More Words

Ava's vocabulary is growing again. She now says:

- Car
- Plane (sounds like Play)
- Balloon
- Fish (Fi she can't seem to put the 'Fi' and 'sh' sounds together)
- Oh no
- Oh wow
- Light
- Bubble
- Go
- Knee
- High Five
- Foot
- Phone
- Bum
- Nice
- Why
- Tick Tock (for watch)
- Show, show
- Pee boo
- Cuddle (Cuggo)
- No
- Wow
- Wee
- More
- Yummy
- Num num
- Up! Up! Up! (means 'I want mummy to pick me up!')
- Bear
- Augie
- Robbie (Wobbie)
- Laura (Wawa)
- Rabbit (Wabby)
- Cow
- Monkey (Ummy)
- Moo
- Juice (Ju)
- Mummy
- Daddy
- Dog
- Baby
- Toe
- Eye
- Mouth (sounds like Mouw)
- Shoe
- Cat (Dat)
- Bounce, bounce, bounce (bow, bow, bow)
- Hi
- Hello (Ho!)
- Nose
- Ear
- Hair
- Bye bye
- Moon
- Pretty (when she sees flowers or plants)
- Teeth
- Tea
- Poo
- Stinky (Dity)
- Down (she says this when she's going down the stairs)

She loves the TV shows In the Night Garden, Show Me, Show Me, and Waybuloo. She has begun giving us cuddles and kisses and likes to play 'Go Get Daddy!' She'll do a pretend growl and run over to Graham and tackle his legs, smiling the whole time. She loves it if we get down to her level and she can 'attack' us.

She's in a funny stage where she's really enjoyable but also really difficult at times!

Mystery Object

I walked in the back door the other day to the overwhelming smell of baby poop. Just then, Ava poked her head around the door. Her face was covered in brown smudges and she was holding a brown lump of something in her hand.


You can only imagine where my thoughts went when I saw that. Luckily the poop was still in her nappy and she was just eating a piece of chocolate that she had found on the table.

Relief!

Difficult Days and Nights

Ava has been going through some difficult stages over the past few weeks and we're not entirely sure why.

It all started around the time she had her 12 & 13 month injections. For the following 10 days she was miserable all day, every day. She became very clingy with me and would throw tantrums if I tried to leave her with anyone else. She would settle down if she couldn't see or hear me, but as soon as I was nearby she would freak out unless I picked her up.

It was very hard to manage because for 4 days we were staying at other peoples houses. Normally I would just leave her to get over her tantrum without giving in to her, but because we were at someone else's house, I couldn't just leave her to scream until she settled down.

Even though she was bad during the day, she was at least still sleeping properly at night. Since we got back from Canada she was sleeping from 7pm to nearly 8am every night.

Finally she stopped being miserable during the day and seemed to be back to her normal self again. She still would have temper tantrums but not as often as before.

A week after she calmed down, she suddenly began waking up during the night screaming her head off. She would go on and on for hours every single night and it would take ages to settle her down.

Eventually we'd get her to sleep but as soon as we left the room she'd wake up screaming again. It was horrible, and after 8 nights of it I lost my patience and shouted at her. I felt bad but when you're sleep deprived and you have a baby shrieking in your ears all night long, it can be very hard to stay calm. Her screams have developed a very shrill sound to them as she's grown and they're particularly hard on the ears.

It was made more stressful by the fact that Jenni has been living with us for a few weeks while she looks for a permanent place. She began a new job last week nearby and has been waking up at 7am every morning. Every time Ava would cry I was aware that Jenni was trying to sleep so I would try to settle her down quickly.

Finally, last night Ava slept from 7pm to 7:30am without waking up once! It was great. I woke up in the exact same position I fell asleep in 7 hours before. Of course it was the one night I was home by myself. Graham was away working and Jenni stayed at a friends place in London.

Lets hope she carries on sleeping well!

Immunization time again

I had to take Ava for her 12 & 13 month shots yesterday. She was such a brave little girl and only cried a little bit. They gave her two shots in one leg and then one shot in the other leg. Before the nurse gave her the injections, Ava was carefully watching her set everything up and didn't seem too worried, but there was a moment where she looked me right in the eyes and almost seemed to be checking to see if I was okay with the situation. I guess I looked happy enough because she didn't even flinch when the nurse gave her the first shot. She just stared at the spot on her leg for about 5 seconds and then started to whimper. When she was given the second shot she started to cry and then cried even harder when she had the third. I gave her some juice and she soon settled down.

It's so hard to watch her cry because she's in pain, but I know it's short lived and for the best in the long run. By the time I put her in the car she appeared to have forgotten all about it.

Unfortunately she woke up at 5am this morning and cried until I got up. She woke up again at 6, and then at 7 as well. I finally gave up and took her downstairs to watch tv while I snoozed on the couch. Ava had other plans for me though and whenever I turned my face away from her she would whine until I looked back. She would then proceed to poke my eyes, nose and mouth. It wasn't the best nap I've ever had.

