Riding a Tiger!

I think she's biting its head?!?

Standing up!

In the recent days, upon leaving Ava in her play pen, we would see her putting her hands on the side rails and she would be trying to pull herself up.....well, she hasn't quite succeeded in that, but she was able to pull her head up above the rail...she may just skip the whole crawling thing and start walking, eh?

Side note: the pediatrician says that Ava's backwards crawling, technically counts as crawling, so that's neat, but right before bed Ava's been "scooting" forward on our bed (Jon doesn't think it counts as crawling, yet though, but what does he know)

Well last night we propped her up in the corner, then she grabbed the mobile...

and made her way over to the other corner

where she played with the crib toys

not too shabby, eh? She's got some strength in those legs....

New smiley face

This new smile developed right after our trip to Texas

though this looks like she's angry, it really is her actual smiley face

makes me wonder if she's mimicking me; do I look like that when I smile? hmmm...

this is a more recent, updated smile

Feeding herself!

So we figured Ava's a big girl now and even though this will be a very messy venture, we must allow her to learn how to feed herself because she's become so curious and "grabby" during meal time.

We started with mango

She's really enjoying it...

but now she wants to do it herself...see those "grabby" little hands and evil little smile

so I handed it over

she wanted to inspect it first

and there she goes

there's no stopping her now, we had to pry it out of her crazy little grip (so she wouldn't swallow any chunks)

Here she is trying to use the spoon with her rice cereal

She really likes to use both her hands...(and again with the sneaky smile)

but that works out because whether she gets the food by spoon or by hand, either way she gets fed.....so I figure it's a win-win all around! Jon's the only one cringing about the mess...hahaha

(look at that sweet, innocent look on her face, who could resist?)

6 MONTHS!

Ava is now 6 months, she weighs in at 14 pounds and 10 ounces, she is over 25 and 1/2 inches tall and her head is just over 43mm. This puts her back down to 25th percentile in height and weight, but 50th percentile for her head. We've always thought that her head was quite large, but I think she does a great job of holding that big head up.

She did receive another 4 shots, 2 in each leg and this time she was quite aware of what was going on because she looked up at me immediately with the saddest look on her face. As if to say, "why would you do this to me, mama?" Her first squeals were so high-pitched you couldn't even hear them, but you could see it on her face. She cried for about 10 minutes, until I gave her my cell phone to play with (that's her new thing, she is in complete awe of the cell phone). I tried the bottle and that did not work, but for some reason that cell phone did the trick. I walked her around for another 15 minutes to get some fresh air and she seemed to enjoy it. She did display some signs of distress that evening, but the Tylenol took care of that. The next morning she was practically back to normal with just a little bit of tenderness around the thighs. Nonetheless, we made it and our next visit isn't for another 3 months....and Jon is super thankful for that.

The other thing I wanted to note is that Ava is definitely in that "separation anxiety" phase and though we knew this was coming and it was just a part of growing up, the Doctor mentioned that typically when a baby enters this stage, this early, though it's a sign of her being ahead developmentally, it also tends to be a sign that she will enter this stage with more "intensity." Which we believe is a nicer way to say that this is going to be a longgggggggggggg, harddddddddddd next couple of months. Please wish us luck and be patient with the updates as it may be more difficult to shoot those "smiley" pictures and also to find the time to post them.

USS Midway Museum

She sure did enjoy the airplanes

She was so good for the 2 hours that we spent going through the museum

San Diego

The sticker on her bottom came from the toilet paper roll in the hotel, cute, huh?

This seems to be her new smiley/laughing face (who knew her eyes would get even squintier? hahaha)

A good night's sleep

Ava's new vibrating teether! Finally, one that she will use as a teether.

Ava enjoying a nightj out in Downtown San Diego

Lauren sure can get her laughing

She's also learning these new mischievous looks, cute or evil? Hmmmm, you decide.

On this night, we were walking back to the hotel when we heard Ava babble "Da, da, da" & "Ba, ba, ba" (which is the Vietnamese word for dad). So finally her incoherent babbling has turned into something much more recognizable.

Though I wanted to hear mama, she did not disappoint. After dinner that night, we wanted to check out the hotel pool & hot tub and as we were passing Ava around, Jon was passing her back to me and everyone (except for Jon) clearly heard her say to me "Ma ma." Pretty darn cute! I just wanted to mention those things so we could remember what date this occurred. It may seem mundane, but we were excited.

San Diego Beaches

La Jolla Beach (one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen in America), Ava's got on her rash guard suit so that she can learn to surf along with the others

Taking a nap at Mission Beach


Waking up for a grape snack, she loves squeezing the juice out of them

Another day at Mission Beach, but this time she's awake

Cruising for boys with her sister

Last night at the hotel pool

Hollywood!

She slept through most of it....Lauren wanted to leave her there...

We wanted to be able to show her these pics when she got older

She just happened to wake up as Jon started to point to her....good timing

Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Saying Goodbye....

a tear-filled goodbye

a beer-filled goodbye

an adoring farewell

a giggly see ya later

A thumb-sucking good time!

And we're out! (Daddy using an oversized backpack for a very petite nearly 6 month old baby)

Ear Piercing!

So we forgot to actually bring the camera in during the ear piercing, but trust me when I say she was a total trooper. She did shed tears, but this is taken just 10 minutes later and she looks pretty happy to me, despite what her Daddy thinks. Ever since then, when Ava cries, Jon says that it's because her ears hurt.............pfffffffffffffft, doubtful.

Showing off her bling!

Since we didn't want her last memory with Grandma to be of Grandma restraining her arms and head, so that some stranger could "poke holes through her head" (as Jon puts it), we made it to the ice cream parlor for some strawberry shortcake. She looks all better, wouldn't you say?