Even when she doesn't like something, I keep offering it, and sometimes she randomly starts eating it!  Ava is eating 3 meals a day.  We usually offer her both purees and finger foods at each meal.  She LOVES the organic puree pouches, and she has learned to suck them out herself which is great for eating out at restaurants!  I'm also making my own purees here and there, but in general, she prefers finger food.  Her favorite foods right now are any kind of bread, tortillas, pancakes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pears, bananas, grapes, oranges, cheese, hummus, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and yogurt.  She does not love meat, apples, broccoli, beans, or avocados.  I'm trying new "big girl" foods for her like quesadillas, chicken nuggets, and lots of the meals we are eating.  The results are mixed.  She is drinking water really well out of a straw sippy cup with every meal.

Breastfeeding:

We are still breastfeeding, though we are almost weaned.  I truly can't believe that we made it this far.  It's been a roller coaster, but overall a VERY positive experience.  It's been great to see the weaning process happen so naturally.  It hasn't been stressful and only a little painful.  At 10 months, I was still nursing her five times a day.  First I dropped the 10 pm dreamfeed we were still doing.  Then then I dropped the mid-afternoon feed.  At 11 months, I dropped the mid-morning feed and was left with just early morning and bedtime feeds.  A few days ago, I dropped the bedtime feed, so we are now nursing only once a day, first thing in the morning.  I expect to drop that last feed within a few weeks!  I am sad to think about this phase being over, and I will probably cry, but I know that it is time.  She does not enjoy it like she used to, and she is showing almost no interest.  I am excited for the new post-breastfeeding chapter, and I will always remember the sweet times we had for the last year!

Playtime:

Playtime has gotten a lot more fun as she has shown much more interest in a variety of toys.  She loves anything that lights up and makes music and has started to "dance" and bop around when there is music playing.  So cute!  Girlfriend LOVES a dance party (always has), and we dance daily to music on Pandora.  She just laughs and laughs.  She never adopted a security object, blanket, or pacifier.  Instead, she has made attachments to very random objects.  She has a play remote control that she carries around all.day.long.  It kind of drives me crazy, but whatever works.  She also loves her new baby doll she got for Christmas, a puppy that sings, her trusty music table, a fake cell phone, a pop up toy, a "my first purse" toy (she carries the debit card in her mouth), and a set of play keys.  

 

Now that she is walking, her very favorite thing to do is just walk around and explore, picking up random objects and seeing what they do.  She especially loves our coasters and coaster holder.  She's starting to get the hang of stacking cups and loves to knock down towers of blocks.  She still enjoys making noise and loves to bang on pots with spoons.  We recently purchased the Ergo carrier, which we LOVE, and she likes to be carried around the house when she's fussy.  Blazer is still her buddy, and they always play side-by-side.  I'm trying to get her to play around more babies, so we started a play group in our neighborhood.  Of course they don't really play together at this age, but they love looking at each other, and it's always fun to play with someone else's toys!  She is still not very interested in TV and will only watch a minute or two of Micky Mouse Clubhouse or Dora.  She is still loving Praise Baby, though!!  Best $8 I ever spent and the only way I can get a shower some days!

Ava, you are a joy and a delight and the cutest baby on the face of the Earth!  (if I do say so myself)

Eight & Nine Months

Hey y'all!  Let's forget that I've been MIA for two months, mmmmk?

Our little girl is now NINE (almost 10) months old!!  The pace of life has picked up significantly with church, friends, work, and this little bundle of energy.  I used to wonder why people called their children "busy", but now I GET IT.  This girl is all over the place!  The last few months have been full of milestones and fun.

9 Month Stats:

Height ::  27 inches - 30%

Weight ::  19 lbs 10 oz - 65%

Milestones:

Ava began crawling a few weeks after turning 7 months old!  Once she figured out to crawl, she was off to the races.  She is so.much.happier. as a crawler.  I think much of the fussiness we experienced in the first 6+ months was due to her frustration with not being able to move.  She now happily crawls all over the house, and she is quite fast.  She does this little wiggle crawl and loves to be chased.  When we "chase" her, she just laughs and laughs and tries to go faster.  She knows how to crawl up the stairs all by herself (with us close behind, of course), but she hasn't tried to go down yet.

