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

6 years and counting

So June 15th was our six year anniversary!!! David kept pestering me and asking "what should we do for our anniversary?". I didn't know what we could do with little Ava in the mix. We've never had anyone babysit her before! David went ahead and booked a couple's massage at the Ballantyne Spa. Then he said it was my job to find a babysitter. I recruited my friend Lindsay to watch Ava and hoped for the best.

Ava was sleeping in her car seat when we dropped her off at Lindsay's. While we were driving away, we looked at the back seat and realized that for the first time in 9 months Ava wasn't back there when we were in the car. I already started to miss her! But I pretty much forgot about her once we got to the spa. At the spa, I put on my luscious robe, lounged with a book and snacked on fruit kabobs while waiting for my name to be called. David enjoyed ESPN at the men's lounge. We met in the lobby and headed to our couple's massage room. I kept trying to make small talk with David while we were getting under the sheets (we had different beds that faced each other). He shushed me and said he had to get in the mood. Well, excuse me. David takes his massages very seriously.

So for the next 50 minutes we both enjoyed an awesome rub down by our respective masseuses that ended too soon. But there was still time to enjoy the sauna and steam room before picking up l'il Ava. Ava played with Gavin, Lindsay's 8 month old and went on a walk in the double stroller. I don't think she even thought about David and I!

For dinner, we went to the Melting Pot. With Ava in tow, we headed to fondue bliss. We figured leaving Ava with a sitter for a couple hours was enough for one day. She slept in her car seat at the restaurant for a while. But once she woke up, she wasn't about to just hang out in the car seat. David decided we made two mistakes regarding dinner. First, that we even brought Ava. Second, that we decided to cook our meat in oil, aka frying everything (there was also some batter to dip the veggies and meat in). I have to say that fried broccoli is awesome. But I feel like we paid a lot of money for cooking our own food. I still think the best parts of the meal were the cheese and chocolate fondues. The ambience and sexy mood lighting was great and all, but I think maybe David looked kind of frightening in the lighting because Ava was scared of him during dinner! I was feeling remorseful for eating so much and could barely walk when we left the restaurant, but unbelievably, after we were home for a couple of hours, I wanted to eat again!

The next day was Father's Day. I had taken Ava to get her footprints on a plate at a place called "Dish it Up". I also put some paint on her finger tips and made flower petals on the plate. Since I have no artistic ability whatsoever, I paid the girl who worked there to finish the job. It said "I love daddy" on it and the two footprints were drawn into a butterfly. David loved the gift!

I had asked what David wanted for his Father's Day meal and he said he wanted peach cobbler and grilled cheese and ham sandwiches. I asked him why he didn't request something more substantial for dinner and he said he wanted me to focus on the peach cobbler. I had never made peach cobbler before so I can understand why he said I needed to focus on it. The Merrills from our ward ended up inviting us over for dinner so I didn't have to make the sandwiches after all. But I made the cobbler and took it over to the Merrills. I must say it turned out quite well! I'm a regular Martha Stewart after all. Riiiiigggghhhhttttt......

So, it was a wonderful weekend. I'm blessed to have a wonderful husband, who is the best partner and father to Ava that I can ask for.