2 Year Old Ava (long for my records)

Ava is 2... I have said that so many times in the last 2 weeks and still can't believe it! I am still a bit shocked that Ava turned 2 and not only do we not have another child but I'm not pregnant with another. All my life when thinking about having children I envisioned them being no more than 2 years apart in age... Knowing that Ava will be at least 3 or 4 or even older before she has a little sibling (if she gets one at all) really hurts my heart but its just the battle that I have to go through.

I feel like I'm the only person in the world that's not pregnant or have a newborn some days but I just need to try and not focus on that and focus on the wonderful little girl who really is a miracle and the greatest blessing. I know lots of friends who have battled infertility and are still waiting on their miracle and I pray for those friends daily. Its a difficult struggle, I am 16+ months into it but still have a ways to go.

Onto Ava.

Ava had her 2 year well check today. Yesterday I had to take her in for a sick kid check because our office won't do well and sick at the same time :( She's been having a hard time with her ears, eyes, throat. She has a sinus infection and is now on antibiotics and drops for her ears and eyes. I was worried that maybe her tubes had come out but it appears that her ears are just clogged and nothing can get out.

Ava's stats today were

37 inches tall (99%)
32 pounds 6 ounces (98%)
19 1/2 inch head (95%)

Our doctor immediately started in talking about how tall she is. She mentioned the whole idea of doubling a 2 year olds height to estimate their height as an adult. If you double Ava's height she would be 6'2! Our doctor took the guess that she will be 6+ feet tall. I looked back at my height at 2 and turns out I'm just 1 inch shorter than my height doubled at 2.

Ava's wearing 3T clothes... her ideal outfit is 4T shirts and 2T pants. But overall 3T fit best :) She is wearing 7/8 size shoes depending on the shoe and is in size 5 diapers when we used disposable. We are not anywhere near potty training.. no motivation yet.

Ava says SO much, she repeats everything. She even knows her ABC's, how to count to 10, she knows her colors, she can recognize her ABC's and the sounds of letters. Her latest saying that she learned the other day is "have a GREAT day!" its very cute!

She has 11 teeth right now and is currently getting 3 of her canines... I hope they come in soon! She hasn't been to the dentist yet but our ped told us to take her closer to her 3rd birthday. She loves brushing her teeth/getting her teeth brushed so I think we'll be okay.

She is still sleeping great! She was going through a phase where she was waking up every night at 4am but now shes back to her normal self. She also moved into a big girl toddler bed in January and she LOVES it! She will sleep anywhere. We have found her on the floor often but she is happy to be free.

She is eating better and a ton. She loves most foods but must feed herself. Her favorites are peanut butter, black beans, chocolate :) to name a few. She's FINALLY drinking water. She would never drink water but the last few weeks shes actually been willing to drink it :)

One thing I didn't think she would have still at 2 is the pacifier. She uses it to sleep and I have no motivation to take it away from her.. so OH well.. I know some people don't like it but thats fine by me. She is also still rear facing in her car seat which may seem "babyish" according to some but I'm keeping her that way.

Other than that shes a super happy rough and tumble sweet little girl. She really rolls with the punches and makes me so happy. She is the best little girl I could ask for!

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.

(16 &) 17 Months Old

Ava is 17 months old!! I somehow missed writing a 16 month update for Ava with getting tubes last month but here we are and she's already 17 months old!! 1 more month and she's off to nursery and will be 1 1/2!!! How is this possible!

She's talking a LOT more since she got the tubes in her ears. I keep track of her words and phrases in my phone and its AMAZING to see how many shes developed just since getting tubes! I honestly think she said about 5 or so words before she got tubes. That day we got home she said 2 new ones and has been adding tons since.

I'm writing this list for me for future reference so enjoy lol and this is about the order she learned them... but not totally

Words:
Dada
Mama
Wow
Hi
Num
Ya
Bye
Kenji
No
Uh Oh
Down
Thank You
Up
Nice
Eyes
Nose
Go
Papa
Night
Share
Baba
Whose there
Hello
One

Has said before but not as easy to get her to repeat:
Lisa
Dortha
Yes (ya-sss)
Ya I do
Doggie
Grandma
You
How are you
Food
Two

If you ask her want a snake says she says "SSSSS" Its cute, she'll sometimes do kitty right and we are working on what a dog says now :)

Ava is wearing 2T and even some 3T clothes now but I haven't had the heart to put away ANY of her 24 month clothes... I need to though. She is wearing 5/6 in shoes. We went and got her shoes the day she turned 1 and those were a size 4 and now her 5's barely fit, so I think we will be in 6's full time here real soon. Why can't she stay tiny!!! We have a ton of clothes we have been storing and I have even more stored coming up for her to wear... Girl has way too many clothes!

