10 Months

My baby girl is 10 months old today! BOO HOOOOO!!! I am seriously very sad about how fast she is growing up because I LOVE having a baby in the house and it certainly doesn't help that she is the easiest baby in the whole wide world! Here are some updated stats on my sweet Ava Grace.

Teeth: 2.5
Ava has the two middle teeth on the bottom in and has for a couple of months but she is just now getting another tooth on the top right in the middle. I'm hoping they don't all take this long to come in because the teething has definitely bothered Ava more than it did for Jayden at this point. Poor baby will wake up crying and I just feel so bad for her!

Mobility: Speed crawler and starting to take steps with the assistance of furniture
Yesterday DJ told me that Ava pushed the kitchen chair from one side of the kitchen to the other which was a first!

Food: Lover of all things edible.
This girl can eat! I haven't found a food that Miss Ava won't eat and although she will have meals where she's not totally into her food, she usually will eat everything we put in front of her. I won't list everything that she's eaten but she has had multiple foods from all the food groups, with the exception of dairy. I have only given her plain greek yogurt once and she did eat that but it's so messy (because she feeds herself) that I haven't given it to her again. Unfortunately because she does gets so much solid food though, it has made her mildly constipated. :-( I have been trying to give her more fiber in the forms of whole grains and fruits and green veggies but it will probably just take time as her body gets used to these new foods. Thankfully it doesn't appear to bother her too much at this point.

Ava continues to refuse a bottle, which she has done since we returned from our Christmas vacation so her weekly nursing schedule goes like this:

8:00 am              Nurse before I take her and Jayden to daycare
12:00-12:30 pm  Nurse her at day care
4:30 - 5:00 pm    Nurse her when I pick her up
6:00 pm              Nurse once before bed
7:30 pm              Nurse to sleep
9:30 pm              Wakes to nurse, goes back to sleep
11:00 pm            Wakes to nurse, goes back to sleep
Will also usually nurse a few times during the night

This schedule may seem abnormal/inconvenient to some but since she doesn't take a bottle during the day and I want to make sure breastmilk continues to be her main form of nutrition at this point (as it should until she turns a year old), I'm ok with the night feedings.

Weight: (Last measurement was at her 9 month appointment) 20 lbs 6 oz.

Height: 28.75 inches
Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly I guess since Jayden was actually bigger), these measurements put her in the 90th percentile!

Sleep: Still a great sleeper!
Although there have been moments in time over the past 10 months where I've wondered if my luck has finally run out and my good sleeper is becoming a not-so-good sleeper, the phase always passes (so far) and my good little sleeper returns. One thing that I find funny/cute about Ava's sleeping habits is how much she rolls around in her sleep. She is all over the place!

Ava's naps have been interesting lately. For awhile over the past 2 weeks, I was thinking that she might be eliminating her morning nap as she was refusing to go down when she normally would in the mornings. But I'm very grateful that we seem to be back on schedule and she's taking two naps again although sometimes they can both be pretty short (around 30-45 minutes each).

Typically her daily sleep schedule goes like this:

7:00-7:30am    Wake up
10:00 am         First nap (Has been lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, usually depends on how well she sleeps the night before)
2:00-3:00 pm   Second nap (Again the length varies from anywhere from 30 minutes to 2.5 hours. Her afternoon nap usually is longer than her morning nap unless she's at daycare, then it's never longer than 45 minutes.)
7:00-7:30 pm   Bedtime (Although she goes to bed for the night at this point, she will usually wake up a couple of times to nurse before I go to bed around 11 pm.)

Clothes/Diapers: 12 months and size 4
Wellll, I never did get started on the cloth diapers for Ava. I have to admit that the whole finding-the-perfect-cleaning-routine intimidated me and I didn't want to deal with the diapers not absorbing properly because of our extremely hard water. I just felt like I finally found a good routine where I had time to do laundry, keep the house in order, make meals and spend time with my kids on top of fitting in 40+ hours of work and adding another element of diaper washing would overload the schedule. Now I just want to sell the diapers which means I need to prepare them for that... Disposable have been the best option especially considering the amount of time that Ava spends either at day care or my friend's house while I'm at work

We're phasing out the 9 month clothes because they are all becoming much too tight and stocking up on 12 month clothes. I'm not sure if we'll make it through the summer with just 12 month sizes or not. I'm hoping so because her weight gain has started to plateau but there's always the possibility of a growth spurt!


