Olivia is cooing so much now. I love this age she's at. 

Bug is nine months old

I seriously repeated the title of this blog out loud, several times. I do this every month, and each month that Ava gets older, feels like it came quicker than the last. So many other parents have expressed to Justin and I how quickly this goes. They express how these times, right now, are the best times of our lives with our little girl. This past month Ava has been advancing like crazy. She can stand (for a few seconds) by herself without holding onto anything, she can wave (a backwards wave), and she can feed herself finger foods. Her favorite word is "Da Da" and she loves when her daddy sings "The lion sleeps tonight" from the Lion King. Ava understands the word no, and playing tea party with daddy seems to be her favorite past time. It's been a couple months now that we find that Bug can entertain herself really well. She received a lot of toys for Christmas, and she plays with all of them. As always, I have compiled a list of items that we now use with our baby girl.

The inflatable safety duck from munchkin has become a regular thing in our household. I'm not quite ready for Ava to be in the bathtub with zero support, so this is definitely a fun way to ensure her safety. There is an indicator for when the water temperature is too hot, and I love how easy the assembly was. The age on this safety duck is six months to twenty four months, I'm hoping that once Ava reaches a year, we can put this away for the next Howl baby.

We have also introduced finger foods to Miss Ava. I was a little uneasy about opting not to make Ava's snack foods, but after seeing how much she loves these finger foods, I feel great about it. The puffs and other finger foods come in so many different flavors and styles. It's been fun watching Ava throw, smash, and eat her little snacks. Speaking of snacks, because the containers they come in are so huge and so not diaper bag friendly, I started using the planet wise snack bags. I purchased a gray chevron one while we were still in Georgia, and I absolutely love it. Super easy for Ava to take her own snack out and feed them to herself.

These bags are super easy to wash, and definitely baby friendly. I've watched Ava put her snack bags in her mouth, and I have zero worries that something is going to snag her gums, or irritate her. I like the fact that there isn't any plastic and that you can wash these when need be.
We are all about reusable in this family, so these definitely work great.

The last (and most recent) thing we have introduced to our sweet love bug is unflavored pedialyte. Ava got her first stomach bug late last night, and we actually took her into the emergency room. One of our main concerns off the bat was possible dehydration. Although dehydration actually wasn't the case for her, bug still wasn't able to hold down breast milk. As a safety precaution we gave Ava some clear liquids in hopes that she'd be able to keep it down. Thankfully, she was and she is doing much better now. I was completely against using products like this with our girl, but when push comes to shove, I'd do anything to make sure she's well taken care of.

Aside from the stomach bug, Ava has been thriving so very much. She remains healthy, happy, and so very comical. Justin taught her how to do this cute little laugh that I plan on sharing with all of my readers. I've taken about a million videos of those two mimicking each other, I just need to upload it. Speaking of upload, I am doing a "what's in my diaper bag" for a nine month old cloth diapered baby, per the request of a few other mama's on facebook. It's long overdue, so look out for that post this week!

Alright all, I'm off! Enjoy your Monday and if you are a Washingtonian, stay dry!

♥- Leilani

Family Learning

It's been a gloomy day here in Georgia. I can't complain because it's kept me indoors with my family all day. Rather than watching television, playing video games, or networking (aside from this moment) all eyes have been on Ava. We are really trying to shun multi-tasking in our home (at least with our daughter we are). It's great to have that focus on her without anything taking away that time.

Justin has read her stories, participated with tummy time, and talked up a storm with her. It's so cute. Ava looks so intrigued by her daddy's voice. He'd read a page, and while he talked, she watched him. When he pointed to pictures, she looked at the pictures. During tummy time, he got down to her level. Talked to her, played with her toes, and moved her from tummy to belly. I even overheard him explaining how he'd be the only man in her life, if it were up to him.

I have been thoroughly impressed with my husband. he has been trying new development techniques with Princess A (some I hadn't even thought of ) that she seems to really be taking to. We purchased books from Barefoot Books.

We already own Cleo's alphabet book. It's nice to be adding some other educational books to the mix. We also started making a family calendar today. It's for next year, but I'm excited! I got a coupon for $20.00 off while at Osh Kosh. It's for shutterfly If you haven't dabbled with shutterfly, give it a try! It's awesome. You can create home decor, holiday cards, and picture books.

