Where has the time gone?

I haven't blogged for a while because I lost my camera and was also away from home for three weeks. And also I'm lazy.

Ava is now 15 months old. I need to record what she is up to these days. But before I do that, here are pictures that we had to reenact a month after Halloween due to my missing camera. Ava ended up being a rat this Halloween. I thought it was a mouse costume when I bought it, but it is clearly a rat costume. While other moms were dressing their dear little daughters as ladybugs, fairies and other lovely creatures, Ava was a rat. Oh well. She was a darn cute rat.

This is the face she makes when we tell her to "smile"

Where's my candy?

Ava doesn't talk much, but here are the words she will say, even if she might not know what it means for sure: "Uh oh", "No", "Hi", "Bye bye", "Ball", "Coco" (parent's dog), "bad", "Papa" (Grandpa Smock),"dada" and "Maaa" (It should be Ah Ma, Taiwanese for Grandma), "go", "bubble" and "mama"

Animal sounds: meow, moo, bzzzz, some weird elephant sound we taught her, sort of a dog sound, Baa, and a roar that she uses for lions, tigers, dinosaurs, and other scary looking animals

Sign language: Ava started watching "Signing Time" videos a long time ago but really didn't pick up on signing until after age 1. She knows the signs for water, baby, milk, shoes, eat, flower, fish, book, bath, more, bird and the best of all, Jesus.

Fave foods: Trader Joe's Roasted Vegetable Pizza (it's dairy-free and totally yummy. The whole family fights over it!), Snapea Crisps, Gerber's snacks, grapes, pears and apples. One time she tried to pry open David's mouth when he was eating chocolate. No chocolate for you, Ava!

Cute antics: trying on people's shoes. Big or small, she likes them all. When she wakes up, she likes to give me a kiss on the lips if she's in a good mood. This is when she is lying next to me after a night of sleeping over in mom and dad's bed...which is every night. When she hugs people, she pats their back.

Oh yeah...and she's walking! And very proud of herself too. She kept showing off during Thanksgiving. Her Papa (Grandpa Smock) was very encouraging, so Ava put on quite a show!

Goodbye Nana

This is a picture of Nana Smock and Ava. Ava was three weeks old and Nana came to stay for a week and help us out! Nana was so helpful and loving. She cooked meals, tidied up, scrubbed our dirty shower, and had Ava sleep with her at night so I could get some extra sleep!

The time we spent with Nana for that one week was all too precious. Nana was diagnosed with brain cancer just a few weeks after our special time together. She died on November 22, 2008, surrounded by some of her loving family. She fought a tough battle, and fight she did. She was truly the best example of a patient and persevering person through this trial. But through her faith, she considered this trial a blessing. Her funeral was on November 26, the day of her 64th birthday. It was simply the most tender, inspiring, and spiritual funeral. David delivered a beautiful eulogy that showed a woman who loved life, God, and her family. During my last visit with her in September of this year, she kept stressing how important it was to live each day like it was your last. Cherish life!

Goodbye for now Nana.

Random Sampler

Who's scared of the big bad mommy?

Those of you who know me very well know that I'm scared of many things: the dark, driving on freeways, talking to people, etc, etc...so of course it's not surprising that Ava is quite sensitive. It's funny when I discover some new thing that Ava is frightened of. There have been a couple of times when a pesky fly gets into our house. I couldn't rest until I had exterminated the flies on each occasion. When I roll up any magazine I get my hands on and start swatting against which ever glass surface the fly lands on, Ava would scream hysterically. I must look very frightening with a rolled up magazine. I say, "bring it on, flies!"

Ava likes to bust a move

While Ava nurses, she starts moving around like she is about to start breakdancing. She gets her legs up in the air like she is going to start spinning. Very impressive acrobatics. I think she is getting close to spinning on her head, even if she isn't walking yet. She even attempts to stand up. I think pretty soon I'll be getting a membership card to the Freaky Toddler Nursing Club. Don't worry, I won't turn into that eccentric and aberrant British lady who is still breastfeeding her eight year old. Sometimes I have a love-hate relationship with the whole nursing thing. I only hate it at night. Maybe her nightwakings are inextricably linked with nursing, but I feel that she needs to nurse since she has that milk allergy. Hooray for mammaries!