At the risk of sounding cliche and cheesy, I have to be honest. Ava continues to be such a ray of sunshine in every day to all of us. Even Jayden will randomly decide to give Ava hugs and kisses because I think he just loves having her around. Of course it's not always like that and he is learning to share his toys and be gentle with her but I am so proud of the way Jayden treats his sister. I am starting to think about her first birthday but am not wishing it to be any sooner than it is! I know better than ever at this point that these sweet baby days are such a blessing as the toddler years can be...more challenging...ahem...can you read between the lines there?? So, I am enjoying every moment to the fullest with my girl!!

"Twinkle, twinkle...T, U, V..."

I love this video so much. Jayden is so funny as he tries to sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and gets the words confused with the "ABC song". He was doing so many cute things that night and I didn't get it all on video but I'm glad I got this much!

Belated Post - 6 months

During the weekend of Thanksgiving, I decided to take some photos of my Ava in the same fashion that I had done for Jayden when he turned 6 months old. However, it was not to be nearly as successful as when I did it for Jayden. For whatever reason neither child was in the mood for pictures and that coupled with a very wrinkly sheet and a little girl who decided to start making a rather unattractive new facial expression, we ended up with far more bloopers than frame-worthy photos. But honestly I know I won't care when I look back in 16 years. I will just be glad I took the time to take some photos!

Here are some of the bloopers, er, best shots! (Note that I did not take the time to edit these since they won't be going on the wall. As much as I love them, I'm not sure I want to explain the situation every time I have someone over, which I inevitably will feel like I need to do.)

 (Her new funny face, LOL. She made this so many times and I just had to laugh!)

That's a mouthful

We started Ava on solids officially on her 6 month birthday but, like Jayden, she has not really taken to purees so now that she's able to pick up foods on her own, we offer her foods that she can feed herself. Today, the lady that watches Ava on Tuesdays and Thursdays couldn't watch Ava because her own daughter was sick, so I got to spend the day with my girl. We had lunch together and Ava had carrots and kiwi! She has started to eat puffs really well but up to this point, has only been into playing with "real food". I was so excited that she enjoyed her carrots and kiwi!

Forgive the girl's hair, that's her momma's bad. It's actually remnants of a ponytail from yesterday. Oh, and she just started clapping her hands on Friday when we say "Yay!"; I just think it's the cutest thing!

Winter 2013

We're going back and forth between warm(ish) weather and freezing bitter snowy cold this winter. We had some pretty snow off and on this past week but then it warms up and melts it all off right away. And then we have days like yesterday where the wind just blows and blows and makes us all want to dig a hole and hibernate. But I can't properly enjoy spring until I've had some of this freezing cold so I say, Bring it! 

Besides the weather, here's an update on what's been going on around the Martinez household:

• Ava is over a bout of RSV, praise the Lord! It didn't even last very long although it was very "not fun" while it lasted (about a week). She wheezed something awful and it made my heart sad to hear her breathe like that! This little girl is giving us a lesson in infant illness though. Jayden had his first sickness after he turned a year old and already Ava has been sick probably 7 times. Ugh, I can only hope this means we will have less sickness after she turns a year old!

• Jayden and Ava are adapting to a new daycare facility. Jayden more so than Ava. This is Ava's first time at a day care because fortunately we were able to avoid it for the first 7 months of her life but it came down to necessity and I really needed consistent child care so daycare it was. Because the daycare could only get her in part-time though, she is also still being watched all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays by my neighbor and friend. (It's a longish story about why we have this new system and why they're both in a new daycare, different from the one that Jayden went to from 14 months up until Christmas this year, but I'll possibly get to that story another day.) Anyway, Ava doesn't really eat or sleep while at daycare because there is so much going on and she's quite the social butterfly. However, thankfully, she makes up for both of those things just fine at night. Also currently, she is only at daycare for an entire day on Mondays so that day is quite long for her with the no-sleeping, no-eating thing but the rest of the week is manageable. If we're away from each other for the entire day, I go nurse her at noon. Jayden actually seems to like this new daycare better than the one he attended before so I'm so happy about that!

• Jayden got his two year molars in (or is still getting them in, but they've both popped through) and Ava has gotten her first two teeth in the past month so we have two teething kids but actually it hasn't been too bad!