Ava has 6 teeth now, and 5 or 6 more coming in soon! She's got 5 teeth in front and 1 molar on top :) Everytime I try to get my finger in her mouth to feel she tries to bite me! Thankfully she doesn't bite otherwise.

She is such a well behaved little girl. Ava and I traveled 4200 miles in 3 weeks through Az, Ut, Id, Wy, Sd, Nd, and Mt. She was perfect the entire time. She sleeps, she eats, we get out a couple of times when we get gas, she plays with some toys, she doesn't whine or fuss or cry. Its sooo nice to travel with her! If she didn't travel well I'm sure I'd never make the drive anywhere because I hate driving!

I'm really impressed with how easy she is. She loves other kids and is such a sweet heart. I am so grateful for what a blessing she is in our life. I've wanted another baby in our home for 9 months now. Unfortunately we know the wait to have one is going to be a lot longer. Its hard for me to think that getting pregnant with Ava was so simple, if this 2nd child was like Ava I'd be giving birth in a week.

This already shows me that every child is different and although my plans were to have another child already, that's not necessarily gods plan for us. I've learned a lot in the last 9 months, and 17 months for that matter. I am looking forward to the day that we find out that I'm pregnant again and pray that it all works out and our battle with secondary infertility will end soon enough. I need to go back to my doctor and talk about some more medical options because so far I haven't seen much changes with the meformin I've been taking.

Here's to more exciting updates in the future :)

15 Month Appt

Weight: 25 pounds 11 ounces (85th %)
Height: 33 inches (98th %)
Head: 19 inches (94%)

Ava didn't get any of her shots today because she needed more antibiotics for her ear. Her eardrum is ruptured :( and has been bleeding. We have to take her back on Saturday to look and see if she needs more antibiotic and to see how her ear is doing.

We go back in 2 weeks to do a weight check and to get her shots. She has lost 2 pounds (which could be from having the flu this weekend) so we just want to make sure her weight starts going back up because she was nearly 28 pounds at 13 1/2 months old.

We are going to do tubes in her ears and we are going to get her tear ducts probed... hoping to get her into the doctor soon so we can get this all done asap.

14 Months Old

Ava was 14 months on Sunday. She started taking steps the day before Easter. Everyone said she would be taking 6-8 steps within a week of her first steps.... nope! It took her 3 more weeks to work up to 3 steps in a row. She now takes a couple of steps each day trying to get from one piece of furniture to the next. Its very cute :)

She is starting to say a few more things. Number 1 word is "dada" after that she loves to say "hi" and "num num" and every so often we can get her to say "mama" and "wow". The cutest thing is when she 'pretends' to eat and says num num! She knows 3 signs now. "more" "all done" and "eat" It is so adorable when she signs! I want to teach her more.

Ava is getting so big. She is wearing 24 month and 2T clothes. Seriously how can she be this big? I haven't been able to get good measurements of her weight or height. I think she is 33 inches tall but she is wiggly! Lol.

Ava got her 3rd tooth yesterday! She's catching up in the tooth department! She got her first tooth April 1st but it took nearly 6 weeks to get her second and then 6 days after that to get her 3rd :)

She is so much fun and I am excited (no matter what people tell me) for her to start walking full time!

11 Months old!

I can't believe my Ava is 11 months old now! Less than 1 month till her BIRTHDAY! WOW!

She's 24 lbs 6 oz, 31.5 inches tall wearing 18 and 24 month clothes and still in size 4 diapers (and hopefully is for a long time since we have soooo many).

This little girl is cruising around everywhere and everything. She has only stood on her own in the middle of the floor 1x for maybe a few seconds. She's not ready yet, but thats okay :)

She's just started waving. I think I'll count today as her first wave because I waved at her and she did it back, the same number of little waves as well :) It was very cute! She's still trying to figure out how to clap, it usually turns into lots of arm waving.

She has 3 words now, Mama, Dada and Baba. She is a doll and we adore her. I still just can't believe she'll be 1 next month!

