Video: Ava eats cereal for the first time

Video: Ava plays

Video: Ava giggles

Notes on video

Ok, so we bought a nice little video camera before the big day with the hopes of taking lots of video so that family and friends could watch Ava. So far, we've videotaped quite a bit and shared none. Finally got around to downloading all the video and since it's a lengthy process, I managed to upload one!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Dale cannot be held accountable for any lasting damage done as a result of watching videos that contain a) bad hair, b) bad voices or c) a combination of the two.

Note to self: Grow out hair; short hairstyles, such as mine, are much more attractive when straight; curly is just unruly (hence the dorky ponytail).

Note to Karen: Remember that audio tape we found a couple of years after we moved here where we sounded so silly reading those stories? Well, this is just as bad! Good thing I never planned a career in broadcast journalism!

The new look

Was looking at Karen's blog last night and saw that she had a fancy new header. I asked her, "What up?" and she said, "www.scrapblog.com". Ok, so the conversation was a little more polite than that, but I figure I'd get to the meat of it.

So I moseyed on over to scrapblog.com and created my own little header. Unfortunately, the blog template I like has me working with the dark blue/green border when I create my own header . . . so I could either dive into the HTML (*shivers*) or deal with it (yes!). For now I like this new header, created with scrapbook elements from scrapblog. I might feel like designing one from scratch; I might not. For now, I had fun being creative while Ava napped.

And now naptime is over.

Sad nature day

One of the beavers has died.

Last year while Indi and I were walking really early in the morning, I heard a weird splat in the lake. When I looked over, I saw an odd shape swimming away from us. Beaver!

Since the first sighting, I've only seen them a handful of times, usually very early in the morning (and as the pregnancy progressed and the weather cooled, I decided sleep in the morning was more fun than walking, so didn't see them for a while). There have been lots of signs of the family - many trees that bear the trademark grinding marks and a couple of small trees have fallen down. Lately I have heard grumblings in the neighborhood of people unhappy with the little furry critters - my thinking: if you're going to live on a lake, expect lake creatures, and don't get too mad when they eat your shrubs (just plant shrubs they don't like!).

So I was saddened and hoping foul play was not in our midst, when I saw a little beaver floating at the side of the lake. At first I thought it was a cat or a small dog, but closer examination revealed the flat tail. I didn't poke at it to see - I just stepped a bit closer to the edge of the lake.

Poor beaver. I hope he had a long and happy life - or whatever beavers have!

Sleepy baby

Let the planting begin!

My flowers are here!



Granted, they look like weeds now (or perhaps leafy salad greens), but in a little while my yard will be blooming with these babies!

Ready for my close-up

Growing baby

Pulled out the bassinet we used for a while when Ava was little. Look how much she's grown! From an almost one-month old to an almost 5 month old! She barely fits!

Lazy Sunday

Had a great weekend - went to dinner on Friday night with Michelle and Jason and the kiddies. Ava experienced her first Hibachi grill and didn't seem at all bothered by the large flames or hot grill. She did really well - she stayed awake the whole time and all the way home and made it through 'tubby time' and only got to bed at 9pm - not a single tear. Of course, she woke up at 6am, bright and early. Still hasn't mastered the art of sleeping in...

Saturday we went to lunch at Mimi's Cafe (yummy muffins!) and then hit Lowes to get some household stuff and some plants (added two plants to the living room and repotted two plants in the entrance hall). Last night Joe and I started watching "Dexter" (a Showtime show that is now on CBS - I got the season on Netflix).

Sunday we woke up bright and early at 6am . . . again. Ava went down for her nap at 9 - funny to think that many people might just be waking up and she's already going down for her nap. Finished watching the discs of "Dexter" that we have. The rest of the day was spent puttering around the house, doing some yard work, just things that needed to be done. All in all, a good day.

Along the way I found a new guilty pleasure. I got sucked into a marathon of America's Next Top Model. I love it! Everyone needs a guilty pleasure, right?

Update on the food: Um, yeah. No food this week. Ava LOVED eating cereal the first time; the last few tries were VERY unsuccessful. I had to try making it with formula as the frozen b. milk had reached its expiration date (we had to ditch all that milk - so sad, considering all the hours spent hooked up to the silly machine). Ava pulled a face that was unlike any we've seen before: made you seriously wonder just how foul tasting rice cereal could be. We both tasted it; it's not great, but not awful, but boy does someone in the house not like it! I think we'll attempt more cereal this week - but this time with some fresh b. milk. Best haul out the old pump again. Sigh.

Sunday morning lounging in the living room.

The newest trick: "I have feet!"

On our way to lunch.

One day Indi will sit close enough to Ava to get
both Indi's ears and Ava's body in the shot.

First food!

Ava tried some rice cereal this evening. Surprisingly, I think about 1/2 the food actually stayed in the mouth! She really enjoyed herself, expressing the same enthusiasm as she does during bath time! On the menu for tomorrow: more rice cereal!

NB. As I sit here posting this, little miss had really bad hiccups (worse than usual!) and other "things" are moving too (did I mention it was whole wheat rice cereal?) . . .

Four month stats

Had the four-month check-up today. Ava and I chatted on the way there about how the vaccines would probably hurt, but that it was ok, that it wouldn't last long and that she would be alright. She screamed for a minute or two and then mostly stopped. Didn't hurt that there was yummy milk for her to help her forget all her woes.

Here are the stats: 14lbs 1oz and 25 inches long

She's in the 55th percentile for something, the 75th for something else. I know none of that really matters, but some folks like the numbers. Doctor said she looks great and although she probably won't eat much now, we can start trying her with some rice cereal. That'll be fun!

