the night shift

Ava and I have gotten into a routine.  Mom goes to bed around 10 or so and we go to work.  Tonight we made some power point charts and pie graphs (don't ask).  Ava got a bit tuckered out by the whole ordeal and decided it was nap time.  It was my first time getting to feed Ava today!!  It wasn't to bad she took the bottle pretty easy, I didn't really feed her that much, but she definitely ate some of the bottle, it's hard to not give her to much at a time though and have it not go all over her bib, but I guess I'll get the hang of it at some point.

Ok Ava's waking up.  Time to go wake up mommy for a feeding.

hanging with dady

This is Ava and I hanging out after work.  Ava looks pretty tucked out, I think she took a walk, a nap, and ate a lot today.  We're just chillin on the couch before we both eat dinner.

Sleeping Beauty

I love watching Ava sleep. She looks so peaceful.

Nap Time

I love nap time with Mommy:)

Meeting Ava's great grandparents

This weekend we went to Rutland so Ava could meet her great grandma Dorthy and great grandpa Joe. We had such a good time and it was so special that Ava met her great grandparents. As you can see from the picks, she was instantly in love :)

ava in her swing

before she eats

This is Ava at about midnight last night just waking up and getting ready to eat (this is also just before I have to go up and wake up Sarah).  My quality time with Ava has been in this small window before she eats she looks around, make tons of noises and stretches.  We had just finished watching Hackers, and Ava slept through most of that, I guess she's not into computers quite yet (it's also not a very good movie).  The last couple of days have been great through as she spends a lot more time awake (at 3am Sarah would not agree with me).

Saturday with Mom and Dad

This morning started off with a bath.

Then my mommy put me in this cute shirt, that wasn't very comfortable so she took some pictures and ended up changing me .
After my nap my mommy's good friend Emma came to visit. I was very talkative and made a lot of funny faces.
After Emma's visit my mommy and daddy took me to Shelburne farms for a walk. There was a harvest festival going on. Everyone was looking at me and telling me how cute I am :)









I am hiding under here! This is what mommy uses to nurse me in public. It looks a little silly, but I don't mind.










I am spent after a long day!!

Special gift

My great grandma made me this beautiful quilt. I love it so much! I can't wait to meet my great grandma Dorthy and my great Grandpa Joe tomorrow!

out at dinner

We made it out to our first dinner out. This is Ava at halversons, my old college hangout!

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getting ready to go out to dinner

the evening

I got home from work and Ava was sleeping and eating.  None of which I can help her with, so I watched her hang out with mom.  After dinner Sarah went to bed so Ava and I had a big night.  This first included skyping with the Grandparents.  You can see Ava in the bottom left smiling and eyes wide open.

After the skype session Ava and I watched some TV, she stayed awake and looking around for a while. 

Ava did the get the hiccups though which I hate.  She doesn't seem to mind them but they bother me I feel so bad for her since her whole body jumps with each hiccup.  One night when we were in the hospital I was walking the halls late at night so Sarah could get some sleep when Ava got the hiccups.  I brought her over to the nurses station there was probably 8 nurses sitting there and asked them if she was OK.  It's quite the scene when 8 nurses look at you like you are a complete idiot :).  Needless to say, hiccups apparently don't bother babies.

After the skype session, tv watching, hiccuping, and just starring around Ava decided it was bed time:

Shelburne Farms

Today Mommy took me to one of her favorite spots: Shelburne Farms. I pretty much slept most of the time, but Mommy said that when I get older I am going to love looking at the animals.

Mommy tried to be creative and put me in a wheelbarrow to do a photo shoot but I wasn't having it.







I much rather relax :)

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to an amazing woman, mother, grandmother and friend.

Love You Mom!!!

waking up

Waking up is tough.  This is the start of Ava's ritual, sometimes it takes 5-10minutes of stretching and grunting.  I don't understand some people, my daughter is 14 days old and doesn't need to pay to take some fancy "yoga" class to learn how to stretch, she just knows.

You are my sunshine

Before I was born, my mom used to go on walks with me and sing, "You are my sunshine". I started singing this to Ava on walks just before she was born. Today I sang it to her and she fell asleep. Any time she would start to stir, I would sing it and she would go back to sleep :)

Where does the time go?

I always heard people talking about how they have no time to shower, eat, clean etc once a baby comes. I always thought to myself, "Don't they sleep a lot?" Well I now know that it isn't all that easy. As I was on the couch today with her sleeping in my arms I found myself in a dilemma. The TV changer was across the room, and all that was on TV at the moment was a Magic Bullet infomercial. Do I get up and risk waking her up? Or do I enjoy the time that she is sleeping. I decided to not risk waking her, and instead of watching the infomercial I just stared at Ava, watching her peacefully sleep.

And while I haven't had time to take a shower today, I did make sure to give Ava a bath. It was her first bath in her tub. She seemed to like it :)

working from home

I worked from home this morning.  That means listening to a conference call while I hold Ava.  That works pretty well unless she's not sleeping and yapping away and I need to talk :)  You can see the bluetooth in my ear.  This morning I got to hold her just before she decided she wanted to eat which is absolutely the best time because she's alert looking around and making some sounds and a bit interactive but she hasn't started crying yet, which at this point I can do nothing about since I don't have any food to offer.