10 Months Old

How is my baby 10 months old already? How has this past year gone by so quickly?

Ava is 23 pounds 8 ounces and 31 inches tall today!! 12-18 month clothes, size 4 diapers... she's just crazy big!

Last month I was wondering when she would start crawling on her knees, pulling up, cruising, getting teeth?! Well very quickly she did all of those this month... except the teeth part (and she only cruises a little bit).

She spends most of her day trying to figure out how to climb every single thing thats close to her. She even tries to climb on other little kids. She doesn't realize they aren't sturdy enough to climb on.

Ever since she figured out how to stand in her crib right after the new year, sleep has been a bit different. She hasn't been as easy to keep asleep for 14 hours a night but for some reason the lack of sleep hasn't been bothering me lately. Once I recovered from 7 months straight of no sleep, this little sleep regression doesn't seem like a big deal at all.

Anyway, Ava's birthday is in 2 months!! I'm excited but terrified at the same time. Her birthday means she will be walking soon, she'll start eating real food more than bottles (I'm not ready for that), she'll get teeth (maybe), she'll start talking.... all these things I just can't imagine her doing.

9 Month Appointment

Its official, Ava is triple her weight from when she was born!! So strange. And she is 11 inches taller. I cannot even remember what it is like to have a little 7 pound baby anymore!

Took Ava to her 9 month appointment today! Dr said her ears are looking better. She also said if she gets 2 more ear infections by her birthday then we need to do tubes. I don't want to do tubes so I pray she doesn't get anymore ear infections, which means we really need to work on her not getting colds.

She is 22 pounds 14 ounces and 30 1/2 inches tall. They said she is still off the charts in height of course. She got a shot and I was shocked she didn't even flinch. It was very unusual for Ava. She just played with the cup the Dr gave her.

She is doing well, happy as can be. The doctor mentioned that we shouldn't turn her forward facing in her car seat yet even though she is heavy enough according to the law. I told her not to worry, I'm not turning her forward facing until I absolutely have to. I'm glad they bring it up at the 9 month appointment and not wait till the 1 year appointment.

I can't believe in just 3 months Ava will be 1. Its all gone by too fast. We made her 1 year appointment for the day after her birthday. Its crazy to think that in just 3 months she could go from just crawling to pulling up on furniture, cruising, standing, walking and getting teeth!! So weird.

Anyway Ava is now tall enough to be in 18 month clothes but her 12 month clothes still fit so we will just go with whatever. She has so many clothes we are never short on outfits for Ava. Maybe me and Dan but never Ava. I just bought a bunch of 2T clothes... I couldn't resist this Gymboree Poppy line and Ava already has a ton of 18 and 24 month clothes. It seems like I'll always just be buying 2-3 sizes ahead. That has to stop at some point! I need to stop hoarding baby clothes! We really don't have room to store it all!!

8 months

I keep thinking about how I felt when I was 8 months pregnant... thats about how it feels to now carry Ava around :) This girl is finally slowing down in the growth department. Only gained 6 ounces this month and half an inch. But she is till 22lbs6oz and 29 3/4 inches. Huge, I know.

Love her and everything about her. Love that she has started sleeping all night after help from my mom and her magic in helping me night wean her. She also is eating solids now and there's no baby food she doesn't like. We've got a bedtime routine down now and Ava goes to sleep at 7pm.

Can't believe in just 4 months this girl will be a crazy little 1 year old. Love it.

7 Months

This girl is so close to crawling on all fours! She can do the army crawl but she will be on the move much faster soon. She no longer hates baby food and will eat ANYTHING you give her! Love that she is such a good eater. Don't love the insane diapers that comes with it!

6 Months Old

As of today Ava is closer to her 1st birthday then the day she was born. Its official, time will never slow down.

We have put away a lot of Ava's baby things this month. Her swing, her bouncer chair, a HUGE tub of clothes, baby towels, socks, shoes, etc. I am no where near ready for a 2nd baby but most of Ava's baby clothes look brand new. Only a few outfits were worn enough to even look a tad worn. So cross my fingers we will be able to use these clothes again someday. If we ever have a boy I am going to buy FAR less outfits that are smaller than 12 month size!