First dentist appointment

Ava bumped her mouth on her wagon and her mouth was bleeding, so I figured it was time to take her to the dentist to make sure no damage was done. Plus one of her top teeth was looking a little suspect, so it was time to have a professional take a look. We went to a brand new pediatric dentistry practice. Ava was the only patient there and was the star of the show. I laid her on my lap with her head in the dentist's lap. Ava screamed while the dentist took a look and Ava tried to clamp her mouth shut. Everything looked fine! Ava got her first toothbrush (with Tigger on it) and strawberry toothpaste. She has officially graduated from using a wash cloth as a toothbrush to the real thing. She's only got six teeth (four on top and two on the bottom) but these teeth are lethal. Ava comes up to me when I'm minding my own business and bites into my arm, my stomach, my leg, or whatever she can get her chompers on. What can I do but yell in pain? She always looks at me blankly or laughs at me when I say "No biting!"


Tricks of the trade (of being cute)


A toddler is akin to a puppy. You work on teaching or training them to do new tricks. Ava has a few tricks in her repertoire. She can point to many of her body parts. My favorite is when she pats her diaper when I ask her where her bum is. I also love it when she wiggles her toes when I ask her where her toes are. Ava can clap her hands on command, in particular to certain songs. She says "mmmmmwwwwahhhh" and puts her hand to the mouth when I tell her to blow kisses. This month she has just blossomed and is learning new things everyday. She isn't saying too many words yet, but she points to balls and says "Ball". She also says "babu" for "bubble ". I tried to teach her how to massage my legs and feet for my own selfish purposes but we're not quite there yet...

Mommy Mess-Ups

Hazardous french fry


Everyone talks about this instinct that mothers have. I'm not sure if I have one, or if I do, it's in its infant stages and seriously smothered by all the frivolous thoughts running around in my head. Or maybe we should just call this mommy instinct "common sense". An example of my lack of motherly instinct would have to be when I handed Ava a piping hot french fry at a restaurant. I had a feeling that even though the outside of the french fry was at a moderate temperature, the inside was probably too hot. Yet I still handed it to her. What is wrong with me? I think I was so anxious for her to consume some high caloric food. Of course she screamed "BLAH!" at the top of her lungs when she put it in her mouth and everyone in the restaurant turned and looked at us while Ava rubbed her poor mouth.



Get some gates already!


I was feeling particularly miserable one night because of my non-stop snot flowage, so as I was climbing on the kitchen counter to get to the medicine cabinet (I think I should invest in a stool before I kill myself climbing countertops), I heard a really loud thump and wailing. I ran over to wherever Ava was...and she was lying face down on the stairwell. I have no idea how many steps she had fallen, but I mean, it was a thunderous thump! I comforted her and she calmed down when she started nursing. I put her to bed and called the pediatrician's number and a nurse answered for any afterhours questions. I explained the situation and the nurse instructed me to shine a flashlight into each of Ava's eyes in the dark to see if the pupils constrict. This was one of the things on the checklist to check for brain injury. As I desperately tried to shine a flashlight into Ava's eyes while she was sleeping, she woke up and was furious and kept batting the flashlight away. I had to call David to finish the job. He was at a friend's house for a much needed session of "manversation" or "man-time" and violent movies. Once he rushed home he was able to confirm that both pupils constricted and that nothing seemed wrong with little Ava.



