Ava's 18-months!

I'm ready for bed, Mama.

Ava has grown up so much in the past few months!

Height: 33 1/4 inches
Weight: 23lbs 4oz
Shoe size: 5

Ava continues to be very tall for her age and her feet and hands are very slender. Even though she's slightly more than average weight, she looks thinner because of her height. I was a bit worried because she still eats so little. I'm so thankful that Ava is growing so well on mama's milk! We just went in to her doctor's office for her 18-month well-baby check and she had one vaccination and a flu shot. I'm hoping her healthy streak continues this winter! She did so well last cold and flu season with the breastmilk antibodies protecting her from the nasty bugs.

Ava's Fall art projects from daycare last week about apples and apple trees.

She is a very busy toddler! Ava enjoys music and loves to sing and dance to all types of music including nursery rhymes. She likes to hum and sing songs. You can definitely make them out! Her favorites are Row Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, the ABC song, and Thumbkin.

We transitioned her to a new daycare last month and she absolutely loves it! The smaller class size is very good for her and it gives her the chance to do lots of activities during the day. She has bonded well with her new teachers and likes to sit on their laps and she asks them to read her a story. Ava plays with her new friend, Amy, who is just a couple months older than her. They have a screened porch and a playground with a fun slide.

Last week Ava's class focused on apples and apple trees. She brought home these cute art projects on Friday afternoon. Then during our family pizza movie night, she started to say Apple. She said A-a-ple, then said Apple very clearly! I realized it was because of all the apples they discussed in class! She loves it!

Look who's walking Bena

Ava really loves to be outside. She often asks us to take her on a stroller ride on our street when we get home from daycare. With all the trees around our house, we're talking about the leaves changing and falling to the ground to prepare for winter. She likes to play with the leaves on our walk. The other night, Ava insisted on holding Bena's leash as we walked. Bena is very strong, but since she knew Ava was holding her leash, she was very gentle. It was very cute! Thankfully, our street has only local traffic so it's great for walking with the baby. The weather is cooler and the leaves have changed to orange, red, yellow, and brown. This is my favorite season!

Enjoying an evening walk with Mom, enjoying the Fall leaves.

Snuggling with Mommy before the walk.

Munching on granola bars before the 5k walk.

Ava talks a lot! Her language is developing well. Sometimes she launches into a big story and I have no idea what she's saying, but some of her words are very clear and she's starting to make simple sentences.

Ava's favorite words:

• No (she loves to say that really loud to show her independence!)
• I did it!
• Go!
• Apple
• Animal
• More (she pronounces it "moi")
• Mama
• Daddy
• Bena (Nena)
• Baby
• Bye-bye
• Corey (her friend) she loves him! When we went home after visiting Corey last weekend, she said "Bye-bye good boy, Corey." So cute!
• Colt (her friend)
• Cup
• Yah!
• Wee - when she goes down a slide or down the bed to the floor
• Woh - when she's excited
• Row, row - to sing "Row row row your boat"
• Um - something new she says all the time when you ask her a question. Silly!

We taught Ava to slide off the bed on her tummy and she loves it! Since she sleeps with us in our bed a lot, we wanted her to learn how to get down safely. She is an expert stair climber now, taking her time up each stair. We give Ava simple instructions and she responds.

Hanging out with her friend Corey!

Go Bears!

Last weekend, we went to the Corporate Challenge event and did a 5K Fitness Walk for ExactTarget. It was 55 degrees and cool. We were glad that it didn't rain and stayed warm with the exercise. We carried Ava in our pack and it was great. I had to switch her to Aaron because she was asking to nurse when I had her in the pack. She was a little anxious by the end, but we entertained her until the end.

Ava is a big helper. She likes to help in the laundry room, except folding clothes is a challenge because she wants to snuggle with all the clothes! In the kitchen, she likes to measure the ingredients with spoons and cups. She's pretty good at transferring ingredients to bowls without spilling too much. Ava likes to stir and even sprinkle chocolate chips on brownies before they go in the oven. I let her play with the beans that are soaking in the water before I turn on the slow cooker because she loves the texture. 

