18 Month Update (long and for my records)

"We are incredibly blessed to have such an amazing little girl. I don't take her for granted for one single second. I wouldn't wish any of my time with her away to be doing anything else. My patience with her has grown exponentially in the last year. Struggling with secondary infertility has been an emotional trial for me but oddly enough a blessing at the same time. I am so grateful for Dan and Ava."

I posted that today on my facebook status. Exactly sums up what I've been feeling for a while now!

Our sweet little Ava turned 18 months old today. That may not seem very old but it feels like she has been in my life forever! I can't imagine it without her! I'm so thankful for her and the joy she brings to my life. I love being a mom and want nothing more than to have more children. It has been a struggle emotionally and physically. However I'll talk about that more another day.

We took Ava to her 18 month appointment today. I think this was by far our best doctors appointment ever! Normally we find something wrong with her ears or lungs or eyes... This time all we discovered is she is allergic to grass....... no big deal right? lol she promised me it wasn't.

Ava's stats today were

34 3/4 inches tall (99.5%)
28 lbs 3 oz (91%)
19 inch head (90%)

She is just growing like a weed lately!! She's wearing 2T and some 3T clothes. I still haven't had the heart to put away all of her 24 month clothes yet however. I keep getting them out too! They are all summer clothes and too small but I love them! Its turning into fall very quickly here. I think we've entered 70 degree weather for good and dropping. Gotta pull out the sweaters soon! She also wears 5/6 in shoes... probably closer to a 6 but once again, I don't want to put away the 5's! TOO much cute stuff! Oh and we finally moved her up to size 5 diapers! Its pretty tough getting any diaper on her wiggly self so we figured the bigger the better!

Our doctor also was very happy with Ava's speech. We were stretching for maybe 5 words back when she was 15 months, and now she has well over 50! She can count to 10 and no longer skips 8 and will even count by herself sometimes. She always cheers for herself at the end :) She also says really funny phrases like "what are you doing" "how are you" "whose there" (always after knocking on something) and "ready set go" in which she always has to run after!

She can name all the Yo Gabba Gabba characters (her favorite tv show), she knows what a dog and a snake say :) she loves animals, especially dogs! She can play this game called "wiggle wiggle hold still" and she dances and holds still when we say. She also knows all the signs to "popcorn popping" "itsy bitsy spider" and "patty cake"... we even found her trying to sing along with one of her shows the other day. So cute. She'll do a lot of the same signs as her shows or talk along with them (probably means we have the TV on too much)...

Lately her favorite things are to color, play outside, play with other kids, read books, open and close everything, sing songs... she's very easy going and generally happy!

She has 7 teeth in as of today! 5 in front and 2 molars on the ride side. Hopefully the other 4 coming in come in quick! Ava still sleeps 12+ hours a night. 7:15p-7:45a usually and then takes 2-3 hour nap in the middle of the day. She is very much a schedule girl and we like it that way!!

She's totally off the bottle and has been for awhile. She drinks great from a sippy cup and is starting to drink from a real cup too at dinner! She's also doing much better at feeding herself with a spoon and fork! Her favorite foods are watermelon, peaches and graham crackers (and milk). She also thinks ketchup is a food... but we will ignore that for now.

Ava still has a binky at night, at naps, and in the car. I don't feel like taking it away yet so I won't. I used to hate the binky but since she doesn't have to have it all of the time I don't really care if she wants it to help her sleep.

Ava also is still rear facing in her car seat! We <3 extended rear facing and will keep her that way till she is too tall for her seat to stay that way... I'd really like her to stay rear facing till 3 or 4 at least, I know people think I'm crazy but I'm okay with that! If they had gone through my major and were anxious about driving anyway, they would feel the exact same way!

Ava is a very sweet and loving little girl. She loves to give kisses and hugs, she'll kiss and hug her baby dolls and she even gave the doctor a hug today and said "awww" while doing so... It is just crazy to see all the things she mimics. All of her little phrases are things I say all of the time and I say "awww" a ton. She also does a little happy sigh after she drinks (does that make sense)... then I realized I do that too!

I love her. She's better than any little girl I ever dreamed about having as a little girl :) She's perfect.