Sick

I'm so mad - earlier today I wrote a whole long post and was about to start adding pictures when blogger went down and the whole thing was lost. Bleh.

Anyway, Ava has her first official cold right now. She has a stuffy nose so she has to breath out of her mouth, and she has a cough. It isn't real bad but when she does cough I can hear a rattle. I called the doctor on Thursday and there isn't really anything I can do except to try to make her more comfortable. He wants her to cough during the day, since that helps get the yucky stuff out, but at night I give her a little children's cough medicine. I also rub some Vicks on her chest and nose. She of course hates this, and for a little baby she is suprisingly strong. Everytime I try to wipe her nose she turns her head and pushes my hands away. Don't mess with baby. I feel bad because I know she caught it from being at my work, but I guess it had to happen sometime. I think 7 months without getting sick is pretty decent.
Ava got to spend some more time with her New Jersey Grandparents on Friday. My Dad and stepmom came back down to our house and hung out for a while and then we went out to dinner. They were saying goodbye since they left yesterday to finish up their road trip adventure. Ava was a bit cranky in the restaurant since she hadn't taken a good nap due to the illness and all, but she didn't cry. Just squirmed around a lot, and knocked all her toys & binky off the table numerous times. It's so funny; all the toys she could want and she wanted to play with a pack of crackers. Whatever, it kept her entertained for 10 minutes. It was sad to see them go, my Dad couldn't get enough of Ava, but hopefully we will see them again soon. This was the first time my Dad had met her, and the first time he's seen our house and the town we live in. Brent and I are hoping to make a trip up to the lovely state that is New Jersey sometime next year.
Ava is thisclose to crawling. She really tries but hasn't yet done it. She gets right to the point where it looks like she's going to take off but then she just freezes or lays down. I think it will happen before she is 8 months old. She has learned how to tell us she wants to be picked up, and it's so cute. I'll sit on the floor near her and she'll scoot herself over to me and reach her arms up and dig her face into me while making that sound she makes when she's frustrated. It's kind of a whine, kind of a grunt, and it gets louder and louder until she either gets what she wants, starts crying, or gets distracted.
She has also discovered mirrors. She loves it when I stand her up on our bed and she is facing our dresser mirror. She starts smiling and waving her hands, and sometimes she makes noises at herself. Anytime I stand in front of a mirror with her she smiles. In her room she has a full length mirror on the back of her bedroom door, and I'll stand her up in front of that and she touches it and "talks" to it. She will also lean her head forward until it's right up against the mirror and gives herself "kisses." That just means she leaves a lot of drool on the mirror. I don't know if she knows it's her she's looking at or if she thinks it's another baby. When I put her in front of other babies at my work she isn't shy. She wants to grab them and play with their toys.
Today we went over to Brent's brother's house for a cook out, and then tomorrow we are going over to my parent's house. Gotta love long weekends. Ooh, one more thing Ava has discovered is peek-a-boo. She just did this the other day. She always liked it when I would hide on the side of her crib and go "Where's mommy?" and then I'd pop my head up and say "There she is!" But the other day Ava was playing with a towel and I swear she was doing it. She would put it in front of her face and I said "Where's Ava?" and she would move the towel away. Then when we were at dinner she was doing it with Brent's hat, and we all saw it. It's so cute! I love to see her learn things.
Ava "wrestling" with her Seaworld bear:

Happy baby:

Ava & Grandpappy Cappy:

Waiting to EAT:

Chillin in her stroller:

Where's Ava?

There she is!