Christmas beginnings and 10 months

It has taken forever to get a new blog going.  Apparently I exceeded my allowed photo content...had to remedy the situation.  It is also super hard to find time to update with a VERY active little girl!!!  Ava is all over the place! She loves walking around while holding onto someone's fingers.  She is able to stand on her own when she doesn't realize she is doing it.  Otherwise she chickens out and plops.    

Since the last time I updated we have had a lot going on!  Ava had her first Thanksgiving dinners - she loved most of it, except for mashed potatoes!  We really have to work on that if she's going to be a part of this family.  :)

Yummy!

She loves self portraits :)

With Christmas approaching, I have also been able to get lots of great pictures - had to have some good ones for the Christmas card.  :)  I have been telling Scott for years that I want to send out cards and we always say, "Next year."  This is the year!  

They were both wearing their reindeer suits

Lookout Grandmas!  Reindeer are on the loose!

The cutest lil reindeer

Ava also had her first encounter with Santa when my school held an Evening with Santa.  Didn't go so hot.

We also had the first of our family celebrations.  We are so blessed to have so much family close to us!  We will be taking many more pictures over the next couple of weeks!

Quit tickling, Daddy!

The Adams cousins

We are so excited for the beginnings of so many traditions with Ava!  Can't wait to see what Santa brings Ava!  Merry Christmas!!

My Sweets

My sweeties

We spent our Sunday afternoon/evening with friends and football.  While the games were on Ava also learned to use a push walker.  All she has wanted to do lately is hold onto our fingers and walk, so this was perfect!

She was so funny,  She wasn't sure what to do at first so I helped her move her feet.  5 minutes later she was speeding across the living room on her own like she had been doing it for years.  It is so amazing watching her learn new things.  It happens so quickly and she is just tickled with herself.  Very cool.

Walking with Daddy

She spent almost the entire time walking this hall with Daddy

Last week we had our 9 month check up.  Ava is now weighing in at 18.8 pounds!  She is still rockin the 50th %ile for weight and is down to the 55th %ile for height at 28 inches.  The doctor said she'll probably hit another growth spurt and top the charts again.  We are also now able to start giving her "real" food that is soft and mushy.  So far, she has tried little pieces of pancakes, mashed potatoes, pasta and some meats.  She makes the funniest faces - she had better learn to like mashed potatoes (she hasn't been impressed so far) - any child of mine had better love them.  :)  Ava also got her second flu shot, so hopefully she is safe from the flu for the remainder of the season.  We definitely do not want a repeat of that any time soon!

The aftermath of a Scooter kiss

Ava has been doing this little routine for awhile now, I just haven't mentioned it...when getting ready for bath time, we will let her "roam free".  She loves it!  She crawls from her room to the stair railing to stand up for a bit, then into the bathroom.  She cracks herself up and just has a ball!

Couldn't resist the lil' butt picture!

A few months back, Scott worked hard to build a shelf for all of the signed baseballs and pucks that we have collected over the years.  Their place of honor used to be in Ava's room until Ava took it over.  With not a lot of options for display (our goal is to one day have a super nice basement for all of our sports memorabilia) Scott built the shelf to hang in our memorabilia bathroom. :)  I was so proud of him - and he was too.  He did such a nice job and it was a huge hit at a party held at our house.

The finished product

On display

He did such a wonderful job and it looked so good!  Sadly, the brackets that held it to the wall were not as good as his craftsmanship.  Yesterday, while I was out for a run, Scott said it sounded like lightning hit our house.  While it was not lightning - the shelf did fall.  Fortunately, no one was in there at the time.  Unfortunately the shelf is down (but not broken) and we lost an Ozzie Smith ball to the toilet.   Yes, there could be much worse things...still sad though.  Scott will work to get the shelf back together and the Smith ball replaced.  It will proudly hang again, one day.

We are looking forward to the coming weeks and the beginning of the holiday season with many gatherings of family and friends!  We are so blessed in so many ways...

Ready for swimming to begin!

9 months and On the Go!

Someone thinks it is very funny to giggle and stick her tongue out...pretty cute too!

Our little stinker is 9 months old!  We have seen her grow and change so much in the past couple of weeks.  To begin with, I got everyone in the house sick with the flu. :(  Yuck!  Thankfully, Ava got the least of it.  She actually chose that week to learn to crawl.  Her new favorite games are crawl to the stairs, look back to see if you will get her and bang on the window.

Come and get me!

She loves to stand up on the stairs!

Loves banging on the window.

This past week she learned to crawl up the stairs.  Now we spend a lot of time on the stairs and the landing with her crawling up and then standing by the bars.  Unfortunately this new found fun has also led to a few face plants that we weren't quick enough to prevent.  She got her first mini bruise on her cheek from just such an incident.  

Playing on the landing.

How you doin'?

Little Bear butt going up the landing stairs.

We have also had so much fun with October activities!  We carved pumpkins (Ava liked playing with the spoon the best) using her handprints as Jack-o-lantern eyes and of course, dressed up for Halloween.

What do I do with this?

I'll just eat the spoon.

Very excited to get her hands on her pumpkin.

Ava's pumpkins

Little duck butt

We went Trick-or-Treating at Daddy's bank 

Puttin' their heads together

Who doesn't love a ride on a hot dog?

Going back for seconds

We have been enjoying our family time and just playing around the house.  Our living room is now Ava's personal toy box.  :)  She doesn't seem to mind.  Another favorite of hers is to stand up by the couch.  Since Ava has been mobile, Scooter tends to get out of the way as fast as he can.  She loves his paws!  Usually he will come up on the couch away from little fingers, but she still tries to get him.

You get my toes...

I'll get you!

Helping in the kitchen

The best toys are empty boxes

On the move

Our 9 month check-up is next week.  I can't wait to see how much she's grown!  Happy November!  I sure have a lot to be thankful for!