Finally!

Brent is feeling better after being sick since Thursday. We don't know what it was, some kind of stomach flu I guess, but I have never seen him in so much pain! At first we thought it was food poisoning, but then we heard other people had it too. It was really bad. So Ava and I were on our own this past weekend. It was nice spending so much time with her. She really is such a good baby. She's still sleeping through the night, and she has a pretty predictable routine.




Here she is playing with a new toy I got her. Since she has started reaching for things so well, we figured she would have fun with something like this, and she does seem to like it.
Of course, I also made her model some new outfits I got her -




No matter what I do, I can never get a picture of her without that same surprised expression on her face. It was so funny, I must have taken 8 or 9 pictures of her in that green outfit, just trying to get one of her smiling or making a cute face, but they all came out the same. I promise, she really does have other expressions.

One thing that has become an issue is the television. It's funny too because lately there has been all that controversy about those Sesame Street DVD's for babies. Anyway, sometimes when we need to get things done around the house, we put Ava in her bouncy seat, which happens to be near the TV most of the time. Well, one day Brent noticed that she appeared to be watching TV. So he put it on a cartoon, and she was staring at it. At first I thought that was cute and didn't see the harm in it. I figured it might actually be good for her to see the colors and hear the talking on TV. We would put it on the Nickelodeon channel Noggin, which is a really good station for toddlers and preschoolers. It's very educational. However, now I am not so sure. I notice that whenever the TV is on, no matter what we are watching, her eyes are glued to it. It could be golf or the news, it doesn't matter. The other day I was doing something in the bedroom, and when I went out to the living room, Brent was watching Van Helsing, and Ava was on his lap staring at the TV. Now, I don't know if she can actually see very well that far, and she probably doesn't know what she's seeing, but I asked him to change it anyway. I don't think she needs to be watching vampire movies just yet. So now, I no longer have her bouncy seat in front of the TV, and I am very aware of what I have on. I'm okay with her seeing the occasional episode of Dora the Explorer or Blues Clues. But I do not want her to get used to watching television. I am the kind of person who has the TV on almost all the time, just for the background noise, but I am even thinking of canceling the cable for a while. I don't need to be watching that much TV, I don't have the time anyway. I think those kids shows and DVD's can be an okay thing as long as it is in moderation and parents are involved as well, watching with the kids. I won't just plop her in front of the TV for hours while I do whatever.

Okay, that was my rant for the day, and it is only 7:30am. On the subject of TV, we watched the movie Crash last night. It was pretty good, but I don't think it was Best Picture good. It was very predictable. I think that was the first whole movie we have watched since Ava was born. We are both SO tired today though, because we had to watch it after Ava went to be so we were up late. She's yelling for me so I have to stop now.