Love Journal for Ava: 3 to 4 Months

Love Journal for Ava:  3 to 4 Months

My sweet angel, I have enjoyed watching your sweet little personality develop over the past month.  You have such a sweet personality.  You wake in the mornings smiling and go to bed at night smiling and cooing.  I love to hear your sweet laugh and see your sweet smile.  You are such a happy baby! 

You are definitely a thumb baby.  You have decided that you like your thumb much better than your pacifier and every time we try the pacifier, you instantly spit it out and replace it with your thumb.  I already know that it is going to be difficult breaking the thumb sucking in the future.  When your thumb is not in your mouth, that little mouth talks nonstop.  We think you are definitely going to give Blair a run for her money.  You are such a little jabber jaws (I am beginning to think more so than her).

Your little head is getting so strong so we are now able to sit you in your bumbo seat for long periods of time.  We also let you play in your entertainment center.  You are still a little small for the entertainment center but you and your sister seem to play so sweet together while you are in it.   Your favorite thing to sit and play in is your bouncy seat.  You love to look at the animals and talk to them in your seat.  What you do not like is being on your stomach.  When we turn you on your stomach, you immediately roll over to your back. 

We celebrated Mommy’s birthday this month.  I loved having two sweet girls in my life to celebrate my birthday.  Mommy let you have your first sucker on her birthday.  It was a blue sucker and you loved it. 

We are always on the go with your sister in so many activities.  You always seem to be such a little trooper and just go with the flow without any problem.  We have dragged you to softball practices, gymnastics, birthday parties, Blair’s first pageant and softball games.  You seem to do so well wherever you go.   

I love watching you and your sister together.  The two of you sit together every morning loving on each other and laughing together.  Your sister just grows more and more in love with you everyday and I think you do the same.  I have never witnessed the love of sisters like I have with you and your sister.  My prayer is that it stays this way and you grow to be best friends as well as sweet sisters. 

Ava Brooke, thank you for four wonderful months.  We are beyond blessed to have you in our lives!

Love Journal for Ava: 2 to 3 Months

Love Journal for Ava: 2 to 3 Months

My sweet baby girl, this month started off with your baby dedication at Gardendale First Baptist Church. What a wonderful day it was! We were joined by many family members including: Aunt Stacy, Uncle Eric, Aunt Rebecca, Norah, Nana, Poppy, Gigi, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kari, Ansley, Kailyn, Michele and Mike. This was the first time we were able to take you to church. There was nothing better than to take you to church for the first time and dedicate you to the One that gave you to us.

The doctor said he thought we were safe to take you to church so not only did we get to start back on Sunday mornings but we also got to start going back to Wednesday night Oasis at GFBC. You slept the entire service and you were the perfect angel during the service. Everyone talked about how beautiful you are. Mommy and Daddy already knew that but loved hearing it from so many others.

This month Mommy had to return to work and leave you at daycare. I thought I would be more prepared to take you to daycare since I knew what to expect with your sister. I was not at all prepared to leave you and go back to work. The thought of not holding you in my arms, feeding you when you were ready to eat and kissing those sweet cheeks absolutely broke my heart, still does. I cannot get to Adventure Quest quick enough each day to pick-up you and your sister from school. I love loving on you when I get you home! Your Daddy says that you and I grow roots in the big chair when we get home because all I do is sit and hold you.

We celebrated your first Valentine’s Day. I bought teething rings for you to give all of your buddies at school for Valentine’s. I thought they were pretty cute! You received many Valentine’s gifts but I think our favorite gift was diapers and formula. You and your sister looked so cute in your Valentine’s outfits. Of course I think the two of you look cute in everything.

Daddy and the neighbors made snow for the first time this year in the neighborhood. So you experienced your first snow. Blair held you on the sled while Mommy or Daddy pulled the two of you around the yard. We laughed when I brought you outside to see you all bundled up. You reminded us of the little boy from the movie The Christmas Story when he was all bundled up. You seemed to enjoy the snow so much that you feel fast asleep in Blair’s arms sledding.

You slept through the night for the first time. Thankfully you take after your sister and love to sleep just like her. This made Mommy and Daddy extremely happy!

You found your giggle box and it is contagious. When you laugh, you make everyone around you smile and laugh. I love hearing you laugh out loud! You are such a sweet and happy baby. We love you to pieces sweet Ava Brooke!

Love Journal to Ava: 1 to 2 months

Love Journal to Ava: One to Two Months

My sweet baby, you are staying awake a little more now. I love seeing you sleep so peaceful but I love even more seeing your sweet blue eyes looking around trying to take everything in. You remind me so much of your big sister when she was your size.

This month we celebrated New Year’s Eve with the Reeves Family shooting fireworks, playing Dirty Santa and enjoying time with family. We also spent some time at Nana’s house with Nana and Norah. I love the picture of you with Blair and Norah on New Year’s.

I have loved this last month with you and I am dreading going back to work. I just want to take in everything you do right now. I cannot get enough hugs and kisses before I go back. You started smiling when talked to this month. I love seeing you grin from ear to ear when I talk to you. Your sweet smile makes me smile! You also started noticing more of your surroundings. You absolutely are in awe of a ceiling fan and lights. You turn your head following voices that you know. Your sister still cannot stop loving on you.

