Los Angeles

Her first meal at the table with us! She's growing up so fast....it seems like just yesterday she turned 5 months.....(oh yeah, it was).

She finished the rest of her apples pretty quickly,

so she started on her rattles,

then her fingers.

We post way TOO much, soooo........

instead of letting her just sit & lounge around

we figured she should be helping us

not too shabby, huh?

It's bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

just a side note: when blending bananas, they end up looking like loogies, so we don't know that we'll try to do multiple feedings of this one in the future, not that she minded

With each meal, she seems to be getting less and less of it on her face and more of it in her belly, so we're happy, despite the BIG surprise she gave Daddy at the end of this meal (which Jon would NOT let me take pictures of....pffffffffffft!), this was a successful feeding!

Baby Habits

My little girl has slept in her bed 6 out of the past 7 nights! I'm doing my best to be disciplined enough to continue this and I think she's getting used it because she doesn't always cry right away anymore. She just rolls around and makes squealy noises.

I rewarded her with a nap in our bed

She's funny, lately, because even though she knows how to roll both ways, for some reason when she's on the bed she forgets that she can roll back....

...and she'll start squirming and grimacing

Then out of no where, she'll stop. My baby's crazy! I LOVE her!

Sweeeeeeeeet Potatoes!

Sweet potatoes, Yummy, huh?

She never trusts us at first....

but I must say this was way easier to feed her than the rice & carrots.

So, I think that means she likes it...

(this is her much messier rice eating shot)

I can't wait for daddy to change THIS diaper

Date Night!

Ava's first trip on PUBLIC transportation

it must have been meant to be, because today was "SAVE the air & ride FREE" day

She wanted to explore

Ewwwww.........don't let her touch anything!

she did AMAZING with the 10 minute wait at the restaurant

They gave us a nice, cozy booth.....where we proceeded to take turns eating one handed while feeding Ava. Our first REAL date out and Jon ended up knocking over his drink trying to use chopsticks to grab his appetizer and I was the lucky one to be holding her while she decided to lose about an ounce of her dinner on me. Then when we thought that the evening was coming to a pleasant end, Ava thought it would be HILLARIOUS to let me change one of her first "solid food" diapers (because I incorrectly assumed that only the women's room had a changing table (which BY THE WAY is my largest complaint about parenting -- the lack of eqaul opportunity restrooms in public places). It wasn't until I sat back down to enjoy what was left of my dessert that Jon laughed and mentioned he had seen a changing table in the men's room, but that's okay, because he only thought the carrotts were bad, but this weekend is sweet potatoes and I'm going to bet that that's WAY BETTER! MuHahahahahahahahaha.

(we won't do pictures for all that portion, for those of you with weak tummies and well because that would be pretty tactless of us)

There was just a little bit of day light left on our ride home, which was nice because Ava gets pretty scared in the dark. All in all, it was a fabulous "date night."

***A special thank you to the old, sickly, coughing man that sat down right next to Ava on the train.***

SUCCESS!

she starts out in our bed...

then we very carefully & slowly move her to the bassinet...

and here she is wondering where everyone went...

I have finally succeeded in putting Ava to bed in her own bed (not the crib, but baby steps)!

Happy Father's Day!

So, we started out the day by bundling up Ava, then wrapping her up in the bubble so that we could take a stroll to the new house Jon found for us!

(A special THANK YOU to Auntie Julie for the awesome stroller -- she loves it!)

This is the view from the roof top deck (if you look closely, you can see the Pacific Ocean behind them), though Ava obviously approves, after seeing how people in California purchase homes, well, we just aren't ready for that....

(another special side note for you Texans: notice how we are all bundled up and had to use the rain cover on the stroller to block the cold wind, while it was 100 degrees in Texas, it was a mere 50 degrees here.

HOW WILL WE SURVIVE A 4th of JULY in TEXAS?)

Jon just wanted a relaxing day at the house and a home-cooked dinner, so we spent the rest of the evening shoving food in Ava's mouth

we only thought she loved oranges, but...

apparently this is no longer her cup of tea,

look at that face....I just want to eat her up

Like Father, like daughter

Morning Swim

Enjoying a morning swim with pops

She seems pretty relaxed

Experimenting with our floating Bumbo!

Who knew it was a useful flotation device?

Orange!

I know I am supposed to start with vegetables, but it was my mom's fault; she introduced Ava to these oranges from the Farmer's Market and she just loves them

Dinner at Ol Mexico (where Lauren works)

Okay, so I've come to terms with the fact that Ava mostly only smiles & giggles at guys, but tonight she went too far...

Here, she's just playing with Sean

then she started to grab his face

she started to position herself

and she went in for a kiss, the camera angle doesn't do it justice, but she totally tried to give him a kiss on the cheek (several times)!

but she'll do anything after a couple of sips of the hard stuff......what a flirt!

(I know -- we are terrible parents for even posing this picture)

Sitting up? You be the judge....

I was just shocked and unsure what to think....is this her sitting up?? I asked Jon and he said he thought so, but does this count because she has the arm supports? I don't know, please tell me.

Lauren's Graduation

Okay so this is the second one off to college, just another 18 years and we'll be done...hahaha

What good looking kids....wonder where they get it from...probably their mother.

She was showing off my baby, I think people totally thought it was her's

Grandma's gone now, so she's back to the fist....

A Loving Family