Bunny love

Ava is getting some molars in and has been miserable today. She keeps shoving her finger in her back gums and biting down.

I also don't know what this new monkey noise is that she keeps making!

Play time

We went to So Childish's Rompus Room and no one else was there, so Ava got the whole place to herself! She walked A LOT, not sure if it had to do with the carpet, or what.

Video:

Pictures:

I couldn't help myself and bought her the little rainbow wooden push toy.

I got a message when we were out from the doctor's office saying to call back about Ava's blood test results. They just tested for TB and her iron levels (as far as I know?) so I am assuming it's the iron levels. Low iron is apparently common in breastfed babies and I am almost SURE I am anemic myself because I have been bruising like crazy lately. I started taking iron about a week ago, but I am afraid of what they will make me give Ava. I am sure it will taste awful.

Baby's First ER Trip

Some background: Our swim school is offering underwater photos at the end of the month. I asked our instructor about it, seeing if Ava could handle the amount of time under water for the session. She said absolutely and we should try to ramp her up a little bit as far as being under the water a little deeper and slightly longer. It was funny because the more we did it, the more Ava was into it and she started flying out of my arms trying to dive and stuff -- crazy. Anyway, she coughed a whole lot after a few of the "big swims" as they call them. The swimming teacher knows she has been getting over a cold/cough and said it sounded like her sick cough and she didn't seem to get too much water.

On the way home, a few blocks from our apartment, Ava started whining. As I pulled into our parking spot I heard a gurgle and looked over to see she was massively vomiting everywhere. She was scared because it was the first time she has ever vomited (besides tiny baby spit-up). It was all over her car seat and the back seat, her clothes, etc. I left the car to deal with later and got her cleaned up and she was pretty tired so we went down for a nap, and she nursed furiously. I figured she swallowed too much water and just needed to nurse and nap.

She was asleep and I put her in the middle of the bed and she shot up and grabbed me and then proceeded to vomit all over us and the bed. Awesome. So I gave her a bath and added to the puke laundry pile. I called my mom and she reassured me she was probably fine and to do a little research about it. So I did, and found all this stuff about something I have never heard of before called secondary drowning, or "dry drowning." It's not very common but if you inhale enough water, you can basically drown later because of the water in the lungs. Common signs were flu like symptoms, coughing and fatigue. Well she was tired anyway and had a cough anyway so I was pretty confused about if she was okay.

So I called our nurse hotline from our doctor's office just to see what they thought. And I was shocked to hear them say that we needed to go to the ER. The nurse said that what I described was considered "near-drowning" and if we just stopped by the ER they could make absolutely sure she was okay.

My mom told me they have to say that, which is what I thought as well. I did NOT want to spend all night in the ER, but I also didn't want to be up all night worrying about her or be the one responsible for her (god forbid) dying is something really was wrong. So I decided to just go.

The car seat cover was soaking wet from me washing it and was all disassembled. So I put it together, put some towels on it so she wouldn't get wet, and headed over. The staff was WONDERFUL. I have been to this same ER twice before (never for myself, just a friend and Phil when he was chomped on by our cat) and each of those experiences were 4 hours PLUS. We were in and out within 90 minutes. They took her blood oxygen levels, listened to her lungs, took her temp and gave her a chest xray. Ava was sooooo tired at this point and kept falling asleep between procedures. Her lungs sounded fine and her chest xray came up fine so we were clear to go.

So after this traumatic experience I am not so excited about swimming anymore, but we just did too much too fast. I will tell her instructor about it next week and maybe we can cut down on the "big swims" and I won't push her too far for the photos.

Guitar dancing

Ava's new dancing style

She is quite fond of her Plex doll:

Baby in a box!

Belated posting of her birthday cupcake (she ended up not being into it at ALL, which I guess is good?)

