Perfection

This is the word that Ava's doctor used to describe her today. She said that she is perfect. Just what every parent wants to hear about their child!

Let's start with her stats:

Weight- 18 lbs. 3 oz. (40th percentile)

Height- 28" (60th percentile)

Head circumference- 16.75" (5th percentile)

What does this all mean? It means we have a tall, average weight baby with a little head. We're clueless as to where this height is coming from Unfortunately for Ava, she'll probably follow her parents, and her peak in height will probably occur sometime in middle school. She'll be one of the tallest people in her class in 6th grade and then will only grow a few more inches to reach her full adult height. But, who knows, genes wosrk in mysterious ways sometimes, I suppose.

We also learned that Ava is getting not one, but four teeth. That's right, she has four teeth coming in at once! She's such a little champ and hardly complains at all. I could tell that she was starting to get these new teeth just by looking at her gums, but other than that, you'd never know she was teething. I consider ourselves extremely lucky as I know a lot of people who have had a really tough time with teething babies. She does have a little diaper rash which is common when babies are about to get teeth, but even that doesn't seem to bother her. I guess I'll just keep letting her chew on everything until those little teeth poke through.

Developmentally, Ava is doing great. Based on what she's doing now, the doctor predicts that Ava will be crawling within a month. That gives me about one more month to prepare. Although Ava never has liked to do things according to other people's timelines, so I'll probably have even less time to get ready for a crawling baby.

She only had to get one shot today and she was such a good girl. She cried only for a few seconds. Once I picked her up, she put her thumb in her mouth and stopped crying. Yes, she's a thumb sucker now. It's her left one too, just like her mommy. That just about wraps up our visit. We have a perfect, healthy, happy, adorable baby. I feel so blessed and fortunate that she's is doing so amazingly well. She certainly has come a long way!

And now a special note from Ava:

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Here's the babe, tired out from her big appointment. Have a great weekend!

Hello there!

Lots has been going on lately. First and foremost, Ava is 9 months old! We cannot believe how quickly these past nine months have gone. She is nothing short of amazing and I absolutely love this stage! Ava is getting way up on her hands and can push herself up onto her knees a little, but she's not quite ready to crawl yet. Which I'm actually just fine with...once she starts crawling, we'll be in trouble as I'm sure she'll get into everything! She's eating all kinds of solid foods and we actually just started giving her cheerios this week. She's still working on getting them from her hand into her mouth though. It's so cute to watch. We go for her 9 month check up tomorrow, so I'll post an update with her stats after we're done.

She loves bath time!

She love her dog, too!

Another big thing is that I have begun babysitting for a friend of mine. Classes started back up for her this week, so her daughter, Eily, will come over to play with Ava and I on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Eily is almost 7 months old, actually she was born on my birthday! And she is just such a little sweetheart. She's such a good little girl and is so content, for the most part. Ava has down really well with having to share her mommy, too. The girls are so cute together as they learn to interact and play with another child their age. Aside from helping out a friend, I'm happy that Ava is getting this socialization and is able to play with another kid rather than just hanging out with her boring mom every day.

Ava and Eily

I also recently signed up for an at-home study course to become a medical transcriptionist. Not very glamorous, I know, but I was starting to feel like I needed to contribute more financially since I wasn't, well, at all. The course is self paced, so I can finish it as slowly or quickly as I want, so there's not really any pressure which is nice. It's exciting to be learning something new. It's also great because I'll be able to work from home when I'm done which is the main reason that I decided to do it. I don't want to have to send Ava t0 daycare especially after being home with her for so long. I think I'd have a meltdown if I had to leave her every day to go to work!

And last, my sister has convinced me to do a triathlon with her in June. I'm only writing this on here so that other people know and can hold me accountable. I have to admit, I'm not in the greatest shape right now and I'm just not happy with my body. I guess that's what having a kid does to you. So, with the impending wedding, what better time to get back in shape? I'm actually really excited to have something to work towards. Erin has been awesome at helping create a training program and get me motivated to get off my butt. She even volunteered to watch Ava a few days after work so that I can get to the gym. (They have a kids club, but I'm a little neurotic when it comes to germs...) Ava and I have gone on a couple walks this week, but I'm officially starting my training program on Monday! I'll let you know how it goes.

So, those are our big updates. You are now all caught up on the happenings at the West-George household.

And here's one of Matt and Ava being silly. Ava has a spoon hanging out of her mouth, too.