My last picture is Ava with her Chicago Bears cheerleader dress that we randomly found last summer at a secondhand store. She's a young Bears fan and when Daddy was watching the game she clapped! It was very fun!

Tomato-Zucchini-Feta Focaccia Bread

Last month, I made this focaccia bread for my La Leche League study group meeting that I hosted at my house. Since the group was coming over mid morning I decided to serve brunch foods. I made this focaccia bread, blueberry-oat muffins, and served sliced apples. Here's what was left of the bread after the moms, babies, and kids left that day. The night before, I made the focaccia bread, but we forgot to set the oven timer and it burnt to a crisp. So the next morning, I woke up early and make it again. I think it's better that way because it was fresh for when my guests arrived. My only regret was baking it on a cookie sheet instead of my pizza stone. It was a bit over done on the bottom from the cookie sheet in the convection setting of my oven.


The recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks Simply in Season. I used tomatoes, zucchini and feta because it's what I had on hand. You can experiment with different combination of toppings.

Focaccia Bread by Simply in Season
Serves 6

1 cup warm water
1tbs active dry yeast
Combine in a large bowl, stirring until yeast dissolves.

1 cup whole wheat bread flour
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
Mix in, stirring until smooth.

1 3/4 cup-2 1/2 cups bread flour
Add enough flour to make stiff dough. Knead 8-10 minutes until elastic (I used a stand mixer). Place in a greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and allow to rise until doubled in size, 45 minutes.

Pat and stretch to fit a greased 10x15 jelly roll pan. Lightly rub top of dough with olive oil. Cover lightly with a damp cloth. Let rise 10 minutes. Top with the toppings below.

Topping:
2 tbs olive oil
Sea salt
1/4 cup feta
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup grape tomatoes, havled
1/2 cup zucchini, thinly sliced
Fresh or dried herbs. if desired (I used dried oregano).
Sprinkle with sea salt. Gently press toppings on the surface and sprinkle with cheese and herbs.. You can drizzle more olive oil on top if you'd like.

Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees until the crust is lightly browned, 12-20 minutes. If the bottom is down before the top is down, finish under the broiler. Serve immediately.

State Fair Visit

Ava was afraid of the calf

Sharing pizza

Since we moved to Indy, we started a tradition of going to the State Fair. It's only 20 minutes from our house and with all the animals, it's fun to explore on a weeknight when it's less crowded and hot.



I love the State Fair because I never went to Fairs growing up in California. Last year, we took Ava when she was only about 5 months old and she loved it! This year, she was more tentative of the animals. We took her through the animal barns and she got to see horses, sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle up close! Aaron tried to get Ava to pet the sweet sleeping calf, but Ava was too afraid. She didn't mind the sheep or goats, probably because of their smaller size. The horses scared her quite a bit when we tried to get her to touch them through their cages. I'm surprised by how close you can get to the animals.

Heading home after a fun night!

We shared a buttery ear of corn and slices of pizza for dinner. And for dessert, we shared an elephant ear with cinnamon sugar. You can guess that Ava loved it! We decided against taking her in a stroller for more freedom to move around the Fair. She likes riding in the baby carrier or on Dad's shoulder!

Sadly, we parked right by the site of the stage collapse that happened just days before our visit. That was sad to think about the horrific accident. They kept the stage in tact due to their investigation. It was eerie to be there only a few days after the accident, but we were glad to take advantage of the Fair since it's only once a year.

Our nursing picture at the Lactation Station

During our visit, we stopped by the Lactation Station to nurse and I was happy to see that it was very busy. There were three other moms and baby pairs using the Lactation Station while we were there. Ava felt refreshed after a short nursing session and then we met up with Aaron for one last walk through the Fair before we headed back to our car. At the Fair this year, our nursing picture was featured in the main Lactation Station. We posed for the photos in April and they will use them across the State of Indiana for breastfeeding awareness and education programs.

