We’ve put up new Four-Month pictures of Ava, so take a look at http://KruseZoo.com or to view just posts about Ava, go here:  http://www.krusezoo.com/search/label/Ava

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:

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!

After her snack we went back to a room. We waited while the nurse was trying to get blood pressures from the none too happy patient next door. Dr. Pyevich came and and checked for the pulses in her groin area and in her feet. I won’t lie, I have checked her many times myself. If you can feel good strong pulses it is an indicator that there is good blood flow. I checked Ava when she was just hours old. Most mom’s would check the feet to make sure there were five little toes- I check to make sure I can feel the pulses.

Dr. Pyevich asked us if we wanted to do the echo. She felt comfortable not doing one since no murmur was detected and the fetal echo showed no anomalies. We decided to go ahead and do one for peace of mind. Ava cooperated as much as a one month old can. We looked at all parts of the heart and everything is normal.

Once we were done with the echo she had a EKG which consists of a zillion stickers across the chest and one on each arm and leg. Then the patient has to remain still to get a good reading… good luck with a one month old who acting like an octopus. We managed to get her still for a short time to get a print out. Her EKG was normal as well.

We then weighed her and she is up to 11 lbs 4oz. No need for me to worry about her getting enough. I was so accustomed to measuring every ounce of food it was hard for me to not know how much she is taking in. With a weight gain of over three pounds in less than 6 weeks the little piglet is taking in plenty

Once we were done we got her dressed and headed home. I am glad this appointment is out of the way. I can finally feel confident that her heart is ok. I would be lying if I said I no longer have worries, but I think it would be impossible for me not to. I Google way too many things   For now though, we are enjoying this sweet, sweet baby who is perfectly normal.

She is now at five weeks, and becoming more aware of her surroundings every day. She holds her head up really well and looks around. She’s still very calm and content most of the time, but she gets mad really fast when she’s hungry. As long as jump to her needs, she’s happy. A diva in training! And she does like to eat, too – we estimate that she’s up to almost 11 pounds now, and she’s getting a little thick in the arms and legs. Last night I even noticed elbow dimples. She’s actually started outgrowing some clothes.

We think she has smiled a few times on purpose, but of course it’s hard to tell.

Sleeping is going pretty well. She will usually get in a feeding around 9 or 10, then go to bed fairly easily and sleep for 3-5 hours. We typically only wake up once or twice at night with her, and she goes back to sleep. Unfortunately she is in the habit of waking up around 5am and not wanting to go back to sleep. Sometimes by the time I finally get her back to sleep it’s already time to get Emily up for school, so it ends up making for some early mornings!

Ava had her first trip to the zoo yesterday. I’m not sure she really appreciated the animals, but I think we’ll go again

A few more pictures:

She weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces, so she is up almost a pound from her birth weight. Everything looked good and she seems very healthy. She is definitely growing well – we can notice her getting bigger already!

She is staying awake more now, even if only for a few hours. She’s still very calm, seemingly content to just sit and stare at the world around her. She really hates being wet and being hungry, though. She quickly turns from calm, content baby into screaming baby. But once she’s changed or fed, she’s back to her calm self.

She gets the hiccups a lot, but it doesn’t seem to bother her that much. She doesn’t seem to like the binky at all, which is different for us. Both Emily and Kevin loved their binky’s more than anything! She doesn’t like being in her car seat at all, but she does pretty well in her swing and bouncy seat. More than anything she loves to lay on our chests and sleep.

She’s gotten the chance to dress up in some of her cute little outfits already, which of course gives Dawn great pleasure. But she spends most of her days in simple comfortable sleepers. It won’t be too long before she realizes that her mother has quite a thing for fluffy pink clothes and headbands!

Ava has been such a good little girl for us so far. She seems very laid back and calm. She sleeps most of the time, and rarely fusses or cries. Even at night she’s been pretty good, but I do have to admit that she spends most of the night sleeping on one of us while we sit in the recliner. She sleeps so well and seems so peaceful, and we don’t mind spoiling her a bit . During the day she often naps in her Moses basket or in her swing.

She’s made a few trips out of the house so far. We went to the Tackett house, made a trip to Wal-Mart, walked around the neighborhood garage sales with mom, and went out to eat and to the mall. She slept through dinner when we went out, so it was easy!We went to the mall to get her pictures taken and got a lot of really cute ones.

We think Ava will probably always have a relaxed personality, but we also know that she won’t always sleep this much or this well. So we are enjoying it while it lasts!

She is eating well and seems to be growing well. We weren’t able to schedule a heart echo until later in August, so we will have to wait a little while to make sure everything with that still looks good. We have no reason to suspect that there are any problems, but it will put our minds at ease just to have everything looked at.

We are really enjoying the time we have with all of us home as a family. I have four weeks off from work, so I have plenty of time to get some things taken care of around the house later. For now, we are spending a lot of time sitting around with Ava, relaxing, trying to catch up on sleep, and enjoying having a healthy, beautiful baby girl in our family.

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