ava mae: 4 months

little miss mae is 4 months old!  (actually, she was 4 months on the 5th, but i wanted to wait until her check up so i could update stats accordingly. )

ava weighs 15 lbs 3 oz (68%), is 26 inches long (95%), and her head is still in the 92%.  she is wearing a size 3 diaper, and i can kind of squeeze her into a size 3M for clothes, but a size 3-6M fits much better.

she is still strictly getting breast milk, both pumped bottles and nursing.  i am actually pretty proud of making it this far with breastfeeding, and my pediatrician is happy too.  we won't start any solids until after her 6 month appointment.  i am hoping to make it to 6 months with breastfeeding and then reevaluate.  if we can do the whole first year, that would be ideal, but it is hard with pumping at work.  apparently your supply starts to drop around 6 months also...so we will see.  she's a great eater though, and i send about 20 oz a day for her to eat at school and she nurses once before that and at least twice after.  so i think she's getting over 30 oz a day.  chunkers!

sleep is wishy-washy.  we still do our nighttime routine (bath, lotion, bottle/nurse, swaddle, down in the crib) and she has pushed her bedtime up to about 7PM.  (i say she because baby girl WANTS to go to bed around then. no joke...easiest baby to put to bed ever.)  some nights she will sleep from 7PM-7AM, but more often than not, she will sleep from 7PM-1AM, then from 1:30AM-about 5AM.  i can usually get her back down after the 5AM feeding for another hour or two, until i get her up to get ready for the day.

she is a super happy, smiley baby.  she is starting to figure things out, including who IS and ISNT momma.  she's started to show signs of being afraid of people and crying when new people hold her.  she does warm up though; it just takes time and patience.

she has had her 2nd overnight away from us on thanksgiving when oliver and i went to the aTM game, and she did great. my parents have a crib just like the one we have at home at their house, and my mom, sister, dad, and niece all tag teamed her and babysat while we were at the game.  we had a great time and i am so appreciative to have their help!

ava does great at daycare too.  she smiles at her (my) favorite teacher every morning when i drop her off, so its not so bad leaving her anymore.  i know they do tummy time with her and read books and sing songs, so i am happy that she's getting a lot of interaction there with them and with the other babies.

we love our girl and could not ask for a sweeter, easier baby!

ava mae: 3 months

my little booger is 3 months old!  its been quite the month...

i went back to work about two weeks ago.  the week before, i started her in daycare part time to get me and her used to the place and the routine.  well the sunday night before i was going back to work, she was super fussy and just acting like she didn't feel well.  we took her temp and it was 104!  of course i freaked out.  we called the nurse on call at her doctors office, and she said to give her some tylenol and put a wet washcloth on her forehead.  if it didn't go down, we should head to an emergency clinic.

it didn't go down so at about 9PM we were heading to the ER clinic.  they did some tests, ran an X-ray, and determined that she had whats called RSV, which is a cold virus.  likely she had gotten it from daycare.  :(  so we got back home at about midnight or 1am, and THANK GOODNESS my mom could come that week and babysit.  she is better now but she also got a bad rash that landed us back at the doctors office and she's been fighting a cough.

anyway back to the normal update.  ava is still only getting breast milk, moreso from bottles now that she's at daycare but i do nurse in the evenings and mornings before work.  she takes about 4oz at a time, every 2-3 hours.  she is still not a great napper--she prefers to take one long morning nap and then just short 30 minute cat naps throughout the day.  she is GREAT at going down for bedtime.  at about 7 we do a bath, then lotion and jammies.  she gets either a bottle or we nurse, depending on the day, and then we swaddle her and into her crib she goes.  we lay her down awake and she puts herself to sleep.

the sickness did affect her sleeping patterns, unfortunately.  she was sleeping through the night pretty consistently, but now she goes down around 8, is up at about midnight, 3, and 6.  its not terrible because she literally just eats and goes right back down, but i do miss the days of sleeping through the night.  i am hoping now that she's feeling better the sleep will get better as well.

she still hates tummy time but does really well sitting in her froggie sit me up chair.  she likes her play mat too, and loves to have her diaper changed because she gets your full attention.  she's a very happy, smiley, and talkative baby. she coos and giggles and crows, and her personality so far seems very sweet and happy.  the only times she fusses are if she's hungry or overtired.

i don't know how much she weighs, but i would guess 13-14 lbs.  she's wearing a size 3M and size 2 diaper.  i did put a 3-6 month outfit on her the other day and it fit! so i may have to start getting those out.  she can track toys with her eyes and she has started reaching for them and grabbing at them too.

we love our sweet girl so much and are lucky we have her in our lives!

alabama game weekend reunion

this past weekend we held a reunion of sorts at our house for the alabama/a&m game.  olivers friends/roomies from college and their wives came to spend the weekend with us. and it was SO much fun!!

chloe and potts arrived friday night, and oliver and i had already gone to have mexican food and margaritas.  the 4 of us sat outside and listened to music and had drinks while we watched ava on the baby monitor.  the next day, we started prepping for the rest of the group to arrive with BBQ brisket, bacon wrapped jalapeño quail, queso, and lots of chips.  chloe also made us all some mimosas!  :)

later that day sarah and neil, travis, and carly and grant arrived.  the boys watched the game while the girls chatted, played with the babies, and pumped (well, sarah and i did.)   that night we played cards against humanity and hung out outside.  even though the ags lost terribly, it was such a fun day!