• Ava crawled for the first time last week and I was there to see it! It actually was way more exciting than I could have anticipated because well, we have anticipated it for so long! She has been on the brink of crawling for months. Also I wasn't there to see Jayden crawl (or walk) for the first time so this was a first for me too! She is getting more and more mobile and we all get a kick out of her moving her legs that way. She also is really enjoying trying to pull herself up on things. She still gets wherever she wants to go mostly by scooting on her tummy or rolling.

• We are getting some good family time in these days which is a VERY nice change from the Cowboy football season. There's been swimming (indoors, of course), walks, basketball games, puzzles, family movies, and lots of toy playing going on. And for DJ and I as a couple, we're also getting to spend more one-on-one time together which is more overdue than one could ever imagine! We started going to a small group at church, and have found time to make some new friends, some of which we got to hang out with a couple of weekends ago (sans kids!). So whereas some people find winter dreary and confining, I actually sort of look forward to it since it means a break for us as a family.

• We have no trips planned which is actually nice for once. We spent the fall going somewhere almost every. single. month and let me tell you, that was fun, but also very exhausting! So for this winter, we've been somewhat intentional about deciding not to go anywhere. Sometimes it's nice to just stay home and enjoy being home!

• Work is going well for both DJ and myself. I am finally truly and completely caught up with my work after taking my maternity leave this summer. Oy vay. If there is a "next time", I think I will work until I have the baby, go have the baby and then return as soon as medically possible. As much as I SO enjoyed taking that time off and spending it with Ava, I'm not sure I can ever do it again. It took me 5 months  to catch up and it was not fun. I am forever grateful for my job though and the fact that I can work from home!
• DJ is splitting his time between football, golf and soccer this winter. One of their trainers had a baby a couple of weeks ago so they are all picking up the slack. Normally DJ would just be overseeing a little bit of golf this time of year in addition to football. He will be headed to California for his annual golf trip with the team and I have no doubt it's a trip he looks forward to every year. The big news at work for DJ is a new water facility room in the UW training room. He and his boss designed this water room, which includes hot and cold tubs (which used to be located outside, by. the. way, brrrrr), and it took several months to finish the project. They spent the entire fall working in only about half of their training room since the other half was closed off while it was being renovated. Even I, as a non-sports minded, non-athlete type, can appreciate how nice this must be for them to have for the use of rehabilitation and performance management for their athletes. 

• A few other noteworthy pieces of news...I am having a much anticipated craft party this coming weekend with a whole bunch of new people that I've never met...at my house...but I'm actually really really looking forward to it. I have really missed crafting and have gotten to do a little bit here and there but am looking forward to meeting some people that are also craft-minded so we can possibly do this on a more consistent basis!

• I am in love with warm boots, wool socks and cozy hats right now and cannot stop buying this stuff for me and my children. I have to admit, I do love living in Wyoming because we can legitimately wear wool-lined well, anything, and have a 'durned' good reason!

•  My mom and in laws made the trek to WYO this past weekend to watch the Super Bowl to play with the kids. We all had a great time and the weekend went incredibly fast. But one aspect that will stand out for me was the church service that my mom went to with me and the kiddos. They performed baptisms during the service and it was unlike any baptism service I had ever been too. We have three services at our church and the first service was the only one that no one had "signed up" to be baptized. So our pastor just said that if anyone felt like God was speaking to them to be baptized right now then they could come up front and "be dunked"! We prayed and I asked God that He would give people courage to come forward if that's what they felt led to do. And guess what?? FIVE people walked forward, in their church clothes, hopped into the water, and were baptized right then and there that morning. It was seriously so amazing to watch these people obey God's calling right in that moment and actively see them walk to the front in courage and announce their desire to obey God because they love Him. We all had tears in our eyes because, if you are a Christian, you know that God can call us to do some scary things and although walking to the front of your church in front of people who love and support you is not one of the scariest things you will do, it is definitely a big step in the Christian faith. And when you allow God to give you the courage to take those scary steps that He will ask you to do, it is a RUSH when you learn that God will indeed walk every step with you! And you will succeed because of it! Awesome.

• During the baptisms, Jayden announced loudly during a quiet moment that those people were "taking a bath." LOL

And that's about it for now! I'll leave you with a video of DJ and Jayden playing the Sesame Street Matching game...

