Ava Lauren at 1 Month (sort of)

We got "1 month" pictures of Ava this month (she was actually 5 1/2 weeks at the time, but who is counting). Here are a few of my favorites. We are getting some photos to give to close family, but if you want a digital picture of any of these, email me and I can send it to you in the original, higher pixel size. The first one with me holding Ava Lauren in my hands is my favorite. We have one of Jacob at 1 month in the same pose, and a 8x11 black and white of it is in our bedroom. Of course, this one of Ava will join it.

We are still alive!

It is a good illustration of life with a newborn and 3 year old that I have only made 2 posts in the last month here on the site when I typically do 2-3 a week. Things are well with the caveat of "well" as in what you expect with a newborn, even a very calm one, and a 3 year old, especially a very active one. Last night I was up from 1:30-5:00 with Ava. She was not crying or fussy, but she got her main waking period of about 4 hours aligned with our night time. It is just how it is sometimes.

Jacob also got up last night around 2:00 AM which is reflective of his hyper metabolism and activity level. I was feeding Ava, and as he came into the living room rubbing his eyes I just motioned to our bedroom and said "Go get Mommy". Shannon laid down with him for about a minute or two and he was back a sleep.

A funny story. We got Jacob down around 8:30 PM last night. Later, we are in the living room around 10:00 PM and we hear a loud thump come from Jacob's room. After a moment, Shannon said "it sounded like he fell out of bed but that can't be it because I don't hear any crying." I went in his room and sure enough he was on the floor still sleeping. When he sleeps, he sleeps. When he doesn't, which is most of the time, he really doesn't.

We got professional pictures made of Ava a few weeks back, and I will put some of them out on the site this week. Heck, I might even do it at 3:00 AM tonight if I am up, but I hope not.

Basal Cell Carcinoma

Last week Shannon had a biopsy done on a festering spot on her back. The results came back that it was basal cell carcinoma. It is a skin cancer, but one that is very treatable and typically does not spread. It is much better than finding melanoma, but it is something we need to go to the dermatologist in order to get the fully removed. Our family doctor is setting up the appointment, but it should be sometime this month.

Ava Lauren - 1 Month

Been a busy last few weeks. You may not know this but raisin' these kids takes a fair amount of your time.

My little princess is one month old. Her lifestyle (sleep 15 hours/day, eat 7 times/day, etc.) has not changed too much since she was born, but she is more regular with her schedule and I think we have helped that process by staying regimented. Our plan has been to feed her every 3 hours during the day, even if she is not showing signs of hunger. This keep her feed so she needs less at night and thus encourages her to sleep through the night as long as possible. One tool that has helped us in this is charting her behavior so we don't fall behind in the feeding or failing to recognize she may be a little low on sleep. We have a Word document that we printout for recording her times for sleep, eating and diaper change. I even put the values for this last week into a spreadsheet to look at her patterns. If you know me, this regiment makes sense, and you may think it is just for overly analytical people like myself, but Shannon, who is of a different mental bent than I, really likes it as well. When wondering when she last fed or slept, we go to the schedule chart. You can see the template we use here along with my little pattern analysis.

Ava is physically doing well and seems quite content for a new born. She is 50% percentile in all categories. She is definitely calmer than Jacob was, but Jacob's motor has always run high. Now, she typically sleeps 4+ hours at night, usually from 11:00ish to 3:00ish and even then will go back to sleep quickly after being fed.

Shannon is tired of course, but she is doing great. I am so proud of her. Jacob loves Ava Lauren, but he has been noticeably jealous of the time we no longer can give to him because of Ava's demands or the fact we are just tired. So he acts out more to get negative attention which to him is better than no attention. However on the plus size, he has become much better at playing by himself. He is very cute when gets his big imagination going.

Lots of questions from people on her name. What are we going to call her? The poll favors "Ava" so we know what our friends and family think. I lean toward Ava but often say Ava Lauren as I think is it fitting of a princess, my term of endearment for my little girl. Shannon is still undecided for a long term name but generally calls her Ava. We are so funny. We don't worry about it. We love our little girl, will provide for her needs and will teach her the truth of God's wonderful Gospel. She will be fine. No one winds up in therapy because their parents struggled with calling her by her first name or middle name.

Below are some pictures from the first month. I love my little princess with all my heart. She is so, so precious.

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