Tummy Time

Ava really doesn't care for tummy time. I honestly don't know a single person who says, "Oh yeah, my baby loves tummy time." I've read that actually babies that are worn don't need as much tummy time because they are building neck strength from being in an upright position wrapped against you. And I totally believe that, because unless she's sleeping, Ava loves sitting up straight and looking around at everything while I wear her.

 

But I do make sure that she is getting some tummy time. Our Boppy pillow helps with that, because she doesn't have to do all the work herself and she can still see some things. Here's a few pictures I took of her in it the other day.

 

I added the bow to make it all "photography" like, but I should have thought about a better background. Oh well. :)

 

Milestones

Ava has discovered her hands during this past week. She's been sucking on them since day one, but this last week she's figured out how to reach out for other things. She will stare really intently at her toys for a while, then swat in their direction. Sometimes she makes contact and even grabs on. She loves the toys I've attached to her car seat and spends a lot of her time in the car staring intently at them and trying to get them.

Finally, she's starting to get into somewhat of a napping schedule. If I swaddle her before I feed her, she'll usually take a long morning nap. With picking up the kids in the afternoon, the swaddling doesn't always happen, so she'll usually take a few short afternoon cat naps and one early in the evening. For the last two nights Ava has slept through the night (until 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.) which just amazes me! I hope that this will keep up once I go back to work to make that transition a little easier. :)

Here's a few pictures of my gorgeous blue eyed girl....

 

 

 

 

Fall Photo Shoot

Luke and I have an agreement that every other year we do family pictures. We did the last one in 2011, which means that this year is the year to do them. But since I am a *nice* wife, I told him we could skip this year because I really want a family picture next year with Baby included. I could have done them two years in a row, I suppose. But we're quickly running out of time for me to not feel like huge uncomfortable mess, so I'm okay with skipping this year.

I still wanted a nice picture of the kids together for our Christmas cards, and I wanted to get a couple pictures of Raegan and I featuring my baby bump. I didn't get any nice pictures of myself when I was pregnant with Raegan, and I still kick myself over that. I think I only have one or two pictures during my pregnancy  that someone else took of me and aren't just me taking my own picture. :(

And because we are in Super High Gear Money Saving Mode right now, I borrowed my friend Christina's super fancy camera and Luke and I took pictures ourselves on the campus of the local college. I feel like we got so many great ones that I just can't decide which to use. And which to blow up and frame in our house. I do know that I'm going to go the do-it-yourself photography route more often from now on. And try to figure out how in the world to pinch even more pennies so I can get my own fancy camera.

Here's the results....

We are bad parents for taking this picture and laughing about it....

Our Weekend

Raegan got a wooden "ghoul bus" kit from school that her and Daddy put together Friday evening. She gets to use a hammer sometimes at school and she did quite well with it for this project too.

 

 

As seen on my walk on Saturday afternoon. I just love fall so much!

 

 

A very early Sunday morning art project. Because Daylight Savings Time means nothing to a four year old.

 

 

Sunday afternoon trip to the library. I've been trying to get back in the habit of taking Raegan again weekly and our weekends have been slow enough lately that we've been managing. We've found some fantastic new books to read (including "The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog" and "Into the Castle") and Raegan gets to play with some different toys. She did this alphabetic order puzzle completely by herself. Which really doesn't surprise me, since she was able to do alphabetic order last year in preschool. But it's always nice to see the results of preschool, you know? :)

 

And while I'm talking about Raegan's learning, she's really starting to take off with reading and sounding out words. Yesterday while we were reading a book before supper, she sounded out and read "bed", "hug" and "bag", all of which were words that I had never had her try to sound out before. And she didn't even struggle - it was just a smooth sound out then she said the word. And last week she brought home a sheet where she had written numbers 11-19 and has shown us how she can count by 10s. Sometimes she just blows me away!

Pumpkin Carving

One of the activities we did in my classroom the week before Halloween was cut open a pumpkin to see and feel what was inside. I'm one of those boring teachers that wants almost everything to be a learning experience, so we didn't carve the pumpkin in class. Seriously, what does a group of 3 year olds get out of watching me carve a face on a pumpkin? Nothing. But I digress....

 

So I brought the pumpkin home that evening and Raegan helped me clean it out and carve a face on it. She was a little grossed out by touching the guts (she wouldn't really do it at all last year, so this year was a big improvement) but she was really into getting to use the small knife to help carve the face. :)

 

I love the mouth open face she has when she is really concentrating on something!

Dress Up Fun

Zane is cleaning out his room, due to the fact that he will be moving to the basement before Baby comes along. Raegan had a blast tonight playing with all his old cars and dressing up in his old costumes. It was so cute to see a miniature Star Wars character!

Pumpkin PaZooLa

Today we went to Pumpkin PaZooLa at Rolling Hills with my mother in law. It was busy, but the beauty of a zoo is it's so spread out you don't really notice the crowds. With the event there were some games and bouncy houses, and Raegan got to pick a free pumpkin to take home with her. It was a gorgeous afternoon too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flower Girl

This weekend Raegan was a flower girl in my friend Christina's wedding. She did a fantastic job! :)