For clarification, "Roweeta" is Rosita...lol...you may notice DJ has trouble remembering the proper pronunciation at one point too.

Jayden Memories {27 Months}

Jayden is at such a fun age right now (however terrible the twos may be at times, they are equally, if not more, terrific!) He is learning words at a whopping rate and is putting together some great sentences. He continually amazes us at the way his brain puts together thoughts and he continues to get better at expressing himself through verbal communication as opposed to taking our hand to show us what he's saying or at his worst, a temper tantrum. He is very patient with himself as he tries to get new words out and will try a few times if he has trouble with a word until he gets it right. I just find it completely fascinating and always find myself comparing it to when I was learning Spanish. It's a continual process of practice, practice, practice!!

 Some fun words/phrases that Jayden says lately are:

"flagango" {rhymes with mango} = flamingo
"Ooo nice and warm" Usually said when we're putting on clothes lately since I like to tell him that to encourage him to get dressed faster.
"Coozy" Said in reference to his blanket that his Grammy knit for him.
"Where Daddy go?" Said every. single. morning. when Jayden wakes up and looks over to where DJ sleeps (which is empty since DJ leaves much earlier before the rest of us are awake).
"Bob!" Not so much a fun word as it is a very very common word since Jayden wants to listen to Bob every time we get in the car. Bob is Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales.
"I did it" When he does something by himself or figures out something all by himself. He's always so proud!

Some cute things that Jayden does lately are:

-Pulls his tummy up, up, out of the way, to get his diaper off. When it's time for his bath, I ask him to take his diaper off, so he hefts his tummy up, pulling at it with his hands (which, by the way, has slimmed up significantly so there really isn't much to "heft") and then he searches with his fingers for those darn diaper tabs that always seem to evade his reach way beneath his belly. I get a kick out of it every time! Lol

-Reads to Ava from his books. He'll sit right in front of her or sometimes half on top of her if she's in the bouncy seat, and "read" his books. Ava usually attempts to eat the book if it gets too close to her mouth but Jayden does a really good job of staying patient with her.

-Looks at me with utter surprise when he encounters a new sound (like a train whistle) or learns something new (like unscrewing the top of a water bottle). I love watching this sweet boy learn.

-Also love the look of questioning that Jayden has perfected when he wants to do something and asks me permission with a look and a little questioning noise. I don't know where he learned it but it's hilarious!

-Loves to come to my office and type on the computer. He absolutely gets a kick out of this! Funny thing is I remember when I was just learning to type and doing the same thing on my Dad's *ancient* computer and how fascinating it was so I can totally understand his excitement!

Some of Jayden's favorite foods are:

Cheese of any kind
Peaches
Fruit snacks
Raisins
Crackers, bread, any grain product
Yogurt

He actually does really well with just about any food but these are the foods that I try to limit because he would eat them all day, every day if I let him!

Activities that Jayden is enjoying these days:

Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles
Books
Trains
Cars
Movies - Cars, Elmo, Polar Express
TV Shows - Dinosaur Train, Sesame Street
Stickers
Helping clean (the other night in the bath tub, he was insistent on making sure the tub and his plastic boat were spotless before he would get out)
Watching football with his daddy, especially after this past Sunday when they attended the Bronco game - their first football game together! (Since DJ is always on the field working, he doesn't obviously get to sit with us and enjoy the game with his boy.)

Where has the time gone??? {5 AND 6 months}

I'm thinking that^^^^^^^^^^^^might be the new title of my blog... Man, oh man, these days I can barely seem to keep myself afloat let alone write a blog post. And that's one of the most important things too, especially when I'm busy, because life is such a blur that I can't even remember the things that I really want to remember! I feel like all I'm going to remember is that life moved very quickly when Ava was a baby. Hopefully I capture more in these posts then I think I am. 

ANYWAY...

Ava is 6 months old! Last time I wrote a post, she was 4 months old and my oh my, she has come a long way since then!

She sits up like a champ now. She doesn't fall over ever except for when she tries to look around behind her or up in the air, then she will sometimes lose her balance. Otherwise I can just plop her on the floor, go get a drink, not worry that she's going to fall over and come back and she's still happy as can be!

She has been making movements lately from the sitting position to what appears might be a crawling position but so far she just flops right to her tummy instead of staying up on her hands and knees.