Once she got the hang of crawling, it was only a mater of time until she began pulling up and then standing up.  At first, she needed to grab onto something tall to pull herself up, but now she can stand up on anything by just grabbing on.  She loves to stand!  Recently she has started cruising and now walks circles around her music table, along the edge of the couch, and from one person to another.  I think she will be walking before too long!  We practice every day!

Ava has 3 full teeth (all on the bottom), and there are two more on top and one more on the bottom just starting to peek through!  Her first tooth came in during her 7th month.

Ava has a few "party tricks" that are so fun because they show us she is learning!  She learned how to clap, and there is  nothing more adorable than chubby little baby hands clapping.  Her favorite song is "If You're Happy and You Know It".  Whenever we start singing it, she immediately begins clapping.  Melts my heart.  I sing it in the car, and I look back at her in the mirror to watch her clapping.  She also likes to clap when she knows she's done something good or when we say "Yayyyy!"

She has learned how to shake her head "no" and does it all the time.  Anytime I say "no", she shakes her head with the cutest little look on her face.  We have a book called "Are You a Cow?" and it goes through all these animals asking if you are a cow, duck, dog, etc.  She loves shaking her head "no" at each page.  We're still working on "YES", but that seems to be a bit more difficult.

Ava babbles quite a bit, saying all kinds of things in her little Ava language.  She definitely knows mama and dada, which we love.  I'm trying (though halfheartedly) to teach her baby sign language.  I just keep forgetting to do it!  Right now, we're working on the signs for mama, dada, eat, milk, more, all done, and dog.  We'll see if that pans out.

She can wave, but not on command.  She will spontaneously wave to random people in the grocery store, and it's pretty adorable.  She loves to ride in shopping carts and it quite happy being pushed around stores, taking in the sights.  People in stores are usually beside themselves with how cute she is.  I don't blame them ;-)  

Eating:

Ava is quite the little eater.  She has done really well with solids and we continue to give her as much variety as possible.  She is eating a variety of purees and finger foods.  Sometime she refused purees, and sometimes she refuses finger foods, but I can't find any rhyme or reason to explain why.  She definitely has preferences and will let us know what she likes and what she doesn't!  She usually eats a bit of puree and a bit of finger food at each meal.  I am still making her purees, but when we go out to eat, she loves the Plum organic pouches as a treat.  Her favorite finger foods are bananas, pancakes, toast, pears, grapes, chicken, graham crackers, and cheese.  We're working on the sippy cup, and she is getting good at drinking water out of the straw cup.

We're still doing a combo of breast milk and formula.  I nurse her about 4 times a day, and she gets two formula bottles a day.  I nurse when she first wakes up in the morning.  Then she eats breakfast around 7:30.  I nurse her again around 11, then she eats lunch at noon.  She has a bottle at 2 before her nap, and then she has a snack after her afternoon nap.  I nurse her again and give her a bottle around 5, and she eats dinner at 6.  I am still doing a dreamfeed around 10 pm before I go to sleep.  I know I should drop it, but it is such a good feed because she is mostly asleep, and she eats a lot!  It's easy for me to do before I go to bed, so I think I will continue to do this until I stop nursing.  Overall, I think we are winding down with nursing.  She is less and less interested and sometimes refuses all together.  This has been emotionally hard for me and frustrating at times, but I'm glad that it looks like we will be weaning gradually and on her schedule.  I think by the time she nears 12 months we will be close to done.

