Wednesday, December 16, 2009

What the heck is a winkle?

Being a parent means adopting an entirely new vocabulary: boppy, bumbo, Bjorn, and yes, winkle. From the moment you find out you're expecting you are inundated with words that previously meant nothing to you - or to anybody else without kids for that matter. We attended our first Christmas party as parents last weekend and were informed by the other moms and dads there that the winkle was the toy for the under 1 set, and that we had to acquire one immediately. Frankly the thing looked a little dull to me, but since I'm not exactly the demographic being targeted by Winkle, Inc., I figured my opinion didn't hold much water. So, since I'm always up for an excuse to shop for pretty much anything, off we went to Baby's R Us to buy one. We gave it to Ava, and she really does seem oddly fascinated by this thing. Who knew?

And now it's confession time. Out of all the babies we know around Ava's age, our little girl is the only one that can't roll over yet. I take full responsibility for this, since it's hard for her to learn these things when I never put her down. At this rate she'll be the only kid rolling around on a play mat in the 1st grade, so it is my current mission to have her rolling like a pro by Christmas. I've started taking her down to the basement every morning (the carpeted floor down there is much more comfy than the hardwood on the main floor) to do our little baby workout. We spend about half an hour working on rolling over (front to back, and back to front), sitting up independently, and standing up while holding on to the couch. At this point she still bobbles around like one of those dashboard hula dolls, but we're getting there.

I'm sure this will come as a surprise to no one, but it looks like Ava is going to be a tall and thin. At her 4 month appointment she was 50th percentile for weight, and 75th for height. (At this point the size of her head is only in the 15th percentile, but to anyone that's ever seen me try on hats this shouldn't come as a shocker either.) She's weighing in at 13lbs 5oz, and already outgrowing the length of some of her 3-6 month pants. I can't believe how fast she's growing up.

Monday, December 7, 2009

I love Christmas! But who's the big guy in the jammies?

We took Ava to see Santa on Sunday, and apparently he's a bit more in demand than he was when we were kids. You don't just stand in line anymore; now you have to make an appointment. But it gave Ava a chance to take a little nap in her stroller, and me a chance to do some shopping, so the extra time worked out well for everyone (except Andy. Sorry pal.) She's still little, so the fact that we were handing her over to a stranger to have her picture taken didn't bother her, and although she was too confused to smile she was still awfully cute.

The next thing on the list of Christmas "firsts" was picking out and decorating the tree, and we made sure to do it up right. I turned on some Christmas music, dressed Ava up in her reindeer shirt, and Andy and I got to work turning the house into a holiday wonderland. The stockings were hung by the electric fireplace with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas would be smart enough to figure out a way into the house without a chimney. Ava was an excellent - and very happy - supervisor.

It's been a really big week for our little angel. As you saw in the previous post, Ava is now eating solid foods. We've been serving up baby oatmeal for about a week, and that went so well (that's an oatmeal picture on the right) that tonight we moved on to sweet potatoes. She seemed to really dig the taste, but the best part was the mess she made. In case any of you didn't know this, sweet potatoes are orange. Really, really orange. Lisa, since I know you haven't started this with Braydon yet, I have a bit of advice for you: invest in an apron. Or a hazmat suit.
The meal took forever since I had to keep stopping to take pictures and laugh, and the chair she was sitting in will never be the same. I never thought I'd have so much fun trashing the kitchen.

I think I can make millions with the invention of baby food-colored clothing, since I'm convinced that's the only way a child's wardrobe will ever survive this phase of life. Who's with me?

Friday, December 4, 2009

Ava's ready for her close-up, Mr. Demille.

For those of you that haven't had a chance to see Live Action Ava yet, this post is for you. Being the proud (and slightly dorky) parents that we are, Andy and I filmed Ava's first experience with solid food. She wasn't nearly as freaked out by the whole thing as I thought she might be, and only wore about half of what we spooned into her mouth. I'm pretty sure this means she swallowed the other half, so I consider the whole operation a success. Now please silence your cell phones, and hold all applause until the movie is over. Thank you, and enjoy the show.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

This food looks great! Now, who's teeth can I borrow?

