Ava is One!

My princess is one.  I can't believe my last baby is technically not a baby anymore.  Shes a toddler.

I wish she was still this tiny. I can easily recall how soft her skin was, how silky her hair was and how tiny her hands were.  She's only one so she's almost just as soft, her hair is still silky and her hands are still dainty and small, but there's nothing as sweet as a newborn baby. I really tried to fully experience everything about her newborn being as she is likely to be our last child and I think I did a good job of taking it all in because I can still feel what this baby felt like.

Though I wish I could live in those days forever, I am also very much in love with who Ava is today.

Here are a few fun things to know about my sweet little princess:

1. She and I successfully made it up to a full year of breastfeeding!  She is still nursing, but has decreased her intake significantly.  She only gets breast milk directly from the source.  The bottle was never really that appealing to her and we did away with it almost completely by 9-10 months.  I stopped pumping around the 10 month mark because my freezer stash was growing and getting no use.  By the time I stopped there was enough milk in there (still is) to be able to sustain her if I had to be away for some reason, but otherwise I had no use for more so I stopped.  She's had some cow's milk and takes it just fine, but since I still produce she gets my milk before anything else.  She nurses 4-6 times a day or once before work, once at lunch time, once more when I get home from work, maybe once before her 5 p.m. cat nap, once after bath time and one middle of the night feeding.  The middle of the night feeding isn't always a feed, rather it's a comfort thing and its actually my cue to go to bed (she usually calls out at about the midnight hour.) If she is sick or teething there may be more sessions, but this is about all.  Shes quick about it and she means business when she wants it. Her cue used to be to head butt my chest and try to get in position, now she just sticks her hand down my shirt! She also hates to be covered and actually will not nurse if she is covered so she might not nurse at all if we're out and about all day long.  For the kids party, I knew she would do this, so I had Aaron bring a small camping tent he had in the garage and we set that up.  I sat in there to nurse her!

2. My little Avey Baby is a stuffed animal lover!

Her love of plush toys goes way back to when she was only a few months old. Once she was able to move around on her own, she started to reach for them and then showed a strong attraction to Adrian's stuffed bear (his baby).  She still loves that bear, but is not as eager to take hold of him because she now has several of her own "babies" to love on.

3. Ava can say the following words: mama, dad or daddy, no, and Airplane.  Mama was her first word and airplane is her latest.  Whenever she hears what she thinks is a plane (sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't) she will point up and say "Ah-poo" which is her word for airplane. Besides "mama" my personal favorite is when she says now.  She waives her finger, shakes her head and says, "no, no, no" which oddly is not something that Aaron nor I do, so it's interesting that she does it.  She was born with sass I suppose!

4. She was born a finger sucker, and will likely forever be a finger sucker...

5. Physically, she is very capable.  She loves to do whatever her brothers are doing (or try to do it.) She has been able to go from sitting to standing without any support for about a month now, but only recently did she start taking steps on her own.

6. Lastly, she is just such a joy to be around.  I love when she smiles her really cheesy smile.  I love playing with her and love how much she loves to play with me.  She is my best friend (so are her brothers, but you get what I mean.)

I think she sort of looks like me...

Left: Baby Maria, Right: Baby Ava