Sunday, February 2, 2014

8 months came & went

happy little Ava in her leggings
Little Miss had a big 8th month. She had some big changes, growth, hit some milestones. It's been pretty fun and we have enjoyed watching her go through these things.  Ava's eating people food, loves turkey & chicken, and even butternut squash.  She loves yogurt, too. She had a love for carrots, but now I think she's not so sure about them anymore.  I wish she would drink from a sippy cup, but she prefers her water from a cup. I just found a sippy cup with a soft tip, more like a nipple, and she got the hang of it last night. Yay!
Ava's also standing up more on her own, not holding on to anything.  She's making a few reaching steps, which is scary because that means she's even closer to walking.  Yikes.  Or Yay.  We've not really decided on that yet.  She's so smart, though, because she knows that if she can't reach it, she'll sit right back down and crawl that half inch and stand back up.
The biggest change that Ava has gone through is the transition from being at home with a nanny to her first week of daycare.  After much thoughtful prayer, Don & I decided that it was best for Ava to go to daycare.  We loved having her at home with a nanny, and we loved our nanny. She was here with Ava for 3 days a week, and my mother was here with her for one.  We had the nanny for Mon-Thursday, but Don's work schedule was so sporadic that she may be here 3 days, maybe 2, maybe 2 1/2, but only once 4 days in a week.  After we all sat down and hammered out some scheduling issues, we decided to keep her here for 3 days a week.  This way, she could get another job on the other days, and have a more set schedule.  Wouldn't you know that the first week we were on 3 days, we needed her all 4 days.  But due to scheduling conflicts, she wasn't able to be here that 4th day.  Also, my mother had a terrible migraine headache, so we knew she was out for Friday.  I had to take a half day, Don took the other half, and we were able to get the nanny here on Friday.  It was so crazy!  I shouldn't have to feel like that, and we shouldn't have to take off.  Also, in all fairness, if we have a set schedule with the nanny, we kinda have to stick to it.  I told her that I couldn't get upset if she arranged her schedule around her days off.  (I would do the same.)  So we looked into some daycares, asked around to some friends we trusted, and were able to find one.  How amazing that there was one, only one, immediate opening.  How amazing that we had an immediate need.  It's at a church. It's not a large school.  It's on the way to work (minutes from, to be exact).   I was able to do a tour, had such a peace about it after all the prayer and the divine coincidences that led to this decision, and told Don that this was going to happen.  He was already on board because of the recommendations we got from his friends.  We both knew that we would one day have to make this decision, but didn't realize it would be best to do it sooner than expected.  I left the school Friday after paying the registration fee, and was told by the director that she would pray for me as I went home to break the news to our nanny.  Surprisingly, it went very smoothly.  Another blessing!  It was just one big ol' blessing in disguise.  The nanny even came back to be with Ava the next week (which I was hoping she would, since I didn't want her to feel like she was "fired" - it was not personal).  She understood that it was something we had to do for Ava, to be consistent. I told her that I loved that she was so understanding and cool about this.  That's why we loved her too!  So Ava's first full week is this coming week, and she's already had some fun. I checked on her during my lunch break and what was she doing? Playing and having fun.  They went to chapel, she loved the music, she played and met some new friends.  They were so excited to have her!  She was exhausted by the end of the day, and I'm hoping that this will help her get on an earlier bedtime schedule.  God is so good and had His hand in this from the beginning.  Yay! 
Having fun playing at school!
Ava cute as can be on her first day of school!  (toenails polished & everything!)

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