Ava Kate - 7 months

Miss Ava Kate turned 7 months old last friday, April 27th!  She's becoming such a big girl and developing quite the personality!  

Things you're doing now.....

• You weigh 18 lbs 1.5 oz and you're 26 inches long

• You're still wearing size 2 diapers but not for too much longer

• You're such a little rolly polly that you're wearing mostly 9 month clothes!

• You're eating more and more baby food.  Your feeding schedule is something like this:  7:00am - bottle, 10:00 oatmeal and fruit, 12:30- bottle, 3:30 - bottle, 6ish - 2 veggies, 7:00ish -bottle, and typically another bottle before bed.  All your bottles are 5 oz bottles of breast milk.  

• You started sleeping in your bedroom right after your 6 month birthday....you sleep on your tummy with your paci

• You're still not sleeping through the night!  You usually go to sleep around 8:30, wake up around 3:30 or 4:00am to eat, and then you're up for the day around 7:00.  (this is our schedule on a good night...some nights you wake 2-3 times)

•  You've started reaching for us when you want to be picked up....it's so sweet!

• You laugh a lot.....when we tickle you, when Owen's being silly, when we blow raspberries on your tummy, and when we "get" your neck....BUT you have also started fake laughing, especially when you want our attention

• You're babbling all the time

• You've started rolling all over the place

• You're sitting up by yourself, but we still put the boppy around you when we're not sitting right next to you

• You're pushing up on your arms, but still haven't figured out how to get up on your knees.  We've gotten you on hands and knees a few times and you're not a big fan...but we're just fine with that, we don't want our baby girl growing up too fast!

• You love to play with Owen's toys....especially Lightning McQueen!

• You're hair has really started growing...it's really light and pretty thin so it you still look pretty bald.   AND the little bit you do have...sticks straight up!  Papa Joe has started calling you kiwi because of all your fuzz

• You've started holding your own bottle!  Apparently you started doing this a daycare a while back and were just hiding it from mommy and daddy

• Bath time is still one of your favorites!  You usually sit in your bumbo and spend the whole time trying to dive out of it for toys or Owen

• You really like to sit and play with the "busy basket" of toys....you love to pull all the toys out!

• Sophie is definitely one of your most favorite toys right now!   

• You also really like your exersaucer and you're starting to figure out the walker, but you can only manage to get it to go backwards

• You're a really happy baby!

• You've become more and more curious about your surroundings...you're watching everything now

• You've noticed the writing on our shirts....and you like to try and grad it...especially the sun on mommy's work shirt

• You've definitely started teething and you're chewing on everything!  We still can't feel anything but I'm sure you'll have some teeth popping through soon

• You have found your feet and LOVE to play with them

7 month comparison....

 Owen                      Ava Kate

Ava Kate - 6 months

Ava Kate turned 6 months old on March 27th!  Wow...time is just flying by!!  I can't believe we've had our sweet baby girl with us for 6 months already!

Things you're doing now....

• You went for your 6 month check up on 4/2/12 and you weighed 16 lbs 13 oz and were 25.5 inches tall.  That puts you in the 40th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight.

• You're wearing size 2 diapers and mostly 6-9 month clothes

• You're eating 5 oz bottles of breast milk every 3 hours throughout the day, typically at 7:00, 10:00, 1:00, 4:00, 7:00pm (baby food & bottle), and 8:30-9:00pm

• We've just added baby food to your feeding schedule.  We usually let you try your food while we're all eating at the dinner table and then give you your bottle afterwards.

• You tried baby food (cereal) for the first time on March 25th and really seemed to like it!  You're all about eating!

"Avocados yuck!"

• You get really excited about eating but really mad when we don't it to you fast enough!  Your expressions are priceless!!!

• You're such a happy baby now.  You typically only cry when you're hungry or tired...or if Owen accidentally hurts you

• You laugh a lot....especially when we tickle your neck or your tummy!

• You've really found your voice over the past few weeks.  You're not babbling, but love to squeal and have gotten pretty loud!

• You love your paci and are starting to figure out how to get it back in your mouth....you can pick it up, you make several attempts to get it in your mouth and have been successful a few times 

• You love being outside!  Your teachers at daycare say you're the happiest when you're outside playing on the screened in porch

• You also really enjoy our walks to the pond to watch Owen feed the ducks....you're very curious about the ducks and watch their every move

• You really like to watch Honey and love to pull her hear when you get your hands on her

• You've slept through the night a handful of times, but typically get up one or two times a night to eat...we would like to let you cry it out but we don't want you to wake your brother up.  

• You usually take a bottle just before bed and then rock with mommy or daddy...it puts you right to sleep!

 

• Story time is one of your favorites!!  You get upset if Owen and I start reading before you're in the chair with us!

• You absolutely adore your big brother and he LOVES you soooo much!  Daddy and I love to watch ya'll play together!  You just light up every time you see him!

• Bath time is your favorite!  You usually take a bath with Owen and love to steal his toys...Lightning McQueen is your favorite!!!

• You've officially started teething!  We can't feel anything, but you're chewing on everything and drooling all the time!

• You've started sitting up on your own, but only for a few seconds so mommy and daddy have to stay close by

• I put a bow on you everyday and you actually leave it on for the most part....unless you're in your car seat...and then you ALWAYS pull it down and wear it like a necklace

• Your teachers at school end up taking your bow off everyday.  They say the other kids attack you trying to get to your hair bow.....but mommy still sends you in one anyway!

6 month comparison...

Owen                        Ava Kate 

I think Ava Kate has a few pounds on Owen....Ha!

3 Year Update...

Owen...

you are such a sweet, loving, caring, wild, rambunctious, strong willed, thoughtful little guy

....and we LOVE every little piece of you!!

Things you're doing now....

• You weigh 33 lbs and are around 36 inches tall

• You wear mostly 3T clothes, but still wear 2T shorts.

• You're now wearing a size 9 shoe... You definitely have your daddy's feet!

• You are doing really well with all things VLCAD.  You're still at 22 grams of fat per day and taking 1 packet of MCT procal first thing in the morning and just before bed.  You also take a multi-vitamin in the morning and a DHA supplement before bed. 

Some of the funny things you're saying theses days....

• You ALWAYS say "Sweet dreams, I Love You, Okay" as we say good nite and leave your room 

• You say "tomarno" for tomorrow, "underwared" for underwear

• You always want to play in the morning and always want mommy to play with you instead of getting ready.  The other morning you asked me to play and I told you that I couldn't because I needed to get ready.  Your response was "Yes you can mommy, you can do it, I know you can"

• You love to sing "Red Solo Cup".....thanks to daddy!  You sing it all the time!

• If someone calls you pretty you ALWAYS correct them and tell them "I'm not pretty, I'm handsome"

• You always call people out when they say a bad word (or least the bad words you know....stupid and shut up) and it doesn't matter where we are!  

• You recently started telling us that you want to drive every time we get in the car

• You also frequently tell us that "we need to go put gas in the car so we can go fast"

•  You love strawberry slushes from SONIC and Jetty Punch smoothies from Tropical Smoothie Cafe!

• Noodles of any kind are your go to meal, but if we ask you what you want, you always say chicken and french fries!

• You have 4 favorite breakfast foods right now:  low fat brown sugar cinnamon pop-tarts, cereal (typically frosted flakes or special K with strawberries), reduced fat Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (which we are having a hard time finding right now), and blueberry muffins made with applesauce 

• You've started expressing your independence in all areas of life.  You want to dress yourself (which takes awhile and frustrates you when things don't go quiet the way you want them to), brush your own teeth, do your own hair, potty by yourself (but you still want us in the room), pick out your own clothes AND shoes, climb in the car and car seat by your self....the list goes on and on

• You have become such a big boy just in the last few months

• You love all the new things on what you call the "big boy" playground and fearlessly try them all!

• You're really into imaginative play right now and love playing in your "Hero Box" that Santa brought you for Christmas.  The cook (aka chef) and Buzz Light Year are your favorite

• You also love going on Safaris.  Mommy and Daddy put animals all around the house, you put on your safari hat, and we set out on a safari to see what we can find

• You really like playing with your cars and trains right now.  You frequently have "car parties" (which includes you gathering ALL your cars in a big circle) and there is always a mommy, daddy, and baby sister

• Puzzles of any kind are always a big hit!  You love, love, love puzzles and are getting really good at the hard floor puzzles.  You'll spend 10 minutes putting one of the big floor puzzles together with just a little help, then you take it apart and immediately move on to another one

• You are such a funny little guy....you're always making us laugh!

• You have soooo many facial expressions.  I really need to start documenting them...they're pretty funny! 

• You love dancing to the "Gummy Bears" song and "Fireworks".  You're dance moves are pretty funny!

We've tried to get your dancing on video (when you really get into it) but this is the best we have so far.

• You love playing out side!  Feeding the ducks at the pond, playing t-ball and football in the front yard, riding your bike, going to the park, and jumping on the trampoline are a few of your favorites

• Your typical bedtime routine is:  bath, storytime, and then bedtime around 9:00 (bedtime really fluctuates between 8:30 and 9:30 depending on whether you took a nap that day).  

• At bedtime, you give everyone hugs and kisses and then either mommy or daddy stays with you to say your prayers and then pat you on the back for a minute or two before saying good night (or in your words "sweet dreams, I love you, okay")

• We have story time before bed most every night.  You typically get to pick 3 books for yourself (unless they get taken away for not minding) and 1 book for Ava Kate.  You always pick "That's not my Bear" for Ava Kate and tell us that it's her favorite....and I think you might be right!

• Every night before bed, you say your prayers "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the LORD my soul to keep, may GOD watch me through the night and wake me with the morning light".  You recently started picking a few people to pray for each night...and you ALWAYS choose for Emmie!  It's so sweet!

• You LOVE your baby sister and she absolutely adores you!  You are always kissing her hands (the palm of her hands) and lovin' on her

• You're typically the first one at Ava Kate's side when she's upset and you've even gotten up in the middle of the night and come to our room to let us know that she's crying....You're such a good big brother!!

the party....

Owen's 3rd Birthday Party was at Boingo Bounce on March 31st!!

 We (by we I mean Josh) have always made Owen's birthday invitations ourselves because we love having his picture on them so we can compare the invitations from year to year.   This year we couldn't decide which one we liked best so we decided to let family and friends vote.  It was a tie...so we just sent some of both!  

Owen was sooooo excited about his "party" this year, so much so, that we decided to wait and tell him that it was the day of the "party" until almost party time!  

This year we celebrated his birthday with his BEST friend Emmie!  Owen and Emmie are only 4 days apart and have been in daycare together since they were 4 months old!  They developed a special bond in the baby room that has continues on... these two are inseparable!!  

Emmie's mom and I were both planning separate parties at Boingo Bounce, but decided a joint party would be so much better!!  

The setup.....

We ordered Owen and Emmie's cakes from The Cake Lady.  She is amazing, she deliveries, she's pretty inexpensive, AND she makes a low fat/fat free cake for Owen!!  We have used her for the past 3 years and have loved all the cakes!  This year, we had a little mishap with Owen's cake.  It was really hot and humid on the day of the party and Owen's fat free cream cheese icing melted and fell off the cake during the delivery....BUT The Cake Lady (Leah Wages) managed to get it put back together and looking as if nothing had happened!

Owen had a low fat strawberry cake with a fat free cheese icing!  It was absolutely delicious...(really, Josh, Papa Bart, and I devoured at least half of it after the party)!

Emmie had a white cake and white icing...her favorite!!

Cupcakes for friends and family...

Boingo Bounce is the way to go!  They give you an hour and forty five minutes.... 1 hour for jumping and 45 minutes for pizza, cake, and presents...then (the best part) THEY clean up!!!

Gigi and Ava Kate watching the older kids run wild...

Owen, Meribell, and Emmie

Charley....

the birthday girl and boy...

 Mackenzie and Emma...

 the guys...Papa Joe, Papa Bart, and Josh

 Jennifer and Erin

Hannah and Emma....

Ava Kate enjoying a toy her size...

Owen and his girlfriends, Charley and Emmie!   It was so funny to watch the three of them interact...I think we're going to have our hands full when he gets older!!

At the end of our "Jump Time" we attempted to get a group picture....I was quite a sight!!

pizza and juice time....

Happy Birthday to You....

We had a "Candy Shop", where each kid got to fill their bag full of candy before they left the party!  It was a big hit and everyone really seemed to enjoy picking "their" candy!

just a little more sugar to end the day...

instead of crashing....they piled up on Papa Bart and devoured some candy!!

We had so much fun at the party celebrating with everyone that we didn't get to opening presents.....so we loaded them up and brought them home for Owen to open in his own time.

Owen fell asleep on the ride home from Boingo Bounce and decided he was re-energized and ready to open presents...

Daddy building the rocket ship...

"Blast Off!"

Owen had a blast celebrating his 3rd Birthday and was completely wiped out by the end of the day!  Our baby boy is growing up sooooo fast!  He's at such a fun age....sometimes I just wish I could stop time!!