More Fun with Photoshop

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we went to a local pumpkin patch. It was small, nice, and perfect for Ava's first Halloween. Ava and I checked out the pre-picked pumpkins and Rich braved the wet, soggy pumpkin patch to find the perfect pumpkin.

9 Months Old

This past week Ava turned 9 months. She has changed so much this past month and is not my little baby anymore. Ava has started crawling and is now into everything. She started crawling one day and has been on the fast track ever since. She loves to crawl after Luca, his toys, and recently his water bowl. Now that she is mobile we have started playing the "NO" game. I say "no" and Ava thinks its funny to do whatever I'm telling her not to do...it is cute now, but hopefully soon she will understand what "no" means.

This past week Ava has also started pulling herself up on different things around the house. I often find her pulling herself up in her crib after a nap or trying to climb up the sliding glass door. Ava's favorite thing to pull up on are the laundry baskets. She also loves to pull the laundry out and make a mess...I hope this will turn into a love of folding laundry in a couple years.

Ava continues to be a good eater and likes everything we've given her. She eats 3 meals a day and has some snacks inbetween. Ava usually has (homemade) pureed food, but we are started to give her more table food. I think she would rather eat whatever we are eating and stares at us while we eat. When we go out to eat we make sure we bring something for her so she doesn't throw a fit if we can't feed her off of our plates. Last week she ate some tomato soup and fish from Elephant Bar and loved it.

We don't have a weight and height yet but we are going to the doctor next week and will post that info then. According to Wii Fit she weighs 20.5 lbs, so it will probably be a little more by the time we visit the doctor. Ava is now wearing a size 4 diaper which starts at 22lbs. Her clothing size varies. She wears some 9 months stuff, but she does fit into a few 12 months things too. Ava is a big girl with short appendages, long torso, and tiny feet. We are loving her baby chub now because we know with all of her moving around it will slowly start going away...so sad!

Crawl, Ava, Crawl!

Today Ava started crawling. The past week she has been practicing, but not quite getting the hang of it. She was able to move her hands well, but her knees wouldn't go any where and she would fall to her belly. Yesterday Ava moved her knees a little, so we thought in a few more days maybe she would move a couple of feet. To our surprise she did it today.

After church we were playing on the ground and all of the sudden she took off for one of her toys. Ava went a couple of feet slowly, but within a few minutes she was crawling around the room quickly. She would crawl to get to toys, Luca's toys, and to cause destruction. We spent the rest of the day amazed at her rapid improvement and concerned about all the possible lurking dangers.

We are excited Ava is now a little more mobile and independent, but also fearful of the madness that will follow. She already likes to cause destruction and now she can cause it in more areas of the house. Ava is also starting to display a strong will and some stubbornness. She can throw a pretty good fit already and is angry when I pull her away from objects she just crawled to...Oh, what happened to my beautiful blob that couldn't get around and didn't kick me when frustrated? I still love my Ava and to tell the truth I love her even more for her feisty ways.

I'm going gray

Last week I found my first grey hair. I was so excited I made Rich take a picture of it. At first he didn't believe me, but once he saw it he couldn't deny being married to an old lady anymore.

Rich, Ava, & Luca Play

Luca loves to chase and catch his ball.

Ava reallys likes to ride Luca.

Weekend Projects

This weekend we decided it was time to do a few things around the house. For starters we haven't defrosted our big freezer since we moved in and it was in desperate need. We called it the ice cave and had a hard time finding what we wanted through the snowdrifts. Rich started the process, but I finished it since I own rainboots and a giant spoon. Now the freezer looks empty and we can find our food.

We also went through a lot of our storage containers and organized our stuff. We donated and trashed a lot of stuff we didn't even remember we owned. Rich also removed a useless cabinet that just took up vertical space. We were able to reorganize all of our stuff in a neater and more compact fashion. Someday I hope to get shelving to put in the garage to be even more organized.

As we were going through our junk I found Rich's stash of Wii boxes. There isn't anything in the boxes, but Rich just thinks they're cool....WHY, WHY, WHY?? I use to think I was a pack rat, but then I met and married Rich. After watching shows like "Clean House" I have stopped my hoarding ways, but I still I'm trying to convert Rich.

This is our super messy garage in the middle of our organizing chaos. Some of the stuff is a junk pile we will be getting rid of this week and some of it is to donate to D.I. The rest of it is now organized and put away. I know it doesn't look like it here, but Rich does usually park the car in the garage.

This is the highlight of my weekend. Okay, okay...I'm a sad, sad, person, but I LOVE my new food storage shelves. We have been trying to be more organized about our food storage and making sure we have enough, but it was all over the place. Now it is all organized and easy to find. We also have another storage cabinet for overflow food and paper items. It makes me happy to know we are a little more organized...Rich says, "despite his best efforts to thwart me...ha, ha ha (evil laugh)."

Now that we're organized I can use the money we have been saving to buy more food and complete our year supply.

ARRRRRGH!

The other day I went to Michael's to buy a picture frame and came home with the coolest toy. They had a whole bunch of pirate birthday stuff 80% off and I got this cool hook for only $0.30. Initially I bought it for Rich and thought eventually Ava might play with it for dress-up. To my surprise Ava loved it and is now a full fledged pirate. The only trouble is we can't think of an awesome pirate name. We thought of Baby Blue, Redface, and Ava the Awful, but we're not sure. What do you think her pirate name should be?

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Ava Video

Ava watching a nature video in Italian. I'm home with her all day, but I don't know Italian, so I play Italian music or this video to let her hear the language. Usually she doesn't watch it but on this day she was mesmerized for first few minutes.

Ava has been rolling all over the place and has recently figured out how to push herself up into the sitting position. She also gets in the crawling position and rocks back and forth. I'm sure it won't be long before she is crawling.

Ava Photos

Ava loves her little people Noah's Ark set

Ava trying to hug Luca
Ava eating a teething biscuit

Ava loves her teething biscuits, but they sure are messy.

Ava taking a bath after teething biscuit. Silly daddy put the wash cloth on her head.

Ava trying to help me fold the laundry

Ava is ready for Family Home Evening

Lunch with Dad

On Tuesdays Rich goes to nursing homes to see patients, so Ava and I made plans to meet him for lunch a couple of weeks ago. We had a good time at Fresh Choice and Ava was excited to see her daddy. I think we will make this a tradition and meet Rich for lunch one Tuesday a month.