Ava's 1 year stats

33.5'' long
31.5 lbs (no gain since the last one!)
20'' head circumference

So my pediatrician is having us get an ultrasound on her fontanel because her head has always been off the charts and now it is WAY off the charts and if you look at the trend it is sharply going up in comparison to how it normally does on the chart. She said I shouldn't be concerned because she is meeting all of her milestones but it is her job to make sure it is checked out just in case. Then she mentioned if her fontanel is too calcified they won't be able to see anything and then the other option would be anesthesia/MRI. OH HELLS NO. I am willing to do the ultrasound just so we all know everything is fine (which I am sure it is) but there is no way in hell I am putting her under anesthesia for an MRI if she is showing no symptoms of anything being wrong. My mother-in-law mentioned there are other ways to get an MRI image with some other machines without putting kids under for it, so if it does get to that point we will have to research it.

It's kind of stressing me out and worrying me and part of me feels upset it is even being made an issue when there are no other indicators she has a problem besides having a big noggin. I have a huge head and so does Phil. I just don't know why this has to be a problem, but whatever. I know she is just doing her job. She said she is sure she is fine but if by chance there was a problem, she would have not been doing her job if she did not order her to get checked.

What I didn't ask is if the chart was formatted for age or if it also took height/weight into consideration. All the ones I am finding online have to do with age, so it makes sense to me if she was off the charts for everything else, she would be for her head, too.

Driving Miss Ava

We went to the gorgeous Kate O. Sessions Park this afternoon, which has an incredible view! Ava was in a iffy mood, as you can see in this video -- but we were so happy to see some of our Meetup friends.

This car has incredible power to attract any kid within its radius. I pretty much just park it and let whichever random little one wants to play with it.

On my way home, Ava fell asleep in the carseat, so I tried to extend our time on the ride back as much as possible. I visited the drive-thru ATM, got some gas, and grabbed dinner at Jack in the Box and ate while she slept. I had the pink car in the passenger's seat and the drive-thru worker said, "Can I ask you a question? WHERE DID YOU FIND THAT LITTLE CAR?"

I think I know what every kid I know is getting for their birthday present!

Another glowing product review I have is for Skidders! (She is sporting these in the video.) I picked up a few pairs for Ava at Target. They are basically socks with plastic bottoms. So that makes 2 kinds of shoes that fit her fat feet - Robeez and Skidders. Her feet must have just grown because she no longer fits into 18 months and is on to 24 months. The skidders have some bad reviews but I think that is probably from machine washing them -- I have been hand washing them and they have been holding up great.

Cruisin'

Walking - Improvement within a day

Sorry that the lens is foggy. It's probably from her snot/spit.

Steps CAPTURED!

So of course I missed the first 4 she took trying to load the camera on my phone, but I caught the very end. I love the movements of early walking!

My nursing story

I am applying for a great program on LiveJournal called Adopt-A-Mom and part of this is posting a nursing story. I thought it may be interesting to some people to read it here. It is pretty personal and if you are freaked out by reading about my boobs, I suggest you skip this entry.

Ava was born 2/24/09 and was literally rooting the moment she came out. I was able to nurse her very soon after she was born, but I suffered a very large hemhorrage that interrupted me and it also somewhat traumatized me and scared me. She was not interested in nursing much after the first 6 hours and passed a lot of meconium, but our first night together she wanted nothing but to nurse the entire time. I felt like I knew what I was doing but I felt a bit like I did not because she wanted to suck so much. I couldn't sleep out of excitement anyway, and was happy to just watch her all night long as she nursed.

The next day I was becoming frustrated and worried Ava wasn't getting anything and my mom helped me (she was a lactation consultant) with the latch and how to tell if she was swallowing. I felt much better after that but once I got home, I was still pretty frustrated and wasn't sure how to get the latch down.

My milk came in on the 4th day and it was excruciating pain, I was so engorged that I actually cried in pain for hours. I kept Ava at the breast as long as possible and also tried to relieve the pressure by taking a hot shower and massaging them out. I developed plugged ducts as well and that was even more painful. After 3 days all of that went away and we were on our way to a mostly easy breastfeeding relationship.