Enjoying the State Fair is a fun family tradition to look forward to every August. It will be fun to see what Ava enjoys next year!

Zucchini Brownies

Zucchini is a tricky vegetable in my house. Aaron doesn't like squash so I'm always thinking of ways that he will eat and enjoy it. I usually cook it as a side dish for myself, but this time I wanted to experiment. Ava won't try summer squash since I started offering it to her in the whole form. So I pulled out one of my favorite cook books last night for some inspiration. Simply in Season is based on cooking with seasonal produce. The summer section is the largest because that's when most of the produce is plentiful from your neighbor's gardens and local farmers. The authors created Simply in Season honoring their Mennonite heritage of being mindful of earth's resources and sharing with others. I like the Mennonite traditions of multicultural flavors in the cooking and this cook book is a perfect companion to my weekly seasonal produce box.


And last week, I received two local yellow zucchini in my produce box. I made Zucchini Brownies, which is a popular summer treat here in the Midwest because zucchini is plentiful. I was hoping that Ava and Aaron would enjoy the brownies. When Ava woke up from her nap, we mixed the brownies and she enjoyed sprinkling the chocolate chips on the batter before it went into the oven. And after dinner, we offered her a small piece and she loved it! This dessert is sure to please the whole family, even though it's not too sweet. The nature moisture from the zucchini gives the brownies a soft and springy texture. So if you're finding yourself overrun with zucchini, you may want to give this a try!







Zucchini Brownies - Serves 18-24



1 cup flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Combine in a large bowl


2-3 cups shredded zucchini
Stir in

1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
Combine in a separate bowl and beat with a whisk. Stir into zucchini mixture. Spread evenly into a greased 9x13 inch pan.

1/2 to 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Sprinkle on top of the batter. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (35-40) minutes. NOTE: Convection 25 minutes.

#NexusCafe Twitter Chat at the Indiana State Fair

I started a Twitter chat for digital marketers through my work Twitter account last year as an experiment to highlight some of our partners. I was inspired by some of the Twitter chats that I participate in such as #bfcafe and #healthychild in the mommy-blogger world. I found a kinship with moms even though the chat is only once a week, the hashtag was a great way for people to connect throughout the week. Marketers are a lot like moms. They like to share ideas and learn from each other, so I pitched the idea and my colleagues and manager were really supportive.

Now #NexusCafe Twitter chat is an exciting part of my week! The chat is every Thursday at 11am EST and we discuss different digital marketing topics each week. My role is to moderate the chat via our @ETNexus Twitter account. With my role changing to the user community manager, I'm now integrating the chat in the customer community as a whole. Two weeks ago, we hosted a #NexusCafe chat with an ExactTarget client and my favorite non-profit, the Indiana Mother's Milk Bank. The IMMB supplies donated human milk to hospitals and out-patients for babies in need. The antibodies and highly available nutrition in human milk helps sick and premature babies recover fast and help rehabilitate faster than artificial infant formula.

As a donor mom who has shared 24 gallons of milk, I've had the pleasure to work with the program manager, Dane Nutty (@milkbankguy), who is a gem! He was the mastermind behind their annual initiative to organize three Lactation Stations at the Indiana Sate Fair along with his team of summer interns. The Lactation Station offers a place for a nursing mother and child to take a break from the heat and hustle of the fair. They have cold water and a place to change your baby's diaper. The stations are staffed by lactation consultants, La Leche League leaders, and experienced breastfeeding mothers for moms to ask any questions. They work with local organizations such as La Leche League of Indiana, March of Dimes, Indiana Perinatal Network, and others to help educate the public about breastfeeding. The IMMB is also able to find potential donor mothers by the awareness campaign. They use the ExactTarget application for their program to organize the volunteer network to staffing the Lactation Stations for the 17 days of the fair.

