Mini Matteson: 7,8, and 9 months of Ava!

Now that Ava is NINE months old, and a completely different babe then she was 3 months ago when I was last here...figured I should update!! I suck at keeping up with this thing lets face it. Oh well.

Again, not even sure where to start here! Ava is becoming less of a baby and more of a little girl right before our eyes. I can't believe I just reserved her FIRST birthday party location and am already starting to party plan. Its crazy! She is now crawling all over the place, eating pretty much everything we eat, pulling herself up from laying to sitting ( and most recently from sitting to standing in her crib!), she's sporting FIVE almost six teeth, and never cries unless she's tired or hungry. We have been seriously blessed with theeee happiest baby on earth ! We certainly have our rough days/nights.. but for the most part she's really pretty happy!

7 months old!

8 months old! Mommy dropped the ball on this one and totally

forgot to do an 8 month pic! ughh! So I found this one in my phone

from around her 8 month birthday.

9 months and feeling festive for the 4th of July this weekend!!

Now for an Ava update....

sleep:

I was reading back on my last post and had to laugh... that must have been a rough time for us in the sleep department! haha! Ava is currently sleeping through the night ( for the most part) A typical night around here looks something like this:

around 8-8:30pm we let her choose a book off her shelf ( no not really...she just grabs whatever she sees first but we go with it ;) ) she has just started recently loving books! She will sit there while we read and point to the pictures and grab them. She will actually sit there and listen too. Its so adorable! After that, Daddy makes a big bottle while mama changes her into her nighttime diaper and pj's. We then cuddle up in the rocking chair and mama gives her her bottle while papa gets her bed ready. After the bottle she goes right into her crib no problems. She might fuss for a few minutes but not usually. She loves to sleep on her belly , and has to have the fan on. Not sure if she likes the sound or the air but whatever it works ! She usually sleeps until about 4 or 5 am and will wake up for a quick bottle and back to bed until about 8 am. We are trying to cut the 4/5 am bottle out but are having difficulty on that one! Other than that I'd say her sleep is great and she's improved so much these past few months!

eating:

I'd say this category has changed the most since I last updated! Ava really is only having 3-4 formula bottles/ day and those are morning, noon and night...and that 4 or 5 am bottle. We switched her to just regular enfamil infant and haven't noticed a difference from the gentlease kind. After Ava wakes up for the day around 8 am she has breakfast which is usually a few mini pancakes cut up, blueberries ( her favorite food on the planet..this girl could eat blueberries for every meal every day and be just fine I swear..we can only give her a couple ( cut up) at a time because she will just shovel and not stop) and some yobaby yogurt. She also loves french toast sticks , apple&maple flavored chicken sausage, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and strawberries!

Lunch is usually something like grilled chicken, mozzarella cheese, and a veggie ( her favorite is carrots!) I like to buy the Libby's brand carrots and green beans in the mini to-go containers . Super quick and easy and they are already cut up and easy for her to grab and eat. She also loves pasta & ravioli, turkey meatballs, sweet potatoes/mashed potatoes, and she loooves bread just like her mama and papa! Dinner time is usually whatever we are eating ..but with an added fruit/veggie. If its something she really cant eat she will just have any combination or assortment of the above foods she eats for breakfast or lunch.

Pancakes for dinner ? so what!

milestones/achievements:

Ava is now crawling all over the place! Although her crawl is a very awkward one ( she kind of does this army crawl thing dragging her legs and pushing off with her feet?) so weird, but she is super fast and can get something she wants across the room in no time. Which has opened us up to a whole different world! She of course wants everything she isn't supposed to have....cords, outlets, your phone, your drink, the random blueberry on the floor from a week ago, its exhausting! We've totally baby proofed ( all outlets covered, cords tucked away, baby gates, and we even got rid of our coffee table so the princess could have more room to crawl around and less chance of falling into it) She is getting up on all 4's and can crawl for a bit that way but I think that belly is a little heavy to hold so she ends up falling back down...she can stand supported and has recently started pulling herself up in her crib! She has also started sitting up from laying down and does it so fast now! It amazes me everyday the things she does! I know we are really in for it when she starts to walk!!

She has 5 teeth, almost 6 ...and will bite you so hard if you give her the chance. She loves to bite ( we are working on that)haha. She says mama, papa, dada, and baba...not sure she understands what they mean yet but she definitely knows who her papa is! she also waves hi and bye bye and it is pretty much the cutest thing ever!!

she has recently discovered this spot under the end table

its her new go-to hang out ;)

Ava loves waving Hi and Bye Bye!

Crib officially at lowest setting now that little miss

can pull herself up to standing position!

likes:

Ava loves to eat ( those blueberries and carrots are her fav) she loves to go for walks and people watch ( she is totally my child and is super nosey!) , bath time, playing with her stuffed animals, being sang to , reading books, crawling all over the place (and getting into everything). She actually is not big into toys and would be perfectly content sitting in a laundry basket or a box with a water bottle in her hand ( that was today) so strange!! She loves our dog Jake and always goes right after him when he comes upstairs...hes an old dog so he isn't as excited as she is ;)

dislikes:

still not a fan of crowds or commotion, goes nuts when you try and take something away from her she wants, doesn't like when someone walks away from her ( always wants attention) hates her face wiped, and is not a joy when she misses naps or her bedtime!

I posted last time that she didn't like riding in the shopping cart but actually she is doing really well with that now! It is so much easier having her ride in the cart and actually have a place to put those groceries ;)

memories:

Since our last update we have celebrated a few fun Holidays with our girl, taken her on her first boat ride, taken her to Hidden Valley Animal Adventure, the lilac festival, and spent some time playing outside in the sun !