Wonder Girl

I haven't posted much because I've been sick for the past week. I had another sinus infection, and tonight is the first night that I've felt decent. When I get sick my voice is the first thing to go, and the last thing to get back, and I hate it! Brent was sick for a couple of days and Ava had a runny nose, but I think that was because she is finally getting her top front teeth! I am so happy. She is 13 months old today and is just now getting them. And, she became an official walker on Valentine's Day. She took 4 consecutive steps on December 26th, and after that she would take more and more but she would still crawl most of the time. On Feb. 14th it was like something clicked and she was walking everywhere. When she fell, instead of crawling, she would get right back up and walk. She is getting better and better everyday now, and we are so proud of her. She had one bad walking accident so far (knock on wood) - she was walking in her room, tripped over her shoe, and hit her nose on the window sill. It bled just a little bit and she had a red mark for a couple of days, but she is okay.
She is loving her books - one in particular. She has this big, animal picture book and she will get it and come over to us and sit in our lap and point out all of the pictures for us. She can identify most of them too - doggie, cat, fish, horse, monkey, and a couple of others. She is learning the parts of her body too. She learned belly first, and now she knows head, toes, knees (sometimes) and unfortunately, boobies (sometimes). Ashley the babysitter taught her that one. Yesterday afternoon we were working at the YMCA, and the after-school elementary kids came into the babysitting room to wash their hands. While they were standing in line at the sink, Ava was staring at them, and then for no reason at all, she just lifts her shirt all the way up, and her belly and boobies were hanging out. Of course the little elementary kids thought this was hilarious, and I went over and pulled Ava's shirt down. That's my girl.
She understands so many words now. She looks up in the sky for birdies, she knows trees, and today she learned flower and how to smell them. Brent bought her a pink carnation for Valentine's Day, and today she was making me smell it, and I would take a big sniff and then go "ahhhhhh." She would then copy me. She points to things that she wants, and she knows where things go. She knows "books" and she walks to the bathroom when I say "bath." She loves to play with a ball, she tries to throw it to us.
Her bedtime routine changed too. She was getting to big to rock. Now we put pillows on the floor in her room, turn out the light and turn on this and we just look up at the pictures on the ceiling. Then when it goes off we lay in the dark listening to soft music, and after a few minutes we put her in the crib and she goes right to sleep without a sound. Usually either Brent or I do it alone, but tonight we put her to bed together, and it was really nice. Ava kept going back and forth, giving us kisses and hugs and cuddling with us both. She is the sweetest baby.
Speaking of bed, I'd better get there myself. Here's some random pictures from this month.

Ready for her close up:


Having fun on a walk:

Peek-a-Boo! I'm not wearing any pants!

Big blue eyes:


Valentine's Day dress


The everyday animal book:

Life is hard for a baby: