Ava 6 Months!

Happy 6 Month Birthday Angel Girl!!

(post is one day early)
Your Dad and I adore you so much!  You bring such JOY to our lives!  You are a little bit of Heaven to us!  Here are some of the things you are up to these days....

You love bath time:)

You love to laugh-- laughing spontaneously a lot!

You have a new found expression of pure excitement!- Your eyes get really big and you smile like you just saw the coolest thing ever!
You are still totally into blowing your bubbles, it has just intensified!  Several times this week, I have come back in the room after you have been on a blowing bubble fest and found huge drops/ puddles of saliva all over your forehead!:)  

You are sitting up!  Last week one day you sat up for 10 minutes straight and since then, you are sitting up all the time and finding your center when you start to wobble!  You are loving the new found perspective and independence!

You are still stubborn about rolling over, only tummy to back and still not very often.

You are eating rice cereal once a day, occasionally two and you so far love apples and pears mixed in with it!

You still love taking walks and just being outside!

You enjoyed watching my old team play this past week and would join in with high pitched squeals while they would celebrate!

Sophie, the giraffe, "teething toy", has quickly become a new favorite!

You can take small little sips out of my water bottle if I help you!

We have introduced a learner, sippy cup, but you mainly just want to chew on that funky shaped nipple:)!

You are enjoying your swing, bouncer, and exersaucer more and more everyday!

Currently, your  new favorite song is "The Ants Go Marching One By One!"

Your favorite books are Bouncy Baby and Daddy Loves Me!

You enjoy your baby DVD's but would still choose baseball or sports center over them!

You love to dance in Daddy's arms!

And....

You are finally becoming a little more cuddly-- I will continue to hope and pray that you will one day love to cuddle:)!

Height and Weight are currently unknown.  I will try to update those sometime next week and no later than August 3rd when we go in for your 6 month checkup.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart, We LOVE you!

Here are a few pics of lately.....

Loving her ability to sit up, she is proud!

Helping Dad with his telecast for work!

And finally... today's 6 month pic!  I was just gonna post one, but the photo shoot was to priceless, enjoy!

So happy...

being sweet...

blowing bubbles and smirking...

starting to wonder when this will end....

ATTITUDE, okay mom, I am getting sick of this! (lol)...

but, I will be an angel for this last one!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

The 4th, Family, Friends, and Random Thoughts....

It has been a while once again!

We have been busy visiting friends and family and it has been alot of FUN! 

We went for a short trip to Dallas a few weekends ago to visit the Ratliff and Farrell families!  They are both great friends of ours from college and the Abilene area and both recently moved to Dallas!  We spent time with just Haylee and Kendall and then a few hours with Amanda, Kaycin, and Madi!  It was so good to see them.  They are two of my very dear friends who are also stay at home moms.  It was hard when they left and much needed quality time.  Haylee and I both felt refreshed after our weekend together and had an extra boost of desire and energy for life!  Here are all the sweet kids that were in town of our three families.  The other two Ratliff kiddos, Raegan and Stone, were at the lake with grandparents. 

Best one I got- you know how that goes!

Kaycin Farrell (2), Madi Farrell (1), Kendall Ratliff (18 months), Ava Campbell (5.5 months)

We went to Gatesville and Temple for the 4th and 5th to celebrate Independence Day with Jason's side of the family!  It was so good to see them, we don't get to often enough!  We stayed at GJ's new house in Gatesville!  We visited the Richardson's and all their kiddos and saw a few other family members. 

Once again, best shot (lol)

Kennedy (almost 3), Alex (1), Ava, and Savannah (5)

Our Festive Girl!

Shout out to Shelley Gowens for the patriotic bow!

We didn't get any pics with GJ, but I think someone did, I will try to hunt one down.

Ava missed a couple naps on the fourth with the travel, etc..  She was so tired she went to bed at 5:30- slept until 4:30 then again until 7:20.  She then woke up and played until 9 where she slept two hours!  Craziness! 

Ava and I then headed to Houston!  We stayed with my Aunt Vicki and Uncle Doug because that's where my parents had been living while waiting on their new house renovations to be complete!  Ava and I both loved the unique situation of being surrounded by so much family!  We got to see Jay, Jamie and Josiah the first night we got there!  We are in love with the little man.  (All pics of Blackburn clan are too grainy to even attempt posting). Lance and Kayla stayed two nights and then Betho and Cody showed up on Saturday.  We don't get to spend nearly enough time together and it was such a treat!  Ava loved all the attention of the Freede and Martin Clan and she also had a few other visitors in Aunt Cheryl  and my bestie, Aunt Court!  She loved Courtney and just cuddled with her, so sweet! 