Your sister thinks of you as her real baby doll. She is such a big helper and loves you more than you will know. She loves to love on you, feed you your bottle and change your wet diapers. I finally gave in and let you and your sister take a bath together in the big tub. You both loved it! If ever you are fussy, the bath calms you down instantly. I think you are going to be a water bug like your Daddy and sister.

Your Daddy and I are waking you up every 4 hours at night to eat and every 3 hours during the day until you pick up weight. Your Daddy is such a good Daddy and husband. He helps me so much with you and your sister. Even though I have not started work, your Daddy still gets up with you during the night to let me sleep. I do not know what we would do without sweet Daddy (just don’t tell him that).

At your two-month visit, you weighed in at 10 pounds, 2 ounces and 22.5 inches long. You picked up almost 3 pounds in one month. Your sweet little self has filled out and we love it! You are taking about 4-5 ounces of formula at every feeding.

Some of your firsts for this month:

Your first Build-A-Bear at the Galleria

Mommy painted your sweet little toes and they were adorable

First bath and shower with your sister

Visited Aunt Stacy at NBC, Nana at her office and Grandma at the Credit Union

Visited Grandpa at SBC soup kitchen

Smiling and Cooing

Noticing more of your surroundings and hands

Your Mommy and Daddy are so blessed to have two beautiful, healthy girls. We love watching both of you together. We love you sweet Ava!

Love Journal for Ava: Birth to 1 Month

Love Journal for Ava: Birth to One Month

My sweet little one, you are now one month old. I cannot believe how quickly one month has gone by. I am completely amazed at your beauty and sit and stare at you for hours. Your Daddy and I talk about how madly in love your big sister, Blair, is with you. She cannot keep her hands and lips off of your sweet little self but neither can your Daddy and I. You make the sweetest sounds while you sleep and very rarely cry. We learned that when you wake up, you are ready to eat and we better be quick with the bottle because you do not have much patience with waiting to eat.

Because you were 4 weeks early, you were considered a preemie. You weighed in at 6 pounds and 1 ounce and measured 19.5 inches long on your birthday. Your pediatrician wanted to see you 4 days later to make sure your weight and bilirubin were on target. Your weight during the visit was 5 pounds, 12 ounces and your bilirubin was 14. Both numbers were not pleasing to the doctor. We had to put you in the sunlight as much as possible to bring down your number and your feeding consisted of waking you every 2 hours around the clock until you began gaining more weight. You would take around 30 cc’s of bottle per feeding. It did not take long for your weight to pick up and the sunlight worked well and your bilirubin number came down.

During your one-week visit, your weight went up 2 ounces and we were able to move to feeding you every 3 hours instead of 2 hours. At your one-month visit, Dr. Huie checked you out and deemed you perfect. Mommy and Daddy could have told him that one! You weighed in at 7 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 21 inches long at your check-up. You would take around 3 ounces of bottle per feeding.

Some of the firsts that you experienced your first month:

You experienced your first cold, which at times scared Mommy and Daddy with all of the choking and vomiting from all of the drainage. You experienced your first newborn photo-shoot with Uncle Eric and Aunt Stacy. You made many trips Christmas shopping and meeting people for lunch. You got to sit on Santa’s lap for the first time with your big sister. You got to see Santa ride through the neighborhood on the fire truck. You attended your first Christmas Eve Communion at First Baptist in Childersburg. You celebrated your first Christmas. Santa and all of your family were really good to you. Blair and I consider you our Christmas gift from God. We prayed for you for over two years and by far you were the best Christmas gift we could ever receive. You also celebrated Aunt Stacy’s 30^th birthday at The Club.

This month with you has flown by so fast that it makes me so sad to think of leaving you and going back to work in a few weeks. You have made our family of four complete! We are so in love with you sweet Ava!

Love Journal for Ava: Birth Day

Love Journal for Ava: Birth Day

My sweet little Ava, what a wonderful, totally unexpected day November 28^th came to be for all of us. Mommy went to the doctor the morning of the 28^th because of the contractions I experienced over the weekend. Dr. Edwards, Mommy’s obstetrician, examined me and told that I had dilated to 3 cm. He told me to quickly come back to the hospital when contractions started again. One hour later, contractions started again and I was sent to Labor and Delivery. When the nurse checked me, I had dilated to 6 cm. You were ready to make your entrance into this big world and only a couple of hours after being admitted to labor and delivery, you made your grand debut.

Everything happened so quickly that not even the doctor or nurse had time to totally prepare for your arrival. At 3:50 in the afternoon, ready or not, out you came! You weighed in at 6 pounds, 1 ounce and measured at 19.5 inches long. You had a head full of dark hair with frosted blonde tips. You were the most beautiful little girl and looked just like your big sister. I will never forget the emotions of the doctor handing you over to me for the first time and seeing your beautiful face. I cried tears of joy and so did your sweet daddy (which made me fall in love with him even more).

In the room waiting for your arrival were Daddy, Blair, Nana, Aunt Stacy, Aunt Rebecca, Norah, Grandma, Grandpa, Poppy, and Gigi. Everyone agreed that although small and 4 weeks early, you were absolutely perfect.

We had promised your sister that she would be the first to hold you after mommy and daddy. When your daddy put you in her arms, our hearts melted. She fell in love with you from the moment she saw you. We all did!