Sleepless Nights



I categorize David and I not getting decent sleep to something that I've done wrong along the way. Everything some sleep experts say not to do has been done by yours truly. I'm sure bringing a baby into the bed to nurse in the middle of the night isn't against the rules in some peoples' book. But all I know is, something isn't working right with Ava's sleeping habits. She's addicted to nursing at night and sometimes insists on it 3-4 times a night. It's like I'm dealing with a newborn...but a very sassy one at that. One that can throw herself backwards in protest if you don't feed her pronto. Sometimes she bumps her head on the headboard while thrashing around on the bed, thus escalating her wrath. So, I'm starting to get desperate...but not quite desperate enough to do the cry it out thing. Well, I sort of let her cry when I bring her into our room on the nights when I don't feel like being her pacifier. I try to comfort her and pat her back and not nurse her. All the while she is screaming and David leaves to go sleep in another room while Ava and I battle it out. She usually wins...Something that David and I say a lot is "with our next one, we're going to do things differently."

Her shoes aren't made for walking

Taken two months ago...shoes weren't used for walking then, and nothing has changed since.

lil' entree for a lil' sweetie. She dug her grubby little hands in and tossed the whole plate on the floor. Should've known...

This Radio Flyer walker wagon was Ava's first birthday gift. She doesn't really like to push it on her own, but she enjoys getting pushed around.

David and I take turns pushing. It can be hard on the backs of us old folks

You talkin' to me, or the monkey?

All this monkey business is making me sleepy. Plus being so gorgeous is exhausting

And the culprit is...dairy

At Ava's one year check up, she weighed in at a little over 16 pounds. I was quite dismayed that she was not even on the growth chart in terms of weight. She is still at the 75th percentile for height, though. Ava is always very traumatized at the doctor's office, and cries as soon as the nurse or doctor gets near her. Needless to say, the MMR shots she got made her scream bloody murder. Only a little frog toy that the nurse gave her calmed her down. I decided after the appointment that it was time to fatten Ava up. Her skin had miraculously cleared up a week ago. I thought we could say good bye to eczema for good and decided I could start stuffing my face to my heart's desire. I went crazy at the Greek festival during the weekend. I ate cheese, walnuts, almonds, probably some butter and her skin is still looking fab. Here are a few pics from the Greek festival:

Ava had a piece of bread in each hand while we were having dinner

Her feet are always on the table, without fail

The Greeks got it right with this cookie..the amytholota or something like that. Every year I have to stock up on the cookies during festival. The festival was a mad house this year. Way too many people in my way when I was trying to buy my baklava and other delights.





Back to Ava's story...I always get sidetracked when I think about food. So I had already set up an appointment with an allergist a month prior. I almost cancelled the appointment because I thought Ava probably didn't have food allergies after all. The day before the allergist appointment, I bought a whole pack of yogurt. I fed Ava a spoonful and she expressed her distaste immediately. I kept shoving spoonfuls into her mouth, determined to get some bovine goodness into her, despite her protests. All of a sudden, she started getting hives all over her face and neck. I just nursed her to sleep and when she woke up 45 minutes later, she was fine. I didn't give her any Benadryl, for fear of messing up the chance of getting tested at the allergist. The next day, at the allergist, she was pricked with the usual suspects and out of all the food types they tested, it only showed she was allergic to milk. She's also allergic to mold and dust mites. I guess I should start dusting, or cleaning in general for that matter. The skin prick test wasn't too horrible for her. The nurse was trying to prick her really quickly and may have jabbed her a bit too hard at a few spots. I can't believe I may have to jab Ava with one of those crazy Epipens if she ever has an allergic reaction again. And give her Benadryl, then call 911. I told the allergist that this seemed like an extreme measure if she just had hives for a few minutes. His reply was, "This is not the gospel according to me. Any other doctor would tell you the same blessed thing." Alright, 'nuff said. Any answer with the words "gospel" and "blessed" needs to be heeded most seriously. I'm not going to gamble with Ava's life here...

More birthday pics

Ava got nice and dirty

Ava ate it all! Just kidding. I helped Ava eat the cake. Actually, I ate most of it, but had to throw the rest out. Too much temptation for me. Even if it was a little weird tasting, being egg free and dairy free.

All hail to dirty Queen Ava. Off to her royal bath. Doesn't she look regal?

Ava turns 1!!!!