Anyway Ava is starting to feel better. She has gone to the Dr twice about her ear infection and cold and I think the new medicine she is on is actually helping this time. Our little sweetie weighed exactly 20 pounds yesterday at her appointment! She is in the 98th percentile for weight. The nurse measured Ava's height and then put it in the computer with a response of "well that can't be right" I asked what was wrong and she replied "her height is off the chart, I must have measured her wrong" I reassured her that she was right but she measured again to see for herself, and yes Ava is 28 1/2 inches which is the 99.9th percentile. She's tall, whats new.

Anyway Ava is such a happy girl, even when she is sick! She is moving everywhere now, either by rolling or army crawling. She gets on her knees and tries to crawl that way but it usually ends up looking like she is break dancing. She sits like a pro now and doesn't have to use her arms to hold her up. She is no where near having teeth and doesn't seem ready to say any words yet.

We are taking a trip to AZ in 2 weeks or so! We will be there for about 2 weeks as well. I am so excited but I wish Dan could come with us. I am sure he won't mind being a bachelor for a few weeks but he won't have a car. I'm going to have to make the drive alone but thankfully I only have to do 6 hours at a time and can stay in Vegas with our cousin.

Anyway here are some pictures from yesterday! Ava's half birthday and my father in law, Marks, birthday!

5 Months

5 Months Old

Ava is 5 months old today and to keep my records going, she weighs 19 pounds today, is 28 inches long. She still has a 17 inch head. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes but we have already started pulling out 12 month clothes as well. And she is fitting nicely in size 3 diapers.

Ok now that I have gone through my usual stats. When is my child going to slow down!!! It only took Ava 2 months to gain the first 6 pounds and now 3 months to gain the next 6.

She is starting to eat solids but we are kinda going back and forth on starting them. If I only fed her carrots she would be happy but she can't just eat carrots forever.

She rolls everywhere, sits up and is starting to scoot herself forwards and backwards. I have a feeling she will be crawling soon!

4 Month Dr Appointment

Ava had her 4 month appointment today! I tried weighing her last week on the 15th and she was 16.12 pounds on her actual 4 month day. Today she was 17 pounds even, 27 inches with a 17 inch head! She is so big! I can't believe she weighs 10 pounds more than she did when we brought her home from the hospital! She is in the 97th percentile for weight, 99th for height and 93rd for her head. We are trying to finish up everything for our move. I can't believe how quick this move is. It is going to be really good for us to move into a 3 bedroom place of our own but still very hard to be away from my family!

3 months

3 months old, 15 pounds, 26 inches long, 16.5 inch head, size 2 diapers and technically in 3-6 month clothes but we put her in both 3-6 and 6-9

2 month photos

2 months old!

I am keeping track of Ava's growth every month on my blog, its easiest for me to write it here since I lose everything else :) so skip this if you don't want to be bored!

At 2 month's Ava is now 13 pounds 6 ounces (which puts her in the 95th percentile)! She has gained nearly 3 pounds since 1 month and nearly 6 pounds since birth! She is just starting to wear 3-6 month clothes even though some of her 0-3 still fit. She has been wearing 3-6 month PJ's for a few weeks now because of the length! She is not short, but I won't know how long she is till her appointment on Monday.

She is right in between size 1 and 2 diapers. I am debating if I want to go get one more pack of size 1 diapers today or just to move her up into the 2's. We only have 1 size 1 left, but it seems like Huggies size 1's could fit her for another couple of weeks but the Luvs size 2's we have aren't as stretchy so they don't even fit as nice as the Huggies.

She "talks" all the time now. I was never sure if she would make cuter noises then her low grunts she made for the first month. Now its constant adorable babble and high pitch noises! She smiles so much now! Her first smile was 3 weeks ago but now we can make her smile so easily. She has the biggest eyes and I think she looks just like Dan.

She slept 6 1/2 hours on Thursday night this week! Made my day, that's the longest she has ever slept straight. She normally only sleeps 3-4 hours at a time. She is a bit addicted to her pacifier, thankfully she doesn't always get upset when it falls out but most of the time she does. Not sure if the pacifier is something she will grow out of or not. She won't suck her thumb though.

Anyway we love our little Ava more than anything, I can't believe how big she is getting!

1 Month Old

I can't believe its been 1 month already! She has packed on 3 1/2 pounds since we left the hospital! She currently weighs 10lbs 8oz and is 22 inches long. She has climbed from the 50th percentile to the 80th! She is wearing size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes!

Her comparison photos from March 15th and April 15th!