oliver showed off the next morning by making a big breakfast and homemade biscuits and we sent our friends on their way.  such a fun weekend reunion and i cannot wait to do it again!

lots of feeding babies 

reunion! 

sweet baby ben and baby ava! 

playing cards against humanity 

the mommas! 

ava mae: nursery reveal

i had a great time doing miss mae's nursery. (i would say WE had a great time...but lets be honest. oliver let me design it all.  thanks boo!) we painted it light gray and then did the inside of the closet the same mint color that we painted the hall bathroom.  it was a labor of love, as oliver, my sister, melissa, rachael, and others all lended a hand to get the previously DARK BLUE room painted light gray.

oliver added shelving to the nursery closet, and painted those to match the trim in there.  i got the nursery rug from urban outfitters, the dresser/changing table was bought for us by my mom from pier one, and the 8 box basket holder/book shelf was from ikea.  her crib is a jenny lind from target and the rocker is a duttalier purchased by oliver's mom.

i love how everything turned out and it makes me happy to go in there!!  enough talking..enjoy some pics of baby ava's nursery!

ava mae: two months

my little squish is two months old!!  i cannot believe its already been two months with this sweet girl.  as much as it seems like just yesterday she was born, it also seems like she's been in our lives forever.

at two months, miss mae is 11lbs 7 oz (60th percentile) and 22 3/4 inches long (50th percentile).  she just had her two month shots yesterday which SUCKED.  she is not a big crier, and she screamed so loud when they gave her the shots.  it was heartbreaking. :(

she is an amazing sleeper, and we have a bedtime routine of bath, nighttime lotion, jammies, and a "daddy bottle" (oliver giving her pumped milk), then swaddle. with all this she usually goes to bed around 9-10 and sleeps til about 4-5.  great sleeper!

she is still getting only breastmilk, both straight from the tap and also from pumped bottles.  she has no issue switching back and forth, but she does seem to prefer straight from momma.  i am going to try to go as long as we can, so we will see how it goes pumping at work.

she is starting to really show her personality.  she doesn't cry much, but she does make her preferences known by grunting or fussing a little when she's not happy about something.  she is definitely happiest when someone is talking to her and smiling at her, and you will get smiles and coos when you pay her attention.  she likes her swing and chair that have little animals hanging down--she can stare at them for a long time, happy and content.

she's definitely a baby who likes to go go go.  i like to get out of the house every day and she is perfectly happy to run around town with me.  she likes the car and likes to just take it all in.  in fact, she does better at restaurants and just being out and about than she does at home.  i think she gets bored with the same scenery all the time.  same for going in the backyard--when she's out there, she's perfectly happy.

she's still not a great day napper. her naps are inconsistent and sporadic, and don't last very long.  since she sleeps so well at night though, i really don't mind.  and typically she can sit and kind of have 'quiet time' happily, so i still can get things done.

she's already had one overnight stay without momma and daddy, and she did great!!  my parents kept her while oliver and i went to a wedding in ft. worth and she was an angel for them.  slept and ate great, and they really enjoyed having her.  my mom, of course, texted me the whole time.  :)  she is about to go to her first aggie football game this weekend too!

i go back to work soon so i am really trying to just soak up these last days with my sweet girl. i know once work starts this little bubble of just me and her all day won't ever be the same.  i love our little routines during the day and love getting to hang out with her all the time.  its going to be very sad when i go back.

we love our sweet girl and are so happy we have her!

bump watch: baby showers

i was so lucky to have been given not one, not two, but FOUR showers for baby willingham!


#1

my first shower was my family shower, thrown by oliver's aunts.  it was held at mims house, and as usual, everything was absolutely gorgeous.  the highlights of the shower were the beautiful cakes made by cacey and alisa, the fun games we played, and the amazing food!! i also loved the onesie decorating station.  baby ava got some super cute onesies to wear!  aunt alisa made me an amazing piece of artwork for the baby's room too, and aunt nadine made ava a whole bucket of bows!

onesie decorating station 

ladies at the shower!

guess how many??

little diapers with candy inside 

lovely decorations 

ammmmmazing cakes

me and the bestie 

sugar scrub favors! 

from nadine

from aunt alisa 

#2

my next shower was my friend shower and they held it at our house.  it was hosted by: annie, katherine, jennifer, rachael, and meghan,  and they outdid themselves on the food and decorations.  this shower was also HUGE.  i think we had something like 30-40 people there???  it was great to see friends i hadn't seen in awhile, and i even had friends drive all the way from austin for the day!  thanks sarah and carly!  my mom treated me to a morning of makeup and pampering since the girls were going to be at my house setting up.  it was such a great day!  some of the highlights were annie making me cry with a homemade ABC book for baby ava with pictures of everyone in her life.  (A is for Annie, M is for Mommy, etc.) and i also loved the homemade goodies bri and jenn made for the nursery! 

hostesses!  

#3 

the third shower was a work shower my friends at halliburton threw me.  it was actually given to me by my old bosses (both of them!)  we had a great lunch and lots of laughs.  we had about 15 people come to the shower, three of them who were pregnant!!  something is in the water....

#4 

was a diaper party thrown for oliver by the hayfords.  he was so excited to have his own party.  it ended up being just a good BBQ hang out type day and we got LOTS of diapers!  

thanks everyone for all of the love for baby ava!!!