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Nov 07, 2009
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Stories June 24th, 2007~ I was just looking back at the last updated story, and it seems that's it's been quite some time since I've given a full update. Oops!!! Sorry! You can definately tell how busy we got after around February! Well I have a lot to update, so hopefully Ava will continue her nap for a bit longer! Here we go.... Ava now weighs 20 pounds and 10 ounces. She is also 30 inches tall. The doctor said that she is tall and skinny. If you've looked at the pictures you can see that she has new teeth. She is getting four front teeth on the top- all at the same time! They don't seem to bother her all the time, but we can tell when they are. It usually is at about 3:00 in the morn. She'll wake up chomping on her pacifier and crying pretty hard. Poor baby. With these new teeth, she can eat pretty much anything. We don't give her anything that's too hard yet, but her food choices sure have grown. It's nice to be able to go to a restaurant and order from the kids menu. Her favorite drink now is V8 Splash. She guzzles it. We don't mind since it's good for her. She isn't a huge fan of whole milk yet. She is still getting used to the flavor. Ava isn't a big fan of meat either. She'll eat lunch meat, hot dogs, and ham steaks. She doesn't like when the meat shreds in her mouth. Ava is not fully walking yet. She walks like a pro if we're holding her hand, but won't take the big plunge! We can't figure out what will finally make her want to walk. We'll keep working with her. One thing that Ava does really well is say "Hi". She loves to tell anyone and everyone hi as she is passing them. She won't do it when we ask her to, but will do it randomly on her own. She also says Bye, but it sounds more like Die. Hopefully no one will take it the wrong way!! She also says Dotters (her beloved stuffed dalmation), she shakes her head no, of course Mama and Dada, Nene (which we think is Laney), and some other words that we haven't quite translated yet. Her first sentence was "Hi Dotters", followed by a complete attack on Dotters. In fact, Mike took Ava to the fire station to do some paperwork. They have a large dalmation in the office. Mike said that Ava looked at the dalmation and said "Dotters". He did say that the dog actually scared her because it was so big. Quite a bit bigger than her Dotters. Ava's birthday party went really well. We had perfect weather! We were outside the entire time. I think that I counted about 30 people at the party. She's a pretty popular little lady! We really do thank everyone for coming. She got a lot of wonderful gifts, including an entire summer wardrobe! We had a great time at the lake house on Memorial Day. Ava and I were able to stay overnight and wake up to a beautiful morning. It looks like we might be able to do this again for the 4th of July. I'll keep my fingers crossed!!! We also had a trip this past Friday to the zoo with Courtney Beck. I've had some free time (no work or school) so we made the best of it. I'm not sure how much Ava really understood, but it was fun to take her there anyway. She really enjoys the fish though. If fact, Courtney and I both thought that she said "fish" at one point. We also found out that she likes going down slides. We'll definately keep making trips to the park! (It would be nice to have a walking path so that we didn't have to drive!) Ava's latest news are her new swim classes. She started on Saturday. She did a lot better than both Mike and I expected. We seemed to be the novices of the group, but we caught on after time. She went under water two times without even seeming to care. The only thing that worries me is the fact that she seemed more interested in drinking the water. Yuck! I could smell the chlorine just entering the pool area. It sure was fun though. We'll be back for more next Saturday. That's about all of the news! I'm surprised that I finished in one sitting! Our family is trying to plan some type of summer vacation, so we'll keep you all updated. Mike graduates from paramedic school on August 1st, so it will be soon after that. We hope you are all well. Take care, Sheli April 14th, 2007~ I just wanted to write a quick note- I'll write more later. We have set a date for Ava's birthday party. It will be May 12th at 2:00 p.m. Hopefully we'll have nice weather!! Also, we discovered a new tooth today. No wonder she's been moody!! It's on the top right. I'm hoping it's not one of her front teeth because it is really far to the side. We'll see. Ok, I'll update you all more later. Sheli February 22, 2007~ Quick update: Ava had her 9 month update today. She weighs 19 lbs. 5 oz (60th percentile) and is 28.75 in. long (80th percentile). So basically no size fits her. Everything is either too short or to wide in the waist. Ava is also just about to crawl. She can get up on all fours, but has some trouble moving forward. She can move backwards with no problem. We'll keep working! Other than that, Ava just continues to be a wonderful baby girl. She is a bundle of smiles and giggles that we can't get enough of. The doctor even said that she is perfect! So it isn't just me that thinks so!!! Take care, Sheli February 13th, 2007~ Well today I get to stay home with Ava again. Yah for snow!! We may actually have tomorrow also! So I am taking this time to update