Sleeping:

Our sleeping schedule has finally normalized!  Ava naps twice a day, usually for one hour and fifteen minutes at each nap.  Sometimes she will sleep less (45 minutes) or more (2+ hours) depending on the day.  Her naps are at 9 and 2.  Nighttime sleeping is good, though we have had a few bumps in the road.  Generally, she goes down at 7:30.  I dreamfeed her at 10 and then she sleeps until 6 am.  She's our little early bird.  {Coffee, lots of coffee.}  

We went through a sleep regression at 9 months where she woke up multiple times a night for about a week.  We made it through, knowing it would end soon, with a lot of nursing.  Lately, teething has really been bothering her, so she will occasionally wake up in the middle of the night screaming.  If I can tell her teeth are hurting her, I'll give her some infant Tylenol.  Then I just nurse her until she goes back to sleep.  I'd say this happens once or twice a week, but it doesn't bother me as much as it used to.  I'm trying to enjoy those snuggles and the fact that I'm the one she wants in the night.

Playing:

Ava loves to play!  I don't think she's met a toy she didn't like.  We are in the process of turning our basement into a playroom, and she loves everything we've put down there.  We bought these amazing tunnels from IKEA, and she has so much fun crawling through them.  Blazer often joins her!  We bought her one of those Fisher Price music tables, and she's obsessed.  She can stand there for 30 minutes playing with it.  Apparently it plays 50 songs... I think I've heard them all about a hundred times!  She loves books and enjoys taking every book off the shelf.  Occasionally she will even open them :-)  She loves to hang out in the kitchen while I'm cooking and play with her pots, pans, Tupperware, spoons, and measuring cups.  She has a few kitchen cabinets that she can empty out while I'm cooking.  She loves walks and happily looks around from the stroller for at least an hour a day.  She still loves outings, so we try to go out at least once a day - any errand will do!  She is starting to show a lot of interest in other kids and gets so excited when she sees them at the store or church.  We definitely need to find a playgroup soon.  These days, she's happy crawling around whatever room we're in and exploring!  Her favorite playmate is probably Blazer.  They play tug-of-war together all the time.  It's precious how she waves his toys in front of his face until he grabs them and tugs.  They also love to look out the front window together and chase each other around.  I am so, so glad Blazer has taken to her and loves her so much!

Seven Months

I'm finally getting to that point where I can't believe my little girl is 7 months old!  I wouldn't say the past seven months have gone quickly, but now I'm finding it hard to believe that she is over halfway to a year old!  Ava Grace is still our little firecracker.  Here are some words that we and others have used to describe her lately:  active, curious, intense, drama queen, sweet, expressive, opinionated, monkey, demanding, precious, and smart.  We love our little Ava so much we can hardly stand it!!

Milestones:

Ava is growing and changing so much!  She is officially crawling!  She can take a few "steps" crawling.  She really knows how to get from point A to point B.  She does a combo of crawling, fish flopping, and scooting, but somehow, she covers some serious ground!  She is also adept at spinning around on her tummy.  She can turn completely around and change directions mid-crawl!  She's not all over the house yet, but I have a feeling it's coming soon.  Yikes, we need to babyproof.  

She still does not have any teeth, although I really do think they are just on the brink.  She is babbling a lot more and says "mamamamama" and "dadadadadada" all the time.  I do NOT think she knows what she's saying at all, but it's still fun :-)  She is showing more opinions and preferences.  She makes it crystal clear when she does not want something or like something or when we guess incorrectly what she wants!  She has started to show a lot of separation anxiety even though I know it's still a bit early for that.  She has learned to reach out her arms when she wants to be picked up or transferred to someone else.  When I leave her with a babysitter or grandmother, she cries and throws a fit.  Sometimes she is only happy with mama or daddy.  She'll play with someone else as long as we are in plain sight.  Although it's annoying she won't go to anyone else, it's pretty darn cute and melts my heart!  I love that she loves me!!!  

Ava is very smart (not biased at all), and she definitely knows our daily routines and rhythms and what to expect.  She lights up when her daddy comes home, and she is always looking around for Blazer!