I have had a few hurdles. The biggest being lopsidedness. I had pretty close symmetry before I was pregnant and developed a slight lopsidedness when I was pregnant, but after my milk came in there was an EXTREME difference. My left was a DDD and my right was a small C. I was very self-conscious about it and scoured the internet for answers on how to even out, but after weeks of trying, absolutely nothing worked. I put Ava on the smaller one first but she would get mad and pop off. When i would pump it, I would get maybe 1/4 an ounce after 40 minutes. I would pump it for long periods between feedings but it never made a difference. After about a month I totally gave up on it and came to terms with the fact that only one of my breasts wanted to make a substantial amount of milk. I was able to find bra inserts online for women who have had partial mastectomies that made the difference unnoticeable to others under clothing. I think the biggest reason i was able to overcome the personal issues I had with this was my very supportive husband. He always made me feel good about myself and never made me feel insecure about my new cosmetic issue. Ava is older now but still gets a lot of her nutrition from breastmilk, but the dip in supply I have had from her eating many more solid foods has already made a difference and it appears they will probably return to even when I wean. I do wonder if the same problem will happen if I have another baby, but I guess only time will tell on that. I also met a few women on LiveJournal through the breastfeeding community with the same issue, and I also saw many entries on the Shape of a Mother website of women with the same problem that posted pictures of their breasts. It made me feel like I was not alone and helped a lot.

We also battled thrush after the first 3 weeks and it took FOREVER to get rid of it. It took about a month. I became so used to the pain that it was actually easy for me to ignore, and after a while I noticed it didn't hurt anymore and it never returned.

My grandmother's health turned for the worst when Ava was a month old and I took her on a trip to Montana via plane. I had absolutely no experience nursing in public and was very nervous about it on top of everything else (like traveling with a newborn). However, I think just throwing myself into the situation was really good for me and I became comfortable in no time. I could tell it weirded some people out, but my mom was there and I knew she would have my back if anyone ever said anything, and I was also always very discreet. I also discovered how easy it is to travel with a tiny one because all they do is sleep and nurse.

Ava has been off the growth charts in all areas for most of her first year, which meant a lot of growth spurts and what seemed like WEEKS of straight nursing. Just when I think I am about to lose my mind, she eases off.

When I returned to work 3 months postpartum, I easily was able to pump and had freedom with when I took my breaks, which was extremely helpful. However, Ava refused bottles for a few months and reverse-cycled. That's when I got locked into cosleeping, but I am happy about it. We absolutely love sleeping all in the same cozy bed, and we have had very few sleepless nights, relatively.

Ava got her first tooth in at 5 months and continued to get a new tooth every month. With each tooth, she would bite when she was nursing and that was pretty rough. She still does it when she is teething. I have learned how to firmly tell her no and stop nursing for a while (30 minutes) and trying again if she really needs to. This really seems to work most of the time.

I have also had overactive letdown the entire time I have nursed, but Ava handles it very well and we haven't had many issues.

At a year old, Ava still gets a lot of her nutrition fro my milk and I don't see weaning as being something we will be ready for any time soon. I am comfortable going until the World Health Organization's recommendation of 2 years and possibly beyond. I think that our culture grossly over-sexualizes breasts and I wish that breastfeeding was more accepted socially. I think many more moms who can breastfeed would if they had more support. But I also think the internet is doing a lot for the cause.I have come across so many knowledgeable, helpful moms online who offer great support in so many ways.

A moment for some spam

But it is very worthwhile spam!

I volunteer with a non-profit called Lotus Outreach and we are trying to get sponsored by CauseWorld. If you can take a moment of your time and quickly vote, it would mean a lot to all in the organization.

Lotus Outreach has been nominated to join the CauseWorld community,
where users “check-in” at stores using their smartphones to collect
“karmas”. These karmas are then donated to charities (like ours),
directly influencing philanthropic actions. Here is how you can help:

1. Visit blog.causeworld.com and select “Help women in developing
countries with: Lotus Outreach” from the voting box on the right side
of the page. It takes just 5 seconds!
2. Embed the voting widget on your website, blog or Facebook page.
3. Forward this email to others who can help! We need nearly 3,000 votes to win!

The top 3 causes with the most votes will have the opportunity to be
featured in the CauseWorld application. We can’t win without your
help so please submit your vote and spread the word today. The
contest ends on February 28th.

Birthday Bean

I cannot believe Ava turned 1 today!

