9 Months!!

I CANNOT believe Ava is already NINE months old!!! Time FLIES!!! We have had a fun past two weeks! Michee came for a visit for a few days, and that was so much fun. Ava loves it when her grandparents come to visit! :) Can't wait to see you again, Michee!

Also, we are very lucky to have the world's best nanny for the summer....Aunt Sarah!! She moved in last week and will be living with us for the summer. She'll be taking care of Ava during the day until I get home...this way I don't worry if Ava is being loved enough, and Patrick can get work done without having to constantly follow an on-the-move 9 month old!! We love her and are so glad to have her! Ava didn't have any stranger anxiety with her at all and already knows her! Ava lights up when Sarah walks in the room. What a lucky, loved baby girl Ava is!! Here's Ava and Aunt Sarah hanging out in the pool! Ava's doing all sorts of fun stuff now! Her new thing is squealing! I love it. It's adorable. I realize that I may not always feel this way about this high pitched squealing sound, but as for now, it's the cutest! So, the basics...she's now standing up and balancing quite well! (See video below). Everyday she's getting better and better and can balance longer. She's pretty good at falling too...she's learned how to lower herself pretty lightly to the ground. (Although, she does bonk her head several times a day...luckily, she's only bruised a few times...usually it's red for a while then goes away)! Her teeth are still coming in...but no sign of any others quite yet!
Ava's had lots of new foods. Here she is after her first taste of pureed chicken!Just today, she FINALLY clapped! I have been trying to get her to clap forever...and she would do it, but both of her hands were still clenched....today, she actually opened them up and made a clapping sound! I was so excited! She did it several times already! We haven't really gotten more than about 3 waves out of her. We're still working on that! :)

Here's Ava sitting in the top of our closet. Patrick thought it would be funny....it was!
I just thought this face was hysterical! :) She's sitting on my lap here.
Hanging out at the park!
Patrick always wants Ava to cuddle with him, and for the most part, she's too much of a busy body to do that. But for 5 whole minutes she laid here with Patrick while they watched TV. How cute!! I got this pic from every angle!
So, you know Ava has been standing up in her crib. She's getting smarter by the day and is now very aware of us coming in to her room. She now stands and STARES at the door and waits for us to come in! She'll stand there, perfectly quiet, staring at the door for 10 minutes (before OR after a nap)! We watch her on the monitor, and I just love it!

Ava loves to crawl around with Sarah, and she always finds her way to this corner of the hallway. Once she's behind the wall, she sticks her head out from behind it like she's looking for us! Isn't she cute?!?
In one of her bathings suits that Aunt Sarah got her!
More giggles in the pool!
Ava has fallen in love with reading. I've read to her since she was very young...but now she really looks forward to our reading times. We read before naps and before bedtime at night. Now....after bath, lotion, and pj's, she sits on my lap and turns her head to the left (where her books are) waiting for story time! I'm so glad she enjoys the books...hopefully she'll love to read when she gets older too! So, things are really great right now. I am enjoying Ava so much, and I just love her more and more everyday! My first Mother's Day was wonderful. I'm just so lucky that I have such a wonderful baby...I love her so much.

Here are MANY pictures of her at 9 months. Sarah is here while I'm at work, so she helps add to my already ridiculous number pictures....so, be prepared!