Four months!

And I finally slept through the night! Seems my brain has become temporarily hard-wired to wake up, so while Ava has been sleeping through the night (for the most part) for about a month, I still wake up at some point in the night; sometimes it seems I wake up only to check the time. Sigh. But last night . . . my brain is realizing that a) Ava is fine and b) sleep is good!

Four month doctor visit tomorrow. Not looking forward to the shrieking after vaccines. Interested to see how much she weights. My chiropractor guessed 18 but I am not sure she's quite that heavy just yet. My hips would guess 25 but that's just because they're still in a state of shock after carrying the weight around for 9 months! She's definitely getting longer as some of the 3 month clothes are starting to be a bit small. Need to pull out some larger clothes soon or naked baby will be an all day occurrence!

In the afternoon light

Just because

Ava has discovered the joy that comes with sticking out her tongue. She has also discovered joy when Mom sticks her tongue out back at her!

What do you think? Synchronized swimmer?
Ballerina? Pilates instructor? (check out those abs!)

Hello! I finally like tummy time!
This really shows off my hair!

Laughter!

With just a few days to go until the 4 month mark, Ava laughed today for the first time! She's been showing signs of the actual event for a couple of weeks (mostly when nursing, she'll pull away, smile at me and make a funny noise). Of course, I tried to discourage playing-while-eating but it was so cute, so most of the time I laughed back. Today, after much belly kissing she started putting all those funny noises together and formed a little laugh! She did it once more and then refused to make any more cute noises (she had bad naps today so was tired and cranky early). Here's hoping for more in the morning!

Kindred spirits

Just "lion" around, discussing what to do with their crazy hair!

First smiles!

As we near four months, the first real smiles were officially caught on camera. An actual real smile that stayed while the camera made its way to Mom's face, which usually would have brought about a big frown. All other smiles, though real, were captured with the super fast shutter on the camera, and while they count as real smiles, they don't really count in the photographic sense. Today Ava became a little more conversational - first at the chiropractor's office, then while sitting in her swing (in self-imposed baby time out because she refused a nap). I think she was just letting me know she'd won that battle!

Last few days

Been busy with house guests over the past two weeks. Had my sister and her hubby, my parents, some friends and this past weekend Joe's parents. Have had lots of fun with all the people but have also found time to catch up on other business. Lots of movies (thanks to Netflix; there's no trips to the movie theater in our future, I'm afraid), a new haircut (it's spring, so let's go with something new) and baking.

Caught up on the latest Hollywood movies - and so far we're batting 3 for 3 (I think that's the right phrase to say that out of three movies, we've liked three movies). Saw Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men and I am Legend.

ItW: Joe and I are almost done listening to the book on CD but can't decide whether we prefer the portrayal of the main character in the book or the movie. In the book, I didn't really feel sorry for him; in the movie, I was left hoping he'd find a way out of the Alaskan wild. I thought the movie was beautifully filmed and presented in a way that made you want to keep watching.





IaL: Makes you feel lonely - was good zombie-type movie (one of our favorite genres) and it didn't drag on (only 1.5 hours) with endless gory scenes and zombie chases. I read that Stephen King really liked the author of the book on which the movie was based and after watching the movie, I can definitely see where SK got his inspiration for "The Stand" - a plague/virus kills/turns humans into crazy zombies. Some are left immune for some unknown reason. There is a woman and a child who doesn't speak. There is a gathering of survivors some place. And now that I think more, there is a dog in both and someone who gives up his life for the greater good. I know my mom really likes The Stand, but I think I really liked I am Legend better.



NCfOM: Coen Brothers score again. It was bloody and violent but not overly such, at least in my opinion. The bad guy is awesome - with a goofy 80s hair cut. I really like the actor so it was nice to see him in a different role to what I've seen him in before.

I'm busy with Atonement - so far I'm enjoying it. I read the book about 5-6 years ago but don't remember all the details. One comment about the movie though: Kiera Knightly needs to eat a sandwhich. Yikes she's skinny!

New hair cut - After all the lovely pregnancy hormone leave your body, your skin looks yucky again and your hair starts to fall out. And I mean FALL OUT. According to one of the baby emails I get, regular folks lose up to 125 hairs a day. I'm nearing the 500 mark! And I hated it. I felt as though I was a dog losing its winter coat. I was leaving a hair trail wherever I went. Globs of hair everywhere. I've even come across globs of hair that got tangled up in towels and then made it through the washer/dryer cycle. So now I have clean, laundered globs of hair. ARGH! So I decided the only way to deal with it was to cut it off. Cute spring hairstyle. Of course, I'm still losing globs of hair, but this time they're shorter. I think I'm winning this one.

Done some yummy baking too. Made a black russian chocolate cake - vodka, kahlua, chocolate. 'Nuff said. Yesterday I made an orange cake - I'm on a quest to find a recipe similar to the cake we had at our wedding. I gave our cake lady a recipe I thought sounded yummy. I'd not made it before. She said, no problem. We got married and ate cake. Yummy cake. It was orange and tasted like orange. On our anniversary, I tried to make the recipe I gave her. It was NOT the cake we had at our wedding. So, my thoughts of being able to bake our wedding cake on our anniversary was foiled. So now I'm on a mission. I think I'm getting close. Next go-round will include some orange liqueur... YUM!

Project for this week: work on plan for shrubs for garden and call Jonathan about hiring his men to plant them for us. Oh, and to deliver the shrubs and mulch. I'm going to have a pretty backyard this summer! Woohoo!