Unfortunately, we have to hold our celebrating for Saturday. We just have plans for the 3 of us to partake in some cake, and maybe do something fun like the park or swimming.

Also unfortunate -- Ava has her bajillionth cold and she is also developing blisters around her mouth, which I think may be Hand Foot and Mouth disease. I'm not positive about that but there's no real treatment for it anyway. I think she picked it up at this place called Play Town we went last Friday. Here she is playing in their police car:

"You better respect mah authoritai!"

Playing with a ball

So I am torn - do I keep her at home and away from all of the germs she seems to pick up immediately, or go have some fun? I think this time of year and this time of her development is usually plagued with minor illnesses, so it should be normal -- but I could be wrong. I am tempted to quarantine her to the house for a few weeks so she can be well for at least a few days.

Here are some more recent pictures!

Going down the slide with Daddy

Yes, her belly hangs out almost all of the time. I need to get her into more 3T tops and shorten the sleeves because all of her 2T shirts are too short. I am looking forward to her legs catching up because she just finally started fitting into 24 month pants.

Chilling in the morning while mommy gets ready for work

Party naked!

She has received some wonderful gifts and we are so very excited about all of them!

One of our gifts to her is an obnoxious Yo Gabba Gabba tent. She is quite fond of it.

Her grandma Sue made her this beautiful quilt and this picture doesn't do the bright colors justice. I love it!

Ava has had swimming lessons every week and still loves it. She went under the water for the first time (several times) yesterday and she did SO well. She had a "what was THAT" face each time she came up but never cried. I only managed to get water up her nose once, thankfully.

Also, Ava is taking some steps but it only happens when she is focusing on something. She does it totally subconsciously, it seems. She will take 1 or 2 steps and then stop, and of course will never take any steps to us yet. I am still shocked she is taking any at all considering 2 months ago she just really started crawling.

Updates

My grandpa (I call him Papa) visited San Diego this weekend, and we got to spend some time with him, my uncle and aunt and second cousin. It was wonderful to see all of them again! I hope Papa enjoyed himself. My uncle took him to Vegas yesterday, so I am sure he will there!

My aunt Jeanne has pet rabbits, so I always enjoy going up there so I can see them. I LOVE rabbits, so as you can imagine sights like this make my mind nearly explode with cute overload:

Here is just a silly video:

And here is Ava in her little swimming suit. Watch out, Sports Illustrated!

She did really well again in last night's lesson. Next time she gets to go under water. Oh boy!

A bit early

...but I finished this after many hours of mulling over what to include and I cannot wait to share it!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

New things:

- Ava can wave and did so for the first time a few weeks ago to her auntie Jaren on the webcam.

- Ava said "dog" for the first time when she saw some dogs at the park. I say "Dog! dog. dog. DOG!" every time I see one, so I guess she is catching on. So that puts her vocabulary to:

Mama

Dada

Cat

Dog

That's all that really matters in her life, as you can see.

- She played with this stick for, I kid you not -- 40 MINUTES -- at the park yesterday. I have no idea what made it so interesting, but boy, was she content in playing with it.

I am working on a slideshow for her birthday that I should be able to post by then, I hope!

Sitter in the City

Last night I did the impossible. I had someone babysit Ava!

The sitter's name is Emma. I found her on a site called SitterCity that runs background checks, lists references and reviews from other parents, and lists experience, etc. It's only for serious postings and you actually have to pay a pretty hefty fee to access the site, so it's much less shady than say, Craigslist. She had lots of good reviews, numbers of people to call for references, and I decided she seemed like a good one to try. I had a dinner with some people from work who were visiting from several offices all over the place within the company I work for to attend.

Ava seemed to like Emma while I had Emma get to know us a little as I finished up Ava's eating/bath routine. But as soon as Ava sensed I was going, she totally flipped out and went hysterical. That made it hard for me to leave. Then I was pretty freaked out to drive to the place for dinner because it was pouring, and people don't know how to drive here when it rains. I made it to the parking garage next to the restaurant we were going to, but had a hard time finding how to access the restaurant coming out of the elevator of the parking garage and ended up stomping around in the rain for about 20 minutes. I got soaking wet too, as I couldn't locate my umbrella. To make matters worse, I was the only one there for about 20 minutes, and finally people started filing in. Due to traffic and the rain, we weren't all together until nearly an hour after the time we were supposed to start, and time for me was ticking. I told the sitter I would be back by 8:30.