Eating:

Ava LOVES to eat.  I thought that around this time I would cut back on nursing, but actually, I am nursing her a lot.  This just works for us.  I'm nursing her 5-7 times a day.  Since I work at home, it's convenient for me to do so, and it keeps her happy.  I think she's become a bit more of a snacker than she used to be because I'm feeding her more often, but I've given up being obsessive about it.  My supply went down for a bit when I got a terrible case of mastitis, but I kept nursing her a lot, and it bounced right back.  Now I feel like my supply is better than ever and nursing is going really well.  We're still supplementing with bottles of formula as needed.  Sometimes she has two bottles a day and sometimes only one.  She always has one right before bedtime.  I'm still doing a dreamfeed at 10 pm.  I'm pretty sure we should have dropped it by now, but I kind of like it.  Even with the dreamfeed she wakes up around 5:45 or 6:00 am, so I shudder to think what time she will wake up without it.  Also, it's a really easy and cuddly feeding for me, so I don't want to give it up just yet.

She is eating solids two times a day, usually around 7:30 am and 3:30 pm.  She is liking almost everything I give her.  We regularly eat pears, apples, bananas, oatmeal, mangoes, butternut squash, turkey, green beans, asparagus, zucchini, sweet potato, and carrots.  We got a high chair, and she really loves meal time.  Her favorites are pears and sweet potatoes.  Her least favorites are green beans and turkey.

Sleeping:  

We are still on two naps a day, although some days I really think she still needs three!  She typically goes down for a nap between 8:30 and 9:00 am and then again between 12:30 and 1:00 pm.  Although she typically goes down at the same time each day, the amount she sleeps is highly variable.  I still can not figure out what makes her sleep 25 minutes one day and 3 hours the next.  

She is sleeping great at night.  Bedtime is our most consistent part of the day.  She loves the bedtime routine.  She loves baths, listening to books, and getting her lotion massage.  She goes to bed at 7 pm and usually falls asleep immediately.  I wake her at 10 to feed, and then she sleeps clear through to 6 am!  It's a dream even though 6 am comes early!  There have been a few weird, off nights where she woke up and cried multiple times and had to be nursed and rocked back to sleep.  I keep thinking she is teething, but there are no teeth in sight!

Playtime:  

Ava still loves her toys, and she still has a very short attention span.  In the course of a day, we usually play with everything we own at least once.  In the morning, we spend some quality time in the doorway bouncer.  Then we move to the floor for toys.  After nap, we may play in the exersaucer and then do some independent play time in the playpen (pack & play for you politically correct people).  We might round out the day with the ribbon sensory bin and a ride in the baby bjorn while mama gets some things done around the house.  Lately, she loves singing songs, bubbles, her light up toys, bouncing, kitchen utensils, and anything involving rough-housing.  She loves to be tickled, jostled, poked, and thrown up in the air.  She is finally understanding peek-a-boo, and she will reach out to pull down the blanket if we put one over our faces.  She knows we're behind there somewhere!  So cute.  She still loves outings, and we try to go out at least once a day, if only to the grocery, Target, or the cleaners.  She also LOVES walks, and she's now in the big girl stroller, so that's been fun, and we love our City Mini.  I still use the bjorn for small trips or for around the house, but she's HEAVY!!  It's starting to hurt my back, which makes me sad, but we had a good run in the bjorn so far.  Ava loves riding in the stroller, and it will usually quiet her if she's fussy.  She has also reached big girl status by riding in the shopping cart!!  She is just so precious in the cart - I have to stop and kiss her every few minutes while shopping!

We love you so much, precious Ava!  Our love for you grows each and every day, and we adore you!

Six Months

6 Month Stats:

Height :: 25 in (20 %)

Weight ::  15 lbs 11 oz (45 %)

Head :: 42 cm (50 %)

Milestones:

Ava is fascinated by all details.  She loves to watch her hands move around.  She also loves tags, watches, necklaces, faces, and anything that you are holding.  She grabs EVERYTHING.  I now do that awkward mom move where you eat cereal from a bowl two feet away from you because the baby on your lap will grab it if it's any closer.  Fun times.

She has really started to recognize Brent and me, and she shows pleasure when one of us comes into the room.  This milestone has been very good for my heart!!  She is becoming a little more clingy and attached, which I am actually super happy about.  I've been wanting more cuddles!  She does this really sweet thing when we are playing on the floor with her toys.  When she is tired of playing toys, she'll reach her arms up to me and just wants to crawl on my lap.  Melt my heart!

