8 months!

Ava is getting cuter and cuter by the day, I swear. I really wish I could freeze this time and keep her like this forever. She is so interactive, so happy, and can only move a little :) It's perfect!! She loves all things metal and plastic and is particularly fond of buttons, zippers, leather straps (like on my clutch!), her baby doll, and tongues. The last week or so she has become really interested in tongues...hers and ours. We can always get a smile and usually a good laugh out of her if we show her our tongue.

She laughs quite a bit now too, and continues to be very very social. She loves other people and especially other babies. I took her to Erik's work for lunch this week, and she was flirting with one of his coworkers! A seriously coy smile and laughs the whole time. My mom said she is just like I was!

We finally "weaned" Ava from swaddling when she slept. I was so scared to do it because I've always thought she needed it to sleep...the times she's busted out have not been good. But much to my surprise she has done great! Now I get to hear her playing in her crib before she falls asleep and my favorite part is the funny positions she ends up in. I didn't get a picture, but she had her bum WAY up in the air yesterday (reminiscent of Chel!). Here are a few of the other positions I've caught her in:

draped over her blanket roll

after a particularly hard time falling asleep...so cute, huh?

And what would a post be without a good video?! Ava is loving peek-a-boo, and has become especially fond of her daddy. She has always given me a good smile, but she has really been getting excited to see Erik when he comes home and in the morning. It is so sweet and is really fun for me to see! Here is a video of their nighttime ritual shenanigans:

Signing

Ava has been signing "more" for a couple months now and it is ridiculously cute. She picked it up remarkably fast and now signs "more" for her food, toys, and when she wants to try some of our food (which is ALL the time!). It's been so fun to see a little bit of what is going on in that head of hers.

(if you missed it, her "sign" is when she clasps her hands together)

I just recently started teaching her "all done" and "milk". I don't think "all done" is a very motivating phrase for her as I usually do it at the end of the meal when she clearly could eat all day long (she will ALWAYS eat!). "Milk" is kind of a hard sign and she is just now starting to get the coordination to do it, so we'll see if she catches on. Anyone else teach their small child sign? I'm wondering what signs have worked for others. I'm thinking a "sleep" or "nap" sign would be good but I think I'll have to make one up 'cause the real one is going to be too hard for her now.

First time in the swing

Before the aforementioned flooding, Boston has some amazingly warm weather. One day Ava and I took advantage and went to a nearby park. It was so nice to get out and Ava got to try the swing for the first time. She was not too excited at first but after a while she was all smiles and seemed to love it! Here are some pictures of her...I turned her around for better lighting and so she is squinting, but you get the gist...

cheesy grin

such a typical Ava face...looking at the metal!

Floods of 2010

About three weeks ago New England was hit by a really bad storm that caused lots of flooding. Then a week ago we were hit again. I don't know how much rain we got on the first storm, but on the second we got 5-6" in 48 hours. Fortunately, our apartment has an underground pump to get rid of water below the foundation. It is also far enough away from the near-by river that we didn't have to worry about flooding. However, our next door neighbors apparently had some water damage that required them to replace their carpets. A couple miles away there was lots of homes whose basements were flooded. Many were hit hard by the first storm (reported here) and then again by the second. This is what happened to one family:



I think people were better prepared for the second storm, but many of the people still had bad flooding during the second storm because there was so much rain. Apparently following the second storm, the fire department would only come help pump out your basement if it had more than 4 feet of water in it. That gives you an idea of the magnitude and scale of the flooding.

On a more personal note, I like to go running along the near-by river. Knowing that it was flooded and interested in seeing how high it was, I decided to run my standard route even if the path was under water. Sure enough, many stretches of the path were under water, and at its deepest, it was under probably 18" of water. Normally the water is well below the path. It was very impressive!

After all that rain we now are having 70 degree weather!

Ava is a character

Ava has quite the personality. Seriously, we have had some funny moments with this girl. Here is one of them on video. But first, the back story. Ava LOVES high contrasting colors. Yes, I know all babies do, but she seems to be extreme. Give her a toy and she'll find the black and white tag. It's her favorite! I actually made her a toy with clothing tags on the outside because she likes them so much. But that's a whole other story. So she's always noticing high contrast. When we were in AZ over Christmas, Chelsea was holding her while wearing a red shirt. Ava was teething and drooling like crazy. CRAZY. So needless to say, she had created a "drool spot" on Chelsea's shirt. Here is her reaction when she notices the "spot".

And be prepared....you're gonna wanna watch it a couple times! :)

A "New" Chair

Boston has this strange thing where people will just leave old furniture on the curb for any one to grab. This is probably one of the major reasons that Boston has such a big problem with bed bugs. Usually the things are junk but occasionally you can get something decent.

That said, in January I saw chair this near our house and thought it might be a fun project for us to try to reupholster.

It was obviously well loved by cats, and the existing upholstery fabric was far from stunning, which is probably why it hadn't been taken before I went by. It was bitter cold for a few weeks after I snagged it, so I was confident that if there were any bugs they would be frozen to death.

We found some great fabric for really cheap ($6/yd) and with the help of my mom who happened to come to town just at the right time to help get us started, we tackled our first reupholstering project. Fortunately other than the upholstery, the chair was in excellent condition, so all we had to worry about was the fabric.

It turned out great if I say so myself and its great to sit in and is a fun a addition to our apartment.

Laundry

One day I came home to find Britney doing some laundry. Then I found that Ava was helping out too! Isn't she a good helper? ;)