**I forgot to mention the waking up in the middle of the night issue - it isn't happening anymore. It only happened that one week, and now she's back to sleeping through the night again. The last time she woke up at 4am, we didn't go to her, we just let her fuss. She wasn't crying hard, just fussing. She did it for about 15 minutes and then fell back asleep. Of course, I had read in my Bible (the American Pediatrics Association Guide to Caring for Your New Baby and Young Child) that this was the proper way to handle the situation, and whaddayaknow, it worked.

4th of July

I hope everyone had a good long weekend, I know we did. Brent and I actually had 2 whole days off together! It was so nice to have a weekend together, it has been a longtime since we've had one. I had to work on Saturday and Sunday, but we had Monday and Tuesday off together. We went to the mall where Brent insisted on buying Ava a bathing suit, so we did. Then we tried to get some stuff around the house done and just hung out. On Tuesday we went over to my parent's house for a small cook out, it was just us and Mom and Dad and Peggy. We managed to wrangle Ava into her swim suit and put her in the pool, and she was really good. The only problem is that she badly needed a nap but there was so much going on that she didn't want to. She only slept for 20 mins and then was awake again. I'm going to try to work on getting her to nap at different places, because she's going to have to do that soon due to my job. We didn't take her to the fireworks since it was too late and it would only scare her anyway.
I am a part-time summer camp counselor at the YMCA right now, but when that ends in the beginning of August, I am going to be working in their babysitting room. My hours will be 4pm-8pm, so on the nights when Brent has school or is working, I can bring Ava with me. Two of the women who work in there now bring their babies, one is 3 months and the other one is 1 day younger than Ava, so it will be nice that she will get to see some other babies. I was talking to the women last night about it. The Y is having me work a few morning shifts in there this month, so Ava will be with me the whole time, from 8:30am - 12pm. She is going to need to nap in there, otherwise it will be a very bad 4 hours. They never seem to have that many kids in there at one time, but I think she will be so distracted by the noise and lights that it will keep her awake. I'm a little concerned about germs too, but I guess we have to deal with that at some point. As much as I would like to, I cannot keep her in a plastic bubble when we go out. Actually, I think she is experiencing her first cold right now, although it's very minor. She isn't cranky or running a fever, but she does have a stuffy nose and she coughs a little. Brent tried to use the "nose hose" on her last night because I won't get near that thing. Gross!
As for her feeding, we have her on a pretty good schedule. She gets cereal at breakfast lunch and dinner along with a bottle, and she gets a bottle for snacks too. She is okay with the rice cereal, but the oatmeal makes her spit up. We just started on baby food too. So far I've only tried bananas, which I usually mix in with her cereal. She likes them. I think tonight I might give her a taste of carrots for dinner. She is a really good eater, I am surprised at how well she took to a spoon.
She is napping right now so I have to do some things before she wakes up. We took some pictures on the 4th but most of them came out bad. We love taking pictures but sometimes we just don't take enough.

Messy eater, just like her mama.

Her 4th of July onesie. While part of me wanted to get her all decked out in a cute little red white and blue ensemble, the other part of me is very practical and also very cheap. I will not buy something she will only wear once, unless I LOVE and have to see her in it. I buy her a lot of clothes, but most of them will get lots of use and are also probably on sale.

My parent's pool. We didn't take a picture of the whole thing, but it is awesome. Ava loved the waterfall and that little turtle.

Wake Up Call

Aaaallrighty. So,I've established that we've been busy in my earlier post. We have also been really tired. Ava started sleeping through the night at around 8 or 9 weeks, which has been awesome. We've had no problems at all - until this past week. The first night she woke up at 5:30am. The next night she woke up at 5am. And the night after that it was 4:00 in the morning. See the pattern? This morning it was 5:30am. Who knows what it will be tomorrow morning. We do get her to go back to sleep eventually, but that is after one of us has gotten up 3 or 4 times, and by then we are wide awake.
It seems that once we think we have her figured out and have a nice routine down, she goes and changes things up. Lately she is just so much hungrier than usual, so I figured that was a sign that she was ready to begin eating cereal. I started it on the 27th. She takes it okay sometimes, I was actually suprised that she eats off a spoon so well. I just don't think she likes it very much. I have to give her some bottle first, then hurry up and feed her the cereal, and then give her the rest of the bottle. But now I am just so confused. I'm afraid that I'm over-feeding her, even though I have a sheet that gives guidelines on feeding, it still seems like so much food. And I don't know how or when to start baby food. So I have been asking a couple of people at work who have young kids how they did it. It was just so nice before, just a bottle, 6 oz, every 3 hours. I hoped that the cereal would fill her up more so that she would not wake up so early, but it isn't working. She is on the rice cereal now, I'm going to try out the oatmeal later this week, and then maybe around 6 months I'll start the baby food. She will have another doctor's appointment this month so I will probably ask them about what to do.
I'm kind of bummed that we aren't doing much for the 4th of July. We might go up to my parent's house for a cook out, since we haven't been there in a long time. We won't be going to the fireworks since I think it would scare the bejesus out of Ava. I am just now starting to get over the cold I've had all week. It was not fun feeling so sick and waking up at 4 or 5am and having to function even though all I wanted to do was stay in bed. I guess that's what parenthood is like though, right? And then when Ava smiles at me or laughs, I forget that I don't feel so good for awhile.