Ava is babbling a lot more these days and loves trying to make new sounds with her mouth.  This is all fun and games until I get a face-ful of sweet potatoes or squash.  Oh well... in the name of learning, right?

Ava is definitely a confident sitter and almost never topples over.  She loves sitting upright on the floor or our laps to play.  She is SO CLOSE to crawling - it's crazy.  She can get up on her hands and knees by herself and rock back and forth.  She can crawl / scoot backwards.  She can support herself on her hands and feet (in a plank position!)  She has the strength and the desire to crawl.  She just needs a little practice with the mechanics.  I'm pretty sure baby-proofing is in our imminent future.

Eating:

Ava is still going strong with nursing, although we are using increasingly more formula and real food!  I'm making all of her baby foods since it's ridiculously easy to steam and puree veggies and fruits.  We've been trying new foods, and now she has sampled rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, avocados, bananas, butternut squash, and sweet potato.  Her favorite is sweet potato followed by banana.  She didn't care much for avocado.  We're going to have to work on that if she wants to fit into this Mexican-food-loving family!  

In terms of a feeding schedule, I don't know what happened, but somewhere between five and six months, we kind of threw the schedule out the window.  When we changed from 3 naps to 2 I got all confused about when I should feed her.  Then I just got tired of trying to feed on schedule and keep her happy.  So... we feed approximately every 3 hours, but sometimes it's more often.  I think she's been going through a growth spurt, and she's just much happier with a full belly, so I pretty much feed her whenever and don't obsess about the schedule anymore.  I think it served us well for the early months, but I can say that we are now probably feeding on demand.

Sleeping:

Praise the Lord, we are sleeping through the night!!!  I thought this day would never, ever come.  For the longest time, she was waking consistently between 2 and 3 every night to eat.  Everyone told me that at some point, I would just have to stop doing that and that I would know when.  Well, y'all were right!  Right after she turned 6 months, we just felt like it was time.  We've been doing cry it out for naps with a lot of success, so it was time to tackle the middle of the night.  The first night, she woke at 3 and cried for almost an hour.  It was very, very painful and not restful at all as we tensely lay in bed watching her on the monitor.  Fun times.  She went to sleep and woke at six.  The next two nights, she woke around 3 again but only cried for 10-15 minutes.  On the fourth night, she didn't wake at all!  We are now on day 4 of sleeping through the night with no waking!!  By sleep through the night I mean 10:15 - 6:00.  She goes to bed at 7:30, and then I wake her for a dreamfeed at 10:00.  She's been waking early at 6 am, but I'LL TAKE IT!  Yay, sleeping.

In nap news, we dropped from three to two naps!  It was a rough week or so, but she was definitely ready. I think we are finally in the groove.  We've had some really good days where she takes two longer (1.5 to 2 hour) naps!  She usually goes down around 9 am and then again at 1 pm.  Sometimes one nap is really short and the other is really long, but it usually works out in the end.  Now she's awake at lunchtime, so gone are the days of her snoozing in her carseat while we enjoy a lunch out.  We've taken her out with us a few times, and she usually does OK!  She is happy in the carseat for a while and then we usually finish the meal with her on our laps.  Overall, I love two naps a lot more than three.  It gives us a little more time to work with during the day!

Playtime:

Ava loves her exersaucer and has definitely gotten the bounce down.  She makes me smile so much when she is just jumping and laughing and playing in this thing.  She thinks all the little lights and sounds and toys are the most fun things in the world!  She also loves her "sassy seat" doorway jumper, especially first thing in the morning.  She bounces happily for about 20 minutes while I empty the dishwasher, make coffee, feed Blazer, and get the day started.

Ava loves to pull toys out of her toy box one by one.  If I turn the toy box over on its side, she can be content for about 10 minutes (which is big time in Ava-land!).

We are now taking walks in the big girl stroller!  She loves chilling in the City Mini and looking at everything there is to see in the neighborhood.  She loves being outdoors, and we can almost always calm her down by sitting on the deck or walking around the yard.  We have been loving our baby pool on the hot days here!

She still loves watching Blazer, making funny faces, making funny noises, singing, hand motions, and going ANYWHERE in the Baby Bjorn.

Five Months

As you may have inferred from my lengthy absence, it's been a difficult month for us!  I used to think people were exaggerating when they said they could get nothing done with a baby in the house.  Let's just say I'm a believer.  Hmmmmm..... how can I put this month into words?  Sweet little Ava is... special.  I predicted from the first few days of Ava's life that she was going to be a handful.  A firecracker, if you will.  Well, my prediction was correct.  I've come to accept that Ava is a high-need baby.  She is very high energy and very demanding.  She can turn on a dime.  She has happy highs and adorable, fun moments, but those moments can immediately be followed by loud (very loud) and passionate (very passionate) protests.  I know these passionate traits will serve her well in life, and I'm pretty sure she's the smartest little girl on Earth, and I love her to pieces, but whoa, Nellie!!!  She is giving us a run for our money.

We've struggled with eating, sleeping, and bouts of crying that still last upwards of 2 hours a day.  Don't worry, we have tried EVERYTHING.  We've tried changes in my diet, more feeding, less feeding, more naps, less naps, more stimulation, less stimulation, more toys, different toys, going out, and staying in.  We've had her checked for ear infections, reflux, and allergies.  Diagnosis:  She is fine.  Normal.  And fussy as all get-out.  The Lord is truly sanctifying me daily and uncovering my vast selfishness, impatience, ungratefulness, bitterness, and self-righteousness.  It's a painful process, but I know he makes beauty out of ashes, and I just know Ava is the perfect child for us, and we are doing the best we can daily. No matter how crazy she makes me, she still melts me with a smile or laugh, and when she finally goes to bed for the night, I actually miss her.  With all that said, here are the five month highlights (three weeks late... naturally.)

Milestones:

Ava has had so many milestones this month!  I can really see her growing from a baby to an infant!  

• One huge milestone from this month was transitioning to sleeping 100% in the crib!  We no longer use a swing or a swaddle - hallelujah!  We were forced to break her of the swing a little early because she learned to roll early.  One day, she tried to roll over in her swing.  It was pretty scary, so the swing immediately got taken down.  Cold turkey, anyone?  Let's just say it was NOT a fun week.  Since we were in misery, I figured, why not break her of the swaddle while we're at it?  Fun times all around.  Long story short, we did it.  She now sleeps happily in the crib for all naps and nighttime.  YAY.
• Ava learned to roll over this month, and she now rolls all over the crib and floor.  She is SUPER strong and is already making the motions of crawling.  I know.  Yikes.  She often is on all fours with her butt up in the air, about to crawl.  
• Ava grabs things and holds them in her hands with skill.  She reaches out to grab just about anything - my cereal bowl, the shopping cart, and everything on the shelf at the store!  If I'm making her a bottle, she'll grab it and put it in her mouth!  
• Speaking of putting things in her mouth, we have definitely reached that phase.  Anything and everything goes directly into her mouth.  All of her toys are basically chew toys!  However, she is not teething at all.  She drools about 3 gallons per day, but no teeth in sight.  
• Ava is very interested in toys. She is no longer interested in baby rattles.  We had to go to Target and buy more stuff that lights up and makes noises!  
• Right as she turned five months, she began to sit independently!  Now that we're a few weeks into five months, she is pretty much a confident sitter.  She hardly ever wobbles.  We keep pillows around her just in case.  The days of the play mat are over because this little girl now wants to SIT UP!  Lying down is for babies!!
• One of the best milestones is that we now put Ava down to sleep awake and she does not need us to put her to sleep.  This is greatness.  She sometimes cries, but very little.  She is happier putting herself to sleep and no longer wants us to rock her to sleep.  

