Merry Christmas!

Ava Comes to Work

Ryan had to drop Ava off with me at work in order to make it to a meeting yesterday, so she got her first office visit. She was a bit cranky (not feeling great), but she cuddled up to Paula and joined us for our White Elephant lunch party. Lori snapped this photo of her as we were packing up to go home. She still looks so tiny in the photo, but to me she's a big girl now!She has tripled her body weight already, which takes most babies about a year to do.

Ava's 4 Month Report

Ava had her 4 month check-up yesterday and she's doing well. (She turned 4 months on Sunday). She weighs 10 lbs 6 oz now and is 23 inches long. She's in the 3rd percentile for weight and 55th percentile for height. Dr. said preemies usually take about a year to catch up developmentally, but she's already closing the gap. He also said we shouldn't try to get her to sleep through the night quite yet, because her weight is so low (she still needs that extra feeding).
Here's her 4-month birthday picture.

Ava's First Modeling

My friend Jen, who is a professional photographer, came and took some photos of Ava last week. Although Ava was only semi-cooperative, Jen still managed to take some cute pictures. Here are a few of them.
You can check out more of Jen's great work here.

Miracle of Miracles!

Amazing! Incredible! Stupendous! Last night, Ava slept through the night! (Don't hate us, Ike).
She slept from 9:45 pm until 6:30 am. When I got up at 5:00 I checked to make sure she was still alive! Hopefully it wasn't a fluke. Hopefully this is the start of something beautiful.

I've read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and currently I'm reading Baby Wise, and I think both have helped. I've been trying to implement some of their theories and I think it may be what made this happen. I realized that I've made Ava too dependent upon me for soothing, and that somehow, gradually, I need to help her learn to soothe herself and get herself back to sleep. I didn't think it was possible with all her gas and reflux, but in Baby Wise they say even those babies can do it (and at 9 weeks even!)

Wow. I am still amazed. And excited!

And We Have a Smile!

After a killer day yesterday, we were rewarded today with a couple of darling smiles from Ava! Hooray!And there is still plenty of seriousness from this little one.

If You Were Jealous...

...of Ava's 7 hour sleep session, this will make you feel better: Yesterday she was awake (and fussy) from 4:30am - midnight with only a cumulative (not consecutive) napping of 2.5 hours.
*Sigh*
We are both exhausted.