everyone on little Ava. I'm sure that you all have seen the pictures of her new teeth. She only has those two, and no sign of any more coming in. At least the tooth pain is gone for now. She went back to doctor last Monday because it didn't seem to me that she was feeling any better. The doctor confirmed my thoughts. Ava's one ear infection turned into a double ear infection. UGH! The medicine that she was on didn't do a darn thing for her. Poor baby. She is now on a new medicine along with Motrin to ease the pain and inflamation. She is, of course, still in good spirits. I do think that she is feeling better though. Ava really has been a bundle of joy lately. Her new toothy grins and silly giggles just makes everyone around her forget about what's bothering them. She is now cuddling more than ever. When she gets really sleepy she wraps her arms around my neck and nuzzles in. I absolutely love it! I can't get enough. She's also been joining us in the big bed in the mornings. When she gets up early, we turn on some toons and hope to catch a couple more zzzz's before she gets too bored. Most of the time she ends up snoozing for a bit longer too. It's nice to wake up and see her smiling face. aaahhh.... That's about it for little miss Ava. She has her first Valentine's Day party tomorrow (if there isn't the blizzard that they're calling for). We got her "The Backyardigans" cards to hand out with some candy sweethearts. That is her favorite cartoon to date. She loves the characters and the theme song. So hopefully she'll make it to the party, but if she doesn't then that means I am home for another day. We'll have our own party!! We hope all is well with everyone! Take care, Sheli, Mike,and Ava January 30, 2007~ Well we've had a very busy past few days. Ava made her first trip to the E.R. On Friday she started getting a bit of a cough and a runny nose. Saturday, she sure wasn't any better. In fact, she was a lot worse. Mike was at a 15 hr. clinical, so I was home alone with her all day. I started to watch her fever, and it eventually hit 102.6 degrees. I know that 103 is the magic number, but I wasn't about to wait since it went up so fast. So at about 8:00 p.m., I packed Ava up in her jammies and took her to the hospital. Luckily Mike was able to leave his clinical and head over too. When we checked her in she had a temp of 103 degrees. So I was glad that I brought her. We waited for at least 2 hours in the waiting room with at least ten other sick kids. Poor Ava was soooo tired, but couldn't sleep because of the bright lights and loud noises. When we finally go to a room, they took her back for a chest x-ray. I went with her, assuming that it wouldn't be too bad. Well I thought wrong. She was put into a plastic capsule and forced to have her arms in the air. She was terrified, which made me ball my eyes out. Ugh... After that, she had to get blood drawn and an i.v. put in for fluids. That was horrible too. I actually had to leave the room, because I was sure that I would either tackle the nurse or make them stop all together. It was hard enough seeing her with needles in her arm, and all the bruises on her. Eventually, (at about 1 a.m.) we were told that she only had a virus. I guess it was better to know, but I felt horrible about taking her there in the first place. We then got a call from the hospital about her blood results. Apparently there was something growing in her blood. The lady said that it looked more like an outside contaminant. So we made an appointment yesterday morning at the doctor's office. The doc found that she had an ear infection!!! I'm assuming that she has a cold since she has a runny nose and cough too. But was a crazy weekend for just an ear infection! So right now we are working on getting her to take a bottle since sucking hurts her ear. She is taking spoon fed food just fine, but not her bottles. This morning (today was a snow day and yesterday was a sick day = 4 day weekend!!) she is acting quite happy, so hopefully the meds are starting to work. She is also taking much better naps, which usually makes for a happy baby. In a few weeks, Ava will go in for her 9 month check up. We found out at the hospital that she weighs about 19 lbs. 6 oz. We actually expected her to be a bit more. I'm sure she will have hit the 20 lb. mark by her check up. She's getting to be such a big girl. I just love her like crazy! I'll update soon with a bit more cheerful story I am sure! I hope all is well with you! Sheli January 19, 2007~ Ava has two teeth coming in!!!! They are the two bottom front teeth. One of the two is coming in a bit quicker, but we can now see the top of the second. It's so exciting!! Ava has been such a cutie pie lately. She's always a cutie pie, but she is really developing a character. She sings, dances, tries to clap her hands, and has lots of things to talk about. She is now trying to pull herself up on things too. She isn't crawling yet, but is already trying to pull herself up. Maybe she'll skip the crawling thing. Ava's Christmas was great. We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grenpeppy. They had the whole family there! Lots of noise!! Christmas morning the three of us got up and opened all of the gifts. Ava opened a couple, but mostly just ate wrapping paper. It kept her entertained anyways. She loves all of her new twinkling and noisey toys. Her favorite right now is her Exersaucer and