She has been a little bit grumpy today, but not too bad. I hope that's the worst side effect that she gets from these but I know the reactions from the 3rd shot won't kick in for about a week. The nurse said Ava may get a fever around this point and possibly a mild rash as well.

Home from Canada

After a lovely, very busy, 9 days in Canada, Ava and I are back in England.

We landed 3 days ago and have been trying to get over the jet lag since. Ava has been difficult to put to bed at night, even though she's tired she just doesn't settle down and ends up crying herself to sleep. It's like we've gone back 6 months and are starting all over with her bed time routine. The only nice thing about it is that she is no longer waking me up at 6am every morning for a bottle. She was still asleep at 8 this morning!

She was talking so much in Canada and said lots of new words like: Igglepiggle, Augie (my parents' dog's name) Robbie (my brother's name) and I think she said camera too.

Taking Ava for a swim

Uncle 'Wobbie' Robbie

Great Grandma Reid

Great Grandma Bowman, mummy & Ava, and Grandma Karen

While we were in Canada, Ashleigh and her new husband Shawn had their civil ceremony at a friend's house by Lake Ontario in Oakville. Their wedding will be held in the Dominican in January but unfortunately Ava, Graham and I won't be able go. I'm glad I got to attend the civil ceremony though :)

Ashleigh & Shawn

The Bowmans and the Hoszowskis!

Grandpa Mike

My mom and Ashleigh's mom Cathe

Ava, me, Jenny, Ashleigh, Allan & my sister Ruthie

It was really nice seeing everyone again even though this visit was insanely hectic. The weather was very hot and humid up until the last day or two when it finally cooled off a little bit.

In other news: today when I was changing Ava's diaper we were playing 'This Little Piggy' and she always says the 'Wee, wee, wee, wee, wee.' part. I was so shocked when right after I said 'all the way home!' she actually repeated "all the way 'ome." She hasn't said it again but it was amazing and unfortunately I was the only one who heard her. Graham and Jenni were in the living room downstairs at the time.

Visit to Canada

Ava and I are in Canada now, having a nice time visiting all my friends and family. It's been a very busy week so far and it's still going!

We arrived Monday evening after a long and exhausting flight. On Tuesday we went to Burlington to visit my Grandma B and then my Grandma R came from Mississauga to see us in the evening.

Wednesday we went shopping and then lounged by the pool for a while. I got a nice sunburn which is only beginning to fade now. Wednesday evening I went out for dinner with my friends from highschool, it was really nice to see them again. A couple of them couldn't make it for one reason or another but most of us were there :)

Thursday we went shopping again because I needed to return something I bought on Wednesday, then my friend Jenny came over and we made dinner for us and my parents. We were both really tired though, unfortunately we're both busy this weekend and we had to plan it during the week after she finished work.

Friday Ava and I went to Spencer Smith Park in Burlington on the lake and met up with my friends Jen and Mandy and their little girls. It was just a quick visit but it was nice to catch up. After that I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get Ashleigh's bridal shower gift and we went over to Saba's house from there. Saba's little guy is so cute, he's very happy and gets excited over everything. He lets out these really loud shrieks and one of them scared Ava and she burst into tears lol. We left Saba's and stopped into my old work place to say hello to a few people and introduce them to Ava. Finally we went home, Ava had some dinner and then she, my mom and I went to Red Lobster in Burlington to have dinner with my grandmothers. It was a very busy day and Ava was excellent the whole time. She's putting up with this crazy schedule very well!

Today we're going to Ashleigh and Shawn's civil ceremony and then out to dinner afterward. We'll be having dinner at the same place Graham and I are having our wedding next fall. Our wedding will be upstairs and tonight we'll be eating downstairs. They've made some changes since I was last there, so hopefully the food is still nice!

Tomorrow is Ashleigh's bridal shower and then my family is having a barbeque in the evening so we can see my aunts and uncles etc.

On Monday my Grandma R wants to take a picture of Ava on her horse so we'll drive up to where he is for a quick visit. After that Ava and I are going to meet up with Sarah and probably go shopping. Should be fun!

Tuesday is my last full day here and I'm going to be spending it with my family. I tried to keep 3 days completely free when I was making plans but it just didn't work out that way. I need to book longer visits I think.

Anyway, better start getting myself ready for this ceremony! Wish I'd remembered my camera :(

First Walking Shoes

This morning my mom bought Ava her first pair of walking shoes from Clarks. Ava was in a great mood when we took her and she had fun trying out two different pairs. She did a little bit of dancing and smiled at the sales lady a lot, it was a really nice experience. She even took Ava's picture in her new shoes (unfortunately she didn't smile for it - it was hard enough trying to get a picture of her standing up, she kept dropping to the ground to try and get the camera!)

We were given a little keepsake card with her photo and information inside. I felt a bit bad that Graham missed it but I'm not sure he'll mind all that much. He doesn't think babies need shoes so he'd just be mad at us for spending money on them. :)


I think I might have to buy her some more purple clothes to match ;)