Monday, January 5, 2015

ava mae: 5 months

ava is officially 5 months today!  (well, technically tonight after 11PM...but you get the drift.)  i know i say this every month, but dang...time is flying. we seriously have a real BABY and not just a squishy newborn anymore. 

ava is almost 17 lbs, and wearing (some) 3-6M clothes and (most) 6M clothes.  i don't know how long she is but she is definitely getting longer each day--quickly outgrowing her favorite swing and swaddle wrap.  i don't know what we will do when she can't fit in both of those because both are necessary for sleep!  

she has had quite the eventful month this month, what with it being her first christmas and all.  we went to oliver's families in livingston, huntsville, and the woodlands, and then ended with christmas with my parents here at our house.  then we did a quiet new years because both ava and oliver got sick.  we wrapped up the holiday season with a big family get together with my parents, sister, her kids, uncle, cousin and family friends this past weekend.  

ava did get sick over the break, as i mentioned.  she woke up on christmas eve with a swollen, red eye that was leaking pus.  we watched it through the morning and in the afternoon it was bad enough that we decided to take her to the doctor.  luckily his mom was able to get us in with her family doctor in huntsville, who gave her eyedrops and antibiotics and sent us on our way. it got better quickly and we discontinued the antibiotics but kept going with the eyedrops.  then a few days before new years, she developed a cough that lasted all week. oliver was also sick at the time so it was quite the hectic week trying to take care of both of them.  (side note: men are worse babies when they are sick than actual babies.  just saying.) ava ended up with an ear infection, another eye infection, and a cough...but luckily she seems to be out of the woods with all of it.  and sleeping better too! 

ava is still breast fed, both with nursing and pumped milk.  i feel like my supply has drastically decreased, so we are having to dip into my freezer stash quite a bit.  we also have started supplementing here and there with formula specifically made for breastfed babies.  on the event that we can't do the whole year bf'ing, we wanted to make sure she would even take the formula.  it was a non-issue, as this kid pretty much will eat anything in a bottle.  

her sleep varies greatly by night and situation.  when she was sick, she was waking up between 3-5 times a night. she would cough and wake herself up and then either be hungry, upset she was awake, or i would be worried she would have trouble breathing and would get her up.  now that she's starting to feel better i think her sleep will get back to normal.  last night she went down at 7PM, woke up and ate at 12AM and 5:30AM, and i had to wake her up for the day at 7:30AM.  we are still delaying solids until at least 6 months, if not longer.  she's showing no interest in them yet and frankly, i don't want to deal with the mess any sooner than necessary.  :)  

she still HATES HATES tummy time. with a passion. and she's really bad at it too.  she is close to sitting without assistance though, and has great head and neck control.  she also is not a fan of the sweedish snot sucker, when i talk and she's nursing, and sneezes (they scare her). 

she loves baths with momma, smiling at her daddy, kisses from harley, her boppy (pacifier), laughing at cacey, blankets and being snuggled, and being outside or on the go.  


we are seriously so lucky to have this sweet little girl in our lives.  couldn't imagine anything different or life without her.