Ava and Lula have a staring contest

Everything goes in the mouth - including the changing table.

Look at how excited she is to be eating off a spoon

Her big teddy

Just chillin out, reading "Where's Elmo?"
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Again, everything goes in the mouth.
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No time like the present...

Seriously, I want to update this blog all the time, I love doing it, I just can never seem to find the time (and/or motivation) to do it. It seems like I am running around doing something all the time. If I'm not with Ava then I'm at work, and when I'm home with Ava, Brent is at work or school. I love that friends and family are actually reading this thing, that they care enough about Ava to want to see her pictures and read what is going on with her. And I want to be able to write about her all the time, so I am going to try to find some more time. One problem is that Ava does not like to nap in her crib during they day, she prefers my bed, and since the computer is in our bedroom, I can't do anything in there while she's sleeping. There goes my free time.
So, with that being said, I have to go get ready for a work thing I have to be at until 10pm tonight. I am going to probably post some pics and stuff when I get home. Please keep checking in on us!

5 months...

Often when I am doing stuff around the house, I think of something that I want to write about on here, but then as soon as I sit down at the computer I can't think of a thing to write about. I used to be addicted to this one mother's blog, and she posted everyday! If only my life were that exciting, and if only people cared to read about our day to day lives.
Anyway, Ava is 5 months old now. I went out and bought some rice cereal and I think we are going to try it on Friday night. That is really the only night that Brent and I have together. Otherwise it's school or work, work or school. Though I am happy to report that there seems to be a light at the end of tunnel, financially speaking. Thanks to my old job's CRAPPY insurance policy that they conveniently changed in the middle of my pregnancy, we got stuck with a lot of bills when Ava was born. When I first got pregnant, our insurance policy covered 100% except for a $100.00 co-pay, which I happily paid right away. However, in September they changed the policy so that we were now responsible for 20% of the costs. I didn't realize this until after Ava was born and the bills started pouring in. Not a very good time, I was stressed out. I had never been unemployed before, I worried about money constantly, and it really put a damper on being a happy new mommy. But now we have everything pretty much paid off, and hopefully we can get back to where we were.
Okay, back to Ava. She has been pretty cranky the past couple of days, and I keep checking to feel any teeth coming through, but so far nothing. I bought her a teething ring that unfortunatly only stays cold for about 1 minute. She likes it though. And about the rice cereal, I do not really know what to do. How often do I give it to her? Does she get it every feeding? Her feedings are down to a science right now, I am nervous about mixing it up. This is when I would love it if our pediatrician made house calls, or better yet - lived with us. He seems like he'd be a really cool roomate.
Ava is thisclose to sitting up. She tries so hard. Once you prop her up into a sitting position she can hold it for a few seconds and then starts to fall. If her have her against a couch or in her boppy, she does really good. I can't wait for her to start sitting up, that is such a milestone. With my luck, I will probably miss it, as I did the rolling over.
Right now I am sick - AGAIN!! This is the 2nd time in 2 months. Much thanks to those hooligans at the YMCA. I wash - no, SCRUB - my hands constantly. They are dried and chapped from being washed so much, and I still get everything that is going around. The kids just climb all over me and they want to get right up in my face to talk. I feel bad pushing them away but I guess that's what I'll have to do from now on, cuz this sucks! The good news is that Ava hasn't gotten sick yet. It is good news, but I am so nervous I kind of wish it would happen already so we can get it over it. I have a feeling that the longer we go without her getting sick, the worse it will be when she finally does catch something. I will feel so awful for her.
Well, I think a bowl of ice cream is calling my name, so I'm going to run. I'll have some more pictures soon.