Ava's first Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful. We loved getting a chance to relax and spend time with family, eat tons of fantastic food, and watch Ava get smothered with love and kisses. Her grandparents were so excited to see her I was afraid they weren't going to let us take her home. In fact, if we didn't have all the good toys here, she may not have wanted to come with us. She was quite the busy girl the whole trip...

She had sing-a-longs with Aunt Shirley...

Long conversations with Grandpa...


She tried on Grandma's "hair"...

And posed for lots of family pictures...

It was the perfect Thanksgiving and we miss everyone already. We're going to do this again next year, right?

Can you please purée these peanuts?

Ava has officially taken to the skies, and it couldn't have gone better. Andy I and were prepared for anything: long lines, parking problems, a fussy and/or uncooperative baby. Fortunately, we had none of those issues; unfortunately, that meant we had 2 1/2 hours to hang out in the airport. So, we had a nice long lunch at a steak place...

grabbed some magazines, changed another diaper, and then it was time to board. Time to worry about the next round of potential pitfalls: Ava's ears popping, running out of formula, or having to change a really poopy diaper in a bathroom the size of a hibachi. And again, nothing. Our little angel slept through takeoff, then spent the rest of the flight happily playing in her daddy's lap. I think my favorite moment was when I looked over and Andy had challenged Ava to a thumb war. Oddly, she won. Repeatedly.


We arrived in Georgia on time, and handed Ava over to the waiting arms of her very excited Grandma. And two very exhausted parents breathed a sigh of relief.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Too much assembly required.

I came to a rather unpleasant realization today: Children's toys that require assembly were invented by sadists who hated their parents. But, after several pinched fingers and a bunch of words I'm glad Ava is too young to repeat, the Baby Einstein Discover and Play Activity Center joined the toy arsenal that used to be our living room. And I have to admit it looked really fun! I grabbed the camera, scooped up Ava, and lowered her in. I had to prop her up with a blanket so she wouldn't take a nosedive into the dinosaur hand-puppet, and her feet don't touch the bottom yet, but she's fascinated by all the colors and sounds. I think she looks smarter already.

My second title choice for this post was "Sleep Schedules are for Chumps". In fact, I'm pretty sure that will be Ava's first full sentence. In a typical day she takes a few 20 minute "power naps", falls asleep at 4 or 5 in the afternoon, then wakes up ravenous and ready to hang out at 3am. At least she usually goes back to sleep for a couple of hours after a snack and some cuddling.

Remember when the doctor told us that she'd sleep through the night when she hit 12lbs? I'm thinking of suing him for malpractice. :)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

So, this thing goes in my mouth, right?

Ava has spent the last few weeks trying to figure out how to get her thumb in her mouth. So far the only thing she's succeeded in doing is gnawing on her fist. We're probably the only parents on earth that are encouraging thumb-sucking (we've even tried to help), and are aware that we might as well write a blank check to her future orthodontist. But we don't care. It's cute. I did learn a valuable lesson today though: when you have a child that chews on her fist, make sure that you rinse that fist immediately after washing it when you give her a bath. Otherwise you look up from washing a foot and see her staring back at you with a mouth full of bubbles. Poor kid. She didn't even get to say a naughty word, and still wound up with a mouth full of soap. Oops.


And speaking of cute, we're also trying to teach Ava to give kisses. We pull her towards our faces, say "kiss", and make kissing noises. In response, she promptly opens her mouth. We usually wind up with a very wet nose, but that's a small price to pay.

I'm attaching a second picture so everyone can see how big she's getting. She wouldn't stop moving her hand (hence the blur), but I love the face she's making so I'm using it anyway.
By the way, Aunt Marianne drew the adorable Ava cartoon you now see at the top of the page. Thanks, Marianne! Love it!!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Don't panic!!

Same old blog, just a new format. I changed it to add a little whimsy. I'm attaching a picture of Ava in a giant bow to ease the trasition. :) Enjoy!


Saturday, October 31, 2009

Anyone know a good baby-manicurist?

For the first 6 weeks of Ava's life I couldn't bring myself to clip her fingernails. I was terrified I would cut off the end of her fingers, effectively ending her future as a famous fingerpaintress. Or at the very least, make us both cry really hard. But I've gotten progressively braver, and can now clip all ten in record time. I was pretty proud of myself until yesterday when all I apparently succeeded in doing was turning her nails into little weapons. She now has a nasty self-inflicted cut above her eye. If the next picture you see is her wearing an eye patch you'll know why.

