Ava Marie Kruse

Ava rolled over for the first time today! But rather than do it the easy way from front to back, she first rolled over from back to front. She seemed rather proud of herself and repeated the show a few times today, proving to us that it wasn’t an accident.

Ava spends almost all her day with Dawn – either being held, or being fed, or sleeping on her in the recliner. She she really loves her mommy more than anyone else! She has always liked everyone else, too, but lately this has changed a bit.

She’s developed a bit of "stranger anxiety" and isn’t as comfortable with other people these days. She cried and had a fit for Jeni when she watched her for us, then a couple days later she cried and wouldn’t behave for grandma Kristel when she watched her while we were in Iowa City. The next day, she got a little scared and cried for grandma Kruse. She’ll surely learn to be more comfortable with other people, but for now she seems to just want to be with mommy.

She recently found her hands and feet, and catches them out of the corner of her eye all the time. She makes a lot of sounds and giggles a little, but we’ve yet to really hear a real belly laugh. She really enjoys playing on her play mat more now, too. She hits and kicks the hanging toys on purpose and stays entertained by that for a while.

At one of Emily’s soccer games:

It’s been a little while since we’ve posted, but Ava has been growing steady and bringing us lots of smiles. She’s now just over 2 months old.

At her 2 month appointment, she weighed 13 pounds 12 ounces, and was 24 inches long. That puts her in the 95th percentile for weight and height, so she has no problems with growth! Like Emily, she is a cute, chunky little baby girl.

She’s still as happy as ever. Most days, she is smiles all the time – especially when she’s with mommy. She really is a pretty content little girl. But when she gets hungry, watch out! Her mood changes in about 10 seconds and she gets very angry quickly. Once she gets her fix, she’s back to happy again in no time.

Last week at her appointment she got some shots, so she was a little cranky for a few days. Plus it seems like she got a bit of a cold just before that, so she wasn’t her normal self. She was whiney and generally unhappy. Luckily that all seems to have faded.

She is sleeping pretty well, but a full night of sleep still seems like it’s a long ways off. She’ll get up 3 or 4 times one night, then just once the next night. We try to get to bed when she’s sleeping, but it doesn’t always work out. But she’s a pretty good sleeper, so we don’t have any complaints!

We went to the pumpkin patch for the first time this last weekend – a yearly tradition for us. She stood up in the front of the measuring wall (with Emily’s help of course) so we got her first picture there, with many more years surely to come.

She’s making a lot of cooing noises, and likes to laugh a little. For some reason, her favorite place seems to be on her changing table. She can be in a terrible mood, but when we put her up there she is all smiles and giggles.

She seems to be just starting to notice her feet, and every once in a while will notice that her hands exist. She holds her head up pretty well and can sit for a few minutes in the Bumbo chair. She’s not grabbing for anything yet, but she does like to suck on her hand quite a bit.

Lately she seems to enjoy laying on her play mat quite a bit, and seems more content to just stare at the toys and make noises at them.  She hasn’t started batting at them, but it doesn’t seem far off.

So she’s right on track in every department, and she is a lot of fun!