 As you can see Ava was awake, and I got a great picture of her looking up at me.  It seems pretty clear that just like her mom she's not that interested in listening me to me talk about work much.

 We then went to the Dr.'s and cauterized Ava's belly button (since it was still bleeding a bit from the umbilical cord falling out.  She was completely well behaved and didn't even squawk!  So since we were there we weight and measured Ava.  she's now up to 7lbs. 1 oz -- Over her birth weight (Sarah is feeding her well)! and she grew by 1/4 inch!  I'm very glad I went with Sarah to the pediatrician, and it's the first time at work I used the excuse "I can't make that meeting I need to go to the Pediatricaion", I did get a bunch of crap at work for that.
OK back to work.

First Play Date

Today Mat went to work, and I went on my first solo outing! I took Ava to my friend's house for a play date with her 7 week year old son. We spent the morning getting ready...getting out the door with a 2 week old baby is harder than it may seem. After nursing, changing diapers, making sure the baby bag is packed, let alone making sure I brushed my teeth and look semi decent, we were on our way. Ava was very well behaved and slept most of the time. My friend and I took our kids for a walk in their matching BOB strollers, and it hit me that I am now a stay at home mom. I am so excited to be able to spend the days with Ava and watch her grow.

By the time we got home and Ava ate, it was time for her to take her evening snooze. As you can see, she was spent!

back at work

Today was my first day back at work (I mean actually in the office).  So this is how I setup my work space.  I'm guessing I'll be changing the picture a lot.  I did make it home by 6pm which is pretty good for me.

I was also missing Ava so Sarah sent me a couple of pictures from today:

day 12

Today's day 12.  Ava slept pretty good (I thought) but I don't do the feedings so what do I know.

This is what she looks like in the bassinet, this is from last night:

Ava had to rest up because today we also had some visitors, Ava's Great-Aunt Shirley stopped by with Di to meet her, she was very smiley and her eyes were open while they were here.

Today was also my first day back at work, I worked from home though and only a 1/2 day I guess it was an IBM half day (that means a lot more than 4 hours).  I think it's going to be tough being gone all day when I go back :(

Sarah tried out the Ergo today (sorry no pictures) and took Ava on a little walk down the street she looked very snug.

I just had to post this picture I absolutely love it  :)

Ava did seem to sleep much better in the tanning bed, I don't really want to sleep with the lights on every night though.

 So tonight we watched some TV.  As you can tell Ava was not so impressed with the start of the fall shows.  I think that about sums it up.  This is just before we woke up to Skype with the Ringler grandparents.









And just so you know we share this is a picture that Sarah took :)
I assume the dream in the picture that Sarah took is about milk.

Ava's Birth Story

On Tuesday night around 10 pm, I thought my water broke. I wasn't sure, so I waited until the next day and called the doctors. The doctor believed that it was just Ava pushing against my bladder, and told me not to worry. That morning I went for a 40 minute walk around our neighborhood in hopes that maybe it would help kick start something. I felt some minor contractions, but nothing out of the ordinary. Around 1:00, I decided to get out of the house and went downtown to Old Navy. I also made sure to grab a soft serve ice-cream, which has become a staple in my diet :) Around 2:30, I called the doctor one more time because I still felt as though my water may have broke. At this point she said that they couldn't see me in the office, but she advised me to go to the hospital to check. I called Mat, who met me at the hospital. Around 3:30, after my exam the resident came back and sure enough, my water had broken. It was time to have this baby! The doctor came in and examined me, and informed me that I was already 5 cm dilated. I thought to myself "how could this be? I was just downtown walking around? " Mat and I were in shock, but were also very excited. We headed up to the delivery floor and at 5:00 I was given pitocin to help jump start the contractions. Around 7 pm, I started to feel my contractions picking up and after some time I decided to get an epidural ( so happy I did!) It wasn't long after I got the epidural that the doctor came in and let me know that it was time to push. After an hour of pushing, Ava was born at 10:43 pm. She was beautiful, weighing 6 lbs 13 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long. We were so happy. Needless to say, I spent the entire night with her in my arms, just staring at her. She is beautiful.

While the delivery went very smoothly, the next week was rough. Ava developed Jaundice and had a difficult time responding to the light therapy. It was a week full of emotions, as Mat and I were tired, scared, restless, and just wanted the best for Ava. After several days under the Bili Bed, the doctors decided to change the treatment and put her in an isolet under the lights. Mat and I were worried that she was going to have a hard time with this, but we were wrong. She loved it! She sprawled out as if she were lying on the beach. She already know she is going to love sun bathing :) On Thursday, 8 days after she was born, we finally were able to take her home. We are so happy that she is healthy, and thank everyone for their warm wishes and support.

Time under the lights

Yay!! On my way home!!!