On the day of the #NexusCafe chat, I organized a tweet-up at the Lactation Station. I tweeted with Dane and Sarah from the Indiana Perinatal Network. I had issues getting on the WiFi network so I had to hook up directly to an Internet LAN cable that as dangling from the side of the 4H building, which is why we did the chat sitting on the grass. We sat in the mid-day sunshine which made our computers feel like they were on fire by the end. Even with the ants crawling on my legs, it was still worth it! Our chat was successful and we had great ideas shared and many marketers "show up" on the Twitter hashtag. I'm excited that I could combine my personal passion with my work in a single day.

Check out my #NexusCafe recap blog post about non-profit digital marketing.

Flashback! Last year, Ava and I volunteered at the Lactation Station and here's my post about our experience.

This year, instead of volunteering a shift at the Fair, I hosted the Twitter chat and posed for some nursing pictures which the milk bank used in their main Lactation Station. Some of my friends who were at the fair told me that they recognized me and Ava in the picture hanging at the Lactation Station! Our pictures will be used for breastfeeding education programs throughout the state. I'm so honored!

Family Photos Summer 2011

Last weekend, we took family photos downtown Indianapolis at the Canal. When we arrived Ava was sleeping, but she woke up in a great mood. She loved seeing the ducks swimming in the canal. We walked in Military Park and then down on the Canal path. Our friend, Shawn, does our photography for us. His philosophy is to follow us around and let us play with Ava. He is a father and knows Ava so the pictures are so natural.

Ava just turned 17-months on Friday. She's getting so big this summer. Ava is really into giving kisses right now and makes the "mmmm" sound when does it. It's very sweet. Most of the time, she is really into singing. She sings the ABC song, making up the letters but you can hear the melody. She sings "row, row, row" quite a bit after our trip to San Francisco because Grandma sang it to her that week that we were traveling. And Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is another favorite including the hand motion.

We're moving her to a new daycare in another week. I'm really excited for her. The new center will provide her more one-on-one interaction and fun learning activities. They have an art room that they kids rotate through and a big auditorium with a stage to play dress up. I took her Friday morning to meet her new teacher and have some time in the new room. I'm planning on taking her a couple more times this week before she starts full-time next Monday in order to make her transition a bit easier. It takes her some time to warm up to a new care giver.

We're going through so many transitions this summer. Aaron and I both started new jobs. I took a new position at my company as a user community manager focusing on forming user-to-user groups in local cities. And Aaron just left Nuvo to work also at ExactTarget in Corporate Sales. We won't work together, but we're enjoying working at a growing company together. ExactTarget has a progressive work culture and surprisingly has many other couples working there. All three of us have changes under foot, which makes life at home interesting as we're settling into a new rhythm.

And last Saturday, Ava and I helped set a world record of simultaneous nursing celebrating World Breastfeeding Week. We got together in Broad Ripple Park with 57 nursing pairs. With all the family members we had 160 people attend. We also had the local news join us. What a great way to show support to families around the world sharing the health benefits through long-term breastfeeding. As I continue my journey in becoming a La Leche League leader, Ava is with me the whole way. I gain my experience with her nursing so it makes sense.

We're looking forward to Labor Day weekend at the Lake house!

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

My favorite cookbook, Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair, impresses me all the time. The philosophy of the book is cooking with whole foods for the entire family. It's my go-to cookbook for some of our favorite dishes such as whole grain bread, polenta and black bean casserole, steelcut oats and dates, tempeh bacon for sandwiches, and spinach-feta quiche.

This week, I decided to try my hand at making the Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls. They were so tasty! I've never rolled my own spring rolls before so I wasn't sure if it would be hard to do, but they were surprisingly easy. I made the spring rolls with avocado, thin slices of carrots, fried marinated tofu strips, fresh basil, spinach leaves, and a touch of lime. These little rolls were packed with flavor and a slight crunch from the carrot strips. I dipped the rolls in the Trader Joe's Gyoza Dipping Sauce, since I didn't have time to make my own sauce.

