Ava’s Christening

This past weekend was a busy, with grandparents (both sets) and Mo’s brother and his fiance in town for Ava’s baptism. Ava definitely got spoiled by all of the attention – she loved having even more people to entertain and smile at.
Getting some work done with Papa…

Crawling her way over to Papa…

Having fun with Uncle John.
Let’s just say that Ava might be destined to be an entertainer. The priest was awesome – he even danced a bit to some of the music during mass. But leave to Ava to try to upstage him – after Father finished a prayer, she chimed in with the baby version of Amen – Father didn’t even miss a beat in agreeing with her. It was a great experience – having our family and friends there made it extra special.
The “Lion King” moment. Ava entertaining the audience…
Ava’s facial hair obsession…
With godparents John and Marcy

With the Dwyer clan.
With grandma.

Afterwards we had a brunch at the house for family and friends. It was a good chance to catch up with everyone – we had a lot of fun!
Ava’s talents – drinking her bottle and looking upside down at the neighbors.
Ava still on her bottle (after the handoff to Neenee) and our 6-month-old neighbor Sophie and her dad Mike.

The moms club (and 1 about-to-be mom) 
Having fun with Dad’s watch on the lawn.
Mo(m) and Ava.
     
After all that family and excitement, Ava was definitely worn out!

Ava’s Workout

Ava’s mobility means that she now has a bigger world to explore. Now anything we leave around is fair game for her to play with. Just yesterday she started pulling out drawers to our dresser to start pulling herself up.

Mo(m)’s workout bands on the pantry door apparently were a tempting target for Ava. She made her way over to them for a little morning workout…

The pre-workout crawling warm up…

Starting the workout.

Working some abs.

Pausing for a little mid-workout teething break.  

Onto the next exercise with the foam roller…

All that working out makes you hungry. Here’s Ava after cleaning her plate from breakfast…

Later Ava got to be the “package” in our little beverage tub. She seems to like being carried around!

Maybe we’ll have to do a DVD series of “50-second Abs by Ava”?

Playing House and Slo-mo Crawling

Ava is definitely more interested in her toys now that she can reach higher. She’s loves her house – playing with the mailbox, door (learning “open” and “close”) and crawling through the door…

Ava is also becoming more proficient at crawling. A little motivation is sometimes all she needs to really go after something…

Step 1: Getting ready to crawl…and happy about it!  Step 2: Making progress

Step 3:Getting closer …

Step 4: Almost there

Step 5: Phone is within reach…

Step 6: Mission accomplished!

Ava also seems to love standing and banging on the keyboard on her play table. Oh, and she’s pretty good a multitasking – standing, playing, holding a toy, and smiling all at the same time!

 

Week in review

It was a week of firsts for Ava. On Tuesday she had her first swimming lesson. She and another A-baby (Alexandria, 2 days younger) had their swimming lessons – Ava is still a long ways off from making the Olympic team.

Ava started getting into a sitting position on her own on Wednesday. Now she can get to her favorite position without waiting for Mom or Dad to pull her up. It’s funny when she wakes up from a nap and by the time one of us gets there she is sitting up playing with her stuffed animals and dolls.

Thursday was the first official crawl (although she is still improving it). She’s now getting around more to where she wants to be – now that she is getting mobile, our days of being able to take her to as many places are numbered….

Enjoying the springtime weather in the backyard.

Hanging with her pal Chase.

Learning to feed herself.

“Finger lickin’ good!”

On Saturday Ava and Mo(m) went to a baby shower for our friend Renee. It seems like only yesterday we were doing the shower for Ava…it is amazing how time flies!

Mo at the shower for Ava, 7/09.

Ava with another friend, Quinn, at Renee’s shower. 

Easter Recap

Easter was a full day for Ava. The Ohio Easter bunny (aka Ameduri grandparents) brought her a new toy, and the Minnesota Easter bunny (aka Dwyer grandparents) brought her a stuffed animal bunny. She made it through mass outdoors with smiles and compliments from a bunch of other moms.

Ava with her new toy…

All dressed up for church

 

With mom and her new bunny.

After church we went over to some friend’s for Easter brunch, where she played with the other kids (2 sets of 3 year old twins). While she is too young to really get the whole Easter egg hunt concept, she seemed to have just as much fun watching the older kids collect the eggs.

The Easter egg hunt

Ava is making mental notes for next year.

And having fun with one egg…

After the long morning she was ready for her nap. Later in the afternoon we met up with some other friends with their 9 month old twins to spend some time in the park. Ava, Charlotte, and Alexander had fun watching volleyball, playing in the grass, and just enjoying the outdoors.

Ava definitely enjoyed her first Easter….as did we! Next year we’ll color eggs and let Ava hunt for them!