It's Ava's first Halloween! Her Grandma Sally bought her this adorable tiger costume, and we actually managed to get a picture of her flashing a little smile in it! I may be biased, but I think she looks pretty darn cute.

There was another first in the Lundstrom household yesterday. Drum roll please.....we left Ava with a babysitter for the very first time! Ok, so maybe the drum roll was a bit much, but it felt like a pretty big deal to us. Andy and I had tickets for Wicked (fabulous, by the way) and were really lucky that the couple that went with us has a terrific babysitter that agreed to watch all 3 girls. Terrific, and very patient. She didn't seem to mind at all that I made Kristi text her half a dozen times to check in. Hey, I may be annoying but I'm a great tipper.

Happy Halloween!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

It's Ava's world. We're just livin' in it.

Here is a picture of Ava shamelessly petitioning for Christmas gifts in her "If you think I'm cute you should see my grandma" jammies. I told her this was never going to work unless her Grandma's actually saw her in the jammies, so she insisted I take this picture and post it to her blog. She also said to post that she wants a pony. Told you she was shameless.

I'm beginning to learn where Mommy falls in the pecking order around here. Andy and I took Ava to dinner a couple of nights ago, and before the meal even landed on the table she was loudly expressing her displeasure at being forced to face the prospect of yet another bottle of formula in the presence of Italian food. I picked her up and tried to reassure her that there was indeed lasagna in her future (once she gets some teeth - I was pretty clear on that point), but it was no use. She was mad. Until her Daddy took her, that is. She spent the rest of the meal quietly sitting on his lap. Guess the promise of lasagna has nothing on cuddles from Daddy. Oh well. They do make a pretty cute pair.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Ava made some new friends!

I've been dying to get this on film for days. I just wish you could see her face better. As many of you know, we've been waiting on the dresser in this picture for months. Up until it arrived, we had no actual changing table. So several days ago I laid Ava on the changing pad for the first time, and she discovered the fairies. She's been smitten ever since. From the second I lay her down she coos, smiles, stares and "talks" to them, and so far seems oblivious to the fact that they don't talk back. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays that way - if Ava decides she's mad at those fairies, diaper and clothing changes are not going to be fun for Mom and Dad.

Speaking of clothing changes, I'm a little behind on the laundry. This left me changing Ava into an outfit this morning that has all the simplicity of a Rubik's Cube. About 40 snaps and lots of whining (me, not her) later I finally had her wrestled into the silly thing, only to realize she had managed to pee all the way up the back. I have no idea how she did it, but I must admit I was a little impressed.


We're still waiting on Ava to sleep through the night. The doctor says it'll happen when she hits 12lbs. She was 10lbs 15oz at her last appointment. We've decided to start adding puréed Halloween candy to her bottles until she fattens up. Ok, so not really, but when the whole family is awake at 2 in the morning the idea gets tossed out there. Thank goodness for caffeine.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

And then there were 3

I'm a little behind on this blogging thing, so I'll start from the beginning. Or Ava's beginning at least. Andy and I had taken all the baby classes, filled our house with tiny clothes, and bought every pink item sold at Baby's R Us. We pronounced ourselves prepared. And then she got here. The dazzling (and very sleepy) creature you see on the left here arrived on August 4, 2009 at 2:07pm, weighing in at 6lbs 8oz, and 18 inches long. Grandma Sally and Grandpa George were on hand to help us welcome her into the world.

Ava might not know it yet, but she's one lucky little girl. Since she was born the house (and phone lines, and email box) have been filled with people that love her - and are willing to change a diaper. To all of you, we send our sincere thanks. Ava, Andy, and I are so fortunate to have you in our lives.

Ava's already learned to smile, so we spend a fair amount of time making silly faces and dancing her around the house so we can see her grin. We haven't been able to catch it on camera yet, but hopefully we'll have a picture of that sweet little smile to post soon. In the meantime we're keeping the blinds closed.

At almost 3 months old, Ava's survived her first shots (thanks to her Aunt Marianne - I was crying in a chair. Pathetic, I know.), learned to hold her head up, impressed loved ones and strangers alike with her sassy sense of style, and wrapped everyone she's met - including the dog - around her dainty little finger. She really is an amazing little girl.