The recipe makes 10 rolls and they won't stay around long! I brought a roll to work for my pregnant friend and she thought it was a filling and delicious snack!

I found the spring roll skins at Meijer in the Asian foods section, but you can also find them at your local Asian market.

Fried Tofu: Slice the block of firm tofu and drizzled tamari over the slices on a pie plate. Preheat a large skillet. Add coconut oil to skillet. Fry the marinated tofu making sure both sides are golden. Let cool. Then cut the slices into thin strips. Use the leftovers for a stir-fry or sandwich.

Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls (from Feeding the Whole Family)
Makes 10 rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 medium carrot
• I medium zucchini (I omitted)
• 2 lettuce leaves (I used spinach leaves)
• 1 medium avocado
• 10 rice wrappers
  
• 1 lime
• Optional ingredients: fried marinated tofu, grilled chicken, cooked shrimp, fresh basil, mint, or cilantro leaves.
  

Preparation:

• Julienne carrot and zucchini. Set aside washed spinach leaves. Half the avocado and score it in thin slices and remove the pit. Half a lime.
  
• Set up a metal cookie sheet upside bottom side up for a flat surface to work.
  
• Fill a round pie plate with water. Soak rice wrappers, one at a time, for about 15 seconds until soft but still firm to the touch. Remove from the water and lay it flat on the surface.
  
• On the top third of the wrapper, layer: avocado slices, a squeeze of lime juice, carrot, zucchini, tofu strips, basil, and spinach. Try not to over stuff.
  
• Working quickly, fold the edge closest to you, then the sides inward as you roll it closed. The finished roll will be about 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Repeat for all 10 rolls.
  
• Place in a dish, cover, and refrigerate until you're ready to serve. Don't stack on stop of each other because they will stick.

I served the rolls with a simple stir fry with bok choy and edamame over brown rice. They are also good as a snack or in a lunch box!

San Francisco

I was just out in San Francisco with Ava and my mother-in-law, Michele. We had an awesome time! It was a business trip, but since I'm from the Baby Area, I wanted to bring Ava out to spend time with family and friends. It was my first trip since she was born and with her newly walking, I was a bit nervous. I was thrilled when Michele said she was available to come out with us. She watched Ava during the work week and they ventured out in the city together. Michele flew with all of her kids as young children so I felt confident going with her for our first inaugural flight! It worked out perfectly! We flew out on Saturday and came home on Thursday. I wasn't sure how Ava would adjust to the 3-hour time difference, but she was very flexible. Here's my post on toddler travel tips.

We arrived to the hotel at noon on Saturday and we decided to unpack and let Ava stretch her legs. We walked to Whole Foods to pick up supplies for the week. For dinner, we grabbed Chinese takeout from an excellent place that specializes in Dim Sum (but we didn't get go back the next morning to try it). We Skyped with Aaron so he could say goodnight to Ava. She whimpered when she saw Daddy on Skype, but was very excited to see Bena on the computer! Aaron said that the house was very quiet without us and that Bena was a little off while we were gone.

Sunday was an amazing day! We met up with family and friends at Crissy Field Park, which has gorgeous views of the Golden Gate Bridge. We had sunny weather, though it was a bit cool with the breeze. Ava got to spend the afternoon with all three of her Grandmas! My stepmom (Meme) and my brother, Braden, drove in from Sacramento for the afternoon. They were so excited because they haven't been to visit us in Indiana so they were dying to meet Ava. They picked us up from the hotel and drove us to the park. My mom (Grandma Anna) and her boyfriend, Bernard, drove up to see us. My mom hadn't seen Ava since she was 5-weeks old! Ava fell asleep at the park on a blanket and Meme got to hold her for a bit. James, Kelly, and their son, Ethan came up from San Jose and then Romeo and Jeff drove out from Sacramento too. We had a bring your own picnic lunch and it was so relaxing! I'll never forget it!