the Leap Frog table. (She also loves an old remote that we found for her!) Christmas day we visited Nana and Papop Hudson. We got to open more presents and eat some great food. We didn't get a chance to visit Grandpa and Grandma Huff over Christmas because they were both under the weather. Next year, we'll have to try again. Right now we are working on Ava waving Bye-Bye, and of course her crawling. We aren't getting very far with either. She did wave to Rene a couple times, but that's it. In less than a month Ava will have her 9 month check-up. We'll get a weight and length update, which I'm sure she weighs over 20 lbs. We're guessing about 22 lbs. Ok, well that is all for the update right now. Mike and I are very busy so time to update is quite slim. Time to do anything is quite slim. We hope all is well with everyone!! Take care! Sheli, Mike, and Ava December 21, 2006~ Finally I get some free time!! So much has happened in the last month. Where to start?? Ava is doing great with her sitting. I really don't worry about her toppling over anymore. She still does topple, but she doesn't get too upset about it. She'll just find a toy that is now in her reach and play with it. A couple of times she hit her head but it didn't seem to phase her at all. She's a tough cookie! Mike is now doing crawling exercises with Ava in the evenings. They both lay down on their tummies and Mike tries to get her to crawl. She is now putting her bum into the air, but that is about as far as it goes. She can prop herself up but doesn't quite get the scooting yet. We think that she is starting to get a bit frustrated because she can't really go anywhere on her own. We'll keep working on it. Ava is still only eating cereal and jar food. I just started giving her the pinwheels that disolve in her mouth. She wasn't a big fan. She made the funniest face ever!! Plus, she can't really pick them up yet. She doesn't have the pinching down yet. I also gave her a sippy cup the other day. I put a bit of watered down apple juice in it. She seems like she wants it but then realizes that it isn't her milk, and starts to scream. We'll keep working with that too. Ava has no teeth yet, but we are pretty sure that there are some coming in. She hasn't been herself lately. She seems to be a bit moodier then usual, and is also drooling a ton! We also think that we can actually see two itty bitty teeth coming up in the front (bottom). I'm not sure. Sara, Ava's babysitter, seems to think that they are teeth too. It sure looks like it, but since we've never had a baby before we really aren't sure. Well the holidays are coming and we are going to be quite busy. We have dinner at my mom's on Christmas Eve, and two places to visit on Christmas Day. Busy, busy. We wish you all have a great holiday. I'll be uploading pictures from Ava's first Christmas, so check back for those!! Best wishes, Mike, Sheli, and Ava November 13th, 2006, Ok, so yes, I am aware that it's been almost a month since I've updated the stories. I just don't find a lot of spare time these days.... Anywho, things are going great here in the Ford household. Ava is now 6 months old!! We can't believe it. She is doing so much these days. She can sit without any support, although we always put something around her. She does slouch to the side occasionally but does quite well most of the time. I am convinced that Ava is saying "Dada". That has been her newest sound. Over and over again she will say dada. THEN- today Mike walked into the room and she started saying it when she saw him. We both about passed out from shock. So I'm pretty sure that she's a genious. Ava had her 6 month check up today. All is well with her little self. She weighs in at 16 lbs. 9 oz. and is 26.5 inches long. That is the 75th percentile for everything. She is now having cereal in the mornings and evenings, along with a lunch time fruit and veggie. She is actually enjoying the veggies more than I expected. The plain fruit (as compared to mixing it in the cereal) has been a bit sweet to her. She makes a face every time she gets a bite of fruit. So far there isn't any fruit or veggie that she refuses. She even had apricots and squash today with no problem. Just wait till we try peas. Then we'll see... Ava gets her pictures taken tomorrow. I am soooo excited. Hopefully her mood will be ok so that the pictures turn out pretty good. I think we may get a family portrait taken next month. We'll see. We hope that you all have a great turkey day. Eat lots!! Love, The Fords October 14th, 2006 Aaahhh....finally some time. We have been sooo busy lately. Why did I agree to do all spirit activities at my school?!??!! Thankfully spirit week is over, and I can breathe again! Mike is also super busy with his schooling. He has started his clinicals on top of class and lab time. Ugh! Anywho....Ava is doing great. We have finally gotten her spit up under control. She is now taking a formula that is thinkened with rice. I couldn't find it for the longest time, and then realized that I was looking for the wrong thing. Kroger had it the whole time! So it has been a bit easier to feed her. No more projectile puking. She just turned 5 months on the 11th. I can't believe it. The time has gone by so fast, but at the same time I feel like she's been around forever. She'll be starting to add an afternoon helping of cereal and fruit this month. Then later she'll get another meal added