New tricks

These past two weeks have been quite a whirlwind. Finishing up the Christmas shopping, packing for our upcoming trip to NY, my birthday, holiday parties, etc. The best part has been that Aunt January has been visiting. Ava LOVES her. It's been so much fun to see them play. Ava has also learned some new tricks since Jan arrived.

First, she's learned to play with her toes. If she's on her back, she's got a hold of those suckers. Second, she is also fascinated by her right hand. She will hold it out, fingers splayed and just stare at it. It's like she's saying, "Whoa, that thing is attached!?!" Finally, the most fun thing, is that she has decided she is a possum. After nursing, I usually turn her around on the boppy pillow to just play and talk. Well, she's started arching her back and "bridging" the pillow. She is so long that when she does that, she's upside down. Ava LOVES that position. She will do it constantly if I let her. (See below.) I've got one quirky kid.

Other bits and pieces...

Ava had her 4 month check up and she's still in the 99th percentile for height - 26 inches. She's 15 pounds which I guess is in the 80th percentile. Healthy as can be which is great news. Ava has also been sleeping longer at night. Last night she slept 12 hours! Wahoo! Chris told me the other day he only wants one because the next one won't be this good. We did get lucky with her. Perhaps she's saving her parental headaches for later in life. :)

Ava and her friends

Well, gotta run and continue packing for NY.

Four months

Ava turned four months old on Saturday. Every single parent you meet will tell you how fast time goes by but you won't truly understand it until it happens to you. I already miss her as a newborn. Sniff....

Anyway, the pediatrician told us that we could start giving Ava some rice cereal at 4 months. Many babies don't have the ability to eat solid foods yet because of the reflex to spit stuff out with their tongues. Ava has been intently watching us eat for a few weeks now. She'll even grab for our plates if she's close enough. This is a sign they might be ready for "solid" food. We tried to give her some rice cereal but she ended up wearing it all. But, she aggressively went after it so I think once she figures out how to swallow, we'll have a little porker on our hands. Here is the after picture.

The other big news is that Chris has grown a goatee. Okay, so maybe it's not big news, but it is in my little world now. Maybe I should get a job...

Toys and Thanksgiving

The big news from this week is that Ava is now able to grab and play with toys. Before, she was just swatting at them but now she is interested in playing with them. Well, okay, chewing them up. When she can't find a toy, she is constantly munching on her fingers. Although she's only 3 1/2 months, I know she's starting to teeth.

Ava has also hit her 3 month growth spurt too. She is feeding CONSTANTLY. It's been really draining but an unexpected perk is that although I totally pigged out during Thanksgiving, I still lost two pounds. It's the little things in life, really. In addition to her voracious appetite, she is also outgrowing her sleepers at an alarming rate. At her two month checkup, she was in the 99th percentile for length. With this new spurt, I will be very interested to see just how much she's grown when she has her 4 month checkup in a couple of weeks. I swear, I wake up in the morning and she's grown another inch.

Yes, she's only 12 weeks in this picture.

Thanksgiving was pretty fun. Chris had the entire week off except for Thanksgiving Day. We were in Red Lodge at a Resident Retreat the weekend before and just headed down to Powell after it was over. Because so many people in my family are coming home for Christmas, most everyone stayed home for Thanksgiving. It was really laid back and relaxing. Aside from Chris' epic battle with my parents' cats and dogs, we really had a good time.

(This is at 5:30 am. Chris is plotting to kill my parents' cats. They don't know about this.)

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.

Ava and Grandmpa enjoying their time together.

Ready for the cold weather.

Ava helping Chris doing laundry. This is his idea of watching the baby.

Ava and her cousin Sam. Isn't he a cutie! Sam is my cousin Charlie's son. He is two months older than Ava.

The Photoshoot...

I wanted to get a formal picture taken of Ava to commemorate her turning three months old. I didn't want to spend a lot of money but I did want a studio picture. After having to reschedule twice, we were finally booked at 10:00am this morning. Now, Ava is starting to get into somewhat of loose sleep schedule but it's still really difficult to make definitive plans. She was still sleeping deeply at 9:20 when I decided to wake her. Boy, she was not happy about that. I didn't have time to nurse so I threw together a bottle, dressed her and ran out the door. Should have known I'd pay for rushing.

We made it to Sears with 10 minutes to spare so I was hoping to feed her the bottle. After all, full babies are happier. Well, the photographer rushed us in, propped her up and nothing. We did everything we could to get a smile out of her but nothing. After 15 minutes of trying, Ava started getting fussy so I fed her the rest of her bottle and tried again. Nothing. Then, Ava started grunting really loud and probably had the biggest, loudest poop of her life. People in the hallway were laughing. Oy... I changed her hoping it would improve her mood. Nope, just gave us the blank stare.

So after 45 minutes, we rescheduled for next week but I'm not optimistic. I did try to set up a mini backdrop in my apartment and try my hand at the portrait. Some did turn out okay but the bloopers are much better. See below.

The wiggle worm...

Mommy chopped off her head...yes, her tongue is ALWAYS out.

Look at those feet!!

Little stinker...this is her usual look.

Halloween

Today is a big day at chez Cancro. Yes, it's Ava's first Halloween but that's not why I'm so excited. Today is Chris' last day of OB rotations. After two hellish months, we finally get a break. He actually gets to come home every night. YEAH!!

Ava dressed up as her daddy for Halloween. There are now two Doctor Cancros.

Nap time

Santa - er, I mean Grandpa - and Ava

Chris was on call last Thursday so Ava and I went down to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. It was a quick trip but Ava was great. Here is a picture of my dad feeding her a bottle. One minute he resembles Teddy Roosevelt (great story if you don't know it) and the next Santa.

This is an outfit a friend gave her. She looked so cute that I had to stick it on here.

Slobber Monkey

Someone told me that when babies really start to slobber, they are about to get teeth. Ava has been drooling nonstop for almost two weeks now. Isn't she too young to start teething? Maybe this is normal for her. We've been calling her our little slobber monkey.