I worked in the office Monday through Wednesday, but it was close enough to walk back at lunch to nurse Ava. It was hard to leave her for both of us because she cried for a few seconds when I'd leave. Grandma called herself the "Granny Nanny" on the trip got pretty creative at distracting Ava while I was leaving. They spent a lot of time in the lobby of the hotel walking around. Ava was just learning to walk that week so it was fun to stretch her skills on different surfaces like grass, cement, tile, and rugs. That was a big day for Ava and Grandma because they took a cable car ride up to Nob Hill and then Grandma carried her back in the pack through Chinatown. Michele was exhausted by the end, but they had fun and Ava fell asleep in the carrier. What a surprise! We grabbed dinner together on Monday night after work in the Ferry Building at a burger place. Ava was obsessed with the birds and seagulls! She practically yelled and pointed when she saw them. When we walked around the city, she looked up at the buildings and the people walking around. I could tell she really enjoyed seeing new things.

On Tuesday it rained ALL day! It was chilly too. So Michele took Ava on a stroller ride inside the hotel and they went swimming at the hotel pool. She's very creative. I guess you can tell she's done it before! Grandma let her walk around the empty dining room of the restaurant and Ava had her first taste of Fruit Loops. She wouldn't eat the orange ones.

On our last day in San Francisco, Michele took Ava (in the stroller this time) to the Legion of Art Museum. They had a great time! Even though it was on the other side of the city, Michele got directions with the bus and they spent the afternoon looking at fine art. They saw the Rodin sculptures. I love the pictures that Michele took with Ava walking all around the courtyard and by the art. That evening after I was done with my work meeting, we walked to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Ava was tired from the day, so we had to eat fast. We distracted her by putting an orchid in her hair.

Our flight from SFO was at 7:45am so we woke up very early. We had plenty of time to get to our gate. The airport security let us through faster since we had a baby and we had a bit more time to let her walk around. Ava got a bit antsy on the longer flight to Indy, but we entertained her. She nursed a lot and slept on my lap. Grandma sang and read to her. Aaron picked us up and it felt so great to be home! We missed each other, but it was great to know that Ava is a good little traveler and she enjoyed seeing a new city! What an amazing trip!

Toddler Travel

Hello from San Francisco! We arrived yesterday afternoon after a two flight travel day. I'm traveling here for a business trip and Aaron's mom and Ava are with me. It's a mix of business and pleasure since they are with me and Michele is watching Ava during the work week while I'm working in our Social Media Lab office in downtown San Francisco.

Michele is calling herself the "Granny Nanny" which is funny! I packed and organized two nights before our trip which took the pressure off of the night before. Our flight departed at 8am so we had to leave the house at 6am, which meant I woke at 4:30am to make sure that I had everything ready. Packing took a lot of thought because I had to take stuff for my business trip (work clothes, laptop), baby stuff (clothes, diapers, medication, my breast pump and supplies), not to mention own personal things. I had some great advice from friends who have traveled with their small children and babies. Since Ava is younger than 2 years old, she can fly for free on my lap, but I had to bring her birth certificate for documentation at check-in. Thank goodness I read that ahead of time because we wouldn't have been able to board our flight without it.

I am by no means an expert on toddler travel, but here's what has been working for us:

• Nursing at take-off, landing, and in-between: With the air pressure changes of air travel, nursing helps the baby's ears normalize. Not to mention, nursing is a baby's comfort and when they're in a strange place, their mother's breast is the safest place they know. I brought a familiar small blanket from home, which was helpful.

• Pashmina scarf keeps you and baby warm: I have a large wool pashmina scarf, which is perfect for wrapping up the baby while nursing or carrying her around.