to the day. Ava's goal for this month is to be able to sit on her own. We work on it everyday. She usually can be steady for a couple seconds, then she will either fold herself forward, or just topple to the side. She also has been doing sit ups, as if she is trying to get herself up. It's pretty funny. She has been doing backbends too. If we are holding her she'll arch her back and straigthen her arms behind her and fall backwards. It is pretty scary when I don't have both hands on her. You have probably seen the pictures of her first pumpkin patch trip. It was pretty fun. She didn't like sitting on the pumpkins though. She wimpered like I was going to leave her there. We had a good day picking out pumpkins. We each got our own pumpking (even Laney) and a couple extra little ones just to sit around. It was a great fall day. We also had a good time at Nate's fifth b-day party. I'm hoping to see Nate more often so that he and Ava can develop a great relationship. Hopefully we will be doing a bit of trick-or-treating with him. Ok, well I hear Ava waking up so I should get to her. We hope that all is well with everyone. Ava will have new pics for her 6th month birthday, so look forward to those in the mail! Love, Mike, Sheli, and Ava September 19, 2006~ This weekend was Ava's first Race for the Cure. She had all of her pink on and even ended up in some pictures on a website. Ava did really well. She never got cranky, and pretty much napped the whole time. Next year she will be able to walk a little bit of the way, but I'm sure it won't last long. Ava still has a bit of her cold. She's been coughing for about two weeks now. Her runny nose is gone but she is still coughing. The doctor says that it is not much to worry about and that it will run it's course. I think two weeks is a bit long, but I'm not the doctor. I'll call again on Friday if she is still coughing. You probably have looked at her pictures of her eating cereal. The first night was hilarious because she absolutely hated it. Her facial expression say it all. I finally decided to mix a bit of applesauce with it, and now she seems to enjoy it a bit more. I'm sure it isn't the best, but it's got to be better with the applesauce. We are pretty sure that the spoon is what bothers her the most. If the cereal was coming from a bottle, it would be no big deal. Next week she will get a bit of peaches with her cereal. Or maybe pears. It depends on what I have already bought. Ava is now rolling around and scooting herself all over the place. She doesn't roll all the way over very often, but she goes to one side and to the other all of the time. She will scoot herself all the way around when she is really moving. I put her on her fishy mat and before I knew it, her feet were where her head had been. I guess she wanted a different view! Well I hope that all is well with everyone. Take care, Us September 11, 2006~ PROUD TO BE AMERICAN!! Today Ava had her 4 month check up. I was worried that she would be extremely upset from her shots, but she was pretty much screaming the whole time. She had been sleeping at home and the entire way to the dr. office. I guess she woke up and was a bit frightened to be in a weird place. She was fine as soon as we picked her up, but laying her down was out of the question. Because she was screaming, Mike and I both missed how long she is now. I'll call tomorrow. We did hear that she is now 14 lbs. 3 oz. Originally the nurse said that Ava weighed 16 lbs, then she realized that Mike was leaning on the scale. Poor Ava. Daddy is trying to add 2 lbs. to her weight. Ava also gets to start having cereal today. Yeah!! Something new. We will see how it goes. There will definately be pictures to take! I also bought her some jar food. She isn't supposed to have it for another month, but I was too excited to not buy it. At least we'll have it on hand if we think she is ready for it earlier. We hope that you all have a great week. Fall is fast approaching!! Is that a good thing or a bad thing?!?!??! Love, Sheli, Mike and Ava (and Laney of course) September 7, 2006~ Ava has discovered her feet!!! I'm pretty sure that she tries to get them in her mouth. Of course they don't reach, but she sure tries! September 5, 2006~ So we've finished another full week of school. Which means Ava and Mommy were seperated during the day time for a whole week. Believe it or not, we both made it through! I have a harder time than Ava, but I keep her pictures close. Ava has been doing absolutely great at Sara's house. Ava loves the other little girl, Addy, that goes to daycare with her. Addy helps out with Ava and talks to her all the time. Sara says that when Ava gets upset, Addy is the first by her side. Ava has gotten her first cold. She has had it for about a week. She started with just sniffles and a runny nose, now she has a bit of a cough. The doctor says that there isn't much to do but to wait it out. Poor baby. There's been lots of nose sucking! Yummy. Mike and I are definately enjoying Ava right now. She is becoming this silly little happy baby. We love it. Her grin melts us every time. She is also laughing quite a bit. Apparently Laney is just the funniest thing ever, because she just cracks up if Laney comes near her or kisses her. It's so cute! She seems to also enjoy Adam Sandler. We were watching Billy Madison and she just started laughing at the t.v. Mike and I were not even paying