Separated at birth?

At least Ava's in on the joke.

King King ain't got nothin' on me!

Ava has gotten into the habit of ripping off her bib when she's done eating. I'm not sure why I find it so hilarious. She's like baby Hulk Hogan ripping off her shirt after jumping in the ring!
(P.S. Does anybody know the HTML code for rotation so I can fix this thing?)

Sweet dreamer...

Not much to say. Just a dreamy shot.

Happy 7 months, Ava!

This Sunday Ava turned seven months old. I remember when she was this tiny thing we had to swaddle, shhhhh and rock to calm her down. Now she's changed in so many ways. Her personality is bursting through, and I'm convinced she'll be the boss of all of us one day. (Hi Patricia! That's Ava's caregiver when mommy is at work.)

Let's get physical...

Last night Ava tried out an exersaucer, which was given to us by a family friend, Janie. She loved it, even though she was trying to jump like she does in her jumper. The jumping didn't work too well, but it's just another tool for me to use in my arsenal as I work from home!

Guess who has teeth??

If you guessed Ava...you are correct! My little girl got her first tooth. We think it happened on Monday, because she was crying a lot, and she's not a big cryer, especially during the afternoon. Along with her teeth are new traits, little signs of independence and frustration which I suspect are a sign of times to come. Oh...my little baby is growing up!

Mother's Little Helper

Ava having a hard day at the office. She had to train me on a few things to set me straight.

Mylar is better than latex...

Sounds kinky, but the American Red Cross says it's better to "play" with mylar balloons verses latex, which is really dangerous. Here are some shots of Ava going off on a balloon. I haven't seen her this crazy since we first put her in the Bumpo. (See http://shanbuon.blogspot.com/2008/06/more-bumpo-madness.html)

Sour bananas??

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Ava likes everything she eats. Well, that has been proven wrong. And, by bananas (her favorite!) of all things. These organic baby food makers put citric acid in the baby food to preserve it...well Ava thinks it's yuck, yuck, yuck! She kept wanting it, then puckering up, until we both decided to throw in the hat.

Daddy got caught!

The other morning we caught daddy in the guest bedroom sleeping. (Actually, I won't lie - daddy goes in the guest room a lot to get some rest!)

Camera cord strikes again!

What is the magic about this thing?! I'm convinced it's because she's not supposed to have it.

Such a fruity girl!

It's been super fun giving Ava solids, mainly because she seems to like everything. Banana, rice cereal, squash, apple sauce. We should probably start giving her more veggies...everything so far has been sweet! Here's a shot of her eating a pear today. Yum.

My little fish!

Last weekend Ava went swimming for the first time in the big kids pool! This video is pretty goofy, cause my camera ran out of memory in the middle of it, but you'll get the jist.

Jumper!

Ava has lots of nicknames, based on what she's doing that week. Here she's Jumper! She loves this thing, and it helps mommy have a few minutes to grab a bite to eat and get some dishes done.

Good day, mate!

No...Ava isn't on a safari. Actually, Ava is taking a walk with her daddy this weekend.

You know you want to....

...jump on this bed and kiss me!

Food, food and more food!

Actually, only about 10% of it goes into her belly. Here are some more shots of her grubbin' down, and the bath that accompanied it. I'm still finding cereal in my ears from that session!

What took me so long??

All this hair...and this is the first official, crazy, bathtime hairstyle I've done! What a schlep!

I'm a big (and messy) girl, now!

Hooray!! Ava gets solids!! We started giving her cereal last week - after noticing her stare at our dinner plates, then back at us, then back at our dinner plates. She just had the look that said, "Mother, I greatly appreciate your regular offerings, now give me some damn food!" As anyone who has fed a baby knows, it's more about the experience, than the satisfaction of hunger. Here she is eating rice cereal with some mashed up banana and mama's milk. Yum! (I tasted it and it was quite deelish...)

Lunch with the gals...

Last Friday, Ava, my sister, my mom and I enjoyed a girl's lunch. Ava is such good company. After lunch we all went and had pedicures (except Ava, of course). Ava hung with us like a champ. She's so dreamy. Here are some shots from that day. (Except, I can't find the pics of my mom!!!)