11 months!!

What a fun month this has been! Ava is changing so quickly and learning new things daily! Her mind is totally amazing to me! She now tries to imitate words that we say- some words she imitates are: "hot," "apple," "bubbles," and "daddy." Of course, I can't possibly explain how incredibly cute the sound is that comes out of her mouth!! I'll have to try to capture it on video so you can witness it! :) She's able to identify some books by name now and will bring them to you if you ask! She'll get her Nemo and Brown Bear books on demand and bring them to you!

I started brushing her teeth consistently about a month ago, and (as you know!) she's been "opening big" for the toothbrush. NOW, she opens her mouth at the mere mention of the toothbrush! ...which she totally LOVES and gets upset when I don't let her hold it fast enough! I'll tell her we're going to get her toothbrush, and there she goes....wide open! I think my most favorite new trick is that she learned what a fish sounds like! When I ask her to make the fish noise, she opens and closes her lips over and over and makes a soft little fishy sound...very hard to explain...I'll definitely get that one on tape soon! She knows both dogs by name, and she will look at people when you say, "where's ____?" And just in the past 3 or so days, she's started to dance on demand! She either squats up and down or steps back and forth with her feet. Oh my gosh...the cutest ever!!! Patrick's been working with her to teach her how to "high five," and today she did it with Sarah. It's just crazy how quickly she's learning...everyday something new!

She's broadening her food horizons too....some new foods are deli sliced turkey and sliced chicken breast, many kinds of cheese, graham crackers, oranges, and pretzels. She does really like to shovel food into her mouth pretty quickly (she got that from her Dad)! The whole "open big" trick has really come in handy with all the turbo eating. When Patrick feeds her, every now and then he'll ask her to "open big" so he can make sure she's actually chewing and not hording her food in those fabulously plump cheeks!! :) She's got to be having a growth spurt with all his eating she's doing! She's now a whopping 18 lbs! So, lots of new things these past few weeks! What fun!

Recently, she's been waking up with bed head! When I walk in her room in the morning, and she looks at me with that sweet smile and her hair sticking straight up, I can't help but laugh. It's so freaking cute! She's got this one patch of hair directly on the back of her head that is more coarse than the rest of her hair and tends to stick out all crazy if she leans on it or sleeps on it. We have come to call it her "Michee hair." The texture of that particular spot of hair is just like my mom's, and that's what we named it! This pic isn't of Michee hair, but a minor case of bed head! We celebrated the 4th of July at my parent's lake house, and we had some friends come as well. One of them left this 6 pack beer case out, and Ava loved it! :)
She's a very patriotic girl. She had two 4th of July outfits, so we had to wear them both! This was the second of the day!
Aunt Booj and Ava hanging out on the 4th. Ava just thinks everything is so interesting and captivating that pretty much everything gets a monkey face!
Ava and Keegan playing at Michee and Pop's house. It was so nice to get to have some quality time with Keegan, Booj, and Ian. Usually it's so rushed, but we were home for several days, so it was great hanging out! Can't wait to be back home so we can do this all the time! Look at these two!
They are going to be serious trouble makers for sure!!!
Ava finally got to meet her blog buddies, Jase and Carmen!!! They got to hang out and even swim a little! They were pretty much on the go, but I was able to catch a few sweet pics! Here's Jase just after I asked him to kiss the baby! Awwe!
More playing! Look at the difference in their size. It's amazing that in just a short time, there is this much difference in size! (Wow! Ava is seriously white)!
"Jase, will you be my friend?" says Ava. :)
The day after the 4th, we headed back up to the lake- just Patrick, Ava, Michee, Pop, and Uncle Pat. We went out on the boat for a while. Ava had to wear this ridiculously gigantic life jacket. We were able to keep her distracted for a while, but after that, she had had enough!!
Here she is (post- life jacket!) with favorite Michee and Pop!
My two most favorite babies in this world!
Patrick put this cow lovie on his head and started "moooing" at Ava...she thought this was hilarious and would yank it off his head in total giggles!
Shocked by the good looking baby in the mirror! ;)
So, this month has been totally fun, and Ava just get better everyday! When I come home from work, she gets so excited....flaps her arms, smiles so big, and comes to me as fast as she can. It makes me feel so good and so special to be her mom. I just love this life of mine.

Here are some more pics of the last few weeks!