I had my 1-year checkup this week. I weigh 19.5 pounds, and am in the 20th percentile for weight (fabulous for being so preemie!) and in the 90th percentile for my head circumference. Dr. Hertz is very proud of me. She told me to drink whole cow’s milk now and to try to use sippy cups (which I have been doing for a long time now, but I do not really like them much).
My mommy told you about how much I enjoy racing her to the dog water bowl – if I make it first I get in a very satisfactory “splash”, and if she makes it first she gets to keep me clean and germ-free; we enjoy this so much, we do it many, many times a day. Well, yesterday I made it to the dog food bowl and ate one of Jessie’s oven-baked chicken & rice dog food pieces! I just would *not* give it to my mom, though she did her best to scoop it from my mouth. I LOVED it, my mommy is quite mortified! Oh, there will be some kitchen redesign very soon, mommy says. Ha ha.
~~~ HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ~~~
I turned one year old today! My mommy and daddy are so proud and happy… one year ago when I was born a two and a half pound munchkin, they were so scared. They never imagined that I would become a bouncy, healthy, firecracker of a girl one year later. Look at me now!
My birthday was so great. My birth family in Louisiana called and my big sister Oliviah sang a little bit of Happy Birthday to me. My nana blew me lots of kisses through the phone, and I got to hear my birth mommy Jenelle! She took the day off of work, for my birthday… We hope they are proud of how well I am doing!
My mommy’s family came to visit on Saturday and my daddy’s family came on Sunday, so I had TWO birthday parties. I had some cake, but I am such a *neat* eater that there are no pictures of me with birthday cake smeared everywhere, ha ha. Lots of family and friends sent presents, I am such a lucky girl with new toys.
Just a quick reminder of what I looked like at 1 week old, during my 2 months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Look at me now, isn’t it *wonderful* how far I have come?
My mommy normally cannot get me to crawl through this tunnel, but I did for my auntie Susanne! Those are my feeties peeking out on the left.
MaryLou is one of my granny’s dearest friends, and she gave me a diamond cross necklace – I look so beautiful! Sorry the picture is so blurry, mommy tried to fix something and the “edge preserving smooth” (huh?) happened… mommy needs graphics help!
This is the extent of my “messy” eating, ha ha. My mommy really wanted me to make a mess of my chocolate cake, because she had a “For Sale” she was going to hang on me, and then take lots of pictures. But I foiled her plans!!! 
Today my mommy, daddy, granny and I went to visit my (possible) future school – the Christian School of York. Mommy and daddy will have to work hard to make tuition, but we all think it will be *worth* it! I can start in two years, when I am 3 years old. We visited with all the teachers – even the high school ones and we really love it. I enjoyed the sticky buns the Home Skills teacher made. And the kindergarden teacher, Mrs. Graybill, made my mommy cry (in a good way!) my mommy really loves the school, and my daddy was all smiles when we left.
There is another school that we will visiting, the York Country Day School. But so far our heart really does lie with CSY – it just felt SO right for me!
Today the weather is a record 70 degrees! I went on four walks yesterday with mommy – I already went for one today, but still have to con my mommy and daddy into a few more.
I conned mommy and daddy to go for a walk! See Ava run!
Our weather has been cold (in the 30’s), but next week we have some unbelievably warm (60s!) coming, yippee!!!
My mommy and daddy hope that nana and grandpa David are doing better!!!
Mommy is having some trouble uploading photos to my blog, so you will have to watch whole *movies* of me instead! (If you like the movies, please “right click” on them, and save them to your hard drive… mommy has to delete them in a few weeks to make more room!)
Here is a short of me splishing and splashing in the bathtub. Note how I periodically look up at mommy to get her approval… it makes mommy laugh! When I was tiny I *hated* getting baths, but now I love it. Would you like to know how mommy knows when I need a bath? When I make repeated beelines for the dog water bowl to splash in it, ha ha!
I have been crawling for almost 3 weeks now. I am quite good at it. But I *much* prefer walking (with assistance, of course). I can even (to my mommy’s horror) climb 3 steps by myself. Often I “con” people (especially mommy, daddy, and grandma) into taking my hands and walking me around. Walking is my absolute FAVORITE thing to do – it beats anything else, hands (well, feet) down.
crawling in foyer
trying to climb stairs
The last bit of news: I have two bottom teeth! They are razor sharp. I was a very good girl when they came in… I was cranky but I also had a cold and an ear infection at the same time, so mommy is very proud of me.
