Tree Lighting!

We made it just in time to see Santa light the tree at Ghirardelli Square (there was even snow and by snow I mean soap suds shooting into the crowd).

You can see the back of Jon and Ava's head, cute huh?

No one can make her laugh after an angry fit like Lauren can!

We stopped for sundaes, where Daddy thought it would be great to let her have a sip, but once he took away the straw....

....she made this lovely squeely noise as she developed her new love for milkshakes.

Happy Turkey Day!

Her first Thanksgiving and she was able to eat at the table with us, she was even able to share many of the same foods. You can try to name the different dishes we had just by inspecting her face and bib.

We should have waited to give her the bath afterwards.....silly us!

Viva Las Vegas!

So, we went off to Las Vegas to celebrate a belated Sean's 21st birthday, my 28th, Lauren's 19th, and Jon's....well....Jon's birthday too!!! We had a great time, but we're all definitely exhausted.

The Venetian

Just waiting for the gamble-holics to finish losing their money

Strolling, seeing the sights, taking it all in...


Happy Baby! She got a lot of attention every where we went, I'm a little concerned it will go to her head.....because cuteness may fade.....so I just continue to tell her she's smart too....think that'll work???

Enjoying some cheerios at the "Fat Burger." It will be nice when one day she can have her very own fat burger, but first she will need some teeth!!!!

We ended our evening at the Bellagio. They had this stunning Thanksgiving set-up with these creepy "tree faces" that moved....I included one below to show you what I'm talking about.

The Park

getting reacquainted

She's a real outdoorsy gal...

but after her morning cup of coffee,

she warms up and is ready to start the day


See! All better!

Rocky, Baby!!!

Just days away from he 10 month Birthday!

Where has the time gone?

Our first Play Date!

Mommy & Ava finally found a play group and set up our first meeting for today. The group has 9 mothers with babies ranging from approximately 8 - 11 months. Today, only 4 mommy's could make it, but we had a blast. The babies babbled, screamed, held hands, attempted to lick each other, it was everything I thought it would be and more. Hopefully, we will be able to get a regular schedule going each week because these babies were ready to mingle, they just needed more of their own space to "crawl all over each other," as one mom put it. And of course, I forgot to pull out the camera until the end, so I wasn't able to capture the group....though as you can imagine, that would have been quite a feat.

Nothing like a stroll through the Aquarium, but

Ava needs to be closer to the action, otherwise she loses interest.

So as the crowds thinned out, I let her free.

She enjoyed that much more.

She just strolled up and down following the fish...she really enjoyed it...we will definitely have to come back with daddy to see the eel cave and penguin habitat....and I'm sure we will have more action-packed shots as we explore more of the city with her new crew of baby friends.

Stay tuned!

Mmmm...she just loves dinner time

oh dear....

her screams have become music to our ears.....it's hard finding finger foods to entertain her, if you have any ideas, please, please let us know! She is so over bananas and most fruits....

Helping Mommy!

Ava loves helping me "fold" clothes, or rather she likes pulling each piece of clothing out of the basket, twirling it and then she'll toss them all over the living room floor. Quite helpful.

So sleepy!

She'll fall asleep any where.....

the hardest part is getting her into the car seat without waking her....but Jon did it! Or maybe she was just that tired.

Yummy!

Every day she becomes more and more independent....or stubborn....she was on sort of a feeding strike because she wants so badly to feed herself without assistance, so I've been looking for the best ways to get her the nutrients she needs with the least amount of mess.

This seems to be the most manageable, but she doesn't seem to know when to stop stuffing her mouth, if it's in front of her, it's going in her mouth until it's completely full or until she's literally gagging.....hmmmm....wonder where she gets that from?

At least we know she's not a picky eater.

We will have to teach her some manners though.

Finger-lickin' good...

This face about sums it up!

It's a new day!

As we watched Obama take all of the states, Ava decided to celebrate...

...because she knew that we'd have more money...

...from all of the tax cuts that will be given to the poor.

She even believes in sharing/redistributing the wealth.

It's crazy how someone so young can develop such values.....interesting...maybe one day, our generous little baby will be president?

Fattening her up!

The Doctor gave us the go ahead to feed Ava full fat yogurt, egg yolks, and cheeses. So, we tried two of the three this morning and she would have none of it. She wanted her usual; cheerios and apples, but she doesn't just want the chopped up bits, or a slice, she wants an entire half of an apple to chew on. What a healthy piggy!

On a side note, we did try a new juice, she was so bored with apple-water (1/2 apple juice + 1/2 water), so we tried apple-pomegrenate-water. She seems to like it much better.

This could go on all afternoon....she's just too easy to entertain.

We'll just have to try again tomorrow...because the goal will be to get her nice and plump by Christmas.