spring has brought me such a nice surprise

Ava popping right before my eyes.

This little girl has been growing fast and discovering the world. she loves to look around and explore when she's in a new place. She's getting very strong and better at holding her head up. She's sleeping much better through the night and is having a more playful, alert day. She's my sweet love and I think I can say that I'm getting the hang of this motherhood thing...

Here is my sweet daughter with one of her namesakes, Ava Butterbaugh. (my daughter's other namesake is my sister, Elizabeth.)

playtime

a quick video of Ava playing.

ALERT the media

our little girl is growing fast and is more and more ALERT!

here are some videos of her playing on her playmat...

Last week:

This week:

one month.

Ava is one month old today.

she had her one month check-up today and she is doing great!

weight: 10 lbs 10 ounces (no more newborn size for her!)

height: 21 inches

here are some fun facts about this precious girl:

• she loves to look at her daddy - she just stares at him with this look of total contentment on her face.
• she makes funny little coos and sighs everytime she has a bottle. it's as if she's saying every time, "this is the most delicious bottle i've ever had!"
• she's very strong. she can lift her head up really well when she's on your chest.
• she likes the car. she likes her car seat.

that's all for now!

Ava Elizabeth Medina

as most of you know by now, our little girl made her arrival! she was born on 02/08/2012 at 1:30 am. She was 8 lbs 11 ounces and 20 inches long. despite my fears, our baby girl has a full head of hair! (i was afraid she would be bald because i didn't have heartburn during my pregnancy.

for those of you who want the full story:

my water broke at 9 am on tuesday 2/7. gabe left work right away and we went to the hospital. i didn't eat anything or have anything to drink (mistake!) the contractions were coming pretty fast as they checked to make sure i was actually in labor. they admitted me and i was already ready for the epidural. it took them a while to get things going for the epidural and the contractions were getting closer and closer. there were about 1:30 - 2 minutes apart before they did the epidural. it seemed that things were going super fast! unfortunately, the epidural significantly slowed things down. i was so thirsty all day and all i could have were ice chips (not satisfying in the least). i had some naps, i was high as a kite, and the day moved really slow! our families waited patiently but little Ava was taking her time.

all of the sudden, i started feeling things... epidural is off, time to work! i only had to push for about 30- 40 minutes. it was so scary!! when she was born, i was in a daze. i couldn't believe i just had a person come out of me. i was exhausted and so thirsty. the hospital pudding that they brought me was just about the most delicious thing i've ever had. and ice water had never tasted so good.

they moved me up to the maternity floor and i swear it was the hospital's policy to keep us from sleeping. (maybe they were trying to give us a glimpse of life with our newborn...)

since we've been home, we've been doing our best to adjust to our new life. sleeping when we can and helping each other out. the best couple of nights have been when Gabe stayed up with her and let me sleep the whole night. it's amazing what sleeping through the night can do. i regret having taken it for granted for all those years.

january happenings

january is going by so fast!! gabe's birthday was 1/12, we celebrated with a special dinner at Ruth's Chris...

happy birthday, gabe!!

as of sunday, 1/15, i have less than a month till my due date!!! here i am w/ only 30 days to go...

big belly.

we're still getting the nursery ready... we made these letters for her as soon as we found out it was a girl. we finally got them put up in the room. (now you know her name! full name: Ava Elizabeth Medina)

we also added the decals that match her bedding set ("Once Upon a Pond.")

i'm now set to go to the doctor once a week... fun. i really hope i'm not early, i still have so much to do!! and my baby shower isn't until 1/28!



getting ready for baby medina

we've been doing a lot for our daughter's arrival.

we painted the nursery...

cleaned the carpets (no picture)

reveived the furniture...

i can't believe how soon she'll be here!



knocked up

remember that time i was knocked up??

here are some random pics of my pregnant self...

only 10 more weeks until we meet our little bundle of joy!!