"Rennesme", Birthday parties and Tailgate parties...

I couldn't resist this pacifier at the Halloween shop! For those of you reading the "Twilight" books, this is my own little "Renesme"!! It's adorable when she sucks on it!

How adorable are our girls?!?! We just want to eat them up! They adore each other, which is obvious when you see them together.

Ava's best big sister in the whole world!!!
My heart walking around outside my body!

She is SO close to taking her first steps. She lets go and has attempted that first step, but hasn't quite got it yet.

This is still her main form of transportation these days....and she is FAST!

And to think a few months ago I was worried about the shape of her head...
Her first stairs and she took to them like she had been climbing them her whole life!

She even managed to come down them unassisted...as I was too busy getting the pictures!

SO PROUD!!

Working her way around and around and around the coffee table at MeeMaws and Papa's.

She loves playing with her big Sis!!

She wore her Obama Yes We Can shirt to Campaign Headquarters to volunteer. She was about the cutest volunteer there....definitely the smallest!
Our future activists!




I think she had had enough of pictures.

Ava with her great grandmother at her cousin, Ashby's birthday.
Ashby checkin out Ava's popper.
God bless him, he actually put it back!
Ava with her Nana at Ashby's birthday party.
Ashby very much enjoying his birthday cake!



Not understanding why Mom doesn't want a big hug right now!

Ava enjoying cake at the Birthworks picnic. Our Midwife and Doula that helped deliver Ava work for Birthworks and we got to see other couples and their babies who were in our natural childbirth classes. It was a lot of fun and Ava got to try chocolate cake!
We are fairly certain that she liked it.

Ava's first tailgate party. There was a band (complete with amps) at our tent. Ava LOVED it! She loves anything where music is involved. Don't worry Grandmother, we put cotton in her ears!
She had the best seat in the house! Our little Razorback fan!

On the move...

Since Ava has become mobile, it has been much harder to find the time to update her blog. She is very fast and despite roadblocks throughout the house to slow her down, she has us running. She can now stand up on her own unassisted and transfers from table to couch, etc. She spends many hours walking around and around the coffee table, all the while pulling everything off of it that she can reach.

She LOVES playtime when Daddy gets home and thinks he is the funniest thing in the world. I have GOT to get her on tape so you can all hear her giggle. It is angelic!

Her Elmo chair is one of her favorite toys. She doesn't sit in it so much as she uses it to practice acrobatics. She climbs over it into an unplanned somersault, stands behind it and bounces it up and down and hides behind it when she plays with her Daddy. She loves to stand behind it and then throw both arms up into the air and stand by herself.
Time to start babyproofing!!

OK, sometimes she does sit in it!

They look like they have just been busted doing something wrong!
Ava will stop EVERYTHING when she hears music. Here she is stopping to watch a commercial that is playing disco music. As soon as it is over, she resumes playing. Rock-on little one!!
Look Mom, no hands!!

She thinks Ziggy is another one of her stuffed toys that is just really interactive. She is SO rough with him. Thank goodness he is declawed, as he has swatted her a couple of times (well-deserved). Ziggy is a trooper, though, and plays along most of the time.

She is trying to figure out how to make it MEOW, but those buttons on his face don't work!
Ah, my little activist! Just give her time. She is going to be one strong woman! It isn't easy being blue in a red state, just ask her Mom, Granmothers, Great-Grandmothers, Cousins, Aunts....well, you get it. She has plenty of GREAT "blue" female role models!!

Just look at the form on this kid!!

Ava started crawling last week and is now very difficult to keep up with. She is a girl on the go! Her goal most of the time is the catfood bowl....as luck (and diligence) would have it, she has yet to reach it!

Look who's crawling now!

Well, it took her almost 8 months, but she finally got it down! She has been "on the verge" of crawling for a long time. We thought she just might skip it and go straight to walking, but now is crawling up a storm! She tortures the poor kitties, who are constantly on alert now. They are actually quite patient with her and all of her energy. Just look at that form!!! HAHAHA! She is also pulling up on just about everything she can find.
God bless her! She was so cute in her little outfit, that I ran out back and took a few photos in the yard.

She almost looks like she is trying to wave! She is also shaking her head "no" now and it is precious! We will have to get it on video. It obviously doesn't show up in a photo.


Mommy's little democrat!! We are sending another photo into http://www.sendbarackyourbaby.com/ . She was the second baby on the site, but she was only 2 months old in the photo. She has a new shirt on the way and we will send another one of her in it to the site, so be on the lookout for her!
She wouldn't take her eyes off of her Daddy mowing the yard!
I could just eat her up!!!

Crashed out with the stuffed poisonous dart frog she got at the zoo.

She LOVES to give raspberries!!
She literally bounced until she dropped the other day. Brad and I were looking at something on the computer and noticed that she was suddenly quiet. When we looked over at her, she was OUT! And as any good parents who know NOT to wake a sleeping baby....we left her there to sleep! She was only out for about 30 minutes and woke up with a smile.

Here is Ava with her cousin Ashby at their Great-Grandmother's house. They really seemed to get along well and we hope they will be close.