Ava turned 1 on September 5. We didn't really celebrate it until two days later, on a Sunday afternoon. I was feeling really guilty about not throwing her a real party. I'm not cut out as a party planner. If my mom was here, I'd put her to work and throw a great party with some yummy food! But I think we'll throw Ava a real party when she is old enough to understand what is going on.

Sad, droopy balloons. David the Science Guy was surprised when I couldn't figure out why the balloons were so droopy. He said "It needs helium, silly!"

We made a dairy-free, egg-free cake for Ava (from a box, of course).

Get this hat off of me

Ava thought that I should look like the dunce in the hat, not her

This cake needs a good lickin'

Ava likes pillow fights

The Smock family made a wonderful trip to Utah to visit Nana and Grandpa Smock. Here are a few photos of our fun-filled days in Utah.

David and I put our beds together so Ava could sleep safely in the bed with us. Half the time she ended up in the crevice. She liked to flip through books with her butt in the crevice

Ava loved playing in Nana and Grandpa's pillows. She loves a good pillow fight

Nana got Ava a quiet book for church.

Ava likes to hold onto my legs a lot...she is a timid little china doll

Any time Ava gets a straw in her hands, she has to put it in her mouth and looks hilarious

This is actually in Charlotte, but she did the same trick in Utah

We got to walk around Temple Square a little

Ava and her "papa"

And the Mom of the Year Award goes to....me!

This morning while I was in my zombie-like state, I heard the sound of inevitability...or rather the thud of Ava falling off the bed. I heard a thump (or maybe two since she may have hit the ledge first) and I jumped out of bed and rushed over to my poor daughter, who was lying on her back and absolutely petrified. Of course she cried and whined for a while, but I think she is fine. I called the doctor's office and the nurse said she should be fine, as long as she doesn't vomit multiple times or act funny. David kept warning me that Ava was bound to fall off the bed one of these days, since she ends up sleeping with me half-way through the night. David's poignant warning words rang in my head all morning, so I dreaded telling David about this. Needless to say, he was furious with me. I guess my barricade of two or three pillows doesn't cut it. I just have to get my lazy butt out of bed next time Ava starts crawling around on the bed in four wheel drive...

Ava also fell down a couple of stairs the other day. And she bumped her face into the snack tray of her stroller when I hit a bump in the road during a walk. She was screaming wildly as people were walking by. It was embarrassing because she was also super crusty from her teething biscuit that she was working on during our walk (no doubt I was looking crusty too). I wanted to tell them we weren't homeless. So I need to work on protecting my little Ava a little better. Or maybe these bumps and bruises along the way are just an infant's rite of passage into toddlerhood.

Ava likes "Raisinets"

Just recently, I've started giving Ava chopped up raisins. She loves them. I think she has a sweet tooth, like her gluttonous parents. And to think she has barely tapped into the world of culinary delights. I haven't given her a lot of foods that other babies her age might be eating because I am still trying to figure out if her eczema is triggered by food allergies. But I've already determined that she prefers sweet food (well... duh, right?)

Likes:

-Prunes
-Pears
-Applesauce
-Plums
-Grapes
-pureed carrots
-Cheerios
-Gerber's puffs
-pureed sweet potatoes


Dislikes:

-most pureed green vegetables
-avocadoes
-pureed meat w/ vegetables (can't blame her-that stuff smells like vomit)

Trying to figure out if Ava has food allergies is not going very well. I am absolutely no closer to figuring it out than I was a month ago. I am on a ridiculously restrictive diet (have been for about a month) where I'm not eating any dairy products, nuts, seafood, eggs, tomatoes, or citrus fruits. Through all my hours of googling I've come to find that some people believe moms who breastfeed need to watch what they eat if their babies have eczema. So I decided to give this "maternal avoidance diet" or "elimination diet" a shot. I'm also trying to abstain from soy products but that is proving to be most difficult (read labels-soy in one form or another is in everything!). Wheat is considered another food that many are allergic to but I just can't cut it out. It would be a living hell. So I eat a lot of dairy-free pizza, rice cakes, rice milk, cheerios, and other other manner of carbs since I'm not a huge meat-eater. Sometimes I mess up and eat ice cream, or have some pasta with cheese, or eat a cupcake (baked with eggs). Sometimes I think I am torturing myself for no reason because she probably doesn't have any food allergies. Even when I'm being good and not eating the forbidden foods, her skin still flares up!