attention until she started laughing. I think that either she thought Adam was her daddy, or she thought it was funny when he was yelling in the movie. She does laugh when Mike yells at Laney, so that could've been it. Either way it was pretty funny! Well I think that that is all of the updates right now. She will see Dr. Sue next Monday for her 4 month appointment. More shots-ouch! I can't wait to see how much she weighs now. Oinker! Just a couple notes: Congrats Nate and Kamdyn on your first day of Pre-K! Also, congrats to Keli, Deep, Kamdyn, and Diya on your latest addition to your family-Dominick Maximilian (I hope I spelled that right!). Love, Sheli, Mike, and Ava August 26, 2006~ One week down. How many more to go?? This was a tough week! Ava only went to daycare once but it was still hard to be away from her. The one day that she did go, she had a tummy ache and ended up crying most of the day. Poor baby. I think that it was just gas. When she is home with Daddy, she does just fine. They sure got a lot of quality time this week! Our busy year has officially begun! Mike is back to school on Wednesdays and will begin his clinical times at the end of September. My first day back to Southview was Tuesday and I am already looking forward to spring break! Not a good sign!! Well I should get going so that I can spend time with my daughter. We hope you all are doing well and enjoying the last days of summer. Take care, Us August 18, 2006 Just a quick announcement--Ava rolled over today!!! She rolled from her back to her tummy. She has been going onto her side, but today she made the complete roll. Mike witnessed it (I missed it of course!). She was on her mat and rolled to her side. He said that it seemed like the edge of her mat gave her the extra push onto her tummy. He also said that once she was on her tummy she got really mad and started screaming. Now she just needs to figure out the tummy to back roll. I hope all is well with everyone! Back to school next week for me-aaahhh!! Work!?!?!? Sheli August 15, 2006~ Happy Birthday Grandma!!! Ok, so today I am having some seperation anxiety. I didn't even leave her for long today, but it was long enough. My thoughts- How am I going to leave her for 7 hours a day, five days a week?? Is it really possible? I really hope that it gets easier. Ugh... Ava did great at Sara's yesterday. She was not upset when I left her, and was almost asleep when I picked her up. Sara said that she took a 45 minute nap in the crib and woke up with smiles on her face. Ava also had a fun time staring at Grayson, someone closer to her size. Grayson is Sara's son and seems to speak his own language. It's quite funny. Ava sure enjoyed his jabber. Tomorrow Ava returns to daycare. This time she'll attempt a full day. Mike and I are going to his paramedic orientation. They suggest that spouses attend in order to familiarize the family about the intensity of the program. I'm not sure how long it lasts. Hopefully not past lunch. Ava has made a new discovery. She is now turning to one side while laying on the floor. Hopefully this means that she will be turning over soon. She only turns to the left side, so maybe she'll figure out that she can turn both ways. Well I will keep you all updated on Ava's latest achievements. She seems to start something new each week. It's soooo exciting. Aahhhh...the joy of babies. Take care, Sheli August 13, 2006~ This weekend we went to the lake house for a little vacation. We spent time with family and soaked up some sun. It was quite a nice weekend...not too hot, not too cold. Ava took her first boat ride, which she slept through. Overall, we had a really good time and hope to be back next summer!! (hint hint!) (<--- Ava made me write that) Tomorrow Ava goes to daycare for the first time. I am having her go for a half day so her and I can both get used to it. She'll go back again on Wednesday. She may go for a full day Wednesday. I haven't decided yet. I think I will have the biggest adjustment. She'll probably be fine. I am going to go to work so that I can occupy my time. Hopefully I'll get a lot accomplished and won't feel guilty. Well, I am currently trying to upload a video and put it on the website. The link should be near the bottom of the front page. We'll see if it works. If so, enjoy! I hope all is well with everyone. Have a good week!~~ Sheli August 9th, 2006~ Hello Everyone!! I have finally decided to jump on the website bandwagon. I didn't want to because everyone is doing it now, but I can't deny how cute they are. So Ava is finally getting her own site. I will try to update the site as much as possible. We have a very busy year coming up, so it may be a week or so at a time before I update the site. Be patient! Ava will be 3 months old in just two days! Where has the time gone? She is really starting to develop into her own little person. Soon she will be adding rice cereal into her diet, which means she'll get less of the yucky formula. We're pretty sure that she is eyeing our food when we eat, and sometimes she even salivates! Well, I hope that you all enjoy this website. All of you who don't get to see Ava regularly will feel like you are still part of her life just by keeping up on her latest stories. Take care, Sheli, Mike, and Ava (and Laney, of course) P.S. Make sure to leave a comment for Ava to see in the future!
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