Ava is 2 Months Old

Ava turned 2 months on August 6.  As I type this, Ava is already 3 months old.  Time is just getting away from me!  Here are some pictures of our Ava potato (pronounced puh-tay-tuh)...

5 Weeks

6 Weeks

Our first sit-down restaurant outing (6 weeks)

7 Weeks

The first time I found her laying in a totally different spot than how I left her (7 Weeks)

Asleep one day on the couch - I love those sweet baby cheeks! (7 weeks)

Craning her neck to watch The Price is Right (7 Weeks)

8 Weeks - I finally caught a smile!

8 Weeks - another little smile  :)

Milestones

• First smile at daddy:  Sunday, July 7 (4 weeks and 3 days old).
• Follows an object with her eyes
• Coos sometimes - not very "talkative," though. 
• When on her stomach, Ava can lift her head and raise her chest, when supported by her arms
• Ava can grasp her blue ball rattle and mommy and daddy's fingers
• Ava likes to reach for the monkey on her playmat

Visitors

•  My sister-in-law, her husband, and their two boys came to visit when Ava was 5 weeks & 2 days old.  Beckham and Sam read a book to Ava.  Nicolas held Ava and rocked her.  Leslie did bicycle legs with her because she was having some gas pains.
• Rachel (one of my co-workers) and her son Cam came to visit when Ava was 5 weeks & 6 days old.  He is about 1 1/2 years old.  Cam hasn't been around babies that much and he wanted to touch her arm and blanket a lot.  I think he wanted her to get up and play with him, because he would grab her arm and then run around our house.
• The James family came to visit when Ava was 6 weeks & 2 days old.  Ava went on her first outing to a sit-down restaurant.  She slept in her car seat for a little while, then she woke up hungry.  My cousin Shannon fed her a bottle and then my mom held her.  When she got tired, I held her and covered her with a blanket.  She fussed for a little bit, then fell asleep.  Everyone thought she did really good.
• My great aunt Carol, my cousin Jen, and her 4 children came to visit.  Ava was 6 weeks & 3 days old.  It was the first time Carol had ever seen Ava.  Ava slept while Carol held her.  Then when the 4 kids held her, she woke up, fussed a little, then calmed down.  Chloe especially liked holding Ava's hand and watching her while she slept.
• Shelly (one of my coworkers) came to visit when Ava was 2 months old.  Ava fussed a little because she was tired, but Shelly held her and rocked her to sleep.  Shelly's daughters kept calling her, asking for her to pick them up, but she just stayed and kept holding Ava - I think she really liked her.  :)

Special Outings

• Family walks - Ava loves riding in her carseat/stroller.  Now that she is bigger and the little bumps on the street don't shake her body so much anymore, she really enjoys our family  walks.  We have three different routes that we usually go.  One is to our nearby Dairy Queen.  We had a lot of fun walking there this summer and then eating our ice cream on the way back home.  Ava would either fall asleep or just peacefully look at us and the trees.
• Mommy's 6-week postpartum appointment - Ava came along and was awake most of the time.  I fed her part of a bottle while we were in the waiting room.  Dr. Wiley got to see her and told me that if we ever wanted to have another child, that he would be happy to deliver him/her.  I said thank you for the offer, but I would like a prescription for birth control.  ;)
• Mommy's work - Ava came with me to work for a couple hours when she was 6 weeks and 6 days old.  She did so well while I got some work done in my classroom.  She slept in her carseat, woke up briefly to be fed (I breastfed her with my door locked) and changed, and then fell back asleep. 
• Panera - Ava went out on a lunch date with me & my friend Tiffany when she was 7 weeks and 1 day old.  She slept most of the time, woke up briefly and was just peaceful and looking around, then fell back asleep. 
• First Sit-down Restaurant - see above in "visitors"

Random Facts

• Ava got baby acne around 4 weeks.  We washed her face with Aquaphor baby wash and then I put breast milk on it and let it air dry.  This was a suggestion from several moms that I talk to on a private facebook group.  It definitely helped, but the baby acne didn't go away completely until just after 8 weeks.
• Ava's nails grow like crazy - I usually have to file them down twice a week.
• Ava has cradle cap.  We put baby oil on her scalp and brush out as many flakes as we can before her weekly bath.  Everything we've read says that it will go away on its own with time.
• We started giving Ava gas drops at 5 weeks to help with her gas problems.  Sometimes, she had so much gas that she would curl her legs up and cry in pain when she was eating.  She seemed to grow out of the gas problems right around 8 weeks and now we don't have to give her gas drops anymore.
• Ava likes to look at her reflection in the mirror in our living room.
• Everyone says Ava looks like her daddy.
• Sometimes Ava smiles and laughs in her sleep.
• Ava likes to smile at me when I say "ohhh?"
• When Ava was 6 weeks and 3 days old, Great-Grandma Judy and Great-Grandpa Carl started babysitting her for a few hours on Sundays so Jimi & I could get some lunch together and then go grocery shopping.
• Ava still loves baths
• Ava likes it when mommy and daddy sing to her
• Ava uses a pacifier when going to sleep. 

2 Month Doctor's Appointment Update

• Ava weighs 12 lbs. and 12 oz.
• She is 23 1/2 inches long. 
• Ava got her two-month vaccinations.  Right before she got them, I gave her some baby Tylenol to help with the pain.  She had to get 4 vaccinations.  One was orally and three were shots.  I held her hands while she got her shots.  Three nurses gave the shots all at once - 2 in one thigh and 1 in the other.  She cried out and it was the loudest cry I've ever heard her make, but it didn't last as long as I thought it would.  I held her and rocked her back to sleep.
• Her next appointment isn't until she's 4 months old.  She will have to get more vaccinations then.