We are pretty sure Ava is going to be an early crawler. Whenever we put her down, she just can't stop moving those little legs! Also, she started cutting a tooth! Last night we got a taste of the teething baby life. I'm not a fan! Our poor baby cried for an hour STRAIGHT! That has never happened, and all I could feel was awful! I did give her tylenol and rubbed her little gums. I really want to steer clear of tylenol if I can. Miss A's doctor said that obviously too much of anything can be bad. Tylenol (when used too excessively) can cause liver damage. That freaked me out. I won't let baby A suffer, I just don't wont over do medication.

On a final note, our baby started wearing six month clothes as of today. She fits them more perfectly than I was anticipating. Yes, I was that sappy mommy that cried. I can't believe it! Come this time next month, she'll be drinking juice and eating solid food! I'm really proud of myself for exclusively breastfeeding these past five months! (With the exception of pumping)

Well that's all for now! I'm off to tend to my baby girl while her daddy watches the Clemson game! Happy Saturday all!

Blink of an eye

Today Ava is five months old. Five months. These last five months have been the most nurturing time of my life. Ava recognizes her name now. Whenever we say Ava or Ava bug, she looks for the voice in the room. She uses and holds onto her teethers, sits up for a few seconds, and has started pushing herself up on her legs. She is still in three months clothes for right now, as of yesterday I pulled a good chunk of her six month clothing out. Ava started saying "Ma" a couple weeks ago. She's definitely making more "aa" sounds. We still cloth diaper, I still exclusively breastfeed, and we have yet to give Ava any solids. I'd really like to hold out until she is six months old.

Ava has shown definite favoritism with her daddy. I don't mind, he's a pretty great guy. Sometimes I find myself getting a little jealous, but since I get to spend more time with her, I'm glad she's so fond of Justin. I do love that he's around for all of her firsts. Justin was the first person to see Ava roll over. He was the first person to have her sit up by herself. Those types of memories are priceless and I'm glad he has them.

What else has Ava been doing? Rolling over in her bassinet while sleeping. We stick headbands on her pretty much everyday. I love that she looks like a little lady. She has been putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, including her own hands. Sometimes both hands at one time. She got her first cold a little over a week shy of her turning five months old. She is now on the final days of that! (thank goodness) We haven't used anything new with her in the last month. tummy time is still a frequent thing, and we still use her bumbo. We will have a few new items in our house in the next month. One of them being a high chair!

Things have continued to be fantastic with my baby. She is such a ray of sunshine for her parents. I'm excited to see what her six month update will bring. We have another well baby visit. Hopefully we'll still be in Georgia so we can wrap up her first six months with the same provider. Alright, I'm off to go snuggle my baby love. I plan on starting DIY projects for Ava in the next month or so. Be on the look out for tutorials and photos! Happy Thursday all! 

Ultrasound day !

Due to the GI problems that have been persistent since I was well into my second trimester, my O.B. put in a referral with Tricare for me to get a level two ultrasound done. I was really pleased with my visit today. I got to see an extensive look at Ava's growing organs, measurements, and her facial features from a 3D image. It was my first time having a 3D image done and I was in awe at how well I could see my little girl's features.

                                                       

I was able to see the four chambers of her heart. Her heartbeat was at 150 and it's so strong. The tech was able to show me the hair on her scalp as well.

                                        

 Ava is weighing in at 3 lbs 12 ounces. Apparently this is on the smaller side. She's still in the normal range but the doctor wants me to come back in about three weeks to make sure that she continues to keep growing as she should. Everything with her was perfect and as it should be. It's a huge relief for me knowing that my GI issues are not effecting her growth. 

They did look at my liver, kidney's etc. And they found no issues which is good and bad. Good because it's better to not have any issues with my vital organs, bad because I'm having persistent pain that is unidentifiable and is most likely going to occur the remainder of my pregnancy.  

Overall it was exciting to see my little pudding pop so active ! I can't believe she was head down. I doubt she'll stay this way for the rest of my pregnancy, but the doctor said it's possible. I got about an entire roll of ultrasound pictures of this little girl today, So I have continued to put together her baby book. I think we have 5 pages left until It's all filled up. It's nice being able to look back at her 6 week ultrasound and now. The time has definitely flown by.