9 Months seems a whole lot older to me then 8 months. I don’t know why, but it just put everything in perspective for me. Time flies and I need to start living more in the moment because before I know it Ava will be driving a car! (Well not that fast but that’s what everyone keeps telling me)

AVA’S UPDATE

Ava is weighing in at 18lbs 8oz…she is super long but I don’t have an exact update on her length, we head to the doctor this week.

She is saying mama and dada, and rotates between the two. The last couple of days have been primarily dada which is a nice break since she said mama for about a week straight. I’m not too sure she knows what those 2 words mean yet, but she will learn fast.

Ava is super brave and loves the water, she literally will crawl in the water at the beach and pretend swims when she is in the bathtub. I hope she’s a great swimmer one day!

EAT

One thing I learned this month is that a healthy child eats great!

• Ava loves her puff cereal in any flavor, she also loves oatmeal still
• She loves fresh fruit… bananas, peaches, watermelon (in tiny pieces)
• Hates broccoli…
• Spinach and strawberries do not agree with her!
• Loves sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, squash, etc.
• She likes waffles & eggs, and is open to new things
• She’s a good eater and easily opens her mouth for you to feed her
• To let you know she is done, Ava will clench her mouth shut or push the spoon away

(Don’t let her fool you… she cannot hold the bottle on her own yet!)

SLEEP

I have no complaints; as long as Ava sleeps through the night I am a happy camper! Generally she goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at 630am. She usually takes one morning nap for an hour or and one afternoon nap for usually 1-1 ½ hrs. (Sometimes they are flip-flopped)

The days I really need her to nap she doesn’t and then when I don’t care when she naps she takes her best ones. So now I try not to think about them and now I am just happy when she sleeps J

PLAY!

Ava loves to play & explore! She thinks its fun to climb the stairs, and if the gate is up she does a fake cry for help to move the gate.

She loves pulling on Coopers tail and touching his mouth. She has no fears when it comes to pulling a bone out of his mouth.

Lately her favorite thing to play with is Cooper’s water dish. I guess it is a mini pool to her, and she will splash her hands and empty it on the floor. It was fun the first couple of times and now I wish she either knew how to clean up the mess or she was careful not to sit in water!

The summer is over and we have had our fair share of fun at the beach… it gets me excited for next year when hopefully we can really get in the water together and I can teach her to swim.

I am looking forward to the day Ava walks… yes I said it! Everyone keeps telling me “it’s all be over when she starts walking” but I am up for the challenge and I can’t wait!!

POSTPARTUM UPDATE

There isn’t much to update here, besides some strength gains. I am feeling strong again and I am loving being able to challenge my body. I went for a jog yesterday (I don’t run too often) but I felt strong and I felt that I could run forever.. well that was until I got bored. I enjoy boot camp workouts where there’s more to focus on.

My core is gaining strength and my shoulder is finally feeling close to 100%…. yessssss.

My new goal is to increase my pull-up strength. With my shoulder injury Pull-ups were one of the exercises I avoided because of the impact on the shoulders. I know I can improve and I am looking forward to the challenge of adding them back into my workouts

HAPPY MONDAY!!