Ava is still toothless, even after I thought we were going to have an early teether given all the drool she has been making the last 3 months. I am so thankful that no teeth seem to be cutting through though!

We started Ava on some solids this past week and so far, she seems to be enjoying them much more than Jayden did at this stage. She seems to be swallowing some of the food whereas Jayden would just spit it right out. I tried rice cereal a couple of times because I got a "lecture" from the nurse practitioner at her 6 month appointment. 

That's a story in itself... 

First the NP gave me a **look** when I told her we hadn't started solids yet (kind of a mix between sympathy for my ignorance and disappointment that she had to explain something so obvious to a grown woman, bleh, never mind that the American Academy of Pediatrics says no solids till 6 months...) and then told me that it was important to start rice cereal as soon as possible. When I told her that I never did rice cereal with Jayden and I was just going to start her with sweet potatoes the way I did with Jayden, she then gave me another "lecture" about the importance of rice cereal and how breastfed babies don't get enough iron, blah blah blah. I would try to be respectful of this doctor's office's opinions but they always shoot me down and make me feel like I'm some sort of delinquent mother when it comes to the decisions that I've made. It's so annoying but we just have to deal with it for now. I do plenty of research and could probably teach that office a thing or two but unfortunately I just don't have the eloquence to do any justice to the information and so I just sit there and remind myself to keep my mouth shut next time and not ask too many questions! 

So Ava has now tried rice cereal and sweet potatoes...and Jayden finishes her leftovers! Ha! Breastmilk will continue to be Ava's main source of nourishment though until at least a year. I have been pumping pretty consistently this time around and Ava takes a bottle very well so that continues to be a big sanity saver sometimes when someone watches her for me while I work or am gone for more than a couple of hours.

At her 5 month appointment, which was a sick visit because my poor girl had her first ear infection, Ava was about 17 pounds. At her 6 month appointment, which happen to also be a sick visit because she had a horrible cough, Ava had gained another 3 pounds and is now about 20 pounds! Interestingly enough, everyone thinks she is bigger than Jayden was at this stage but we looked at his records and Jayden was a couple inches taller and heavier at each stage so far! I LOVE my chunky babies!!

Ava is currently in size 3 diapers but we are having a heck of a time finding diapers that contain "stuff" very well. We had her in Pampers which were not containing the poo and pretty much every day, you could expect a giant blow-out. Proof of that is the fact that Jayden now asks if Ava has had a blow out when we change her diapers..."blow out Mama??" So we decided to switch brands and I got a box of Huggies but those have actually been worse because now they have started leaking the pee in addition to still having frequent blow outs. I think I need to get my cloth diapers back in working order. I have been putting it off and putting it off because I just don't feel like I have the time to do MORE laundry but we never had blow outs with Jayden. Another nice thing about the cloth diapers is they are better at keeping the bum dry and my little Ava's skin is so sensitive; she is always red it seems although thankfully, we have not had any really bad rashes. I'm sure the redness is still indicative of some soreness though so perhaps that will be my goal next weekend. Get the cloth diapers out!! 

Ava is a little chatterbox, constantly making noises and over the past month or so has started saying "mama" and "dada". We know she doesn't know what she is saying really but my heart doesn't know that and it melts every time I hear her babbling about mama.

Ava's personality could not be contained inside of the Grand Canyon - it is HUGE. She is always smiling and grinning at anyone who will smile at her first. She saves her best smiles for her big brother and Jayden will often elicit big belly laughs out of her. He knows exactly what to do to make her laugh and is usually pretty willing to get her a toy or jump up and down to get a laugh out of her, often without me even asking him to do those things. Ava is always wiggling and grabbing things to put in her mouth. If you lay her down on the floor, she will roll clear to the other side of the room in a matter of minutes. She also makes the best expressions and sounds. She has started laughing to herself, or maybe at herself...she is her mother's daughter you know...That has to be my favorite thing at the moment. She will just be playing with something while I am busy cooking or cleaning and I will hear her make these little laughing sounds like something is just cracking her up to no end. It is hilarious and I laugh every time! I'm really not sure what to expect from this little girl, but I can tell she is going to be tons of fun as she keeps learning and growing!

4.5 Months

 5 Months

Most Recent - 6.5 Months (Firmly planted in the Christmas season)