• Your favorite baby carrier: I love my ring sling and used it on the plane to loosely wrap around Ava while we both slept on the plane. I didn't want to let go of her while I slept and risk her falling off my lap so I adjusted it so she was secure, but cozy. I used my soft structured carrier (in the picture) for walking on the city streets and the airport. It's very nice to have your hands free and your baby close and lower profile than a stroller.
• Lightweight carseat: we just got a second carseat for Aaron's car that is safe, but light. We were able to easily place it in the cab to head to the hotel and it's also fun for Ava to play in. Kids love playing with buckles! We were planning on putting it away, but she's having so much fun with it in the hotel room. A friend lent us a backpack that holds a carseat, which was very helpful because of all the luggage we had to haul.
• Lots of snacks: I packed some containers with Ava's favorite non-perishable snacks like dried cranberries, puffs, yogurt melts, and pretzels. My downfall is that I wished I packed a protein snack for me to keep my energy especially being vegetarian and nursing.
• Smart packing: I tried to scrutinize everything that I packed to see if I really needed it. I packed enough outfits for Ava to have fresh clothes and kept a change of clothes in our carry on with extra socks just in case we lost them on the way. I packed my bottle brush, small sample sizes of dishwash soap will come in handy to wash Ava's sippy and the bottles that I pump into.

• Diapers for 2 days: Our family is now a cloth diapering family, but on this trip we're using disposable. Cloth diapers take a lot of physical space and time to wash the diapers. It would be fine for car trips or weekends, but 5-days on a business trip, disposable diapers are much easier. I picked up a small pack of diapers at the store when we arrived. I carried a few diapers with a small wipes container on the plane and stuffed extras in my other carry-on and more in the checked luggage. It's good to have extras in case of delays. I packed extra wipes in a resealable bag for refills.
• Bring baby pain reliever, diaper salve, and sunscreen: A friend brought up a good point that it's hard to find baby items (especially your favorite brands) when you're at a hotel or airport. I packed these items, which have come in handy.

• Buying supplies at arrival: Before our trip, I scoped out a nearby Whole Foods store. We walked to the store and stocked up on food that you don't have to heat up for breakfast and snacks such as bread, peanut butter, fruit, yogurt, and soy milk. We also grabbed plastic utensils, paper plates, and napkins for the hotel room, which have been very handy.
• Refrigerator in your hotel: The hotel housekeeping brought one up to our room since our room didn't have one. We are keeping Ava's milk and our food in the fridge. Our only wish is if our hotel had a microwave to reheat leftovers.

• Fun new toys: Aaron stopped at the dollar store and got some fun toys for Ava to play with on the plane. He got some Sesame Street flash cards, which she liked. We used the "barf bag" for Ava to put things in and take them out. At her age, this is very entertaining!

• Low key plans on arrival: I didn't make any plans on Saturday because I wasn't sure who we'd feel with a long day of travel. The only plan was to settle into the hotel and go to the store to buy our supplies.

• Adjusting to time zones: A friend suggested that I try to reset Ava's home schedule for naps, based on the time that she wakes every day. It has worked for us so far. We usually go with the flow with her natural nap schedule anyway.

Today we're meeting family and friends today in the park near the Golden Gate Bridge! I'm excited because my step-mom and brother haven't meet Ava yet! And my bio-mom hasn't seen Ava since she was 5-weeks old when she came to visit us in Indy. We have some of my oldest friends coming to visit us for our bring-your-own picnic fun this afternoon.

15 Months

Ava turned 15-months last weekend and there's so much going on in her world right now. She has just taken her first steps just a week after she started standing up on her own. Since she was later to develop those skills, I think she just put it all together so quickly once she got the confidence to try. She observes the world around her closely and then cautiously tries them on her own when she's ready. Ava is on her own schedule!

Here are some pictures of our play date at the park with my friend's 18-month old daughter. Ava got to ride in a swing for the first time! She loved it. She even walked in the grass, which I was very excited to see since she only took her first steps the day before.

Growth:
22lbs 2oz (gained 1 lb in 3-months)
32 inches long (grew 1 1/2 inches in 3 months)
46 1/2 cm head size
Clothing - 18months to 2T on the top, 12/18-months on the bottom

I just took Ava for her 15-month check-up. She was very upset during the appointment, but her pediatrician said that it's very common for 15 and 18-month old babies to react that way because of their stranger anxiety. Even before the shots, she got very upset. We nursed through the beginning the the visit so she could calm down and then after her shots, which put her to sleep. Poor girl! The doctor and staff were amazed to see her relaxed and sleeping in her sling as we were leaving since she was so upset before.