Eating:

We have our ups and downs with eating.  Ava is still very interested in nursing, for which I am grateful.  However, she is a hungry girl.  When we moved to Iowa, I started having a hard time keeping up with her.  She would cry after feedings like she was still hungry.  After trying a lot of things, we decided to supplement with formula after some feedings.  This bummed me out since I really wanted her to be exclusively breastfed, but there was nothing I could do.  She is still breastfed for almost every feeding, but if she still shows signs of hunger, we give her a bottle and she sucks it down!  She seems to like nursing and bottle feeding equally, so we will keep doing that for the time being.  Ava is a noisy eater, and she makes all kinds of grunts and noises while eating.  

I've been a little frustrated with how often Ava wants to eat.  We've been doing every 3 hours pretty much since she was born.  I keep expectantly waiting for the time when she can go to a 4 hour schedule.  Lately, we seem to be backtracking.  She seems to be hungry more often, even when we supplement with bottles and cereal.  Some days, she eats as often as every 1.5 or 2 hours during the day.  I'm hoping this is just the 6 month growth spurt coming on a little early?

About halfway through the month, we gave Ava her first cereal!  We're waiting until 6 months for veggies and fruit, but we decided to give cereal a try first.  She seems to like it, but she always looks confused and doesn't quite know what to do with food in her mouth!  I'd say she spits out about 80% of it, so very little makes it in her stomach!  Oh well, we'll keep working on it!  We usually give her a tablespoon or two in the late afternoon.

Sleeping:

Oh, sleeping.  Ava is still taking three "naps" a day.  I say "naps" because does 30 minutes count as a nap?  Usually two "naps" are 30 minutes each.  So frustrating.  She usually has one good nap a day of 1.5 hours or so.  I'm about to throw the Babywise book out the window that says babies her age should take three 1.5-2 hour naps a day.  Not happening.  We are thinking of trying to move her to 2 naps a day.  We'll see.  Ava has not yet reached the milestone of waking up happy.  She still wakes up screaming, which I do not love.  Waking up happy will happen eventually, right?

In terms of nighttime sleep, we are doing OK.  Our bedtime routine is actually one of the best parts of our day.  We start with feeding at 6:30, then quiet playtime, then a bath, then books, then bed at 7:30.  I give her a dream feed at 10 before I go to bed.  Ava is still waking one or two times per night to eat, usually at 2:30.  I'm starting to think she is waking out of  habit instead of hunger, but I can't be sure.  Plus, the easiest / only way to get her to go back to sleep is to feed her, so that's what I do.  You can try to reason with me at 2:30 am, but I won't listen, sorry.  Again, I want to burn the Babywise book that says most babies can sleep through the night at 12 weeks for 12 hours (WHAT THE HECK?!)  A few (precious few) nights, Ava has slept from 10:30 - 6:00 am, so I know she can do it.  I'm just patiently waiting for this to become our reality.

Playtime:

Ava LOVES to go on outings.  However, there is only so much to do in Bettendorf, Iowa, and we've done it all.  Five times.  She LOVES Target, Hobby Lobby, and the grocery store.  Are we surprised?  No.  During her fussy afternoon time, I almost always strap her in the Bjorn and go on some sort of made up errand.  She hardly makes a peep and takes in all the sights and sounds.  Bjorn = pure gold.  I would seriously buy it if it was $500.  It has SAVED us.  As I said before, she loves toys now, particularly ones that light up and sing.  Speaking of singing, Ava loves singing!  Well, she loves it when I sing!  I typically give at least three full-length concerts a day.  It always makes her smile.  You know you're a parent when you've got "The Wheels on the Bus" stuck in your head all day long.  Ava is also liking her doorway bouncer and exersaucer.  Finally, she LOVES Blazer.  She could watch him all day.  He lets her pet him which is sooooo cute!  She has the sweetest little laugh, and when I find something that makes her laugh, I usually do it about 100 times until it's not funny anymore.  I just can't get enough!

A few favorite five month pics:
{I can get my toys myself, mama}
{look who found her feet!}

{Playing outside church... 'cause we were too loud inside}

{First trip to the snowcone stand}
{and... keepin' it real}

{'lil cupcake}

Love you, little monkey!  Month 6 is gonna be the best so far!!  Right?!?  Right?!?  Who's with me?