Ava and I spending time with my bestie, Aunt Courtney:)

Playtime with YaYa and Pappa

Aunt Betho loving on Ava

Aunt K loving on Ava

The three sisters (my mom and two Aunts) playing with Aves

Anyhow, it was a good and relaxing trip!  Thanks Freede's for opening your home to Ava, myself, and a whole lot of baby "stuff"! 

Next time we will get to stay at my parents new house for the first time and we are excited about that! 

Now my random thoughts...

It seems like all my friends with kiddos in town are always busy at different times than us and Ava and I are desperate for more social  and play time with others.  I am going to make more of an advanced effort on my part though and try to remedy the situation. 

God has been speaking to me alot about embracing where our life is currently.  For awhile I was kinda just floating thinking we would be moving soon, but for whatever reasons God has us here in Abilene for the time being. Who knows how long it will be?!  So, I am finally listening and going to embrace it and pour into my friends, old players, etc.. more than I have been.  I am sure God is looking down half-smirking, half-frustrated wondering why He is having to teach me this lesson again!  Why are we so stubborn and forgetful of the things of the Lord sometimes? Thank You God for your unconditional love and your patience!

Season for my old team is just around the corner.  It is going to start getting harder for me as it approaches and I am not apart of the volleyball aspect!  I loved it and miss it! For so long I have been wishing there was a way I could be involved.  However, God has opened the door for me to continue spiritually mentoring several of the girls!  Of course the volleyball would be fun, but I always loved the ministry aspect of the job just as much as the volleyball and they are still reaching out in that way! I mean what an AWESOME opportunity for God to speak through me and use me to touch the lives of these young women!  Please be praying for my lunches and time I have with the different players!  I want God to be able to use me as his vessel in mighty ways for His glory and I feel He intends to, I just don't know exactly how yet!  

Ava is almost 6 months old and I can't believe it!  She is growing so much, becoming a lot more social, sitting up without support here and there, eating rice cereal, and so much more!  I will give a lot more details when I post a 6 month update! 

Saw Eclipse last night!  It was great!  Can't wait for the next one! 

Also, if you can't tell by the grainy appearance of my photos, I need a new camera! 

Anyhow, I better go now!  This post has been long enough! 

Adios!

Question for moms...

We are starting to look into convertible car seats. At this point I know nothing. I am assuming that there are some that can be both rear and forward facing and some that are one or the other. I think I would line to just make one purchase. If you don't mind and have young kids, I would live to hear what you have found that you like and don't like, the reasons, and any other advice! Thanks:).

5 Months

Our precious little angel is five months old today!  It is hard to believe.  Everyday we spend with her brings us more and more joy!  We are cherishing every little detail of her little personality from day to day! 

Since she has started formula exclusively she is like an entirely different baby!  She is so easy and EXTREMELY happy!!  She also is getting rahter chunky, lol:)! 

Height- 25 3/4 in
Weight- ?? I am assuming about 16.5-17.5 lbs.  I am gonna weigh her soon and will post it then. 

A few things she is up to these days....

• Squealing  in delight in this adorably cute high pitch tone pretty constantly
• Sitting up and playing in bumbo for extended periods of time
• Playing in exesaucer, reaching for toys, turning occassionally, etc...
• Sitting on her own for five seconds or so at a time
• Rolling from tummy to back (when she feels like it)
• Constantly playing with her feet
• Holding her bottle some
• Sucking her thumb
• Laughing/ cackling--- makes us melt
• She also talks non-stop, literally whithout even many little breaks for sometimes up to about 45 minutes.  I guess baby girl just has a lot to say!
• Trying to blow raspberries, pretty darn cute!  She puts her top lip over her bottom lip and tries to blow air that results in lots of spit bubbles. 
• She is also quite the drooler.
• Loves going on walks outside-- which can always make her calm
• Loves bath time!!!!!!!!!
• Sleeps from about 6:30 -7:30pm to 7:00am with either one or two feedings in the middle of night
• Normally takes two- two hour naps a day, except on Jason's days off.  They are always shorter then because she wants to hang out with daddy. 

You are just getting so big and growing so fast baby girl!  We love you more than words could ever express!! You light up our lives!

