Ava At 7 Months

Our little lady is growing like a weed!  I'm certain she changes everyday.  She's turing into the most adorable little girl.  Her personality is so sweet and so precious, yet so dramatic!  She definitely has drama queen tendencies and over this last month especially has become much more independent.  She is so much fun and we love her with all our hearts.  She is our whole world and brings so much love and laughter in to our home.  She will be 8 months old tomorrow, so here's a look at Ava at 7 months...

I just have to mention that in this picture she's wearing a 3 month shirt, 0-3 month shorts, and newborn sandals :) She will probably always be petite! And we are so ok with it.

A few new things from this last month:

She started sitting up on her own.  She has been wanting to for a while now, but just couldn't quite get her balance and would always topple over.  But one day (I swear things happen with this little girl overnight) I sat her on her bum and she stayed there just playing with her toys for probably a good 10 minutes!  She loves to sit up and play with her toys now, I know she feels so big.  We still do put a pillow or a blanket behind her for those times when she does fall.  But for the most part, she's got it down.  

 


 
 

 Playing with cousin Emma

Along with sitting up, she still loves to scoot and roll.  She's figured out how to get around pretty well by doing so and will do circles around the living room.  She always manages to find things she's NOT supposed to play with too, like cords or blinds :)  She's getting so strong and I know has the desire to be even more mobile than her little self allows.  It won't be long before she's crawling I'm sure.  

She's known for her incredible back bend :)

Because she's gotten so good at rolling around, she's started to sleep on her belly at night.  At first, this freaked me out.  I would go in to check on her multiple times a night to make sure she was still breathing and I would actually turn her back on to her back sometimes.  I'm a first time mom okay?  Lay off :) After a week or two had passed, I knew she was fine and could roll back over by herself so I calmed down.  She actually sleeps the best, and the longest when on her belly! 

A second tooth popped up this last month!  About 2 weeks after the first one came in on Mother's Day. And I'm certain more are on their way... she's been very irritable lately :)

Although, you wouldn't suspect it with that happy face!
I just love that little two tooth grin!

We've been so incredibly blessed with a good eater!  This girl LOVES her food and has taken very well to solids.  We've tried a lot of new things this last month, most of which she's loved.  The ONE and ONLY thing she has absolutely refused, like turn her head away refused, was avocado.

Loves her veggies...

 
And loves her fruits... here she's eating a strawberry...

And...

 The Avocado Fiasco...

 Priceless right??!!

And here's her first time sitting in a restaurant highchair like a big girl!  Of course with a blanket at her back for more support.  Those things are huge!  And she's just so tiny.

 
 

We've done some fun things this last month as a little family.  We bought a bike trailer so Ava could join Jace and I on our bike rides!  Here's her first time...

I may have been a little paranoid about the fact that the age for this thing says 1 year old.  So we added a little extra padding, and went on the nice, smooth path behind our house.

It was a success.  She loved it and actually fell asleep on the ride back home!

We celebrated Memorial Day by visiting the Provo cemetery the Sunday before, to put flowers on my grandparents' graves.

 

 And the actual holiday was spent with the Helean's at the Spanish Fork splash pad and park, and a weenie roast and smore's with my family.

Art City Days Carnival and Springville Splash Pad

We are fortunate enough to have a pool where we live, and here's the little lady's first time swimming...

 She was NOT a fan.  She liked being out of the water much more than being in.  A couple days later, some friends of ours were taking their kiddos over to the pool, so I decided to try it again with Ava.  This time was SO much better!  It took a little getting used to, but she ended up loving it!  Bring on the fun, pool filled summer days!

FATHER'S DAY

This guy celebrated his very first Father's Day!

Ava and I are so blessed to have this incredible man in our lives.  He is such a good husband and father and works so hard so that I can stay home and be a Momma.  He always puts us first and we love him so much!

She is especially obsessed with him.
Daddy's girl for sure!

We spent the evening at my parents house to celebrate with my dad...

 


My Love, My Baby, My Daddy.
I adore this picture.

And this girl adores her Grandpas :)

Now on to probably the most eventful thing that happened this past month... or past week I should say.

Yes, that would be my child's bracelet (the one she's worn since the day she was born) in her belly.  This just happened last Wednesday as I was putting her down for her afternoon nap.  And let's just say, I NEVER want to experience something so horrible again in my life.  It was THE WORST day and I have never felt so scared.  Most people know the story already, but for those that don't (and for my own records) here it is...

I had just put her down for her nap around 2 pm and went about doing things around the house.  About 10 minutes had past when I heard her coughing.  I went in to check on her thinking she was just choking on her spit, or a wet burp.  She does that a lot.  But, this cough was different, almost like there was something in her throat.  I immediately grabbed her out of her crib and started patting her back.  Then I realized that the bracelet was no longer on her wrist.  I knew right then that she had probably swallowed it.  I started panicking.  I stuck my finger in her mouth and down her throat to try and find it, but there was nothing.  She was breathing, and gagging and crying so I knew she was fine, but I was still a mess.  I stripped her crib, and searched her whole room, thinking that maybe she didn't swallow it and it was in there somewhere,  but I couldn't find it.  I knew she had swallowed it.  I put her in front of her Baby Einstein movie while I called her pediatrician.  She was actually laughing and giggling at her movie like she usually does, so I knew she was okay.  The nurse told me to feed her something, cause if the bracelet was lodged somewhere and food couldn't get to her stomach, she would throw up, so we needed to know if she could keep something down.  While I fed her, the nurse talked to the doctor to see if we needed to go in and get an X-ray.  Ava kept her food down, thank goodness, and the nurse called me back saying the pediatrician wanted us to go get an X-ray.  

I strapped her in the car and hurried to American Fork hospital.  Once we were checked in, they took us back to this big, cold room with a really big, hard table that I had to lay her on.  As soon as I did that, she started bawling as I tried to keep it together.  The X-ray itself took only a few seconds, and then the nurse showed us the result.  Sure enough, there was the bracelet, most likely already in her stomach.  I lost it at that point and started bawling.  The nurse was so sweet and told me that this stuff happens all the time and that everything would be alright.  She told me they were going to send the X-ray over to the pediatrician and I was to call them so they could instruct me on what to do.  I called and the nurse told me that it was in a good spot and that it would pass easily.  We were just now supposed to watch for it to show up in her diaper.  She said it could take up to 5 days for it to pass and if we didn't see it within a week, then to call back and we would need to go in for another X-ray to see where it was.  Well, today is day 5 and it's still in there.  This little girl is a pooping machine and I am shocked it hasn't come out yet, with all the poopy diapers I've changed within the last 5 days.  I am just praying it comes out soon!  I really don't want to go through all that X-ray drama again! 

Boy, oh boy.  I tell ya.  That little girl almost gave me a heart attack.  It was the scariest, most traumatic moment of my life to date and I hope and pray we won't have to go through anything like it again!  We are so lucky, and so blessed that she didn't choke on it.  There were sweet angels with her that day for sure, and I was definitely inspired as well.  Such a tender mercy.

With all that said, life is still good!  And we have been richly blessed.  We have been loving every moment spent with our little angel and our families who love and support us so much.  Here are a few more random photos of Ava... since this post was mostly about her anyway :)

Hanging with Dad...

Until next month!