Anyway, I'm pretty close to giving up and maybe taking her to the allergist to see if her skin is just being difficult for no reason. I've already been to two different dermatologists and have all the creams I need. But in the mean time, Ava doesn't get a lot of variety in her diet. Perhaps she is pretty hungry for some new things to eat. Last Saturday, I decided to put her to sleep in just her diaper on the floor. Warning, this story gets a little gross. We hear her crying a little bit after a little while and David goes to check on her. "Louise, get up here quick!" David yelled. It turns out that Ava had ripped off her diaper and peed on the floor, and you guessed it, poo was everywhere. Now, Ava has some weird poo sometimes. Sometimes her diaper looks like a rabbit pooped in there. We have lovingly named these types of poop "turd nuggets". Ava had sampled some of the nuggets and hopefully spat it out. Perhaps she thought, "oh look, these raisins that mommy likes to feed me comes out of my butt too!" and tried it out. Ava was crying the whole time we were trying to clean the mess up. I think she figured out she was doing something naughty!!! I think the family has learned a few lessons here...Ava included.

Family pics

If you look closely, Ava is smirking

We took this picture by setting our camera on the grill

Ava has mastered the "fake smile"

David the friendly giant had to really bend down...

A day in a life of Ava

During these long, sweltering summer days, Ava and I keep things simple. This is our schedule: up for the day at around 8:30am. It sounds like we sleep in, but usually there is a battle that waged a couple of hours ago. Ava doesn't sleep well at night. She starts in the crib at around 9:30 pm (she's kind of a night owl), then usually wakes up a couple of times before David and I go to bed. She just needs a little TLC to be put back to sleep. Then sometimes she wakes up at midnight, right when David and I are in our deep sleep. At that point, we just bring her into our bed and David goes to sleep on the uncomfortable guest bed that he doesn't fit on (although there really aren't a lot of beds he fits on anyway!). Ava insists on nursing a couple of times in the middle of the night and throws a tantrum if we just let her fuss it out on the bed. Even after nursing her sometimes, she'll just sit up and decide that it is time to bang on the headboard or my face. I am constantly moving her around on the bed so that she won't fall off or bang her head on multiple hazardous areas of the bed. There must be a better way...

Ok, back to the schedule. I've discovered that Ava thinks cribs are overrated (refer to paragraph above). This is also the case during the day. I finally figured out that she'll have to sleep on the floor. I lay her on my chest, lay down on the floor, and slide her down onto the blankets once I think she is in a deep sleep. Like this:

When she wakes up, she can play with her toys for a few seconds before I go get her. Lately, she's been taking her morning nap at around 11am and sleep until about 1pm. If I'm lucky, this whole process repeats at around 3:30pm. She might sleep until 5pm. She really does whatever she wants. She is the boss.

During the day, Ava plays with her toys. This is the new kitchen set I bought her. I really want to buy her a ton more toys, but David says we don't have the room. So I guess we need a bigger house.

Ava likes to explore. Especially the electric plugs you see there on the wall. I am constantly chasing her around and trying to get her away from danger. I think we need to do a better job of babyproofing. Multiple times during the day we are prying her mouth open to see what she is chomping on. Usually, it's tiny pieces of paper that is on our floor. Why we have tiny pieces of paper on our floor, I don't know. Sometimes she'll be chomping on 3-day old Cheerios that fell off her booster seat. The five second rule doesn't apply anymore. I mean, who has time to vacuum 5 times a day?

Ava looks like she got caught doing something naughty. I'm sure she was about to. There are lots of goodies in that chest to chew on. Like pictures I need to sort through and put into photo albums, but probably won't happen until Ava is in college.