I asked for my food to be put in a box so I could take it home around 8, and of course when it arrived at 8:2o, it was not boxed. So I inhaled a small filet mignon in about 10 minutes and got out of there and raced home. I did have a good time while I was there though, so not all was lost. And I got to slowly enjoy the appetizers and some wine.

I texted the sitter a few times to see how she was and update her about me being late. She reported Ava was fussy off and on, which sounds pretty usual for me, especially since she has ANOTHER cold. Yes, ANOTHER cold. I am starting to wonder where she (we? are) picking up all of this sickness. Maybe the park? For a kid who never goes to daycare, she sure seems to pick it up like velcro.

Anyway, I got home around 8:50, paid the sitter extra for me being late, and Ava was out within minutes. She was so tired.

So, I now know I can leave Ava with someone and the world will definitely not end. It's just so hard for me to trust other people, but I got a good sense of trustworthiness from Emma!

Unfortunately, there are no pictures to go with this post

...because I was in the water with Ava, but her first swimming lesson was a hit!

We went to the Boys and Girls club for their AquaPros program. The water was perfectly warm and the moment we got in Ava's face lit up and she started splashing up a storm. There were 2 other babies in our group -- one looked to be 2 or 3, and the other was only 8 weeks old. Needless to say, the 8 week old was totally oblivious about what was going on, and the other kid was tired because he was usually in bed at the time the lesson started and was not happy at all. But Ava was a ham and acted like she had been in the pool forever and it was her favorite pastime.

I loved the instructor and the method. We had a cup that we used to pour water over the babies' heads to get them used to having water on their faces, and the teacher explained that their reflex is to close their eyes and not breathe. Ava usually freaks out if she gets water on her face in the bath so I was scared to do it, but she didn't cry or anything any of the times I did it.

We sang songs and did little dances that were supposed to get the babies used to some of the motions of swimming. We said "one, two, three" before pouring the water on their heads, and did the same as we laid them on their backs and wooshed them back and forth. Eventually, we will build up to gently dunking them in the current we make with the swooshing when they are ready at the end of "three," but I don't know when we will get to that point. We also practiced blowing air bubbles in the water with our mouths, which Ava thought was absolutely hilarious and I was shocked that she totally did it by herself at random by the second half of the lesson. We made choo-choo train noises teaching them to grab the edge of the pool to inch along the sides, which Ava also loves because making choo-choo sounds has always been one of her favorite things. The teacher also guided Ava getting out of the pool with her elbows, tummy and then knees and each time she got to her knees she sprinted away crawling, which queued laughter in the rest of the group. We also threw toys in the pool and tried to get them used to making movements to go after the toys, which should aid them in moving to swimming. (As expected, the 8 week old didn't respond to this game.)

I bought her this little swimsuit in "bright meadow." I bought a 3T and it fits her perfectly, which is frightening. Anyway, it is adorable and perfect on her. I was so happy to see her take to the water so naturally and have so much fun. DaddyFantastic was a serious swimmer in his past so that must be where she gets it from. I was terrified of swimming and didn't learn until I was older than most kids who swam, and I remember one of the worst things I ever had to do in high school was passing swimming freshman year. (Our high school wouldn't let you graduate unless you did, which I think is BS, but that's another rant for another time.) Hopefully Ava never has to be terrified and enjoys the fun and exercise.

DaddyFantastic is sad he missed out so we will need to take a lesson or two on the weekends so he can also ooze with the baby love that only parents can understand!

In other news, I can't believe it but I am sick AGAIN. I have had a very high fever off and on for a few days, bad body aches off and on to go along with it, and a very sore throat. What the?! I think I caught whatever Ava just went through over the weekend and boy, do I understand her pain. Not fun at ALL. I was going to cancel the lesson, but Ava was really cranky and wanted out of the house and I felt pretty good through the lesson.