I always say, thank goodness for nursing! In fact, I'm happy to report that she's extremely healthy. She's never had an ear infection in her life or anything other than colds and some elevated temps. And at 15-months, we're nursing while we're together that I still express at when I work in the office. At daycare, she has made the switch to sippy cups and eating a really good lunch and snacks. She's never had cow's milk since we're nursing. But she does well with water in her sippy and still ramping up on drinking expressed milk in her cup. She tends to take smaller amounts of milk now, but we nurse a lot when we're together. I save all the extra milk to donate to the milk bank for the babies.

Ava is very vocal and expresses herself by talking and singing. Listening and dancing to music is one of her favorite activities. Her favorites are the Veggie Tales songs, especially the theme song. She sings the song all the time and points to the iPod so we'll turn on the music. Aaron and I can't get the song out of our heads, but it's worth it because she loves it! Today, at Meijer, we saw a box of Veggie Tales fruit snacks and when she saw the box, she started singing the song. It was so cute!

New words:

• Bena - her favorite and she says it at daycare all the time
• Stop - to the babies that are bothering her at daycare
• Go - when we're getting in the car
• Bye-Bye (with the hand wave) when we're going somewhere
• Jacob - Ava's friend at daycare and she says it really well!
• Ma - that's me
• Da - Aaron
• "That?" - when she's pointing to see what something is and we do this over and over again!
• Uh-oh - she says that when she drops something.
  
• Light - she pronounces yight

It's funny that she doesn't have a word for nursing yet. She just either points to my boob or pulls at my shirt when she's desperate. Usually, I can read her body language before we get to that point.

What Ava is eating:

• Fruit and yogurt smoothie: We share a breakfast smoothie together. Her favorite is berry, but she also likes the banana-pineapple with OJ.
  
• Yogurt-mashed banana combo: and sometimes I add almond butter. I mix in a dab of maple syrup because I use plain yogurt. She also likes vanilla yogurt with unsweetened apple butter.
  
• Fruit: peaches, orange slices, plum (new), my homemade cinnamon applesauce, and freeze dried strawberries.
  
• Snacks: yogurt melts, puffs, graham crackers, cinnamon school book cookies from Trader Joe's, honey wheat pretzels.
  
• Dried fruit: cranberries and pineapple
  
• Veggies: Beets, zucchini, carrot-apricot puree, sweet potato (sometimes I add mashed black beans), and a combo of potato, leek, and pea.
  
• Meat/protein: just started to eat chicken (pureed). I mix in lentils in her food too.
• Bread: she just started eating bread a little bit.
  

Breastfed babies get a sampling of family foods from the flavors in their mother's milk. They say that after an hour of a mother eating a banana, its flavor is in her milk. I guess it's not a surprise that Ava loves fruit and yogurt so much because I make a smoothie every morning and eat lots of fruit. We always have seasonal fruit on the dinner table and offer it to Ava to try. It takes us many attempts to get her to warm up to new foods so we offer her what we're eating and see what sticks. It's still hoping for her to like avocado! Her way of eating is interesting. You give her a large piece of food and she breaks it up with her fingers and mashes it and then puts the small pieces in her mouth. Lots of food ends up immediately on the floor so it's a good thing for Bena! We call her the hoover!

Ava enjoys the outdoors, especially with her Daddy and Bena. She loves watching Aaron throw the ball for Bena in the backyard. Aaron pulls out the playpen and she stands in it happily watching the fun action. We've had lots of rain powerful storms this year and she likes to watch them on the front porch with Aaron. Sometimes we all sit out there together. We're hoping to get a porch swing so we can sit out there together.

Overall, we're having a great time. She's really enjoying her Daddy-time!