Here are some recent pics of Miss Ava the last two weeks!  Also, I don't have the video icon near my image icon on my tool bar at the top.  So, I do not have a way of uploading videos which I would like to do.  Any ideas from any blogging peeps as to why my video icon doesn't exist? Help a girl out!

One of the ics capturing Josiah's precious and sweet demeanor towards his fousin Ava

And the following pictures were taken today on Miss Ava's 5 month birthday!

(I realize there is no need for three poses from the same outfit that occurred in like one minute, but I am a new obsessed mom who thinks everyone must see all her different looks!)

Check out those feet

Can't get enough of these cheeks! 

That's all for now folks!

Vacation Pictures and Family in A-town....

Well I finally have vacation pictures to post, yipee!!

They are so fun!  It is going to be hard to select which ones to post, but I will try to keep it sort of limited. 

Also, this past week we have had family in town visiting. It has been so much fun:).  Last Thursday YaYa hit town to just hang for several days and see Ava.  We had  a great, relaxed time not having any obligations or events taking place.  Then Sunday, Jamie, Jay, and Josiah hit the scene:)!  They were here for M-Pulse and Jamie and Josiah spent the days with us everyday.  Jay came over in the mornings and evenings when he could!  Mom took off to head home on Tuesday morning so she could go get ready to FINALLY close on their new house!  They are so excited to be moving, I can't wait to see the new place.  The Blackburn clan took off on Friday morning.  Then Saturday morning GJ hit town to be here for the weekend and celebrate Jason's 1st Father's Day with us! 

We had such a good time and were blessed by having so much family in town and in our home!

The activities of the week included...

• Lots of Fousin time-- Josiah loves Ava and always is looking out for her.  He randomly would go over and give her love by hugging her or resting his head on hers, precious! 
• Fun lunches
• Girls game night with Mom, Jamie, and I at the dorm once kids were down to sleep
• Family dinners
• Celebrating Father's Day
• Play date with Harper, Josiah, and Ava at the pool
• YaYa loving on her grandchildren
• GJ loving on Ava
• Walks
• and more!

Ava sure is missing having all the family around and all the attention:)!

Vactation Pictures (others from this past week in another post!)

We Kayaked the canal

We fished off the dock and out in the boat

We surfed

Jamie ended up having the best picture that got snapped so there she is:)

OR

Josiah did....

Jo man absolutely loved the ocean!! They couldn't keep him out of it!  For more pics and fun of Josiah I will let you go to Jamie's blog, I am sure she will post soon.

We also played Wii but unfortunately I didn't take any pics only videos.  However, it was quiet hilarious and memories were made that will never be forgotten-- Yeah YaYa and Pappa Bear;)

Most importantly we just had a lot of great family time.....

Ava's first pool experience, she enjoyed it.

She loved the hammock!

and YaYa and Pappa!

Great Family Pic!

Thanks for looking at the small recap of Galveston Vacation 2010!

Ava's 4 Month Check Up

So...  today was Ava's four month check up.  Everything is looking great.

weight - 14 lbs 10 oz
height -  24.5 inches long

She got her shots and as the first one began her eyes opened up wide and scared as she looked at me and then the hysteria began!  She did the hold breath for like 20 seconds, while face is beat red scream and then the hurt feelings cry.  One time would have been enough but oh no with all three shots she reacted the same way!  It was so sad and she was looking at me like why aren't you helping me or why are you letting them do this to me! 

Anyhow, on Saturday we were at the doctor because Ava had a cold and that day she weighed 14 lbs 3 oz.  So in 72 hours baby girl gained 7 oz!  It is safe to say that we are well on our way to a beautiful, squishy, super chunk ball!

Ava also started weaning herself already, so young!  She obviously is fine with it, it being her choice and all.  I am a little sad about it, but it wasn't easy for us.  It was a forty minute battle everytime to try to get her to nurse!  She also seems like a much happier baby now that she is getting formula often. I am beginning to think she was never getting enough in the first place.  Ideally I wish it would have been easier and she hadn't started refusing to nurse because there is something so sweet about nursing and having that time, but life will go on! 

The problem with formula is the expense.  Due to her dairy and soy sensitivities the formula that we are having to put her on right now is $26 dollars per can which makes 19 bottles.  Today I gave her her first soy formula bottle to see if she can tolerate it now.  That would make the cost of the formula half the price.  So please join Jason and I in praying that God will allow her body to accept the soy formula!! 

That is all for now, I hope everyone has a great week!