We thought it would be funny to put Ava inside an empty box and pull her around. She didn't think it was funny. Usually we put her in a more traditional mode of transportation, like a stroller. She enjoys our family walks.

Meet Ava's greatest foe. Ava is scared to death of this thing. We bought it, hoping Ava would love to use it in the pool. But everytime she sees this thing, she trembles and screams and practically jumps into our arms. She won't take her eyes off of it until we hide it. Sometimes during the day, I'll take her over to the car and pet it. But Ava still hates it and we've never used it at the pool. I guess it has kind of a creepy face.

Once in a while we make it to the pool. She likes to drink the water. She does have a bathing suit but it is a pain to put on. She likes it au naturel, baby.

We spend a lot of time going to Target. Sometimes a couple of times a week. It's impossible to leave Target without spending $50 each time. I must say, a bored mom = a mom who shops a lot. So I have to keep us busy, otherwise we'll be in trouble! But now I've discovered online shopping and that is extremely dangerous!

Ava is almost off the charts

Ava's stats at 9 months:

Weight: 15 pounds (3rd percentile!)
Height: 28.5 inches (75th percentile)

Ava is so skinny that she is almost off the charts in weight. I'm not going to pay too much attention to that though. This comparison chart is for formula-fed babies and Ava has never had a drop of formula in her life. She's a lean little machine.

Going organic makes my head hurt

Since becoming a mom, I've become a lot more aware of what is being put on Ava's skin and fed to her little tummy. So, I've become one of those people who constantly reads labels...and what I'm reading ain't pretty. Have any of you read the ingredients of baby products that you can buy from the store? There's sodium laureth sulfate (the stuff that makes the product lather), propylene glycol (I think this helps moisturize), parabens (preservatives), phalates (plastic softeners) and all sorts of other unholy ingredients that I need to shun. Why must the Smocks go organic? Because someone who appeared on Oprah said so, that's why. If it's on Oprah, it must be true and we must follow.

Trying to go organic hasn't been easy. Firstly, there is some resistance from the hubby. "Why doesn't this baby shampoo lather? I want some lather!" And then I pretend to know what I'm talking about and explain how the cosmetic industry just puts that SLS crap in to make everyone think that the product is working because it is foaming.

Secondly, I would have to throw away everything that we have in the house and buy new things! There are cleaning supplies, shampoos/conditioners, skin care products, laundry detergents, toothpaste, etc. And the list goes on. I am constantly bombarded with news about unsafe chemicals in baby products or just products in general. What is this BPA business all about? You mean that some of those sippy cups they sell at Target might have BPA in them? What's safe and what's not? Wait, now we're supposed to avoid canned food because of this BPA deal? Oh it just gets more and more complicated.

Thirdly, there is the matter of the cost of going organic. Organic fruits, organic milk, organic baby food, organic sugar...this stuff adds up.

Fourthly, going organic just takes some extra effort. Sometimes I have to go to special stores to buy these special products. I want to get our carpets cleaned, but then I read online about all the horrible chemicals that these carpet cleaners use. I guess I have to rent a rug doctor and buy some "responsible" detergent (for the ecosystem and little sensitive Ava, of course). I guess we'll be too lazy to do all that so our carpets won't be cleaned for a while. I'm more concerned about our health, rather than the environment right now. Thinking about all the things I need to do for the environment makes my head spin. I'm not going to go buy a Prius. I can't give up my paper towels, or use a compost. I can only tackle one thing at a time.

I think at this point, I just can't go all the way. Surprise, surprise...something else I can't do or finish completely. After all, I was only vegan for a day (I heard some very compelling arguments about how going vegan is good for the environment and for your body). But give me some credit for trying...

Ava takes on Block Island

Ava asleep in the back pack on one of our many hikes

Someone got a serious visit from the hair fairy...

Funny glamour shot

Serious glamour shot

Hangin' out in the house

Ava's 1st time in the ocean

Checkin' out the surf

Ava loved the beach

Stroll with Chris, Thayer, Gabe & Nate

Hangin' with cousin Gabe